Forensic Tales

When Crystal McCrory Jones was found dead inside her home on February 9, 2023, investigators quickly ruled her death a suicide. But after obtaining the autopsy report, investigative records, photographs, and other official documents, Crystal's family began uncovering what they believe are significant inconsistencies in the investigation. In Part Two of this special two-part series, we take a close...

On the afternoon of February 9, 2023, Crystal McCrory Jones failed to show up for a doctor's appointment. Concerned after repeated calls and texts went unanswered, her husband contacted the West Carroll Parish Sheriff's Office and requested a welfare check. Inside the home, deputies discovered Crystal dead from a single gunshot wound to the head. Less than two hours later, her death was ruled a su...

On November 18, 1987, the small town of Ina, Illinois, was forever changed when Keith and Elaine Dardeen, their 3-year-old son Peter, and their newborn daughter Casey were found murdered in one of the most horrific crime scenes investigators had ever encountered. Nearly four decades later, the murders remain officially unsolved. In this episode of Forensic Tales , I take a closer look at the lives...

The Unsolved Murder of Robert Wone In this special Patreon Bonus Preview, I share a portion of this month's exclusive episode covering the mysterious and unsolved murder of Robert Wone. Listen to the FULL episode:  http://Patreon.com/ForensicTales On August 2, 2006, Robert Wone—a successful attorney, devoted husband, and respected friend—arrived at a townhouse on Swann Street in Washington, D.C.,...

In the early morning hours of May 14, 2008, 19-year-old Brandon Swanson was driving home after celebrating the end of the college semester when his car became stuck in a ditch along a rural Minnesota road. Unable to free his vehicle, Brandon called his parents for help. For the next 47 minutes, he remained on the phone with his father while walking through fields, fences, and farmland, attempting...

The murder of Rachel Nickell remains one of the most infamous true crime cases in the United Kingdom. In July 1992, Rachel was brutally attacked and murdered on Wimbledon Common in broad daylight while walking with her young son. What followed was a controversial murder investigation that captivated the nation, generated intense media scrutiny, and ultimately led investigators down the wrong path....

Patricia Viola was a devoted wife, mother, and volunteer librarian living in Bogota, New Jersey. On February 13, 2001, she seemingly vanished without a trace after returning home from work. She left behind her purse, wallet, identification, seizure medication, and nearly every indication that she planned to return. As investigators worked to reconstruct Patricia's final known movements, they uncov...

The Fox Hollow Farm Murders remain one of the most chilling serial killer cases in American history. For years, young men disappeared from the Indianapolis area after being seen at local gay bars and nightlife districts. Many were later found strangled and abandoned in rural areas throughout Indiana and Ohio, leading investigators to suspect the existence of the so-called I-70 Strangler. Everythin...

On July 26, 2009, 36-year-old Diane Schuler drove the wrong way down New York's Taconic State Parkway, causing a devastating head-on collision that killed eight people, including herself, her daughter, and three young nieces. The crash shocked the nation and sparked years of debate, speculation, and investigation. Toxicology reports revealed shocking findings, but Diane's family strongly disputed...

#335 - When 53-year-old Oakey Kite, who went by Al, failed to show up for work on May 24th, 2004, his coworkers immediately knew something was wrong. Concerned, they went to his townhouse in Aurora to check on him where they discovered a crime scene so brutal, investigators would never forget it. Al had been restrained, tortured for hours, and ultimately murdered inside his own home by a man posin...

#334 - In April 1991, 20-year-old Angela Hammond stood alone outside a grocery store in Clinton, Missouri, talking to her fiancé on a payphone late at night. She mentioned seeing a strange truck circling the parking lot, but they both shrugged it off.  Moments later, Angela’s fiancé heard her scream, and the line went dead. The payphone was only a few blocks away, so he jumped in his car and sped...

#333 - In February 2000, 18-year-old college student Michelle O’Keefe was on her way home from appearing in a Kid Rock music video when she was gunned down inside her car. A security guard named Raymond Jennings was eventually arrested and charged with Michelle’s murder, and after three separate trials, he was sentenced to life in prison. On paper, it seemed like an open-and-shut case. But the dee...

#332 - In April 1996, a motorist traveling along a rural road in Bastrop County, Texas, made a disturbing discovery. Lying in a grassy ditch along the roadside was the body of a young woman. Her clothing was partially removed, and a belt had been tightened around her neck. She would soon be identified as 19-year-old Stacey Stites. Just hours earlier, Stacey had been reported missing after she fail...

#331 - On the early morning of June 3, 2011, 20-year-old Indiana University student Lauren Spierer disappeared after a night out with friends in downtown Bloomington, Indiana. Investigators were able to reconstruct much of Lauren’s final hours using surveillance footage, witness statements, and digital timelines. But despite knowing many of the places she went and the people she was with that nigh...

For months, Dorothy Jane Scott received anonymous phone calls from a man who said he was watching her. He knew where she worked. He knew where she went at night. Sometimes he even described the clothes she had worn that day… or the car she was driving. At first, Dorothy tried to ignore the calls. But they kept coming. Sometimes the caller sounded angry. Other times, almost obsessed. On one occasio...

#329 - In July of 2015, thousands of people gathered along the river for a weekend of music, camping, and wakeboarding. The annual event known as WakeFest was supposed to be a carefree summer getaway, a place where friends could relax, drink, and enjoy the water. But by the end of that weekend, one of the campers would be dead. Twenty-one-year-old Lauren Agee had been camping on a steep cliff over...

#328 - When police in Oklahoma got a call from a woman saying a man wearing only gloves and a pair of underwear broke into her house, killed her boyfriend, and tortured her for hours, it seemed almost too far-fetched to be true. But as detectives combed through the forensic evidence at the scene, it seemed to line up perfectly with her story. What they didn’t realize at the time was that this brut...

The verdict is in. In this special episode of Forensic Tales , we take a closer look at the trial of Gerhardt Konig , the Hawaii doctor accused of violently attacking his wife during a hike earlier this year. Prosecutors argued that the assault was deliberate and brutal, pointing to physical evidence and testimony presented during the trial. The defense, however, painted a very different picture,...

#327 - For years, prosecutors across the United States relied on a diagnosis known as Shaken Baby Syndrome to explain the sudden deaths of infants and toddlers. In many cases, that diagnosis became the foundation for criminal convictions. But over time, some doctors and forensic experts began questioning the science behind it. In 2002, a two-year-old girl in Texas died after being rushed to the ho...

#326 - When a 17-year-old beauty school student went missing in February 2010, the residents of a small Washington town were left stunned. Then just days later, the teen's body was discovered by a passerby on the banks of the Columbia River. What began as a desperate search quickly turned into something far more disturbing—an investigation filled with false leads, unsettling rumors, and a suspect...

Five years ago, I covered the murders of Cheryl Henry and Andy Atkinson, the case often referred to as the Lovers Lane Murders. At the time, the case remained unsolved and was widely considered one of Houston's most notorious cold murder cases. But this week, more than thirty years later, investigators announced something that many people thought might never happen: an arrest. This is a Forensic T...

#325 - When the body of a 19-year-old mother was discovered murdered inside her apartment in 1988, the residents of Three Rivers, Michigan, were shocked. But the brutal details of her murder weren’t the one thing that left people in the community on the edge. It was the fact that when the young mother’s body was discovered by her fiancé, the victim’s eight-month-old daughter was found still sleepi...

In March 2022, 39-year-old Eric Richins was found unresponsive in his Utah home. His death was initially believed to be the result of a fentanyl overdose, a tragic loss for his family. But what followed would shock investigators. Eric’s wife, Kouri Richins, later published a children’s book about grief, written to help her young sons cope with the sudden loss of their father. At first glance, it s...

#324 - It was supposed to be a normal night for 78-year-old Shirley Ramey and her husband of 57 years, Daryl, from Hope, Idaho. Daryl went to play cards with friends while Shirley stayed inside at their quiet home near the Canadian border. But when Daryl returned home that evening with a bacon cheeseburger she had asked for, he found the sliding glass door open and Shirley lying on the floor in a...

#323 - In 1986, a Washington woman was convicted of intentionally killing two people with cyanide-laced extra-strength Excedrin capsules. One of the victims was her very own husband. The other was a complete stranger. Her conviction and 90-year prison sentence became the first under federal product tampering laws instituted after the 1982 Chicago Tylenol murders that killed at least 7 people. Is s...