Episode 355: Vanishing Act

The First Degree

Alexis Linkletter and Jac Vanek

True Crime, Society & Culture, News

4.5 • 10K Ratings

🗓️ 11 June 2025

⏱️ 53 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Over a span of 39 years, at least 14 aliases, 17 arrests, and nearly a dozen imprisonments, Robert Spears had lived a con artists' life of unparalleled adventure and intrigue. His crimes culminated in an ultimate act of evil, when he downed a crowded aircraft to fake his own death. This is a tale of one man who became obsessed with this story and the dichotomy of the man at the center of it. Get Jerry Jamison’s new true crime book Vanishing Act: A Crashed Airliner, Faked Death, and Backroom Abortions everywhere books are sold.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	The first degree.
0:02.0	First degree.
0:03.0	First degree.
0:04.0	First degree.
0:05.0	First degree.
0:06.0	First degree.
0:07.0	The first degree.
0:09.0	You see it on the news.
0:10.0	You see it on the paper.
0:11.0	You see it on Facebook.
0:13.0	These things are supposed to happen in movies, not in real life.
0:16.0	So he ends up in Alcatraz.
0:23.6	And while he's there, one of the officials at Alcatraz writes about a four or five page
0:31.6	document to put in his file.
0:35.6	And he starts out with, this is a story you will not believe.
0:41.1	I mean, even someone who's seen all these hardened criminals, because you are not going
0:45.1	to believe this story.
0:48.9	Welcome to the first degree, the true crime podcast that you might end up on.
0:52.6	My name is Jack Fannick.
0:53.5	I'm sitting here with
0:54.3	Alexis Link Letter. Hello, happy hump day. Happy hump day. Happy hump day, bitches. The worst
1:01.5	of the week is behind you. We're just, we're on the up and up. It's summertime. Get yourself a
	...

Transcript will be available on the free plan in 4 days. Upgrade to see the full transcript now.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Alexis Linkletter and Jac Vanek, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Alexis Linkletter and Jac Vanek and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.