Overview of Rewind with Karen & Georgia — 117: “Reality’s Canceled”
This episode is a rewind of My Favorite Murder episode 117 from April 19, 2018, with Karen and Georgia revisiting the original banter, their two main true-crime stories, and newer case updates. The episode mixes a lot of dark crime reporting with the hosts’ usual humor: burping jokes, parking-ticket confessions, a “box of moths” fear that becomes weirdly prophetic, and a running bit about puns and “reality being canceled.”
Opening Banter and Running Jokes
Recurring bits and personal updates
- The hosts revisit old inside jokes about:
- burping on mic
- parking tickets in Los Angeles
- Georgia’s fear of a “box of moths”
- puns, especially Georgia’s delight in wordplay
- They also talk about:
- Steven’s birthday and the infamous Hello Kitty cake
- their old pod loft setup and how much coffee they used to drink
- the casual chaos of their early podcast days
Community crime chatter
- Karen recounts checking the Nextdoor app and seeing a police report about three dead bodies found in a car in Burbank.
- The discussion turns to how crime becomes more noticeable when it happens near you.
Corrections corner
- They correct:
- the “suck it” quote attribution
- the proper drink term: a pint of bitter, not bitters
- They also discuss British tea terminology and whether “tea” means lunch, a snack, or dessert.
Karen’s Story: Tika Adams and the Fetal Abduction Attempt
This is a harrowing survival story about Tika Adams, a pregnant woman in Washington, D.C. who was lured by a woman claiming to help homeless pregnant women get baby supplies.
What happened
- Tika, who had been homeless and then got her life together, is contacted by a woman named Stephanie offering help.
- Stephanie brings her to an apartment, where the situation turns violent:
- Tika is beaten repeatedly
- hit with a fireplace poker
- cut with a box cutter
- and eventually duct-taped and attacked in an attempt to remove the fetus
- The attacker plays Michael Jackson’s This Is It on repeat during the assault.
- Tika eventually escapes the apartment while severely injured.
Escape and survival
- In one of the most shocking parts of the story, Tika makes it to the stairs and realizes her internal injuries are catastrophic.
- She still fights for help, and a neighbor finally intervenes.
- Emergency responders take her to the hospital, where she survives and gives birth to a baby girl named Miracle.
Outcome
- The attacker is identified as Veronica Dramas in the transcript.
- She pleads guilty to assault and receives a 25-year sentence.
- Karen emphasizes how the story shows both the cruelty of the crime and Tika’s strength in surviving it.
Broader context
- Karen later adds a modern note:
- the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children documented 21 fetal abduction cases in the U.S. from 1987 to 2022
- 19 of those cases ended in the pregnant woman’s death
- The case is used to underscore how dangerous pregnancy-targeted violence can be.
Georgia’s Story: The West Mesa Bone Collector
Georgia covers the West Mesa Bone Collector case in Albuquerque, New Mexico, one of the city’s most infamous unsolved murder cases.
How the case emerged
- Detective Ida Lopez, working missing persons, notices a pattern:
- women in their 20s and 30s
- many with drug and sex-work histories
- all vanishing from Albuquerque without much attention
- Rumors eventually point to the West Mesa desert.
The discovery
- In 2009, a woman walking her dog discovers a bone in the desert.
- Authorities excavate the site and find:
- 206 bones
- remains from 11 women and one unborn child
- It becomes the largest crime scene in Albuquerque history.
Victims identified
Among the victims identified are:
- Victoria Chavez
- Michelle Valdez
- Cinnamon Elks
- Julie Nieto
- Monica Candelaria
- Veronica Romero
- Doreen Marquez
- Solania Edwards
- Virginia Ann Cloven
- Evelyn Salazar
- Jamie Barela
Detective Ida Lopez’s role
- Ida is portrayed as relentless and deeply compassionate.
- Georgia highlights how she pushed to treat the missing women as real victims, not as disposable people because of their lifestyles.
Suspects
Two names are emphasized:
Lorenzo Montoya
- A violent sex offender with a history of assaults on sex workers
- Lived near the burial site
- Was linked to violent incidents involving women
- Died before he could be fully investigated
Joseph Bley
- Dubbed the “mid-school rapist” for assaults on young girls in the 1980s
- Had a long criminal history
- Was found with items like rope and electrical tape
- Remained a suspect, but no charges were brought in connection to West Mesa
Status of the case
- The case remains unsolved
- No arrests have been made
- A $100,000 reward still exists for information leading to an arrest and conviction
Case Updates and Modern Context
West Mesa memorial
- In 2020, Women’s Memorial Park opened at the site where the bodies were found.
- It serves as a memorial to the victims and their families.
FOSTA and sex worker safety
- Georgia and Karen discuss the FOSTA law:
- meant to fight trafficking
- but widely criticized for making sex workers less safe by forcing them offline
- They stress that sex workers deserve safety, dignity, and the ability to screen clients.
Main Takeaways
- Tika Adams’s story is a survival story about extreme violence, resilience, and luck combined with courage.
- The West Mesa case shows how marginalized victims are often ignored for years before patterns are recognized.
- The episode repeatedly emphasizes that language matters:
- sex workers are victims too
- missing women shouldn’t be dismissed because of their circumstances
- Both stories highlight the hosts’ core message: the people society overlooks are still worthy of justice, attention, and care.
Notable Themes
Survival and resilience
- Both stories center on people who endured horrific violence and survived, or were never given enough attention until tragedy became undeniable.
Systemic neglect
- The West Mesa case especially shows how police, media, and the public can overlook cases involving marginalized women.
Humor as release
- Even in a grim episode, the hosts keep their signature blend of gallows humor, personal anecdotes, and puns.
Final Note
This rewind episode works both as a nostalgia trip and as a reminder of how the show has evolved: the original jokes are still funny, but the case updates and retrospective commentary add more context, accountability, and urgency.