Town file
Milpitas, California
Milpitas, California (Santa Clara County, California) is the town in one episode of Small Town Murder, the comedy true-crime podcast: episode 352, "The Body On The Hill" (7 January 2023). Marcy Renee Conrad was born in Bloomer, Wisconsin, and moved to California with her family when she was three.
- Town
- Milpitas
- County
- Santa Clara County
- State
- California
- Country
- USA
- Episodes
- 352
- Approximate location
- 37.433, -121.891
Episode 352 / 7 January 2023 / 69 min / express
The Body On The Hill
"We're going all the way out to California... this is Milpitas, California; the Santa Clara County sheriff is quoted later." about 0:04:19
The case: Murder of Marcy Renee Conrad (November 1981). Read the case file.
The figures, as told in 2023
- Population
- 75,000
- Median home value
- $1,273,300
History, in brief
- In 1857 the locals wanted a post office and wanted to call the town Penitencia, after a small Roman Catholic confessional building that served local Indians and ranchers, but the assistant postmaster said it sounded too much like penitentiary. about 0:06:00
- It was named Milpitas instead, after Rancho Milpitas, one of the local farmer's properties, rendered as Mill Penas Township. about 0:06:43
- It served as a rest stop for travellers on the Oakland-San Jose Highway and had a hotel for a few years. about 0:07:05
- The first murder in Milpitas was committed in the early 1860s in Rathbone's saloon; the murderer escaped and was never caught. about 0:07:14
The reviews read out
5 stars
"Hiking the old Calaveras road in summer and winter is the best, especially in the morning when the air is very crispy; there are a lot of cows, and it is cautioned not to feed or touch them."about 0:07:34
4 stars
"Schools should receive more funding; the overall area is pretty safe, but it can be a bit smelly."about 0:08:36
4 stars
"Loves that Milpitas is so ethnically diverse and has always felt at home there, but there is not much for a teenager to do and in the evening you catch a whiff from the landfill."about 0:08:57
3 stars
"Moved from San Jose three months ago; it is nice, though there is an unusual amount of clothes scattered about the streets; likes the shopping centres and restaurants and the short commute, but wants the garbage situation changed."about 0:09:15
2 stars
"A very disgusting place to live where the air smells like a dump, crime is very high, there is not a lot of diversity and homeless people are invading the area."about 0:10:00
Nearest Small Town Murder towns
- Burlingame, California28 miles
- Lafayette, California34 miles
- Terra Linda, California54 miles
- Antelope, California93 miles
- Sunnyside, California130 miles
- Grass Valley, California132 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.