By 1901, Laura Bullion had traded the ranches of her childhood for life with the Wild Bunch, the outlaw gang associated with Butch Cassisy and the Sundance Kid, and took part in the Great Northern train robbery that would eventually send her to prison. After years spent waiting for Ben Kilpatrick, she reinvented herself as a seamstress in Memphis, leaving the people around her with no idea about the life she had once lived.

In this episode of Zone 7, Sheryl McCollum welcomes back New York Times bestselling author Chris Enss to talk about Laura Bullion and her newest book, The Last Ride. Chris shares the circumstances that connected Laura to the Wild Bunch, what her prison letters tell us about her relationship with Ben Kilpatrick, and why women like Laura have been largely overlooked in the history of the American West.

Highlights:

(0:00) Sheryl welcomes Chris Enss and introduces Laura Bullion, the little-known female outlaw of the Wild Bunch

(1:15) Laura’s childhood in Texas and the circumstances that put her among cowboys who would later turn to crime

(4:45) The complicated relationship between Laura and Will Carver, and how he connected her to the Wild Bunch

(7:15) Laura’s role in the 1901 Great Northern train robbery and the gang’s refuge at Hole-in-the-Wall

(8:45) How the famous Fort Worth Five photograph helped the Pinkerton detectives identify members of the Wild Bunch

(11:45) What Laura’s prison letters tell us about her dysfunctional relationship with Ben Kilpatrick

(14:30) Laura Bullion’s mugshot, her aliases, and the years surrounding the train robbery

(17:15) Remembering Laura as a criminal in her own right

(20:00) How brothels like Fannie Porter’s became a home base for members of the Wild Bunch

(22:45) Why the women of the American West, including female criminals, remain largely absent from popular history

(27:45) Laura leaves the outlaw life behind, becomes “Freda Lincoln,” and spends her later years as a seamstress in Memphis

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Chris Enss is a New York Times bestselling author who has spent more than three decades researching and writing about women of the American West. She has written more than two dozen books highlighting women whose contributions, adventures, and crimes have often been overlooked in traditional accounts of Western History.

Chris Enss’s The Last Ride tells the story of Laura Bullion and her life with the Wild Bunch.

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Sheryl “Mac” McCollum is an active crime scene investigator for a metro Atlanta police department and the director of the Cold Case Investigative Research Institute, which partners with colleges and universities nationwide. With more than four decades of experience, she has worked on thousands of cold cases using her investigative system, The Last 24/361, which integrates evidence, media, and advanced forensic testing.

Her work on high-profile cases, including The Boston Strangler, Natalie Holloway, Tupac Shakur and the Moore’s Ford Bridge lynching, led to her Emmy Award for CSI: Atlanta and induction into the National Law Enforcement Hall of Fame in 2023.

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Email: coldcase2004@gmail.com●

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Sheryl’s new book, Swans Don’t Swim in a Sewer: Solving the Cold Case of the Flint River Killer’s Daughter, is available now wherever books are sold.