November BONUS - Author Rod Sadler

November 19, 2025·31 min·2 clips

Ron Bailey admitted on the stand to kidnapping as many as 12 to 15 young boys, and investigators suspect additional victims in Florida and Ohio.

The bonus format slows things down. Nina sits with Rod Sadler to talk about his book Depraved Obsession, with Ron Bailey at the center of it. Sadler says the serial killer label fits because Bailey attacked one victim in 1977 and later killed two more people. One question still hangs there. Both Nina and Sadler treat additional victims as possible, but they keep their feet on the record. Then the conversation gets into the trial machinery. Sadler explains how Bailey's defense tried to use Dr. Tombo and alleged abuse at a psychiatric hospital to argue insanity. Nina does not brush past that. She frames the allegation as an assault on someone placed in a doctor's care, and Sadler agrees that the moral weight matters. Northville is part of the story. Nina adds local context, saying Northville Downs would have been the obvious place to take a patient to the races. Canada makes less sense to her. If the point was horse racing, she says, there was no clear reason to take Bailey out of the country. Sadler adds trial context. He says Dr. Tombo first offered help while Bailey was on the run in Florida, but wanted the Canada trip left out. That caveat mattered. According to Sadler, Bailey's father Alfred then realized Bailey's account of the relationship with Tombo was true. The interview stays careful, separating the defense claim from Sadler's view that Bailey's violence had started long before those hospital events. The close is practical: Sadler points listeners to his author pages, social platforms, book trailers, and Amazon listings. Nina promises links in the show notes, thanks him, and ends with her usual reminder to be safe.

As heard by us

A clear, interview-led look at a notorious Michigan case.

This November bonus episode stays closest to the case when it sticks to Rod Sadler's account. It walks through Ron Bailey's crimes, the serial killer question, and the possibility of more victims without trying to hurry any of it along, which suits the material.

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Why you'd press play

A sober true-crime bonus episode that gives you an author-led walk through the Ron Bailey case.

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

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