April 28, 2025
Meet Our Friend: Morning Cup of Murder
"If you like your coffee hot but your bones chilled..." Welcome to your home for all things Morning Cup of Murder Podcast.
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"If you like your coffee hot but your bones chilled..." Welcome to your home for all things Morning Cup of Murder Podcast.
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WEBVTT
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Today, I have something a little different for you, guys
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and gals, a podcast recommendation from one of our friends.
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The podcast is called Morning Cup of Murder. This is
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going to be perfect for those of you who maybe
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want to break from the full hour long deep dive episodes.
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Morning Cup of Murder has more bite sized episodes that
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are going to be good for your morning routine or
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just when you need a quick true crime fix. This
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show is bingeable and they have over two thousand episodes
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in their back catalog over forty million downloads. It's easy
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to understand why people keep coming back to the show.
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The host is Karina Beemesderfer and she's able to make
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each case compelling, whether it's well known or one you've
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never heard of. So I want to play it for
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you now. We've got a short clip for you from
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one of their episodes. If you like what you hear,
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just search for it wherever you get your podcasts.
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There were two more murders fifteen miles away, at least fowls,
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telephones and electricity lines. Holy heavy weird lean described by
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one investigator as reminiscent of a weird morning murder. Not
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all cases can be wrapped up with a bow and
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confidence that justice has been served. On March third, nineteen
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eighty three, the bodies of a young man and a
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young woman were found on a ranch in Iowa. Though
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investigators were pretty confident they knew who killed the pair
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and why, the case lacks answers and above all justice
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for those who were killed. So if you like your
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coffee hot but your bones chilled, sit back and start
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your day with a morning cup of murder. On March third,
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nineteen eighty three, a ranch hand working at the Copper
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Dollar Ranch just northwest of Newton, Iowa, walked over to
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one of the on site trailers and made a horrific discovery.
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Lying face down just outside and near the barn, covered
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in blood, was the body of a man wearing only
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his blue jeans, and inside the trailer was the brutalized
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body of what appeared to be a young woman, both
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of which had had wounds so significant it was impossible
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to identify the pair by sight alone. Though they had
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a pretty good idea of who the bodies belonged to,
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it would take a medical examiner, fingerprints, and dental records
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to know for sure, all of which confirmed that the
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male body belonged to the trailer's inhabitant, twenty year old
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Stephen Fisher, and the other was that of his seventeen
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year old girlfriend, Melissa Gregory. Their cause of death was
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a bludgeoning, so brutal. Police initially thought the couple had
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been shot, which is what rumor began circulating through the
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area until the medical examiner's reports cleared things up. Word
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traveled fast through Jasper County, and before police ever contacted them,
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Melissa's mother Ida and sister Lisa that they heard about
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the murdered couple on Copper Dollar Ranch on a local
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television news station, while her brother Scott found out through
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a friend's brother. The death of these two young people
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rocked this small town to its very core. No one
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had any clue why Stephen and Melissa were targets, at
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least not at first. Stephen and Melissa were well liked
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members of the community, but though they had been dating
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for the last nine months, Stephen was still technically married
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to a woman named Teresa Subpino Fisher. Their marriage was
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a rocky one, filled with domestic disputes that involved not
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just the couple, but Teresa's father and brothers, as well,
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specifically her twin brother, Timothy Subppino, a man who admitted
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to visiting Stephen at his trailer at eleven pm on
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March second, making him the last known person to see
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the couple alive. Then there were the rumors that, in
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addition to raising quarter horses and Appalousa's, there was a
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drug trafficking operation taking place at Copper Dollar Ranch. Could
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that have had something to do with the murders. Jasper
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County Attorney Stephen Johnson would later acknowledge the known drug
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activity in the area, but told the press that based
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on the brutality of the murders, he believed that the
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deaths were quote up close and personal, likely some personal
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motive rather than a random attack. An FBI profiler given
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the case agreed, calling the murder of Stephen Fisher and
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Melissa Gregory a crime of passion. But though they followed
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dozens of potential leads, it seemed like everything headed straight
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to a dead end, so they went back to their
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primary suspect from the very beginning of the investigation, Teresa Subpino,
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Steven's estranged wife. While police continued to look into her
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whereabouts the night of the murders. On September fifteenth, two
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thousand and nine, an article appeared in the Newton Daily
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News containing Teresa's announcement that she planned on writing a
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book featuring the facts, opinions, and theories about the unsolved
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murders of her husband and his girlfriend. She encouraged local
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residents to come forward with any information on the case
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and set up an email for them to contact. That
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same year, the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigations established a
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cold case unit, and amongst the one hundred and fifty
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listed cases they planned on working using the latest advancements
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in DNA technology was the double murder at Copper Dollar Ranch.
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Although the cold case unit's federal grant funding was completely
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exhausted by December of twenty eleven, the DCI continued to
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assign agents to these cold cases as new leads developed
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or more advances were made. Then, in November of twenty twelve,
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a man named John Halferdy was elected as Jasper County's
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new sheriff. That's when everything started to change between the
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sheriff's office, the DCI's determination, and the investigation by the
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true crime television show Coal Justice. On March third, twenty fourteen,
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exactly thirty one years after Stephen Fisher and Melissa Gregory
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were found dead at the ranch, a press conference was
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held in which it was announced that there had finally
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been an arrest in the case. Teresa's Subpino, now in
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her fifties, was in custody and had been charged with
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two counts of first degree murder. She entered a plea
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of not guilty on March tenth, and remained in jail
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in lieu of a four hundred thousand dollars bond. Due
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to the pre tripublicity in Newton, the judge moved the
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trial to Waterloo and jury's selection began in February of
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twenty fifteen. Teresa's lawyers argued that there was no physical
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evidence tying her to the murders, no DNA and no fingerprints,
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Yet they did admit that she drove to the ranch
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with her brother the night before the bodies were found,
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looking for Stephen Fisher. Using that admission, prosecutors claimed that
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she beat her husband and Melissa to death in a
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fit of jealous rage over the affair. Countering the defense,
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brought forth the former owner of the Copper Dollar Ranch,
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who admitted in court that he was dealing drugs on
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the property at the time of the murders, stating their
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belief that the double murder was drug related rather than
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an act of aggression on their client's part. The owner,
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though reluctant, at first, told the jury that Stephen knew
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about the drug dealing for about a year, and claimed
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that he had been told at some point that Stephen
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was working with the police as a drug informant. He
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said he didn't believe it at the time, but on
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the day the bodies were discovered, police allegedly confirmed Stephen's
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status as an informant. After three weeks of back and forth,
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Teresa Seppino was acquitted by a black Hawk County jury
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on February twentieth, twenty fifteen, after five hours of deliberation.
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She was free to walk away and filed a defamation
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lawsuit shortly thereafter against the county sheriff and the prosecutor.
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With that the case of who killed Stephen Fisher and
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Melissa Gregory was considered officially cleared by investigators, though they
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have said the doors opened for any new leads as
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they become available. The case remains at a stasis, meaning
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that all these decades later, the families and loved ones
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of the victims still sit waiting for answers and justice.
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Thank you for joining me in my morning cup of murder.
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Please join me again tomorrow to your what terrible thing
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happened on March fourth. Don't forget to rate and subscribe
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and let me know how you like it. If you
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want to help support the podcast, there's always Patreon or
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just sharing it with your true crime obsessed friends. And remember,
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stay safe.
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