True Crime Time For September 8, 2026 | Children Trapped in a “Rolling Prison,” a Deadly Wrong-House Shooting & Justice for K-9 Apollo

On today’s episode of True Crime Time For, Woody starts with an update about the direction of the shows. Saturdays are going back to old-school Real Life Real Crime stories, while True Crime Time For continues during the week. He also reminds listeners that work continues on #WhatHappenedToMadison, #JusticeForHailey, and the other cases RLRC is involved with—and that any breaking developments will be brought to listeners as soon as possible.

Then it is time for a disturbing edition of Family Matters.

Four Children Allegedly Kept in a “Rolling Prison”

Florida authorities say four children were kept for years inside the cab of a semi-truck and subjected to horrific abuse by the adults who were supposed to protect them.

Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier announced charges against Keysha Monique Epps, 51, and Tamra Marshon Stewart, 37.

Authorities allege the two women kept two boys and two girls confined in the cab of a tractor-trailer for approximately six years while traveling freight routes between Florida and Georgia. Uthmeier described the truck as a “rolling prison.”

Investigators allege the children were deprived of schooling, adequate medical care, hygiene and basic opportunities to move freely outside the truck. According to the case outlined by Woody, some of the children suffered untreated injuries, including burns that left permanent scarring.

The allegations become even more disturbing.

Prosecutors say the children were also subjected to sexual abuse, with Stewart accused of abusing the girls and physically assaulting the boys when they witnessed or challenged what was happening. One child was reportedly found with an untreated sexually transmitted infection.

Uthmeier has publicly said Florida intends to pursue the harshest punishment available.

Woody makes his own feelings about cases involving sexual abuse of children unmistakably clear.

His focus, though, remains on the four children—who now face the long process of recovering physically and emotionally after years of alleged abuse.

On This Day: The Mathis Family Murders

Woody then turns to a still-unsolved South Dakota case dating back exactly 45 years.

On September 8, 1981, LaDonna Mathis, 30, and two of her sons, Brian Mathis, 4, and Patrick Mathis, 2, were shot to death at their home near Mount Vernon, South Dakota.

LaDonna’s husband, John Mathis, survived with a gunshot wound to his arm and said a masked attacker had killed his family.

Investigators focused heavily on John, and he was eventually charged with the murders.

But in May 1982, a jury acquitted him.

The South Dakota Attorney General still lists the murders as unresolved. Neither the killer nor the murder weapon has ever been definitively identified.

The case remains one of South Dakota’s most enduring murder mysteries.

Family Matters: A Mother and Daughter Killed in Las Vegas

Next, Woody goes to Las Vegas for a horrific domestic-violence case.

Nicole Drummond, 47, died after suffering severe burns and a gunshot wound during an August attack.

Police say Jason Simmons, 48, attacked Drummond and killed her 14-year-old daughter before dying by suicide.

According to Woody’s account, Drummond called police during the attack and was later found badly burned and wounded inside the residence.

A Las Vegas Metropolitan Police officer responding to the scene was also shot when Simmons allegedly fired multiple rounds through a closed door. The officer’s ballistic vest stopped the round from penetrating completely, though she suffered injuries.

Woody closes the segment with the sad reality that the mother and daughter are dead while the alleged attacker cannot be prosecuted because he took his own life.

F’d Up Professionals: Officer Charged in Wrong-House Shooting

Then Woody heads to Pennsylvania for a case involving the fatal police shooting of a young man who appears to have simply gone to the wrong house.

Upper Pottsgrove Police Corporal Sean Farrell, 58, has been charged with voluntary manslaughter in the August 23 death of 22-year-old Glenwood Earl Pysher IV.

Authorities say Pysher had been drinking with friends and became confused while walking to a friend’s house.

He ended up at the wrong residence.

The homeowners called police.

Farrell arrived and encountered Pysher on the back patio.

According to the criminal complaint, Pysher was unarmed.

Body-camera footage allegedly shows Pysher with his hands raised while moving toward the officer. Farrell gave commands for him to get down, then fired twice while Pysher was approximately 17 to 20 feet away.

The district attorney says the video does not support Farrell’s later claim that Pysher aggressively charged him.

Montgomery County District Attorney Kevin Steele publicly described the shooting as an unlawful use of deadly force.

Farrell was charged with voluntary manslaughter and subsequently left the department after 21 years in law enforcement.

Woody approaches this story from the perspective of a former officer.

Police officers sometimes have only seconds to make life-or-death decisions. But, he says, that responsibility also means officers must rely on their training, assess the actual threat, and use force proportionate to what is happening.

In Woody’s assessment, based on the allegations and video described by prosecutors, this was a bad shooting.

F’d Up Professionals