Pushing Up Lilies

What happens when an ordinary night out turns into a tragedy, and a five-year-old child becomes one of the most important witnesses to a violent crime? This week on Pushing Up Lilies , I'm talking about the heartbreaking case of Jessica Antolini, a 30-year-old woman whose life was taken following a violent confrontation outside a bar in Safety Harbor, Florida. According to investigators, Jessica's...

When a murder makes national headlines, we often hear more about the person accused of committing the crime than the person whose life was taken. This week on Pushing Up Lilies , I want to change that. I'm talking about the murder of 37-year-old Ashley Flynn, a devoted mother of two, former elementary school teacher, and volleyball coach from Tipp City, Ohio. Ashley was a woman of faith who loved...

What happens when someone is sentenced to death, the execution goes forward, but the person doesn't die? This week on Pushing Up Lilies , I'm talking about Christa Pike, who was convicted of the brutal 1995 murder of 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer in Knoxville, Tennessee. Pike was just 18 years old when the murder occurred, and she has spent roughly three decades on death row. I want to start by tell...

When you walk into a death scene and see someone hanging from a tree, it would be easy to assume you already know what happened. But as a death investigator, that's exactly what you cannot do. In this episode, I'm talking about the death of 29-year-old Tasia Fortune, a mother of four who was found hanging from a tree behind a vacant home in Jackson, Mississippi. Investigators now believe Tasia was...

Four people found unconscious inside the same house. Three dead. One survivor. No obvious injuries, no clear explanation, and weeks later, still no publicly confirmed cause of death. When I heard about what happened on Berger Avenue in South Dallas, I immediately thought about the questions I would be asking if I were called to that scene. On August 31, 2026, emergency responders discovered four a...

When I first started looking into the death of two-year-old Barrett Walsh, one detail immediately stood out to me: his mother, Corie Walsh, had reportedly been closely following the Lindsay Clancy trial and discussing it with friends just hours before Barrett was found. The similarities between the two cases are difficult to ignore. Both involve mothers accused of killing young children inside the...

Sometimes a death scene seems to tell you exactly what happened. A child is found submerged in a swimming pool, and the immediate assumption is drowning. But as a death investigator, I've learned that where someone is found doesn't necessarily tell us where, or how, they died. In this episode of Pushing Up Lilies , I'm taking you through the case of four-year-old Aria Talathi, who was found in the...

The Lindsay Clancy trial has reached one of its most important moments. The witnesses are finished, both sides have made their closing arguments, and now twelve jurors are left to decide what happened inside that home on January 24, 2023, and whether Lindsay was criminally responsible when Cora, Dawson, and Callan died. In this episode of Pushing Up Lilies , I’m taking you through the final stretc...

The Lindsay Clancy trial continues, and with each new day of testimony, the questions surrounding this case seem to become even more complicated. In this episode of Pushing Up Lilies , I’m continuing my coverage as the defense presents its case and the jury hears from family members, mental health professionals, and forensic experts offering very different perspectives on Lindsay’s state of mind....

Last week, I took you through the devastating events of January 24, 2023, the night Lindsay Clancy’s three young children, Cora, Dawson, and Callan, were fatally harmed inside their family home in Duxbury, Massachusetts. This week, we move from the home to the courtroom. In The Lindsay Clancy Trial: Psychosis, Premeditation, or Both? , I take a closer look at one of the most complicated questions...

On January 24, 2023, what began as an ordinary evening for a young Massachusetts family ended in an unimaginable tragedy. Lindsay Clancy was a labor and delivery nurse, wife, and mother of three young children. That night, her husband, Patrick, briefly left their Duxbury home to pick up dinner and medication. When he returned, everything had changed. Their three children, Cora, Dawson, and Callan,...

When an entire family is lost, it's easy for the headlines to focus on the person responsible. In this episode, I wanted to do something different. I'm taking you to Grand Haven Township, Michigan, where Mandy Karolkiewicz and her six children lost their lives in one of the most heartbreaking family annihilation cases of the year. Before we talk about the investigation, I want to remember the peop...

When a murder ends in suicide, investigators lose one of the most important pieces of the puzzle—the person who could explain why. In this episode, I take you inside several recent murder-suicide cases from across the United States, including tragedies involving entire families, intimate partners, and parents and children. From Michigan to Oklahoma, Delaware, and Florida, these heartbreaking cases...

What happens when a young, healthy woman is found dead in her own home... and the questions begin long before the investigation has answers? This week on Pushing Up Lilies , I'm taking a closer look at the life and death of Alexandra "Allie" Hummel , a 36-year-old licensed nurse from Missouri whose unexpected death remains under investigation. Based on publicly available information, I walk throug...

With permission from Allie's friend, we're sharing a brief excerpt from Allie's Husband, Andrew Hummel, talking about when he discovered Allie.

With permission from Allie's friend, we're sharing a brief excerpt from Allie's Husband, Andrew Hummel, talking about waiting on the toxicology report.

What happens when someone disappears... after they've already died? In this episode of Pushing Up Lilies , I'm exploring one of the most unusual and heartbreaking cases I've ever researched, the disappearance of Julie Mott's remains from a San Antonio funeral home following her memorial service. Julie was just 25 years old when she passed away after a lifelong battle with cystic fibrosis. Her fami...

In this episode of Pushing Up Lilies , I'm examining the heartbreaking murder of 32-year-old Caroline Piña Cairo, a mother of five whose life was taken in a brutal daylight attack that stunned the Del Rio, Texas community. When Caroline arrived at the hospital suffering from multiple stab wounds, medical teams fought to save her life. Despite their efforts, she later succumbed to her injuries. Thr...

In this episode of Pushing Up Lilies, I’m covering the heartbreaking case involving Amy Steadman and the tragic family deaths that shook the community of Mechanicville, New York. Cases involving multiple family members are among the most emotionally difficult for investigators, first responders, and the communities left searching for answers. As details emerged, investigators were faced with the c...

In this episode of Pushing Up Lilies , I'm examining the disturbing case of Shawn Michael Grate, a serial killer whose crimes spanned a decade across northern Ohio and left multiple families forever changed. What makes this case especially unsettling is not only the length of time the murders continued, but how many opportunities there may have been to stop the violence sooner. As investigators pi...

Who am I, and how did I end up investigating death for a living? In this very first episode of Pushing Up Lilies , I'm sharing my story, from my path into nursing to becoming a Forensic Nurse Death Investigator. I'll talk about what drew me to this unique profession, what it's really like to investigate deaths, and why I felt called to create this podcast. Over the years, I've responded to countle...

In last week's episode, I explored the tragic death of 17-year-old Austin Metcalf and the events that unfolded during a high school track meet in Frisco, Texas. This week, I'm following the case into the courtroom as we examine The State of Texas vs. Karmelo Anthony . During this episode, I'll walk through the key moments of the trial, the arguments presented by both the prosecution and defense, a...

In this episode of Pushing Up Lilies , I’m covering the heartbreaking case of 17-year-old Austin Metcalf, a high school student whose life was tragically cut short during what should have been an ordinary day at a track meet. In April 2025, a confrontation between two young men at a Frisco, Texas, athletic event ended in an act of violence that shocked a community and made headlines across the cou...

In this episode of Pushing Up Lilies , I’m covering the heartbreaking case of Rachel Castillo, a young mother whose disappearance in Southern California led investigators to a devastating discovery, and ultimately, the conviction of her estranged husband, Zarbab Ali. Rachel vanished during what should have been a routine custody exchange involving her children. But almost immediately, investigator...

In this episode of Pushing Up Lilies , I’m covering the mysterious death of Spencer Irwin, a 30-year-old Fresno City College student whose body was discovered behind a business loading dock in Fresno, California, in August of 2024. What initially appeared to authorities to be a tragic but straightforward case quickly became something far more complicated. Spencer was found naked, with no obvious s...