Overview of My Favorite Murder Episode 551: “I Won’t See You Later”
This episode blends the hosts’ usual banter with two very different true-crime stories: the 19th-century murder of Maria Bickford, a case that helped popularize the “sleepwalking defense,” and the 2003 Harlem case of Antoine Yates, who kept a 400-pound tiger named Ming in his apartment. Along the way, Georgia and Karen also talk about sobriety, alcohol recovery, and the episode’s recurring theme of how society judges people—especially women and marginalized people—after a crisis.
Opening Banter and Personal Updates
Georgia’s sobriety milestone
- Georgia shares that she has reached 90 days alcohol-free.
- She talks about how knowledge of alcohol’s effects on the body and brain has helped her stay committed.
- She recommends the book Hangxiety by Millie Gooch as a relatable, science-based resource for people questioning their relationship with alcohol.
Podcast life and studio refresh
- The hosts joke about their newly refreshed table/studio setup and the decorations behind them.
- The conversation has the usual MFM mix of self-deprecating humor, friendship banter, and pop-culture asides.
Main Story 1: The Murder of Maria Bickford
Who Maria Bickford was
- Maria Bickford was born Mary Ann Dunn in Maine in the 1820s.
- She married young, but eventually left her husband and moved to Boston, where she survived as a sex worker.
- She fell into a volatile relationship with Albert Terrell, a wealthy married man with two children.
The toxic relationship
- Maria and Albert lived openly and recklessly, despite adultery being illegal in Massachusetts at the time.
- Their relationship was marked by:
- possessiveness
- repeated breakups and reunions
- fear and emotional dependence
- Maria reportedly told others that she and Albert liked quarreling because they made up so intensely afterward.
The murder
- In October 1845, Maria was found dead in a Boston boarding house:
- her throat had been slashed
- fires were set around her body to destroy evidence
- Evidence pointed strongly to Albert:
- a bloody razor
- personal items tied to him
- his flight from the scene and then out of state/country
The trial and the “sleepwalking defense”
- Albert was defended by prominent lawyer Rufus Choate.
- The defense strategy:
- painted Maria as immoral and unreliable because she was a sex worker
- claimed she may have killed herself
- alternatively argued Albert could have been sleepwalking
- The episode highlights this as the first widely known use of the sleepwalking defense in an American murder trial.
- Albert was acquitted of murder and arson.
- He was later convicted on the adultery charge and sentenced to hard labor.
Why this case matters
- The hosts emphasize how the case reflects:
- victim-blaming
- misogyny
- the way class and profession shaped credibility in court
- Maria was judged harshly after her death, while Albert—wealthy and male—was given enormous legal protection.
Main Story 2: Ming the Harlem Tiger
How the story begins
- In 2003, Antoine Yates arrived at a Harlem hospital with severe injuries that he claimed came from a pit bull.
- Doctors suspected something bigger was going on because the wounds were consistent with a much larger animal.
What police found
- Police went to Antoine’s apartment in the Drew Hamilton Houses in Harlem.
- Inside, they discovered:
- Ming, a fully grown 400-pound Bengal-Siberian tiger
- a large fiberglass tank containing a caiman
- Neighbors had long suspected something unusual:
- they heard roars
- smelled urine
- saw Antoine bringing home huge amounts of meat
Antoine’s relationship with Ming
- Antoine said he loved Ming and considered him like a brother.
- According to Antoine, the tiger attacked only because he was trying to stop Ming from going after a kitten named Shadow.
- The episode frames the situation as both absurd and tragic:
- Antoine clearly cared about animals
- but keeping a tiger in a residential apartment was obviously dangerous and irresponsible
Aftermath
- Ming was seized and sent to an animal sanctuary.
- Antoine was charged with:
- reckless endangerment
- possession of a wild animal
- He ultimately served five months in prison and received five years’ probation.
- The hosts note the racial and class dynamics of the case, suggesting a white defendant with more privilege might have been treated more leniently.
Ming’s later life
- Ming lived until 2019 and was buried at Hartsdale Pet Cemetery in New York.
- The episode notes that Ming’s story resurfaced for many listeners during the Tiger King era, but Antoine himself dismissed that fascination as another example of people romanticizing exotic-animal ownership.
Key Themes and Takeaways
1. Victim-blaming and legal bias
- Maria’s murder shows how women, especially sex workers, were dehumanized and treated as less credible.
- The court and public were far more willing to sympathize with the male defendant.
2. Wealth and privilege in the justice system
- Albert Terrell’s family was able to delay proceedings and hire elite legal defense.
- His resources helped shape the outcome, even after a brutal killing.
3. Dangerous romance and coercive dependence
- The Maria story also functions as an early example of how abusive, unstable relationships can trap people emotionally and financially.
4. Exotic animals are not pets
- The Ming story underscores the risks of keeping wild animals in urban homes.
- Even though Antoine loved Ming, the setup endangered neighbors, children, and the animals themselves.
Notable Moments
- Georgia celebrates 90 days sober.
- Karen and Georgia riff on Rufus Choate, the famously dramatic lawyer who used the sleepwalking defense.
- The hosts return repeatedly to the idea that these stories reveal how institutions excuse powerful men and blame vulnerable people.
- The Ming story stands out for its surreal image of a full-grown tiger living in Harlem—and the even stranger discovery of a caiman in the apartment.
Bottom Line
This episode pairs two memorable true-crime stories that both hinge on distorted public perception:
- Maria Bickford’s murder shows how misogyny and class prejudice shaped justice in 1845.
- Ming the tiger is a bizarre modern case about love, denial, and the chaos of keeping wild animals in a city apartment.
Together, they fit My Favorite Murder’s core formula: dark history, sharp commentary, and a reminder that society often gets its priorities very wrong.