4.4 • 696 Ratings
🗓️ 8 January 2025
⏱️ 41 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
In this episode of Zone 7, Crime Scene Investigator, Sheryl McCollum, sits down with the nephews of the infamous outlaw John Dillinger, Mike and Travis Thompson. Together, they discuss Dillinger's mysterious legacy, the FBI's involvement, and the family's ongoing quest to uncover the truth about his alleged death. They discuss theories of a possible cover-up, forensic evidence, and a buried map that could hold secrets to Dillinger's alleged death.
Mike Thompson the Nephew of John Dillinger, is actively involved in investigating the true story behind Dillinger's death.
Travis Thompson is the Great-nephew of John Dillinger and a law enforcement officer with experience at federal, state, and local levels.
Show Notes:
(0:00) Welcome back to Zone 7 with Crime Scene Investigator, Sheryl McCollum
(0:30) Sheryl introduces guests, Mike and Travis Thompson to the listeners
(3:30) Investigating Dillinger's capture
(6:00) Roadblocks and FBI interference
(10:00) The Little Bohemia Lodge
(15:00) Autopsy inconsistencies
(18:00) Canine search and the buried map
(21:00) The mason jar discovery
(27:00) The map's significance - decoding the past
(36:00) The search continues
(37:00) Significance of an Indiana shell map from 1934
(40:00) ”Three rules I learned from Walter Dietrich. One, never work with people who are desperate. Two, never work with people who aren't the best. Three, never work when you're not ready.” - John Dillinger
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Sheryl “Mac” McCollum is an Emmy Award winning CSI, a writer for CrimeOnLine, Forensic and Crime Scene Expert for Crime Stories with Nancy Grace, and a CSI for a metro Atlanta Police Department. She is the co-author of the textbook., Cold Case: Pathways to Justice. Sheryl is also the founder and director of the Cold Case Investigative Research Institute, a collaboration between universities and colleges that brings researchers, practitioners, students and the criminal justice community together to advance techniques in solving cold cases and assist families and law enforcement with solvability factors for unsolved homicides, missing persons, and kidnapping cases.
Social Links:
Email: [email protected]
Twitter: @ColdCaseTips
Facebook: @sheryl.mccollum
Instagram: @officialzone7podcast
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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0:00.0 | From September 1933 to July 1934, John Dillinger was the most famous outlaw in history. |
0:20.0 | It was the Great Depression, so it was the recipe. It was perfect for |
0:25.3 | desperadoes to pop up, run the Midwest, robbing banks, breaking out of jail, and killing people. |
0:32.0 | The FBI literally branded their entire image on capturing Dillinger. |
0:40.8 | But there is a question. |
0:42.3 | Did they catch him? |
0:44.2 | Tonight, we have the nephew and great nephew of John Dillinger. |
0:52.7 | I am so excited to welcome Mike and Travis Thompson to Zone 7. |
1:00.5 | Gentlemen, how are you? |
1:01.8 | We are great. |
1:02.8 | Doing good. |
1:04.1 | I tell you, I got to experience something with y'all, and I've just got to tell people a little bit about it. |
1:13.2 | But I got a phone call, and Mike hey you want to come out to Indiana and play and walk on Dillinger's farm and watch |
1:20.0 | some canines work to see whether or not maybe we can find a clandestine grave y'all I started driving |
1:27.2 | north before he finished talking. |
1:29.3 | I was so excited, and I was excited to meet him because we've been friends online for |
1:34.7 | years, but I've never met him in person. |
1:37.2 | And then I had a chance to meet his son, Travis. |
1:40.4 | And let me tell you something about both these men. |
1:44.0 | Mike is probably one of the most welcoming friends. And let me tell you something about both these men. |
1:48.7 | Mike is probably one of the most welcoming, friendly. |
1:54.6 | I mean, I felt like I was rolling up on a family reunion the way he greeted me when I got out of the car. |
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