550 - Short and Problem-Based

My Favorite Murder with Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark

In this episode of My Favorite Murder, Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark discuss two stories: Georgia's deep dive into the murder of Kal

Key takeaways

• Personal stories from listeners highlight real-life connections to the podcast's themes of justice and recognition.

Main topics

• True crime: Kalinka Bamberski murder case
• Justice system failures and long-term incarceration

Notable quotes

"If you're not going to talk to people or you're like, that's how you always complain."

"You are the architect of your own fate."

Conclusion

The episode blends true crime storytelling with personal reflections,

Transcript preview

Speaker 1 (0:01) This is exactly right. Speaker 2 (0:23) And welcome. To Speaker 3 (0:24) My Speaker 2 (0:24) Favorite Murder. That's Georgia Hardstark. That's Karen Kilgareth. And this is a true crime podcast. Speaker 3 (0:30) We bring it right to your door. For Speaker 2 (0:32) 10 years. Knock, knock. It's been a decade, bitches. Let us in. Do you have snacks? Do you have treats for us? Treats? Speaker 3 (0:39) Can we have a treat? It Speaker 2 (0:40) is spooky season coming right up around the corner. Only two months to go. Speaker 3 (0:46) What's up? How are you? I'm Speaker 2 (0:47) good. How are you? Good. Speaker 3 (0:50) Is this natural? No, I don't remember how. I don't remember what we do next. Speaker 2 (0:53) We do different stuff every time. Okay. Speaker 3 (0:55) It's usually different. I've actually never listened to this podcast before. It's not good. So I don't know the format. Hey, want some kind of good news, I guess, from the dark side? Yes. Okay. So remember a couple episodes ago in episode 541 called House or Wife? Yes. I Speaker 2 (1:13) remember every moment. I Speaker 3 (1:15) covered the guy who was imprisoned for like 30 years for allegedly starting a flood in Mississippi, the Great Mississippi Flood of 1993. His name is James Scott. Well, he was up for parole and he was granted parole. He was 25 years old when he went to prison. And he's been in so long, he's now 56 years old. Speaker 1 (1:35) Yeah. And Speaker 3 (1:36) so he's going to finally. Get out. Wow. I mean, I wish they would look more into that. The evidence was shit, but at least he's going to get out. That's an incredible update. That's Speaker 2 (1:46) the update we're looking for. Yeah. So that's Speaker 3 (1:48) good. Speaker 2 (1:48) It is good. Well, this is a little bit an additional update, not as good as someone finally getting out of jail. But I went again to Sephora. Speaker 3 (2:00) Congratulations. Speaker 2 (2:01) Thank you. And I let someone help me. Oh. And it was such a delightful experience. We stood in the hair aisle laughing and talking about having bobs. Amazing. Speaker 3 (2:12) It Speaker 2 (2:12) was so funny. And as it was happening, I was like, you are the architect of your own fate. Speaker 3 (2:17) Yeah. If Speaker 2 (2:18) you're not going to talk to people or you're like, that's how you always complain. Speaker 3 (2:22) Right. If Speaker 2 (2:23) you're not going to be in the game, then you're always going to be like, I don't like this game. Speaker 3 (2:26) Yeah. Speaker 2 (2:27) But you go and you actually, someone goes, do you need help? And it's like. Yeah, actually. Actually, I do. Can you help? Actually, it wasn't just the woman in the hair area because I was looking at a new very expensive skin tint, Speaker 1 (2:39) which Speaker 2 (2:40) I do not need. And I was looking at it. I was like, have you tried this? Do you like it? She goes, we'll give you a little tester. Basically, I realize people work at Sephora. Speaker 3 (2:50) And they actually want to help you. They really Speaker 2 (2:51) do want to help really bad. She didn't say at the end, I'm a listener. No. Speaker 3 (2:56) Because I had an experience. You reminded me that a couple weeks ago I was in Portland for the weekend just having a vacay. Decided to change my flight to earlier in the day. And I couldn't get the website to work on my phone. My Wi-Fi was shitty. So I had to call a fucking customer service line in this day and age. How? I know. And I give this woman, this nice normal woman at Alaska Airlines my name. And she goes. She fucking recognized me. That has never happened before. On Speaker 1 (3:26) the phone? Speaker 3 (3:27) Yes. In the 10 years where I've like made hair appointments and made Botox appointments and made doctor. I was just like assuming at one point one of those. young girls at those at a med spa was going to be like, I listen. Sure. Never has that happened. So when she did that, I said, are you from My Favorite Murder? I freaked out as much as she was freaking out. She still charged me the change fee. She was like, I'm sorry. I wish I could waive it, but I can't. She's like, listen. Yeah. So Nancy in Alaska. Hey. Hi. That was really exciting. Nancy, Speaker 2 (3:57) thanks for listening. This is Nancy. Being on the phone with you is like. A podcast kind of, but short and problem-based. Right. She Speaker 3 (4:06) solved my problem and she was lovely the whole time. That's great. I know. That's really nice. Speaker 2 (4:11) First time. That's also very fun. It was really fun. Because doing stuff like that is usually such a drag. Right. And you're just like. Speaker 3 (4:19) Nancy. Nancy. We're already friends. I've been waiting for this for 10 years. Speaker 2 (4:24) Nancy, this is wonderful. I mean, I've been Speaker 3 (4:25) recognized at multiple estate sales, but never on the phone. That's right. So it was exciting. It's a harder, it's like you leveled up. It's a harder thing that you unlocked. Totally. Yeah. Speaker 2 (4:35) Yeah. Okay. Something that is true to my heart. TikTok. Okay. A delightful TikTok. I got sent it on TikTok personally 30 times. My sister showed me when I went home last weekend. Speaker 3 (4:49) I Speaker 2 (4:49) thought you'd like it because it's right up our alley. Let me see. Speaker 3 (4:53) Let me see. Okay. Speaker 1 (4:54) Here's what to do if you don't want to get murdered. Oh, I love her. It's been a while since we've done one of these and I just think it's time. First of all, don't honeymoon on a boat. What are you doing? Don't honeymoon on a cliff. I get that people like to hike, I get that. But if it's like some kind of like really like risky cliff hillside hike, I don't think you should go. I don't care if he's the greatest living human man. I don't think you should go. Don't go jogging late at night. Don't go jogging. Don't go jogging. Don't be like six to 15 weeks pregnant. Don't be full term and meet someone on Facebook. Speaker 2 (5:35) If Speaker 1 (5:36) I was pregnant, I wouldn't even open Facebook. Absolutely no Craigslist. Absolutely no. Speaker 3 (5:44) She basically like summarized this last 10 years of this podcast. I mean. In one Speaker 2 (5:50) TikTok. And then the last 2000 years of women's lives. So that was Jen Curran and hilarious. I've seen her on TikTok several times. But then Allison looked it up and she actually follows us on Instagram. Yeah. So there is a chance she is a listener. Love Speaker 3 (6:06) her. Speaker 2 (6:06) Or she's hate following Speaker 3 (6:07) us. She might be hate following us. Either way, we support Speaker 2 (6:10) what she does. Might be rate bait, baiting? No. Bait, rage baiting. Wow. Perimenopause just had a moment. Right? It's mosquito brain time. Wow. Perfect. I hate when that happens. For podcasting. Definitely. All Speaker 3 (6:25) you have Speaker 2 (6:25) to Speaker 3 (6:25) do is read Speaker 2 (6:26) now. Speaker 3 (6:26) You know what's fun is trying to find an outfit to wear on Perimenopause. Speaker 2 (6:30) Oh, God. Fuck everything. Truly the other day, I actually had to call Craig and I was like, I don't know what happened, but every single item I put on, I had to take back off. And I was getting increasingly more upset because it's like, it's not going to get better from here. Speaker 3 (6:45) No, I settled on this and had to pull it from under a cat, which. I won't disturb a cat who's sleeping. That's how bad it was. You know what I mean? Like the fact that I disturbed a cat, there's probably still cat hair on it, tells you how bad a day I was having trying to find something to wear. Speaker 2 (6:59) This was one of the things I was talking to the woman at Sephora about. Yeah. These things that happen pre-menopause or menopause where suddenly your hair changes. You don't know what your hair is doing anymore. It's falling out or it's getting weirdly curly or wet, like that whole thing. My shoulder hurts. Can I blame? Now I have. Knife shoulder. Speaker 3 (7:17) Tinnitus is a fucking thing. Speaker 2 (7:19) Yeah. Have you had any hot flashes? Speaker 3 (7:21) Yes, but the patch has been helping. The estradiol patch has been helping with hot flashes. Oh, okay, good. So those are fine. But Speaker 2 (7:27) my vision's fucked up. I mean, or like energy battery on the video game is just dwindling down. And Speaker 3 (7:34) I yeeted my uterus. So you'd think that it was like not as crazy. No, they'll still get you. It's pretty fucked. They'll Speaker 2 (7:40) get you on a technicality. is what they'll do. They really will. Hey, fuck them. Fuck them. When we say them, we mean your ovaries. If you're in perimenopause or menopause, write to us at myfavoritemurder at gmail.com. Speaker 3 (7:53) Let's play a game of how many eggs do you have left? Speaker 2 (7:56) How many viable eggs do Speaker 3 (7:57) you have left? And how much are you sweating for no reason? All right. Well, should we get into the podcast, the actual Speaker 2 (8:05) podcast? We might as well. Speaker 3 (8:06) No, I think Speaker 2 (8:07) we should sit here and watch TikToks. Speaker 3 (8:08) I Speaker 2 (8:08) know you do. Speaker 3 (8:10) We have a podcast network called Exactly Right Media. There's podcasts on it. Here are some highlights Speaker 2 (8:15) from them. This week on Bananas, Kurt and Scotty are joined by Mo Welch to discuss West Seattle's freelance beaver detective. That's right. A teacher who arranged her classroom by Zodiac signs and a Spider-Man thief who learned his tricks working as a Power Ranger. Wow. And over on Wicked Words, Kate sits down with crime Speaker 3 (8:32) journalist Maria DiLorenzo to discuss her book Confessions of the Green River Killer. Speaker 2 (8:38) And over on The Knife, Hannah tells Pasha about an online knitting community. by the sudden and suspicious death of one of its own, but as the community starts piecing together what happened... The story begins to unravel. Wow. That's a play on words because it's a knitting community. I love it. Okay. And if you haven't listened to our limited series, Royal Speaker 3 (8:57) Swindle, yet, all the episodes are now available so you can binge the whole wild story from beginning to end. And make sure to like and subscribe, Speaker 2 (9:05) please. And if you're like us and you love Michael Foote from our legal podcast, Brief Recess, then you will be very excited to hear this news. The TV show The Traitor's New Blood premieres today. I am so... Fucking excited for this. September 17th on NBC, and it streams tomorrow on Peacock. Speaker 3 (9:22) We're going to be live posting along with the premiere on Threads, and Michael will be recapping all of Speaker 2 (9:27) the drama on Brief Recess. Yeah, you're immediately going to get a contestant's experience on a podcast. He's Speaker 3 (9:35) going to be so good. Like, I was thinking about going up against him on The Traitors. I would quit. Yes. I'd Speaker 2 (9:41) be Speaker 3 (9:41) like, I can't. No Speaker 2 (9:42) one can outsmart him. No, and also, but he's so charming. Yes. Like, I'm sure he's just charming the hell out of everybody and they don't ever see anything coming. Speaker 3 (9:50) Exactly. He's a worthy adversary. Speaker 2 (9:52) Yes, he is. Yes, he Speaker 3 (9:53) is. I'm excited. Speaker 2 (9:54) And finally, we would like to thank you, Murderinos, because the fuck politeness and the wee woo whistles are officially sold out and we are going to be donating the proceeds to the National Immigration Law Center. Speaker 3 (10:06) Yay. Good job, everyone. Yes. Thank Speaker 2 (10:08) you for that. That's so cool. Speaker 3 (10:09) Love doing that in your name. Speaker 3 (10:13) So this is a story that I don't want to read the subject line for you like Speaker 2 (10:17) the way we do on minisodes because it'll give it away. Okay. So I'm just going to say this Speaker 3 (10:22) is a story that would have been considered a cold case were it not for a father who refused to ever let it go. This is the story of the murder of Kalinka Bamburski. Speaker 2 (10:34) Wow. Speaker 3 (10:35) I don't want to tell you the tagline because it's just so gripping. Okay. But I'm going to tell you the story instead. You Speaker 2 (10:40) have to tell Speaker 3 (10:41) me the story before the tagline. Okay. The main sources for this story are a documentary on Netflix called My Daughter's Killer and an article in The Atavist by Joshua Hammer. And the rest of the sources can be found in the show notes. So let's start in July of 1982. And we are in Toulouse, France. Toulouse, France. A pretty big city in the south of the country. You know, France. France stuff. Andre Bomberski is a 42-year-old accountant, so such a normal, organized dude. Everyone describes him as exceedingly organized and detail-oriented. He's a person who likes to see tasks through to the end. Not me. Couldn't be me. Can you imagine us as accountants? We would crash the stock market. Bad Speaker 2 (11:29) news about your taxes this year. Did you want to pay in Skittles? Because I'd be, I think you should pay in Skittles. The good news is... You don't have to pay them. The bad news is you're supposed to. I Speaker 3 (11:39) traded all your money for Skittles and this cow. You're welcome. Yeah. Let's see what happens. And some seashells. But they're beautiful. OK, so Andre is divorced and has two children, an 11-year-old son named Nicola and a 14-year-old daughter named Kalinka. The children spend the majority of the year living with their mother in Lindau, Germany, which is a beautiful historic town on the shores of Lake Constance, not far from the Austrian border and across the lake from Switzerland. I knew you were just going to say that. I mean, I wanted to. I wanted to say thank you for not interrupting. Their mother, Danielle, but in French, Danielle, Danielle, had remarried. A German doctor named Dieter Kronbach, who she had actually had an affair with her new husband when she was still married to Andre. They had a pretty messy divorce over it, and the kids went to live with her and the new husband in Germany. And so as it stands now, in 1982, things are pretty amicable. The past few years, Andre has only gotten the kids for vacations, but Kalinka... you know, originally from France, is feeling isolated in her German school. And so by the end of the summer, she's planning to move back to Toulouse to live with her father. He's looking forward to that. But this all comes crashing down on the morning of July 10th when Andre gets a phone call from his ex, Danielle, who is hysterical. She tells him that Kalinka has died in her sleep, 14-year-old Kalinka, and that her husband Dieter tried to revive her, but he couldn't. Andre asks what could have happened to his vibrant, healthy daughter. And Danielle says that Dieter's best guess is a heat stroke. That's what he suggests it could be. Or possibly undiagnosed complications from a car accident she had years earlier. But they're not sure why this healthy, vibrant. 14-year-old girl would have died. So on July 9th, the day before the last day of Kalinka's life, she had gone windsurfing on Lake Constance. It had been around 84 degrees that day. And according to her mother and stepfather, she had been complaining about feeling unwell that evening. She ate dinner at 7.30, went to bed, and then came out of her room at around 10 o'clock for a glass of water and read in bed until midnight when Dieter says that he told her to turn off the light. That's his... Speaker 3 (14:05) Basically. Speaker 1 (14:06) The Speaker 3 (14:06) next morning, Dieter and Kalinka were supposed to go horseback riding together in the mountains. And he says when he tried to wake her up, he found her unresponsive. He had tried to administer several stimulant injections to revive her, but they hadn't worked. And he's a doctor. Yeah, I was just going to say. Okay. So, you know, him diagnosing her and him giving her injections, not totally suspicious. Right. Right. Immediately upon learning of his daughter's death, Andre flies to Lindau. And early the next morning, he goes to view his daughter's body and then brings his son, 11-year-old Nicolet, home to Toulouse to prepare for Kalinka's funeral. And here's a photo of Andre holding a photo Speaker 2 (14:47) of Kalinka. So you can see them. Speaker 3 (14:50) She just was this bright, beautiful, blonde, lovely girl. They said she was always smiling. And he's such a dad. Yeah. Okay. All of Andre's friends and neighbors rally around him to support the family during this horrible time and a seemingly random and unavoidable tragedy. After Kalinka's funeral, Andre, still trying to piece together what on earth happened, requests the autopsy report from the German medical examiner. It takes a while to get a copy, and then Andre has to get it translated from German. Speaker 3 (15:25) He actually doesn't read the document until October of 1982, so three months after Kalinka's death, and it generates far more questions than answers. The first unusual thing Andre notices about the autopsy report is that in addition to the medical examiner and two police officers being present, Dieter, the stepfather, had also been present during the autopsy. In the report, Andre also finds out that by the time Kalinka's body had been found, a little after 10 a.m., rigor mortis had already set in. And this raises the question of why Dieter had tried to administer any life-saving injections at all. As a doctor, Speaker 2 (16:01) he Speaker 3 (16:02) would have known they would be ineffective. But Kalinka had actually been brought to the medical examiner with a needle still in her upper arm. Like, that's how frantic he was trying to revive her, supposedly. Okay. Andre reads that one injection had been administered to Kalinka by Dieter the evening before. It had been iron cobalt, which is not really a standard injection for anything aside from severe anemia. And Dieter had said that he gave it to her intending to help her tan. It was just super fucking, what are you talking about, Russ? Immediately. Yeah. You'd stop me cold that he was in the autopsy. I mean, he's a cardiologist, so it's not like he's a pretty high up doctor. Yes. Right, but it's his stepdaughter, right? No, and it's totally inappropriate. And it doesn't help people tan. Like I looked it up on Google. It's just not a thing. So him saying that that's why he did it doesn't make any sense. No toxicology tests were performed, though. Although some tissue samples had been taken. Like, he's just injecting her with shit and you don't do a toxicology report? Well, and is Speaker 2 (17:09) it because he's in the room? Speaker 3 (17:10) Right, exactly. There had been some physical evidence that would generally lead to further investigation as to whether a sexual assault had taken place. This evidence included some blood and there was also a small vaginal injury as well as an unidentified substance found in her vagina, which never gets identified. It's just... What's happening? Totally. Like, what is this? And most confusing of all is the fact that the autopsy mentions that food particles had been found in Kalinka's lungs, a clear sign that she had vomited and asphyxiated, which would have caused her death. Like, that caused her death, clearly. That's what did it. But the autopsy does not draw this conclusion and leaves her cause of death as unknown. Speaker 1 (17:54) So Speaker 3 (17:55) Andre calls his ex-wife. brimming with questions. And while she is genuinely devastated, she doesn't seem to have answers. She lets Dieter handle everything because she doesn't speak German. And she's 100 % behind her current husband that he would never do something like this and is upset that Andrei's even looking into it. So Andrei petitions the German government to test the tissue samples and have a Munich medical examiner analyze the findings along with the autopsy results. And in early 1983, that report is released. And this medical examiner says that the iron cobalt injection could have caused vomiting and cardiac arrest, especially after eating. So because of a lack of immune response in any of Kalinka's surrounding tissues, the medical examiner believes that Kalinka asphyxiated and died very shortly after being administered this injection. So meaning when he tried to revive her that morning with multiple injections, I guess the sight of them, they can tell that she hadn't been alive for quite a while. just based on the marking. And yet he's a cardiologist giving those instructions. Totally. And his timeline now doesn't add up. Because with this information, then him seeing her around midnight telling her to go to bed doesn't make any sense. Him waking up, you know, it just completely blows it out. But German authorities still decline to prosecute Dieter, which leaves Andre dumbfounded. Yeah. And there's definitely in the documentary this,