True crime podcast episode focuses on Cape Girardeau's Claud McGee

Michael Lear's recent episode of his true crime podcast "Show Me Murder" focuses on a murderer, Cape Girardeau's Claud McGee.

McGee was living in Cape Girardeau near the time of his first murder in the 1930s.

Lear is a history tour guide for Missouri State Penitentiary, and he said he Michael Lear’s recent episode of his true crime podcast “Show Me Murder” focuses on a murderer, Cape Girardeau’s Claud McGee.

McGee was living in Cape Girardeau near the time of his first murder in the 1930s.

Lear is a history tour guide for the Missouri State Penitentiary, and he said he would often get questions about McGee’s picture on the wall in the facility as a part of the tour.

“His (picture) tends to garner, I would dare say, more attention than any other photos on that wall because he just plain looks out of his mind,” Lear said.

McGee was one of 40 people who were executed in the gas chamber at the penitentiary.

Lear said he was asked by people while on the tour if McGee was insane, which led to the podcast and trying to find out if McGee was “crazy” or not.

Through getting a copy of his trial transcript, Lear also found a copy of McGee’s medical records. The records gave Lear insight into what kind of treatments McGee went through at Fulton Hospital. The treatments included electroshock therapy and others that were new at the time.

Lear said he spoke to a forensic psychiatrist on the podcast “who pulled no punches” when talking about health treatment at the time.

“She said back then the state hospitals were basically torture. Those were her words not mine,” Lear said. “You know he underwent some by today’s standards, pretty medieval, mental health care treatments while he was at Fulton.”

McGee’s first murder happened in 1935, but he wasn’t executed until 1951. According to the Missouri State Penitentiary, McGee killed a man while robbing his home, and then years later he killed his partner, who was also his inmate over a $20 debt.

For more history on McGee, listen to “Show Me Murder” podcast at https://show-me-murder.simplecast.com/episodes.