Libsyn Directory

Ep. 10 - The resurrection of a grave robber’s technique

Release Date: 09/10/2024

Dead Before Deadline

What happened to the central figures in the Just Sweats case? Robin and Jaclynn will cover that in the final episode of Season 2 of Dead Before Deadline. They will also discuss some of the unusual, and sometimes humorous, events that occurred during the years that Robin and colleague Cathy Candisky covered the case, including the events that led to his leaving the newspaper.

Ep. 12 - Yikes! - Just the result of a late-night brainstorming session

Dead Before Deadline

The chaos continues as Dr. Boggs heads to trial for murder. Hawkins has been extradited from Italy. He and Hanson are set to go on trial together. All three men will be convicted. In a subsequent interview, Hanson said that he and Hawkins concocted the murder-for insurance plan during what he called a late-night brainstorming session. He also said, “It was a foolish thing to do.” Okay, how about evil? Could we go with evil? After all, there was an innocent man lying dead on the floor of the doctor’s office. In this episode, Robin and Jaclynn will begin to wind down...

Ep. 11 - Oh, thank you, Oprah

Dead Before Deadline

The reporters have a little fun with a Glendale detective who sent a spy to determine if Robin and Cathy had secret missives from John Hawkins. At this point, Hanson and Dr. Boggs are in jail, but Hawkins is still on the run. It’s an upset lover in the Netherlands and an episode of the Oprah Winfrey Show that puts authorities on the trail of John Hawkins. And, it’s an unusual birthmark that seals his fate.

Ep. 10 - The resurrection of a grave robber’s technique

Dead Before Deadline

Now, everyone is interested in the Just Sweats case. Authorities from California and Ohio converge on Fort Worth in hopes of getting custody of Gene Hanson. On Feb. 2, 1989, John Hawkins, Gene Hanson and Dr. Richard Boggs are charged with murder for financial gain with death penalty specifications. The fly in the ointment is that the death of Ellis Henry Greene had been ruled “natural causes.” An expert witness, renowned forensic pathologist Dr. Michael Baden, is brought in to see if he can pinpoint a cause of death that will prove that Greene was murdered. His conclusion was, that Greene...

Ep. 9 - Here’s what happens when you look like a drug dealer

Dead Before Deadline

It’s January of 1989 and Columbus Dispatch reporters Robin Yocum and Cathy Candisky have a pretty clear picture of how the multi-million-dollar scam was supposed to work. What they don’t know is the whereabouts of co-conspirators John Hawkins and Gene Hanson. Until . . . At 7:30 p.m. on Sunday, Jan. 29, 1989, American Airlines Flight 150 from Acapulco lands at the Dallas-Ft. Worth Airport. As the passengers are filing off, customs officials see a man coming off a flight who looks nervous and is in a big hurry. Customs officials think he’s a drug...

Ep. 8 - Two mothers searching for answers

Dead Before Deadline

Even though the insurance companies know that Dr. Boggs misidentified a corpse, the police in Glendale, California, are sitting on their thumbs. They arrogantly tell Robin’s colleague, Cathy Candisky, “This may be a big deal in Columbus, Ohio, but this is L.A.” In this episode, Katherine Lawley, Gene Hanson’s mother, shows up in the newsroom of the Columbus Dispatch in a search for answers about her missing son. Meanwhile, authorities in California finally identify the “dead” Hanson as a former Ohio resident, Ellis Henry Greene, and Robin must notify his...

Ep. 7 - Who is Wolfgang Eugene von Snowden, and why he spricht kein deutsch

Dead Before Deadline

Where’s Gene Hanson? If the Just Sweats co-founder isn’t dead, then where did he go? This episode follows Hanson to Florida and tracks his bizarre and often hilarious miscues as he tries to stay one step ahead of the authorities. He has plastic surgery and tries to pass himself off as a German National. Ultimately, Hanson wears out his welcome in Florida and runs to Mexico to hide.

Ep. 6 -There’s a teensy problem; the corpse isn’t Gene Hanson.

Dead Before Deadline

John Hawkins has collected $1 million from the Farmers New World Life Insurance Company upon the reported death of his business partner, Gene Hanson. But there’s a problem. When he attempts to collect on other policies, he’s told that authorities are now questioning the identity of the corpse originally identified by Dr. Boggs. The thumb-print taken by the funeral home that cremated the “dead” Hanson does not match the thumb-print on the real Hanson’s California driver’s license. Oops. In a panic, it’s time for John Hawkins to disappear.

Ep. 5 - A perfect victim for murder

Dead Before Deadline

Ellis Henry Greene was a lost soul. He was gay and had moved to Los Angeles in search of some kind of identity. He was an alcoholic, had held a variety of jobs, had no home and no clear path in his life. Ellis was the kind of guy who could disappear and not be missed. This made him the perfect victim to be the “dead” Hanson. At 7 a.m. on April 16, 1988, a 9-1-1 operator in Glendale, California, received a call from Dr. Richard Boggs. One of his long-time patients, Melvin Eugene Hanson, had collapsed on the floor of his office. The plan was in overdrive.

Ep. 4 - Hawkins Saves the Day . . . sort of

Dead Before Deadline

John Hawkins is in a panic. By this point in their scheme, Dr. Boggs was to have killed a man to be the “dead” Hanson, and Hawkins could begin collecting on the $7 million in life insurance that Hanson carried and to which Hawkins was the beneficiary. With his business partner technically dead, Hawkins would have no way to collect the $2 million Hanson had taken from the company, but Boggs had not come through with a corpse, so Hawkins must pretend to locate Hanson and return to Columbus with most of the money his partner had taken. This of course is necessary to keep the...

More Episodes

The fly in the ointment is that the death of Ellis Henry Greene had been ruled
“natural causes.” An expert witness, renowned forensic pathologist Dr. Michael
Baden, is brought in to see if he can pinpoint a cause of death that will prove that
Greene was murdered. His conclusion was, that Greene was killed in the manner
used by 19th Century grave robbers.

TOPICS