Moms and Mysteries: A True Crime Podcast

Shirley and Virgil Best were beloved, hardworking members of their Riverview, Florida, community. For forty-five years, they built a life centered around their faith, their family, and their successful tropical fish farm, Quality Fins. They were finally looking forward to a well-earned retirement traveling the world together in their RV.

But beneath the surface, the couple spent decades dealing with the constant crises of their oldest son, Robert Best. A convicted con artist who had once defrauded a blind woman out of nearly a million dollars, Robert was facing a new, deeply disturbing criminal trial set to begin on the morning of November 12, 2015. Hours before he was expected in court, Robert and his wife, Marisol Best, drove to his parents' home, supposedly to pray with them. Instead, they found Shirley and Virgil brutally shot to death.

While investigators initially confronted a staged burglary scene, the physical evidence quickly pointed to an insider. When a pair of missing handguns belonging to a family friend were uncovered, Marisol confessed to a crime that shocked the community. She admitted to shooting her mother and father-in-law after a tense argument about Robert's lack of family support, pulling the trigger just as they stood up to hold her hands and pray with her.

This week we cover the tragic murders of Shirley and Virgil Best, the bizarre web of manipulation surrounding their son, and the ultimate act of misguided loyalty that resulted in a double life sentence.

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For nearly two decades, one man told story after story about what happened to Natalee Holloway. He blamed other people, invented elaborate coverups, took money from her family in exchange for false information, and even confessed more than once, only to take it all back.

Many of us followed this case in real time as it dominated the news headlines for years. From Natalee's disappearance in Aruba in 2005, to Joran's arrest and conviction for the brutal murder of Stephany Flores Ramirez in Peru in 2010, to his eventual federal confession in 2023, the developments kept coming. But because the news came out in pieces over eighteen years, it was easy to lose track of how all the threads connected.

This week we are laying out the entire timeline from beginning to end to piece the whole story together in one place. We look at Joran's early warning signs, the devastating mistakes in the initial Aruban investigation, the sting operations, the second tragic murder that could have been prevented, and the confession that finally brought a form of resolution to a grieving mother.

If you lived through the news coverage of this case the way we did, this episode is the perfect way to see how the entire puzzle finally fits together.

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On the night of September 16, 2009, 24-year-old Mitrice Richardson was arrested at an upscale Malibu restaurant after behaving in ways that concerned both the staff and the responding deputies. She passed a field sobriety test. She was cooperative and calm throughout booking. And just after midnight, the Lost Hills Sheriff's Station opened its doors and let her walk out alone, without her car, into an area she had never been before.Her mother had already called the station to say something was wrong. The restaurant employees had said something was wrong. And still, Mitrice walked out into the dark.

Nearly a year later, her remains were found in a remote stretch of the Santa Monica Mountains known as Dark Canyon. The cause of death was listed as undetermined. And the controversy surrounding how she was treated that night, and how the scene was handled when her remains were finally discovered, has never been fully resolved.

This week we cover the full story of Mitrice Richardson, from her life in Southern California to the night everything went wrong, the year-long search, and the questions her family is still asking today.

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In March 2010, a middle-aged ex-convict named Lawrence Ray was released from prison after serving six months for child custody interference. With nowhere else to go, he moved into his daughter Talia's co-ed dormitory at Sarah Lawrence College, a small and prestigious liberal arts school just outside New York City. Talia had spent months telling her roommates that her father was a brilliant man who had been unfairly targeted by a corrupt government. So when he arrived, the students opened the door.

What began as a temporary stay quickly evolved into a decade of psychological terror, financial exploitation, and absolute domination. Larry positioned himself as a trusted mentor and therapist, conducting lengthy late-night sessions where he encouraged the students to reveal their deepest insecurities, family conflicts, and mental health struggles. Piece by piece, he assembled a detailed map of each student's vulnerabilities, which he eventually weaponized against them.

Through a combination of sleep deprivation, physical violence, and relentless interrogation, Larry convinced his followers that they had committed terrible acts, poisoned him, and destroyed his property. He forced them to write detailed false confessions in journals and on video, and then insisted they owed him hundreds of thousands of dollars in damages. To pay these fabricated debts, the students drained savings, borrowed from parents, performed grueling unpaid manual labor in North Carolina, and in one case, were coerced into commercial sex work.This is the story of how a master manipulator took over the minds of some of the brightest young people in the country, the New York Magazine investigation that exposed the truth, and the federal trial that finally brought him to justice.

Thank you to this week's sponsors!

For a limited time, Nutrafol is offering our listeners $10 off your first month’s subscription and free shipping when you visit Nutrafol.com and enter promo code MOMS.

And right now, IQBAR is offering our special podcast listeners 20% percent off all IQBAR products—including the Ultimate sampler pack—plus FREE shipping. Text MOMS 64000. Message and data rates may
apply. See terms for details.

New episodes every Tuesday and Thursday!

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*We realized after recording that we mispronounced the name of Traer, Iowa throughout this episode. We are sorry to anyone from Traer who had to listen to that!*

On the morning of June 18, 2021, a frantic 911 call led deputies to a quiet farmhouse in Traer, Iowa. Inside, they found 42-year-old Ryan Cooper, a beloved local farmer, slumped in his recliner. He had been shot twice in the face. His wife, Karina Cooper, was found clinging to his body, sobbing and claiming that a mysterious intruder had broken into their home while she and their three children slept upstairs. But as investigators began to peel back the layers of their seemingly ordinary family life, they realized the scene was not what it appeared to be.

Behind the scenes, detectives uncovered a secret affair between Karina and a local 22-year-old man named Huston Danker. Though both insisted their relationship was nothing more than a harmless online fantasy, their digital footprint told a far more sinister story. Investigators recovered messages where Karina referred to her husband as merely a sperm donor, fantasized about a rogue semi-truck accident taking him out, and openly discussed building a new life with Huston. When a half-million-dollar life insurance payout entered the picture, the pieces of a cold-blooded murder conspiracy fell into place.

In 2024, nearly three years after the murder, both Karina and Huston were arrested and charged with first-degree murder. Karina chose to take the stand in her own defense, a high-risk move that ultimately sealed her fate. Following a dramatic trial, a jury convicted her in just three hours, resulting in a mandatory life sentence. Just weeks later, as his own trial was set to begin, Huston unexpectedly changed his plea to guilty, bringing a final, shocking conclusion to a devastating case.

Thank you to this week's sponsors!

And right now, IQBAR is offering our special podcast listeners 20% off all IQBAR products—including the Ultimate sampler pack—plus FREE shipping. Text MOMS to 64000. Message and data rates may apply. See terms for details.

Elevate your summer wardrobe. Go to Quince.com/moms for free shipping on your order and 365-day returns. Now available in Canada, too.

New episodes every Tuesday and Thursday!

Follow us on Instagram: @momsandmysteries

Join our Patreon: patreon.com/momsandmysteries

Visit our website: momsandmysteries.com

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices