Global True Crime

In the spring of 2005, 27-year-old Emma Caldwell disappeared from Glasgow. A little over a month later, she was found dead in a remote woodland, miles from the city. What followed became one of the largest and most controversial murder investigations in modern Scottish history. Leads were followed, enormous resources were spent, and several people came under police scrutiny. But year after year pa...

On the 6th of July 1985, a 19-year-old dance instructor and university student disappeared from a dance academy on the island of Oahu, Hawaii. It was the middle of the afternoon in a busy area, and whatever happened appears to have unfolded within a window of just 15 minutes. Her car was still in the parking lot. Her purse and keys had been left inside the building. And Diane Suzuki was gone. It i...

On Easter Sunday in 1990, a couple were out driving when a van came speeding up behind them. The van passed them, but a few minutes later they saw the same van parked outside an abandoned school. Standing beside it was a man holding a bloodstained piece of fabric. They kept driving, confused by what they had just seen. And shortly afterwards, the van appeared behind them again. This was not a scen...

In May 2008, 19-year-old Brandon Swanson spent an evening celebrating the end of the college year with friends in southwestern Minnesota. Sometime after midnight, his car became stuck on a gravel road during the drive home, and he called his parents for help. But despite staying in contact by phone, they could not find him. Brandon eventually left the car behind and began walking towards what he b...

In early May 2014, Russell and Shirley Dermond were supposed to attend a Kentucky Derby party at a neighbor’s house. They lived in Great Waters, a lakeside community in Georgia where many people had moved to enjoy a quieter life in retirement. But Russell and Shirley never showed up. At first, that might not have seemed too strange. They were elderly. One of them could have been unwell, or maybe t...

John DeMars was a 30-year-old husband and father of two living in Nutley, New Jersey. He worked in banking in Manhattan and made the same commute to and from work almost every day. But on Friday, the 20th of December 1974, John left his office and never made it home. Somewhere along his usual journey back to New Jersey, he seemed to simply disappear. As the days turned into weeks and investigators...

One evening in September 2006, 22-year-old Brian Barrett finished his shift at work, got into his pickup truck in the parking lot outside his workplace, and was shot. At first, there was no obvious motive. No clear enemies. No apparent conflict that could explain why anyone would want to kill him. But when police began looking more closely at Brian’s contacts, and especially at his life online, an...

In 1996, Sophie Toscan du Plantier was murdered outside her holiday home in Ireland. Before long, one man became the main suspect. Almost thirty years later, doubts still remain. What really happened that night? Was the man suspected for all these years responsible for Sophie’s murder, or was he himself the victim of police tunnel vision? Nearly three decades of legal battles and intense media att...

One December night, in a remote corner of Ireland, a woman was brutally murdered on the road outside her holiday home. There were many suspects, but very few clear motives. Who would have wanted to kill this charming French woman? The residents of the nearby village were deeply unsettled. They had always felt safe there. Could one of them, one of their own neighbours, really have been capable of m...

On the 9th of December 1988, 40-year-old Hollywood cameraman Robert “Bob” Samuels was found murdered inside his home in Northridge, California. He and his wife, Mary Ellen, had been separated for more than two years, but their divorce had never been finalised. After Bob’s death, Mary Ellen received hundreds of thousands of dollars through life insurance and other assets, and she quickly began spen...

On the night of July 29, 1995, thirteen-year-old Thad Phillips is asleep on the couch when he wakes up to the familiar feeling of his father picking him up to carry him to bed. But he soon realizes that the person carrying him isn't his father, and that he's being carried out of the house in the middle of the night. This marked the beginning of nearly 48 hours of horrific torture at the hands of t...

On the 30th of April 1991, Conor and Sheila Dwyer, a married couple in their sixties, were seen at a church close to their home in the small Irish town of Fermoy. The following day, Sheila spoke to her sister on the phone. After that, the couple vanished without a trace, along with their white Toyota Cressida. More than 35 years have now passed. Witnesses have passed away, investigators have retir...

A brand new season of Global True Crime launches on Monday, 3 August. We're looking forward to sharing a new selection of cases from around the world. In this trailer, we share a preview of what’s to come. Follow us on Instagram: instagram.com/globaltruecrimepod Get in touch: globaltruecrimepod@gmail.com Read more: globaltruecrimepodcast.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more informat...

In 1980, a young couple disappeared together with their baby daughter. They left everything behind, their families, their lives, every trace of themselves. For more than four decades, their relatives held on to one explanation: that the couple had been drawn into a religious group and had chosen to disappear voluntarily. Years passed. But there were no signs of life. No proof. No answers. Only sil...

In early July 2012, two horrifying discoveries were made on the beach in Southsea, in southern England. More specifically, human remains that were later identified as belonging to a 30-year-old man who lived in the area. The discovery marked the beginning of a major murder investigation, a highly controversial trial, and a case where one of the key pieces of evidence would turn out to be something...

Clowns are supposed to make us laugh. Colourful wigs, exaggerated expressions and oversized red shoes are things we associate with birthday parties, circuses, and children’s entertainment. But what happens when a clown knocks on your door carrying flowers, balloons, and a gun? Marlene Warren seemed to be living a safe and comfortable life with her family in an upscale neighbourhood in Florida. But...

In the early hours of 12 March 1992, Jack and Caren Koslow were woken by two unknown men entering their bedroom. Within minutes, their home in the affluent Rivercrest neighbourhood of Fort Worth, Texas, had become a brutal crime scene. At first, it looked like a violent break-in that had spiralled out of control. But as the investigation continued, it became clear that the truth was far more shock...

On the night of December 13 into December 14, 2020, 21-year-old Jason Landry got into his car to begin the three-hour drive from college back to his parents’ home for Christmas break. Investigators were later able to trace his route through GPS data until contact was lost about 30 minutes before he disappeared. Just over an hour later, his crashed car was found on a remote rural road. His clothes...

During the night between 30 April and 1 May 1999, 16-year-old Marianne Vaatstra cycled home after a night out in the province of Friesland in the Netherlands. It was a route she already knew well, through an area generally considered quiet and safe. But that night, she never made it home. What began as the brutal murder of a teenage girl would soon become one of the most politically charged cases...

"If something ever happens to me, please make sure the number one person of interest is Tim, as that is who would do something to me. I'm putting this in writing that I'm fearful he will somehow harm me, come after me, or will try to do something to me that takes me away from the kids or the kids away from me". This is part of a text message that 41-year-old Rebecca Bliefnick sent to her sister in...

In October 1941, a man named Philip Peters was found brutally murdered in his own home in Denver, Colorado. He had been beaten to death by an unknown attacker in his kitchen. At first, police believed the murder may have taken place during a robbery. But there was no evidence to suggest that anyone had tried to break into the house. Strange theories soon began to circulate throughout the city. And...

In the summer of 1981, thirteen-year-old Mary Louise Day disappeared from her home in Seaside, California. And no one reported her missing. The family moved on, as if nothing had happened. And for years, no one asked about Mary. But much later, suspicions began to surface. Unusual statements, an interview that raised concern, and discoveries in a backyard where something, or someone, may once have...

In 1984, Baton Rouge in Louisiana was shaken by a kidnapping that quickly gained national attention across the United States. An eleven-year-old boy was taken by someone the family believed they could trust. When he was eventually found, the case took an unexpected turn. What followed was a widely discussed act of revenge, one that was captured on camera as it happened. Follow us on Instagram: ins...

It was the night between December 7th and 8th, 2000.Twenty-two-year-old Trevor Deely stepped out into the rain after attending a Christmas dinner and after-party with colleagues in Dublin, Ireland. On his way home, he stopped by the bank where he worked to pick up an umbrella, and then continued walking toward his apartment. At 4:14 a.m., a security camera captured Trevor walking down the street,...

In the early hours of 25 March 1990, a party was in full swing at the Happy Land Social Club, an unlicensed nightclub located in the Bronx in New York City. The atmosphere was lively and music poured from the speakers. But before long, Happy Land would be transformed into a burning inferno, and only a handful of people would manage to escape in time. All of this because of an impulsive act of reve...