Malice in the Mitten

In the early morning hours of July 22, 1997, 26-year-old Steven Alexander Clark disappeared while walking home in Bay City, Michigan.
Steven was a son, a brother, a best friend, and a musician who loved heavy metal and played guitar. He had disappeared for days at a time before, but he always eventually returned. This time, he didn't.
Steven was never seen again.
This story was brought to Malice in the Mitten by a listener in Bay City who asked us to help bring renewed attention to Steven's case.
Steven Clark remains listed as a missing-person cold case by the Bay City Department of Public Safety.
If you have any information regarding the disappearance of Steven Alexander Clark, contact the Bay City Department of Public Safety at 989-892-8571.
Bay City Police Case: 97-5087NamUs: MP7064
Steven was more than a missing-person case, he was loved.  Period.
#StevenClark #MissingInMichigan #BayCityMichigan #MichiganColdCase #MaliceInTheMitten
Hosted, edited and produced by Tracy Preston, featuring Christine Mulligan.
Written by Tracy Preston
Original music created exclusively for Malice in the Mitten by Tracy Preston
Original artword created by Todd Preston
Sources:
Bay City Department of Public Safety. “Cold Cases.” City of Bay City, Michigan, City of Bay City, www.baycitymi.gov/269/Cold-Cases.
“Steven Alexander Clark.” The Charley Project, charleyproject.org/case/steven-alexander-clark.
“Steven Alexander Clark.” The Doe Network, case 4270DMMI, www.doenetwork.org/cases/4270dmmi.html.
“Steven Alexander Clark.” National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs), case MP7064, U.S. Department of Justice, namus.nij.ojp.gov/case/MP7064.
Waterman, Cole. “Family of Missing Bay City Man Seeking Answers 18 Years Later.” MLive / The Bay City Times, Aug. 2015.
Waterman, Cole. “Bay City Cold Cases: The 1997 Disappearance of Steven Clark.” The Bay City Times / MLive, Nov. 2011.

This week on Round Robin, Tracy, Christine, and Nina are clocking in for some of the strangest jobs on Earth—and nobody told Christine and Nina what those jobs actually are.
Would you do them? How much would someone have to pay you? And if you absolutely HAD to choose one as your new career—which job are you taking?
It's weird. It's fascinating. It's occasionally disgusting. And somehow... that's a job.
#RoundRobinPodcast #StrangeJobs #WeirdJobs #WaitThatsAJob #PodcastComedy
Hosted, edited and produced by Tracy Preston, featuring Christine and Nina Mulligan
Written by Tracy Preston
Original music created exclusively for Round Robin by Tracy Preston
Original artwork by Todd Preston

Lake Superior is massive, freezing, unpredictable—and according to more than a century of strange stories, something enormous may be moving beneath its surface. On this episode of F-Bomb Friday, Tracy dives into the legend of Pressie, the Presque Isle Monster, a serpent-like creature reportedly seen across Lake Superior since the late 1800s.
From steamship crews describing enormous humps rising from the water to an alleged attack near Duluth, frightened fishermen, a bizarre deer encounter, and Randy Braun’s famous 1977 photograph, the stories surrounding Pressie are as murky as the lake itself.
Could witnesses have seen giant lake sturgeon, waves, driftwood, or optical illusions? Or does Lake Superior still hold secrets we haven't discovered?
Because unexplained doesn't mean monster.
But unexplained still means…we don't know.
#Pressie #LakeSuperior #MichiganCryptids #MichiganFolklore #FBombFriday
Hosted, edited and produced by Tracy Preston, featuring Todd Preston
Researched and written by Todd Preston
Original music created exclusively for F-Bomb by Tracy Preston
Original artwork by Todd Preston
Sources
Great Lakes Shipwreck Historical Society. “Wreck of the Western Reserve.” 10 Mar. 2025.
Michigan Department of Natural Resources. “Lake Sturgeon.” State of Michigan.
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. “Lake Superior.” State of the Great Lakes Ecosystem Conference.
Woolheater, Craig. “Pressie, The Lake Superior Monster.” Cryptomundo, 10 July 2013.
“Pressie: Lake Superior’s Serpent Legend.” Yooper, 21 July 2026.
“Pressie: A Lake Superior Monster or Copper Loving, Ojibwe Mishipeshu?” Cryptids Across the Atlas, 9 Dec. 2022.
 

In February 1895, Detroit dentist Dr. Horace Eliot Pope was brutally murdered with an axe inside his Michigan Avenue home. William Brusseau admitted wielding the weapon—but after first claiming self-defense, he changed his story and accused Horace's wife, Nellie Pope, of planning the killing for insurance money. The sensational trial transformed Nellie into one of Detroit's most infamous “murderesses” and sent her to prison for life.
After more than two decades behind bars, Nellie walked free, still insisting she had nothing to do with her husband's murder. Then, in 1928, Michigan Governor Fred W. Green granted her a full pardon.
Was Nellie Pope the mastermind behind a cold-blooded axe murder—or did unreliable testimony and sensational Victorian journalism help condemn an innocent woman?
#MaliceInTheMitten #NelliePope #MichiganTrueCrime #DetroitHistory #HistoricalTrueCrime
Hosted, edited & produced by Tracy Preston, featuring Christine Mulligan
Written by Tracy Preston
Original music created exclusively for Malice in the Mitten
Original artwork by Todd Preston
Sources:
Buhk, Tobin T. Wicked Women of Detroit. History Press, 2009.
Buhk, Tobin T. “So, I Married an Axe Murderer (Detroit, Michigan, 1895).” Dark Corners of History, 23 Feb. 2017.
“Confessed! Brusseau Broke Down Completely Last Night.” Detroit Free Press, 5 Feb. 1895, p. 1.
“Horrible! Dr. Horace Eliot Pope Brutally Murdered.” Detroit Free Press, 3 Feb. 1895, p. 1.
“Murderess: Mrs. Nellie Pope So Branded by a Jury of Her Peers.” Detroit Free Press, 5 June 1895, p. 1.
“She Did It! Brusseau Makes a Renewal of His Confession.” Detroit Free Press, 6 Feb. 1895, p. 1.
“The Murder of Dr. Pope.” Detroit Free Press, 4 Feb. 1895, p. 1.
“William Brusseau Dies in Prison.” Monroe Democrat, 2 Feb. 1906, p. 8.
“Innocent Woman Vindicated.” Pinang Gazette and Straits Chronicle, 10 Jan. 1929.
“Mrs. Nellie Pope Found Guilty.” St. Paul Pioneer Press, 5 June 1895.
“Murderess: Three Female Killers & Their Stories.” Crime Capsule, Arcadia Publishing.
Robinson, John. “Nellie Pope, the 1895 ‘Lizzie Borden’ of Detroit.” 99.1 WFMK, 13 Aug. 2021.
“Woodlawn Cemetery.” Woodlawn Cemetery Detroit, Memorial Planning, www.woodlawncemeterydetroit.com
 

Twenty tons of squid on a Rhode Island roadway. A lucky pinkie ring that picked a $250,000 lottery ticket. contradictory personalities and manifesting!
Plus, meet 82-year-old Guinness World Records powerhouse Annie Judis, our Woman of the Week!
#RoundRobinPodcast #Squidpocalypse #FunnyConversations #WomanOfTheWeek #PodcastRecommendations
Hosted, edited and produced by Tracy Preston, featuring Christine and Nina Mulligan
Written by Tracy Preston
Original music created exclusively for Round Robin by Tracy Preston
Original Artwork by Todd Preston
Sources:
El-Bawab, Nadine, and Luke Barr. “Over 20 Tons of Squid Spill onto Rhode Island Road Blocking Traffic for 8 Hours.” ABC News, 18 Aug. 2026.
Hooper, Ben. “N.C. Man Let His Lucky Ring Choose $250,000 Lottery Ticket.” UPI, 18 Aug. 2026.
Guinness World Records. “‘Health Is Wealth’: Meet the 82-Year-Old Fitness Fan Who Can’t Stop Breaking Records!” Guinness World Records, 21 Aug. 2026.

Michigan's Hatchet Man Road is a lonely stretch of 28th Avenue near Gobles where an unverified legend tells of a Cold War-era bunker, a murdered family and a killer with a hatchet. But the real mystery may be what visitors have reported since: disappearing headlights, shadow figures, stalled cars, strange lights, whistling from the woods—and the pale face of a child among the trees. On this episode of F-Bomb Friday, Tracy separates documented history from folklore and asks why this southwest Michigan back road continues to terrify the people who dare to drive it after dark.
#HatchetManRoad #MichiganFolklore #MichiganHauntings #UrbanLegends #FBombFriday
Hosted, edited and produced by Tracy Preston, featuring Todd Preston
Story researched and written by Todd Preston
Original music created by Tracy Preston
Original artwork created by Todd Preston
Sources:
Bishop, Thomas. “Digging Up the History of the Nuclear Fallout Shelter.” Smithsonian Magazine, 2022.
Brenzing, Bob, and Alyssa Hearin. “‘Hatchet Man Road’ Continues to Creep Out Drivers in Van Buren County.” FOX 17, 31 Oct. 2016.
GhostQuest.net. “28th Avenue — ‘Hatchet Man Road.’” Haunted Locations: Michigan. Accessed 27 Aug. 2026.
Mysterious Michigan. “The Strange Happenings on Hatchet Man Road.” Mysterious Michigan, story originally submitted ca. 2008.
Robinson, John. “HAUNTED MICHIGAN: Hatchet Man Road.” 99.1 WFMK, 26 Aug. 2016.
Robinson, John. “HAUNTED MICHIGAN: Hatchet Man Road Re-visited.” 99.1 WFMK, 28 Aug. 2017.
Robinson, John. “HAUNTED MICHIGAN: Pics of My Midnight Trip Down Hatchet Man Road.” 99.1 WFMK, 18 Sept. 2018.
 

In July 1999, Patricia “Patty” Artz disappeared from the Jackson County restaurant she owned with her husband, Kevin “Kip” Artz. What investigators discovered inside Kipp's Pizza and Taco became one of Michigan's most disturbing murder cases—and eventually spawned an enduring urban legend. But behind the sensational stories was a documented history of marital violence, statements about murder, a recent brain hemorrhage, an insanity defense, and a later claim of marijuana-induced psychosis. Malice in the Mitten separates court-documented fact from folklore and puts Patty back at the center of her own story.
#MaliceInTheMitten #PattyArtz #MichiganTrueCrime #JacksonMichigan #TrueCrimePodcast
Hosted, edited and produced by Tracy Preston, featuring Christine Mulligan.
Researched and written by Tracy Preston
Original music created exclusively for Malice in the Mitten by Tracy Preston
Original artwork created by Todd Preston
Sources:
People of the State of Michigan v. Kevin Lloyd Artz. No. 233471. Michigan Court of Appeals, 24 Apr. 2003. Justia.
Artz, Kevin Lloyd v. Paul Klee. No. 14-2035. United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, 11 Mar. 2016. Justia.
Di Forti, Marta, et al. “The Contribution of Cannabis Use to Variation in the Incidence of Psychotic Disorder across Europe (EU-GEI): A Multicentre Case-Control Study.” The Lancet Psychiatry, vol. 6, no. 5, 2019, pp. 427–436.
Murrie, Benjamin, et al. “Transition of Substance-Induced, Brief, and Atypical Psychoses to Schizophrenia: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis.” Schizophrenia Bulletin, vol. 46, no. 3, 2020, pp. 505–516.
United States Department of Justice, National Drug Intelligence Center. National Drug Threat Assessment 2008. U.S. Department of Justice. Marijuana Potency Monitoring Project data.
“Chef Faces Trial over ‘Cooking Wife in Eaterie.’” Irish Examiner, 2 Mar. 2001.

This week on Round Robin, Tracy, Christine and Nina dig into the surprisingly strange history of bridal and couples showers—from Dutch dowry legends and Victorian gift-filled parasols to outdated etiquette rules, toilet-paper wedding dresses and the rise of modern Jack and Jill parties.
#RoundRobinPodcast #WeddingHistory #BridalShower #WeddingTraditions #CouplesShower
Hosted, edited and produced by Tracy Preston, featuring Christine and Nina Mulligan
Written by Tracy Preston
Original music created exclusively for Round Robin by Tracy Preston
Original artwork by Todd Preston
Sources:
“Bridal Shower.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation.
“Bridal Shower History: The Facts You Need to Know.” The Knot.
“Bridal Shower Etiquette.” Emily Post Institute.
“Old, New, Borrowed, Blue.” Victoria and Albert Museum, 17 Apr. 2024.
“Wedding Cake.” Royal Collection Trust.
“Christina Koch: Record-Breaking Spacewalker.” Guinness World Records, 2026.
You're Cordially Invited. Directed by Nicholas Stoller, Amazon Studios, 2025. Prime Video.

Three Michigan brides. Three futures cut tragically short. At Morris Chapel near Niles, Kathryn is said to wait where her wedding should have begun. Along Milan-Oakville Road, a woman in white searches for help after a fatal crash. And inside Central Lake’s Blue Pelican Inn, a young bride may still be trying to complete the escape that ended with her death. This week on F-Bomb Friday, Tracy and Todd explore the history, folklore, and heartbreak behind Michigan’s ghostly brides—and ask why some promises refuse to stay buried.
#FBombFriday #MichiganGhostStories #HauntedMichigan #GhostlyBrides #MaliceInTheMitten
Hosted, edited and produced by Tracy Preston, featuring Todd Preston
Written by Tracy Preston
Original music created exclusively for F-Bomb by Tracy Preston
Original artwork by Todd Preston
Sources:
“Haunted History.” The Blue Pelican Inn & Restaurant, thebluepelican.com/haunted-history. Accessed 3 Sept. 2026.
“Haunted Locations: Michigan.” GhostQuest.net, ghostquest.net/haunted-places-michigan-usa. Accessed 3 Sept. 2026.
“The Legend of Morris Chapel.” Geocaching, created by Tsmola, 26 Apr. 2008, geocaching.com/geocache/GC1BM1F. Accessed 3 Sept. 2026.
“Murphy’s Lamplight Inn—The Blue Pelican Inn.” Haunted Places, hauntedplaces.org/item/murphys-lamplight-inn-the-blue-pelican-inn. Accessed 3 Sept. 2026.
Robinson, John. “The Ghostly Bride of the Blue Pelican: Central Lake, Michigan.” 99.1 WFMK, 24 Mar. 2020, 99wfmk.com/bluepelicaninn. Accessed 3 Sept. 2026.
Robinson, John. “The Graveyard Ghosts of Morris Chapel: Niles, Michigan.” 99.1 WFMK, updated 24 Apr. 2020, 99wfmk.com/haunted-morris-chapel. Accessed 3 Sept. 2026.
Robinson, John. “The Spectre of Milan-Oakville Road.” 99.1 WFMK, 9 Dec. 2019, 99wfmk.com/milan-oakville-road. Accessed 3 Sept. 2026.
Sonnenberg, Mike. “The Haunted Blue Pelican Inn.” Lost in Michigan, 28 Oct. 2025, lostinmichigan.net/the-haunted-blue-pelican-inn. Accessed 3 Sept. 2026.

Martin “Marty” Duram survived a devastating 1995 car crash, a coma and life-changing brain injuries before rebuilding his life in West Michigan. Years later, he reunited with his teenage love, Glenna Duram. But on May 12, 2015, Marty was shot five times inside their Newaygo County home. Glenna was found beside him with gunshot wounds to her head — and survived.
Investigators uncovered foreclosure problems, gambling, goodbye letters, disturbing cellphone searches involving the murder weapon and evidence prosecutors argued pointed toward a failed murder-suicide.
Then Marty's African grey parrot, Bud, began talking.
According to Marty's ex-wife, the bird repeatedly mimicked an argument between two voices that ended with the chilling words: “Don't fucking shoot.”
Did Bud witness a murder?
#MaliceInTheMitten #MartinDuram #GlennaDuram #MichiganTrueCrime#TrueCrimePodcast #BudTheParrot
Hosted, edited and produced by Tracy Preston, featuring Christine Mulligan.
Written by Tracy Preston
Original music created exclusively for Malice in the Mitten by Tracy Preston
Original artwork created by Todd Preston
Sources:
Michigan Court of Appeals. People of the State of Michigan v. Glenna Mary Duram. No. 340486, 30 Apr. 2019.
Michigan Supreme Court. People of the State of Michigan v. Glenna Mary Duram. No. 159805, 23 Dec. 2019.
CBS News / Associated Press. “Wife Convicted of Murder Apparently Witnessed by Pet Parrot.” CBS News, 21 July 2017.
CBS News / Associated Press. “Michigan Woman Gets Life for Murder in Parrot Case.” CBS Detroit, 29 Aug. 2017.
FOX 17 West Michigan. “‘Don't ****** Shoot!’ — Did Pet Parrot Witness Owner's Murder?” FOX 17, 24 June 2016.
FOX 17 West Michigan. “More Details Emerge in Newaygo Co. Murder Case.” FOX 17, 7 July 2016.
FOX 17 West Michigan. “Woman Found Guilty in Murder of Her Husband in Newaygo Co.” FOX 17, 19 July 2017.
ABC News. “Talking Parrot May Be the Sole Witness to a Homicide.” ABC News, 6 June 2016.
Lartey, Jamiles. “‘Don't Shoot’: Pet Parrot's Words May Be Used in Michigan Murder Trial.” The Guardian, 27 June 2016.
'Til Death Do Us Part. “Don't Shoot!” Season 1, episode 1, Investigation Discovery, 9 July 2019.
“Woman Was Alive at Homicide Scene for Hour Before Authorities Realized.” NBC reporting, Jan. 2016.