Crimes of Passion

Cecilia Rodriguez, 27, endured years of documented abuse at the hands of her boyfriend Juan Antonio Salinas III in Amarillo, Texas. On February 3, 2024, Salinas called 911 claiming she shot herself, but detectives weren't convinced. Get the full story on this episode of Crimes of Passion with Law&Crime’s Sierra Gillespie. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Kelly-Jien Warner-Miller (known as "K.J."), 42, vanished in spring 2019 after moving in with her boyfriend Wade Allen in Sturgis, Michigan. After a tip led police to Allen's apartment, officers made a horrifying discovery. Get the full story on this episode of Crimes of Passion with Law&Crime’s Sierra Gillespie. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Emily Schwarz, 22, and her husband Joseph Ferlazzo, 41, traveled to Bolton, Vermont in October 2021 to celebrate their one-year anniversary, but Emily never came home. Joseph shot her twice in the head using a red throw pillow to muffle the gunshots, dismembered her body, and spent days lying to family before a friend called 911. A Vermont jury convicted him of first-degree murder, sentencing him...

Lorenzen Wright, beloved former NBA star and Memphis hometown hero, was shot to death in the early morning hours of July 19, 2010, his body discovered nine days later in a wooded area of southeast Memphis. Find out what happened next on this episode of Crimes of Passion with Sierra Gillespie, presented by Law&Crime. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Nineteen-Year-Old Lea Porter visited a former high school friend, Christopher Waide, at his Westminster, Colorado apartment in June 2014 and was never seen again. When her family grew suspicious, her brother Maxx lured Waide to a park gazebo under the guise of a tarot card reading to find Lea, secretly recording their conversation. Waide initially denied knowing anything but then admitted to stran...

Following the end of their six-month relationship in April 2023, 18-year-old Spencer Pearson began a relentless campaign of stalking and harassment against his ex-girlfriend, 17-year-old Madison Schemitz. On June 3, 2023, Pearson tracked Schemitz to Mr. Chubby’s Wings in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida, where he waited in the parking lot to launch a premeditated ambush — an attack Schemitz would surviv...

A father’s reckless plea for reconciliation masked a sinister plot that turned his own children into unwitting accomplices. Behind a window left open in the dead of night, Trevor Summers transformed a suburban home into a prison, launching a harrowing 55-hour odyssey of obsession and terror. While his 14-year-old daughter was forced to drive her siblings into the darkness, a mother fought to survi...

Neighbors noticed the Zotto house had fallen strangely quiet, though the family car remained parked in the driveway. Amber Zotto's mom hadn't heard from her in days either, which prompted a welfare check. While a chilling note sat on the counter, a frantic search eventually led investigators to the garage, where a heavy plastic bin held a secret that changed everything. Find out what happened next...

A California man was found in a pile of clothes in his own driveway just two weeks after being discharged from the hospital. While Tom Merriman was in the hospital, his stepdaughter Jade Janks went to his house to clean and made a shocking discovery. Merriman apparently had a screensaver on his computer of a photo — a photo Janks believed was her. Find out what happened next on this episode of Cri...

Ali Abulaban was a popular TikToker whose charismatic digital persona masked a disturbing history of domestic control and surveillance. After his estranged wife Ana sought to start a new life, the internal tension between his viral fame and private possessiveness reached a tragic breaking point. The reality of the situation came to light when Ali utilized a hidden listening device to track Ana’s w...

A Minnesota mom vanished without a trace just moments after leaving her two children at a Winona daycare. That same morning, her sister grew alarmed when their normally active text thread went silent in the middle of a conversation. By the following day, police had launched a full search for the 26-year-old mother. What they uncovered would turn a missing-persons case into a chilling mystery. Law&...

A 65-second gap on a recorded 911 line is all it took to change two lives forever. It began with a frantic plea from Heidi Firkus, reporting a home intruder, before the line erupted in gunfire. When the phone was picked up again, it was her husband, Nick Firkus, claiming they had both been shot. While Heidi didn't survive the encounter, Nick walked away with a wound and a description of a mystery...

A 20-year-old Michigan woman and her boyfriend crashed into a sign outside the Golden Corral after they were ambushed by gunfire. Investigators said Alicia Jackson-Skaggs was shot in the head, and her boyfriend, the driver, crashed when trying to flee to safety. Detectives quickly uncovered the story after discovering that Alicia's ex-boyfriend, Deondre McLilly, had an obsessive pattern of stalkin...

In the small town of Pittsfield, Wisconsin, Victoria Prokopovitz vanished without a trace one April night in 2013, leaving behind her personal belongings and a family desperate for answers. As the missing persons case grew cold, investigators began to piece together a narrative of domestic tension and a "no-body" homicide that would eventually lead to a high-stakes courtroom battle. On this episod...

Emma Walker was a vibrant and kind-hearted teenager from Knoxville, Tennessee, known for her bright personality and dedication to her school and community. A student at Central High School, she was an active cheerleader who loved spending time with friends, supporting her team, and making people laugh. On a cold November night, gunshots barreled through the walls of Walker’s room while she laid in...

Professional cyclist Anna Moriah “Mo” Wilson was staying at a friend’s Texas apartment before a race in May 2022. After going swimming and to dinner with fellow cyclist Colin Strickland, he dropped her off—minutes before she was found fatally shot later that night. What really happened to Mo Wilson on that tragic night? Watch free, only on Spotify. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone...

In August 2011, 21-year-old Katelyn Markham vanished just days before her birthday. Her fiancé, John Carter, called 911 to report her missing less than 24 hours after she was last seen. Instead of preparing for a celebration, Markham’s loved ones launched an urgent search—but found no trace of her. Over the next decade, investigators repeatedly questioned Carter, scrutinizing inconsistencies in hi...

A Florida man frantically called 911 after his neighbor rushed to his home on a late Sunday night. Ashley Benefield told him she shot her husband, Doug Benefield, during an argument while they were packing her things to move to Maryland. Doug had recently filed for divorce after a four-year marriage seemingly crumbled. Weeks after the shooting, Ashley was charged with Doug's murder but claimed sel...

A Florida teen vanished in October 2021 shortly after he began talking to a girl from his high school in Miramar. Eighteen-year-old Dwight "DJ" Grant never came home after he went to hang out with one of his classmates Christie Parisien. Two days later investigators found the body of Grant in the bushes behind an apartment complex. Police soon set their sights on Parisien and two of Grant's other...

In our final episode, we take a look back at the trial against Scott Peterson, the moment Amber Frey took the stand, and what’s happened in the case in the two decades since Laci Peterson and her unborn son Conner first went missing.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On Christmas Eve twenty years ago, a pregnant woman vanished from her Modesto, California, neighborhood. Relentless media coverage pulled at every thread in her case — most notably, her husband’s strange behavior. Decades since her body, and the body of her unborn son, were found in the San Francisco Bay, we’re still asking: Did Scott Peterson kill his wife?  Learn more about your ad choices. Visi...

By September 2015, Brenda has masterminded a murder. She secures multiple accomplices and a solid alibi. But Brenda’s plan isn’t as airtight as she thinks. As investigators close in, a murder-for-hire leads to an international manhunt.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

When the man of her dreams broke up with her — twice — Brenda Delgado turned to cyberstalking and staging “chance” run-ins to keep him in her life. But she couldn’t stop him from moving on. When Ricky Paniagua started dating another woman, Brenda began plotting a murder. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Fifteen-year-old Kirsten Costas was popular, athletic, and a cheerleader. She was everything fellow classmate Bernadette Protti wanted to be. And when Bernadette couldn’t get the attention she wanted from Kirsten, she killed her. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Over the ages, arsenic has had many lives — beauty fad, household product, medical prescription… and weapon of choice wielded by killers everywhere from Alabama to ancient Rome. Brine your turkey, knead your dough, and listen to our Thanksgiving Special on the regime-changing, assassination-aiding King of Poisons. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices