Nearly Forgotten True Crimes tells the story of 7 crimes, and the events around them, which took place in the USA in the early 1900s, and captured the attention of the American press and public at the time.
* Alma Kellner, the 8 year old daughter of a wealthy brewing family in Louisville, Kentucky, disappeared on December 8, 1909. Initially thought to be a victim of a kidnapping, her mutilated body was eventually discovered in a church cellar six months later. The church janitor, disappeared at about the same time, and after her body was discovered became the subject of a nationwide manhunt.
* Patrolman James H. Masterson was murdered in January, 1927, in a New York City speakeasy. Two of the best sleuths of the Homicide Squad, were picked for the task and were soon on the trail of the four ruthless murderers, eventually tracking them down to their mountain hideout where a deadly shootout ensued.
* Born 17th February, 1909 Irene Schroeder was the first female to go to the electric chair in Pennsylvania for murder. Together with her hapless lover, they embarked on a short lived rampage across the countryside robbing and killing as they went leaving a trail of destruction behind them.
* Terrified screams brought police rushing to a bleak and windy underpass in Fall River, Massachusetts, to find the butchered body of young and attractive Domka Peremybida. It didn't take them long to find a main suspect in Anton Retkevitch. Her inability to keep away from him, had ultimately lead to her brutal murder.
* Mild, scholarly and well respected local man Elvin Wood snapped under the pressure of mounting debts and shot to death his best friend in cold blood in a botched blackmail plan. After receiving the death sentence, and in jail waiting for his execution to take place, this is Elvin's own story and confession that led him to the electric chair.
* Alfred L. Sells was a career criminal, as hard and tough as they come. In the frame for a brutal double murder, but with only circumstantial evidence, two detectives from Los Angeles police department were given the almost impossible task of persuading Alfred to admit he was the killer. The usual third-degree techniques would not work with Alfred Sells. This story tells how the detectives adopted a totally unique and unusual approach in what was to become the "Strangest Third Degree" they'd ever attempted.
* Most people have heard of a "Ponzi Scheme". This is the story of the man this type of fraud is now named after, Charles Ponzi, and how after going on the run, one of the most intensive manhunts ever undertaken in the USA followed.
