Crime and Motive

He let a homeless teenager move in, and police say it cost him his life. In a quiet Florida retirement community, 67-year-old retired nurse John Torneo was found dead inside his own home. Detectives quickly focused on 19-year-old Julian Trevino, the teenager investigators say Torneo had been trying to help. In this episode of Murder U, we break down the newly released details from the Polk County...

Celeste Rivas Hernandez vanished at 14. A year later, her remains were found inside the trunk of a Tesla registered to music star D4VD. Ten days after the discovery, investigators were searching the 20-year-old singer’s Hollywood Hills rental home for evidence of foul play. What they uncovered only deepened the mystery—and intensified scrutiny around D4VD’s role in the case. Authorities now acknow...

A quiet Georgia high school becomes the site of the deadliest school shooting in the state’s history — after a series of warnings were missed. On September 4, 2024, a mass shooting at Apalachee High School in Winder, Georgia left four people dead and multiple others wounded. The suspect, a 14-year-old student who had been enrolled at the school for less than a week, surrendered shortly after the a...

A series of missed warnings and fatal delays culminate in a massacre that forever changed campus safety in America. On April 16, 2007, a lone student carried out a coordinated shooting across the Virginia Tech campus, killing 33 people and wounding 17 others. What began as a double homicide in a residence hall escalated into a mass shooting inside Norris Hall, while students and faculty remained u...

A 21-year-old student vanishes in Austin… and her family makes a horrifying discovery inside a condo just steps from campus. In August 2005, Jennifer Cave was days away from starting a new job and turning her life around when she went out to help a troubled friend. Hours later, she was found murdered in a West Campus condominium near the University of Texas — her body brutally mutilated in an act...

A random encounter in a college-town parking lot leaves an 18-year-old student dead… and a community demanding answers.  Anna Jones had just graduated high school and was enjoying a summer night out with friends — minutes from the university she planned to attend in the fall. But when a drunk professor approached their car and opened fire, a senseless act of violence ended her future before it beg...

A hardworking high school student in Japan disappears on her way home… and doesn’t return. For weeks, her family searches desperately, unaware that she is trapped in a nightmare unfolding behind closed doors. When her body is finally discovered—hidden in a concrete drum—the case shocks the world and exposes a terrifying failure of justice. In this episode of Murder U, we tell the story of seventee...

A campus already grieving from a student’s murder was about to face a second nightmare. João Souza came to Binghamton University to study engineering, play soccer, and build the future he dreamed of. But on a quiet April night, he was attacked inside his freshman dorm, sending the campus into panic and confusion. As detectives began piecing together João’s final hours, they concentrated on the peo...

A campus turned into a killing ground. In May 2014, the quiet college town of Isla Vista was shattered when a 22-year-old student launched a brutal, premeditated attack inspired by incel ideology and violent misogyny. What began with online rants and a 141-page manifesto exploded into one of the most infamous mass killings of the decade. In this episode of Murder U, we examine Elliot Rodger’s path...

A teacher is murdered over a bad grade.  When 66-year-old Spanish teacher Nohema Graber disappeared after her afternoon walk in Fairfield, Iowa, police uncovered a crime that shocked the community — planned and carried out by two of her own students. In this episode of Murder U, we follow how a respected educator’s disappearance unraveled into a story of teenage rage, digital evidence, and a motiv...

At Danvers High, a beloved math teacher and the new kid mysteriously vanish after class. And police uncover something more shocking than anyone imagined. In this episode of Murder U, we examine the 2013 murder of 24-year-old Colleen Ritzer — a teacher who inspired her students and was loved by everyone who knew her. What began as two missing-person reports soon exposed a crime so disturbing it lef...

Cassie Jo Stoddart was housesitting in Pocatello, Idaho, just days before Halloween — when a quiet weekend took a deadly turn. In this Halloween episode of Murder U, we revisit the 2006 killing that turned a suburban home into a scene straight out of a horror film. What began as an ordinary weekend quickly spiraled into one of the most unsettling true-crime cases of the decade. As investigators tr...

Two deaths. Same dorm. Five months apart. At Gallaudet University — a prestigious school for the deaf — a tight-knit campus is shaken by back-to-back murders inside the same residence hall. At first, investigators fear a serial killer is targeting LGBTQ+ students. But as evidence unfolds, suspicion turns closer to home… and one of the witnesses becomes the prime suspect in a case that stunned the...

A quiet family home turned into a crime scene. In the early hours of July 21, 2000, four members of the Flores family were found murdered inside their Pico Rivera house, and the mother was barely alive. Three daughters survived the night — but how? There was no forced entry, nothing stolen, and no clear reason for the slaughter. Detectives searched for answers in a maze of family ties, teenage sec...

He was known as the “Co-Ed Killer.” In the early 1970s, students in Northern California began vanishing while hitchhiking near campus. Behind the disappearances was Edmund Kemper, a towering figure with a history of violence dating back to the murder of his own grandparents at age 15. Over eleven months, Kemper lured six young women into his car, killed them, and mutilated their bodies. He terrori...

She was just weeks from graduating nursing school. The night before, Haley Anderson spent hours laughing and playing board games with friends. The next day, when she didn’t show up at a poetry reading, her friends tracked her phone to a nearby apartment — and found a scene they will never forget. The man who lived there was already gone, on a flight out of the country. In this episode of Murder U,...

A campus wrestling star found strangled in his dorm room. On February 24, 2024, Campbellsville University in Kentucky was shaken by the death of 18-year-old Josiah Kilman. A theology major and standout athlete, Josiah was known for his faith, leadership, and kindness. At first, the case looked like a mystery with no clear answers. But as investigators pieced together the evidence, they uncovered a...

In March 2018, Central Michigan University went into lockdown after reports of gunfire inside a dorm. By the time police reached the scene, two parents were dead — and the suspect was their own son. The killings left the campus reeling and raised urgent questions about mental health, warning signs, and how quickly a crisis can spiral out of control. In this episode of Murder U, we follow the lives...

It was one of the most shocking crimes in University of Miami history. In April 1996, linebacker Marlin Barnes and his close friend Timwanika Lumpkins were discovered brutally beaten inside Barnes’ on-campus apartment. At first, students feared a random predator was on the loose. But as detectives pieced together the evidence, the investigation led them to someone much closer — a jealous ex with a...

On a snowy December night in 2018, 17-year-old Breana Rouhselang left her Mishawaka, Indiana home to meet a classmate—and never came back. By sunrise, her body was found discarded behind a local restaurant, sending shockwaves through her tight-knit community. In this episode of Murder U, we follow Breana’s story from her life as a cheerleader and softball player to the final hours before her death...

In May 1995, Harvard sophomore Trang Ho was found murdered inside her dorm suite — the attack carried out by someone shockingly close to her. The killing stunned the Harvard campus and left classmates asking how such violence could erupt behind dorm room walls.   In this episode of Murder U, we follow Trang’s journey from Vietnam to Harvard, her rise as a standout scholar, and the troubling signs...

In April 2008, 22-year-old college student Lola Martinez was found murdered inside her dorm apartment at Purdue University Fort Wayne. At first, investigators feared a random attack. But the truth was far more shocking: the killer was not a stranger, but her roommate’s mother. In this episode of Murder U, we follow Lola’s story from her childhood in New Mexico to her new life in Indiana, and the o...

A Yale graduate student is gunned down just blocks from his fiancée’s apartment. Kevin Jiang, 26, was an Army veteran, a man of faith, and a rising scholar in environmental science. He had just proposed to the woman he loved, and the couple was planning their future together. But on a February night in 2021, a minor car collision became the opening move in a calculated attack that left Kevin dead...

He agreed to fight in a fraternity boxing match. The following night he was dead. A college student steps into the ring for a charity boxing event—just days before his 21st birthday. Hours later, he suffered a fatal brain injury. The match was organized by a fraternity, held off-campus, and widely attended by students. University officials were aware the event was happening but did not intervene....

A college student vanishes after a late-night stop at a gas station. Nineteen-year-old Aniah Blanchard had just texted a friend when she pulled into a convenience store in Auburn, Alabama—and was never seen again. Her car was found days later, abandoned and damaged, miles away from where she disappeared. As investigators pieced together the timeline, surveillance footage showed a man inside the st...