Murder, Fire, and Doubt

48 Hours

CBS News

True Crime, News Commentary, News, Tv & Film, Cbs

3.9 • 7K Ratings

🗓️ 4 September 2025

⏱️ 42 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Sandy Maloney’s charred and lifeless body was found in her home by her mother. Her marriage to veteran police officer John Maloney had been rocky, and in 1999, Maloney was found guilty of strangling her to death and then setting her on fire to cover up the crime. But was he falsely accused? “48 Hours" Correspondent Susan Spencer reports. This classic "48 Hours" episode last aired on 7/29/2006. Watch all-new episodes of “48 Hours” on Saturdays, and stream on demand on Paramount+. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	The fire does originate on the sofa.
0:16.0	Sandy's body was badly damaged.
0:22.6	The contention that the state has is that the burn pattern on the floor in front of the
0:26.6	sofa was caused by an accelerant.
0:28.6	My opinion that it was a deliberately set fire that it was awesome.
0:34.6	The accelerant they allege was used was vodka, the vodka that Sandy had been drinking.
0:40.3	My grandma was the one that found my mom's body and she called 911.
0:44.3	Dispatch.
0:45.3	My daughter is all burned up.
0:48.3	Your daughter's what, ma'am?
0:49.3	He's burned up.
0:50.3	Okay, we'll be there shortly, ma'am.
0:52.3	He was coming over to kill her.
0:55.0	He hated her.
0:56.0	He wanted her gone.
0:59.0	My name is Matt Maloney.
1:01.0	My dad was convicted of killing my mom.
1:04.0	The prosecutor said that he hit her on the head, strangled her, and then set the house on fire.
1:09.0	You firmly believe that John Maloney is a murderer.
1:12.6	Based on all the evidence that was presented in this case, yes.
1:15.6	This was a very combustible relationship between John and Sandy.
1:21.6	My dad was a veteran cop on the Green Bay Police Department for 18 years.
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

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

Generated transcripts are the property of CBS News and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.