Town file
St. Augustine, Florida
St. Augustine, Florida (St. Johns County, Florida) is the town in one episode of Small Town Murder, the comedy true-crime podcast: episode 280, "The Soft Serial Killer" (5 May 2022). St. Augustine sits in St. Johns County in north-eastern Florida, about fifty minutes from Jacksonville and more than four hours from Miami.
- Town
- St. Augustine
- County
- St. Johns County
- State
- Florida
- Country
- USA
- Episodes
- 280
- Approximate location
- 29.896, -81.311
Episode 280 / 5 May 2022 / 168 min / full
The Soft Serial Killer
"We are going down south today, down to Saint Augustine, Florida; north-eastern Florida, about 50 minutes to Jacksonville, in St. John's County, area code 904, the nation's oldest city." about 0:05:48
The case: Murder of Lucy Raymer (Christmas 1996); The Red Bird murders (October 1983 to October 1995). Read the case file.
The figures, as told in 2022
- Population
- 16,518
- Median household income
- $43,000 per year
- Median home value
- $352,100
- Two-bedroom rent
- $1,086
- Cost of living
- 102
- Religious
- 38%
- Property crime
- ▲ a little over double the national average
- Violent crime
- ▲ about double the national average
History, in brief
- St. Augustine was founded on September 8th, 1565 by the Spanish admiral Pedro Menendez de Aviles, and is the oldest European inhabited city in what is now the contiguous United States. about 0:07:09
- He named the settlement San Augustine, and it was the capital of Spanish Florida for over 200 years. about 0:07:28
- It was designated the capital of British East Florida when the colony was established in 1763. about 0:07:49
- Great Britain gave Florida back to Spain (James says 1863). about 0:07:49
- Spain ceded Florida to the United States in 1819, and St. Augustine was the capital of the Florida territory until statehood, when the capital moved to Tallahassee. about 0:08:33
The reviews read out
5 stars
"A one-of-a-kind place with tons of monuments and gift shops, tacky souvenirs and heavenly food."about 0:09:28
5 stars
"The reviewer's favourite place to eat; the food is amazing, with a donut burger they cannot wait to try, and they highly recommend stopping by near downtown."about 0:10:38
3 stars
"A beautiful city, but homelessness throughout the village is out of control and the panhandling takes away from the beauty."about 0:11:44
2 stars
"Beautiful city but very good old boy country; they do not like outsiders unless you are a tourist spending money, and it is racist and not LGBT friendly."about 0:12:24
2 stars
"Do not come here: there is so much traffic and locals cannot even enjoy their city."about 0:12:47
1 star
"After a year the writer cannot wait to move: real estate agents and builders rip you off, contractors do not finish, doctors and restaurants are poor, taxes are the highest they have paid and supermarkets are overpriced."about 0:13:28
Nearest Small Town Murder towns
- Starke, Florida48 miles
- McIntosh, Florida63 miles
- Brunswick, Georgia86 miles
- Chuluota, Florida88 miles
- Riceboro, Georgia127 miles
- Indialantic, Florida133 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.