Speaker 1: Welcome to Criminalia, a production of Shondaland Audio in partnership
Speaker 1: with iHeartRadio.
Speaker 2: If there had been true crime podcasts in the year
Speaker 2: eighteen hundred, this sensational murder trial would have been a
Speaker 2: hot topic under discussion. A young woman was killed just
Speaker 2: before Christmas in New York City on the night she
Speaker 2: was to elope with her lover. The prime suspect was
Speaker 2: Levi Weeks, her presumptive fiance, but he denied to authorities
Speaker 2: they had any relationship and he denied any involvement in
Speaker 2: her death. His defense team was the hottest trio of
Speaker 2: lawyers in town. We're here to tell the story of
Speaker 2: Elma Sands and how the criminal justice system never established
Speaker 2: what really happened to her or who was to blame.
Speaker 2: Welcome to Criminalia. I'm Maria Tremarky and.
Speaker 1: I'm Holly Frye. Levi Weeks was a twenty three year
Speaker 1: old carpenter living in New York City in the seventeen nine.
Speaker 1: He dreamed of becoming an architect and builder like his
Speaker 1: powerful brother Ezra, and he was working with him to
Speaker 1: develop his skills and contacts. Ezra Weeks was well known,
Speaker 1: well liked, and very well connected. He socialized in the
Speaker 1: most elite of elite circles. He was one of the
Speaker 1: city's most successful builders, involved in and responsible for the
Speaker 1: construction of much of the growing city's infrastructure, plus notably
Speaker 1: the Hamilton Grange, a country estate built for Alexander Hamilton
Speaker 1: in uptown Manhattan, and Gracie Mansion, the official residence of
Speaker 1: the Mayor of New York City.
Speaker 2: In the summer of seventeen ninety nine, Levi fell in
Speaker 2: love with a woman named Elma Sands born Gulielma Elmore Sands, Elma,
Speaker 2: as she was known, moved to New York City from
Speaker 2: the Connecticut Valley at age twenty two to work at
Speaker 2: a millinery shop owned and operated by her cousin Katherine
Speaker 2: Ring and Catherine's husband Elias. Elma lived in the Rings
Speaker 2: boarding house at to oweight Greenwich Street, above their commercial space.
Speaker 2: Elma and Levi met coincidentally, they were living under the
Speaker 2: same roof. At first, they tried to keep their love
Speaker 2: affair hidden, but the relationship intensified quickly. Other tenants soon
Speaker 2: found them out. On a few occasions, the pair were
Speaker 2: caught scantily clad, caught having sex, or sometimes were overheard
Speaker 2: having sex, and this was a big deal. And that's
Speaker 2: in all caps. This was very scandalous because they weren't
Speaker 2: a married couple. Levi promised Elma theyde marry, and just
Speaker 2: before Christmas, the two decided to Elope.
Speaker 1: On December twenty second, a Sunday night, other boarders heard
Speaker 1: Elma in her room, presumably dressing for her elopement. She
Speaker 1: had told her cousin, Hope Sans, who was also a
Speaker 1: border in the same house, that she was going to
Speaker 1: marry Levi and that the two planned to Elope that night.
Speaker 1: Levi had wanted to keep it a secret from everyone,
Speaker 1: but Elma was so excited and she just had to
Speaker 1: tell someone. Hope, though, did not keep it a secret,
Speaker 1: and she told Catherine, and after that words spread quickly
Speaker 1: among the tenants. Levi and Elias were in the sitting
Speaker 1: room that evening, assumed by the other boarders to be
Speaker 1: waiting for Elma. Catherine later testified that while Elma was
Speaker 1: readying in her room, Levi quote went out into the
Speaker 1: entry that moment the door opened, and directly I heard
Speaker 1: a whispering near the door at the bottom of the stairs.
Speaker 1: For nearly a minute, but so near the door, I
Speaker 1: thought I might understand what was said, and I listened
Speaker 1: for that purpose. Soon I heard them step along. Elma
Speaker 1: was seen leaving the boarding house a bit later around
Speaker 1: eight o'clock, while fellow boarders saw Levi return later that
Speaker 1: night at about ten o'clock, Elma did not return. The
Speaker 1: next morning, Elma still wasn't home. Levi expressed surprise to
Speaker 1: Catherine that Elma had been out so late alone, and
Speaker 1: when questioned if they'd been together, he denied to Catherine
Speaker 1: that Elma had even been with him that evening. The
Speaker 1: rings reported Elma missing. She had simply vanished.
Speaker 2: Without a body or much information at all about the
Speaker 2: events of that night. Authorities opened an investigation, and they
Speaker 2: started by dragging the Hudson River for her body, but
Speaker 2: came up with nothing.
Speaker 1: A friend of Elma's stated to investigators that she had
Speaker 1: bumped into her by chance the night that she went missing,
Speaker 1: in a crowd on snow covered Greenwich Street near the
Speaker 1: boarding house. She observed that Elma was wearing a fur
Speaker 1: muff on that cold winter night, and she also noted
Speaker 1: that Elma's companion, whom the friend could not identify, kept
Speaker 1: her from chit chatting, saying to her quote let's go
Speaker 1: while moving her along toward Lis Bernard's Meadows, then Marshland
Speaker 1: and now the Tribeca neighborhood of Manhattan. This was the
Speaker 1: last account of Elma seen alive.
Speaker 2: When authorities questioned Levi about his engagement and impending elopement,
Speaker 2: he denied it. He also denied seeing Alma the night
Speaker 2: she disappeared, and claimed he had spent most of that
Speaker 2: night at his brother's house with friends. Despite the alibi,
Speaker 2: the rings didn't believe Levi's claims of ignorance or innocence,
Speaker 2: and they took Elma's story to the media looking for answers.
Speaker 2: They offered reporters details of Elma, details of the night
Speaker 2: of her disappearance, and how they believed she had been murdered.
Speaker 2: Reporters and New Yorkers gobbled the story up.
Speaker 1: But before we talk about where and when Elma was found,
Speaker 1: We're going to take a break for a word from
Speaker 1: our sponsors. When we're back, will unfold the details leading
Speaker 1: up to the trial of the people versus Levi weeks.
Speaker 2: Welcome back to Criminalia. Let's talk about how little evidence
Speaker 2: there was in this case and where Alma's body was
Speaker 2: eventually discovered.
Speaker 1: A few days after Elma vanished, a young boy found
Speaker 1: the muff that she had been wearing the night she disappeared.
Speaker 1: He had found it near the Manhattan Well. His father,
Speaker 1: Andrew Blank, would later testify to his son's discovery that
Speaker 1: was the first solid piece of evidence. Articles of Elma's
Speaker 1: clothing were also found near the Manhattan Well, and that
Speaker 1: well was part of a newly constructed water supply system
Speaker 1: to the north of the city, located in today's Soho neighborhood,
Speaker 1: about a twenty minute carriage ride from the boarding house
Speaker 1: where Elma lived. The well was not fully searched until
Speaker 1: January tewond, eleven days after her disappearance. Elma's body was
Speaker 1: discovered there accidentally by fore men and a child. The
Speaker 1: body was removed and her identity was confirmed.
Speaker 2: A coroner's inquest was held and an autopsy performed. It
Speaker 2: was concluded that Elma had been quote deliberately killed by
Speaker 2: some person or persons yet unknown. Her body was placed
Speaker 2: on public display, as was customary in the Rings Home
Speaker 2: for three days, during which hundreds of New Yorkers came
Speaker 2: to view her.
Speaker 1: The press continued their coverage and began publishing unverified and
Speaker 1: lurid accounts of what might have happened to Elma, and
Speaker 1: they nicknamed the crime and the case the Manhattan well Murdered.
Speaker 1: They printed anything and everything to drum up a public
Speaker 1: outcry against Levi. The New York Gazette and General Advertiser
Speaker 1: reported Elma was to have wed, but quote alas little
Speaker 1: did she suspect that the arrangements she had been making
Speaker 1: with so much care, instead of conveying her to the
Speaker 1: Temple of Hymen, would direct her to that born from
Speaker 1: which no traveler returns. Although Levi hadn't been arrested, he
Speaker 1: had already been convicted in the court of public opinion.
Speaker 1: Many New Yorkers flat out believed he was guilty.
Speaker 2: Four days after the coroner's report was released, Levi was
Speaker 2: indicted for the murder of Elma Sans. The indictment charged
Speaker 2: that Levi quote not having fear of God before his eyes,
Speaker 2: but being moved and seduced by the instigation of the devil,
Speaker 2: on the twenty second day of December, with force and arms,
Speaker 2: feloniously wilfully did make an assault strike, beat and kick
Speaker 2: with his hands and feet in and upon the head, breast, back,
Speaker 2: belly's sides and other parts of the body before casting
Speaker 2: Mulielma Sands into a certain well.
Speaker 1: This trial was sensational, but it was also special. It
Speaker 1: was the first murder trial in the United States for
Speaker 1: which there is a formal record. It was all so
Speaker 1: the appearance of the first Defense Council dream team. Through
Speaker 1: his brother's influence, Levi was represented by a team of
Speaker 1: highly skilled and renowned lawyers and their names Alexander Hamilton
Speaker 1: and Aaron Burr. At the time, these rivals were considered
Speaker 1: the best lawyers in the city. Hamilton was former Secretary
Speaker 1: of the Treasury and leader of New York's Federalist Party.
Speaker 1: Burr was a former United States Senator and future Vice President.
Speaker 1: Their fateful duel in Weehawk and New Jersey would take
Speaker 1: place just four years later.
Speaker 2: Burr and Hamilton each had personal motivations for agreeing to
Speaker 2: defend Ezra Weeks's brother. The well in which Elma's body
Speaker 2: was found was owned by and located on the property
Speaker 2: of the Manhattan Company, a business founded by Aaron Burr.
Speaker 2: A newly established bank that was backed by Burr provided
Speaker 2: the funding for several of Ezra's projects in the city.
Speaker 2: Projects that included the Manhattan Well. Hamilton joined Levi's defense
Speaker 2: team because Ezra Weeks was his friend and had been
Speaker 2: involved in the construction of the Hamilton Grange. Hamilton was
Speaker 2: also convinced of Levi's innocence. Hamilton and Burr had worked
Speaker 2: together on cases before, but neither had worked a murder trial.
Speaker 2: To cover all their bases, Ezra brought in a third
Speaker 2: defense attorney, future Supreme Court Justice Henry Brockholst Livingston joined
Speaker 2: the team.
Speaker 1: In eighteen hundred, the United States was still really young,
Speaker 1: just a teenager, and there was no established case law yet,
Speaker 1: which is as important to criminal lawyers as legal statute. Briefly,
Speaker 1: case laws are established by court rulings, while legal statutes
Speaker 1: are enacted by legislative bodies. That meant there would be
Speaker 1: a lot of legal work to do and of it.
Speaker 1: Aaron Burr remarked, quote, the law is whatever is boldly
Speaker 1: asserted and plausibly maintained. They didn't know it when they
Speaker 1: signed up to be Levi's defense, but this trial set
Speaker 1: legal precedent for cases that followed throughout the nineteenth century.
Speaker 2: The trial The People Versus Levi Weeks began on March
Speaker 2: thirty first, eighteen hundred, with New York Supreme Court Chief
Speaker 2: Justice John Lansing, Junior Mayor Richard Harrison, and Recorder Richard
Speaker 2: Verick presiding. The courtroom in New York City's City Hall
Speaker 2: now at Federal Hall was packed with onlookers. Outside crowds
Speaker 2: also gathered, many calling for justice, which to them meant
Speaker 2: Levi's death. At this time in American history, most trials
Speaker 2: took less than one day, but this trial continued for
Speaker 2: more than forty hours, as seventy five witnesses were called
Speaker 2: to the stand.
Speaker 1: Before we talk testimony, though, we're going to take a
Speaker 1: break for a word from our sponsors, and when.
Speaker 3: We're back, we'll go to court.
Speaker 2: Welcome back to Criminalia. Most people in the courtroom assumed
Speaker 2: Levi Weeks was guilty. But was there evidence or was
Speaker 2: it all just speculation? We have questions, but not a
Speaker 2: lot of answers.
Speaker 3: Let's go to court.
Speaker 1: The lead prosecutor was Assistant Attorney General and future Mayor
Speaker 1: of New York, Cadwalader Colden. The prosecution's case largely rested
Speaker 1: on circumstantial evidence, and the team tried to use the
Speaker 1: growing scandal and publicity around the trial to their advantage.
Speaker 1: They had very little to go on, though the defense too,
Speaker 1: had a few hurdles to overcome. First, the public did
Speaker 1: not like Levi and believed that he was guilty of murder. Second,
Speaker 1: Levi's alibi on the night Elma went missing, that he
Speaker 1: was at his brother's house, was weak at best, and
Speaker 1: other than his brother, he had very few character witnesses
Speaker 1: who would agree to testify on.
Speaker 2: His Behalf of the seventy five witnesses called to testify,
Speaker 2: Let's hit the big bangs. More than one witness testified
Speaker 2: seeing Elma with two men in a one horse sleigh
Speaker 2: that appeared to be similar to a sleigh owned by Ezra,
Speaker 2: though no one had been close enough to accurately identify
Speaker 2: it one way or the other, stated witness youth Throng Anderson.
Speaker 1: He saw the.
Speaker 2: Sleigh quote about half past eight in the evening, on
Speaker 2: a full gallop, with two or three men or women
Speaker 2: in it. I can't say whether they were men or women.
Speaker 2: The horse seemed to be dark colored, but other than
Speaker 2: sleigh tracks seen near the well, there was no tie
Speaker 2: to either Levi or Elma, just speculation over a sleigh
Speaker 2: seen on a snowy.
Speaker 1: Night Arnetta van Norden and Catherine Lyon were just two
Speaker 1: of a few witnesses to testify that they heard a
Speaker 1: woman screaming near the well that night. Said Arnetta, quote,
Speaker 1: we live about halfway from Broadway to the well. About
Speaker 1: eight or nine o'clock in the evening, my husband heard
Speaker 1: a noise and he stood up and observed it was
Speaker 1: from the well. I then looked through the window and
Speaker 1: we heard a woman cry out from towards the well.
Speaker 1: Lord have mercy on me, Lord help me.
Speaker 2: Prosecutors claimed Levi had seduced Elma with phony promises to
Speaker 2: marry her, and they insisted he never intended to. Instead,
Speaker 2: they explained he'd only wanted a sexual relationship with her
Speaker 2: before casting her aside. They argued Elma had gotten pregnant
Speaker 2: and that Levi killed her because he didn't want that responsibility.
Speaker 2: Their ongoing talk of premarital sex and pregnancy outside of
Speaker 2: marriage was meant to shock the jury about the nature
Speaker 2: of the relationship and Levi's morals.
Speaker 1: One of the men who would helped lift Elma's body
Speaker 1: from the well testified that he'd noticed her clothing had
Speaker 1: been torn and that he believed her neck was bruised
Speaker 1: and broken. Medical testimony was given by a dentist who
Speaker 1: examined the body after the coroner's inquest, and he stated
Speaker 1: he had seen scratches and bruises on her body, including
Speaker 1: bruising around her neck, indicating she had been strangled. A
Speaker 1: medical expert called by the defense, also not part of
Speaker 1: the coroner's inquest, testified to refute evidence that Elma's neck
Speaker 1: had been broken and that her body showed evidence of trauma.
Speaker 1: The defense noted the facts of the coroner's report, which
Speaker 1: stated Elma was not pregnant when she died. That was
Speaker 1: critical because, as we said earlier, pregnancy had been considered
Speaker 1: by the prosecution as a possible motive for Levi to
Speaker 1: kill her.
Speaker 2: Several witnesses for the defense, including members of Levi's family,
Speaker 2: testified that he had spent much of the night of
Speaker 2: December twenty second at his brother Ezra's house, although there
Speaker 2: wasn't an admission that he had gone out for about
Speaker 2: an hour before returning. The prosecution insisted this was more
Speaker 2: than enough time for him to have killed Elma and
Speaker 2: returned to Ezra's house, but again it was all speculation.
Speaker 1: The defense took a different direction, altogether painting a scenario
Speaker 1: in which Elma wasn't murdered, but in fact had died
Speaker 1: by suicide. Acquaintances of Elma testified that she had a
Speaker 1: melancholy streak about her sometimes, and one witness stated that
Speaker 1: Elma had once casually remarked that she should overdose with laudanum.
Speaker 1: Physicians who examined the body for the coroner's jury testified
Speaker 1: that it was possible she had jumped into the well
Speaker 1: of her own will.
Speaker 2: Elma's character was called into question, in particular her love life.
Speaker 2: Elias Ring testified that quote Levi and Elma were constantly
Speaker 2: together in private. Prosecutors also called a man named Richard Croucher,
Speaker 2: also known as Mad Croucher to the stand, a man
Speaker 2: they considered their star witness because they were convinced his
Speaker 2: testimony would show Levi was a man of dubious character.
Speaker 2: Richard was a short term lodger at the Rings boarding
Speaker 2: head and a quote shady salesman of Ladies garments. He
Speaker 2: claimed he personally saw Elma and Levi having sex at
Speaker 2: the house. Richard also claimed he knew Levi wanted out
Speaker 2: of the relationship and that Levi was nothing more than
Speaker 2: a con man. Witnesses who claimed that Elma had also
Speaker 2: slept with others at the boarding house were brought to
Speaker 2: the stand to testify regarding her character as well.
Speaker 1: What was then and now considered to be the most
Speaker 1: dramatic moment in the trial was the cross examination of
Speaker 1: Richard Croucher. The defense team, piece by piece, took apart
Speaker 1: his claims with witnesses who rebutted much of his testimony.
Speaker 1: Hamilton and Burr pointed the finger at Richard, stating he
Speaker 1: was the one who had the affair with Elma and
Speaker 1: that he was the one of dubious character. They brought
Speaker 1: a witness to the stand who testified they personally saw
Speaker 1: Croucher near the Manhattan Well on the night of Elma's disappearance,
Speaker 1: cast a suspicion on him and not Levi. Additional witnesses
Speaker 1: testified that Croucher had argued recently with Levi and had
Speaker 1: been spreading rumors in the weeks before Elma's death that
Speaker 1: he was a playboy and a scoundrel. According to a
Speaker 1: court record of the trial and of Croucher on the stand,
Speaker 1: quote one of the prisoner's council held a candle close
Speaker 1: to Croucher's face and asked the witness if it was he,
Speaker 1: and he said it was okay, So rivals to the
Speaker 1: bitter end. Which lawyer being referred to there is debated
Speaker 1: by Burr's family and Hamilton's. An eighteen fifty eight biography
Speaker 1: of Aaron Burr claimed that Burr held two candelabra to
Speaker 1: Croucher's face and yelled out, quote, behold the murderer, gentlemen.
Speaker 1: Hamilton's family told the story differently, his son writing that
Speaker 1: Alexander held a candle to Croucher's face, and when the
Speaker 1: prosecution objected, he responded, quote, I have spas reasons that
Speaker 1: when the real culprit is detected and placed before the court,
Speaker 1: will be understood.
Speaker 2: Around two thirty in the morning on April second, the
Speaker 2: defense rested, certain of the strength of their case, and
Speaker 2: aware that the jury at this point had to be exhausted,
Speaker 2: The defense declined to present a closing argument. Court reports
Speaker 2: note that a prosecutor fell asleep at his table in
Speaker 2: court during the final hours of the trial. It had
Speaker 2: been a long forty four hours. Chief Justice Lancing instructed
Speaker 2: the jury before they deliberated that there was not sufficient
Speaker 2: evidence against Levi weeks to warrant a decision against him,
Speaker 2: but the decision was up to them. Quote the court
Speaker 2: were unanimously of the opinion that the proof was insufficient
Speaker 2: to warrant a verdict against him, and that with this
Speaker 2: general charge, they committed the prisoner's case to their consideration.
Speaker 2: The jury only needed five minutes to reach a verdict
Speaker 2: of not guilty.
Speaker 1: The New York Daily Advertiser reported on the verdict, writing
Speaker 1: that everyone in the court had been quote more or
Speaker 1: less impressed with the idea that he was guilty, but
Speaker 1: were as soon as the verdict not guilty was given,
Speaker 1: just bursting into involuntary and exulting acclamations. There was enormous
Speaker 1: controversy surrounding Levi's acquittal, and Judge Lansing's charge to the
Speaker 1: jury was widely criticized ostracized, Levi fled New York City.
Speaker 1: He moved south, relocating to Natchez, Mississippi, where he was
Speaker 1: free to follow his dream of becoming a successful architect.
Speaker 1: The Auburn Mansion, which he designed, is today a National
Speaker 1: Historic Landmark.
Speaker 2: Richard Croucher, though, remains an intriguing character and not just
Speaker 2: to us. The defense had tried to paint him as
Speaker 2: the actual killer. He appears to be the best suspect
Speaker 2: they had at the time. He went on to live
Speaker 2: a life of crime. Just months after the trial, he
Speaker 2: was convicted for sexually assaulting his teenage stepdaughter, but was
Speaker 2: later pardoned due to his unstable mental health. After a
Speaker 2: similar incident occurred in Virginia, he left the United States
Speaker 2: for his native England, where he continued his criminal activities
Speaker 2: and was in due time executed for it.
Speaker 1: And for Elma. No other suspect was ever charged after
Speaker 1: Levi's acquittal. This is quite a case justice for Ilma.
Speaker 1: This is another one where it's hard to want to
Speaker 1: make a drink about it. But I think I have
Speaker 1: already figured out an ongoing theme that will happen for
Speaker 1: me this season, which is like trying to focus on
Speaker 1: the victim.
Speaker 2: Well, and that's really it's an interesting thing for this
Speaker 2: particular story because this story always gets told with Alexander
Speaker 2: Hamilton and Aaron Burr as the stars of the story,
Speaker 2: and they're not. They're the defense team.
Speaker 1: Right, And Elma gets care rised as like, you know,
Speaker 1: this sort of slutty mess who can't you know, use
Speaker 1: her more lady like reasoning to not get herself into trouble.
Speaker 1: It's very victim blamey, which I have feelings about. Right, So,
Speaker 1: I wanted to think about what should have been part
Speaker 1: of Elma's evening that night had she not been entwined
Speaker 1: with any of these people, which is that she should
Speaker 1: have had a very delicious, cozy drink by the fire
Speaker 1: in the boarding house and gone to.
Speaker 2: Bed in the sitting room of Elias and.
Speaker 1: Gone safely to bed. And this is a drink that
Speaker 1: I'm calling snowy Ground because I also like to think
Speaker 1: of it as like the the calm of a beautiful
Speaker 1: snowy evening without any of the violence. And this is
Speaker 1: a really easy one to put together. It's actually a
Speaker 1: little bit of a variation on a drink called a
Speaker 1: French Connection. I don't know if you've ever had that.
Speaker 1: It is a French Connection is equal parts cognac and omaretto.
Speaker 1: Oh okay, delicious, very up my alley.
Speaker 2: I actually feel like maybe I have had that.
Speaker 1: Note it's a drink that kind of popped up in
Speaker 1: the seventies and has had many variations on it. This
Speaker 1: one is a foamy one, so you're gonna start out
Speaker 1: with two ounces of heavy whipping cream and add to
Speaker 1: that an ounce of amaretto, and you're going to put
Speaker 1: that in a shaking tin or whatever container, and you're
Speaker 1: gonna get your frother out and foam that baby up.
Speaker 1: It's not gonna get stiff the way a whipping cream
Speaker 1: would on its own, because the omaretto thins it a
Speaker 1: bit too much. But it does get very foamy, and
Speaker 1: the foam has a nice density and a nice body
Speaker 1: to it. Once you have that all whipped together, you
Speaker 1: are just going to put two ounces of cognac in
Speaker 1: a smallish glass. I used a small Nick and Nora.
Speaker 1: Now we are getting into a moment of potential debate,
Speaker 1: not really debate. This is your preference. A lot of
Speaker 1: people like cognac to be served room temperature. I am
Speaker 1: one of them. It also gets put in mixed drinks
Speaker 1: and chilled, so I did this with no chilling on
Speaker 1: the cognac.
Speaker 3: But if you.
Speaker 1: Would prefer to have it as a colder drink, you
Speaker 1: can give your cognac a quick shake with ice and
Speaker 1: strain it into your Nick and Nora glass, and then
Speaker 1: you're just gonna spoon your foamy bit on top of it,
Speaker 1: it's not gonna sink in because the foam has so
Speaker 1: much air and texture to it, and you end up
Speaker 1: with one that like the bottom half is like the
Speaker 1: brown of the kgnak and the top is the whippy
Speaker 1: foamy cream with amaretto in it. And that's it. It's
Speaker 1: super basic. You can sprinkle a little nutmeg or allspice
Speaker 1: on top however you want to do it, but or
Speaker 1: like pumpkin spice if you've got that in your thing.
Speaker 1: And when you sip it, because of the weight of
Speaker 1: the con even though the foam is on top, the
Speaker 1: cognac kind of slips through on the sip, so you're
Speaker 1: getting it and as you finish, it's really the foam
Speaker 1: that's left and you get a very sweet, rich finish.
Speaker 1: I love this drink. I'm gonna make it all winter long.
Speaker 2: It's a nice snowy night drink.
Speaker 1: It's cozy, cozy, cozy, it's the coziest. It is not
Speaker 1: a big drink, obviously, like you're only dealing with a
Speaker 1: couple of ounces of actual fluid before you get to
Speaker 1: the foam part, which is its own thing. You may
Speaker 1: not use all of your foam, and that's fine. You
Speaker 1: can save it for a second one, or you can
Speaker 1: put it on pie, or you can dip biscotti into it,
Speaker 1: and then you're really talking about the best night of
Speaker 1: your life. So delicious. So that is the snowy ground.
Speaker 1: If you want to make this non alcoholic, you are
Speaker 1: gonna make whatever dark tea is your favorite. Ideally, if
Speaker 1: it has some flavor like a chie is great here.
Speaker 1: But if you don't like that, it's literally whatever you
Speaker 1: like best is the correct way to make the drink.
Speaker 1: And you can sweeten that to your taste. And then
Speaker 1: you are gonna do your heavy whipping cream and instead
Speaker 1: of amaretto, you will add a little bit of almond
Speaker 1: extract to it. The liquid measure is not the same
Speaker 1: at that point, so it is going to get a
Speaker 1: bit stiffer and fluffier, and that's fine. It's still super delicious.
Speaker 1: The flavor is very similar, even though the texture is
Speaker 1: a little different, and your whipping cream will get more
Speaker 1: into a whipped cream consistency than a foam. Still delicious.
Speaker 1: That's the snowy ground. Made to contemplate and soothe, And
Speaker 1: remember Elma, who is really the most important person in
Speaker 1: this story. We are so thankful that you have spent
Speaker 1: this time with us. We will be right back here
Speaker 1: again next week for another cold case and another trip
Speaker 1: to the cooler for some drinks. Criminalia is a production
Speaker 1: of Shondaland Audio in partnership with iHeartRadio. For more podcasts
Speaker 1: from Shondaland Audio, please visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts,
Speaker 1: or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.