Dark and Devious

Join us for our very first minisode! This will be a quick rundown of a story in the headlines right now to keep things interesting between our bi-weekly longer episodes. Today, Patrick finally has some good news for us, with details on the discovery of 6-year-old Paislee Shultis who was found alive after being missing for 2.5 years.

Welcome back (or for the first time) to Dark and Devious!!  We are very excited to embark on our second year of providing quality, true crime stories. Our first case back is a big one; the story of Aaron Hernandez and the murder of Odin Lloyd. Aaron Hernandez seemed to have it all, a lucrative football career, a beautiful fiancee, a baby girl, and a million plus dollar house in a well-to...

Aileen Wuornos is said to be one of America’s first female serial killers not in a caregiving facility. Her murders reflected an intense rage and violence that was not associated with women, but it was only targeted at men whom she deemed to be evil. She killed at least 7 men between 1989 and 1990, claiming all were acts of self defense.  But were all the murders truly an act of self def...

In the first few years of the 1990s a string of gruesome murders plagued the vicinity of New York City. Dismembered body parts of men were turning up in garbage bags along the region's highways. When investigators looked into the lives of the deceased men they had two major things in common, they were gay, and they had all been last seen in New York City, many of them at piano bars. The investigat...

On January 10, 2013, Kendrick Johnson, a Black, 17-year-old, junior at the Lowndes High School in Valdosta, Georgia, didn’t return home from school. The next day, he was found dead, his body rolled up in a wrestling mat that was standing upright in a corner of the school gymnasium. While authorities ruled his death an accident, Kendrick’s family sensed foul play and demanded a second autopsy which...

It's no secret that many high profile crime cases often times have psychics tangled up in them in one way or another. Some are genuinely looking to help, while others are looking for exposure. In this episode we will explore a few examples of how psychic and paranormal phenomena actually ended up being correct or even helpful in police investigations. Even if it's all coincidence, some of these st...

It was supposed to be a night of celebration, ringing in New Year's 1998 with good friends in an ideal location. Ben Smart and Olivia Hope were celebrating in Marlborough Sounds, New Zealand. But when the bunk on their rental yacht was taken by other party-goers, they accepted an offer by a charming stranger to sleep aboard his boat. They climbed aboard that stranger’s boat and were never seen aga...

2021 has been a heck of a year with a wide variety of highs and lows. Some of our stories have been intense, others informative, or downright fascinating, but as we ring in the New Year we thought it would be fun to look at a few of 2021's most bumbling criminals. From a bomb scare culprit with a lonely heart to murderers who use their blinkers this year has had its share of strange criminals. Tun...

’Twas the night before Christmas, 2008. The Ortegas — Joseph, 80, and Alice, 70 — were hosting their annual Christmas party at their Covena, California, home, about a half hour east of Los Angeles. There were 25 people in attendance, including Joseph and Alice’s five grown children, their spouses and children. In the dining room, the adults were playing a late-night game of Texas Hold ‘Em while th...

For centuries explorers set out to make their names famous by discovering and mapping the ends of the earth. To be the first to set foot on new land meant a permanent place in the history books and fame throughout their lifetime. But the reality of exploring was dangerous and today's episode documents two failed polar expeditions; the quest for the Northwest Passage in 1845 by Sir John Franklin an...

On the morning of March 12th, 2011, the opening employee to the Lululemon store in Bethesda, Maryland, walked into a bloodbath. Inside the store, 2 of her coworkers were found bound and gagged. One of the employees, 30-year-old Jayna Murray had been stabbed over 330 times. Her coworker, Brittany Norwood was somehow able to survive the attack. But in the days following the murder, the investigators...

There are few brands known around the world that are as well known and respected than Gucci. The multi-billion dollar company has a long history of creative excellence, but there is something else they are known for, and that's the shocking murder of one of the Gucci heirs. With the new biopic "House of Gucci" out in theaters starring heavy hitting stars like Lady Gaga and Adam Driver, it's import...

The story of Pocahontas and her romance with John Smith is a major part of North America’s mythology. Their "love story" is even the subject of the popular 1995 animated Disney film, Pocahontas.  But the story many of us know from childhood is almost entirely fabricated. Not much is known about this memorable woman, yet so many people know her name. So who was Pocahontas, really? Was she actu...

We finally reached a very cool milestone of being listened to in all 50 states! Our last hold out was Delaware, so to celebrate we looked into the dark and devious side of the state and found a treasure trove of fascinating tales. We have a high profile, philandering lawyer, a jealous mistress with a sweet tooth, and a sadistic serial killer all served up on this buffet of true crime. 

Monique’s family describes her as a hard-working mom who's world revolved around her baby girls. Friends of hers described her as having a heart of gold and being an all-around genuine person, someone that people loved to be around. In 2018 she began working as a realtor for a local real estate firm, Kris Lindahl Real Estate. Her social media posts were filled with Kris Lindahl promotional photos...

Just because the calendar flipped over to November doesn't mean we have to put away the spooky subjects. Curses have been a part of history practically from the dawn of time and we're going to discuss curse culture and a few examples of supposed real life cursed objects. James Dean's car, Busby's chair, and Annabelle the doll all have rumors of curses around them. Tune in to hear the full stories...

Halloween is one of the oldest traditions in the world and has been thought of for centuries as a holiday marking the relationship between the living and the dead. The observance evolved from ancient rituals marking the transition from summer to winter, thereby associating it with transformation, which is still a central theme of the holiday today. Even though some aspects of the holiday may seem...

In Native cultures all around the Great Lakes there is a story of a frightening spirit called the Wendigo. The Wendigo has reared its head many times, sometimes being cited as the cause of cannibalism incidents or as a harbinger of death. Some accounts even consider it as a Bigfoot-like creature that roams the north woods. Is there really an evil spirit out there, or is it all in our heads? Tune i...

Stories of vampires can be found in nearly every culture across the globe.  Contrary to Western beliefs, Vampires have been around since long before Bram Stoker‘s ' Dracula' popularized them. The history of vampires is a long and dark.  Join us as we take a deep dive into the historical origins of the rise and popularization of vampires and vampirism in the western world.

To kick off the month of "Spook-tober" it would only be appropriate to start things off with some good old fashioned ghost stories. But these aren't your typical tales you've heard a thousand times before. Today, we're talking about hauntings of and by famous figures. We have stories of Joan Rivers, Sharon Tate, Joan Crawford, and Amy Winehouse. Tune in and find out who is the haunted and who may...

In honor of the Hispanic community in the US for Hispanic Heritage Month, this week we will be discussing the 1984 San Ysidro McDonald's mass shooting and the tragic story of innocent lives taken. Mass shootings were not unheard of in 1984, but they were far from common.  Most incidents with multiple deaths with three or more victims were usually the result of family killings, street gang act...

In 1960s St. Paul, there were few nicer places to start a family than the Highland Park neighborhood. It was a peaceful community where neighbors still left their doors unlocked and children played in the streets. But on a snowy March day in 1963, all of that changed when a beloved homemaker, Carol Thompson, was brutally attacked in her own home. Her murder shook Minnesota to the core and the cove...

Have you ever told a lie that just got way out of control? Like you had to keep upping the ante until the whole thing just blew up in your face? No? Well imagine you did. Now imagine your lie kept escalating to the point where people were literally committing human sacrifices and drinking blood. That absolutely occurred when a couple of fraudulent men in the 1960s hatched a devious plan that ended...

The author Agatha Christie is one of the most recognizable names in literature across the world, known for such classic mysteries as "And Then There Were None" and "Murder on the Orient Express." But many people don't know that Mrs. Christie had a real life mystery of her own. In December of 1926, in the wake of her mother's death and marital problems, she disappeared. The vanishing became a sensa...

During the 1910s and the 1920s the newly discovered element of radium made gleaming headlines across North America as the fresh face of beauty, and a wonder drug within the medical community. From body lotion, food products, makeup applications, tonic water, and glow in the dark watch dials; the popular new element shined bright in the otherwise dark years of the First World War. Meanwhile, hundre...