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Suitcase Divas: Travel Agent Tips, Tricks & Travel Tales
Join co-hosts Denise and Cheryl as they chat about the journey of life and how travel plays an intricate role in navigating its twists and turns. Whether it's sharing travel tips, swapping stories over a glass of wine or mimosa, or welcoming special guests, there's always something new to explore! Grab your suitcase, pour a drink, and let’s dive into the adventure of life together—because travel makes everything better!
Suitcase Divas: Travel Agent Tips, Tricks & Travel Tales
Travel Tales Turned Tragic: True Crime and Vacation Nightmares with Kim from Slaycation Part 1
Ever wondered what happens when your dream vacation takes a dark turn? This week, we’re sitting down with Kim from the Slaycation podcast, where travel meets true crime in the most chilling way. Kim, along with her husband Adam and friend Jerry, dives deep into vacation stories that went horrifyingly wrong—bringing her background in social work and a keen eye for human behavior into the mix.
In this episode, Kim spills the tea on how Slaycation came to life, blending her true crime obsession with a passion for storytelling. We get into some jaw-dropping cases, like the sinister Henthorne murder and the twisted tale of Joel Guy Jr., breaking down the red flags and eerie circumstances behind them. But it’s not just about the crimes—we also talk about the delicate balance between humor and respect when telling these stories, the importance of honoring victims, and the unsettling mystery of a 14-year-old boy’s disappearance in Aruba.
So, grab your favorite drink, settle in, and join us as we unpack the dark side of travel with Kim. Trust us, you won’t look at your next vacation the same way again!
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Hey guys, so welcome back to all of our travel lovers, thrill seekers and fellow adventurers. This is an episode of Suitcase Divas where we typically talk about, you know, hidden gems and all inclusives and all the amazing places that you could possibly stay. But what happens if your vacay turns into a slay-cay? Well, today's guest knows all about the dark side of travels gone wrong and you know when I say gone wrong, like either you're lost at sea or you're killed at an all-inclusive anything. Either way, it doesn't end well. It's not going to be your ideal travel situation. You see what I'm saying.
Speaker 2:Yes, so we are thrilled and maybe a little nervous because of these stories, to welcome Kim, one of the three co-hosts of Slaycation podcast. The show dives into the chilling true crime stories of vacations gone horribly wrong. I'm super excited about this because I love true crime true crime podcast. It's kind of part of how I got into listening to podcasts and I used to crime true crime podcasts. It's kind of how part of how I got into listening to podcasts and I used to read the true crime books, so it was really interesting to hear this side of it. I do want to give a disclaimer slash, warning that this episode we do talk about death, we talk about murder, we do some descriptive talking about, like, what happens to some of the victims. So if this isn't your cup of tea, this might be the suitcase divas episode you skip. But we are very excited to introduce you guys to Kim from Slaycation. Yay, awesome.
Speaker 1:So let's welcome Kim from Slaycation podcast. Hi Hi, kim, welcome Welcome.
Speaker 3:Kim, thanks for having me.
Speaker 1:Absolutely so. Before Slication, you were a true crime listener and you did a lot of knitting and kind of binge listening to true crimes. What inspired you to actually go ahead and start a podcast about that?
Speaker 3:Well, you know, it's interesting because I never thought that I would be doing that. It just so happened that my husband had an idea for a show and he was thinking about Slaycation as a TV show, because his company develops TV shows and podcasts now and he happened to mention it to me and I just kind of rattled off a couple of cases that I just have heard. Through my years of just consuming this content, it was kind of always my thing, like I am the OG of true crime, like I been doing it before DNA. Oh right, like you know, my husband met me, um, when we first met and we started dating, um, he always tells the story of when he had first come to my house and my bookshelf was just all true crime nonfiction and yeah.
Speaker 3:I was like that person that just read a lot, but that was the you know material that I read and yeah, it was like I was reading about the Green River Killer before DNA identified who he was.
Speaker 1:Maybe you were a detective in your past.
Speaker 3:I you know I must have been, because I always joke how I missed my calling. Yeah, because you know, I'm like, oh my God, there were so many things I could have done. What was I thinking? But yeah, so I really. That's where it started. And then, when my husband and his business partner, who both of them are my co-hosts, took the leap into podcasting, we decided you know what we can do a true crime podcast. And we began. Began, and thus the birth of slaycation, which, uh is a podcast on uh murders, mysterious deaths and disappearances while away on vacation what a great name and a great concept.
Speaker 3:Like you grabbed those two markets and just that's awesome, yeah and, yeah, my husband, yeah, adam, he is the brains behind the operation. That, yeah, so, and you know it's yep, there is.
Speaker 1:Nice, nice, awesome, well. And so, like you said, adam's your husband, he kind of came with it, and then Jerry. So was Jerry and Adam kind of like a package deal working together, and then you guys all came up with the, the whole podcast. How does, how do you guys know, jerry?
Speaker 3:well, jerry is actually my husband's business partner and okay, long time friend, like we've been friends forever um adam and jerry met in college.
Speaker 1:Um okay, because you can tell there's a history there. You guys can tell you guys are best great vibe yeah yeah, no, it's, it's, it's great, like I love.
Speaker 3:I love Jerry, I love his husband, I love them. We go way back. You figure, me and my husband have been together now almost 31 years and, um, I've known, um, wow, yeah, I've known Jerry almost as you're like wait, I'm not, we're not that old. Where does the time go? Don't even get me started. You know I used to always joke like I remembered when I started getting older, like my mother would start lying about my age.
Speaker 2:Yes, I know what that's like. My oldest is 27. Oh girl.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:So when I say that I don't know what I'm going to do when she gets to 30. I don't know how I'm going to handle that. Oh my God, I might just be like I have girls in their 20s. That might be my answer, Right, exactly.
Speaker 1:Go with the younger one. That's a great plan, Sharon.
Speaker 2:So, before Slaycation, how did your background as a social worker in domestic violence shape the way you approached telling true crime stories?
Speaker 3:Well, you know the thing about even my work in that field, you know, having worked with, you know I've worked with women who were dealing with addictions and homelessness and women who were dealing with domestic violence situations. Now, one of the things about me and I guess a lot of and I find that it just overlaps and kind of you know the podcasting and the work that I've done is that I have always been a student of people. Like I find people fascinating, people fascinate me, I just find people interesting and you know, and that's how it lends itself, like even my work now as a podcaster is sort of looking at all the players and, you know, just trying to, you know, while telling the story, kind of come to it with sort of an understanding of some sorts, kind of come to it with sort of an understanding of some sorts, as best as I could like where and how did we get here? How did we get here? How did we get here?
Speaker 3:You know, like the first case that we did was the Henthorne case. It was Toni Henthorne, her husband why am I forgetting his name? But Harold, and they got together and you know it was the second marriage for each of them and you know they married and had a daughter and he ended up killing her. And you know, while I was looking at that case, I was just really struck by how vulnerable she was.
Speaker 1:She didn't see the red flags Girl she.
Speaker 3:I mean those red flags, man, they were like in, you know, I mean there were just so many red flags, you know, but by the time that she started to realize that she was in danger it was too late. I mean, there were just so many things with him like, yeah, like controlling the money, like that. You know, she was the primary wage earner, and not that you can't have. You know, families have different ways of working out their finances, and you know. But I take that, I understand Look, maybe it's just me, but I understand, marriage is a partnership and make decisions together. I, you know, this idea to me that someone's in charge is kind of fucking crazy because, yeah, right, we get it, yeah, and. But he was in charge of the finances, he dictated how the money was spent. He dictated how the money was spent.
Speaker 3:She had a lucrative practice in Louisiana, but you know, and she was, I would presume, happy settled there, raising her daughter there. Her family was nearby. I mean, all the things that we would want, like our families are nearby, da-da-da-da. What does he do? He decides that they need to move. So he uproots his family. Yeah, they isolate, yeah, exactly, moves them to Colorado. Yeah, she doesn't know. She was blind, right. No, exactly, and it was just like one of those things, too, where it's like you know he would. You know, like he had it so that when her phone would ring or she got messages on her phone, they would come to his phone as well. That's, yeah, that's absolutely weird. Yeah, it is what the hell it's like. That's what I did to my 13 year old.
Speaker 1:Okay, right, exactly, but there's a, there's a reason to parent at that point Like she's a grown adult.
Speaker 3:That's just controlling reason to parent at that point, like she's a grown adult that's just controlling exactly.
Speaker 1:But so I know dislocation is a mix of, like, mystery and humor. So how do you kind of find the balance between that, while respecting the gravity of what the situation is like? I like that you guys have a balance of like you can throw some humor in there, but it also is, you know, somebody's dying, so it's kind of like you're gonna tiptoe one way or do balance that really well because it's the dynamic yeah, appreciate that.
Speaker 3:Yeah, you know it's, it's, it's you thing is is that these are hard stories and I'm always very aware that these are hard stories that have resulted in the worst day and time in people's lives, right, and situations that have occurred that have literally ruined people's lives.
Speaker 3:So that is never lost on me and, you know, we try to keep the humor respectful, but, just, it really is to just remain, just to bring levity to the situation so that the story can be told. And, you know, given that it's, I'm not a journalist, so I'm not coming at it. At that respect, the storytelling really is a way to center the victim in the story, right, right, and to tell their story and also, to you know, in a way, try to pay homage, in a sense, because I believe that there is something to be learned from every story, we can learn something from it. That's a sort of a kind way to sort of pay in what I feel is our way of paying tribute to those that have gone before us, that have experienced heinous deaths, and to just say you know what is our takeaway? What can we do? How does this protect all of us? How does, how can we, you know, learn from this?
Speaker 1:Right, and and that one of the episodes I guess it was the one I've listened to so many, but it was the one about the, the young, the 14 year old boy in Aruba that went out jet skiing and they never found his body we they don't. You clearly said there's not enough being done, like there wasn't enough done. They never recovered the body. But it's obvious that that father and son duo, like whatever they did, they killed him Like there's no question in my mind. But so I thought it was cool that you actually are trying to advocate for the case to be like follow up. Actually do the, the research, hold them accountable? Because if you look at their background, they're trash, they're rubbish, they clearly did it and they're never held to accountability and that's bullshit. So I love that you guys are saying that's bullshit and we're trying to get something done here because there's still a possibility they could be held accountable if they would actually do the due diligence.
Speaker 3:You know, right, right, and just the missed opportunities. Like you know, let's circle back, let's ask these questions. Let's, you know, let's see if anybody saw something. Let's see if anybody heard something, saw something. Let's see if anybody heard something, right, you know, that case was just, it was, that case was so upsetting and it was. You know, I and that's the thing, shoddy police work makes me crazy, because I'm like, why do I know what to do?
Speaker 2:Right.
Speaker 3:Like why were these men not taken separated and questioned?
Speaker 2:Right.
Speaker 2:And I like that, you guys.
Speaker 2:That's one of the things when you were talking about just a minute ago, how you bring the center, the victim, to the center of the story. And as you guys are telling, and you're telling the story from that perspective, the questions that pop up are usually things that we would ask ourselves that when we're hearing it from on the news or from a direct source or you know, they're not asking those questions. And sometimes, when we ask ourselves those questions like how did they not see the red flag or how did they not, those are valid questions that we don't always feel comfortable asking because it can make us look like, well, we're judging and we're not. It's more of okay, can we be better aware? Because if this is a smart person, this is a guy like they're in a situation that they don't necessarily realize they're in. How many of those situations have we been in? So by you guys asking each other these questions, it's also making the listener say, okay, this is valid. I need to make sure it just brings up a little bit a different form of awareness.
Speaker 3:Exactly, I mean, and that's the thing you know, because it's never with the intent of judging or blaming, but it's a sense to kind of deconstruct, and because I'm sure that all of them would say this is what I would do different if I had the opportunity to come back and have a do-over out in my mind. So I don't feel that we're, you know, I don't feel like it's, you know, to your point, like it's not judging, it's just it's learning, Absolutely.
Speaker 2:Absolutely so. You have told quite a few stories. Are there some that stand out more fascinating or bizarre than others? Like just stick in your head. What can you tell us? One or two of those?
Speaker 3:yes, I will tell you this one, this, this. I you know, and whenever I get asked this question, this, this story still remains the most. What the fuck went on here? Like what? So this is the story of um, I don't know if you guys heard this, but but this was the story of Joel and he. Let's see Joel Jr, joel Guy Jr. He was the son of Lisa and Joel Sr, joel Guy Sr, and he came home to spend Thanksgiving with his family. His parents and his sisters came over. His sisters were from his father's first marriage, but you know what ended up happening was he ended up killing his parents up killing his parents.
Speaker 3:Now what made this bizarre was that he not only just murdered them, he decapitated them, he dismembered their bodies. His mom's head was boiling in a pot downstairs Like really fucking crazy.
Speaker 2:I'd miss this episode. I haven't gotten to it yet maybe you gotta listen to it.
Speaker 3:It was just Wow. The thing that blew me away about this case is usually when I am researching these cases and, like you know, sort of just consuming everything that I can, it's always something that comes up that you're like yeah, that's weird. Yeah, that can speak to you know how one's psyche can become so warped. You know whether it's a history of abuse or you know, not to say that abuse equals, you know, being a killer. But you can always kind of look back yeah, they neglect. There was neglect.
Speaker 1:Oh, like the Menendez brothers or whatever, they were abused their whole childhood. So you kind of like, well you know what Exactly? They snapped you can only take so much, right.
Speaker 3:It's sort of like that you know question that has become kind of like the universal battle cry.
Speaker 2:Make, it make sense.
Speaker 3:So we're always in the quest of trying to do that, and this was the case. This was the only case that I was not able to do that, because you have this guy who is just adored like, adored by his family. Every account describes his childhood being filled with love and care, and his parents, especially his mom, doted on him. I mean, he wanted for nothing. He went off to school. His parents paid his college tuition. They pay for his apartment, they pay for his car, they pay for the insurance on the car. They, you know. So he, you know he didn't have anything that would make you go.
Speaker 1:Right, like it wasn't, like he was physically abused his whole life or mentally.
Speaker 3:No, no, but yet he has his mom's head in a pot downstairs Like what the fuck was that? Yeah?
Speaker 1:Now did the sisters walk in to find the parents killed?
Speaker 2:I guess we'll have to go back to that episode now. I want to know I missed, I don't this.
Speaker 3:Was this the earlier episode, or because I'm going from the bottom to the top, so I haven't heard all of it was um, I guess you could say it was like probably like, since it was Thanksgiving, it was like in that.
Speaker 2:So it was like okay, around that time, right, I'm writing it down yes, and you know, but that was the thing, it was Thanksgiving, it was like in that. So it was like okay, around that time. Right, I'm writing it down.
Speaker 3:Yes, and you know, but that was the thing it was. You know a very loving family. You know, one of the things that I talk about in this family that was really sort of like you know, when, when he was facing the court and his sister would come up to speak, it was just heart wrenching because they, they were bereft and they had no idea, like, and one of the things that they talked about, one of them in particular, was the he was loved like up and and they spoke about their like. One of them was talking about her stepmother because this was her only biological child and to think that her only, that her biological child, right, that took her out like one of the sisters spoke to that, like how she just ached to think of her stepmother in that moment, in the realization that her only biological child was doing this to her right.
Speaker 1:yeah, that's yeah, oh yeah well, are there any unsolved cases that really make you be like what the fuck happened there? Like well, for the first one, that one out in in aruba, that for me was like crazy, but for you like what. Is there any other cases or you?
Speaker 3:know that keep you up at night kind of like yeah there's a couple that case, the mac, that case, the Max case, mcgreevy case that's haunting. And that is haunting for the reason that he literally was there and then he wasn't At his poor mother, having already experienced the loss of her husband, her children are traumatized, she's traumatized. You know, they're just trying to get it together and they just try to go away to just reconnect as a family. And she had initially had told her son that she didn't want him to go. No, yeah, he couldn't go jet skiing Because he'd already done it. And she was like no, and he wore her down. And, let's face it, we know when kids want.
Speaker 1:Yes.
Speaker 3:Oh, my God.
Speaker 1:The guilt she must live with. To be like I caved, I can't believe he would still be here if I was more firm and I had said no.
Speaker 3:Exactly the guilt she lives with, that pain that is heartbreaking like I, I wish if there was anything I could do, I could take that guilt away from her and just, yeah, discard it somewhere. As to you know, and, and, and. Just the horror of thinking that, like she has no idea what happened, she wasn't there well, and they were targeted those guys absolutely targeted that family and took advantage of their situation.
Speaker 1:Yeah, um, it's so sad that to me, that one is like oh my.
Speaker 2:God I feel so bad, and a lot of these episodes bring up a lot of emotions the anger, the sadness, the frustration, the what would I do Like? What if that were me? How would I handle that? What if that? Were my feeling, or how do you balance that emotion for yourself, like as you're doing this, and keeping from getting overwhelmed or bogged down by those emotions?
Speaker 1:Wow. So what an incredible conversation so far. Kim has taken us down the road through a lot of chilling and gory true crime stories thus far. The one that stands out the most for me is the Aruba trip and the family had already been going through a rough time trip. And the family had already been going through a rough time and then she chose to make a didn't trust her gut kind of moment. So I that one was really really hard for me and very emotional, and so I wonder, when Kim is going through these stories and and all of that, the weight of what is happening to these victims kind of has to weigh on you. I just wonder if it ever takes its toll emotionally. You know what I'm saying.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I agree, I've always wondered that, when I've read the nonfiction true crime and then when podcasts came out, how the storytellers handle and navigate the emotional part of it. So next week, in our two part series with Kim from Slaycation, we'll dive deep into how she navigates the heavier side of crime storytelling. Yeah, and you won't want to miss it. So be sure to hit the follow button and make sure you are also checking out Slaycation If you want to hear any of the episodes that we discussed today from Slaycation. The first one we talked about, or one of the ones we talked about, was episode one, for Slaycation was Rocky.
Speaker 1:Mountain Murder or Accident with a question mark.
Speaker 2:So check that one out, the one Denise was talking about. The Aruba one is episode 45, last Call at the Aruban Sandbar. And then I thought this one was the most interesting and I'm actually listening to it now. Episode 48, home for the Hollislays, and that was bananas. Yes, so make sure you're also checking out the episodes from Slaycation. Follow them, follow us and then come back next week and check out the conclusion. Stay tuned yes with Kim from slaycation.
