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In February 2021, 23-year-old Sandra Birchmore is found dead in her apartment in eastern Massachusetts. Officers quickly label the death a suicide. This news confounds her family, because Sandra was pregnant and planning for her future. And they worry about the mystery man she was dating—an older, married cop from her hometown.

If you or someone you know is in crisis, call or text 988 for the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline, or contact the Crisis Text Line by texting TALK to 741-741. Please take care while listening.

In February 2021, 23-year-old Sandra Birchmore is found dead in her apartment in eastern Massachusetts. Officers quickly label the death a suicide. This news confounds her family, because Sandra was pregnant and planning for her future. And they worry about the mystery man she was dating&mdash;an older, married cop from her hometown.
If you or someone you know is in crisis, call or text 988 for the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline, or contact the Crisis Text Line by texting TALK to 741-741. Please take care while listening.

For four seasons, investigative reporter Melissa Jeltsen has told the stories of women whose lives — and deaths — were shaped by the failures of the systems meant to protect them. Now she's widening her lens, with new episodes every week. In What Happened to Her, Melissa takes on the stories that won't let her go. Women whose deaths were too quickly ruled suicides. Women no one believed. Cases everyone else called closed. Some weeks, a mystery unfolds across multiple episodes. In others, Melissa sits down with fellow investigative journalists and podcast hosts to go behind the scenes on the cases — and the women — they just couldn't shake.

For four seasons, investigative reporter Melissa Jeltsen has told the stories of women whose lives &mdash; and deaths &mdash; were shaped by the failures of the systems meant to protect them. Now she's widening her lens, with new episodes every week. In What Happened to Her, Melissa takes on the stories that won't let her go. Women whose deaths were too quickly ruled suicides. Women no one believed. Cases everyone else called closed. Some weeks, a mystery unfolds across multiple episodes. In others, Melissa sits down with fellow investigative journalists and podcast hosts to go behind the scenes on the cases &mdash; and the women &mdash; they just couldn't shake.

What Happened to Her

Sandra Birchmore: Part 1

https://api.omny.fm/orgs/e73c998e-6e60-432f-8610-ae210140c5b1/clips/a1eaa5c1-fa4f-43c1-9834-b4e200f9115d/transcript

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When Isolde Raftery was in her senior year of high school in the late 90s, the budding journalist and her best friend published a piece in the school newspaper that deeply fractured — even shattered — the image the school had of itself. Not only that, it led the two teenage friends to believe they were responsible for the death of a teacher, who died by suicide. Twenty-five years later, Isolde, now managing editor at KUOW, and her friend Ella, a civil rights attorney, reinvestigate their own story to get to the bottom of the guilt they carried, in a fantastic podcast called, Adults in the Room. In this episode of What Happened to Her, Melissa Jeltsen talks to Isolde about the web of grooming and abuse they uncovered, what it was like to turn her investigative lens on herself, and how the story has changed her perspective of what they and their fellow students experienced. 

If you or someone you know is in crisis, call or text 988 for the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline, or contact the Crisis Text Line by texting TALK to 741-741. Please take care while listening. 

When Isolde Raftery was in her senior year of high school in the late 90s, the budding journalist and her best friend published a piece in the school newspaper that deeply fractured &mdash; even shattered &mdash; the image the school had of itself. Not only that, it led the two teenage friends to believe they were responsible for the death of a teacher, who died by suicide. Twenty-five years later, Isolde, now managing editor at KUOW, and her friend Ella, a civil rights attorney, reinvestigate their own story to get to the bottom of the guilt they carried, in a fantastic podcast called, Adults in the Room. In this episode of What Happened to Her, Melissa Jeltsen talks to Isolde about the web of grooming and abuse they uncovered, what it was like to turn her investigative lens on herself, and how the story has changed her perspective of what they and their fellow students experienced.&nbsp;
If you or someone you know is in crisis, call or text 988 for the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline, or contact the Crisis Text Line by texting TALK to 741-741. Please take care while listening.&nbsp;

Isolde Raftery

https://api.omny.fm/orgs/e73c998e-6e60-432f-8610-ae210140c5b1/clips/76514434-00d4-418e-930a-b4db00fb194d/transcript

Lisette Johnson survived what almost no one does: her husband shot her, then killed himself. Murder-suicides happen every week in America, and they usually disappear after a local headline — with the perpetrator dead, there's no trial, no unfolding story. Except, Lisette lived, and what she told Melissa Jeltsen has shaped how she's covered these cases ever since.

When a murder-suicide made national news this spring — Virginia's former Lieutenant Governor Justin Fairfax killed his wife, Dr. Cerina Fairfax, then himself — Melissa thought of Lisette. In this first episode of What Happened to Her, Lisette shares her story.

If you or someone you know is experiencing domestic violence, please visit the National Domestic Violence Hotline at thehotline.org or call them at 800.799.SAFE for free, confidential support 24 hours a day.

Lisette Johnson survived what almost no one does: her husband shot her, then killed himself. Murder-suicides happen every week in America, and they usually disappear after a local headline &mdash; with the perpetrator dead, there's no trial, no unfolding story. Except, Lisette lived, and what she told Melissa Jeltsen has shaped how she's covered these cases ever since.
When a murder-suicide made national news this spring &mdash; Virginia's former Lieutenant Governor Justin Fairfax killed his wife, Dr. Cerina Fairfax, then himself &mdash; Melissa thought of Lisette. In this first episode of What Happened to Her, Lisette shares her story.
If you or someone you know is experiencing domestic violence, please visit the National Domestic Violence Hotline at <a href="http://thehotline.org">thehotline.org</a> or call them at 800.799.SAFE for free, confidential support 24 hours a day.

Lisette Johnson

https://api.omny.fm/orgs/e73c998e-6e60-432f-8610-ae210140c5b1/clips/b74249bf-8243-4ee6-8d8d-b4d40100c6c9/transcript

Introducing … What Happened to Her

https://api.omny.fm/orgs/e73c998e-6e60-432f-8610-ae210140c5b1/clips/cb201602-984c-40c5-9529-b4cd00df80d9/transcript

Sandra Birchmore: Part 1

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What Happened to Her

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