88: The Durable Michael Malloy & A Mother Who Took Justice Into Her Own Hands

Michael Malloy was one tough dude. He was also an out-of-work alcoholic who didn’t have many friends or family. But his apparent poor health and social isolation made him the ideal target for a murderous scheme. A group of sketchy men, later dubbed the “Murder Trust,” took out life insurance policies on Michael. They figured he’d die from alcoholism and they’d cash in. And if they sped up the dying process … who would be the wiser? They tried, and tried, and tried to kill Michael Malloy. Each time, Michael survived, and their attempts got more brazen. 

Then Brandi tells us about Ellie Nesler. In the summer of 1988, Ellie’s 7-year-old son, Willie Nesler, begged her to send him to summer camp. Ellie was hesitant, but she took comfort knowing that her friend, Daniel Mark Driver, would be working at the camp that summer. But when Willie returned from camp, something was off. He was withdrawn. He eventually told his aunt that he’d been molested by Daniel. Ellie was determined to make things right. But when the justice system revealed its flaws, Ellie took justice into her own hands.  

And now for a note about our process. For each episode, Kristin reads a bunch of articles, then spits them back out in her very limited vocabulary. Brandi copies and pastes from the best sources on the web. And sometimes Wikipedia. (No shade, Wikipedia. We love you.) We owe a huge debt of gratitude to the real experts who covered these cases.

In this episode, Kristin pulled from:
“The Man Who Wouldn’t Die” by Karen Abbott for Smithsonian Magazine
“The Durable Mike Malloy” New York Daily News
“Doctor on stand denies covering insurance death,” The Daily News
“Death certificate of durable Mike convicts doctor,” The Daily News
“Four hear doom; ‘Nice day — for some,’ says one,” The Daily News
“Officers of murder trust are executed,” by James Cannon for I. N. Service
“Four convicted of hard-to-kill Malloy murder,” the Times Union
“Four go to chair after five attempts at murder,” by Max Haines for The Ottawa Citizen
“Try four as deliberate murderers to get victim’s insurance,” Chicago Tribune
“Death demanded for four in $1,800 risk plot murder,” The Daily News

In this episode, Brandi pulled from:
“William Nesler Still a Fugitive” The Associated Press, CBSNews
“Accused Molester is Killed in Court” The Associated Press, The New York Times
“Ellie Nesler killed son’s accused molester in courtroom shooting” The Associated Press, The Denver Post
“Ellie Nesler: Woman and Myth” by Charles Schwab, SFGate
“Woman Gets 10 Years For Killing Son’s Alleged Molester” by Nancy Mayer, The Associate Press
“Lasting Effects of Child Molestation” Oprah.com