JustThoughtLounge

On a Saturday afternoon in October 2022, officers from the the Santa Fe Police Department found 21 year-old Grace Jennings stabbed to death by a large sword in the garage of a house on Jaguar Drive. Grace did not live in the home where she was found. She had only arrived the night before; offered an ostensibly safe place to stay the night by someone claiming to be her friend. Following the horrifi...

In the Spring of 2019 a group of 20-somethings spent their weekends partying at friend's house in east Detroit. On one of these nights the unthinkable happened. Jokes and dancing turned into terror when a man in a mask burst through the door, armed with a gun, and began firing. The attack left three friends dead and the remaining two witnesses wounded. Those that survived did not get a clear v...

On an otherwise uneventful Thursday afternoon in May, 2019, 15 year-old Kaylie Juga returned home from school with her mother. They turned on some music, joked around and relaxed. Minutes later, a hooded figure dressed all in black entered the house undetected through the open garage door. A doorbell camera across the street recorded the sound of gunfire. Seven shots rang out across the usually qu...

A security guard in the wealthy, gated community of Admiral's Cove responded to a home security alarm early one Autumn morning, arriving within three minutes of dispatch. Inside, the patriarch of the family lie dead in the bathroom; not one, but two possible murder weapons found nearby. Emerging from the house were two suspects: a mother and son, each with motive, and each pointing the finger...

On the night of July 19, 2023 desperate cries were heard emanating from Barry Schmalbach’s condo in Cape Coral. Florida. In the days that followed, no one saw Barry. Messages sent from his cellphone were at first odd, then they ceased entirely. Barry’s boyfriend, his closest friends and his family spoke with police. Though by the time investigators began retracing his steps, it seemed is was too l...

Dee Ann Warner went missing in April, 2021. For years her disappearance was a source of mystery and heartache for the community she had been a part of her whole life. Dee’s last sighting had been at the farmhouse where she and her family lived and worked. It was there that search efforts focused. Just as authorities began to accept that they must seek justice without all of the answers … they made...

Early on a spring morning in 2021, police in Miami Gardens were dispatched to an apartment complex. They were responding to a report that a restraining order had been violated. Officers were not prepared for what they would find. What followed was a confused response, a messy investigation and error-riddled prosecution. The outcome of this case was far from certain.

On a spring afternoon in 2024, an unimaginable tragedy rocked the town of Newport, Michigan. Two children were killed and over a dozen more injured. Mixed with the community’s grief was outrage towards the woman responsible. Appallingly, instead of an explanation, she offered only platitudes and excuses. Investigators were left to piece together the whole picture and to answer the question: was th...

In October 2023, 39 year-old mother of two, Irina Garcia, was brutally stabbed to death in her bed. It was an attack so malicious that it was assumed to be an act of passion. The only suspect in the case, Irina’s 13 year-old son, Derek, had no motive. No one could point to any sign that the teen was aggressive or capable of violence. And so, even in the face of mounting evidence, new theories are...

Just past 7:30PM at a busy Costco superstore in Corona, California the sound of gunfire rang out. Dozens of calls were placed to 911 while shoppers ran for the doors, or dropped to the floor. The response was rapid, but the details of what had occurred were patchy, at best. What was clear was that an entire family on their weekly grocery shop had been targeted by a single gunman. While emergency s...

Tina Satchwell went missing in March 2017 from the small-town of Youghal in County Cork. For years her family, friends as well as the local community held out hope while her loving and devoted husband made desperate pleas for her safe return. There were few clues in her disappearance. And there was reason to believe that she could have, voluntarily, left to begin a new life...

True Crime DocumentaryOn a warm and drizzly July evening in 2024, a man carrying a crossbow concealed beneath a white sheet exited a family home on Ashlyn Close in the leafy town of Bushey in Hertfordshire. Over the previous five hours this man had enacted a plan to massacre three female members of the same family. His actions had been mapped out for weeks. As word of the horrific murders spread a...

True Crime DocumentaryIn the Spring of 2023 police in Hudson, Ohio were dispatched to the home of a 41 year-old father who had failed to collect his daughter from school. Officers performing the welfare check made a gruesome discovery. Dr Todd Morgan was a well-liked and respected professor at the University of Cleveland. He was also a doting and loving father of two. But under his professional fa...

On December 2nd, 2019 just days after celebrating Thanksgiving with family Christine Holloway and her 14 month-old daughter, Vanessa, went missing. Parked on the street outside her apartment was Christine’s new car but she was not answering the door. Despite the freezing conditions, two windows were sitting open. The door was locked but a light remained on. When officers forced entry, they made a...

In August 2017 police in Farmington Hills, Michigan responded to an emergency call in a wealthy neighborhood. They were told that a mother of three had been the victim of a horrific accident. Except, when they arrived, it did not appear to be an accident at all. As investigators began to look around and ask questions a devious plot emerged. One that suggested that the crime had not only been stage...

On the morning of 15th May, 2020 Katie McLean went missing. That same morning a disturbing text message began circulating amongst her social circle; sparking concerns that something horrific may have befallen the loving mother of three. The text accused Katie of manipulation. It referred to her as “a devil". Friends saw this message and immediately feared the worst…

True Crime Documentary, the murder of Taylor EscontriasOn a rainy Spring night in 2024, deputies from the Scott County Sheriff's Office responded to a car crash roughly 7 miles north of downtown Davenport, Iowa. The driver had struck a pole. Thankfully, no one was injured. What appeared to be a standard case of driving under the influence, however, quickly took a darker and more disturbing turn. A...

JTL delivers the best true crime documentary(ies) and best true crime podcast(s) on YouTube. New true crime cases that you likely haven’t heard anywhere else. On a Saturday night in the Summer in 2023, Joshua Davies and his wife, Jennifer, were having a night out with a couple friends when they encountered a stranger at a local wine bar. An altercation with this man lasting only moments left Josh...

JTL delivers the best true crime documentary(ies) and best true crime podcast(s) on YouTube. New true crime cases that you likely haven’t heard anywhere else. In the Autumn of 2019, 65 year-old Susan Mauldin went missing. A British retiree who loved knitting and gardening, Sue was not a lady known to make enemies. Nonetheless, the investigation into her disappearance uncovered a disturbing series...

On a summer afternoon in 2012 a gunfight broke out between two customers at a Rite Aid in Norfolk, Virginia. When it was over, only one man was left to tell his story. There was one key piece of evidence. A security camera fixed over the counter of the pharmacy where the men met and began to argue. But the video could not tell the whole story.

For one week in February 2017, communities across Florida, Georgia and Alabama lived in fear of a killer on the run. It was a case that local a Sheriff described as the 'type that law enforcement fear most': a known killer, choosing his victims frequently and randomly. As the killer evaded capture he appeared to have company. The couple’s movements were tracked across state lines. Police began to...

In early 2024, Patrick O'Hara in Northern England was admitted to the hospital with a bizarre and life-threatening condition. He was suffering from a flesh-eating disease. The cause was unknown but one thing was certain: his illness was no accident. Over the following months investigators would unravel what has been called “the most elaborate murder scheme in English history.”

On April 20th 2022, Nicole Lenway-Ford was shot multiple times by a masked attacker, on the sidewalk of a busy intersection and in broad daylight. Nicki wasn’t the victim of a robbery or random violence. Surveillance video showed the signs of a planned murder. An attacker scoping the environment, hiding just out of sight and then choosing their moment. The young, single mother worked as a crime sc...

In the Spring of 2013, a 70 year-old retired US Army Colonel awoke around midnight to find a strange man on top of his wife in the living room of the couple’s home. Without delay or hesitation, he found his gun and shot the man multiple times. Calling emergency services immediately, he unapologetically refused to render any medical aid, as the man died on his living room floor. It wasn’t until the...

On October 5th, 2022 a man wearing a surgical mask and a baseball cap entered the John W Harshbarger Building at the University of Arizona armed with a handgun. The gunman travelled to campus that day with four targets in mind. He found one. Before fleeing the bloody scene and heading for Mexico, the gunman emptied his weapon inside the building; threatening the lives of everyone present - and kil...