Moms and Mysteries: A True Crime Podcast · Moms and Mysteries Podcast

Janie Ballard: A Daughter's Deadly Greed

·43 min·2 clips

Mike allegedly gave Leslie an outfit, a knife, and a script for where to stab Janie.

1. Moms and Mysteries: A True Crime Podcast covers the killing of Janie Ballard in Little Rock, Arkansas, and the family conflict around her daughter Leslie McCool. 2. Hosts Mandy and Melissa narrate the case, while friend and crime scene specialist Mickey Holloway matters because he found Janie’s body. 3. The episode asks how Leslie McCool, raised in a prominent Little Rock family, became accused of killing her mother for money. 4. Janie and Lester Ballard built Little Rock Blueprint Company, lived across from Allsop Park, and were known around town as successful and well-liked. 5. Leslie went to Mount St. Mary Academy, studied at Westminster in Missouri and the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville, and later earned an MBA. 6. The Ballard marriage broke after Lester’s alcoholism, and Janie filed for divorce when Leslie was six. 7. Leslie became close to Janie again as an adult, shopping with her, eating lunch with her, and working at the family business. 8. Leslie met Michael Raymond McCool at the Little Rock Athletic Club in August 2000 while doing crunches. 9. Mike was 46, Leslie was 24, and he had a teenage second-degree murder charge from 1972 in his past. 10. Janie and Lester investigated Mike and found arrests, restraining orders, bankruptcies, and domestic disputes. 11. Leslie moved Mike into her condo by December 2000, and friends said she changed her appearance, including bleach-blonde hair, implants, and short shorts. 12. Mike’s ex-wife Tina already had a restraining order against him for stalking and harassment. 13. Leslie and Mike became estranged from Janie and Lester by 2002, and Leslie later sued her parents over the condo before the suit ended with a $50,000 payment. 14. Lester died in August 2003, and Leslie learned too late that she had missed his funeral. 15. A September 7 meeting between Leslie and Janie turned bitter when Janie said Lester had changed his will and Leslie would receive $25,000 instead of $750,000. 16. The episode says Mike read a will clause stating that if Janie died within 30 days of Lester, Leslie would inherit the estate. 17. Leslie later described Mike giving her a black turtleneck, ski pants, gloves, a mask, oversized shoes, and a butcher knife, along with instructions to stage a burglary. 18. The story describes Leslie waiting by the garage, entering when Janie opened the door, cutting the phone line, and leaving with jewelry, coins, and Janie’s car. 19. The tone stays conversational and detail-heavy, with Mandy and Melissa interrupting for reactions, jokes, and disbelief at the will clause and police interviews. 20. Listeners who follow family conflict, inheritance fights, and Arkansas true crime will get the most from it; listeners wanting a short recap of a solved case may skip it.

As heard by us

A missing Cadillac, a contested inheritance, and a 30-day clause give this family case its chill.

Moms and Mysteries starts in a hushed Little Rock weekend, with Janie Ballard missing, her Cadillac gone, and attention shifting toward her daughter Leslie and Leslie's older husband, Mike.

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Why you'd press play

Press play if a missing Cadillac and a 30-day inheritance clause sound like a particularly bad Saturday.

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