Tulsa: Who Killed Brittany Phillips?
This is a cold case from Tulsa, Oklahoma: in 2004 18-year-old Brittany Phillips was raped and murdered in her Tulsa apartment. She was buried on October 4 - the day that would have been her 19th birthday. Her mother, Maggie Zingman, has been Brittany’s tireless advocate, navigating 18 years of grief and sorry while pursuing justice. And now, there are new leads in the case, new concerns about the medical examination of Brittany’s body, and the Tulsa Police Department is dragging its feet. Why? Working with Maggie and a team of experts from across the country in law enforcement, cold case review, pathologists, etc., I will give you the details of this case from the timeline to the DNA (what it does and doesn’t tell us) and how solvable this case truly is.
Listen on:
Episodes
Wednesday Oct 14, 2020
Wednesday Oct 14, 2020
Cathy was a juror seated in a 2006 murder trail. After two weeks in the courtroom the jury - her jury - was sequestered for two nights until they reached a verdict. This isn't like Law and Order.
Wednesday Oct 14, 2020
Wednesday Oct 14, 2020
Leo Kopsa was born on October 14, 1936 - to wish dad a happy birthday I present gall stones, wooden legs and playing the long game. I can only share little bits of dad with you so far - because I still think - in part - if I share too much I will give him all away.
But really? There is plenty of Leo Kopsa's epic bohemian weirdness to wrap us all in a fuzzy blanket as we stare at the stars and wonder: would I keep my gall stones?
Me?
Yes, all day long, yes.
Thursday Oct 01, 2020
Thursday Oct 01, 2020
When needs must - going back to the well of my reporting back in 2018 about the Proud Boys in bed with the GOP because FFS they got a shout out on a presidential debate stage. Lots of swearing in this one people.
FULL DISCLOSURE: I watched another Miss Marple - not the debates.
Bouquets and Brickbats can be sent here: andy@andykopsa.com
Wednesday Sep 30, 2020
Wednesday Sep 30, 2020
Niki Conrad is the daughter of Nick and Nedra Conrad. She was born and raised in Fort Dodge Iowa. As a fellow Iowan she is naturally spectacular. In addition to being naturally spectacular, she (like me) has a dad who is dead. Unlike me, she was in the midst of a campaign for Webster County Supervisor.
She tells me, for better or worse "death and I have been pals" for a long ass time.
She got through the campaign with help from friends, family and the Fort Dodge community - and she proudly - and patriotically - serves that community today. Just as her dad served his country during the Vietnam Era.
The death of her young sister, the death of her father, and now facing an unmitigated COVID19 pandemic, Niki and I talk dads, grief, empathy anger and how to be a mask wearing patriot without really trying.
Niki = one of my favorite people.
Tuesday Sep 15, 2020
Tuesday Sep 15, 2020
Dirty Word Alert
Today I explain how against my best efforts I gave in to adopting a kitty who ended up saving my life - and biting my legs off.
Sunday Aug 30, 2020
Sunday Aug 30, 2020
Genesis 3:16 is pretty clear on the matter of ladies, childbirth and pain. An even-tempered Old Testament God cursed Eve and her offspring (which, I mean technically include men...but) because she ate food when she was hangry. This brief palette cleanser of an episode chats up the wonders of chloroform, a bunch of cheery Scots an equal number of grumpy Scottish Calvinists and the birth (get it?) of anesthesia for labor and delivery!
Monday Jul 06, 2020
Monday Jul 06, 2020
This is an expanded version of my interview with Heather, a friend and medical death investigator in our home state of Iowa.
The original version is only about 15 minutes long and offers a good overview of her job, and the job of some trained medical professionals who investigate deaths. But, there was some good stuff I left out - including an anecdote about her dad and my dad back home in Beaman, how we believe talking about death = less hysteria and fear about death, and some minor navel gazing by me - the would be podcaster.
ORIGINAL
Heather is a medical examiner investigator. She has been a nurse for 9 years and working in death investigation for 3 years. She and I grew up in the same neck of the woods in Iowa and she still lives and works there. There are a lot of different systems throughout the US of death investigations. Some systems are questionable, lacking rigorous oversight or - not kidding - medical training.
But, lucky for us Iowa isn't one of those. Heather tells me about her job - at least some of it. Come for the talk of death investigation stay for two Golden Girls trivia questions.
Full disclosure: there is one f'bomb in this - but it is well deserved.
Tuesday Jun 09, 2020
Tuesday Jun 09, 2020
Over 30 years ago Czechoslovakia staged he Velvet Revolution. So named because from the outside looking in the revolution - resulting in expulsion of the USSR and renewed free open elections - looked peaceful. And for the most part in 1989 it was. But the movement for a free, liberal, democratic Czechoslovakia stretched back decades to the Prague Spring which was anything but peaceful.
This is the article I wrote over a year ago for TIME for the 30 year anniversary
https://time.com/5730106/velvet-revolution-history/
Audio from Jan Palach's last interview Radio Prague International: https://www.radio.cz/en/section/czech-history/czech-martyr-jan-palachs-enduring-legacy-50-years-after-his-self-immolation
Thursday May 28, 2020
Thursday May 28, 2020
Society’s understanding of post-traumatic stress disorder was limited in 1978 and associated almost exclusively with wartime experiences, falling under the umbrella of what was often thought of as “shell shock.” Even less was known about the impact a mass casualty recovery mission would have on first responders. A smattering of studies had been done by the military on nurses, for example, but the literature was sparse.
Jonestown was a more massacre than mass suicide and the recovery effort was daunting. After the US Air Force and volunteers recovered the over 900 bodies from the Guyanese jungle the USAF knew they needed to find out how the first responders coped.
https://time.com/longform/jonestown-aftermath/
https://jonestown.sdsu.edu
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OapPeL-69Ns
https://jonestown.sdsu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/Section-1-has-referrals.pdf
Monday May 18, 2020
Monday May 18, 2020
Ann Neumann is the Author of The Good Death: An exploration of Dying in America. We cover a lot of ground in this episode. There is so much to yap about at this very moment from dying, living, pandemics, misinformation, health care - you can see where I am going with this.
In part one we discuss terminology - how we talk about death and end of life care, the logistics of death care including hospice, living wills, etc., and Ann's current deluge of work amid the COVID19 pandemic in NYC.
Read her thoughtful and nuanced work:
End of life planning during a plague: https://www.vox.com/2020/4/15/21220975/coronavirus-end-of-life-planning
Stories of nursing home workers: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/may/14/nursing-home-workers-carers-coronavirus
Beautiful work (and amazing photos by http://laylahbarrayn.com) about funeral directors in New York during the pandemic
Her Book:
https://www.amazon.com/Good-Death-Exploration-Dying-America/dp/0807076996