Murder and Mysteries with Massnick · Kimberlie Massnick

EYE BALL KILLERS - INTRO

·40 min·2 clips

A nucleator is “one who removes the eye or eyes” from the orbital socket.

1. Murder and Mysteries with Masnick centers this episode on “a nucleator” and the removal of eyes from the orbital socket. 2. Dr. Kimberly Masnick hosts with P-Cubed, and their back-and-forth matters because they frame the medical and criminal sides of the topic. 3. The episode asks why eye removal appears in both legitimate ophthalmology and murder cases. 4. Masnick defines a nucleator as someone who removes one or both eyes and says the work requires separating the tissue connections between the globe and the orbit. 5. She names tumors, severe infections, and trauma-related concerns as medical reasons for the procedure. 6. She also identifies sympathetic ophthalmia as an autoimmune disorder that can follow trauma. 7. The hosts discuss how the surgery can leave the lids, lashes, and brows in place while the socket is closed or fitted with a prosthetic eye. 8. Masnick describes a veteran who is missing an eye and another case where a BB could not be removed for 10 or 15 years. 9. She says a prosthetic eye can sit in a concave socket when the area has been sewn shut. 10. The episode then pivots from medicine to the nickname “eyeball killer,” which Masnick says will be the next case. 11. She says the nickname came from a case she looked up after asking for “a nucleator,” and she found a large list of people connected to the term. 12. Masnick says one subject has several aliases, and “eyeball killer” is the title she plans to use. 13. The hosts say the person to be discussed next week had a teacher who would not allow him to use the prostheses he wanted. 14. Masnick says that disagreement over materials mattered because the person wanted the removals to look authentic. 15. She also says some of the people involved are tied to a role model, and the victim was chosen as a stand-in for someone else. 16. The hosts emphasize that the motivation in these cases is different from earlier serial-killer stories that had a sexual component. 17. The tone stays conversational, with joking interruptions, repeated side notes, and quick shifts between medical detail and case setup. 18. The format feels like a loose teaching conversation that keeps circling back to rabbit holes, research notes, and future episodes. 19. Listeners who like medical-crime history and true-crime case setup. 20. Listeners who want a straight, tightly scripted forensic lecture.

As heard by us

A messy, conversational opener that turns one grisly clue into a lively back-and-forth.

This episode starts with a joke-heavy sidetrack around the word that kicked things off, then leans into the grotesque eyeball clue and keeps the teasing loose. The hosts guess, reset, and circle back without ever sounding too polished, which fits the mood.

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Why you'd press play

Press play if you like a banter-heavy episode that starts loose and eventually swerves toward an eyeball-removal tease.

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