Town file
Sarasota, Florida
Sarasota, Florida (Sarasota County, Florida) is the town in one episode of Small Town Murder, the comedy true-crime podcast: episode 593, "Jerry Springer Show Murder" (1 May 2025). In 1996 Nancy Campbell, a widow from Michigan who had raised two sons on her own, was introduced by friends to AOL chat rooms.
- Town
- Sarasota
- County
- Sarasota County
- State
- Florida
- Country
- USA
- Episodes
- 593
- Approximate location
- 27.338, -82.544
Episode 593 / 1 May 2025 / 174 min / full
Jerry Springer Show Murder
"We are going down to Sarasota this week. Sarasota, Florida. It is south of Tampa down there, southwestern Florida." about 0:04:25
The case: Murder of Nancy Campbell Panitz (July 24, 2000). Read the case file.
The figures, as told in 2025
- Population
- 53,786
- Median age
- 49
- Median household income
- $62,615
- Median home value
- $454,200
- Two-bedroom rent
- $1,580
- Cost of living
- $105
- Religious
- 44%
- Property crime
- ▲ almost twice
- Violent crime
- ▲ slightly above average
History, in brief
- The origin of the name is disputed; some claim it comes from Sarah, the daughter of the conquistador De Soto, and others from a Native phrase meaning an area of land easily observed. about 0:05:48
- The town has used the mottos May Sarasota Prosper and Where Urban Amenities Meet Small Town Living, and the nickname Circus City. about 0:05:13
- Around 1883 the Florida Mortgage and Investment Company of Edinburgh bought 60,000 acres in Sarasota for development, selling plots to Scottish settlers. about 0:06:22
- From 1911 onward Mabel and John Ringling spent their winters in Sarasota and bought a large parcel of property as their permanent winter headquarters, drawing other members of the Ringling family there. about 0:07:05
- Charles Ringling and his wife Edith built a large Bayfront winter retreat, and he died soon after it was finished. about 0:07:59
- In September 2022 Hurricane Ian made landfall, with winds in Sarasota County exceeding 85 miles an hour inside a 200-mile-an-hour wind field. about 0:09:22
- Sarasota County suffered 10 fatalities in the storm, the second highest county total behind Lee County. about 0:09:41
The reviews read out
5 stars
"Sarasota has it all: every store and restaurant you could imagine, beautiful parks and beaches, lots of walking paths and the Legacy Trail to Venice, good for biking; the only complaints are traffic and awful public schools."about 0:10:57
2 stars
"Overpopulated by people moving in mostly from the Northeast; traffic crashes nonstop, schools are overcrowded, crime is growing, homeless people everywhere, new unaffordable neighbourhoods going up and infrastructure not keeping up, beaches impossible at weekends; a lifelong resident takes beach holidays elsewhere and hopes to sell to a fool from New York."about 0:11:43
1 star
"A Boston transplant says do not move to Florida: rude people, everyone has two jobs, crazy drivers, beyond expensive, poor pay, high rent, constant chain restaurants and weird people, Twilight Zone weird."about 0:12:50
Nearest Small Town Murder towns
- Fruitville, Florida5.2 miles
- Plant City, Florida54 miles
- Alturas, Florida63 miles
- New Port Richey, Florida64 miles
- Naples, Florida94 miles
- Chuluota, Florida125 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.