The Murder of Alice Sturm

Murder, She Told

Kristen Seavey

Society & Culture, Documentary, True Crime

4.8 • 1.5K Ratings

🗓️ 2 June 2026

⏱️ 50 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

1977 - Elwood, Illinois. In September 1977, 84-year-old Alice Sturm was murdered in her bed inside her home in Elwood, Illinois. Suspicion quickly fell on Alice’s live-in granddaughter, Sheila, and her friend, Ernest Stanberry. But almost as quickly as the charges were filed, they were dropped — and Alice’s case quietly faded into obscurity for decades. What investigators didn’t know at the time was that Ernest Stanberry was also a suspect in another murder: the 1975 killing of Judy Lord in Concord, New Hampshire, a case that remained unsolved until 2025. It wasn’t until 2026 that our research uncovered the connection between these two cases—linking a decades-old Illinois murder to a cold case hundreds of miles away. For nearly fifty years, Alice Sturm’s murder sat collecting dust… Until now. This is the story of the murder of Alice Sturm. If you have any information on the murder of Alice Sturm, please reach out to Sgt. Mike Earnest at the Will County Sheriff’s Office at (815) 727-8575 ext. 4943. Episode sources and photos: https://www.murdershetold.com/episodes/alice-sturm Revisit The Murder of Judy Lord, published on 2/25/26: ⁠https://www.murdershetold.com/episodes/judy-lord⁠ Support the show: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.murdershetold.com/support⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Instagram: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@murdershetoldpodcast⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ TikTok: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@murdershetold⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Facebook: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠/mstpodcast⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Website: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠murdershetold.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ---- Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	This show is supported by Odu. When you buy business software from lots of vendors, the costs
0:06.2	add up, and it gets complicated and confusing. Odo solves this. It's a single company that
0:12.8	sells a suite of enterprise apps that handles everything from accounting to inventory to sales.
0:18.9	Odo is all connected on a single platform in a simple and affordable way.
0:24.0	You can save money without missing out on features you need.
0:27.5	Check out Odu at ODO.com.
0:31.8	That's ODOO.com.
0:35.8	Blowing our budget on metrics that look great till the CFO sees them.
0:40.0	That's bullspend and marketers are calling it out in dashboard confessions.
0:45.8	I remember telling my boss it'll be good for the brand when leads were slow.
0:50.3	Yeah, it wasn't.
0:52.3	Cut the ball spend.
0:53.9	LinkedIn lets you target by company, job title, and more.
0:57.2	Advertise on LinkedIn.
0:58.9	Spend £200 on your first campaign and get a £200 credit.
1:01.8	Go to LinkedIn.com slash lead.
1:03.3	Terms and conditions apply.
1:07.0	This is an unusual case for a murder she told.
1:11.0	First, it's set in Illinois, and the show primarily focuses on the New England region.
1:16.9	Second, because even if I had stumbled on it, it would appear from the very limited newspaper coverage to have been resolved.
1:25.0	Even at the time of publication, it's unclear to me whether this case is considered
1:30.2	a closed case by Illinois law enforcement. And third, because we don't have some of the information
	...

Transcript will be available on the free plan in 25 days. Upgrade to see the full transcript now.

Previous episode

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

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