168: A Man Who Hated Domino's & a Family Annihilator

Let's Go To Court!

Mitchell Carlton Sims was pretty proud of himself. He’d landed a job as the manager of a Domino’s Pizza in West Columbia, South Carolina. But the good times didn’t last long. He got into a disagreement with his boss over a bonus and flipped out. Mitch tried to stage a coup. It didn’t work. He tried to get his boss fired. That didn’t work either. Finally, Mitch quit. But he held onto an out-of-control rage toward his former employer.

Then Brandi tells us about a family annihilator. (Does that surprise you? If so, welcome to the podcast.) James Kraig Kahler was a bad husband. He controlled and manipulated his wife, Karen. He controlled Karen’s social circle, as well as her finances. But James lost a little control when Karen sold enough cakes to buy herself a gym membership. She became a regular at the gym, and eventually found work as a trainer. It was there that she met Sunny Reece. Karen and Sunny’s friendship soon blossomed into something more. Initially, James was okay with that.

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:

An episode of Vengeance: Killer Coworkers, titled, “Killing Spree”

“Defendant’s voice: Tape describes killing of pizza deliveryman,” by Patricia Klein for the Los Angeles Times

People v. Sims, on courtlistener.com

“Mitchell Carlton Sims,” entry on Murderpedia

“Motel visit key to ‘pizza murder’ verdict,” by Stephanie O’Neill for the Los Angeles Times

“Restaurant robbery described,” Associated Press
“Death penalty urged in slaying of pizza deliveryman,” Associated Press

“Witness says murder defendant hated pizza chain,” by Stephanie O’Neill for the Los Angeles Times

In this episode, Brandi pulled from:

“Death in the Family” episode Fatal Vows

“Fatal Vows: Lesbian affair leads jilted husband to murder his ex-wife and their daughters - The Kahler Case” The Mirror

“James Kraig Kahler” murderpedia.org

“Testimony begins in Kahler murder trial” by Brennan David, Columbia Daily Tribune

“State of Kansas v. James Kahler” findlaw.com

“Kahler v. Kansas” wikipedia.org

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