S13 E13 - MURDERESS - The 33-Year Fight to Clear Nellie Pope

Podcast: Malice in the Mitten · Tracy Preston

Opublikowano: 2026-08-24

In February 1895, Detroit dentist Dr. Horace Eliot Pope was brutally murdered with an axe inside his Michigan Avenue home. William Brusseau admitted wielding the weapon—but after first claiming self-defense, he changed his story and accused Horace's wife, Nellie Pope, of planning the killing for insurance money. The sensational trial transformed Nellie into one of Detroit's most infamous “murderesses” and sent her to prison for life. After more than two decades behind bars, Nellie walked free, still insisting she had nothing to do with her husband's murder. Then, in 1928, Michigan Governor Fred W. Green granted her a full p...