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Morbidology

309: BIll & Opal Arnold

Morbidology

Morbidology

True Crime, Society & Culture, History, Documentary

4.41.5K Ratings

🗓️ 19 May 2025

⏱️ 50 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

In 1958, Omaha, Nebraska, was a city of quiet neighbourhoods and steady lives. But behind one front door, a teenager harboured a secret so dark it would shatter his family—and stun the entire community. What no one knew was that the story was far from over.

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Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

The

0:07.0

Bees You know, Omaha and Nebraska sits at the crossroads of the American Midwest, a city built on the banks of the

0:55.3

Missouri River, where cattle once drove, industry and railroad stitched together the nation.

1:01.2

It's a place known for its wide open skies, proud neighborhoods and deep-rooted values, a city that

1:06.7

feels steady, familiar, safe. In the 1950s, Omaha was a picture of post-war prosperity.

1:14.6

Neat houses lined quiet streets, families gathered for backyard barbecues, and behind the front

1:20.1

doors, life unfolded much like it did in any American town of the era. Routine, unremarkable,

1:26.1

and for the most part, peaceful. But peace has its

1:30.2

limits. On a warm September evening in 1958, that peace was shattered inside a modest family home

1:37.2

on North 29th Street. Police would arrive to find a scene so disturbing, so unimaginable that it would shake the entire

1:45.2

city. A teenage boy stood in the middle of it all, calm, quiet. He didn't deny what had happened.

1:53.4

He simply said they had pushed him too far. He was just 16 years old. And in the years to come,

2:00.4

he would become both a symbol of a brutal family tragedy

2:03.4

and the centre of one of the most baffling manhunts in American history.

2:08.3

Because while the world thought they knew what had happened to Leslie Arnold,

2:12.6

he had already disappeared.

2:14.7

And it would take more than half a century, a grieving sun and a twist of modern

2:19.3

science to finally uncover the truth.

2:37.8

The American Dream.

2:41.1

It was the promise sold to millions in post-war America.

2:44.5

A steady job, a family home in a quiet suburb,

2:48.0

and the comforting clink of dinner plates on a kitchen table each evening.

...

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