Town file
Aberdeen, South Dakota
Aberdeen, South Dakota (Brown County, South Dakota) is the town in one episode of Small Town Murder, the comedy true-crime podcast: episode 335, "The Great Kidnapping Caper" (10 November 2022). In May 1985 Aberdeen, in Brown County in north-eastern South Dakota, was a town of about 28,000 people and a great deal of local pride.
- Town
- Aberdeen
- County
- Brown County
- State
- South Dakota
- Country
- USA
- Episodes
- 335
- Approximate location
- 45.465, -98.468
Episode 335 / 10 November 2022 / 175 min / full
The Great Kidnapping Caper
"We're in Aberdeen, South Dakota, in Brown County, in the north-eastern part of the state." about 0:04:48
The case: Kidnapping and murder of Michael Kinney (May 1985); Plot to kidnap the South Dakota governor's family (1999). Read the case file.
The figures, as told in 2022
- Population
- 28,180
- Median age
- 34.9
- Median household income
- $47,540 a year
- Median home value
- $177,200
- Two-bedroom rent
- $760
- Cost of living
- 78
- Religious
- 78.2%
- Property crime
- right about average
- Violent crime
- ▼ about 20% under
History, in brief
- The area was originally inhabited by the Sioux, in what James calls the Teton Sioux area. about 0:05:41
- Europeans began coming for fur trading in the 1820s, with trading posts until about the 1830s. about 0:05:59
- The first European settlers were a party of four people, with three horses, two mules, 15 cattle and two wagons. about 0:06:24
- The party stayed the winter alone and was joined by another group in the spring. about 0:06:33
- Businesses grew on Main Street, but the town suffered constant flooding. about 0:07:35
- The town was known as the town in the frog pond because it flooded so badly. about 0:07:51
- In 1882 an Artesian ditch was built to control the flooding. about 0:08:08
- Giant steam pumps took three weeks to clear the water, by which time it had often rained again. about 0:08:28
- The ditch became a well in 1884, which reduced the flooding. about 0:08:38
- It was called the Hub City of the Dakotas because of its many railroad tracks. about 0:08:48
- Aberdeen was named because it was a train stop and crossroads of tracks, and the boss of one train company came from Aberdeen, Scotland. about 0:07:10
- L. Frank Baum, author of The Wizard of Oz, lived in Aberdeen for a few years in the 1890s. about 0:08:58
- Baum owned a different store every year and they all failed, and he later published one of the city's nine newspapers. about 0:09:04
- The city has a small amusement park with Wizard of Oz attractions because of Baum. about 0:09:34
The reviews read out
5 stars
"An amazing place to live with plenty of opportunities, safe and welcoming, full of young families; the reviewer has never had to look over their shoulder."about 0:10:15
3 stars
"Things are bad here, but they could be worse."about 0:11:49
3 stars
"You'll hear about something every once in a while, but nothing very serious."about 0:12:07
2 stars
"Grew up there and does not recommend it: bars are the only place to go, lakes are dirty, golf is boring, shopping and restaurants are chains, winters bitter, mosquitoes in summer, good jobs limited; easy to ride a bike because it is flat, but always happy to leave."about 0:12:23
1 star
"Most people posting must be lying or part of the problem; locals are hostile and unwelcoming, police useless and corrupt and ignore a huge meth problem, officials do not stand up for voters, young men have loose moral compasses, and rape statistics are nearly three times the national average."about 0:14:31
1 star
"The town is evil in every sense: people are paranoid, unfriendly, cold and avoidant, most drivers are on drugs, schools and the university are full of evil beings, and businesses are old, gloomy and haunted."about 0:16:31
1 star
"Went expecting a Big Mac meal and got ghosts instead."about 0:17:32
1 star
"Nothing to look forward to except cloudy depressing weather, freezing to death and shovelling snow."about 0:17:41
1 star
"Saved enough in ten years to get out and be semi-retired; advises students, young families and professionals not to stay even two years, saying the weather and small-town provincialism are extreme and there is something evil about the place; not a born-again evangelist but knows evil when they see it."about 0:18:03
Nearest Small Town Murder towns
- Wolsey, South Dakota73 miles
- Highmore, South Dakota81 miles
- Valley City, North Dakota103 miles
- Pierre, South Dakota118 miles
- Moorhead, Minnesota127 miles
- Menoken, North Dakota136 miles
Everything here is as told in the episode, on the date it went out; figures and places may have changed since. Endings are covered: open an episode and use the spoiler switch to read them.