
The Alaskan Blonde
Sex, Secrets, and the Hollywood Story that Shocked America
Failed to add items
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
$0.99/mo for the first 3 months

Buy for $19.95
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
-
Narrated by:
-
Tom Lennon
About this listen
Anthony Awards - Nominee, Best NonFiction 2023
National Indie Excellence Awards - Winner, True Crime 2023
Next Generation Indie Book Awards - Finalist, True Crime 2023
Nicknamed “the most beautiful woman in Alaska”, 31-year-old Diane Wells was bruised and bloodied when she screamed for help in the early hours of October 17, 1953. Her husband Cecil, a wealthy Fairbanks businessman, had been shot dead, and she claimed they were the victims of a brutal home invasion.
Blonde, glamorous, and 20 years younger than Cecil, police were immediately suspicious of Diane's account, and the investigation soon turned toward her alleged lover, Black musician Johnny Warren, who had left town the night of the murder.
The scandal hit the pages of Newsweek, Life, Ebony, Jet, and the pulp detective magazines, and nearly 70 years later, journalist James T. Bartlett uncovers new evidence including an unpublished memoir, unseen photographs, and re-examines the FBI files. He tracks down and interviews the people close to Cecil, Diane, Johnny, and the mysterious “Third Suspect”, dance instructor William Colombany, to reveal the story of “the most notorious and baffling murder in the history of Fairbanks".
©2023 James Taran Bartlett (P)2023 James Taran BartlettListeners also enjoyed...
-
House of Secrets
- By: Lowell Cauffiel
- Narrated by: J. Rodney Turner
- Length: 14 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
For years, Eddie Lee Sexton ruled his large family like Charles Manson. The depraved patriarch dominated his ragged brood of twelve children mentally, physically, and sexually, and enforced every cruelty imaginable, from vicious beatings to raping his daughters and fathering their children. Finally, in 1992, Sexton's eighteen-year-old daughter Machelle, seeking refuge in a women's shelter, revealed the shocking, sordid details of her father's abuse to authorities. As the law attempted to catch up to Eddie Lee Sexton, he moved his family to a mobile home in western Florida.
-
-
Good writing, poor narration
- By Andrew C on 04-04-24
By: Lowell Cauffiel
-
Child Last Seen
- The Search for Patty Desmond
- By: Maureen Boyle
- Narrated by: Tom Lennon
- Length: 6 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
On an unseasonably warm winter evening in Pennsylvania, 15-year-old Patty Desmond sneaked out through the basement of her house. She had a history of running away, and that, combined with an argument with her mother, gave police reason to suspect she’d come home in a week or two.
-
-
Child last seen
- By Deedra on 07-18-23
By: Maureen Boyle
-
Beyond Obsession
- The Shocking True Story of a Teenage Love Affair Turned Deadly
- By: Richard Hammer
- Narrated by: Charles Constant
- Length: 11 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Joyce Aparo seemed to be the perfect single mother. She doted on her sixteen-year-old daughter, Karin, encouraging her musical ability and lavishing affection on her. But behind closed doors, Joyce was a terror. For thirteen years, she beat Karin savagely and demeaned her relentlessly. When Karin met the troubled yet brilliant Dennis Coleman, the two fell head-over-heels. But Joyce disapproved—so she had to die.
-
-
Take an anti- nausea pill . .
- By krystaldcox on 10-31-23
By: Richard Hammer
-
The Snake and the Spider
- Abduction and Murder in Daytona Beach
- By: Karen Kingsbury
- Narrated by: Nikki Zakocs
- Length: 9 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Best friends Daryl Barber and James Boucher were responsible, and their parents trusted them to spend Spring Break at Daytona Beach unchaperoned. When the boys missed their agreed-upon daily check-ins, their parents were disappointed. When they failed to come home on their planned return date, their parents were terrified. They could not have known that their innocent sons would encounter two violent men on the Florida coast. They could not have imagined the torture their children would endure before their bodies turned up four months later in a Florida swamp.
-
-
Fascinating but horrible story we’ll told
- By Gracie on 11-13-23
By: Karen Kingsbury
-
Countdown to Murder: Pam Hupp
- By: Rebecca F. Pittman
- Narrated by: Sonny Swinhart
- Length: 12 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The brutal murder of Betsy Faria on December 27, 2011 set off a maelstrom of events that resulted in an innocent man's imprisonment and another man's death. It would take a decade to unravel all the misdirection in the Faria murder case, the misconduct of the prosecution team, and the insidious mind of a murderer that St. Charles County Prosecutor Tim Lohmar called "the worst of the worst!" Betsy Faria was stabbed over 55 times. The murder scene was staged in an effort to frame the victim's husband Russell Faria.
-
-
I never ever do this!
- By Jadda on 03-31-24
-
Little, Crazy Children
- By: James Renner
- Narrated by: James Renner
- Length: 9 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In September of 1990, in the Cleveland suburb of Shaker Heights, sixteen-year-old Lisa Pruett was on her way to a midnight tryst with her boyfriend when she was viciously stabbed to death only thirty feet from the boy's home. The murder cast a palpable gloom over the upscale community and sparked accusations, theories, and rumors among Lisa's friends and peers. With a fresh perspective and painstaking research, James Renner reconstructs the events leading up to and following that heartbreaking night. What emerges is a portrait of a community seething with dark undercurrents.
-
-
Couldn’t put it down
- By Kathi Cooper on 01-04-25
By: James Renner
-
House of Secrets
- By: Lowell Cauffiel
- Narrated by: J. Rodney Turner
- Length: 14 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
For years, Eddie Lee Sexton ruled his large family like Charles Manson. The depraved patriarch dominated his ragged brood of twelve children mentally, physically, and sexually, and enforced every cruelty imaginable, from vicious beatings to raping his daughters and fathering their children. Finally, in 1992, Sexton's eighteen-year-old daughter Machelle, seeking refuge in a women's shelter, revealed the shocking, sordid details of her father's abuse to authorities. As the law attempted to catch up to Eddie Lee Sexton, he moved his family to a mobile home in western Florida.
-
-
Good writing, poor narration
- By Andrew C on 04-04-24
By: Lowell Cauffiel
-
Child Last Seen
- The Search for Patty Desmond
- By: Maureen Boyle
- Narrated by: Tom Lennon
- Length: 6 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
On an unseasonably warm winter evening in Pennsylvania, 15-year-old Patty Desmond sneaked out through the basement of her house. She had a history of running away, and that, combined with an argument with her mother, gave police reason to suspect she’d come home in a week or two.
-
-
Child last seen
- By Deedra on 07-18-23
By: Maureen Boyle
-
Beyond Obsession
- The Shocking True Story of a Teenage Love Affair Turned Deadly
- By: Richard Hammer
- Narrated by: Charles Constant
- Length: 11 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Joyce Aparo seemed to be the perfect single mother. She doted on her sixteen-year-old daughter, Karin, encouraging her musical ability and lavishing affection on her. But behind closed doors, Joyce was a terror. For thirteen years, she beat Karin savagely and demeaned her relentlessly. When Karin met the troubled yet brilliant Dennis Coleman, the two fell head-over-heels. But Joyce disapproved—so she had to die.
-
-
Take an anti- nausea pill . .
- By krystaldcox on 10-31-23
By: Richard Hammer
-
The Snake and the Spider
- Abduction and Murder in Daytona Beach
- By: Karen Kingsbury
- Narrated by: Nikki Zakocs
- Length: 9 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Best friends Daryl Barber and James Boucher were responsible, and their parents trusted them to spend Spring Break at Daytona Beach unchaperoned. When the boys missed their agreed-upon daily check-ins, their parents were disappointed. When they failed to come home on their planned return date, their parents were terrified. They could not have known that their innocent sons would encounter two violent men on the Florida coast. They could not have imagined the torture their children would endure before their bodies turned up four months later in a Florida swamp.
-
-
Fascinating but horrible story we’ll told
- By Gracie on 11-13-23
By: Karen Kingsbury
-
Countdown to Murder: Pam Hupp
- By: Rebecca F. Pittman
- Narrated by: Sonny Swinhart
- Length: 12 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The brutal murder of Betsy Faria on December 27, 2011 set off a maelstrom of events that resulted in an innocent man's imprisonment and another man's death. It would take a decade to unravel all the misdirection in the Faria murder case, the misconduct of the prosecution team, and the insidious mind of a murderer that St. Charles County Prosecutor Tim Lohmar called "the worst of the worst!" Betsy Faria was stabbed over 55 times. The murder scene was staged in an effort to frame the victim's husband Russell Faria.
-
-
I never ever do this!
- By Jadda on 03-31-24
-
Little, Crazy Children
- By: James Renner
- Narrated by: James Renner
- Length: 9 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In September of 1990, in the Cleveland suburb of Shaker Heights, sixteen-year-old Lisa Pruett was on her way to a midnight tryst with her boyfriend when she was viciously stabbed to death only thirty feet from the boy's home. The murder cast a palpable gloom over the upscale community and sparked accusations, theories, and rumors among Lisa's friends and peers. With a fresh perspective and painstaking research, James Renner reconstructs the events leading up to and following that heartbreaking night. What emerges is a portrait of a community seething with dark undercurrents.
-
-
Couldn’t put it down
- By Kathi Cooper on 01-04-25
By: James Renner
-
The Yoga Store Murder
- The Shocking True Account of the Lululemon Athletica Killing
- By: Dan Morse
- Narrated by: L.J. Ganser
- Length: 10 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
It was a crime that shocked the country. On March 21, 2011, two young saleswomen were found inside a lululemon athletica store in Bethesda, Maryland, one of the nation's wealthiest suburbs. Jayna Murray, thirty, was dead—stabbed, slashed, and struck more than 300 times. Brittany Norwood, twenty-eight, was alive—tied up on a bathroom floor, her clothing ripped, her face bloodied. This is the full true story of what happened.
-
-
Great for True Crime Buffs
- By pittiegirl on 06-14-24
By: Dan Morse
-
The Teacher's Pet
- By: Hedley Thomas
- Narrated by: Full Cast, Hedley Thomas
- Length: 18 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
If you thought you knew the story of The Teacher's Pet, get ready to be shocked. Hedley Thomas takes you behind the scenes with a blow-by-blow account of one of the most intriguing and enduring murder mysteries of our time - the crime, the podcast investigation, the sexual exploitation of teenage students, the courtroom drama - and how justice was finally delivered.
-
-
Can somebody please give the Narrator a cup of coffee
- By Jenny on 02-16-24
By: Hedley Thomas
-
True Crime Case Histories - Volume 1: 8 Disturbing True Crime Stories
- True Crime Case Histories, Book 1
- By: Jason Neal
- Narrated by: Timothy G Little
- Length: 3 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Eight true crime stories of murder and mayhem. In my first audiobook as a true crime author I've started with a few of the stories that have haunted me for some time. Some of these stories are unbelievable in their brutality while others are astounding in the stupidity of the killers. This collection of stories are from all around the globe and have no common thread between them other than that they are both thought provoking and disturbing. The stories included in this anthology are dark and creepy and will leave you with a new understanding of just how fragile the human mind can be.
-
-
Not bad
- By SisterSeven on 07-07-23
By: Jason Neal
-
American Black Widow
- Dangerous Women: True Crime Stories
- By: Gregg Olsen
- Narrated by: Karen Peakes
- Length: 10 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Colorado, 1976. When Reverend Mike Fuller and his beautiful wife, Sharon, arrive in the sleepy town of Rocky Ford, local residents think something’s off about the new couple. The God-fearing minister is gruff and cold, while charismatic Sharon has her husband wrapped around her finger.
-
-
🤢
- By Brittany on 07-28-23
By: Gregg Olsen
-
Ten Vintage True Crime Stories Rescued from Obscurity
- Famous Crimes the World Forgot, Book 1
- By: Jason Lucky Morrow
- Narrated by: Charles Huddleston
- Length: 7 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
This audiobook uncovers 10 amazing true crimes that exploded into the national news, shocking Americans from coast to coast - crimes that were eventually forgotten - until now. Many of these incredible cases went unexplored for decades.
-
-
The Narrator Makes It Great
- By Laurie on 03-09-19
-
The Hollywood Con Queen
- The Hunt for an Evil Genius
- By: Scott C. Johnson
- Narrated by: Sean Pratt
- Length: 9 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Blending years of deep reporting with distinctive, powerful prose, Scott C. Johnson’s unique true crime narrative recounts the tale of the brilliantly cunning imposter who carved a path of financial and emotional destruction across the world. Gifted with a diabolical flair for impersonation, manipulation, and deception, the Con Queen used their skill with accents and deft psychological insight to sweep through the entertainment industry.
-
-
Amazingly intriguing
- By angela r bailey on 08-17-23
By: Scott C. Johnson
-
The I-5 Killer
- By: Ann Rule, Andy Stack
- Narrated by: Laural Merlington
- Length: 10 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
As a young man, Randall Woodfield had it all; he was a star athlete with good looks and an award-winning student. Working in the swinging West Coast bar scene, he had more than his share of women. But he wanted more than just sex. An appetite for unspeakable violent acts led him to cruise the I-5 highway through California to Washington, leaving a trail of victims along the way. As the list of the dead grew, the police mobilized to stop a twisted killer who had 44 known deaths to his name.
-
-
Ann Rule always delivers
- By Anonymous User on 10-17-19
By: Ann Rule, and others
-
The Good Wife
- The Shocking Betrayal and Brutal Murder of a Godly Woman in Texas
- By: Clint Richmond
- Narrated by: Stephen Bowlby
- Length: 11 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Roger and Penny Scaggs seemed a poster couple for family values. Evangelical Christians living in booming Austin, Texas, in the mid-1990s, they were respected leaders in their church and community. As Roger diligently worked his way up the high-tech corporate ladder, Penny kept a pristine home and coached similarly devout young women on how to be perfect wives. But on a windy March evening, this godly woman met the devil head-on.
-
-
Great True Crime Book
- By Elizabeth on 04-12-23
By: Clint Richmond
-
Deadly Pretender
- The Double Life of David Miller
- By: Karen Kingsbury
- Narrated by: Kate Zane
- Length: 11 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
David Miller had a dream job and a beautiful family. But one perfect life wasn't enough. So he pretended to be an attorney, then a CIA agent. And he secretly married another woman. He juggled it all quite well—until the day his two wives found out about each other. Miller groped for ways to hold on to his finances and reputation. But when he tried using a gun to silence his second wife, his carefully constructed façade of power and wealth exploded.
-
-
Exciting
- By Jennifer Chumley on 11-04-23
By: Karen Kingsbury
-
Relentless Pursuit
- A True Story of Family, Murder, and the Prosecutor Who Wouldn't Quit
- By: Kevin Flynn
- Narrated by: Eric Fox
- Length: 13 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
RELENTLESS PURSUIT follows the personal mission of a Washington, D.C., federal homicide prosecutor who dedicated himself to bringing justice and closure to the family of a brutally murdered mother and daughter, a case during which the author's own father passed away.
-
-
Nah narrator
- By LMZ on 08-30-24
By: Kevin Flynn
-
Vanished in Vermillion
- The Real Story of South Dakota's Most Infamous Cold Case
- By: Lou Raguse
- Narrated by: Lou Raguse
- Length: 9 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In May 1971, Pam Jackson and Sherri Miller were two seventeen-year-olds driving to an end-of-the-school-year party in a rundown Studebaker Lark, when they seemingly disappeared off the face of the earth. Police back then didn't do enough to try and find them. Investigators thirty years later did too much. Two families endure decades of pain as they await answers of what happened to their girls. When a third family is pulled into the mystery, they quickly learn their nightmare is just beginning.
-
-
Incredible
- By Amazon Customer on 03-29-23
By: Lou Raguse
-
American Sherlock
- Murder, Forensics, and the Birth of American CSI
- By: Kate Winkler Dawson
- Narrated by: Kate Winkler Dawson
- Length: 10 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Berkeley, California, 1933. In a lab filled with curiosities - beakers, microscopes, Bunsen burners, and hundreds upon hundreds of books - sat an investigator who would go on to crack at least 2,000 cases in his 40-year career. Known as the "American Sherlock Holmes", Edward Oscar Heinrich was one of America's greatest - and first - forensic scientists, with an uncanny knack for finding clues, establishing evidence, and deducing answers with a skill that seemed almost supernatural.
-
-
Always use a professional Editor and Reader
- By Steven F. Schroeder on 02-19-20
Critic reviews
"[W]hile Bartlett's writing style is more reportorial than literary—he is a reporter after all—he tells that story well." (Anchorage Daily News)
"[W]ell worth your time if you're a true crime aficionado." (Charles Salzberg, author of Devil in the Hole)
"An interesting prowl through pills and pistols; drummers and dead men." (Glynn Martin, co-author with James Ellroy of best-selling L.A.P.D.'53)
What listeners say about The Alaskan Blonde
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Elene
- 08-09-23
Thoroughly researched
I enjoyed this story immensely and heard about it from the podcast “Wicked Words” by Kate Winkler Dawson. The narrator’s voice was a bit boring at times, but the story was fascinating.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Chester
- 06-09-23
Great look at life in 1953 Alaska
There was never a trial, and even after reading all the information, I have no strong opinion in who actually committed the murder. Still this is a great read about an event little know today and filled with lots of interesting characters. Pre Statehood Alaska is also fascinating to learn about.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
2 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Cyn
- 07-19-23
I thought it was interesting
I thought this was interesting, I had never heard of this story. It was interesting to see how the police handled things back then and how far we have come. I understand that most is hear say because no one is really still alive to tell the story. It is sad that so many lives were touched by this and if things had been different how their lives might have been better, turned out better. I did get confused at times, and at times my mind did wonder but beside that it was a good listen.
I thought the narrator did a good job, there were no character voices but they were not needed. There were no volume changes, no repeating of words, no background noise. Was a clear audio, the narrator has a nice normal voice which is very steady and goes well with the story. I thought he did a good job, pausing when it was called for.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
2 people found this helpful