Sword and Scale

The murder of 14-year-old April Millsap in July 2014 sent the village of Armada into a frenzy. They hadn’t seen a murder in years let alone the murder of a child. The police enlisted the help of the Michigan State Police and the FBI to run down over 1000 tips. They followed every path of investigation. Most were dead ends but one led to James VanCallis.

Florida fire-fighter, Derrick Dorsey came home from work to discover his wife Kim dead from an apparent suicide. Then the police declared her death a murder and began exploring connections the Dorseys’ had with less than reputable people. But they quickly learn that not everyone is who they seem.

In the rare moments where love and fate converge, Reggie and Carol Sumner uncover a decades-old romance after years of being separated. Just as they begin a new life together in Florida, tragedy strikes them both, leading them to their darkest hours. When they turn up missing, their frantic daughter living in another state sets out on a quest for their return and discovers that time is running out.

Konrad Imirowicz wasn’t a perfect father by any means. He was an alcoholic with a messy home, but he loved his kids, especially his eldest daughter, Megan. But when Konrad was found nearly dead on his couch, no one could have expected it was his beloved child who was to blame.

In the early morning hours of July 31st, 2022, many teens in Strongsville, Ohio were sleeping off the previous night’s rowdy graduation parties. 17-year-old Mackenzie Shirilla, 20-year-old Dominic Russo, and 19-year-old Davion Flanagan were trapped in a mangled car wreck. When daylight finally illuminated the carnage, everyone assumed the crash had been the result of teenage drunk-driving. The more the police investigated, the more questions arose. What started off as a tragic accident quietly evolved into a murder investigation.

In April of 2015, two young women in Indiana went missing. They lived nearly 200 miles away from each other and seemed to have no connection at all. The only similarity they shared was that one was expecting to have a baby and the other had recently given birth. Tragically, after family members frantically searched for both women, their respective stories ended with only one of them being found alive.

Nancy Lewton evacuated her Florida home ahead of Hurricane Ian but a different storm was on her horizon. Not being able to contact her son Travis for days sent her all the way to Toledo, OH to check on him. When days passed and family members hadn’t heard from her or her son they called the police. What the police would find was one of the more bizarre cases they had ever investigated.

When 25-year-old Whitney Hostler went missing and left her two-year-old daughter behind, everyone knew something was wrong. But they never expected that the person responsible would be one who claimed to care for her so deeply.

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All you need, is love. The lyrics etched on the consciousness of an entire generation. But what happens when all you need, is lost? 36-year old former child actor Aaron Wulf details nearly thirty years of violent physical and sexual abuse in his nearly 600 page written manifesto entitled, “My Worst Nightmare In History.” A man who grew up in front of the camera, records his final moments behind the lens after losing his fiance unexpectedly to cancer. His story begs the question - is every man capable of reaching his breaking point?

9-year old Omaree Varela’s lifeless, bruised, and tattered body was recovered at the base of toy bouncy horse just two days after Christmas in 2013. His mother and stepfather claimed his death was the result of a freak accident while playing with his younger sibling. However, the marks on Omaree’s body and a horrifying 22 minute 911 call just six months earlier paint a much more sinister picture of what really happened.

In 2008, Adam Baker and his daughter, Zahra, moved to the United States from Queensland, Australia with the hopes of having the perfect new life. Adam had just married his new bride, Elisa, whom Zahra was quite fond of. What they soon began to learn was that the so-called “Evil Stepmother” was no fairytale, and what existed was a real life monster…

On Tuesday September 13th, 2016 a 911 call police responded to 363 Covert Court Ashland, Ohio, an abandoned house near a laundromat. Minutes earlier, a frantic 911 call had been placed, from this location, by a woman who claimed she was being held captive and forced to perform sex acts with her captor. The story that would emerge from this strange series of events would lead to the eventual conviction of a serial killer by the name of Shawn M. Grate.

Chris and Cameron Ervin felt neglected and under-loved. In a life of increasing pressures, they numbed their minds with recreational drugs and shucked all responsibility in spite of being provided every opportunity to lead a successful life. When life seemed like too much they took the one thing that stood in their way...

In 1997, Shannon McCrossan moved with her two daughters, 8-year-old Kirsten Hatfield and 3-year-old Faith to a home on Jet Drive in Midwest City, OK. At the time, life seemed to be okay. The neighbors were friendly and there were children for the girls to play with. On May 13th, 1997, Shannon awoke to any mother’s worst nightmare. Kirsten was missing from her bedroom.Searches were made for the 8-year-old girl, but she was never found. The trail ran cold, until 2015 when the case was reopened and re-examined, leading investigators to a suspect in the unlikeliest of places…

In the early morning hours of February 5th, 2015, a man wearing a mask and black tactical gear burst into the bedroom of Lisa Trubnikova. Eventually, he took the mask off to reveal a familiar face. He wanted the women to know who he was and why he was there.For years, Lisa had not thought about this man. But he had been doing a lot of thinking about her…Special Guest: Chris D'Elia (http://chrisdelia.com)

51-year-old Ruth Pyne is found beaten and stabbed to death in the garage of her home in Highland Township, Michigan. Her immediate family members become the focus of the investigation, and one of them has a questionable alibi. Indirect evidence begins to pile up, and a jury is left with the following question: at what point does circumstantial evidence overcome reasonable doubt?

On July 21st, 2006, an entire family seemingly disappeared from their home in Hopkinton, Massachusetts. When police searched the residence, there were no signs of a break-in. Nothing was disturbed, and nothing of value appeared to be missing.But there was no sign of Neil, Rachel, or Lillian Entwistle.

Everyone loves the idea of having the perfect family and keeping everyone close together. Go to work, come home, play with the kids, eat dinner together. Unfortunately, that isn’t always how things go. In 2015, the Bever family was the perfect example of this. The family of nine stuck close together within the four walls of their home in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma.But, stick a family together long enough, and eventually someone will blow their lid. On the evening of July 22nd, 2015, Robert and Michael Bever carried out a savage attack on their family, leaving most of their family dead, but their plans reached further than the closed doors of their home.

We all love to talk about all of the things we’re going to do to better ourselves… all of the changes we want to make. Maybe we’d like to focus more on our families, start a business, or go back to school. Whatever the case, these aspirations often remain nothing more than that… aspirations. We put them on hold for so long that we forgot about them. This is the story of 26-year-old Laura Ackerson, a young woman who was taking those steps. She was determined to build a brighter future for herself and for her children. But just as it was starting to take shape, that future was cut short.

When you have a problem, you hire someone to fix it. That's what you do. Sometimes you don't have the benefit of Yelp reviews though...

During the early morning hours of September 22nd, 2010, 13-year-old Alexis Mitchell awoke to the sight of her father looming over her and wearing a Halloween mask. His hands were around her neck, but he let up after she elbowed and bit him. Either having passed out or fallen asleep again thinking it was all a dream, Alexis eventually woke again up to the sound of screaming.

On Sunday, October 4th 2009, Milford Police Sgt. Kevin Furlong was dispatched by 911 to 4 Trow Road in Mont Vernon. There had been a home invasion. Inside he found Jaimie Cates with multiple stab wounds and injuries and the body of her mom Kimberly Cates with numerous slashing and stab marks. Who would have done such a thing to this poor family?

31-year-old Nicole VanderHeyden was substitute teacher and mother of three. She lived with her boyfriend and father of her infant son, Doug Detrie, in Bellevue, Brown County, WI. The Green Bay metro area. Her body was found naked and strangled in a farm field on May 21, 2016. Her skull was fractured and she suffered blunt force trauma to the left side of her head breaking and dislocating her jaw as well as injuries to her esophagus, trachea, and neck consistent with strangulation. Her clothes were found off the side of a highway on-ramp. Doug reports her missing that same morning. Police arrest him a couple days later after Nicole’s blood is found on the pavement and the murder weapon, a “black cord,” outside his home.

Some crimes are so extreme that they defy the laws of nature. Ending the life of your very own mother, for example, is so unfathomable to most that it may be the most vile crime imaginable. The story we tell you here goes well beyond that. Strap in..

This will be, BY FAR, the most frustrating podcast you listen to (perhaps ever). We here, at Sword and Scale, have had some pretty frustrating interactions with emergency operators, but nothing can prepare you for this audio gem.We also tangentially cover the brutal and completely senseless killing of an entire family. They were the Van Breda's and they lived near 10 Allemann Street.

Some tales of human depravity are just unimaginable. Are they the actions of a monster, or simply a monstrous act? Sometimes the lines are not quite so clear, and perhaps monsters are not only real, but existing all around us, and hidden in plain site.This is the story of a young boy named Joshua Earl Patrick Phillips, an even younger girl named Maddie Clifton, and a waterbed.

What exactly is "God's Plan?" Do you know? Some people think they do. Jonathan Hearn and Sabrina Limon thought "God's Plan" included having an illicit affair and killing Sabrina's husband.

Part 2 of the Natalie Bollinger Murder...

A teenage girl is stalked by a homeless man and suddenly goes missing two weeks later.

When Jane Bashara was found strangled to death in the back of her SUV nobody knew what to make of it. Things like this simply didn't happen in Grosse Pointe Park, Michigan, a wealthy community of million-dollar homes. The Bashara's, now empty nesters in their mid 50's, also were not the type of people who were found murdered in a parking lot. They were the type of people who volunteered for charity when they weren't hanging out at the country club.No one suspected that there were deep dark secrets between them that would end in murder.

The human mind can go to such depths of depravity that, for the average well-adjusted person, it’s hard to even imagine. Kevin Ray Underwood’s mind was so far gone that his sexual fantasies started to include cannibalism.When 10-year-old Jamie Rose Bolin went missing, both of her parents lives were utterly destroyed. Little did they know that Jamie was literally just a few doors away in the same apartment building, and they were likely sitting there the moment she was killed.

So many leaves...It doesn't happen often, but the intersection of Psychosis and Psychopathy is a scary place. A place where all things that are good, break down and all that's left is pure darkness.Matthew Hoffman lived in such a place...

"CENTAUR... you have awoken. Don't let them kill you." The bath salts epidemic has reached new proportions in the state of Florida, as more and more shocking cases make their way to the front pages of local papers, before capturing International attention through the news wires. This is the story of a young man named Austin Harrouff who earned worldwide recognition for his actions on the night of August 15th, 2016. Could drugs explain his behavior that night, or was something else to blame?

Love is often expressed with gifts such as flowers and chocolates, but those same gifts can be used to manipulate, control and threaten in the hands of a stalker.That is a lesson that Alice Ruggles learned the hard way from her obsessed ex-boyfriend Trimaan Dhillon who couldn't handle her rejection.

Nothing quite says fear like a machete. In this episode we bring you to distinct stories of some of the most barbaric and utterly inexplicable attacks with a blade to poor souls who did nothing to deserve such brutality.The first story comes from Apex, North Carolina, where an 18-year-old girl named Priyanka Kumari is savagely attacked on her way home from school. The second comes from South Florida of course, where 17-year-old Jose Amaya-Guardado is ganged up on and killed by his classmates at a live-in trade school for troubled youth. They then have sex near Jose's corpse because nothing quite says romance like hacking up a kid to pieces.

The death of a little girl named Jodi Parrack send a small town into a spiral of shock and disbelief. Everyone goes looking, but when a reserve police officer named Raymond McCann suggests looking in the cemetery all eyes turn on him as the primary suspect.

We conclude with Part 2 of the Scrivo Murder Case, a story which deals with elements of mental illness, grief and the relationship between a mother and a son.

For our landmark hundredth episode we cover a story that has all the elements our listeners love to hear. A graphic and gory case of body parts being foundscattered across a roadway, and the unbelievable tale of how the case then unfolds from there will leave you scratching your head.

Underreported and underdiscussed, male sexual child abuse is a topic that is often brushed under the rug due to social norms and the child's fears of being labelled a homosexual or future perpetrator. Data from various studies indicates that the problem is much more widespread than initially thought, but because such a small percentage of victims ever come forward, the data is skewed. In this episode we delve into this topic and discuss it freely and openly.If you want to tell us your story, please call us at +1-954-889-6854 and leave your story on our voicemail.

"We lock our doors at night to keep the outside world, to keep evil out, right? ...but what happens when evil has a key?" Those were the words spoken by Nation Hahn, a man who knows first hand how evil can deceptively find its way into your home without warning.

Becoming a parent can be one of the most joy-filled experiences in one's life. It has been a long-standing tradition for friends, family and neighbors to all gather to celebrate this special experience with a baby shower. In the last decade or so, a new trend called "gender-reveal parties" has emerged for expectant parents to have another opportunity to celebrate. But when the celebration of a new life is suddenly visited by death, a new bundle of questions emerge.

There's a lot that can go wrong in this organ we call the human brain, which we don't fully understand. It's important for all of us to be much more aware of the red flags so that we can prevent tragedies like this one from happening.We examine this phenomenon of "Gangstalking" and "Targeted Individuals" and the case of a young lawyer named Myron May. We're joined by graduate professor of forensic psychology Dr. Vanessa Holtgrave.

Escapism is something most of us are guilty of. We retire to our TV shows, video games, podcasts... One would not assume that even the most esoteric escapes could be dangerous, but for two gay men in the mid 80's living in rural Northern Georgia, that would be a dangerous assumption.This is the story of a place called Corpsewood. The handbuilt manor castle in the remote woods was meant to be a solitary retreat for Dr. Charles Scudder and Joseph Odem, but instead it would become their final resting place in which a carnival-like media atmosphere of victim-blaming would descend.

Randy Stair secretly identified as a female for years. She ditched her given name for the pseudonym Andrew Blaze and also ditched the YouTube channel she had worked on for a large part of her life to pursue animation. The cartoons she created were dark, angst-ridden creations derived from an existing Nickelodeon character that she was infatuated with and believed existed in some otherworldly plain which she planned to be welcomed into after murdering three of her coworkers.

The highly polarized political climate we're living in colors our view of the world in one way or another. Sometimes it's hard to see the big picture and true underlying human tragedy when we're too busy judging the beliefs of others. This is a story of four people who died tragically, seemingly for no reason, in a supermarket, in the middle of the night.

The love of a mother is something many of us take for granted, but when it's not present during the early formative years the results can be disastrous. This is what Edmund Kemper suggests happened to him. A serial killer who enjoyed murdering coeds in the early 70's, Kemper is not your average lunatic. He has the IQ of a genius and has spent years self-analyzing his actions. We hear from his own words and delve into the extreme nature of his crimes.

We kick off this week's episode with some much needed updates about what's been going on behind the scenes, fist of which is Sword and Scale Rewind, hosted by Lynette Carolla and Stefanie Wilder-Taylor, which launches on June 14th. It's the after-show for this podcast, so every episode of Rewind will cover an episode of S&S, starting with Episode 1. Make sure to subscribe on Apple Podcasts so you don't miss a thing. Secondly, we get into the other big thing that's happening right now and the reason why we've been so busy... We're making a TV Show!!! That's right, we're working with Propogate Content to develop a brand new made-for-TV version of Sword and Scale. We have some big names onboard which we'll be announcing soon, but we're very excited about how it's all coming together. ...And while we were out there in Los Angeles, we got to pop in to The Museum of Death which was so fascinating that we decided to talk to its assistant curator for an audio-based tour. Lastly, we get into this week's main story. A look behind the scenes into an investigation regarding a car theft and the kidnapping of Kingston Frazier, a 6-year-old boy who was in the car that was taken. The following 12 hours become a mad manhunt for the boy and the details surrounding this investigation will leave you speechless.

When Pulitzer Prize-nominated journalist Claudia Rowe, author of The Spider and The Fly, decided to write to a serial killer, she wasn't prepared for how it would change her life. In her quest to understand the nature of cruelty, she ended up discovering much more about herself. Kendall Francois murdered at least eight women and hid the rotting corpses in the home that he shared with his mother, father, and younger sister. A large foreboding figure who emanated a pungent odor, he demands that Rowe offers personal details of her life in exchange for the answers she is seeking. She does not comply with his wishes, which leads the reader to wonder "Who really is the spider and who really is the fly?"

Matthew Hahn is bright, eloquent, friendly and just generally the kind of person you like immediately. He's the kind of person that will tell you everything about his life within seconds of meeting him, but only if you ask. He's an open book which is unusual, because once you hear his story, and your jaw drops to the floor with the disbelief that what you're listening to is not is tall tale, but a reality that this person you're speaking to has lived through, there's one other fact you have to accept: Matt Hahn is a criminal. And you still like him, because his moral compass is stronger than most...

When a 14 year old boy named Philip Chism goes missing in the middle of a school day, his mother thinks the worst and calls 911. Little does she know, that her son isn't the only missing person from Danvers High School that day. A 24-year-old math teacher is missing also. She is Phillip's teacher which raises some immediate questions, but after finally solving a mishap with the school's 140-camera security system, police are able to come up with a theory as to what happened that day. Another big clue, of course, is the body in the woods. Colleen E. Ritzer was a 24-year-old math teacher at Danvers High School. She had a warm smile and love of teaching. Some of her friends would later say that she was "born to do this job." However, no one could have imaged the darkness that would shroud the school on that particular day, and when all is said and done we are all left with the nagging question of "why?"

Over the course of a normal school day, a mystery unravels. At first there is chaos, confusion and much worry, but soon all of that anxiety melts into a river of loss and agony as friends and family members find out the truth. This first part of a two-part story is sure to keep you riveted, at the edge of your seat, and pulling your hair out waiting for the next part.

The 20 year anniversary of one of the strangest tales in modern American religious history is quickly approaching. On March 26th, March 26, 1997 Marshall Herff Applewhite led a group of 39 devoted followers to their final destination. In their minds they were headed to a spaceship following the Hale-Bopp Comet where they would be taken and transformed into perfect angelic alien beings, a state in which they would live forever. We're joined by Benjamin E. Zeller, Religious Historian and Author of the book "Heaven's Gate: America's UFO Religion."

There are few things more horrifying than the idea that your children can be taken from their beds, from their own home, while there's an adult sleeping inside, yet that's exactly what happened on the morning of Monday, Oct. 10, 2016 in Fort Wayne, Indiana. We, as a modern society, have systems in place, technological marvels, to prevent and deter these things from happening. However, in this case, the very system that was used to try and rescue the children ended up leading to their deaths. This is the bizarre story of Amber Pazstor told through her own words. We're joined by Brett Thomas from WAYN-TV Newschannel 16, who interviewed Pazstor from behind bars to find out why she chose to perform this horrible series of actions.

There is a place that humanity has created where the rules of society mean nothing. This place is a void of laws and social norms. The scariest thing, is that there is a doorway to this dark place in every home, in some cases we carry this doorway with us day after day. It's a place called The Dark Net. In this episode we're joined by Jamie Bartlett to discuss this dark and sinister place, along with the human psychology that created it and makes it particularly nefarious. We also touch on the stories of William Francis Melchert-Dinkel who tricked a young girl into committing suicide for his own sick sense of entertainment. Mitchell Henderson, who was a young boy constantly bullied and ended up commiting suicide, but even in death he found no solace as an endless barage of trolls relentlessly mocked him and his grieving parents. We also talk about the extraordinarily disturbing case of Peter Scully, who's business enterprise No Limits Fun created such despicable works such as DAFU Love and Daisy's Destruction.

Love can be a wonderful thing. It can make the world around you seem like a magical place. But sometimes, love can go wrong. Very wrong. In this season opener we examine several cases where love failed and darkness took over culminating in various murder-suicides.

Isabella Tagliarini was in bed with her new boyfriend, Nicholas Wilcox, when her former boyfriend, Eric Robinson, would get out of prison early and pay them a visit. What unfolded was an unspeakable crime and the entire case would hinge on Isabella’s fragile credibility.

In April of 2009, 17-year-old Brittanee Drexel went to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina for spring break. On the evening before she planned to return home, Brittanee went missing. Her disappearance remained unsolved for over a decade. Thirteen years would go by before Myrtle Beach Police and the FBI could determine that Brittanee had crossed paths with a monster.

In April of 2017, Georgia teenagers Johnny Rider and Cassie Bjorge unexpectedly arrived at a friend's apartment. The young couple appeared distraught and injured. Later, a SWAT team came to collect them. Johnny Rider and Cassie Bjorge were arrested and charged with committing a brutal double homicide.

Amber Smith and Trenton Mallory had a simple life together with two boys and a wedding in the works. Then Amber came home to find their house ransacked and Trenton dead. No one could have expected such a tragedy to hit a small snowy town and the killer only would be revealed as the ice started to melt.

In early September of 2016, two young men from Gillette, Wyoming went missing. About a month later, the local police were alerted to a strange, black pickup truck that was parked on the side of a road. This truck reportedly smelled like rotting flesh. When police arrived to investigate, they found the missing men, but they didn’t find all of them. They only found a few chopped-up pieces.

Sunday, February 1, 2004 was Superbowl XXXVIII, a game between the Carolina Panthers and the New England Patriots. Sarasota Springs, a medium-sized community in Florida, was celebrating the game like most other American towns: with beer, food, and family. While the rest of Sarasota Springs indulged in the festivities with their loved ones, one family was desperately searching for one of theirs, an 11-year-old girl named Carlie Brucia.

In 2002, high school senior Stacy DeGrandchamp died after getting into a physical fight with her schoolmate, Holly Boisvert. For many, the assumption was that Holly had murdered Stacy, but the police could never figure out how she did it, if she did it at all. The case eventually went cold, and nobody would get any real answers about Stacy’s death for almost twenty years.

On August 21st, 2017, the lifeless body of Nada Huranieh, a beloved fitness instructor, was discovered on the pavement just outside her expansive residence in Farmington Hills. Rather than hastily attributing her demise to a mere accidental fall from a window, law enforcement authorities refrained from jumping to conclusions. Within the confines of the house, Nada's three children stood as the sole witnesses to the incident. Thankfully, the residence boasted an impressive network of 13 security cameras, which ultimately provided the vital lead necessary for the police to uncover the truth.

Naomi Jones was an exceptional 12-year-old girl. She was caring, smart, ambitious, responsible, and mature for her age. On May 31st, 2017, Naomi went missing from her Pensacola apartment. In response, the Escambia County Sheriff’s Office launched a massive search effort, but for nearly a week, nobody could find the young girl. Finally, on the 5th day of the search, a local fisherman found something that he would likely never forget, and the tragic fate of Naomi Jones was finally revealed.

65-year-old Marilyn Gandert worked for the U.S. Postal Service for over 30 years. She was a solitary woman who lived alone and was getting ready to sell her house and retire. Tragically, Marilyn was never able to enjoy her retirement. In January of 2018, her mangled and charred remains were found on a backroad in Rio Rancho, New Mexico. Someone had brutally beaten and stabbed Marilyn to death, covered her in gasoline, and burned her body.

A group of kids playing with a mysterious app called Randonautica follow its directions to Alki Beach in West Seattle. There they find a strange black suitcase on the rocks below the pier. Intrigued, they open the case to reveal a putrid smell. Responding officers would find other bags and reveal the suitcase was filled with the dismembered body parts of two people, Jessica Lewis and Austin Wenner. Seattle would be gripped in fear until their killer was caught.

When Jessica Lynn Reale was 13-years-old, she was timid and untrusting. In early October of 1997, she mustered the courage to approach her 8th grade math teacher, a woman she’d only known for a number of weeks, to tell her a huge secret she had been keeping. Jessica told her teacher that she couldn’t go back home because someone had poured bleach all over her. This situation warranted a CPS report, but the involvement of the FBI or Sacramento County Law Enforcement was unexpected.

Micheal Redlick was a high-powered sports executive in his mid-sixties living with his kids and much younger wife, Danielle. To onlookers, the Redlick family seemed to have it all, but inside their gorgeous multi-million dollar home, misery had been brewing for decades and it all imploded on January 11, 2018.

Sue Taynor was worried about her 21-year-old daughter, Jessica Sacco. She was bipolar, depressed, and vulnerable, having just gotten out of a bad relationship. When Jessica moved into a one-bedroom apartment in Urbana, Ohio, she began to open her home up to people who were a negative influence on her. Soon enough, there were six people living in the small unit. By the end of March, 2012, there would only be five.

Several elderly women appear to have died of natural causes, until March of 2018 when a 91-year-old woman survives a brutal attack. As the pieces come together, police are led to a man named Billy Chemirmir—but unfortunately, they may be too late.

In August of 2014, a masked thief, dressed in black, walked away with nearly $20,000 from an American Eagle store in Fort Worth, Texas. Three months later, the assistant manager of that store was found brutally murdered inside her burning apartment. Were these completely separate crimes or were they somehow connected?

In February of 2017, 28-year-old aspiring cosmetologist Shannon Graves went missing. Five months later, a young married couple in Campbell, Ohio had plans to cook dinner at home. When they opened their freezer, they unexpectedly found something that horrified them. They found frozen pieces of Shannon.

In June of 2013, the dead body of 29-year-old Melinda Schaefer was found inside the leasing office of the Harvest View apartments in Baltimore County, Maryland. The murder scene was a complete blood bath, and due to the communal nature of the office, homicide detectives were not able to rely on DNA or other forensic evidence to solve this crime. They needed to use old-fashioned police work to find out who had murdered Melinda Schaefer and why.

In July of 2010, 15-year-old Sidnee Stephens was a troubled teen with a history of mental illness and running away from home so, no one in her immediate circle was too worried when she went missing yet again. Then, her dead body was found in the town creek. The investigation into Sidnee's murder would be long and strenuous, but most of all, it would prove just how unbelievably cruel and shortsighted teenagers can be.

In June of 2013, 24-year-old Sarah Staudte became very ill and ended up in a hospital. Sarah’s internal organs were failing, her brain was hemorrhaging blood, and her doctors expected that Sarah was going to die. Yet, nobody could figure out the cause of the problem. Eventually, police were called in to investigate. They learned that Sarah’s father and brother recently had similar health complications before dying. Soon, the unbelievable and horrible truth came out. Someone was slowly, methodically, and systematically killing off everyone in the Staudte family.

Amber Lynn Coplin was a 30-year-old mother of four getting her life back on track and living happily. But on November 13 of 2014, her teenage son came home to find her dead. It was obvious right away who had done this to Amber, but the full extent of how she had been murdered and what her killer had planned would create shock waves of disgust through the Pacific Northwest and beyond.

On Mother’s Day weekend of 2018, a hairdresser named Joleen Cummings was reported missing after she failed to pick up her kids from their father. Soon Joleen’s car was found in a Home Depot parking lot and the mystery behind her vanishing would open up a rabbit hole of insanity like never before. This was one of the craziest cases Florida had ever seen.

Emily Noble suffered a lot of loss in the last decade of her life but she always persevered. She was physically healthy and took her mental health seriously too. She never faltered. That’s why when she went missing in May of 2020 everyone suspected foul play except her husband, the prime suspect.

On the day before Halloween, sisters Ashlee and Lisa Rucker were shot in the head inside their Florida condominium. There were four witnesses in the apartment, but only one truly knew what happened. Soon the world would find out who was responsible for this heinous killing and the years of tension that built up to that final day.

The Robinson family seemingly had it all in a small town in upstate South Carolina. They had a lovely house, burgeoning careers, and 5 wonderful kids. But when a tragedy struck the family in January of 2021 the whole world was confronted with what happens behind closed doors. The lives of Ariel, Austin, and their children would never be the same again.

In June of 1996, 18-year-old Angie Dodge was found raped and murdered in her Idaho Falls apartment. For Idaho homicide detectives, this case was a big deal. Violent murders like this didn’t typically happen in their area, and they were determined to send someone to prison for Angie’s murder. Unfortunately, to the detriment and disgrace of their careers and to justice, they were willing to do just about anything to make that happen.

Isabella Guzman was 18-years-old when she savagely murdered her mother. Isabella’s crazy court appearances and attractive face turned her into a viral TikTok sensation overnight and all eyes were on her. But Isabella had been on a downward spiral for years and it turned out that the mother she blamed for all her misery was the only one who truly wanted to help her.

When police in Vancouver, Washington received a 911 call the morning of January 7th, 2007, they didn’t expect the caller to admit to a murder in the first ten seconds. Law enforcement would soon discover that the caller, 25-year-old Dylon Ray Peterson, was even more unhinged than he sounded on the phone. Thankfully, the young man was willing to share with them every detail of what he had done.

An unexpected crime in central New York state by the unassuming David Renz would send a town into a frenzy and a man named Bill Cregg on a mission. When he cradled Lori Bresnahan in his arms as she lay dying he made her a promise to protect her little girl.

20-year-old Amanda Plasse was a bright and bubbly modern-day hippy that lived alone in Chicopee, Massachusetts. Sadly, her life was cut short in late August 2011. Amanda was found dead on the floor of her kitchen. She had been brutally stabbed to death. The murder of Amanda Plasse remained unsolved for over two years, and the investigation led detectives to suspect a new boyfriend, an angry ex-boyfriend, and a jealous ex-girlfriend. It wasn’t until a hidden clue inside Amanda’s apartment led the police to a killer that no one ever suspected.

Independence, Missouri has never seen much crime, let alone against middle-class churchgoers. When 42-year-old Randy Stone was found dead in his insurance office in 2010, the list of possibilities was endless. Ultimately, a ripped up note in the trash can would lead detectives down a promising path.

Fire fighters responded to calls leading them to Chattaroy Road in Colbert, Washington during the early morning of May 26, 2015. Rushing to the blazing scene, they quickly learned this was no ordinary fire. A deceased female had to be dragged from a hole cut into the home, but where were the other three family members who lived there? One answer was found in a fire fighter’s helmet lying on the ground, and it didn’t belong to anyone on the current force. Instead it belonged to Lieutenant Terry Canfield. Everyone loved Terry, and no one would believe he was wanted dead - except for one person. His daughter.

In February of 2020, Orange County deputies reported to an address in Winter Park, Florida, and discovered the body of an adult male in a suitcase. This incident appeared to be a tragic accident triggered by alcohol, but upon further investigation, a deeper evil was finally unmasked.

Megan Rose Hiatt thought she had met her Prince Charming when a handsome, military man named Gawain Rush Wilson waltzed into her life and swept her off her feet. A year later her world would be changed forever. Today we tell a story of tragedy and survival.

On March 11th, 2018, 15-year-old Kyle Bancroft and his younger brother invited two teenage friends to a sleepover at their home in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida. By about 1:30 AM the following morning, everyone had gone to bed, but nobody would get a full night’s rest. Around 4 AM, a knife-wielding manic decided to go on a bloody rampage, fully intent on stabbing everyone in the house to death, as they slept.

A young pregnant mother goes missing in the chill of an Arkansas December night. The small town of Rison and surrounding communities are well known fishing and hunting areas, but they also hold some sinister secrets. Cherrish Allbright wasn’t the only person to come up missing . Who would be found, and who wouldn’t? Were the disappearances related, and more curious, was there evil in the town of Rison where humans are mistaken for deer?

Weeks go by in the search for missing jogger Mollie Tibbetts. An interagency taskforce has searched to no avail. Finally, a break in the case leads authorities to a dairy farm outside of the small Iowa town of Brooklyn and to a person of interest. After an 11 plus hour interrogation Cristhian Behana Rivera confesses but in court his defense team argues sleep deprivation and casts serious doubt on Mollie’s boyfriend Dalton Jack. Dalton Jack seems pretty suspicious when you look back on his actions after his girlfriend and soon to be fiancé, Mollie Tibbetts, went missing in 2018. He joined the army and skipped town shortly after and three years later in the trial for her murder he can’t recall the slightest of details from that time. But the trial would reveal many things about that time that no one could expect not even Dalton.

9-year-old Jessica Marie Lunsford was an especially shy and polite young girl that lived with her grandparents and her single dad in Homosassa, Florida. On a morning in late February of 2005, Jessica’s father opened his daughter’s bedroom door and found that Jessica was missing. A small cut was later found on the screen door leading into Jessica’s home, suggesting that an intruder may have broken into the house and kidnapped her, but was that really what happened? Was Jessica abducted or did someone in her family have something to do with her disappearance?

On January 8th, 2007, the home of Liz Collier-Sweet was set ablaze by an unknown firebug. Little did the investigators know, finding the arsonist would be the least of law enforcement’s worries. When Liz failed to return home after the fire, Law enforcement followed a trail of bread crumbs she had left behind, which led to the capture of a lifelong pedophile and murderer. However, as one homicide investigation was closed, another was opened.

When 19-year-old Colorado resident Lea Porter went missing from Westminster on June 3rd, 2014, her family and friends went on a mission to solve the case on their own. Police didn’t move as quickly as they’d hoped, so they put their heads together and their differences aside in order to extract a confession from their prime suspect.

Introducing Sword and Scale Nightmares! True Crime for Bedtime. Your nightmare begins now...The first three episodes will drop on 3.2.23 at 3:23pm EDT. In the meantime, please take a moment to subscribe on your preferred podcast listening platform...
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In 2018, 25-year-old Amelia Bissoon worked as a personal banker in Florida. In July of that year, Orlando detectives questioned Amelia about 50,000 dollars that she had stolen from one of her banking clients, but as the police continued interviewing her, it became clear that what they really wanted was information about a much more serious crime. They wanted to know what role Amelia had played in a recent and gruesome double homicide.

Philosopher John Locke believed that we have no innate ideas; our minds are blank slates upon which experience writes. Modern geneticists argue that we are nothing but the stage on which a play written by our genes is performed. The nature versus nurture debate is one of the oldest philosophical issues within psychology, and countless experiments tested which theory is correct. However, none have ever come close to explaining what happened to 65-year-old Nancy Noone and her twin children.