The Knife: Off Record – 110
The Knife: A True Crime Podcast
Exactly Right and iHeartPodcasts
4.8 • 1K Ratings
🗓️ 29 May 2025
⏱️ 52 minutes
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Summary
Hannah and Patia discuss the 1996 murder at Mountain Park Baptist Boarding Academy, where 16-year-old William Futrelle—new to the school—was killed by fellow students. They unpack the trial of Joseph Burris, who was charged with Futrelle’s murder, and examine the disturbing environment that enabled the crime. We also cover what happened with Bethesda Home for Girls, Bob and Betty Wills’ earlier “troubled teen” program in Mississippi, which was eventually shut down by the state.
LA Times - https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1997-oct-04-me-39141-story.html
https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1997-oct-05-mn-39651-story.html
Bethesda Home for Girls: https://www.nbcnews.com/specials/bethesda-home-girls-stolen-babies/
Cult Education Institute: https://www.culteducation.com/group/1059-mountain-park-baptist-church-and-boarding-academy/14571-insiders-tell-of-boarding-school-past-and-present.html
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | This is exactly right. |
| 0:07.2 | Everyone thinks they'd never join a cult. |
| 0:09.5 | But it happens all the time to people just like you. |
| 0:12.2 | And people just like us. |
| 0:13.5 | I'm Lola Blanc. |
| 0:14.6 | And I'm Megan Elizabeth. |
| 0:15.9 | We're the hosts of Trust Me, a podcast about cults, manipulation, and the psychology of belief. |
| 0:21.4 | Each week, we talk to fellow survivors, former believers, and experts to understand why people get pulled in and how they get out. |
| 0:28.1 | Trust me, new episodes every Wednesday on Exactly Right. |
| 0:31.6 | Listen wherever you get your podcasts. |
| 0:36.0 | This story contains adult content and language. |
| 0:39.3 | Listener discretion is advised. |
| 0:59.0 | Hello and welcome to the knife off record. |
| 1:00.0 | I'm Pasha Eaton. |
| 1:01.1 | I'm Hannah Smith. |
| 1:06.9 | Today we have two follow-ups on last week's episode about Mountain Park Baptist Boarding Academy. |
| 1:10.1 | We're going to talk about the murder that took place there in 1996, |
| 1:11.3 | as well as the troubled teen program that the Wills ran prior to Mountain Park, Bethesda Home for Girls. |
| 1:16.1 | And as always, we will have recommendations. |
| 1:18.5 | Let's get into it. |
| 1:19.9 | So, you know, we talked briefly in the episode about Bethesda Home for Girls, but you did a little |
| 1:25.9 | more research about what exactly that was. Yeah, I did a little more research about what exactly that was. |
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