Severed finger in the chili scammer; Millionaire sexual predator to walk free after legal loophole

**SPEAKER_1** (0:01)
As the Crispy Chicken Sandwich from 7-Eleven, people always call me loud. And I'm like, yeah, I know, I'm crispy. Did you expect me to whisper? If you want quiet, go eat some soup and reflect. Look, I know I'm a handful. I'm bold, I'm juicy, throw some pickles and barbecue sauce on me, and baby, I'm a whole meal. And with seven rewards, I'm just $4.
Quiet, no. Crispy, saucy and $4? Very, only at 7-Eleven. Valid through 6-23-26, participating stores only on Supplies Lastly app for full terms.

**SPEAKER_2** (0:30)
Paradey presents Eyes with Allergy and Pica-Zone Against the Gardener. And the winner is Paradey Extra-Fuerte. To relieve the pica-zone of the eyes by allergy, he acts faster and surpasses Clarity and Flownace in 24 hours. Paradey, go ahead.

**Ana Garcia** (0:45)
A word of warning. This podcast explores graphic and disturbing stories and includes some strong language. It therefore may not be suitable for our young listeners or other folks who may find it disturbing. Hello and welcome to a special edition of True Crime News The Podcast. I'm your host, Anna Garcia. Everyone in the world of true crime has a story to tell about a case that they have worked or that they've lived through. Some are high-profile, some you've never heard of, but they're all fascinating. Today's cases are outrageous and headline-making. But we're going to talk about the investigations and what happened behind the scenes. Remember when a customer claimed to have found a human finger in a bowl of Wendy's chili?
How that finger then ended up pointing toward Las Vegas?
Plus, the heir of a makeup empire who was convicted of assaulting multiple women could be released early from prison because of a legal loophole that's left his victims furious. Our guests today are Nancy Moscatiello and Scott Eldridge, two of the minds behind Scamanda, the hit podcast and docu-series about a mom who faked her cancer to get money and attention. They also have produced some of the most amazing crime shows that you all have watched or heard. And they have a new podcast out. It's called The Slippery. Welcome Nancy and Scott. This is so exciting.

**Scott Eldridge** (2:04)
Oh, it's great to see you, Anna.

**Nancy Moscatiello** (2:06)
Yeah, thank you for having us. They're great cases, right?

**Ana Garcia** (2:10)
They are great cases. And you two are great people to tell this, you know, I've worked with both Nancy and Scott going back to Crime Watch Daily. And these two have worked together for far, far longer and have so many stories to tell. So I'm so excited. But wait, I must congratulate you. Nancy, we were on the phone yesterday and you were telling me that Scamanda is up for an Emmy, a national Emmy.

**Nancy Moscatiello** (2:32)
Yes. Yep. Yes. For a NewsDoc category or something like that. So yeah, no, it's really exciting. We're heading there next week.

**Ana Garcia** (2:41)
Oh my gosh. Congratulations. I hope you win. It's just you've worked. I've watched you work so hard on that. Scott has watched you work so hard on that. So I hope, I hope you come home with the prize.

**Nancy Moscatiello** (2:52)
That would be great, right? We're nice, nice cherry on top.

**Scott Eldridge** (2:56)
It's well deserved. It would be a great honor.

**Ana Garcia** (2:59)
Yeah. Okay. So you two have this new project. So what is this? What are you working on now? Your podcast comes out weekly, correct? And every week it's a different crime that you focus on. That's the format.

**Nancy Moscatiello** (3:10)
Yep. We take one story and we do two episodes. So we tell you what the story is. We bring you through what we like to say is like the setup, what the grift is, and then how they were taken down, the takedown. And then we follow it up with a second debrief where we get an investigator, a victim or survivor, wherever we can get behind the scenes.

**Scott Eldridge** (3:32)
So it's two episodes, one story every week.

**Ana Garcia** (3:36)
Excellent. Okay, very cool. So we're going to talk about two cases today.
And the first one is this, the finger in the chili frog case out of San Jose, California. Nancy and Scott, I didn't realize that this was 20 years ago. That's a long time ago.

**Scott Eldridge** (3:53)
Time flies.

**Nancy Moscatiello** (3:54)
But it's a memorable one, right? It was everywhere. It was such a huge headline because that woman, eating her chili at Wendy's, bites into literally a severed finger. I mean, it doesn't get much grosser than that. And it was everywhere, right? Nationally, GMA, you name it, she was out there telling everybody.