Most Notorious! A True Crime History Podcast · Blue Ewe Media

MoNo Encore: The Car Barn Murders w/ Karen Smith

·1 hr 12 min·4 clips

Emery Smith left his overnight post, and investigators later found him shot four times in the head near Rock Creek Bridge.

Eric opens with a mono encore he calls one of his all-time favorites. He welcomes Karen Smith back and sets up the 1935 Carr Barn murders as a case worth another look. Karen is a longtime forensic detective with deep experience, and she comes across as smart, articulate, and easy to follow. The conversation starts with the basic outline of the investigation, then moves into why Tony the Stinger Cugino drew so much attention. Karen explains that he was wanted for all kinds of stuff, so putting him down would have meant real recognition for the detectives chasing him. She traces his path through the Augie gang, then the Purple Gang in Detroit, then a short run with Capone in Chicago. Capone, she says, realized Tony was too uncontrolled, too bloodthirsty, and too nasty to keep around, so Tony was kicked out and sent on his way. He later returned to Philadelphia and helped form the Tri-State gang. The detective work becomes the next focus. Karen describes how Washington detectives and Montgomery County detectives both worked the case, but the Washington side was not as clean as it seemed. The Montgomery County detectives kept digging, but once the trail led into Washington, D.C., they had no jurisdiction and no real cooperation from Washington anymore. After about a year, the effort fractured and everyone was left to work on their own. Eric closes by thanking her and pointing listeners toward the show notes and her podcast, Shattered Souls: The Car Barn Murders.

As heard by us

A patient true-crime history conversation that keeps the detective work and human stakes in view.

The episode treats the Carr Barn murders as a serious case study, not a pulp mystery. Karen Smith comes across as a seasoned forensic detective and a steady storyteller, and the focus stays on the investigation, the people around it, and the limits the detectives faced.

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Why you'd press play

You want Karen Smith unraveling the 1935 Carr Barn murders, with Washington and Montgomery County running into jurisdiction limits.

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

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