AI Summary
5 min readThe Suitcase Murders
On June 5, 2014, Jason Smith was mowing roadsides for the Geneva Highway Department in Wisconsin when he noticed something in the brush. He dragged out a heavy suitcase, then a second one behind it. He assumed they contained wet clothes. When patrol officer Eric Anderson arrived to collect them, he saw flies swarming. He unzipped the black suitcase and found a decomposing human body, then opened the purple one and found another. "Nothing can prepare you," Anderson said. "Am I really seeing what I'm seeing right now?" The town of Geneva, population 5,400, was suddenly at the center of a double homicide investigation.
Two Missing Women
The bodies were severely decomposed, making identification difficult. Both victims were about five feet tall and weighed roughly 100 pounds. They had been bound with rope. One body appeared almost mummified, while the other was more decomposed. Investigators found tattoos on both women and began casting a wider net.
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What you'll learn
- 1 The Suitcase Murders — Timestamped Outline
- 2 (00:37) **Discovery on Como Road** - Highway worker Jason Smith describes finding two heavy suitcases while mowing roadsides in Geneva, Wisconsin
- 3 (02:07) **Officer Opens the Suitcases** - Patrol officer Eric Anderson arrives and unzips the luggage to find decomposing human remains
- 4 (03:46) **Small Town Horror** - Geneva, a quiet resort community of 5,400, is turned upside down by the gruesome find
- 5 (04:44) **First Responders Confront the Scene** - Detective Jeff Ragnago arrives and describes the smell and visual horror of opening the suitcases
- 6 (07:30) **Jeffrey Dahmer Comparisons** - The community fears a serial killer may be at large, prompting a wider investigation
- 7 (08:33) **Laura Simonson's Disappearance** - Detective Lee Hollitz from Farmington, Minnesota had been investigating the vanishing of 37-year-old Laura Simonson seven months earlier
+ Full timestamped outline available in the app
Show Notes
Human remains are found abandoned in two suitcases, leaving a community shocked and searching for answers. A dating profile on a BDSM site and DNA evidence help police solve the gruesome murders.
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