Going West: True Crime · Dark West Productions

Holly Maddux // 548

·55 min·5 clips

Police find Holly's mummified body stuffed in a trunk inside Ira's closet after a year and a half.

Going West hosts Heath and Daphne open by describing their discovery of the Holly Maddux case as a recent find that left them deeply shaken, with Daphne describing it as unreal. Holly Maddux was born on May 26, 1947 in Tyler, Texas, the oldest of five children in a conservative religious family, and is remembered by her brother John as a brilliant, elegant, gracious, and graceful lady who never made anyone feel uncomfortable despite being known for both her beauty and her intelligence. Holly grew up, attended college, and moved to Philadelphia, where she entered the social and intellectual orbit of Ira Einhorn, a flamboyant countercultural figure who had cultivated a public persona as an environmental activist, peace advocate, and ideas man with connections across progressive and intellectual Philadelphia society. Holly and Einhorn had a relationship that those who knew Holly described as increasingly troubled and isolating. After Holly ended the relationship, she vanished. More than a year passed before her mummified remains were discovered by investigators who obtained a search warrant for Einhorn's apartment after neighbors complained about a foul smell and mysterious liquid seeping from a closet. Inside a steamer trunk, packed with styrofoam, newspaper, and air fresheners, were Holly's remains. Einhorn was arrested but subsequently jumped bail and evaded capture for nearly two decades, living under assumed identities in Europe. The episode covers Holly's early life and family background in detail, establishing her as a fully realized person before turning to the circumstances of her death. The hosts are visibly shaken by the case throughout. The audience is true crime fans who want cases presented with genuine emotional engagement and full attention to the victim's humanity.

As heard by us

A grim, patiently built case that lets the evidence do the work.

Going West treats Holly Maddux's case as a grim, long-running story that only gradually reaches resolution. It stays with a straight chronology, letting the trunk, the medical examiner's conclusion that she may have been locked inside while still alive, and the detail about…

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Why you'd press play

Press play if you want a case that keeps tightening its grip.

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