Daily Crime and Justice | Daily Trial Coverage, Murder Cases, and True Crime News

Reid Carter concludes the John Lennon assassination special. Mark David Chapman's defense planned an insanity defense—paranoid schizophrenia, delusions, the little people in his walls. But on June 22, 1981, Chapman told Judge Dennis Edwards that God ordered him to plead guilty. His attorney objected. Chapman didn't care. Sentenced to 20-years-to-life. August 2025: His fourteenth parole denial. The...

Reid Carter examines the 45th anniversary of John Lennon's assassination. December 8, 1980: Mark David Chapman waited outside the Dakota building all day, got Lennon's autograph at 5pm, then shot him four times in the back at 10:50pm. The 25-year-old security guard from Hawaii traveled to New York twice—first in October, losing his nerve, then returning December 6th with hollow-point bullets. Hour...

Reid Carter breaks down the FBI's stunning arrest of a Virginia anarchist in connection with the January 6 pipe bombings that baffled investigators for nearly five years - and why the bureau could have caught him years ago. Michael Jordan's antitrust battle against NASCAR heats up as emails reveal executives telling teams to "sign or lose your charters" - attorney Jeffrey Kessler hammers home "onl...

Reid Carter covers fiery Day 2 testimony as Denny Hamlin called NASCAR's charter agreement his team's "death certificate" and accused the league of dictating what drivers say publicly. Michael Jordan grinned as his co-owner went to verbal combat with NASCAR's attorney. Internal documents revealed executives panicked over a "LIV Golf-type" breakaway threat. One year ago today, Luigi Mangione allege...

Reid Carter covers three blockbuster trials dominating the week. Luigi Mangione's defense argues cops illegally searched his backpack without a warrant - trying to exclude the gun and journal where he allegedly wrote about wanting to "wack" a health insurance executive. Michael Jordan's presence at his NASCAR antitrust trial caused chaos as jurors admitted they couldn't be fair because "I like Mik...

Reid Carter covers three celebrity legal battles making headlines. Michael Jordan arrived at federal court Monday as his antitrust lawsuit against NASCAR began - leaked communications reveal executives called Hall of Fame owners "stupid rednecks" who should be "flogged." Luigi Mangione watched surveillance footage of himself killing UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson as his defense fights to supp...

Reid Carter returns from the Thanksgiving break as courts reopen across America. Anna Kepner, 18, found dead on Carnival cruise ship—death certificate confirms mechanical asphyxiation by another person. Her 16-year-old stepbrother identified as suspect. Body was concealed under the bed. Former Marine Corps recruiter Ricardo Castillo sentenced to 225 months after breaking into Michigan home with in...

Reid Carter concludes the D.B. Cooper special with the parade of suspects who haunted the FBI for five decades. Richard Floyd McCoy pulled an identical hijacking five months later—same plane, same method—but didn't match the description. Kenneth Christiansen worked for Northwest Orient, bought a house with cash, and on his deathbed told his brother there was 'something you should know.' Robert Rac...

Reid Carter explores America's only unsolved airline hijacking—54 years ago this week. November 24, 1971: A man calling himself Dan Cooper boarded Northwest Orient Flight 305 in Portland, showed flight attendant Florence Schaffner a bomb, and demanded $200,000 and four parachutes. After releasing 36 passengers in Seattle, Cooper ordered the crew to fly toward Mexico at 10,000 feet. Somewhere over...

Reid Carter examines the case that changed how America views maternal mental illness. June 20, 2001, Houston. Andrea Yates, suffering severe postpartum psychosis, drowned her five children one by one in the bathtub. Noah, seven. John, five. Paul, three. Luke, two. Mary, six months. Doctors warned her and husband Rusty not to have more children—she'd had two suicide attempts, multiple hospitalizati...

Reid Carter takes a dark look at Thanksgiving murders. Joel Guy Jr. came home for Thanksgiving 2016 with a notebook titled "Assets." His parents were retiring, cutting him off financially. Day after turkey dinner, he stabbed his father 42 times, his mother 31 times. Dismembered both. Left mother's head boiling in a pot on the stove. Torsos dissolving in acid-filled plastic bins. Prosecutors called...

Reid Carter covers Susan Smith's parole hearing from last November that brought the 1994 case back into America's spotlight. Smith, serving life for drowning her sons Michael, three, and Alexander, fourteen months, begged for release after thirty years. Claimed God forgave her. Ex-husband David Smith testified against her, wearing photo of his dead boys on his lapel. Parole board unanimously denie...

Reid Carter concludes the Scott Peterson case. April 13, 2003—baby Conner's body washed ashore at Point Isabel, one mile from where Scott went fishing. April 14—Laci's body found nearby. Scott arrested April 18 near San Diego with blonde hair, $15,000 cash, survival gear. November 2004 trial—six months, no physical evidence, all circumstantial. Jury convicted him: first-degree murder for Laci, sec...

Reid Carter begins the Scott Peterson case with Christmas Eve 2002. Laci Peterson, twenty-seven years old and eight months pregnant, disappeared from her Modesto home. Husband Scott claimed he went fishing ninety miles away, came home to empty house. But Scott had a secret. November 20th, he met Amber Frey, told her he was single. December 9th, told Amber he was a "widower" and this would be his f...

Reid Carter concludes the Casey Anthony case with the trial that divided America. May 2011: Prosecutors argued Casey chloroformed Caylee, applied duct tape, dumped her body to live the beautiful life. Defense attorney Jose Baez shocked the courtroom—claimed Caylee drowned in the family pool, George Anthony covered it up, sexually abused Casey since age eight. Six weeks of testimony. July 5, 2011:...

Reid Carter begins the Casey Anthony series with the case that enraged America. June 16, 2008: Two-year-old Caylee Anthony disappears from her Orlando home. Her mother Casey doesn't report it. Instead, she parties at nightclubs, gets a "Beautiful Life" tattoo, and tells elaborate lies about a nanny named Zanny. Thirty-one days pass. Casey's mother Cindy finally calls 911: "It smells like there's b...

Reid Carter concludes the Manson series examining fifty-six years of aftermath. August 1969 murders ended the peace-and-love era—Hollywood locked doors, bought guns, stopped trusting strangers. Victims' families attended every parole hearing for decades—Debra Tate fought to keep killers imprisoned until her death in 2024. Manson spent forty-six years in prison conducting interviews, releasing albu...

Reid Carter covers the trial that shocked America. December 1969: Susan Atkins confessed to cellmate—described stabbing Sharon Tate, tasting her blood. August 1970: Trial began with Manson carving X into forehead—"I have X'd myself from your world." His three female followers carved matching X's. Girls giggled during testimony, sang Manson's songs, disrupted proceedings daily. President Nixon decl...

Reid Carter examines the murders that ended the 1960s. August 9, 1969: Charles Manson sent four followers to 10050 Cielo Drive in Benedict Canyon with orders to kill everyone inside. Sharon Tate, eight-and-a-half months pregnant, begged for her baby's life—stabbed sixteen times. Jay Sebring, Abigail Folger, Wojciech Frykowski also murdered. Eighteen-year-old Steven Parent shot in his car trying to...

Reid Carter concludes the Ted Bundy series with his January 24, 1989 execution at Florida State Prison. Bundy spent final night chain-smoking, refusing last meal, meeting with his mother for last time. 7:00 AM: Strapped into Old Sparky—Florida's electric chair. Last words: "Jim and Fred, I'd like you to give my love to my family and friends." 7:16 AM: 2,000 volts sent through his body for one minu...

Reid Carter examines Ted Bundy's nine years on death row where he weaponized victim information for execution delays. 1980: Married Carole Ann Boone who smuggled his sperm from prison—daughter Rosa born October 1982. 1984: Bundy started confessing to detectives, revealing burial sites and murder details only the killer would know. Admitted to 30 murders but investigators believe actual count excee...

Reid Carter covers Ted Bundy's 1979 trial for murdering two Florida State University sorority sisters. June 25, 1979: Bundy acted as his own attorney—cross-examining witnesses, making objections, addressing the jury directly. Prosecution presented Nita Neary who saw Bundy leaving Chi Omega sorority house at 3 AM. Forensic odontologist Richard Souviron testified bite marks on Lisa Levy's buttock ma...

Reid Carter examines Ted Bundy's transformation from law student to serial killer who murdered at least 30 young women across seven states. January 1974: Linda Ann Healy vanished from her Seattle basement bedroom—blood-soaked pillowcase left behind. Bundy targeted college women who resembled his ex-girlfriend with long dark hair parted in middle. July 1974: Janice Ott and Denise Naslund abducted f...

Reid Carter covers North Carolina jury awarding wife $1.75 million after TikTok influencer Brenay Kennard with 3 million followers had affair with her husband—one of only six states allowing "alienation of affection" lawsuits. Wild trial featured Kennard representing herself, cross-examining victim about her miscarriage while gallery gasped. Husband arrested for bringing gun to courthouse. Plus: J...

Reid Carter covers the crimes that have us all asking what the hell is going on. Quick Diddy update: caught drinking prison moonshine despite claiming sobriety. Florida teen Jarrell Jones ran over pedestrian's head repeatedly, then Googled "ways to cover up a hit n run." Pennsylvania lawyer's son Dalton Janiczek mowed down police officer with $186,000 Mercedes G-Wagon—struck him four times includi...