Cafecito & Crime

On the night of October 5, 1997, 14-year-old Lauren Barry and 16-year-old Nichole Collins planned to walk to a party around 9 pm. Since the girls came from small, safe towns, they didn’t believe they were in danger. Sadly, that was the last night they were seen alive by their friends and family. After the girls didn’t show up the next morning, a large search began, but it yielded no results. Weeks...

When a couple of young women, Christine Vu and Wendie Prestcott, who lived in the same apartment complex, were sexually assaulted and killed at the end of 1996, fear gripped the Arlington, Texas community. Despite investigators finding physical evidence at the crime scenes, the killer remained at large for years. It wasn't until 2000, when the FBI introduced new technology, that police finall...

On the night of December 30, 2000, the Miyazawa family had no idea that they would not live to see the following morning. The Miyazawas consisted of the father, Mikio, the mother, Yasuko, and their children, 8-year-old Niina and 6-year-old Rei. When Yasuko's mother, who lived next door, went to check on her daughter, whom she hadn't been able to contact, she made a horrifying discovery....

On the night of March 25, 1996, 15-year-old Joey Martin had plans to meet his best friends for a night of drinking and comet-watching. The following morning, when Joey wasn't on the school bus, his older brother, Bill, knew something was wrong. As the Martin family begins to search for Joey with friends, their slight worry turns into full panic as they realize no one has seen or heard from Jo...

When Adam Baker connected with a woman named Elisa online and started exchanging messages, he believed he had fallen in love. So much so that he moved himself and his young daughter, Zahra, from Australia to America to be with her. What no one ever expected was that Zahra's life would be marred by abuse from Elisa, tragically, leading to her death. Elisa quickly became a person of interest, a...

In 1980, 18-year-old Katherine Foster was in her freshman year of college at the University of South Alabama. She was thriving academically and personally and was excited about the future. But one afternoon in late February, Katherine failed to meet friends for lunch and later that day missed a class, which was out of character for her. Family and friends knew something was wrong, and she was repo...

In the morning of April 2001, a large explosion shook a suburban neighborhood in southern Scottsdale, Arizona. When first responders arrived, they learned that a home had been completely burned to the ground. Tragically, inside the rubble of what was left, three bodies were found: 10-year-old Bobby Fisher, 12-year-old Brittney Fisher, and 38-year-old Mary Fisher. But one member of the family was m...

In 1980, 25-year-old Karin Strom was finally taking her life back and starting over. She filed for divorce from her abusive husband< Steve, and left the couple’s home. However, her new lease on life was cut short when Karin was found murdered in the bedroom of the house she had once shared with Steve.  As the investigation begins, all signs point to Steve being Karin’s killer. But physical evid...

Ronald Cohen sold his home in Jericho, Long Island, in September 1999, and was ecstatic about it. The only thing left for him to do was remove a 55-gallon drum barrel from a crawlspace in the basement, per the new homeowner. That barrel had been in the home when Ronald initially moved many years earlier. Even back then, he tried to open the barrel but was unsuccessful, so he left it where he found...

The Stockdale family was known in their community as a wholesome, tight-knit, loving family. Tim and Kathy raised their four sons, Calvin, Charles, Jacob, and James extremly sheltered from the rest of the world to keep them safe. They were not allowed to do a lot of what is considered normal for kids to do, such as watch TV and play video games amongts other things.  So, when ABC's reality TV...

America was introduced to Ariel Robinson, a teacher, during the 20th season of the Food Network's competition show "Worst Cooks in America," which aired in summer 2020. She won the competition and was awarded $25,000, which she stated she would use to help expand her family. Soon after, she and her husband, Jerry, went on to foster multiple children, including a 3-year-old girl name...

Every year for Christmas, Jean Wholaver and her family would make the drive to Johnstown, Pennsylvania, to spend the holiday with her parents. In 2002, the plan was no different than it had been in previous years. However, this year, Jean and her daughters, Vicky and Izzy, would never make it to her parents’ home on Christmas Eve. The following day, Jean, Vicky and Izzy were found murdered in thei...

When 50-year-old Bill Hall Jr. was driving his motorcycle on October 10, 2013, he never imagined that it would be the last time he rode it. During a vehicle chase on the Texas Highway 1604 between Bill's wife, Frances Hall, and another woman he was seeing, Bonnie Contreras, Bill was run over and lost his life. After Bill’s death, Frances was arrested and charged with his murder.  However, she...

On Christmas Eve 2008, the Ortega family gathered for their annual celebration. The family, which included Joseph and Alicia Ortega, their five adult children, and their families, was spread out around the house. Some adults were playing poker, kids were playing video games, and others were hanging out outside by the pool. As everyone was enjoying themselves, there was a knock on the door at aroun...

When people around Velma Barfield began dying in the late 60s and 70s, it seemed tragic rather than suspicious since they suffered from health issues. It began with her first husband, Thomas Burke, in 1969, followed by her second husband, Jennings Barfield, in 1971. The deaths continued, spanning from other family members to the elderly she began to take care of. However, when she began a relation...

On November 29, 1992, 39-year-old Sara Tokars was on her way back home, with her two kids, to Georgia, from spending the Thanksgiving holiday with her family down in Florida. Sara's family, the Ambrusko's, were waiting for Sara's call to let them know that she had arrived safely, but the call never came. Later that evening, two young boys knocked on the door of an isolated house and...

In the early morning of January 9, 2002, 12-year-old Ashley Pond headed to the school bus stop, but never arrived. As the search for Ashley began, her family and friends came together to help in any way they could. One of those people was 13-year-old Miranda Gaddis, who was Ashley's close friend and neighbor. However, in March, Miranda also vanished under the same suspicious circumstances as...

In the early hours of May 26, 1984, 22-year-old Brad Perry was working his graveyard shift at the local Texaco gas station. After returning the change to customer who had purchased beer, he never expected for an argument to arise. The argument escalated into a brutal fight that ended up in Brad being brutally murdered. As the investigation begins, there were multiple suspects but physical evidence...

In April 2014, Darren West was cleaning his garage, in the home he had once shared with his estranged wife, Megan Huntsman, in Pleasant Grove, Utah. As he moved boxes around, he came across a strange white box wrapped in plastic and decided to open it to see what was inside. And what he discovered was something out of a horror film. The small box contained the body of a decomposed baby. Darren tol...

When 58-year-old Kristie Marks went to pick up her daughter, Taylor, from her boyfriend's house on October 24, 2009, she felt ecstatic. They had been going through some issues, and Kristie thought that maybe Taylor was ready to come home for good and work things out, but that wasn’t how things turned out that night. As the mother and daughter headed toward the vehicle to leave, Kristie was ra...

On the night of August 22, 2005, 20-year-old Josh Bennet went to his estranged mother, Jacqueline's, house to have dinner and spend the night, as they were trying to repair their strained relationship. However, those hopes were shattered when, in the early hours of August 23, two intruders broke into the home and stabbed Jacquiline and Josh, resulting in Josh's death. As the investigatio...

On November 19, 1986, 39-year-old wife and mother Helle Crafts was dropped off by a friend and coworker at her home after returning from an overseas flight, where she worked as a flight attendant. After she made her way inside, she was never seen alive again. When she failed to show up at work, her friends asked her husband, Richard Crafts, about her whereabouts, and he claimed she had gone to vis...

On Halloween night in 1984, 31-year-old Doreen Erbert expected to relax after taking her four-year-old daughter, DeAnna, trick-or-treating. After her husband, Charles, left home to run to the nearby convenience store, Doreen planned to stop giving out candy and watch movies on the couch. Those plans were shattered when a loud knock sounded at the front door around 9 pm. Standing there was a man in...

In early July 1996, a Canadian man named Blair Adams entered the US and never returned home. Before he left, family and friends noted that Blair was acting strangely and even mentioned that someone was after him, trying to kill him. Tragically, on July 11, Blair was found dead at a hotel construction site in Knoxville, Tennessee. As the investigation into his death begins, investigators learn that...

In September 2006, 22-year-old college senior Mindy Morgenstern couldn't wait to graduate that December and start her adult life. Unfortunately, she would never reach graduation. On September 13, friends went to her off-campus apartment since they hadn't been able to reach her all day. When they entered, they made a chilling discovery. There in the entryway was Mindy, dead, with a knife...