Meter Reader Finds a Live Mic Bolted to a Gas Meter: The Monica Casey Case

Meter Reader Finds a Live Mic Bolted to a Gas Meter: The Monica Casey Case

A live, studio-grade microphone was found bolted to the gas meter at 44 Calloway Street, broadcasting a tenant’s backyard sounds to anyone tuned to 1190 AM for six days-an orange LED on a duct-taped preamp logged activation at 11:14 PM the night it went live. Who wired a rebroadcast relay into a private home and why was the tenant completely unaware?

In this episode, we tell how a meter reader’s morning detour led investigators into a basement FM-to-AM relay, a copper antenna routed through wall cavities, and a connection between a small AM station and the rental next door. What did the technical tracebacks and timestamps reveal about who had access and motive?

Person: Monica Casey
Person: Doug Hartwell
Location: 44 Calloway Street
Event: Live broadcast on 1190 AM for six days
Date: March 2011

- At 7:19 AM on a Tuesday in March 2011 Raymond Smith smelled warm solder and found a professional broadcast microphone bolted to the gas meter.
- The preamp box on the exterior wall had an orange LED that logged activation at 11:14 PM, six days before discovery.
- The live relay broadcast ambient sounds (wind, highway traffic, a barking dog, the crunch of running shoes) within roughly a two-mile radius on 1190 AM.
- Doug Hartwell, age 61, owned WDLR and had purchased 44 Calloway Street in 2007 as a rental; Monica Casey was his tenant since August 2009.
- Chief engineer Steve Pauley identified the transmitting frequency in four minutes after arriving and had previously reported a coverage dead spot southeast of the station in 2010.

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