Overview of 533 - An Exercise in Frustration
This episode of My Favorite Murder mixes lighthearted host banter with two heavy true-crime/history stories: the life and advocacy of Elizabeth Parsons Ware Packard, a 19th-century woman wrongly institutionalized by her husband, and the unresolved Aconcagua mountain mystery, in which climbers Janet Johnson and John Cooper died under suspicious circumstances in the Andes. The episode emphasizes how women’s voices were dismissed, how institutions enabled abuse, and how evidence can remain ambiguous even decades later.
Opening Banter and Current Updates
Georgia and Karen open with their usual conversational style, including jokes about Italy, Italian pronunciation, jumping rope, mini trampolines, and their need to “turn everything into content.”
They also briefly cover a few current true-crime/legal updates:
- The Murdaugh murder convictions were overturned due to improper jury influence by court clerk Becky Hill.
- A long-awaited update in the Yogurt Shop Murders brought new DNA-backed identification of the likely killer, with Austin expected to pay restitution to the wrongly convicted men.
Main Story: Elizabeth Parsons Ware Packard
Who she was
Elizabeth Parsons Ware Packard was a highly educated, intellectually curious woman born in 1816 in Massachusetts. Raised in a strict Calvinist household, she became a teacher and later married Theophilus Packard, a rigid minister whose worldview and personality were the opposite of hers.
Why she was institutionalized
- As a young woman, Elizabeth developed a serious illness, likely a brain infection, which doctors of the era dismissed as mental instability caused by “overusing” her mind.
- Her father had her committed once already as a teenager.
- Years later, her husband had her forcibly committed again after she challenged his beliefs, became more independent, and rejected his authority.
Conditions in the asylum
Elizabeth spent years in the Illinois State Asylum and documented:
- overcrowding and poor sanitation
- abusive staff
- restraint and punishment of patients
- torture disguised as treatment, including harmful use of bathtubs and straitjackets
- the widespread mistreatment of women committed by husbands or family members
What she did next
After being released:
- she fought her husband in court
- regained custody of her children
- became a public advocate for women’s rights and the rights of psychiatric patients
- wrote books and gave lectures exposing abuse in institutions
Legacy
Elizabeth’s advocacy helped inspire:
- laws protecting married women’s property
- laws requiring a trial before involuntary commitment
Her story was later popularized by Kate Moore’s book The Woman They Could Not Silence, leading to the renaming of a state mental health center in Illinois from McFarland Mental Health Center to the Elizabeth Parsons Ware Packard Mental Health Center.
Main Story: The Aconcagua Mountain Mystery
The setup
The second story follows a 1972 expedition to Aconcagua, the highest peak in South America, via the difficult Polish Glacier route.
The climbers included:
- Carmi/Carmine DeFoe, expedition organizer
- John Cooper, a NASA engineer
- Janet Johnson, a highly experienced female climber and school librarian
- several other men with varying experience levels
Why this climb stood out
The group was a poor fit:
- they barely knew one another
- some members got altitude sickness early
- the climb required serious technical skill and teamwork
- the expedition was already being viewed with skepticism by locals
Janet Johnson’s background
Janet was:
- highly educated and extremely driven
- one of the first women to climb Colorado’s 14ers
- estranged from strict religious parents after they tried to “cure” her for being gay by sending her to a psychiatric hospital
What happened on the mountain
As the expedition moved higher:
- several climbers dropped out from altitude sickness
- the remaining climbers became physically and mentally compromised
- Janet and John Cooper were eventually separated from the group
- both later died on the mountain
Suspicious details
The episode highlights multiple inconsistencies:
- conflicting survivor accounts
- possible hallucinations from altitude sickness
- evidence suggesting blunt-force trauma, not just exposure
- a camera found later in melting ice, with photos suggesting Janet was competent and focused to the end
- claims that Janet may have been murdered rather than dying in a simple fall
Why it remains unresolved
Although the official story settled on altitude sickness, exhaustion, and accident, the episode presents strong reasons to doubt that explanation:
- bodies were not immediately recovered
- there were contradictions in witness testimony
- key details suggested violence
- the political chaos in Argentina later made deeper investigation impossible
Key Takeaways
- Women were routinely dismissed as “insane” when they challenged male authority in the 19th century.
- Elizabeth Packard’s story shows how one person’s detailed testimony can change laws and public perception.
- The Aconcagua case illustrates how altitude, isolation, and poor evidence preservation can obscure the truth.
- Both stories center on women whose agency was minimized, but whose records and persistence ultimately forced people to listen.
Final Theme of the Episode
Despite the joking tone in the intro, the episode’s core message is serious: speak up, document what you see, and don’t assume official stories are correct just because they’re official.