Town file
Westminster, Maryland
Westminster, Maryland (Carroll County, Maryland) is the town in one episode of Small Town Murder, the comedy true-crime podcast: episode 288, "The Sex Crazed Killer Accountant" (2 June 2022).
- Town
- Westminster
- County
- Carroll County
- State
- Maryland
- Country
- USA
- Episodes
- 288
- Approximate location
- 39.579, -77.007
Episode 288 / 2 June 2022 / 170 min / full
The Sex Crazed Killer Accountant
"We're going to Westminster, Maryland, but it takes place in Silver Run, which is like a small section of Westminster; this is in Carroll County." about 0:05:25
The case: Murder of Mary Ruth Myers (August 29th, 1979); Pipe bomb murder of Clarence Botterton (early 1979). Read the case file.
The figures, as told in 2022
- Population
- 18,712
- Median age
- about 33
- Median household income
- $55,000
- Median home value
- $373,200
- Two-bedroom rent
- about $1,300
- Cost of living
- 110
- Religious
- about 43%
- Property crime
- ▼ a little bit low
- Violent crime
- ▼ slightly under
History, in brief
- The area was first called Winchester after William Winchester, who purchased 167 acres; the Maryland General Assembly later renamed it Westminster to avoid confusion with Winchester, Virginia. about 0:06:39
- In April 1865 the newspaper editor Joseph Shaw had his presses wrecked and business destroyed, then was beaten and stabbed to death by four men after publishing an anti-Lincoln editorial; the four were acquitted on grounds of self-defence. about 0:07:08
- Westminster has held a Memorial Day parade every year since 1868, the longest continuously running Memorial Day parade in the country. about 0:08:21
- Rolls of 35mm film wrapped in wax paper, known as the Pumpkin Papers, were found inside a hollowed-out pumpkin on a farm in Westminster during the Alger Hiss and House Un-American Activities Committee affair. about 0:09:05
The reviews read out
5 stars
"A nice little town where you can do anything you could ever want, from basketball and skateboarding to piano and mandolin; the people are as nice as can be and the town feels like a second home."about 0:09:44
4 stars
"Westminster could be better if the older people would stop trying to remove anything remotely fun in town."about 0:11:19
3 stars
"A nice little town, but old, with people who are old and racist and blatant about it; there are a lot of junkies on the streets at night, and it is only nice for people who have lived there forever."about 0:11:31
Nearest Small Town Murder towns
- Jackson Township, Pennsylvania24 miles
- Elkridge, Maryland30 miles
- Middle River, Maryland35 miles
- Joppatowne, Maryland37 miles
- Washington Boro, Pennsylvania41 miles
- Bethesda, Maryland41 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.