Court Junkie

On February 24, 1986, John Ruetten came home from work to find his newlywed wife on their living room floor, dead from 3 bullet wounds to the chest. Investigators concluded it was a burglary gone wrong, but the case went unsolved for decades. 23 years later, DNA testing that hadn't been available before was conducted and who the new evidence pointed to was shocking.  In Part 2, you'll hear the con...

On February 24, 1986, John Ruetten came home from work to find his newlywed wife on their living room floor, dead from 3 bullet wounds to the chest. Investigators concluded it was a burglary gone wrong, but the case went unsolved for decades. 23 years later, DNA testing that hadn't been available before was conducted and who the new evidence pointed to was shocking. In Part 1, you'll hear the deta...

Trying someone for murder without knowing the location of the victim's body happens a lot more than you might think. The phrase "no body, no crime" just isn't true. I spoke with Tad DiBiase, a former federal homicide prosecutor and expert on no body murder cases, about the first no body case he tried, what the stats on these types of cases are, and how these cases can affect jury selection.  Court...

I'm excited to announce that I'll be releasing an additional episode series called Court Junkie Briefs. These episodes will focus on a singular courtroom related issue, such as inadmissible evidence and how it can affect a case, murder without a body cases, sunshine laws, and more. Please consider supporting Court Junkie with as little as $3 a month via Patreon.com/CourtJunkie. Help support Court...

17-year-old Alexis Murphy was a popular teenager from Shipman, Virginia with her whole life ahead of her. In August 2013, she was looking forward to her senior year of high school when she had an encounter with a man at a local gas station that would change everything. Although Alexis is still missing, the Commonwealth of Virginia went after her accused abductor and charged him with murder. Can th...

Judge Shanes made his decision last Friday on Melissa's request for a new trial. I attended the hearing and will go over the ruling as well as what's next for Melissa and her team. Please consider supporting Court Junkie with as little as $3 a month via Patreon.com/CourtJunkie. Help support Court Junkie with $6 a month and get access to bonus monthly episodes. Follow me on Twitter @CourtJunkiePod...

Just days after releasing my original episode about Erica Parsons, there was a major breakthrough in the case. In an expected yet tragic ending to the Erica Parsons case, Rowan County investigators announced on Friday that they found Erica's body.  The Rowan County Sheriff said in the press conference that Erica loved angels and so they are accepting donations from the public to erect an angel mon...

In April 2006, the small city of Medicine Hat in Alberta, Canada, was shocked by an unthinkable murder no one ever saw coming - A 12-year-old girl convinces her 23-year-old boyfriend to murder her entire family. I speak with the first investigator on the scene and talk to him about the crime itself as well as the latest developments - which might shock you too.  Warning: this episode contains some...

Could a jailhouse conversation be the key to finding out what happened to Erica Parsons? Erica Parsons had been missing from her home in Salisbury, North Carolina for two years before she was finally reported missing to police by her adoptive brother. Erica's adoptive mother told police she went to live with her biological grandma - someone police say does not exist. I talk to Brooklyn Parsons, Er...

I attended day 3 of Melissa Calusinski's evidentiary hearing. Her attorney, Kathleen Zellner, had filed a Post Conviction Relief Petition, based on possible new evidence. Day 3 of the hearing included testimony from an imaging expert who makes some shocking clams about the x-ray images.  Please consider supporting Court Junkie with as little as $3 a month via Patreon.com/CourtJunkie. Help support...

19-year-old Pravin Varughese was a college student at Southern Illinois University when he was mysteriously found dead in the woods after leaving a party. Investigators believe he died from hypothermia but a second autopsy reveals he may have died from blunt force trauma. A 22-year-old man came forward to say he got into a fight with Pravin the night he died. Will Pravin's family finally get the a...

This is the story of Gabriel Johnson, an 8-month-old boy who has been missing from Tempe, Arizona since 2009. After a custody battle with her ex-boyfriend, Gabriel's mother Elizabeth took him and fled to San Antonio, Texas. She first claims she killed the little boy but then changes her story and says she gave him away to a random couple at a park. To this day, no one knows where Gabriel is or if...

Melissa Calusinski has been in prison since 2009 after being convicted of murdering a 16-month-old boy. New evidence shows that there might not have been a homicide after all. I went to Melissa’s recent evidentiary hearings for a new trial and learned some bombshell information that highlights the need for a retrial. https://www.facebook.com/Justice4Kent/ Please consider supporting Court Junkie wi...

It was January 14, 2009. A 16-month-old toddler named Benjamin Kingan died at a Lake County, Illinois daycare center from a mysterious head injury. Melissa Calusinski, a 22-year-old Teacher’s Assistant at the daycare, was charged and ultimately convicted of his murder. Years later, new evidence has been discovered that shows Ben's cause of death may not be what it seems, and that it may not have b...