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

The Impossible Murder of Julia Wallace

·32 min·2 clips

William returned home to locked doors, a silent Julia Wallace, and a parlor scene lit by a match.

1. Moms and Mysteries: A True Crime Podcast covers the 1931 murder of Julia Wallace in Liverpool and the case’s “phantom phone call” to 25 Menlove Gardens East. 2. Mandy and Melissa host the episode, and their back-and-forth gives the case a conversational true-crime format while they track the timeline and evidence. 3. The episode asks whether William Wallace staged an alibi with a fake call or whether someone else used the call to send him away from 29 Wolverton Street. 4. The story begins on January 19th, 1931, when R.M. Qualtrough phoned the City Café and asked for Mr. Wallace about “a matter of business.” 5. The address given on the call, 25 Menlove Gardens East, did not exist, which made the entire appointment look suspicious from the start. 6. On January 20th, William left home for his chess-club appointment, used trams across Liverpool, and searched for the nonexistent Menlove Gardens East. 7. He asked Constable James for directions, checked the post office directory on Allerton Road, and eventually returned to Wolverton Street around 8:45 p.m. 8. William found the front door stuck, the kitchen door bolted, and the neighbors Mr. and Mrs. Johnston outside when he could not get in. 9. After striking a match in the dark parlor, he found Julia lying face down near the unlit gas fireplace with severe head injuries. 10. Professor McFall of the University of Liverpool examined the body at about 9:50 p.m. and estimated Julia died around 6 p.m., later widening the window to 4 to 8 p.m. but no later than 8 p.m. 11. The episode emphasizes that there was no sign of forced entry, no clear struggle, and no neighbor who reported hearing anything. 12. Jane Sarah Draper, the part-time housekeeper, told police that the kitchen poker and a heavy iron bar were missing from the house. 13. Investigators also focused on the bathroom, where they found a small bloodstain and wondered whether the killer had tried to wash up. 14. Police tested the front-door lock and found it defective, which undercut the idea that William had carefully staged the locked-house scene. 15. A later reenactment changed the timeline again and reopened a 15-minute window that could fit a murder at 6:31 p.m. 16. The Crown argued that William had disguised his voice on the phone, while the defense said there was no motive, no debt, and no tangible proof. 17. On April 25th, 1931, the jury found William guilty after about one hour of deliberation and the judge sentenced him to death by hanging. 18. The appeal on May 20th, 1931 quashed the conviction, and William told reporters he was “beyond feeling” after 91 days on death row. 19. The episode’s tone is conversational and investigative, with Mandy and Melissa pausing to question details, react to odd facts, and compare theories. 20. Listeners who like classic British true crime, courtroom disputes, and locked-room puzzles will get the most from this episode.

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