What was supposed to be an ordinary Saturday morning became the moment that would define and nearly destroy 14-year-old Michael Polite's life.

He woke up to the smell of smoke, crawled through his burning home, and found his mother on fire in the hallway.

Within days, Michael was behind bars and being accused of murdering the one person he loved the most.

Hey guys and welcome to the Moms and Mysteries podcast.

A true crime podcast featuring myself, Mandy, and my dear friend Melissa.

Hi, Melissa.

Hi, Mandy.

How are you?

I am hanging in there.

Hanging in there. That's all I got for you. If you're trying to beat the heat,

I have a suggestion. I went, well, I mean, is a, I don't know, I think I'm late to this, but my daughter and I went to go see Superman today, and it was so good. Can you believe it?

Superman beats the heat. Superman beats the heat. It was so good. I'm not like a superhero movies gal. Marvel is not my thing. Avengers, no thank you. I don't even know if Superman falls into either of those. Right. Or which one it does. I know. But I grew up watching, what was it, the new adventures of Lois and Clark when I was a kid?

Oh, yeah.

For whatever reason, I really love Superman. So, yeah, it was really good. People have been saying how good it is, but I'm like, sure, whatever, I don't care. I loved it. I really did. This is like me with the Barbie movie all over again. I see one movie a year and then I rave about it and then I won't go again because it's like $30 even for a matinee.

Yeah. I'm not really like a comic book like fan or connoisseur or anything like that or a superhero. Even though I had two boys, you would think that at some point one of them definitely. Yeah, you get stuck in it. Yeah, would have gotten me into it. But I do actually enjoy the

live action, like all the Marvel movies and stuff that they've done. I think they've all turned out pretty well. My kids do like to watch those. They watch pretty much they've seen all of them. I have, this is the second Superman movie, right? That I don't, if it is, I don't know, maybe a different person made it. This is with James Gunn, who's done like Guardians of the Galaxy,

stuff like that. He's got like whatever IP, I guess, to do these other things. But it's, it didn't seem like the second part of a two part. Okay. Yeah. That was it. It felt very much a standalone. But yeah, if you even like kind of have an interest in seeing it, I really

enjoyed it. Yeah. Well, that's good to know. Maybe I will take my boys before they go back to school.

Good idea. Yeah. So our story this week begins in the small rural community of Hopewell, Missouri.

Michael Polite was the youngest of three kids born to Rita Ann Smith and Ed Pallee. Rita herself had a tragic childhood

when both of her parents, Ollie and Marion, died when she was just three years old. They were going

through a divorce and after a hearing where Marion was awarded custody and child support,

...