Episodes

The California Relief Administration (SRA) was the precursor to what today we know as the Employment Development Department. In 1941, an SRA employee was murdered by a relief recipient. If you'd like to support the Notorious Bakersfield podcast, you can buy me a coffee. Visit here to make a donation: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/Notorious Visit the Notorious Bakersfield website: https://www.notoriousbakersfield.com/ Email: notoriousbakersfield@gmail.com

Bill and Dorothy Gutierrez were having marital problems. The terror that took place in their Country Club Drive home on October 9, 1990, shocked the entire city of Bakersfield. Purchase the Friday The 13th Tour Here: https://fridaythe13thtour.supercast.com/ If you'd like to support the Notorious Bakersfield podcast, you can buy me a coffee. Visit here to make a donation: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/Notorious Visit the Notorious Bakersfield website: https://www.notoriousbakersfield.com/ Emai...

Here's an update regarding Episode 38: The Supermarket Rapist. Purchase the Notorious Bakersfield Friday The 13th audio tour here: https://fridaythe13thtour.supercast.com/

Al "The Snake Man" Robbins entertained Bakersfield area school children for nearly five decades. The magician used live snakes to captivate his audience's attention. This is his story. If you'd like to support the Notorious Bakersfield podcast, you can buy me a coffee. Visit here to make a donation: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/Notorious Visit the Notorious Bakersfield website: https://www.notoriousbakersfield.com/ Email: notoriousbakersfield@gmail.com

Glenda Jean Hough went missing April 1, 1984. Eight months later her car-with her body inside- was discovered submerged in a canal. Kern County officials ruled her death an accident. Glenda's family doesn't agree. If you'd like to support the Notorious Bakersfield podcast, you can buy me a coffee. Visit here to make a donation: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/Notorious Visit the Notorious Bakersfield website: https://www.notoriousbakersfield.com/ Email: notoriousbakersfield@gmail.com

Alicia Manning was only three weeks away from graduating from CSUB when she was brutally murdered. Notorious Bakersfield takes a look back at that tragedy that shocked the entire CSUB community. If you'd like to support the Notorious Bakersfield podcast, you can buy me a coffee. Visit here to make a donation: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/Notorious Visit the Notorious Bakersfield website: https://www.notoriousbakersfield.com/ Email: notoriousbakersfield@gmail.com

What was Amelia Earhart's husband doing in Bakersfield two years after she went missing? Learn all about that incident in this episode. If you'd like to support the Notorious Bakersfield podcast, you can buy me a coffee. Visit here to make a donation: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/Notorious Visit the Notorious Bakersfield website: https://www.notoriousbakersfield.com/ Email: notoriousbakersfield@gmail.com

When the father of the leading candidate for California Attorney General is killed in 1938, it becomes a sensational news story. Matt Warren, Earl Warren's father, was brutally murdered in his home on Niles Street. This is one of Bakersfield's most mysterious puzzles. If you'd like to support the Notorious Bakersfield podcast, you can buy me a coffee. Visit here to make a donation: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/Notorious Visit the Notorious Bakersfield website: https://www.notoriousbakersfiel...

Judge Alan Klein was in his chambers on Sunday, March 26, 1995. For someone devoted to his job like Judge Klein, it wasn't unusual to find him at the courthouse working on a weekend. But on this particular Sunday afternoon, the Judge was hoping to mix a little pleasure with his work. If you'd like to support the Notorious Bakersfield podcast, you can buy me a coffee. Visit here to make a donation: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/Notorious Visit the Notorious Bakersfield website: https://www.notor...

On the evening of November 21, 1992, Three members of the Kammeyer family were discovered brutally murdered in their home on Gibson Street next door to the Bakersfield Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. The dead were 50-year-old John Kammeyer Sr, his wife Alana Kammeyer age 49, and John Allen Kammeyer age 24. When the pieces to this murder investigation began falling into place, three teenagers, including a family member of the deceased, were named suspects. Kern County Sheriff Of...

Merle Haggard was probably the most well-known person born and raised in Bakersfield. His career as a Country and Western singer, songwriter, and entertainer spanned over 50 years. Notorious Bakersfield takes a look back at this Bakersfield icon's criminal past. If you'd like to support the Notorious Bakersfield podcast, you can buy me a coffee. Visit here to make a donation: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/Notorious Visit the Notorious Bakersfield website: https://www.notoriousbakersfield.com/ ...

In 1967, A Kern County Sheriff Deputy discovered the lifeless body of Dominga "Dee" Montoya in a 24-hour laundromat. Because of the brutal nature of this crime, and the fact that the victim was a secretary for a California lawmaker, this murder mystery made headlines throughout the state. If you'd like to support the Notorious Bakersfield podcast, you can buy me a coffee. Visit here to make a donation: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/Notorious Visit the Notorious Bakersfield website: https://www...

In the late 1980s in Bakersfield, there was a serial rapist targeting women who were alone in grocery store parking lots. This predator became known as "The Supermarket Rapist". Congratulate Elvis Barber, on winning the Notorious Bakersfield drawing of two one-day passes to this year's March Meet. These passes were generously provided by Fomoso Dragstrip If you'd like to support the Notorious Bakersfield podcast, you can buy me a coffee. Visit here to make a donation: https://www.buymeacoffee....

The March Meet drags are Notorious not only in Bakersfield but around the world. Every year race Fans flock to the Fomoso Dragstrip to witness a legacy of racing that dates back 63 years. You'll want to listen to this episode all the way to the end to find out how you can win two one-day passes to this year's March Meet. These passes were generously donated by Fomoso Dragstrip. March Meet Drawing https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/G37CR5Y Fomoso Dragstrip https://famosodragstrip.com/ If you'd li...

What makes a story rise to the notorious level? I look back to see how long a story remained in the headlines of the Bakersfield Californian. That's probably the main determining factor. The next is to see if the story made news outside of Bakersfield. The crime you'll hear about on this episode checks both of those boxes. It remained in the news for weeks and made headlines across the country...probably because this story was so scandalous for the times. It involved sex, murder, and three elem...

Late in the morning of August 15th, the coffee shop at the Ramada Inn was still busy serving breakfast. The restaurant's manager Roberta Plank was working the cash register. The Ramada Inn's general manager, Warren Bruce, popped into the coffee shop. The two were standing at the cash register having a conversation...probably about the weather...when a man dressed in a business suit, calmly walked in and told Roberta to call the police. He'd just shot a man in the parking lot. This is the story o...

There are a lot of rumors out there floating around about the historic Padre Hotel in downtown Bakersfield. Many of them are 100 percent false. Most of these stories aren't based on any evidence whatsoever. These rumors have given this iconic Bakersfield landmark an unfortunate reputation. However, this Notorious Bakersfield story you're about to hear about the Padre is documented, verifiable, and true. If you'd like to support the Notorious Bakersfield podcast, you can buy me a coffee. Visit ...

Other than Col. Thomas Baker, who Bakersfield was named after, George and Julius Chester, who Chester Ave is named after, and Country music stars Buck Owens and Merle Haggard, I can't think of another name more closely associated with Bakersfield than the Beale family name. I interviewed William Cooke, the author of the recently released book Truxtun and Marie Beale for his insights into this family whose members have figured prominently not only in Bakersfield and Kern County's history...but o...

In 1984, fast-moving fire in a hardware store in Pasadena killed four people. In January of 1987, a string of fires broke out in several different retail stores in the California Central Valley...two in Bakersfield, two stores in Tulare, and two more in Fresno. Thankfully, unlike the Pasadena fire, the destruction from these fires in the Central Valley was limited to property damage...no lives were lost. In the next several years, more suspicious fires...dozens actually...were set in the South...

There's no denying that It's unusual for a newspaper to give a prison inmate a platform to share commentary and opinions. But that's what The Bakersfield Californian did in the early 1970s. Management at the Californian was so impressed with Gene Herrington, an inmate at the Tehachapi Correctional Institution, that they regularly featured his writings in their newspaper. When Herrington was paroled in 1973, he relocated to Bakersfield and then to Shafter and got a job with the County of Kern. ...

In 1972 a seven-year-old boy named Steven Stayner was abducted while he walked home from school in Merced, CA. His case drug on and went unsolved for so long, most people gave up any hope that Steven would ever be found alive. In 1980 Steven Stayner was found...alive. For over seven years-from age seven to the fourteen-the boy had been held captive by a child predator named Kenneth Parnell. You're probably asking yourself, Merced is over 150 miles from Bakersfield...almost a three-hour drive...w...

During Christmas 1984 through to the New Year, the faithful and curious alike flocked to an East Bakersfield home to view what some claimed to be that of an apparition of the Virgin Mary. This is the story about The Virgin Mary In Bakersfield. If you'd like to support the Notorious Bakersfield podcast, you can buy me a coffee. Visit here to make a donation: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/Notorious Visit the Notorious Bakersfield website: https://www.notoriousbakersfield.com/ Email: notoriousbak...

In 1989, Kenneth Obney and a companion were ambushed by an assailant wearing a Santa costume in the parking lot of a Denny's restaurant in Bakersfield. If you'd like to support the Notorious Bakersfield podcast, you can buy me a coffee. Visit here to make a donation: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/Notorious Visit the Notorious Bakersfield store to purchase a tshirt: https://www.etsy.com/listing/1125833829/me ns-t-shirt?ref=shop_home_active_1&frs=1 Visit the Notorious Bakersfield website: https:...

In the previous episode of the Notorious Bakersfield podcast, you learned about Rudy "Cheyenne" Cadena's crimes, his rise in the ranks of the Mexican Mafia, and his assassination. For this episode, you'll learn about the 1975 double murder of two Bakersfield brothers that was in retaliation for Cheyenne's death. If you'd like to support the Notorious Bakersfield podcast, you can buy me a coffee. Visit here to make a donation: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/Notorious Visit the Notorious Bakersfie...