Crime Junkie

In 2019, we covered the Sodder children, five siblings who vanished after their family’s home burned down on Christmas morning in 1945. Officials said they died in the fire, but no bodies were ever found. And now, with new information from a family descendant, we’re taking another look at what happened when their parents started asking questions, and why the family spent decades believing the children may have survived.

When 30-year-old Alyssa Romine-Olson is found floating naked and face down in the pond of a Gilbert, Arizona nature preserve in 2016, online coverage makes the case sound like a suicide. But her missing belongings, an undetermined cause of death, and key evidence found at the scene tell a different story. And all roads seem to lead back to one man. But when his alibi is verified, the case takes some shocking turns.

Come spiral with us as we recap the biggest true-crime documentary right now, "Death of the Pastor's Wife." The takes are hot, the eyes will roll, and Ashley and Brit will be trauma bonding as they reach back into their churchy upbringing to decode some unhinged religious takes. And of course, Ashley is coming with a bunch of information you won't get in the documentary that might help make sense of how Mica Miller ended up at Lumber River State Park in North Carolina on April 27, 2024.

When 30-year-old Alyssa Romine-Olson is found floating naked and face down in the pond of a Gilbert, Arizona nature preserve in 2016, online coverage makes the case sound like a suicide. But her missing belongings, an undetermined cause of death, and key evidence found at the scene tell a different story. And investigators soon realize, nothing in this case is as it seems.

Twenty-seven-year-old Natalie Jones vanished after a July 4th lake party in Alabama in 2020. Ninety-three days later, her car and her remains were found in a rural Georgia field. No arrest. No clear answer. No closure for the family left behind. The official theory was an accidental overdose. But a negative toxicology report, a drug baggie with no fingerprints, and a phone that never left Natalie's hand — one that’s still missing — tell a different story. Shortly before her death, Natalie had begun speaking out about the men in her life: a bitter ex-husband, an alleged childhood abuser, a lover tied to drug trafficking.

In 2011, 74-year-old high school sweethearts Bill and Peggy Stephenson were found murdered inside their Kentucky condo on Memorial Day weekend. Nothing valuable appeared to be missing, but the crime scene was so strange that detectives wondered whether the killer was trying to leave a message. For years, the case pulled investigators in every direction — until one piece of evidence, mailed across the country more than a decade earlier, finally got a hit.

When Kerry O’Brien Krueger vanished in 1989, her husband claimed she left for a work trip that never existed. Decades later, investigators are still untangling shifting stories, missing evidence and some crucial clues that could help reveal what happened - and they need Crime Junkies’ help.

In part two of Joyce’s story, we dig deep into the case file and letters left behind by Joyce herself, which reveal even more suspects, including the roommate she’d been avoiding that summer.

In this special episode of Crime Junkie on the Nancy Guthrie abduction case, breaking news reporter Briana Whitney and host Ashley Flowers reveal all details from the ransom notes you haven't heard yet, Briana shares the stunning things told to her behind the scenes by the sheriff and investigators as she was reporting on the ground, and the two discuss a well-researched theory on the interworkings of how and why the Guthrie abduction was carried out.

In the summer of 1971, 21-year-old Joyce LePage disappears after a skydiving lesson followed by a beer with friends. In the beginning, the only clue is a piece of missing carpet that was cut out from a vacant dorm on the campus of Washington State University where Joyce had been secretly squatting. Her belongings, her car and her body would all be found in different places, and they all point to different suspects.

In August 2005, a woman disappeared just days before she was supposed to testify against her boyfriend, a corrections officer accused of sexually abusing minors. For years, her family says she was treated like a fugitive instead of a missing person. But when we looked deeper, we found a witness who has never spoken publicly before — and a sighting from the night she vanished that could change the way this case has been understood for more than twenty years.

On March 23, 1993, screams tore through the thin walls of a gated Indianapolis apartment complex as 19-year-old Carmen Van Huss fought for her life. Neighbors heard the attack, but no one called 911. Carmen was assaulted, mutilated, and killed. For decades, her murder remained unsolved – until a relentless investigator identified a suspect. And after more than 30 years, Carmen’s family finally saw justice.

When 37-year-old Christine Banfield and 39-year-old Joseph Ryan were found fatally injured inside a Virginia home in 2023, investigators were initially told that Ryan was a violent intruder and that Christine’s husband, Brendan Banfield, a federal agent, had tried to save her. But as investigators examined digital evidence, they uncovered a different possibility: that Ryan had been lured to the home through a fake online persona and that the scene had been staged to conceal a double homicide.

On November 30, 2018, 23-year-old Brittany Wallace Shank showed up barefoot and bleeding at a stranger's door asking for help. She said the man she was with had crashed their car and ran away. Deputies were on the way. But before they arrived, Brittany disappeared into the darkness. She has never been seen again.

Alberta O. Jones was breaking barriers in Louisville, Kentucky. She was the first Black woman prosecutor in the city’s history, she helped register some 6,000 Black citizens to vote, and she was a leader in the city’s civil rights movement. But on Aug. 5, 1965 –  before she could make even more changes in the highly segregated city – Alberta was found dead floating in the Ohio River. The night before, she reluctantly went out late to visit a close friend, setting off a 60-year mystery that has led to more questions than answers.

In November 2024, 15-year-old Tripp Brazeale was found hanging from a tree in the middle of the woods of Forrest City, Arkansas. His death was quickly ruled a suicide, but in the weeks and months that followed, details of the case began to emerge that led Tripp's family, friends, and a private investigator to realize things might not be as clear-cut as they were led to believe.

A call from someone you love in crisis is terrifying enough - but what if the voice begging for help isn’t really them? We break down how AI voice cloning is fueling virtual kidnapping scams, why panic is the weapon scammers count on, and the one conversation your family should have before the phone rings.

In the summer of 1973, the Jaeger family wakes at a Montana campground to every parent's nightmare: their young daughter, Susie, is gone. Searches turn up nothing, until a man begins tormenting the family with chilling calls and letters. He has Susie, and he has no intention of giving her back. As investigators race to find her, more victims begin to surface. The case finally breaks when a determined mother joins forces with the FBI’s newly formed behavioral profiling unit. Together, they uncover the truth about what happened to Susie and bring long-awaited answers to three other grieving families.

In February 2008, six women were held hostage in a women’s clothing store in Tinley Park, Illinois.. Rhoda McFarland, Carrie Hudek Chiuso, Connie Woolfolk, Sarah Szafranski, and Jennifer Bishop were executed and the killer escaped leaving only one survivor. In Season 8 of CounterClock, host and investigative journalist Delia D’Ambra covers the Lane Bryant Murders and goes further into the case than any journalist has before. Through firsthand accounts and thousands of documents, Delia reconstructs what happened inside the store, why it may have happened, and who may have been responsible. For nearly twenty years, their families have lived without answers. This season, the search continues.

Bobby, Sherilynn, and 6-year-old Madyson Jamison went to the Sans Bois Mountains in southeastern Oklahoma in search of a fresh start. The family planned to live off the land in a remote, rugged area of Latimer County. But on Oct. 8, 2009, they vanished – leaving behind their truck with all their belongings inside. Their remains were found four years later, less than 3 miles from where the truck was abandoned. Now, more than a decade later, the circumstances surrounding their deaths remain a mystery.

On Black Friday 2016, 22-year-old Christopher “Cole” Thomas was driving through rural North Carolina with two coworkers. Hours later, the coworkers approached police and said Cole had suddenly panicked, pulled over, and ran into the dark, never to be seen again.

Spencer Irwin was just 30 years old when he vanished one Sunday morning in July 2024. Days later, his body was found in a way that raised questions – naked, alone and quickly dismissed by authorities. But their assumptions about Spencer were wrong. As his mother began asking questions, the answers she received only raised more red flags: no autopsy, missing belongings and a timeline full of gaps no one seemed interested in filling. When toxicology results came back, they didn’t just complicate the story, they began to unravel it.

On May 4, 2007, 19-year-old Brittany McGlone did something she rarely did. Instead of going home after work, she went to her boyfriend’s house. By that afternoon, she was found dead in his bed, brutally beaten. She was naked, and her underwear was missing from the scene. In the home’s only bathroom, investigators found signs the killer may have showered before leaving. There were no signs of forced entry or robbery, only a small circle of people who knew she would be there. More than 15 years later, one man was arrested, but he was later released and walked free. Someone still knows what happened in that house.

The Melissa Casias case keeps unraveling, and the more we learn, the less anything makes sense. New details have emerged about the strange woman who showed up at Sierra's job to deliver $50 in graduation money, and the trail leads to a confusing tangle of mismatched names. Meanwhile, the family fracture has only widened, with a private investigator turning up the heat and the FBI now stepping in. Was Mark's theory about a subcontractor closer to the truth than anyone realized? Or is this just another dead end in a case that refuses to stay still?

In June 2025, Melissa Casias dropped her husband off at work in Los Alamos, New Mexico… then did something nobody expected. She turned around and drove home. By that afternoon, she had vanished, leaving behind her wallet, her keys, both of her personal phones wiped to factory settings, and a family already splitting in two over what to believe. Her husband, Mark, insists she walked away on her own. Her parents and siblings are certain something far worse happened to her. Surveillance video proves she was alive walking along Highway 518 that day. But where she went next - and why - is a question that only deepens the further you pull at it.

In 1976, a 22-year-old nursing student was murdered in her Los Angeles apartment, leaving behind just one clue: a bloody fingerprint. Decades later, that print was matched—and the case was quietly marked solved. But no one ever publicly announced who did it. So we set out to find the answer… and to uncover what else he may have done.

In the summer of 1969, Stephanie Casberg walked out the front door of a Milwaukee restaurant after her waitressing shift — and was never seen alive again. Days later, her dismembered remains were found near a condemned bridge along the Root River, leaving investigators with a chilling conclusion: the work of someone methodical, skilled and patient.

On the heels of our investigation into Laura Sweetman’s death, the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office fulfilled our FOIA request, providing new audio files—including recordings of Laura arguing with her estranged husband, Dave, and deputies’ interview with him. Laura was found dead in her Gilbert, Arizona bathtub in December 2013, and despite early red flags, her case was ruled undetermined and quietly closed. Now, these newly obtained materials raise fresh questions. Listen to our update on Laura Sweetman now.

In December 2013, 42-year-old Laura Sweetman was found dead in the bathtub of her home in Gilbert, Arizona. Despite numerous red flags identified during early interviews, her death was ruled undetermined and the case was quietly closed. More than a decade later, our team has uncovered critical details that were overlooked, raising questions about whether the investigation was prematurely closed.

In May 2020, Nick Cordova was shot in the head while on FaceTime with his children. Suspicion initially focused on one man, but surveillance video showed he was not the shooter. Nearly six years later, Cordova’s family is still pleading for answers.

An arrest has been made in the 1990 Lovers' Lane murders of Cheryl Henry and Andy Atkinson. More than 30 years after the killings, a DNA match led investigators to a suspect. Listen for the full update and to learn what investigators need your help with.

At a busy campsite one summer night, Darrel “Bubba” Johnson Sr. says goodnight and zips up his tent. By sunrise, he’s gone. No Bubba. Just a borrowed flashlight, a phone that pings but is never found, and stories that don’t make much sense. Did Bubba wander off…or did something more sinister happen in the dark?

In July 2015, Mary Yoder, a healthy 60-year-old chiropractor, went to work as usual. Later that day, she began feeling sick. Within 48 hours, she was dead. At first, her sudden decline seemed like a medical mystery. But investigators soon uncovered evidence of poisoning, launching a murder investigation that divided her family and the community.

In the summer of 2015, Mary Yoder, a healthy 60-year-old chiropractor, went to work as usual. Later that day, she began feeling sick. Within two days, she was dead. At first, her sudden decline seemed like a medical mystery. But investigators soon uncovered evidence of poisoning, launching a murder investigation that divided her family and the community.

In the 1980s and early 1990s, a serial predator targeted young girls in the suburbs of Melbourne, Australia. He wore a mask and left little evidence behind. Investigators described him as calm and calculating, earning him the nickname, “Mr. Cruel.” More than three decades later, he has never been caught. But continued reporting by crime journalists and renewed hope from crime junkies have kept the case in the spotlight, fueling hope that his identity may one day be revealed.

In 1981, a Harvard graduate student vanished after stepping out of Logan Airport the night after Thanksgiving. As investigators searched for answers, they focused on a suspect connected to another murder – a woman who was killed just two years earlier. He was convicted in one case and widely believed responsible for the other. But after reviewing thousands of pages of records, we found gaps that raise difficult questions: Was the wrong man blamed? And is the real killer still out there?

In 1984, when Robin Altman was just 22 years old, her brother Steven was found hanging by his neck in an apparent suicide. 12 years later, tragedy struck this family again when Robin's mother Mary Ann took her own life by self-strangulation. But Robin had a nagging feeling that something wasn't right. There was one question she could not get out of her head: what if these deaths weren't suicides at all? What if her brother Steven and her mother Mary Ann were murdered? Robin embarks on a journey to find the truth.

On June 2, 2022, Rachel Hansen opened her eyes to a dark figure standing over her bed, staring at her. She screamed, and the person took off. But the very next night — just after 2 a.m. — a dark figure entered her Gilbert, Arizona, apartment again, kicked down her bedroom door and shot her in the abdomen before fleeing.

The 1986 shooting of 16-year-old twin sisters Jill and Julie Hansen stunned the small town of Willow Creek, California. The investigation into who shot the girls and set fire to the Hansen family home is marked by twists and turns, with evidence ultimately pointing back to a suspect close to the family. Did tunnel vision cause investigators to overlook critical pieces of evidence?

A Chicago house fire killed a firefighter’s wife and their three children. The city called it a tragic accident. But as we pulled records and spoke with those who knew the family best, the story began to unravel. This is the untold story of the Day-Stewart family fire.

What began as a whirlwind romance in the midst of a murder in 1970s DC, ended in a mysterious tragedy in small-town Indiana. Separated by five months, the deaths of Bobby and his wife, Barbara Moore, tore a town and a family apart.

This is the full sit-down interview between Ashley and Elizabeth Smart -- a powerful 90 minutes of raw, unedited conversation with one of the most real and honest and deep-down GOOD human beings we've ever had the privilege of knowing.

R&B radio fans in Dayton, Ohio, knew Kelly Dee Wilson as her on air name Nikki Brooks. When Wilson turned up murdered in her apartment after her show in March 2000, the community was shocked.

Marilyn “Niqui” McCown was the first missing person’s case covered on Crime Junkie. Now, nearly 25 years after she vanished, fresh reporting uncovers never-before-heard details from police files that challenge everything we thought we knew. What if Niqui’s story never truly ended — and the answers are still closer than anyone realized?

A luxury vacation to Mexico with college friends ended in tragedy when Shanquella Robinson died of what her friends said was alcohol poisoning. But Shanquella’s family always believed there was more to the story, especially when a video surfaced of her being brutally beaten just hours before she died. That video and a pair of autopsies coming to two different conclusions has shrouded Shanquella’s death in mystery. Years later, there are still so many questions. What exactly killed Shanquella and who, if anyone, is responsible?

Before dawn on July 4, 1997, Bonnie Lee Schultz was driving home after a late night out with friends. She was never seen again. For nearly 30 years, Indianapolis investigators suspected her husband’s involvement in her disappearance, but with no sign of Bonnie or her car, the case went cold. Could detectives have overlooked an unidentified predator who targeted her?

Before dawn on July 4, 1997, Bonnie Lee Schultz was driving home after a late night out with friends. She was never seen again. For nearly 30 years, Indianapolis investigators suspected her husband’s involvement in her disappearance, but with no sign of Bonnie or her car, the case went cold. Could detectives have overlooked an unidentified predator who targeted her?

In August 2008, a woman in rural Kentucky survived one of the most brutal assaults we have ever reported, but her strength that night ensured her attacker was identified and arrested. Years later, he is a free man living in the community. As we examined his past, we uncovered unsettling similarities to another case that has haunted a family for decades. Now, two families are searching for answers — and they need your help.

When 20-year-old Amanda Wienckowski vanished one night in Buffalo, her mom, Leslie, refused to sit back and wait for answers. She begged police to listen and even parked outside the house where Amanda was last seen — for weeks — hoping her daughter would walk out the front door. What followed would test every ounce of a mother’s strength: a case full of contradictions, silence from the system, and a fight that would stretch on for more than a decade. This is the story of a mother who wouldn’t let the world forget her daughter — no matter how long it takes for justice.

In November 2024, Ashley Flowers sat down with John Ramsey at his home for a one-on-one conversation about the murder of his daughter, JonBenét Ramsey. In the year since that interview, John has met with the Boulder Police Department and appeared in multiple media outlets, pushing for additional testing in his daughter’s case. Ashley has also continued meeting with people connected to the case, and hopes to one day soon have an update to share. Following Boulder Police’s most recent update on Dec. 12, 2025, it appears more testing is planned and efforts continue to solve the nearly 30-year mystery of who killed JonBenét. John's conversation with Ashley may give us a clue into what items they're looking at testing.

Law enforcement Explorer programs were created to mentor teens interested in policing. But decades of weak oversight created an environment where officers could manipulate that trust. Some exploited their roles, using their authority to groom, abuse, and silence the very teens they were entrusted to guide.

In 2021, 23-year-old Sandra Birchmore was found dead in her apartment. And what Massachusetts investigators quickly called a suicide slowly revealed itself to be something much more sinister. Because out of the woodwork came friends, family, and co-workers with stories that Sandra had told them about her life. Stories of grooming, sexual abuse, and years of misconduct at the hands of several Stoughton Police officers… which began when she was barely a teenager. Three officers later resigned from the department. With a 2026 federal trial pending, the whole state has been left to wonder whether Sandra’s death was truly a suicide – as state police continue to maintain – or the end result of something much darker.

For decades, police said Rowena Wilkinson Zapalac died via suicide by masturbation. But her family always believed there was more to Rowena’s death than met the eye. Could she have been the victim of a serial killer passing through Texas, or could her case be connected to the deaths of two other women in the area?

When a couple from Oso, Washington, is discovered missing, it doesn’t take long for detectives to develop a prime suspect. But solving the case, finding their bodies and capturing the killer took approximately 100 days, using a combination of old-school investigative methods and modern forensic tools.

A rising Broadway star. A mysterious SOS alert. And a car left abandoned at a trailhead wrecked by Hurricane Helene. When 28-year-old Zelig Williams vanishes on October 3rd, 2023, there’s no sign of a crash, his phone, or him. Is this the result of a mental health emergency, a tragic accident or did someone lure Zelig into the woods, never intending to let him leave?

In 1985, 27-year-old Linda Sherman vanished – just as she was making plans to leave her tumultuous marriage. For five long years, her family had no answers — until a human skull appeared beneath a restaurant window near a St. Louis, Missouri-area airport -- where her husband was a regular. Decades later, Linda’s daughter is still searching for the truth about what happened to her mother.

In June of 2023, a woman was brutally murdered in Floyd County, Kentucky, while attending a gathering at the home of a local dentist. The slaying rocked the small communities of eastern Kentucky as months ticked by, rumors swirled and no one was held accountable. Finally, in July 2024, three men were charged in connection to her death and the trial is right around the corner.

In 1980, the tiny town of San Miguel, California, was shaken when two kindergarten girls vanished in broad daylight from a main street. Despite a long list of local child predators and bizarre clues, the trail went cold in a matter of years. But now, nearly 5 decades later, the very detective who solved the Kristin Smart case has come out of retirement to take another look, and he’s closer than ever before to a solve.

His friends brought him home saying he was drunk, but the truth tells a much different story. 18-year-old Christion Olson heads out for a night with friends on July 12th, 2024. But when he comes home early the next morning, the unimaginable happens. His family is left to grapple with tragedy while they search for answers. Only to be met with silence, shifting stories, and people that might be more interested in protecting themselves than sharing the truth. Nearly everything about that night feels wrong—and maybe that’s why it seems like everyone there that night has something to hide…

A frantic phone call, an abrupt departure, and then… silence. When Everett and Lydia Thompson disappear along with their two young sons, the trail leads to one man whose story keeps changing. But instead of swift action, investigators initially delay and brush off a family’s cry for answers. Potentially giving the suspect time to erase evidence – and the Thompson family themselves. Nearly thirty years later, their fate remains a chilling mystery that may have been solvable from the start.

In March 2020, at the start of the pandemic, the mysterious death of a mother of two is ruled a suicide. But her loved ones believe there’s more to her death than meets the eye. And as soon as we looked into her case, the cracks in the official ruling started to show.

A shopkeeper in North Wales seemingly vanishes into thin air after hanging a sign on her antique store saying she’ll be back in two minutes. Investigators search high and low for Trevaline Evans for decades, trying to track down a so-called “mystery man” in a suit who she’d been seen with in the days before she disappeared. But they find no trace of the 52-year-old grandmother. Her case becomes one police call the most confusing they’ve ever worked. And it becomes even more baffling when…nearly 40 years after Trevaline vanished…brand new tips roll in from two brothers in the UK who say they’d found her remains, and had proof. But those remains seemed to vanish too, leaving this mystery still unsolved.

When Destiny Jackson and Nazirah Muhammad were found gunned down in their own home, both their families and investigators in Hobart, Indiana, are baffled. Today, they’re so close to solving the case that’s haunted them for the past three years - but they need your help to take it over the finish line.

Jessica Starr was 26 years old when she was murdered outside the trailer she was staying at in 2011. Despite friends and family having theories as to what happened, they feel that police in Elkhart, Indiana, have all but abandoned them in their search for justice.

When Maggie and Paul Murdaugh are killed on their family’s estate in 2021, the investigation unravels a history of privilege, corruption, and suspicious deaths tied to one of South Carolina’s most influential families. But beneath the headlines and courtroom drama are stories of people who never got justice, mysteries still unsolved, and a justice system that let one family operate above the law for nearly a century. As appeals move forward and the possibility of a new trial looms, one question remains – why would a man who had everything risk it all by brutally murdering his own family?

Ellen Rae Greenberg had everything going for her when she was found dead in the apartment she shares with her fiancé. Police are quick to say she died by suicide – despite the 20 stab wounds she sustained. But her heartbroken parents are sure she was murdered and their search for answers has raised serious questions about the investigation.

In February 1985, a little girl disappears just steps from home, leaving her mother with a lifetime of unanswered questions. For decades, whispers of a mysterious van, chilling letters, and long-buried secrets have fueled speculation. Now, nearly forty years later, new revelations could crack open the case once thought unsolvable. Could this be the moment the truth finally comes to light?

When a pilot murders his wife, his secret lover and her daughter and then vanishes into the Wyoming wilderness, leaving his getaway car behind, a massive tri-state manhunt ensues for the family annihilator. Eight years later, there’s still no sign of Mike Bullinger and questions remain: did he use his survivalist and flight skills to launch a new life or did he meet his end in the forest? And why did he kill the three people he loved the most?

In 2003, an LAPD cold case detective digging through old case files finds a piece of forgotten evidence that belongs to an unidentified woman found murdered off Mulholland Drive in 1969. As he searches for her identity, he uncovers eerie parallels to another young woman killed nearby just months earlier. And he starts to wonder — are these cases linked by coincidence... or by a killer who's never been caught?

Police thought they solved Dawn Mozino’s 1989 disappearance when they found out she knew a convicted serial killer. But in her diary, Dawn wrote of not one, but two love triangles that might actually lead police to different suspects.

When Oakey “Al” Kite is brutally murdered in his own home in the spring of 2004, investigators rushed to find his killer. But when they finally identified a suspect, he seemed to vanish without a trace.

On Valentine’s Day in 2007, 39-year-old Jodine Serrin was brutally murdered and desecrated in her own bed – while her parents were just down the hall. Over the next 10 years, using new forensic techniques, the Carlsbad Police Department identified her killer. But when they did, everyone was forced to confront the chilling realization that this man had been leading a double life – on one hand, living like you and I, acting as a father, partner and employee. On the other, he was a monster.

When a teenage girl goes out to deliver a birthday card to her best friend, she never makes it home alive. Her family and police would search for her killer for decades, and in the process, this case would make history in the state of New York.

In 1997, a young woman is found shot dead in a cemetery in Kansas City, Missouri. Police work on tracking down the group of friends she was last seen with… and they learn another life has been lost. As the pressure mounts, the investigation stalls until a shocking confession gets the Wheels of Justice moving. But at the end of the day, some are left to wonder…Did they find the right person?

In 1991, Austin, Texas was rocked by one of the most horrifying crimes the city had ever seen: four young girls were brutally murdered and set on fire inside a local yogurt shop. The investigation would stretch on for decades, leading to four men being accused of the crime, yet lingering questions and evolving forensic evidence have continued to cast doubt on whether justice was truly served. Now, with renewed attention to the case, we’re re-releasing our original Crime Junkie episode. Whether you’re revisiting the details or hearing them for the first time, this is your chance to dive back into the facts, the timeline, and the troubling unanswered questions. Follow along on Instagram and TikTok @crimejunkiepodcast as we continue the conversation.

In 2023, 48-year-old Erin Patterson invited a group of her husband’s family members over, and things took a turn for the worst, and by the worst, we mean murder. Patterson has been convicted of murdering three people and one attempted murder after poisoning them with mushrooms served over a nice dinner. But some questions still remain: How did she go from loving mother to mass murderer, and WHY?

22-year-old Kristin David was missing for over a week before her remains were found in the Snake River. While her murder is often thought to be related to a series of other murders and disappearances in the late 70s and early 80s, investigators think she’s the victim of another mystery killer.

In March of 1998 Amy Lynn Bradley and her family set off on what was to be the trip of a lifetime, a full week-long cruise around the Caribbean. But little did they know their dream vacation would turn into a nightmare when Amy went missing from their stateroom in the early morning hours of March 24, 1998. Over 20 years have passed, and clues of her fate are few and far between, but there have been credible sightings to suggest that Amy is alive and being held captive.

In the late 70s and early 80s, the Lewiston-Clarkston Valley was rocked by multiple disappearances and homicides. Police at the time thought it was the work of one man, who has remained free. And despite a decades-long investigation, these cases remain unsolved.

Kaylee Goncalves, Madison Mogen, Xana Kernodle, and Ethan Chapin, four University of Idaho students in their 20s, were brutally murdered inside their off-campus home in the early morning hours on November 13, 2022. Two surviving roommates and a heartwrenching 911 call led police to discover the friends stabbed to death inside the three-story house at 1122 King Road. The safe place that once rang with parties, TikTok dances and laughter, was eerily silenced, surrounded by a nationwide media circus and sealed with crime scene tape.

In 1995, a married couple vanishes from their Ohio home without a trace, leaving behind their five kids, an unlocked gun cabinet, and a house full of clues. As ransom calls roll in and suspicions mount, their family is left wondering: Was this a planned disappearance? Or something more sinister?

In 1980, the ex-wife of a British aristocrat and her Italian friend vanished from a small ski resort town during a snowstorm in the mountains of central Italy, and investigators had a simple theory—they got lost and had some kind of accident. But when mysterious messages arrive, clues lead them on a decades-long deep dive into the art world jet set, the mafia underworld…and even the Vatican.

When a young mom and her two small daughters disappear without a trace from Topeka, Kansas, in May 2000, her family goes on a decades-long hunt for answers. But right in the middle of our reporting, the family gets a huge tip that could change everything.

When Jennifer Farber Dulos vanished after dropping her five children off at school in New Canaan, Connecticut, on May 24, 2019, all eyes were on her estranged husband, Fotis Dulos. And when investigators found surveillance footage showing Fotis suspiciously stopping at multiple trash cans in a nearby city and throwing things just hours after she disappeared, a massive hunt for evidence kicked off and a conspiracy involving at least two other people began to unfold. Six years later, one suspect is dead, one is in prison and one is awaiting trial… but what exactly happened to Jennifer and where her body is remains a mystery.

In 1987, two women and a two-year-old girl seemingly vanish into thin air on their way back from a gospel concert in Lowcountry, South Carolina, and their mysterious disappearance leaves their families pushing for justice for decades.

After a fourteen-year-old goes missing from her boyfriend’s home in Iowa in 1980, her mother puts all the pressure she can on police to take her daughter’s case seriously and bring her home.

When Peggy Hettrick’s body was found in an open field in Fort Collins, Colorado, police rushed to the nearest suspect. But clues left behind on Peggy’s body later turn the case upside down, leaving justice undone and multiple victims in the wake of a sloppy investigation. In Part 2, we take a closer look at other viable suspects in Peggy's case, some who were ignored or dismissed by investigators, and others we uncovered ourselves.

When Peggy Hettrick’s body was found in an open field in Fort Collins, Colorado, police rushed to the nearest suspect. But clues left behind on Peggy’s body later turn the case upside down, leaving justice undone and multiple victims in the wake of a sloppy investigation.

In the 1970s, few places on earth were more queer-friendly than San Francisco. But it wasn’t all drag queens and rainbows in the City by the Bay, and when the bodies of gay men started turning up one after another, fear spread like wildfire, and it got harder and harder to distinguish rumor from fact.

Kala Williams was 20 years old when her family stopped hearing from her. Weeks later, her body was discovered dismembered in the woods with the DNA of a possible suspect on her body and items from the crime scene. Yet, the DNA evidence hasn’t been enough to charge him in Kala’s case - or the disappearance of another Spokane woman two years prior.

Nic Monroe is in a rut. At twenty-four, she lives alone in a dinky apartment in her hometown of Mishawaka, Indiana, she’s just gotten a DWI, and she works the same dead-end job she’s been working since high school, a job she only has because her boss is a family friend and feels sorry for her. Everyone has felt sorry for her for the last seven years—since the day her older sister, Kasey, vanished without a trace. On the night Kasey went missing, her car was found over a hundred miles from home. The driver’s door was open and her purse was untouched in the seat next to it. The only real clue in her disappearance was Jules Connor, another young woman from the same area who disappeared in the same way, two weeks earlier. But with so little for the police to go on, both cases eventually went cold. Nic wants nothing more than to move on from her sister’s disappearance and the state it’s left her in. But then one day, Jules’s sister, Jenna Connor, walks into Nic’s life and offers her something she hasn’t felt in a long time: hope. What follows is a gripping tale of two sisters who will do anything to find their missing halves, even if it means destroying everything they’ve ever known.

In honor of May being National Missing and Murdered Indigenous Persons Awareness Month, Brit sits down with Red River Métis woman and survivor Fallon Farinacci to hear her story—and how a series of tragic events set her on a path toward tremendous advocacy and change for her community.

In September of 1985, two teenagers drove into Westside Park but, tragically, never left the park alive. The police have spent decades trying to hunt down their killer.

A young soldier, home on leave, should have been safe in his own neighborhood. Instead, 19-year-old Solomon Robinson was murdered in a park full of people — but no one has ever come forward to say what really happened. Decades later, his family is still searching for justice, and detectives are hoping someone will finally break the silence.

When the family of a beloved high school teacher is brutally killed, investigators race to make sense of a chaotic crime scene that defies simple explanation. They find themselves asking: was the whole thing staged? And if so, who staged it and why?

After a woman goes missing, it’s up to law enforcement and her children to make sure justice is served. But listen closely, because we think there might be more crimes out there connected to this case that are yet to be solved…

John O’Keefe, a 16-year veteran of the Boston Police Department, died of blunt force trauma and hypothermia on January 29, 2022, after being found on a fellow Boston Police Officer’s front lawn during a blizzard. His girlfriend, Karen Read, is charged with allegedly backing into John with her SUV, and leaving him to die in the cold after a night of drinking. But her defense team poses a different theory – a massive cover-up spanning law enforcement agencies across Massachusetts. Karen’s first case ended in a mistrial on July 1, 2024. Her second trial is set to begin in April 2025.

In 2003, construction workers in Hell’s Kitchen, New York, discovered a concrete tomb hidden in the basement of a run-down building. Inside were the remains of a young woman, hogtied with pantyhose and electrical cords, this gruesome scene was more than shocking—it was deeply calculated. It took more than two decades for investigators to identify her as 16-year-old Patricia McGlone, who was last seen in 1969. But despite finally giving her a name, her killer remains at large. Now, police are asking for your help to find the person responsible and bring Patricia the justice she’s been denied for far too long.

In the summer of 1966, three young women head to the beaches of Lake Michigan and are never seen again, setting off a mystery that remains unsolved to this day.