Murder, She Told

1990 - Portland, Maine.  When Portland Police responded to a call of a man lying on the sidewalk in front of Pine Street Variety on a chilly November night in 1990, they initially assumed he’d simply passed out after drinking. But 26-year-old Scott Sampson—a father of two young boys—was already dead, and had been for hours, with no one calling for help. 35 years have passed, yet Scott’s sister rem...

1989 - Concord, New Hampshire. When the bouncer at Take Five Music Hall in Concord, NH saw 21-year-old David Braley darting into the woods after being kicked out, he thought little of it and moved on. But that fleeting glimpse would turn out to be the last time anyone saw David alive. Months of frantic searching ended on a cool spring day in 1990, when a body appeared along the Merrimack River. Da...

2012 - Cambridge, Massachusetts. On a June evening in 2012, 16-year-old Charlene Holmes, who went by Chay, was exactly where she was supposed to be—walking home with friends in her own neighborhood in Cambridge—when a car crept down Willow Street. Moments later, shots rang out. She wasn’t the intended target. She was a bright, hopeful teenager caught in someone else’s crossfire. More than a decade...

This week I wanted to bring you a spooky and fun Halloween season bonus from my friend, Laurah Norton of The Fall Line.  This is One Strange Thing: a podcast that brings you witty true stories of ghost sightings, strange disappearances, supernatural events and famous crypitds, creatures, and lore from small town America.  This episode is The Connecticut Witch: “In Southwestern Connecticut, in a li...

1977 - Monroe, Connecticut UPDATE: This week brought a major development in the long-unsolved murder of 8-year-old Renee Freer, who was brutally killed behind her home in Monroe, Connecticut, in June 1977. After nearly 50 years, Renee's case has taken a stunning turn—and it’s not the resolution anyone wanted. The original episode on Renee Freer was released on March 25, 2025 in collaboration with...

Holden, Maine - 1983 In the summer of 1983, Kitty Collins Wardwell vanished after a fight with her much older boyfriend and business partner, Francis ‘Frank’ Julian. Kitty was only weeks away from turning 30—ambitious, full of plans, and then, without warning... she disappeared. For years, her family searched and speculated. Rumors spread, and the truth seemed to slip further away with every passi...

1974 - Swampscott, Massachusetts. In the shadows of the early-December afternoon, somebody with a baseball bat beat the life out of 15-year-old Henry Bedard Jr. He had been on his way home to wrap a Christmas gift, and was found the following day in a well-travelled patch of woods that was popular amongst the town’s youth. Henry was a good kid from a good family, who, to this day, still can’t unde...

1996 - Milo, Maine. On a cool April day in 1996, 32-year-old Michael Madore disappeared without a trace. He left behind everything—his possessions, his beloved dogs, and a letter claiming he was bound for Alaska to live out a childhood dream of becoming a “mountain man” like Grizzly Adams. But that dream was only ever a fantasy. The circumstances Mike left behind painted a confusing picture, and t...

1990 - Johnston, Rhode Island. In July of 1999, 50-year-old Stephen Marfeo took action on a violent plan: he shot and killed his ex-girlfriend, Laura Vincent, and attempted to kill her boyfriend, Sal Puleo, before ultimately taking his own life.  For police, this was an open and shut case fulled by jealousy and domestic violence. However, they held out hope that this tragedy would help them unrave...

2002 - Bridgeport, Ohio In July 2002, 45-year-old John Cornelius “JC” McGhee was gunned down in the doorway of his home in Bridgeport, Ohio, just across the river from West Virginia. The case drew little attention at the time—and quickly slipped from the headlines. Now, decades later, his daughter, Madison McGhee, is demanding answers. Through her investigative podcast, Ice Cold Case, she’s shinin...

2015 - Manchester, New Hampshire. On a warm summer night in August 2015, 62-year-old Denise Robert followed her familiar routine—ending the day with a quiet walk through neighborhood streets she knew by heart. But just before 9 pm, the stillness of the evening broke. Denise was shot in the head by an unknown assailant and killed instantly. Ten years later, there have been no arrests. No answers. D...

1912 - Carmel, Maine. When 14-year-old Naomi Etta Mitchell vanished on her walk to the general store, the tiny town of Carmel, ME mobilized overnight. Neighbors scoured the woods, lanterns in hand, until their worst fear was confirmed—Naomi’s body had been found. Suspicion fell almost immediately on J. Sherman Gray, the man witnesses had seen trailing her that night. But before authorities could c...

2005. Orland, Maine. On the morning of July 15, 2005, 46-year-old Brian Allen was found shot to death in a bed at a home where he had been staying in Orland—a small blueberry town on the coast of Maine, where he worked. His death was ruled a homicide. Brian’s murder received little media coverage and quietly slipped onto Maine’s list of unsolved homicides. Now, two decades later, Brian’s sister Tr...

2000 - Seabrook, New Hampshire. In the early morning hours of July 5, 2000, while working the Fourth of July graveyard shift as a security guard at Venture Corp in Seabrook, New Hampshire, Curtis Pishon vanished without a trace. Just after midnight, his car had mysteriously gone up in flames. Though the fire was later ruled arson, no one knows who set it—or why. That same night, Curtis disappeared...

1976 - Lewiston, Maine. In the early hours of a November morning in 1976, Dorothy “Dotty” Milliken left her home  to do some late-night laundry in Lewiston, Maine. She never made it back. A local paperboy found her body just before dawn, outside Beal’s Laundromat. She had been beaten to death in what police called a frenzied attack. Tonia was just seven when her mother was killed—a traumatic loss...

1976 - Lewiston, Maine. On a cold November morning in 1976, 27-year-old Dorothy Milliken—Dotty to those who loved her—was found bludgeoned to death outside Beal’s Laundromat in Lewiston, ME. A paperboy made the grim discovery around 4:30 a.m. She’d gone out to do some late-night laundry, and while the city still slept, someone ended her life. Her killer has never been caught. As the years passed,...

1988 - Cranston, Rhode Island. Around 11 p.m. on July 19, 1988, a Cranston police officer came across an abandoned car in the breakdown lane of Route 10. The vehicle belonged to the mother of 18-year-old Lauren Morris, a recent graduate of Bristol High, who had been reported missing after borrowing it to run errands. Blood found inside the car suggested something was terribly wrong. Just beyond th...

1980 - Methuen, Massachusetts. With Christmas fast approaching, 30-year-old William “Bill” Durney was picking up extra shifts at his job delivering gas. In the early hours of October 10, 1980, during a stop at Joe’s Shell in Methuen, MA, Bill was shot twice by an unknown assailant while setting up for the delivery. He died on the scene, leaving behind a wife and three young children. The motive re...

1986 - Rochester, New Hampshire. In October 1986, Charles Martin Vosseler abducted his two sons, Billy and CJ, leaving their mother, Ruth, desperate to follow their trail—all while picking up the pieces of a life she now realized had been built on lies. Charlie had taken everything: her possessions, her savings, and now, her sons. But he underestimated Ruth. He’d chosen an indefatigable adversary—...

1986 - Rochester, New Hampshire. When Ruth Gotliebson met Charles Martin Vosseler, he seemed like everything she’d been looking for—charming, grounded, and ready to build a simple, honest life. They married just six months later, and before long, they welcomed two sons they named CJ and Billy. But just a few years in, Ruth's world imploded when Charlie took their two sons and disappeared without w...

1977 - Monroe, Connecticut In June of 1977, on the eve of her last day of third grade, 8-year-old Renee Freer went outside to play and never came home. Hours later, her body was discovered in the woods near her house, shaking the tight-knit community of Monroe. Investigators exhausted every lead in their pursuit of justice for Renee, yet decades later, the case remains unsolved. But today’s detect...

1980 - Newport, Rhode Island. On the morning of March 22, 1980, the nude body of 19-year-old Diane Drake washed up on Easton’s Beach between Middletown and Newport, RI. She had vanished the night before on her way to work. Forty-five years later, her killer remains at large. Yet, despite the passage of time, Diane’s family continues to seek answers and keep her memory alive—though justice today ma...

1980 - Newport, Rhode Island. On March 21, 1980, as wind and rain swept through Middletown, Rhode Island, 19-year-old Diane Drake got ready for work. But she never made it there. The next morning, her nude body washed up on Easton’s Beach. Witnesses later reported seeing Diane the night she disappeared, walking—and even hitchhiking—along the three-mile route to work despite the harsh weather. But...

2014 - Fortuna, California. This is an update in the case of my childhood friend, Danielle Bertolini, from the Fortuna Police Dept in California. To learn more about Danielle and hear her story, listen to the episode from July 2023 on Murder, She Told: https://www.murdershetold.com/episodes/daniellebertolini Sign the petition: https://change.org/danielleandsheila If you have any information regard...

Do you ever listen to a true crime podcast and think "that's not quite right...?" Or even wonder about the parts that have been left out? Enter Celisia Stanton, host of Tenderfoot TV’s Truer Crime and The Vanishing Point. We sat down for a nuanced discussion on complex cases, ranging from the exoneration of Anthony Broadwater—wrongfully convicted in the 1980s of raping Alice Sebold, author of The...