The 50-Year Grudge: Carl Ericsson's Fatal Revenge on His High School Rival
10 Minute Murder | Bingeable True Crime Stories
Joe
4.9 • 638 Ratings
🗓️ 11 November 2025
⏱️ 13 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
When 73-year-old Carl Ericsson walked up to Norman Johnson's door in Madison, South Dakota on a freezing January night in 2012, he was about to settle something that had been eating at him since high school. Fifty years. That's how long he'd been carrying around this grudge. And when Norman opened that door, Carl shot him twice in the face with a .45 caliber pistol. The prosecution said it was about a locker room prank from the 1950s. The victim's family said it was jealousy that never died. The psychiatrist said it was severe depression and impaired judgment. But here's what nobody disputes: a beloved teacher and coach is dead, and the man who killed him says he wishes he could turn back the clock. This is a story about what happens when resentment doesn't fade with time, when mental illness collides with ancient anger, and when someone decides that destroying another person is the only way to feel whole again.
#TrueCrime #ColdCase #RevengeKilling #MurderPodcast #SouthDakotaCrime #CarlEricsson #NormanJohnson
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | You're listening to 10-minute murder. |
| 0:08.0 | January 31st, 2012, a doorbell rings in Madison, South Dakota. |
| 0:13.0 | Norman Johnson, age 72, walks to his front door. |
| 0:17.0 | The man standing there asks Norman to confirm his identity. |
| 0:20.0 | Norman's like, yeah, that's me. And then everything Norman built over seven decades The man standing there asks Norman to confirm his identity. |
| 0:22.3 | Norman's like, yeah, that's me. |
| 0:27.1 | And then everything Norman built over seven decades ends in two gunshots. |
| 0:32.4 | The shooter is 73 years old, and he's been waiting 50 years for this moment. |
| 1:00.6 | Yeah! So here's what we know happened on January 31st, 2012. |
| 1:06.0 | Carl Erickson, 73 years old, woke up in his home in Watertown, South Dakota. |
| 1:10.6 | He got in his car and drove south to Madison, about an hour away. |
| 1:13.3 | He had a 45-caliber pistol with him. |
| 1:18.5 | When he arrived at Norman Johnson's house, he rang the doorbell like he was stopping by to chat about the weather. |
| 1:20.4 | Norman Johnson answered the door. |
| 1:22.3 | He was 72, retired, living the good life after decades of teaching and coaching at Madison High School. |
| 1:29.1 | Carl looked at him and asked Norman to verify who he was. Norman confirmed his identity. |
| 1:35.2 | And then Carl shot him twice in the face. Norman's wife Barbara found him on the floor. |
| 1:40.7 | She saw a man walking toward a dark sedan parked outside. |
| 1:49.2 | That very night, police arrested Carl Erickson and charged him with first-degree murder. |
| 1:52.8 | When Carl appeared before the judge, he didn't deny anything. |
| 1:55.1 | He said, I shot him, Your Honor. |
| 1:58.5 | And then he said something that made this case go national. |
... |
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