Going West: True Crime

In April of 2022, a 12-year-old boy was found dead in his backyard, and the police ruled it a suicide despite the baffling and bizarre details associated with the crime scene. His family is desperate for help in re-opening the investigation, fully believing that their son was murdered. This is the story of Sean Daugherty. Also known, as What Happened to Sean? PETITION https://www.change.org/p/what...

In 2011, a 22-year-old graduate student in Idaho was baking cookies with friends when she stepped out for a cigarette and was murdered on her porch. Police would soon uncover that an obsessed professor who referred to himself as a “psychopathic killer” had been behind it all. This is the story of Katy Benoit. BONUS EPISODES patreon.com/goingwestpodcast CASE SOURCES 1. Spokesman:  https://www.spoke...

In August of 1993, a 16-year-old Indigenous girl went missing in Hawaii after going out with a friend. Earlier that day, she and her friend had been picked up by a hitchhiker who asked them to hang out later, but despite this detail, Police initially believed she had run away. Years later, they would finally received a confession that detailed the horrible truth about what happened to her the nigh...

In September of 2006, a grisly murder scene was uncovered in a picturesque farmhouse bed & breakfast in rural Maine. Four people, including the innkeeper and her daughter, were murdered and dismembered by the young cook who lived there, shocking the small town and the entire region. This is the story Julie Bullard, Selby Bullard, Cynthia Beatson, and Jimmy Whitehurst, and it’s also the story of th...

In August of 2009, a 15-year-old girl left home to hang out with friends in a neighboring Wisconsin town, and never returned. Her brother's 24-year-old friend had actually been the last person to see her, claiming to have dropped her off at the home of her ex-boyfriend. But her ex-boyfriend claims they didn’t even have plans to see each other. So which of these men is lying? Or was it someone else...

In August of 1983, a 20-year-old woman working as a cocktail waitress and a DJ was found strangled to death in a vacant field in Texas. When police began investigating her murder, they released the sketch of a mystery man they called “the cowboy”, hoping someone could identify him. Then, her mother began receiving threatening calls from an unknown man, but police had no idea if they were coming fr...

FIRST HALF OF OUR NEW PATREON BONUS EPISODE ON Debanhi Escobar. LISTEN TO THE FULL EPISODE: patreon.com/goingwestpodcast In April of 2022, an 18-year-old woman went to some house parties with her friends in Mexico. But after she began acting erratically, her friends sent her home in a car service. During her ride home, she excited the vehicle and stood in the highway before wandering off. Her fath...

On August 5, 2022, a 16-year-old girl went to a campground party near her home and never returned. When records showed her phone last pinged at the campground before turning off minutes after she supposedly left, her family feared for the worst. Both she and her car are both still missing, with few clues as to what could have happened to her. This is the ongoing story of Kiely Rodni. KIELY GOFUNDM...

In August of 2006, a 21-year-old man attended a party after relocating to Louisiana to reconnect with his biological father. Multiple reports came out from party attendants that he had been acting paranoid and then left suddenly. But the most eerie account of all came from his father, who was the last person to speak with him, and remembers his son whispering into the phone that he thought someone...

In July of 1989, an 18-year-old woman was heading home to her parents house when she was shot in her own car. Her mother, an acclaimed mystery author, launched her own investigation and spent years hunting for her daughter's killer. And finally, after many years, answers came to the case. This is the story of Kaitlyn Arquette. BONUS EPISODES patreon.com/goingwestpodcast CASE SOURCES  1. Real Crim...

In January of 2022, a 23-year-old woman living in the Bay Area went missing after being spotted on surveillance footage at a local gas station. The next day, her car was found abandoned on a dead-end street with the keys in the ignition, but she was nowhere to be found. Throughout the investigation, police discovered numerous suspicious clues leading to one specific suspect. This is the story of A...

In the spring of 1992, a string of murders began off the I-70 freeway in the Midwest. The killer claimed at least six victims, all of whom were store clerks, but to this day, no one has ever been caught, despite numerous eyewitness accounts. This is the story of the I-70 Killer. BONUS EPISODES patreon.com/goingwestpodcast CASE SOURCES  1. St Louis Post-Dispatch:  https://www.newspapers.com/image/...

In August of 1981, a 20-year-old woman in Ohio disappeared in broad daylight from her office. When her boss arrived to find her car still in the parking lot, and signs that she had been there that day, but no trace of her, she was reported missing. Weeks before her disappearance, she had been receiving threatening phone calls, had numerous dreams about being abducted and murdered, and was concerne...

In August of 2016, a 27-year-old woman went missing in the Spirit Lake Reservation of North Dakota after taking a drive with 3 men. After loved ones didn’t hear back from her in days, her aunt, who is a Missing and Murdered Indigenous Woman activist and organization owner, took the investigation into her own hands and traced down her killers. This is the story of Carla Yellowbird. https://www.sahn...

Between 1993 and 2014, five women with similar appearances and backgrounds vanished under comparably suspicious circumstances in the same small area of California. As an area that is already nicknamed “The Black Hole” for its large number of disappearances, many locals believe that there is a serial killer stalking the area. These are the stories of Jennifer Wilmer, Karen Mitchell, Christine Walte...

In 2004, a well-liked man went missing from Aurora, Colorado after dropping his girlfriend off at the airport. When police conducted a wellness check at his home 2 days later, they found him brutally and methodically murdered in his own basement, with no apparent motive and no suspect in sight. But he had recently rented his basement apartment to a stranger…so was this mystery roommate to blame fo...

On June 24th, 2000, a 15-year-old aspiring writer vanished from her home in Utah, and her mom turned to her daughter’s own stories for clues. Having been a victim of bullying, police initially believed that she ran away. But as witnesses came forward, she appeared to have a stalker who had lured her from her home on the very computer where she sat every night to write. This is the murder of Trisha...

In April of 2022, a 24-year-old went on a birthday trip to Houston, but disappeared after meeting up with a man in the middle of the night. Since then, a suspect has been named, and a warrant is out for his arrest after police found the victims blood in his car and apartment, mysterious Google searches and hardware store receipts, and horrific photos in his phone. However, this man is currently on...

In 2003, a young couple was camping in their pick-up truck in a remote part of the Arizona desert to celebrate their anniversary. But before they could return home, they were murdered in the back of the truck. With few clues left behind, could the photos on their disposable camera help piece together the truth? This is the story of Brandon Rumbaugh and Lisa Gurrieri, otherwise known as the Bumble...

In June of 1996, a 22-year-old college lacrosse player had a casual night out with friends at a bar in suburban Philadelphia. But on her way home, she disappeared. Shortly after leaving the bar, her car was found running with the driver's side door open on an Interstate, painting a violent attack. After an important tip came in from a local woman, a concrete suspect emerged, and it turns out, he h...

In August of 2010, a 30-year-old scuba enthusiast from Memphis, Tennessee headed out for a cave dive in Ponce De Leon, Florida, and never returned. After an extensive search in the waters, his body was never found, begging the question: Was this an innocent diving accident? Or something much more sinister? This is the story of Ben McDaniel. BONUS EPISODE patreon.com/goingwestpodcast CASE SOURCES ...

In July of 1996, a 31-year-old veterinarian was found dead in his Montana home. Although he was loved deeply by his family and friends, and had a passion for helping animals, he did had some enemies, one man in particular who claimed Bryan stole his girlfriend. But was he behind the killing, or was it someone else in their tiny rural town? This is the story of Bryan Rein. BONUS EPISODE patreon.com...

In August of 2012, a Georgia woman was living on a yacht in Saint Mary’s after a violent divorce. But when someone crept up to the boat while she was sleeping one night, she was murdered and the boat was set ablaze. Before her death, she had confided in a close friend about a stalker, and her fears of what they may do to her. This is the story of Karen Barnes. BONUES EPISODES patreon.com/goingwest...

In May of 2018, a well-liked teacher was shot to death in her parent’s Pennsylvania driveway. Not only is she believed to have had a relationship with a teenage student, but she also allegedly had dirt on the local Police Department. Between a broken engagement and a young man potentially behind her murder, this case takes many unexpected turns. This is the story of Rachael DelTondo. BONUS EPISODE...

“Is this Susie’s Mom?”  “Yes it is.”  “Well I’m the guy that took her from you.” This was the type of taunting phone call received by the mother of a young girl kidnapped at their Montana campsite. The search for her abductor led the FBI to a vicious serial killer, and began the process of creating psychological profiles in order to catch predators. These are the cases of Susie Jaegar, Bernie Poel...