Welcome to our first (and hopefully not last) Keep It Weird Special Edition True Crime Investigation!

In June of 2018, Ashley was introduced to the story of the unsolved murder of John William Shakespeare in 1975 in her hometown of Centralia, Illinois.  What happened from there was months of research alongside her childhood best friend and high school English teacher Stephen Garland.

This episode presents to you the very first time we were able to sit down together with all of the evidence that we had gathered and try to put it all together to solve the puzzle.  The crime was insidious.  The people involved were atrocious.  The twists and turns were astounding.  

What you are about to hear is a collection of evidence and accounts gathered from police reports, newspaper publications, local’s accounts, and our own personal experiences whilst researching this case.  There have been no arrests in this case and all evidence is circumstantial.  The opinions and theories expressed in this episode are speculative and theoretical and were derived from ongoing reports and first hand accounts that were collected.

Special thanks to Kristina Worlds, the Centralia Historical Society, Esty Garland, Pam Casseday, Ron Casseday, and the many local Centralians who contributed to this episode.

To view photos and newsclippings from this episode visit www.keepitweirdpodcast.com.

Anyone with information, theories, or evidence regarding the murder of John William Shakespeare please contact us at keepitweirder@gmail.com