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True Crime Couple

Episode 226: The Shakespearean Tragedy of the Robards Family

True Crime Couple

True Crime Couple Podcast

Society & Culture, Documentary, True Crime

4.72.7K Ratings

🗓️ 9 March 2026

⏱️ 105 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

In Shakespeare’s Hamlet, guilt does not stay buried. It festers beneath crowns and costumes, slipping through rehearsed smiles and whispered prayers. A kingdom rots from the inside, not because of the murder alone, but because of the secret that follows it,  heavy and impossible to silence. “O, my offence is rank,” King Claudius confesses, discovering that even a throne cannot shield a poisoned conscience. In the bedroom of a teenager, centuries later, those same words would land a little too close to home.

In this case we will explore a modern tragedy shaped by Shakespearean shadows: ambition without a crown, desperation without a dagger, and a confession that would echo far beyond the pages of a play. Because sometimes the most dangerous poison isn’t poured into a cup, it’s carried in the heart, waiting for its moment to speak.

Sources
https://www.texasmonthly.com/true-crime/poisoning-daddy/
https://www.folger.edu/explore/shakespeares-works/hamlet/read/3/3/
https://www.sigmaaldrich.com/US/en/product/sigald/243671
https://www.newspapers.com/image/644815133/?terms=Marie%20Robards
https://www.newspapers.com/image/823666883/?match=1&terms=Marie%20Robards
https://www.newspapers.com/image/644815129/?match=1&terms=Marie%20Robards
https://www.newspapers.com/image/646308983/?match=1&terms=Marie%20Robards

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

Hey guys, welcome to episode 226 of the True Crime Couple. I'm Kay. And I'm John. We hope that you're all doing well and that you're ready for another episode. Please stay tuned at the end of the episode if you're new to supporting us on Patreon and getting our bonus and ad-free episodes.

0:19.1

Okay, John, are you ready to hear something crazy?

0:22.4

I am, and I'm excited.

0:24.7

In Shakespeare's Hamlet, guilt does not stay buried.

0:29.6

It festers beneath crowns and costumes, slipping through rehearsed smiles and whispered prayers.

0:37.3

A kingdom rots from the inside, not because

0:40.7

of the murder alone, but because of the secret that follows it. Heavy and impossible to silence.

0:48.2

Oh, my offense is rank, King Claudius confesses, discovering that even a throne cannot shield a poisoned conscience.

0:57.3

In the bedroom of a teenager, centuries later, those same words would land a little too close to home.

1:05.0

In this case, we will explore a modern tragedy shaped by Shakespearean shadows, ambition without a crown, desperation without a dagger,

1:17.9

and a confession that would echo far beyond the pages of a play, because sometimes the most

1:25.2

dangerous poison isn't poured into a cup.

1:29.4

It's carried in the heart, waiting for its moment to speak.

1:36.5

Police say the suspect, 31-year-old Jeffrey Dahmer, has confessed to the killings of 11 people

1:42.0

whose remains were found in his apartment.

1:44.9

We are all evil in some form or another. Are we not?

1:49.4

Lock your doors, lock your windows. If you have the ability to provide additional security

1:54.3

devices, then by all means do so.

1:58.1

38-year-old Steve Robard's life really seemed to be changing for the better at the start of 1993.

2:05.9

For a while, he felt as if he had no control or positive things in his life as he had been living with depression.

2:13.6

Although some don't like to use the term suffering from depression anymore, it seemed, by all

2:19.6

accounts, that Steve truly had been suffering and had been for a long time. Right out of high

...

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