Jonathan Hirsch
speaker
1,168 appearances
9 recordings
3 series
first heard Nov 2024
last heard 5 Jun
Jonathan Hirsch’s voice in public audio — every appearance, attributed to the second.
Trend
recordings per month · last 12 monthsRecordings per month over the last 12 months — 5 in all, peaking in Mar 2026 with 2.
Appearances
I'm Jonathan Hirsch.
The Binge. Feed your true crime obsession. The Binge. When I started looking into a string of mysterious deaths in Dallas, Texas in the 1970s and 80s, I had no idea what kind of madness, carnage, and darkness I'd find there. I also didn't think I'd stumble across another Charlie Manson. Devereux Cleaver had just turned 14 when her mom, Sandra Cleaver, invited her to go on a vacation to Hawaii.
Her mom's fiance, Lynn Fairchild, would be there too. And her close friend and mentor, Terry. Devereaux's stepmother, Gail Cleaver, remembers her as a bright girl, sweet and shy, tall.
She loved animals and basketball and her new step-siblings. Gail had a son and two daughters from a previous marriage. They were this Brady Bunch type family, a friend of hers told me. Devereux was excited to go, but Chuck and his new wife Gail were worried about the trip.
They really didn't care for the people Sandra hung around with, especially her friend Terry, to whom she was practically attached at the hip. But spending quality time with her mom was something Devereux didn't get to do very much, and Chuck and Gail didn't want to get in the way of that. The Wailupe in O'ahu. A windy peninsula southeast of Honolulu.
It means literally kite water on account of the breezy Pakata coastline where they could take flight and nearly touch the sky. You can see them today, guiding surfers across the water like disembodied souls under the bright sun. Hawaii was an exotic wonderland for Devereaux.
Far from the dusty horizon, the muscular cloud clusters miles high, and the hot blanket of air draping Dallas like a set piece in a movie.
Sandra and Devereaux had gone swimming that day, after lunch. Just 20 or so minutes from their hotel in Honolulu was a beach. More like a lagoon, actually. It was ankle deep for about a half mile out from the shore. An odd choice for swimming. Lynn, Sandra's fiancé, stayed back, napping off one too many glasses of champagne after lunch. Go on, have fun, he told them.
Suddenly, underneath them was a patch of coral reef, tough and sharp, like knives and sandpaper. The water was deepening now, too. That far out, it's hard to gauge the size of a wave. That's when one wave came roaring past, knocking them off of the raft. Another wave, and she was gone. Sandra looked over and couldn't see her daughter. She'd been swept under by the current.
She dove underneath, looking for her. She couldn't find her. That's where Sandra's account trails off. She woke later on the rocky shoreline, calling for help. Meanwhile, Lynn woke up from his catnap, recognized something was wrong. He alerted authorities on the beach, who dragged Sandra back in.
Chuck got out of bed and headed towards the airport. It was like an eclipse flashed across the sky. A dark pall covered their world. A chill shot through them that they would never be able to shake.
Their daughter was gone. Life would never be the same. And from the moment their phone rang that awful night, Gail had a creeping suspicion that would soon overcrowd everything. This wasn't a freak accident.
Devro and Sandra were collateral damage in a sick and deadly conspiracy. And the terrible truth is, I think Gail was right.
Why do you think it was so difficult to tie Terry to these deaths?
From Sony Music Entertainment, this is Scary Terry. I'm Jonathan Hirsch. Chapter One, The Mysterious Death of Devereux Cleaver. Chuck and Gail were the perfect match. An all-American couple. Chuck was tall and muscular with a gentle smile and wavy brown hair. Played college basketball, worked in commercial real estate. Gail had fine blonde hair, high cheekbones, a model.
She in fact was one in those days for a chain of department stores in Texas. But the couple also came together with history. Kids from another marriage, previous relationships. The biggest challenge in their young life together was no doubt sharing Devereux with Sandra. Because it always felt to them like they weren't just sharing Devereux with Sandra.
They were sharing her with Terry, Terry Hoffman.
Terry was a kind of spiritual life coach. She'd recently started a group she was calling Conscious Development of Body, Mind, and Soul. We'll call them CDBMS for short. Under this name, she hosted group meditation sessions where she would also give lectures to a growing number of people in Dallas about things like reincarnation, the soul, and the hidden energies that inform and power our world.
She'd host these events around North Dallas, often on the campus of Southern Methodist University. And Sandra was one of Terry's first disciples and a close friend. Sandra had had a tough few years and was searching for meaning in her life.
And with those consecutive losses, a window opened up in her heart. She'd do anything for relief. Take any advice that seemed to get her to a better place. Terry was a heavyset woman in her 40s, round frame, lumbering, big piercing brown eyes, and tough black hair often pulled back into a bun.
Showing 1021–1040 of 1,168 · page 52 of 59
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