TRUE CRIME with Bratterstein

As always, thank you for hanging out and remembering Keiona Cecilia Braxton with me today. In the early hours of New Year’s Eve 2008, firefighters responding to smoke at an apartment in Henrico County, Virginia, found 26-year-old Keiona Cecilia Braxton dying inside. She was three months pregnant, and the fire had been staged to mask the attack: Keiona had been beaten in the head, stabbed 43 times in the abdomen, and shot, while gas had been left on and aerosol cans placed in the oven in an apparent attempt to cause an explosion.publications.Investigators focused on Kayla Armstrong, the ex-girlfriend of Keiona’s boyfriend and the mother of his child. The two women had a documented history of conflict, Armstrong had previously attacked and stabbed Keiona, and prosecutors alleged jealousy over their shared connection to Kenneth Lee drove the killing. Armstrong fled after her indictment but was arrested in 2012, then pleaded under Alford to voluntary manslaughter in Keiona’s death. While jailed, she also attempted to arrange Lee’s murder; she received 10 years for Keiona’s killing and another 20 years for the attempted-murder plot, for an effective 30-year prison sentence.

As always, thank you for hanging out and remembering Emma Walker with me today. In November 2016, 16-year-old Emma Walker, an honor student and cheerleader from Knoxville, Tennessee, was asleep in her bedroom when her ex-boyfriend, 18-year-old William Riley Gaul, fired two shots through the outside wall of her family’s house. One bullet struck Emma behind her left ear and killed her; the other lodged in her pillow.Emma had ended the relationship after Gaul’s behavior became controlling and aggressive, and friends later testified that she had grown afraid he would kill her. Prosecutors said Gaul stole a gun from his grandfather, stalked her home, and recruited friends to help dispose of the weapon in the Tennessee River after the shooting. In 2018, a jury convicted him of first-degree murder, stalking, theft, reckless endangerment, and evidence-tampering charges. He received a life sentence with parole eligibility only after 51 years; later efforts to overturn the conviction were denied.

As always, thank you for hanging out and remembering Susan Walters with me today. In September 2006, 51-year-old Portland emergency-room nurse Susan Kuhnhausen came home after work and walked into an ambush planned by the man she was divorcing. Hiding inside was Edward Dalton Haffey, a man Susan’s estranged husband, Michael Kuhnhausen, had allegedly promised $50,000 to kill her and make it look like a burglary. Haffey attacked Susan with a claw hammer, but she fought back, disarmed him, and strangled him during the struggle, a killing authorities ruled self-defense.The evidence left behind tied the plot to Michael, who pleaded guilty to soliciting aggravated murder and received a 10-year prison sentence; he died in custody in 2014 before his planned release. Susan later won more than $1 million in a civil suit against him. What Michael intended as a murder-for-hire became a story of survival: the hitman did not leave Susan’s home alive, while the husband who arranged the attack died behind bars.

As always, thank you for hanging out and remembering Linda Kologi, Steve Kologi, Brittany Kologi, Mary Schulz, Shirley Severance, Charles Severance, Chad Amato, Margaret Amato, Cody Amato, Alan Johnson, and Diane Johnson with me today.

As always, thank you for hanging out and remembering Jessica Lyn Keen with me today. In 1991, 15-year-old Jessica Keen disappeared from a youth counseling program in Oregon just one day before she was scheduled to return home. Her disappearance became a haunting cold case until advances in DNA technology identified Marvin Lee Smith, Jr. as her murderer nearly two decades later. In this true crime video, we examine the Jessica Keen murder case, the investigation, the evidence that finally solved the mystery, and the devastating impact her death had on her family.

In March 2013, 18‑year‑old Rachel Pernosky disappeared from her home in Mission, British Columbia, leaving behind her purse and cellphone, and three days later her body was found down a steep embankment in Chilliwack. The case shocked her family and community because Rachel was a young mother with a one‑year‑old child, and investigators quickly determined that her disappearance was not random.Years later, police charged her estranged half‑brother, Mathew Pernosky, after a lengthy investigation and a “Mr. Big” sting operation led to a confession. Prosecutors said he suffocated Rachel, then moved her body and dumped it in steep terrain before trying to cover his tracks by sending texts from her phone and disposing of her belongings. In 2018, he pleaded guilty to second‑degree murder and indignity to a body and was sentenced to life in prison with parole eligibility after 13 years, meaning he will spend at least that long behind bars before he can even apply for release.

As always, thank you for hanging out and remembering Lauren Giddings with me today. In June 2011, 27‑year‑old Mercer Law graduate Lauren Giddings vanished from her apartment in Macon, Georgia, just as she was studying for the bar exam. Her next‑door neighbor, Stephen McDaniel, had access to the building with a master key, and investigators later said he used it to enter Lauren’s apartment, strangle her in her bedroom, then dismember her body with a hacksaw and dump most of the remains in a campus trash bin.The case grew even darker when Lauren’s torso was found in a trash can outside the apartment complex, while the rest of her remains were never recovered, and McDaniel’s own internet searches and behavior helped police narrow in on him. In 2014, McDaniel pleaded guilty to murder and was sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole, later reported as parole eligibility in 2041, ending a case that horrified Macon because a promising young law student was killed by the man living next door.

As always, thank you for hanging out and remembering Sarah Rosemary Everard with me today. The murder of Sarah Everard became one of the most high-profile true crime cases in modern British history. In March 2021, the 33-year-old disappeared while walking home through South London, sparking a nationwide search that ended in tragedy. As investigators uncovered the truth, they discovered that Sarah's killer was a serving Metropolitan Police officer, a revelation that shocked the United Kingdom and ignited worldwide conversations about women's safety, police accountability, and public trust. In this true crime documentary, we examine the timeline of Sarah Everard's disappearance, the investigation that led to her killer, the trial, and the lasting impact this heartbreaking case continues to have on England and beyond.

As always, thank you for hanging out and remembering Betsy Faria, Shirley Neumann, and Louis Gumpenberger with me today. In December 2011, 42‑year‑old Betsy Faria was found stabbed more than 50 times in her Missouri home, and suspicion quickly fell on her husband Russ even though he had a solid alibi. Pam Hupp, Betsy’s close friend and the last person known to see her alive, had recently become the sole beneficiary of a $150,000 life‑insurance policy, and prosecutors later said she used that advantage to frame Russ and divert attention from herself. Russ was wrongly convicted at first, but after new evidence emerged he was acquitted at retrial, turning the case into one of the most notorious wrongful convictions in recent memory.The investigation then widened when Hupp killed another man, Louis Gumpenberger, in 2016 and claimed self‑defense; prosecutors said she staged a fake kidnapping scenario to make him look dangerous and to support her version of events. She ultimately pleaded guilty in 2019 and received life in prison without parole, and in 2021 she was separately charged with Betsy Faria’s murder, a case the state says was carried out for money and covered up with a deliberate frame‑job. The whole story became the basis for The Thing About Pam and remains infamous for its blend of murder, deceit, and a wrongful conviction that sent an innocent man to prison.

As always, thank you for hanging out and remembering the Defeo family with me today. In November 1974, 23‑year‑old Ronald “Butch” DeFeo Jr. murdered six members of his family in their Amityville, New York home as they slept: his parents, two brothers, and two sisters. DeFeo later admitted he was the killer, but his story shifted over time as he blamed the mob, then claimed the house itself and “voices” pushed him into it, while investigators found all six victims face down in their beds with no signs of a struggle.The crime became infamous because it was later turned into the Amityville Horror myth, but the real case was a brutal familicide, not a haunting. After trial, DeFeo was convicted of six counts of second‑degree murder and sentenced to six consecutive terms of 25 years to life, meaning he would spend the rest of his life in prison. He died in 2021 while still incarcerated, and the house at 112 Ocean Avenue remains one of the most notorious addresses in American true crime.

As always, thank you for hanging out and remembering Maria Lizette Nemeth with me today. In this true crime documentary, we examine the brutal 2015 murder of Maria Nemeth in Sunrise, Florida. What began as a frantic 911 call from her boyfriend, Fidel Lopez, claiming she wasn't breathing quickly turned into one of Florida's most shocking homicide investigations. Detectives uncovered a horrific crime scene that contradicted Lopez's story, leading to his arrest, guilty plea, and life sentence without parole. This video explores the full timeline of the Maria Nemeth murder case, the police investigation, interrogation, forensic evidence, and the disturbing events that led to her tragic death.

As always, thank you for hanging out and remembering Kendra Hatcher, Robert Limon, Keiona Braxton, Heather Elvis, and Adrianne Jones with me today.

As always, thank you for hanging out and remembering Riley Whitelaw with me today. In June 2022, 17‑year‑old Colorado Springs high‑school student Riley Whitelaw went to her part‑time job at a Walgreens and never came home. When she didn’t return from a 15‑minute break, her manager went looking for her and found Riley dead on the floor of the store’s break room, with blood pooled around her and dozens of wounds to her neck and body.Detectives soon focused on 28‑year‑old coworker Joshua Johnson. Riley had already complained that Johnson made her uncomfortable and asked to be scheduled away from him, but when her hours increased their shifts overlapped again. Surveillance footage showed Johnson stacking plastic bins to block the camera’s view of the break room, and an autopsy later revealed 42 sharp‑force injuries and defensive wounds to Riley’s hands, along with “asphyxial wounding” from a lack of oxygen, consistent with a combination of stabbing and strangling. Johnson was arrested the next day walking along I‑25; prosecutors argued he’d become fixated on Riley and killed her over an unreturned crush, pointing to a multi‑tool with both their DNA that they said was used in the attack.In October 2023, a jury needed barely an hour of deliberation to find Johnson guilty of first‑degree murder, and the judge sentenced him to life in prison without the possibility of parole. Riley’s name now lives on through an art scholarship and, in Colorado law, through “Riley’s Law,” which was signed by the governor to better protect the identities of underage crime victims and witnesses in public records.

As always, thank you for hanging out and remembering Paige Meredith Birgfeld with me today. In June 2007, 34-year-old Paige Birgfeld disappeared from Grand Junction, Colorado, leaving behind her three young children and a mystery that would grip the community for years. When Paige's car was discovered burned and abandoned in a parking lot, what began as a missing persons case quickly transformed into one of Colorado's most shocking true crime investigations. As detectives searched for the missing mother of three, they uncovered a secret life hidden beneath the surface, opening the door to a growing list of suspects and countless unanswered questions. The investigation into Paige Birgfeld's disappearance and murder would span years, leading to multiple trials, a convicted killer, and a case that continues to fascinate true crime audiences today. In this video, we break down the complete timeline of the Paige Birgfeld case, the investigation, the evidence against Lester Jones, and the heartbreaking story behind one of Colorado's most notorious unsolved mysteries turned murder convictions.

As always, thank you for hanging out and remembering Gwen Amber Rose Araujo with me today. In October 2002, 17‑year‑old Gwen Amber Rose Araujo, a transgender girl from Newark, California, was attacked at a house party by a group of young men she knew after they forced a “sex check” and discovered she was trans. What started as taunting turned into hours of violence: they beat and choked her, struck her with household objects, strangled her, then hog‑tied her body, drove it into the Sierra foothills, and buried her in a shallow grave.Four men were charged; one cooperated and led police to Gwen’s body, while two, Michael Magidson and Jose Merel were ultimately convicted of second‑degree murder and sentenced to 15 years to life, and another accepted a manslaughter plea. The defense’s attempt to use a “gay/trans panic” argument sparked national outrage and helped prompt California’s Gwen Araujo Justice for Victims Act, which tells juries not to let bias about a victim’s gender identity or sexuality excuse violence. Gwen’s mother, Sylvia Guerrero, became a prominent advocate for trans rights, and Gwen’s name is now invoked every year in conversations about anti‑trans hate crimes and remembrance.

As always, thank you for hanging out and remembering Mary Griffith with me today. In 2009, 38‑year‑old Mary Griffiths was murdered in her home in Bury St Edmunds, England, by a man who had turned from rejected suitor into obsessive stalker. Mary had worked with John McFarlane and made it clear she did not want a relationship, but he began harassing and following her, to the point that she contacted police the night before her death to say she was scared and felt in danger. In the early hours of the next morning, while Mary and her three daughters were asleep, McFarlane broke into the house, cut the power, and stormed upstairs armed with an axe and a captive‑bolt gun of the type used in slaughterhouses.He dragged Mary from her bedroom and, in front of at least one of her children, fired the bolt gun into her at close range, killing her almost instantly. The sheer brutality of using an industrial animal‑killing device on a mother in her own home horrified the public and highlighted how quickly stalking can escalate into lethal violence when warnings aren’t acted on in time. McFarlane was arrested and later convicted of murder, receiving a life sentence with a minimum term of 20 years before he can even be considered for parole. Mary’s case has since been used in discussions and legal commentary about stalking, coercive control, and the duty of police and mental‑health services to respond urgently when a victim reports escalating harassment.

As always, thank you for hanging out and remembering Bennie Jo Tibbets and her son Billy Ray Tower with me today. In 1998, a devastating house fire in rural Oregon claimed the lives of Bennie Jo Tibbets and her son Billy Ray, but investigators soon discovered this was no tragic accident. Evidence revealed that both victims had been attacked with a hatchet before dying from smoke inhalation, launching a shocking double homicide investigation that led police to an unthinkable suspect: Bennie Jo's own 14-year-old daughter, Jessica Tibbets. Prosecutors alleged that Jessica conspired with her 23-year-old boyfriend, Raymond Eddings, to murder her mother and brother in one of Oregon's most disturbing family murder cases. In this true crime documentary, we examine the complete Jessica Tibbets case, including the house fire investigation, the evidence against Jessica and Raymond, the trial and convictions, and the controversy surrounding Jessica's eventual release from prison years later.

In December 1991, 16‑year‑old Laurie Show was ambushed and killed in her bedroom in East Lampeter Township, Pennsylvania, after months of jealous harassment from 19‑year‑old Lisa Michelle Lambert, who believed Laurie was trying to take her boyfriend, Lawrence “Butch” Yunkin. Laurie’s mother briefly left home because of a fake call posing as a school official; when she returned, she found Laurie on the floor with her throat slashed and multiple stab wounds, and Laurie was able to whisper “Michelle did it” before she died.Investigators concluded Lambert and 17‑year‑old accomplice Tabitha Buck had used the ruse to get Hazel out of the condo, then attacked Laurie together, with Buck restraining her while Lambert carried out the stabbing, and that Yunkin helped set up the plot. Lambert was convicted of first‑degree murder and conspiracy and sentenced to life without parole; Buck, tried as a juvenile, received a life term for second‑degree murder but was later resentenced and eventually paroled, while Yunkin pled to a lesser charge and served a shorter sentence. Laurie’s mother went on to fight for anti‑stalking legislation, and Pennsylvania’s first stalking law, often called “Laurie’s Law”, was passed in direct response to her daughter’s case.

As always, thank you for hanging out and remembering Alexis Leigh Robinault with me today. In late November 2020, 26‑year‑old Houston Instagram influencer Alexis Leigh Sharkey (née Robinault) disappeared after reportedly leaving her apartment following an argument with her husband, Thomas “Tom” Sharkey. The next morning, a city public‑works employee spotted a pair of feet protruding from bushes along a road in Houston’s Energy Corridor and found Alexis’ nude body; an autopsy later confirmed she had been strangled and ruled her death a homicide.Friends said Alexis had confided that she was scared for her safety and that her marriage was volatile, while police quietly focused on Tom, who had not reported her missing and left Texas soon after her death. In September 2021, Houston detectives obtained a warrant for Tom’s arrest, publicly stating they believed he was the only person with the means, motive, and opportunity to kill Alexis. Days later, U.S. Marshals tracked him to a relative’s home in Fort Myers, Florida; as agents moved in to serve the warrant, Tom went upstairs and shot himself, dying by suicide before he could be taken into custody or tried.With his death, the criminal case effectively ended without a trial, but investigators have maintained that their evidence points to Alexis’ husband as her killer, and her story has since been covered in documentaries about the dark side of influencer life and intimate‑partner violence.

As always, thank you for hanging out and remembering Ashley Ann Carlson with me today. The murder of Ashley Ann Carlson is one of the most disturbing child murder cases in Oregon true crime history. In February 1999, 7-year-old Ashley Carlson vanished from her neighborhood in Astoria, Oregon, sparking a massive search for the missing child. What investigators eventually uncovered shocked the community: Ashley had been abducted, assaulted, and murdered by her 16-year-old babysitter and neighbor, Patrick Harned. Even more chilling, Harned participated in the search efforts while hiding Ashley's body beneath the floorboards of his basement bedroom. Convicted of aggravated murder and sentenced to life in prison, Harned's case later became the subject of debate over juvenile sentencing laws. The Ashley Carlson murder remains one of the most heartbreaking and infamous true crime cases involving a missing child, betrayal of trust, and a killer hiding in plain sight

As always, thank you for hanging out and remembering Thadius Phillips and Chris Steiner with me today.In the summer of 1995, 13‑year‑old Thadius “Thad” Phillips was snatched from his bed in Baraboo, Wisconsin, and carried to the house of 17‑year‑old Joseph “Joe” Clark, who would become known as the “Bonebreaker” killer. Over the next roughly 43 hours, Clark sadistically snapped and twisted Thad’s leg bones, breaking his ankles and femur while refusing him medical help and blocking multiple escape attempts, until Thad, hours from death, smashed his way out of a closet, dragged his shattered legs down the stairs, and crawled to a phone to calmly call 911. His survival and testimony not only saved his own life but also helped expose Clark as the likely killer of another boy, Chris Steiner, leading to Clark’s conviction and a sentence of life plus 100 years in prison.

As always, thank you for hanging out and remembering Alice Ruggles with me today. In October 2016, 24‑year‑old Alice Ruggles was murdered in her Gateshead flat by her ex‑boyfriend, army Lance Corporal Trimaan “Harry” Dhillon, after months of obsessive stalking that she had already begged police to help her escape. Alice had broken up with Dhillon after discovering he was contacting other women, but he refused to let go, driving hundreds of miles to her home uninvited, flooding her with messages, leaving flowers and gifts on her windowsill, and threatening her with intimate photos, behaviour her family later said they didn’t realise was so dangerous until it was too late.On the night of 12 October, Dhillon travelled down from his barracks, climbed in through an open window at Alice’s flat and attacked her inside, slashing her throat repeatedly with a kitchen knife in what a pathologist described as a “deep and forceful” cut from ear to ear, along with multiple defensive wounds as she tried to fight him off. He then left her to bleed to death on the floor, and it was Alice’s flatmate who later found her body and alerted police. At trial, Dhillon claimed he acted in self‑defence and that the fatal wound was an accident during a struggle, but the jury rejected that, convicting him of murder; the judge jailed him for life with a minimum term of 22 years and called the killing an act of “utter barbarism.”Since Alice’s death, her family have set up the Alice Ruggles Trust to campaign on stalking, using her story to show how quickly a controlling, “romantic” obsession can cross the line into lethal violence, and how vital it is that repeated reports to the police are treated as a genuine warning rather than just relationship drama.

As always, thank you for hanging out and remembering Shawnlee Matilda Perry with me today. In May 1992, 5-year-old Shawnlee Perry disappeared from Earth, Texas, launching a massive missing child investigation that gripped the small community and became one of the state's most heartbreaking true crime cases. After weeks of searching, Shawnlee was found murdered, and investigators spent years working to solve the child abduction and murder. The case took a shocking turn when forensic evidence linked local resident Eddie Rowton to the crime, revealing that the man responsible had participated in search efforts while Shawnlee's family desperately looked for answers. Convicted of capital murder in 1999 and sentenced to death, Rowton's conviction brought long-awaited justice in a case that continues to be remembered as a tragic Texas murder case, child homicide investigation, and chilling example of a killer hiding in plain sight.

As always, thank you for hanging out and remembering Rachel Burkheimer with me today.

As always, thank you for hanging out and remembering Mary Ann Murphy with me today. In July 2012, 48‑year‑old Mary Ann Murphy was found stabbed to death in her bed in the family home in Humble, Texas, after her teenage daughter Keri ran to a neighbor’s house and called 911 claiming an intruder had kicked in the back door. When police arrived, they discovered a scene of extreme overkill: Mary Ann had been attacked as she slept and stabbed more than 70 times, with wounds covering her arms, hands, neck, and face, clearly far beyond what would be needed to kill.At first, detectives focused on 20‑year‑old Zein Ahmed, a male classmate of Keri’s, but as they dug into phone records and relationships, attention shifted to Keri herself and her older girlfriend, 20‑year‑old Rebecca Keller. Mary Ann had recently tried to stop Keri from seeing Rebecca after catching them alone together, and investigators came to believe the two young women had plotted Mary Ann’s murder so they could be together without interference. Recorded jail calls later captured Rebecca admitting that she was the one who crept into Mary Ann’s bedroom and stabbed her more than 70 times while Keri staged the break‑in story.Rather than go to trial, both Keri and Rebecca pleaded guilty in December 2012; Rebecca received a 60‑year sentence for carrying out the stabbing, while Keri was sentenced to 30 years for orchestrating the plot against her own mother. The case has since been highlighted in documentaries and true‑crime shows as a chilling example of a teenage romance turning homicidal when a parent tried to step in.

As always, thank you for hanging out and remembering John McCullough and Lois McCullough with me today. The Virginia McCullough case is one of the most disturbing family murder cases in recent UK true crime history. In 2019, 36-year-old Virginia McCullough murdered her parents, John McCullough and Lois McCullough, inside their home in Essex, England. Investigators discovered that Virginia poisoned her father and then brutally killed her mother before concealing both bodies inside the house. For nearly four years, she continued living in the home while pretending her parents were still alive, sending messages to family members, making excuses for their absence, and spending money connected to their accounts. The shocking double murder was finally uncovered in 2023 when police conducted a welfare check and found the remains of John and Lois hidden inside the property. Virginia McCullough later admitted to the killings and was sentenced to life in prison, making this chilling case of deception, family murder, and concealed bodies one of the most talked-about true crime stories in the United Kingdom.

As always, thank you for hanging out and remembering Cheryl Smith with me today. On New Year’s Day 2020 in Pawtucket, Rhode Island, 18‑year‑old Shaylyn Moran and her new fiancé, 23‑year‑old Jack Doherty, turned a petty grudge into a murder plot when they targeted the mother of Moran’s ex‑boyfriend. Prosecutors said the couple got engaged on New Year’s Eve, then spent the night in a hotel planning revenge, deciding that Doherty would go to the Baxter Street home where Moran’s ex lived and shoot whoever answered the door with a handgun police believe was at least partly 3D‑printed.Around 8 p.m. on January 1, 54‑year‑old Cheryl Smith opened her front door and was shot multiple times in the chest; she later died at the hospital, while a man in dark clothing was seen running from the scene. Detectives quickly traced the plot back to Moran and Doherty, who were found hours later at a nearby Hampton Inn with the gun and arrested on murder and conspiracy charges. Moran ultimately pleaded guilty in 2021 to first‑degree murder, conspiracy, and firearms charges and was sentenced to life in prison plus additional years, while Doherty took his case to trial, claiming mental illness. A jury rejected his insanity defense in 2022 and found him guilty of murder, conspiracy, using a firearm in a violent crime, and carrying a pistol without a permit; in 2023 he was given two consecutive life sentences, ensuring that both he and Moran will likely die in prison for the New Year’s Day execution of Cheryl Smith.

As always, thank you for hanging out and remembering Tim McClean, Ronald Reagan, Erin DeVeau, Natalie Henderson and Carter Davis with me today.

As always, thank you for hanging out and remembering Carlie Jane Brucia with me today. In February 2004, 11-year-old Carlie Brucia was abducted in Sarasota, Florida, in a case that shocked the nation after surveillance footage captured her being approached and led away by convicted sex offender Joseph Smith. The chilling video sparked a massive search and quickly became one of the most widely publicized child abduction cases in the United States. Just days later, Carlie's body was discovered, and investigators charged Joseph Smith with kidnapping, sexual battery, and first-degree murder. He was convicted in 2005 after a high-profile trial and initially sentenced to death.

As always, thank you for hanging out and remembering Ryan Poston with me today. In October 2012, 21‑year‑old grad student Shayna Hubers called 911 from her boyfriend Ryan Poston’s condo in Highland Heights, Kentucky, calmly telling dispatchers she had shot the 29‑year‑old lawyer in self‑defense after he supposedly became violent. When police arrived, they found Ryan slumped dead at his dining table, shot six times, once in the back, twice in the head, and three times in the chest, an execution‑style pattern that immediately clashed with Shayna’s story of a chaotic struggle.Down at the station, her behavior raised even more alarms: in a videotaped interview, she laughed, sang, did high‑kicks, and joked that she had “given him the nose job he always wanted” by shooting him in the face. Prosecutors later argued that Shayna was obsessed with Ryan, terrified he was about to leave her and go on a date with another woman, and that she shot him in cold blood rather than lose control of the relationship, pointing to numerous texts, prior breakups, and her own words in the interrogation room.Shayna and her lawyers claimed Ryan was emotionally and physically abusive and that she fired in self‑defense, but two different juries didn’t believe her. Her first 2015 murder conviction was overturned when it emerged that a juror was a convicted felon, yet at her 2018 retrial she was again found guilty of murder and this time received a life sentence with the possibility of parole after 20 years, meaning she will spend at least two decades behind bars for killing Ryan Poston.

As always, thank you for hanging out and remembering Charles Taylor with me today. In April 2015, 24‑year‑old Amanda Taylor drove with her friend Sean Ball to the Montgomery County, Virginia home of her late husband’s father, 59‑year‑old Charles Taylor, carrying a bayonet‑style knife she had bought for what she called “revenge.” Once Charles sat down on his couch, Amanda suddenly attacked, stabbing him 31 times while Ball helped, later telling investigators she chose a knife so Charles would know it was her killing him and describing the murder as feeling like her first roller‑coaster ride.After Charles lay dead, Amanda posed over his body holding the bloody knife and smirking for a photo, which was then shared online and earned her the nickname “Selfie Killer,” a label she later had tattooed on her arm. She and Ball stole Charles’s car and fled across states before being caught in North Carolina, and prosecutors argued that Amanda had long blamed Charles for her husband Rex’s drug addiction and suicide and had planned the killing in advance. Amanda ultimately pleaded guilty to first‑degree murder and grand larceny and was sentenced to life in prison without parole, while Ball, who cooperated with investigators, received 41 years, leaving the case notorious for its mix of grief, revenge, and chilling social‑media performance.

As always, thank you for hanging out and remembering Sherrice Marsha Renee Iversonwith me today. The murder of Sherrice Iverson is one of the most disturbing and controversial child murder cases in American true crime history. In May 1997, 7-year-old Sherrice Iverson was inside a casino outside Las Vegas with her father when she wandered into a restroom alone and was brutally assaulted and murdered by 18-year-old Jeremy Strohmeyer. The case shocked the nation not only because of the horrific crime itself, but because another teenager, David Cash Jr., later admitted he witnessed part of the attack and walked away without helping or calling police, earning the nickname “The Bad Samaritan.” This infamous Las Vegas casino murder case sparked nationwide outrage, debates over Good Samaritan laws, and remains one of the most heartbreaking child murder cases ever covered in true crime.

As always, thank you for hanging out and remembering Katie Poirier with me today. In May 1999, 19‑year‑old college student Katie Poirier disappeared from the D.J.’s Expressway Conoco convenience store in Moose Lake, Minnesota, where she was working alone on the night shift. A grainy black‑and‑white surveillance tape showed a man gripping the back of her neck and forcing her out of the store at closing time, and when customers arrived later they found the shop empty, the lights still on, and Katie gone.The abduction triggered a massive search and investigation that eventually focused on 55‑year‑old local man Donald Blom, a repeat offender with a long history of kidnapping and sexual assaults. Forensic experts matched a partial, distorted imprint of a missing dental bridge from Blom to a bite mark left in a piece of duct tape used in the kidnapping, a key piece of scientific evidence that helped secure his conviction even though Katie’s remains were never definitively identified. Blom was convicted of kidnapping and murdering Katie and sentenced to life in prison, and her case became nationally known both for the terrifying surveillance footage of her being taken and for the innovative forensic work that finally tied her killer to the crime.

As always, thank you for hanging out and remembering Christine Mackinday with me today.In August 2014, adult film actor Christine Mackinday, known professionally as Christy Mack, was brutally attacked in her Las Vegas home by her ex‑boyfriend, former MMA fighter Jonathan Paul “War Machine” Koppenhaver. He arrived unexpectedly and found her there with a male friend, Corey Thomas, then launched into a sustained assault: first beating Thomas, and after Thomas left, turning on Mack in a two‑hour attack that left her with a fractured eye socket and nose, broken ribs, missing teeth, a lacerated liver, and extensive bruising.The case drew national attention when photos of Mack’s injuries and her account of the assault circulated online, and police issued a nationwide search for Koppenhaver before U.S. Marshals arrested him days later in California. In 2017, a Nevada jury convicted him on 29 felony and misdemeanor counts, including kidnapping, sexual assault, and battery, and a judge sentenced him to 36 years to life in prison, meaning he will be in his seventies before he is even eligible for parole.

As always, thank you for hanging out and remembering Nicole Lenway Ford with me today. In April 2022, Minneapolis crime scene investigator Nicole “Nicki” Lenway was ambushed and shot at close range in the parking lot of a parenting center as she arrived to pick up her young son, left bleeding beside her car but miraculously survived. Investigators later concluded the attack was the climax of a years‑long custody and harassment war with her ex, taekwondo instructor Tim Amacher, and that his new girlfriend, Colleen Larson, had lain in wait and pulled the trigger after being drawn into Amacher’s campaign to destroy Nicki. Ultimately, both Amacher and Larson were convicted in the attempted‑murder plot, and Nicki has spoken publicly about rebuilding her life while living with permanent injuries and trauma from the shooting.

As always, thank you for hanging out and remembering Muhlaysia Booker with me today. In 2019, 22‑year‑old Muhlaysia Booker, a Black transgender woman in Dallas, briefly survived one act of shocking public violence only to be killed weeks later in another. In April, after a minor traffic accident at an apartment complex, a crowd gathered as men dragged her across a parking lot and brutally beat her while bystanders filmed; the video went viral, and Booker later described how they hurled anti‑LGBTQ slurs as they punched and kicked her, turning her into a symbol of the dangers faced by Black trans women in the US.Just a month later, in May 2019, police found her lying face down in a Dallas street near Tenison Park, dead from gunshot wounds, and investigators eventually linked her killing to 37‑year‑old Kendrell Lyles, who was also suspected in other murders around the same time. Prosecutors said phone records and witness accounts placed Booker in Lyles’s car shortly before her death, and although authorities did not publicly label the murder as a hate crime, her family and advocates saw it as part of a wider pattern of lethal anti‑trans hostility. In 2023, on the eve of trial, Lyles pleaded guilty to murdering Booker and was sentenced to 48 years in prison, as her relatives faced him in court and described how she had been trying to rebuild her life after the filmed beating when she was killed.

As always, thank you for hanging out and remembering Serena McKay, Janette Tovar, Sandee Rozzo, Holly Guess, Rylee Elizabeth Allen, Michael James Mayo, Tiffany Dore Guess, Ivy Webster, and Brittany Brewer with me today.

As always, thank you for hanging out and remembering Yun-Mi Hoy with me today. In August 2013, 18‑year‑old Isabella Yun‑Mi Guzman killed her mother, 47‑year‑old Yun‑Mi Hoy, in the bathroom of their home in Aurora, Colorado, after a long period of escalating conflict between them. Investigators later described how Guzman ambushed her mother in the upstairs bathroom and stabbed her dozens of times in the face, neck, and torso, leaving a scene so brutal that responding officers immediately treated the case as premeditated murder. Neighbors and court records pointed to a deteriorating relationship in the weeks before the attack, with troubling incidents and explicit threats that suggested Hoy had grown increasingly afraid of her daughter and had tried to seek help.The case quickly drew national attention, not only because of the victim’s vulnerability and the ferocity of the attack, but also because of Guzman’s demeanor in court, where her blank, almost detached expression in early appearances spread widely online and became part of the public’s image of the case. As the legal process unfolded, doctors diagnosed her with serious mental illness, and the court ultimately found that she was legally insane at the time of the killing. Rather than receiving a traditional prison sentence, she was committed to a secure state psychiatric hospital, where her confinement and any possible future release depend on ongoing evaluations of her mental state and the risk she might pose to others.

As always, thank you for hanging out and remembering Gail Peck with me today. In October 2017, 76‑year‑old Gail Peck vanished from the Chicago‑area home she shared with her son, 55‑year‑old Brian Peck, after yet another argument over how loudly he was blasting his Jimi Hendrix records. Brian later admitted that when Gail confronted him about the deafening music, the fight escalated until he knocked her to the floor and stomped on her head and neck, killing her in their Elgin, Illinois house.Instead of calling for help, Brian dismembered Gail’s body in the bathtub, packed her remains into bags, a suitcase, and a duffel, and dumped them in Lake Michigan and Chicago’s Lincoln Park lagoon while pretending she had simply gone out for a walk and never returned. Days later, a fisherman found a duffel bag full of body parts, and forensic work led back to Gail and to Brian’s story about a “Jimi Hendrix” argument turned deadly. A jury convicted Brian of first‑degree murder, dismembering a human body, and concealing a homicidal death, and he was sentenced to 62 years in prison, effectively ensuring he will die behind bars.

As always, thank you for hanging out and remembering Awatef Aboudihaj with me today. On December 30, 2006, singer and actress Brandy Norwood was driving her SUV northbound on the 405 Freeway in Los Angeles when she failed to notice that traffic ahead had slowed. Her Land Rover rear‑ended a 2005 Toyota driven by 38‑year‑old Awatef Aboudihaj, pushing that car into another vehicle, the center divider, and then into the path of a fourth car in a chain‑reaction crash. Awatef, a married mother, was critically injured and died in hospital the following day, while Brandy and others involved escaped serious physical harm.Investigators found no evidence that Brandy was impaired, and after a lengthy review prosecutors ultimately declined to file criminal charges, concluding the fatal pile‑up was a traffic accident rather than a crime. Awatef’s family pursued civil lawsuits that were later settled out of court, but Brandy has said she carried “unimaginable grief” and deep survivor’s guilt for years afterward, even as official investigations cleared her of criminal responsibility.

As always, thank you for hanging out and remembering Ava Grace Majury with me today. In 2021, 15‑year‑old TikTok creator Ava Majury blocked a follower whose comments had turned from fan messages into creepy, persistent demands for photos, only to have him reappear under new accounts, then finally at her front door. In the early hours of July 10, 2021, 18‑year‑old Eric Rohan Justin traveled from Maryland to Ava’s home in Naples, Florida, and fired a shotgun through the family’s front door, intent on getting to the girl who had cut him off online.Ava’s father, retired police lieutenant Rob Majury, grabbed his own handgun, confronted Eric outside, and shot him after the teen returned to the property, killing him and ending the attack. Investigators later said Rob’s actions were justified under Florida’s self‑defense and “stand your ground” laws, and he has not been charged, but the case has become a chilling example of how a blocked online obsession can turn into a real‑world attempt to kill.

As always, thank you for hanging out and remembering Jennifer Rothwell and her baby with me today. In November 2019, 28‑year‑old chemical engineer Jennifer Rothwell vanished after leaving her home in Creve Coeur, Missouri, and her husband, Beau Rothwell, tearfully reported her missing and joined public search efforts. Within days, investigators found bleach‑soaked, blood‑stained carpet in the couple’s basement and learned that, shortly before she disappeared, Jennifer had googled “what to do if your husband is upset you are pregnant,” while Beau had secretly made a “pros and cons” list about leaving his six‑weeks‑pregnant wife for another woman.Confronted with the evidence, Beau admitted that he had struck Jennifer from behind with a mallet during an argument over his affair, then disposed of her naked body in woods about 45 miles from their home before staging her car to make it look like she’d broken down on the way to work. A jury rejected his claim that the killing was a heat‑of‑the‑moment outburst and, in 2022, convicted him of first‑degree murder, tampering with evidence, and abandoning a corpse; Beau was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole, plus additional years for the other charges.

In August 2016, Russian-born Viktoria Nasyrova went to the Queens apartment of her lookalike, 35‑year‑old eyelash stylist Olga Tsvyk, carrying a gift: a slice of cheesecake. Prosecutors said Viktoria had laced the dessert with phenazepam, a powerful sedative, then waited as Olga grew violently ill and lost consciousness, before staging the scene to look like a suicide and stealing her passport, cash, and other valuables in an apparent attempt to assume her identity.Olga survived and later tests found phenazepam on the cheesecake container and in pills scattered around her, with Viktoria’s DNA also on the box, tying her directly to the poisoning. In February 2023, a New York jury convicted Viktoria of attempted murder, assault, unlawful imprisonment, and petit larceny; that April, she was sentenced to 21 years in prison plus five years of post‑release supervision and faces possible deportation to Russia, where she is also wanted on a separate murder charge.

As always, thank you for hanging out and remembering Jessica L. Kaczmar Padgett with me today. In November 2014, Jessica Padgett, a 33-year-old mother of three from Northampton County, Pennsylvania, vanished after leaving work during her lunch break to visit her stepfather’s nearby business... what seemed like a routine errand quickly turned into a missing persons case that shocked the community. Investigators soon focused on her stepfather, Gregory Graf, after inconsistencies in his story, and within days he confessed to murdering Jessica Padgett, shooting her inside his home and burying her body beneath a shed on the property. The case grew even more disturbing as authorities uncovered evidence of post-mortem abuse, making it one of the most horrific family-related crimes in Pennsylvania. Gregory was ultimately convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison without parole. This tragic case of betrayal, premeditation, and family violence continues to draw attention in true crime for its shocking details and the devastating loss of a young mother.

As always, thank you for hanging out and remembering Shad Thyrion with me today. In February 2022, 24‑year‑old Shad Thyrion was killed inside his mother’s home in Green Bay, Wisconsin, after a meth‑fueled sexual encounter with 24‑year‑old Taylor Schabusiness. Investigators say Taylor strangled Shad with a chain during sex, continued choking him until he died, then sexually assaulted his body and dismembered him, leaving his severed head and other remains in a bucket and various bags for his mother to discover.Taylor was arrested the same day and charged with first‑degree intentional homicide, mutilating a corpse, and third‑degree sexual assault. After competency evaluations and multiple disruptive outbursts in court, a jury in July 2023 found her guilty on all counts, and in September 2023 the judge sentenced her to life in prison without the possibility of parole, plus additional time for related offenses.

As always, thank you for hanging out and remembering Imani Serafina Roberson with me today. In July 2023, 29‑year‑old mother of four Imani Roberson disappeared after leaving her mother’s home in Conyers, Georgia, following a Sunday family dinner with her children. Days later, her SUV was found burned out near Atlanta, and after a nearly three‑week search, investigators located Imani’s body and determined she had been killed in what authorities described as a domestic violence homicide.Detectives focused on Imani’s husband, Donell Anderson, after finding blood evidence inside the couple’s home and other indications that the crime occurred there before her body and vehicle were moved. Donell was arrested on 4 August 2023 and charged with felony murder, malice murder, aggravated assault, and a firearm offense; days later, his brother Cedarius Glaze was also arrested and accused of helping conceal Imani’s body, commit arson, and tamper with evidence. The case is still moving through the courts, and as of the latest reports, no final sentence has been handed down.

As always, thank you for hanging out and remembering Robert Mendoza “Rob” Limon Jr.with me today. In August 2014, 38-year-old Robert Limon was shot and killed at his workplace in Tehachapi, California, in what initially appeared to be a robbery gone wrong. However, the investigation quickly shifted when authorities uncovered a secret affair between his wife, Sabrina Limon, and firefighter Jonathan Hearn. Phone records, witness statements, and Jonathan's eventual confession revealed a calculated murder-for-love plot, where Hearn carried out the shooting so the couple could be together. In 2018, Sabrina Limon was convicted of first-degree murder, conspiracy, and solicitation, receiving a sentence of 25 years to life, while Jonathan Hearn accepted a plea deal. The Robert Limon case remains a shocking example of a love triangle murder, workplace shooting, and premeditated killing driven by infidelity and deception.

As always, thank you for hanging out and remembering Ryan Poston, Brandon Duran, Frankie Fitzgerald, and Darlene Vandergiesen with me today.

As always, thank you for hanging out and remembering Phil Hartman with me today. On May 28, 1998, comedian and actor Phil Hartman was shot to death in his sleep by his wife, Brynn, in the bedroom of their home in Encino, California. After an argument late that night, Phil went to bed; sometime before 3 a.m., Brynn entered the room and fired three shots at close range with a .38‑caliber handgun, hitting him in the head, throat, and chest and killing him instantly.Brynn, who had alcohol, cocaine, and an antidepressant in her system, then drove to a friend’s house and confessed, returned with him to the home, and locked herself in the bedroom as police were called. A few hours after killing Phil, she died by suicide with a second handgun while officers were on the scene, leaving their two young children without parents and Hollywood stunned by the murder‑suicide.

As always, thank you for hanging out and remembering Aliza Parsy with me today. In August 2005, 18‑year‑old Aliza “Lizzy” Parsy was found murdered in the Staten Island home she shared with her mother, her body hidden under a mattress with a towel over her face and the house staged to look ransacked. At first, detectives focused on strangers and an ex‑boyfriend, but autopsy results showed Aliza had been killed by asphyxiation, her nose and mouth covered and her neck compressed, suggesting a personal, up‑close attack rather than a random break‑in.Suspicion eventually turned to Aliza’s 27‑year‑old half‑brother, Raviv Gabbay, who lived in Brooklyn and had been given the family’s cookie‑delivery business but was in serious financial trouble. Prosecutors said Raviv went to Aliza’s house looking for cash, argued with her when he couldn’t find the money he believed was there, and then suffocated her with a pillow before trying to stage a burglary. Raviv was arrested and later pleaded guilty to first‑degree manslaughter; he was sentenced to 18 years in prison for killing Aliza.