Fan Favorite - "The Receipt"

MrBallen Podcast: Strange, Dark & Mysterious Stories

The episode details the 2006 double homicide of Karen and Jim Divalbliss, wealthy business owners in Lancaster, Ohio. Investigators initiall

Key takeaways

• Karen and Jim Divalbless were prominent, wealthy business owners in Lancaster, Ohio.
• The crime scene showed no signs of forced entry, suggesting the killer was known to the victims or had a key.

Main topics

• Double homicide investigation
• Crime scene analysis

Notable quotes

He stopped counting the money and just began flipping through it as quickly as he could.

Conclusion

A powerful illustration of how a single, overlooked piece of physical

Transcript preview

Speaker 1 (0:00) Today's episode is a fan favorite. The audio in the story has been remastered for today's episode. On the afternoon of March 24th, 2006, an employee at a moving truck rental company in Ohio opened his desk drawer and grabbed a wad of cash. It had been a slow day, so the employee was using his downtime to organize a few recent payments. The money he had just grabbed was from an all-cash deal that had happened a few days ago. At the time, the employee had been super busy, so he'd just taken the cash from the customer, flipped through it quickly to make sure the amount seemed right, then shoved the money in the drawer to deal with later. Now he was actually counting it properly, and he really hoped the customer had not shorted him or he would have to track them down to collect the rest. But as the employee counted the bills, he paused. Not because the amount wasn't right, but because there was something on the money that caught his attention. For a second, he wasn't sure what it was, so he looked closer. And then, all at once, he understood what he was seeing. He stopped counting the money and just began flipping through it as quickly as he could. and he kept seeing the same thing on almost all the bills. With his heart racing, the employee just dropped the money, grabbed the phone, and called the police. But before we get into that story, if you're a fan of the Strange, Dark, and Mysterious delivered in story format, then you've come to the right podcast, because that's all we do, and we upload twice a week, once on Monday and once on Thursday. So if that's of interest to you, please offer to cut the follow button's grass for them. but set the blades so low that it just obliterates the grass and leaves only dirt. Okay, let's get into today's story. On the evening of Thursday, March 9th, 2006, a 50-year-old woman named Karen Divalbliss sat in the passenger seat of her car. Her husband, 71-year-old Jim Divalbliss, was behind the wheel, driving them through downtown Lancaster, Ohio. Karen looked out the window and watched as they passed historic buildings, shops, and restaurants. Every once in a while, Jim slowed down and waved at people on the sidewalk, because he and Karen knew practically everybody in town. So, Lancaster was a small suburb of about 36,000 people, and it was generally a friendly, blue-collar place. Karen and Jim had lived there for over a decade, and they were well-known in the community, mostly because of their business ventures. They owned multiple rental properties around town, and also a store where they sold electronics, toys, and hobby supplies. The properties and the store had not only made Karen and Jim a lot of friends, but also a lot of money. They had a reputation for being very wealthy, but also very generous. They went out of their way to help people who were down on their luck, especially friends and family. Karen's former sister-in-law, whose name was Deanna Smith, had actually been living in one of their rental properties for a long time now. And Karen's son was an employee at their store. But even now, with all of their success and their kindness, Karen knew that a lot of people in town viewed her and Jim as kind of an odd couple. They'd both been married before and had kids from their first marriages. And on paper, they didn't seem like obvious partners. Jim was 21 years older than Karen, and he also tended to be pretty quiet and reserved. Karen, on the other hand, was usually the loudest person in the room. But despite their differences, they just worked. And really, that was all that mattered to them. Just then, Karen felt the car slow to a stop. She looked out the window and saw that they were at their first stop of the evening, the hobby store that they owned. There was a big sign outside that said the store's name, D &D Sales. The sign looked exceptionally bright and clean, which should have made Karen happy. But in reality, it actually made her feel kind of annoyed. The sign had recently been repainted by Karen and Jim's regular handyman. And he'd done a great job with it. And Karen had paid him what she owed him for the work. But then after she paid him, he kept demanding more money. Now, Karen prided herself on being generous, but she'd felt like the handyman was now trying to take advantage of her. So she had told him that if he wanted to earn more money, she could give him another repair job. Now, ultimately, he had agreed to do another job, but he'd made it very clear that he was not happy about it, and things had been tense between him and Karen ever since. But luckily, the handyman was not at the store that day. Karen was actually here to see somebody else, her 27-year-old son, Jeremy Moore. She could see him inside the shop through the window, manning the front counter. He was tall, skinny, and had dark hair and earrings. Jeremy was her only son from her first marriage, and they usually got along really well. When Karen and Jim first opened D &D Sales, they'd given Jeremy a job, and he'd been a great employee. Karen had felt like she could really trust him, and she'd given him a lot of independence. But then, that all changed. because Jeremy had started getting into serious trouble. He'd never really been a troublemaker, but it was like all of a sudden, he had gotten arrested for stealing. And when he came back to work after that, his performance had majorly slipped. He'd started showing up late or not showing up at all. And on top of that, some of Karen and Jim's other store employees had begun complaining that they didn't like working with him because he was moody and angry. And so this had put Karen in a pretty awkward position because she loved Jeremy. and she wanted him to succeed. And family or not, she just wasn't in the habit of firing people or leaving them high and dry when they were having a hard time. But at the same time, she also didn't want Jeremy's attitude and performance to affect her business. So she had sort of made it a point to check in on him while he was working. Karen told Jim she'd be right back, and she got out of the car. She went inside the store and asked her son how he was doing, and he seemed annoyed to be asked and just told her that, you know, everything was fine. So Karen did a quick sweep of the store to make sure all the shelves were stocked and the aisles were clean. Everything looked good, so she went back to the front counter and told Jeremy she loved him, and then headed back outside to the car. A few minutes later, Karen and Jim pulled up to their second stop of the evening, their favorite bowling alley, which was called Tiki Lanes. In addition to being business people, Karen and Jim were avid bowlers. They were in three different bowling leagues and came to Tiki Lanes at least a few times a week. In fact, they were so serious about bowling that they'd even hired a coach who they met with for weekly lessons. But for tonight, they were just here to meet with their friends for a couple of casual rounds. Karen and Jim parked the car, walked inside, and went straight to their usual lane. A bunch of their bowling friends were already sitting around tables nearby, and when they saw Karen and Jim, they got up and hugged and said hello. At some point, Karen sat down, put on her bowling shoes, and took several expensive rings off her fingers and stuck them in her pocket so they wouldn't get damaged. Then she got up and got ready to play. Speaker 1 (7:21) Throughout the evening, Jim kept the table stocked with snacks and drinks for the whole group. They ate, they drank, they played, and they talked with their friends. And by the time they were all done, Karen was exhausted. She put her rings back on, changed her shoes, and all she could think about was getting home and going to bed. So, she and Jim said goodbye to everyone. Then they went outside, hopped in their car, and headed home. Speaker 1 (7:47) About 10 minutes later, they pulled into their driveway. They lived in a big brick house in a rural area north of town, so the neighborhood was quiet and scenic. Karen got out of the car and was about to walk to the door, but she stopped when she heard a voice call out to her from behind her. She turned around and she gasped. Speaker 1 (8:21) Four days later, around 9 a.m. on Monday, March 13th, Karen's son, Jeremy, pulled up outside his mother and stepfather's house. He parked his red sedan, then got out and walked towards the front door. So normally, at this time, Jeremy would be opening up the family store, D &D Sales. But he'd asked another person to keep an eye on the store because he needed to go see his mom. He had a routine of calling her every morning when he got to work. But that morning, when he'd called, she hadn't picked up, which was unusual. And then Jeremy realized that he actually hadn't spoken to his mother that entire weekend. And normally, they spoke just about every day. So the whole situation made him feel confused and sort of concerned. Jeremy went to the front door and he knocked, but he didn't hear anything inside. Nobody came to the door and he called out for his mom, but he didn't hear anybody calling him back. So eventually he reached down and tried the