Town file
Parkersburg, West Virginia
Parkersburg, West Virginia (Wood County, West Virginia) is the town in one episode of Small Town Murder, the comedy true-crime podcast: episode 605, "Serial Butcher Killer" (19 June 2025). Parkersburg, West Virginia, lies in Wood County in the north-west of the state, about an hour and fifty minutes from Columbus, Ohio, and it is where this story begins on 20 November 1979.
- Town
- Parkersburg
- County
- Wood County
- State
- West Virginia
- Country
- USA
- Episodes
- 605
- Approximate location
- 39.261, -81.543
Episode 605 / 19 June 2025 / 180 min / full
Serial Butcher Killer
"Parkersburg, West Virginia, in northwestern West Virginia, on the side of the chicken; this is in Wood County, Area Code 304" about 0:06:18
The case: Murder of Charles 'Swampy' Marsh (November 20, 1979); Murders of Christopher and Peggy Ann Lurch (August 1982); Murder of Tory James Gainer (sometime in 1978 or 1979); Murder of John Anthony 'Tony' Munsey (October 1983); Murder of an unidentified man in Miami-Dade County (early 1983); Logan murders of Todd Schultz and Annette Johnston (1982). Read the case file.
The figures, as told in 2025
- Population
- 29,910
- Median age
- 42.3
- Median household income
- $38,960
- Median home value
- $133,400
- Two-bedroom rent
- about $830 a month
- Cost of living
- 78
- Religious
- 45.6%
- Property crime
- ▲ almost double
- Violent crime
- ▲ a little bit high
History, in brief
- Settlers first named the city Newport, a name shared by about a hundred other places. about 0:08:07
- A town section was laid out on land granted to Alexander Parker for his Revolutionary War service. about 0:08:19
- Title conflicts between Parker and the Newport planners were settled and the town was renamed Parkersburg in 1810. about 0:08:36
- It became a major oil refining centre in the late 1800s, with oil fields nearby. about 0:08:45
- The Camden Consolidated Oil Company, founded in 1866, was the big refining business and was later sold to Rockefeller's Standard Oil. about 0:09:16
The reviews read out
5 stars
"A jewel of a town on the banks of the Ohio River with the friendliest people, very low crime and less than half a day's drive to Cincinnati, Columbus, Cleveland, Pittsburgh or Washington."about 0:09:53
4 stars
"Wishes for a bigger town with more to do and better roads, but says the people are nice and will stop to help when your car breaks down."about 0:10:42
1 star
"The worst of the worst: thieves and addicts everywhere, needles all over the place even in the parks, and the reviewer cannot wait to move."about 0:11:15
"Lots of rehab facilities and several high-profile murders and missing persons cases involving young women, naming Gretchen Fleming and Cindy Ball; the reviewer would not relocate there."about 0:11:54
"A reply calling the reviewer ridiculous: any missing person is too many, but Parkersburg is hardly unsafe for a single woman and there are Gretchens and Cindys everywhere."about 0:12:20
1 star
"The worst place to live after twenty years: no jobs unless it is fast food, nothing to do except bars, and drugs thick in most areas."about 0:12:44
Nearest Small Town Murder towns
- Elizabeth, West Virginia16 miles
- Caldwell, Ohio34 miles
- Logan, Ohio50 miles
- Nitro, West Virginia60 miles
- Dunbar, West Virginia62 miles
- Clarksburg, West Virginia63 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.