When daltxrealestate.com heard Compass Realtor Heather Guild was doing a podcast on true crime and real estate called Crime Estate, we were intrigued. When we heard Episode 7, “The Queen of Swiss Avenue,” we were hooked. I personally dropped everything to binge-listen all 17 episodes (for research). Our resident murder house expert Shelby Skrhak is still pouting with jealousy that she can’t be on it.
Guild‘s new podcast delves deep into torrid tales of murder with a focus on the homes where such crimes were committed. Guild and her co-hosts Melanie Stout and Elena Richey have featured iconic murder homes such as JonBenet Ramsey’s home in Boulder, Colo., the Cielo Drive site of the Manson murders, and a double homicide at Cullen Davis’ Fort Worth Stonegate Mansion.
It’s not the subject matter you’d expect from three PTA moms, but come happy hour, they discovered their mutual love for talking gory true crime.
The podcast idea launched when Guild shared with her friend, Standard Real Estate agent Elena Richey, that Guild’s husband was raised in a murder house in Iowa.
This bit of trivia raised a lot of questions for the agents: Who buys a murder house? How does that affect property taxes? What does the Realtor have to disclose? What kind of deal did they get? Did it sit vacant for a long time?
What evolved is a well-researched commentary on some famous homes, some infamous crimes, and some that have stayed off the radar for years.
The pair brought in producer Melanie Stout — another “boy mom” they met in their sons’ middle school Parent Teacher Association — and decided on a whim to get together once a week and talk about true crime and real estate.
“Elena and I get together quite a bit, not only because our boys are friends but we’re also both in real estate, just to talk about what’s going on in the market,” Guild said.
After Guild shared the story of her husband’s childhood “murder house,” Richey was “all in.”
So were their families. By the time Guild got home from happy hour that night, her husband had purchased the Crime Estate domain and all the necessary podcast equipment. They’re planning to feature Guild’s husband and his childhood home as their first episode of 2024.
Guild said she hasn’t had to disclose a murder when selling a home, but she has walked in on a robbery in progress.
“If you talk to anybody that’s been in real estate or works with the public, they say, ‘You should write a book,’” she said. “The podcast has been a way for us to tell some of those crazy real estate stories.”
The Queen of Swiss Avenue
When 4949 Swiss Ave. was built in 1917, “it was one of the grandest homes in Dallas with three stories and over 7,000 square feet of yellow brick and a tile-rimmed veranda, according to the podcasters’ research on the Swiss Avenue episode.
Dallasites have long been fascinated by the homes in the city’s first historic district, but not everyone knows the story of Mary Ellen Bendtsen and the property that daltxrealestate.com dubbed in 2012 “the home with the messiest title in Texas.”
During the episode, the trio chats about Bendtsen, a former model who owned the stately manor, and conman Mark McCay, who was ultimately convicted of trying to swindle her out of 4949 Swiss while she was on her deathbed.
Being East Dallasites, one of whom lives in Munger Place adjacent to Swiss Avenue, the podcasters couldn’t help but talk about the annual Swiss Avenue Mother’s Day Home Tour and their own personal experiences with real estate in the area.
“I help them with the research, but they’re really great storytellers,” Stout said.
Crime Estate
The hosts’ real estate background is particularly evident as they unpack the 1996 JonBenét Ramsey case.
“Have you ever sold a 7,000-square-foot house?” they ask each other.
They have not.
When asked if they do any sleuthing or attempt to solve the cases they talk about, Guild says they do a lot of research. As for a theory on the Ramsey case, the house undoubtedly is a factor.
“The house is sort of iconic and plays into who could have committed the crime, like how did they get in and how did they get out,” Richey said.
Stout agreed.
“It had to be someone who is familiar with the house, because of the placement of the ransom note on the stairs,” she said. “The body was found not just in the basement, but in kind of a hidden room in the basement. It had to have been someone who spent time in the house.”
That doesn’t necessarily point to a family member, the podcasters say. The Ramsey home was featured on a home tour prior to the crime.
Choosing Stories
The podcasters make an effort to recognize the victims and highlight crimes that affect marginalized populations, Richey said.
“We’re proud that we’re trying to do that,” she said.
It’s also not just husbands killing wives, and there’s a clear focus on the homes, Stout added.
“Obviously they need to be interesting homes, but we’re trying to be deliberate in finding different styles of homes, different locations, and different victims and scenarios,” she said. “We’ve done some modern-day stories and some historical homes. One we did recently was all about Frank Lloyd Wright and the murders that happened in his household.”
The ladies set up a studio in Guild’s recently-renovated East Dallas home and record a new show every Friday afternoon.
“True crime as an entertainment industry is something you have to be really careful about when you present and articulate your story,” Richey said. “It’s something people find interesting, and everybody has a question about it or has their own story, but I think everyone is sensitive to the victims as well, which is important.”
They even used their real estate expertise when researching how to publish new podcast episodes on different platforms.
“It’s essentially like MLS,” Richey said. “We’re putting our property in MLS and it’s going to Redfin and Realtor.com. We found the hub that puts it out to the spots we want it to go.”
Richey added that the podcast has been a good excuse to get together with friends and talk about the things that are interesting or important to them.
“We were cognizant early on that we didn’t want to overdo the North Texas homes, but I’ll be honest, we do talk about the Dallas real estate market a lot,” she said. “We’re asking people for suggestions. Everyone I tell about the podcast [has an idea].”
Send your tips for a future episode of Crime Estate to [email protected].
