171: An Intruder & A Real Estate Agent

Let's Go To Court!

Julene Simko called 911 in a panic. She’d just discovered her husband dead in their bed. He’d been shot in the back of the head by an intruder. She’d already grabbed a gun and fired two shots to scare off the attacker, but she feared the person was still in the house. But who could the intruder be? Julene and Jeremy’s home in rural Vermilion, Ohio, was remarkably secure. They had multiple guard dogs, a security system, and plenty of guns. Who could have gotten past all those safeguards and murdered Jeremy Simko?

Then Kristin tells us about real estate agent Beverly Carter. In 2014, Beverly was the top selling and listing agent for Crye Leike Realtors. The previous year, she’d sold $12 million in real estate -- no small feat in central Arkansas. So when a man calling himself Steven Adams reached out to her about buying a new house, Beverly was all ears. Steven said that he and his wife, Crystal, were relocating to the area. They were cash buyers. That meant a quick sale for Beverly. But Beverly was cautious. She corresponded with Steven by phone and email for a few weeks. When he asked to meet her out at a rural property, she insisted that his wife Crystal meet them there, too. Crystal got on the phone and assured Beverly she’d be there. But when Beverly arrived at the home, Crystal was nowhere to be found.

And now for a note about our process. For each episode, Kristin reads a bunch of articles, then spits them back out in her very limited vocabulary. Brandi copies and pastes from the best sources on the web. And sometimes Wikipedia. (No shade, Wikipedia. We love you.) We owe a huge debt of gratitude to the real experts who covered these cases.

In this episode, Kristin pulled from:

A Dateline episode, titled, “The Client”

A Web of Lies episode, titled, “Final Sale”

“Realtor Murder,” by Arkansas Online, compiled from Arkansas Democrat-Gazette Archives

“The Beverly Carter Story,” by Stewart Title on YouTube

Beverlycarterfoundation.org

In this episode, Brandi pulled from:

“Julene Simko” episode, Snapped

“Vemilion woman goes on trial in 2009 murder” by Keith Reynolds, The Morning Journal

“Julene Simko won’t look at photos of husband’s body during murder trial” by Keith Reynolds, The Morning Journal

“No physical evidence Vermilion woman performed CPR on dying husband, ex-Lorain County Coroner says” by Keith Reynolds, The Morning Journal

“Defense rests without calling witnesses in Vermilion woman’s murder trial” by Keith Reynolds, The Morning Journal

“Vermilion woman’s murder trial now awaits verdict” by Keith Reynolds, The Morning Journal

“Julene Simko guilty of murdering her husband in 2009 in Vermilion” by Keith Reynolds, The Morning Journal

“Vermilion woman gets 28 years to life for 2009 murder of husband” by Keith Reynolds, The Morning Journal

“Vermilion woman was slave before killing husband” by Katie Nix, Sandusky Register

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