Grab a snack (maybe not frozen yogurt). Stacey, Dori, and Dr. John are back to break down HBO Max's The Yogurt Shop Murders. It's a heavy one, but leave it to these three to find the heart, the outrage, and a few laughs along the way.

Underneath the banter is a real conversation about coerced confessions, a justice system that failed almost everyone it touched, and how much compassion we owe the people it chewed up. Dr. John brings the psychology: why exhausted people confess to things they didn't do, what decades of unresolved grief does to a family, and why a horrific upbringing doesn't have to be destiny.

Gutting and weirdly comforting all in one podcast. Watch the doc, then come hang with us.

Content warning: violent crime, the murder of children, sexual assault, and lasting family trauma. Please take care of yourself as you listen.

In this episode of Pod Candy: Cults, Crimes and Killers, Stacey, Dori, and Dr. John Mayer take on the chilling Gilgo Beach murders and Peacock’s docuseries The Gilgo Beach Killer: House of Secrets. The team dives into the disturbing case of Rex Heuermann, the Long Island architect who pleaded guilty to murdering eight women over a span of 17 years.

The hosts examine the shocking contrast between Heuermann’s public life as a husband, father, and professional, and the horrifying crimes he committed in secret. They discuss how his family processed the truth, the role of denial and cognitive dissonance, and the painful question of how someone can still love a parent while confronting the fact that they are capable of monstrous acts.

Dr. John brings his forensic psychology insight to the discussion, breaking down Heuermann’s compartmentalization, his need for control, the significance of his home environment, and why some serial killers stop, or become sloppy over time.
The episode also explores the impact on families left behind, the trauma of law enforcement searches, the role of therapists and mandated reporting, and the larger failures that allowed these women’s disappearances to go unresolved for so long.

This week on Pod Candy: Cults, Crimes and Killers, Stacey, Dori, and Dr. John Mayer break down Netflix’s Trust Me: The False Prophet, the disturbing four-part documentary about Samuel Bateman and the splintered FLDS community he manipulated after Warren Jeffs was sent to prison.

Bateman claimed to be the new prophet, convinced followers that Warren Jeffs was speaking through him, and used faith, fear, sex, and salvation as weapons of control. The episode dives into how he exploited a community already shaped by isolation, obedience, polygamy, and generational brainwashing, and how women and children became currency in his quest for power.

Stacey and Dori unpack the documentary’s most shocking moments, from Christine Marie and Tolga’s hidden recordings to Julia’s incredible courage in helping expose the abuse. Dr. John Mayer joins the conversation to explain coercive control, groupthink, indoctrination, and why people born into systems like the FLDS often cannot see a way out until one small crack of doubt appears.

This is an emotional, disturbing, and powerful episode about false prophets, survival, and the women who risked everything to tell the truth. Please listen with care.