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The Case of Anthony Apanovitch
📻 Episode #580
🎙️ Hosted by Jason Flom
📅 Jul 02, 2026
About This Episode
On August 23rd, 1984, Mary Anne Flynn was found dead in her Cleveland, OH bedroom. She had been strangled and severely beaten and there was evidence she had been sexually assaulted. There were multiple suspects including a violent ex-boyfriend, an ex-tenant who was an attempted rapist and an exterminator who had a copy of the…
The Case
On August 23rd, 1984, Mary Anne Flynn was found dead in her Cleveland, OH bedroom. She had been strangled and severely beaten and there was evidence she had been sexually assaulted. There were multiple suspects including a violent ex-boyfriend, an ex-tenant who was an attempted rapist and an exterminator who had a copy of the house key. But investigators focused solely on Tony Apanovitch, a local painter Flynn hired to work on her house. Apanovitch cooperated with investigators and told them he last saw her between 4 and 4:30 on the day of her death to ask about painting the window trims. There were no witnesses and no physical evidence linked Apanovitch to the crime. Nevertheless, he was convicted of aggravated murder, aggravated burglary, and 2 counts of rape and sentenced to death.
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In Their Own Words — transcript excerpts
Short excerpts from the episode's official published transcript, with timestamps — listen from these moments, or read the full transcript via the podcast's own platforms.
00:04:45“Speaker 2: has to be requested by the defendant, not the state. Speaker 2: He can't use that, so he was taken back to prison, Speaker 2: back to death row in twenty eighteen. That's our system Speaker 2: operating as it was designed, or as it was amended Speaker 2: along the way. Now since our coverage, bipartisan legislation has”
00:17:46“Speaker 1: all your alibi witnesses are drunks, and you look worse Speaker 1: than anybody else. I'm like, wow, man, that ain't right, Speaker 1: you know. He said, well, you know, he said, make Speaker 1: sure you demand a speed trial. They got to do Speaker 1: it with the ninety days. And I said, yeah, yeah,”
00:32:50“Speaker 1: you know, and if we can have one, because you know, Speaker 1: I'm like a lab experiment all the years, like them. Speaker 1: So her and the kids would come over several times Speaker 1: a week, you know. When I first got home. Finally, Speaker 1: I said, I don't know what we're waiting for. I said, babe,”
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← #579 Daniel Holtzclaw #581 Pierre Rushing →
Also on the podcast: #22 Kristine Bunch and Obie Anthony (Live from the Innocence Network Conference 2017) · #25 Anthony DiPippo · #187 Anthony Apanovitch