Town file
Golden Valley, Arizona
Golden Valley, Arizona (Mohave County, Arizona) is the town in one episode of Small Town Murder, the comedy true-crime podcast: episode 197, "No Good Deed..." (12 November 2020). Golden Valley is an unincorporated community in Mohave County in the northwestern Arizona panhandle, about fifteen minutes from Kingman.
- Town
- Golden Valley
- County
- Mohave County
- State
- Arizona
- Country
- USA
- Episodes
- 197
- Approximate location
- 35.206, -114.233
Episode 197 / 12 November 2020 / 149 min / full
No Good Deed...
"Golden Valley, Arizona, in the northwestern Arizona panhandle, in Mohavi County." about 0:05:00
The case: Golden Valley triple murder (August 13, 1996). Read the case file.
The figures, as told in 2020
- Population
- 8,694
- Median household income
- $33,500
- Median home value
- $139,100
- Two-bedroom rent
- $720
- Cost of living
- 86.4
- Religious
- 22.5%
- Property crime
- ▲ almost double
- Violent crime
- ▲ about 50% higher
History, in brief
- Golden Valley covers 79 square miles and uses area code 928. about 0:07:17
- It is about 15 minutes outside Kingman, three and a half hours from Phoenix and about an hour and forty minutes from Las Vegas. about 0:06:08
- Golden Valley is unincorporated: residents have never voted to be annexed by Kingman and have no vote in Kingman's elections. about 0:08:12
- Arizona State Prison Kingman has an address in Golden Valley even though it says Kingman. about 0:09:58
- The private prison was sold to residents as 'a prison for DUI offenders only'. about 0:10:24
- It is now a for-profit prison operated by GEO Group under contract to hold inmates for the Arizona Department of Corrections. about 0:10:40
- On July 30th, 2010, three inmates, two murderers and an attempted murderer, escaped from the facility. about 0:10:49
- The area was one of the places where people could find a gold mine and get a claim. about 0:22:58
- ShineToberfest is an annual moonshine and chilli festival held in October at the Saddle Sore Ranch off Route 66. about 0:24:11
The reviews read out
3 stars
"Relatively underdeveloped; thousands live without amenities most Americans take for granted. Most residents live on dirt roads, larger families haul water for miles, and there is no grocery store, hardware store, bank or police station. Residents choose it for the freedom."about 0:14:07
3 stars
"A former resident says it was a nice place for people who wanted more privacy, with neighbours far enough away to feel like the whole property was yours. Very hot and dry, with a nice view of the desert and cactus."about 0:16:29
3 stars
"There are a lot of mobile homes out here."about 0:16:50
3 stars
"Dollar General usually has whatever you are looking for, but if you need regular groceries you have to travel to Kingman."about 0:17:07
2 stars
"The only jobs in the area are at the Dollar General and the Maverick station."about 0:17:19
Nearest Small Town Murder towns
- Grasshopper Junction, Arizona13 miles
- Lake Havasu City, Arizona49 miles
- Boulder City, Nevada58 miles
- Bagdad, Arizona74 miles
- Williamson, Arizona102 miles
- Congress, Arizona106 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.