Dark Downeast

On October 7, 1966, the wealthy heiress Doris Duke hit and killed her friend Eduardo Tirella while behind the wheel of a rented car. Whether his death was an accident or an intentional act of murder, is still up for debate nearly 60 years later. View source material and photos for this episode at: darkdowneast.com/eduardotirella   Dark Downeast is an audiochuck and Kylie Media production hosted by...

It wasn’t unusual for Celeste Doghmi to go long stretches of time without talking to her friends and family. She’d lost touch with her mother and many of her close friends, but as far as they could tell by posts on social media, her life was busy with a new baby and starting college classes.  But when Celeste’s mother in Germany received a phone call in the spring of 2023, she learned that Celeste...

When Linda Rayner left for a walk in Hammonasset Beach State Park in the summer of 1992, she was seeking the beauty and peace that only the ocean can bring. Instead, she was brutally attacked by an unknown assailant and her case has remained unsolved ever since. In the thirty-plus years since her death, investigators have identified at least one suspect… But her loved ones are still waiting for th...

When a woman was found murdered in her Springfield, Massachusetts apartment during the spring of 1984, it only took a matter of days to zero in on a suspect and secure an arrest. And then at trial, a jury decided Edward Wright was guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.  The New England Innocence Project has since taken up his case. So, who really killed Penny Anderson? Was it the man serving a life sen...

Homelessness, substance use disorder, and mental health challenges create significant barriers in missing persons cases, often causing individuals to fall through the cracks and their families fighting to get their names and stories heard.  Ryan Blagojevic disappeared without a trace in 2013 and his sister Eve continues the search to find him. The circumstances of his life at the time he went miss...

Lyda Jameson was 73 years old when her son found her lying in bed without a pulse one morning in March of 1976. First responders at the scene believed she died of natural causes… until they noticed signs of a possible homicide. Decades later, DNA evidence led to an arrest, and yet someone has still gotten away with murder. View source material and photos for this episode at: darkdowneast.com/lydaj...

After a fire in a Brockton, Massachusetts neighborhood killed a man and woman in their own home, the investigation zeroed in on two people – two children – who had escaped the blaze unharmed. View source material and photos for this episode at: https://darkdowneast.com/jimmyandannechoy    Dark Downeast is an audiochuck and Kylie Media production hosted by Kylie Low. Follow @darkdowneast on Instagr...

Park Predators is back and Delia D’Ambra is staying in the parks all year long, making Park Predators now a WEEKLY audiochuck podcast with new episodes every Tuesday!  In May 2008 a woman's lifeless body is found in a mess of holly bushes in Queen's Park in Glasgow, Scotland. Law enforcement is left with a bizarre string of clues and a very elusive suspect until finally, justice is served. View so...

When 16-year-old Rosa Maria Valentin didn’t return home from work in Hartford, Connecticut one July night in 1986, her family jumped into action to try and find her. But at every turn, the family’s fears were dismissed and Rosa was regarded as a runaway…That is, until more than a year later when another teenage girl disappeared under similar circumstances.  If you have any information about the di...

For almost fifty years, the murders of two people in the tiny northern Vermont village of Hardwick have gone unsolved. The rumors in town ran almost as rampant as the fear, but whether any of the chatter about what happened to the victims is true remains to be seen nearly five decades later.  If you have information relating to the 1977 homicides of Joan Gray Rogers or Bernard Ewen, please contact...

Over 30 years have gone by without answers for the violent death of David Pickett on a quiet New England beach. When an investigation by police failed to get justice, David’s sister decided to seek justice on her own terms… Even if the suspect was her own blood. If you have information regarding the unsolved homicide of David Pickett, please contact the New Hampshire Cold Case Unit. You can do so ...

For over 20 years, the Smolinski Family has been searching for their son and brother, Billy, who one afternoon in August of 2004 asked his neighbor to watch his dog and then was never seen again. The case is not without leads or suspects, but the biggest question of all has yet to be answered: Where is Billy?  If you have information relating to the disappearance of Billy Smolinski Jr. please call...

40 years have passed since 14-year-old Terry Duran left her home in Gorham, Maine for some fun on one of the last weekends of summer before she started high school. She told her parents she’d be home Sunday night, but Terry never returned. When her body was discovered weeks later, there was no doubt her death was a homicide, but who would kill this teenage girl and why?  This case has seen two arr...

Investigators who first worked the 1971 homicide case of Natalie Scheublin in Bedford, Massachusetts considered every possible theory for her death – kidnapping for ransom, burglary gone wrong, a random attack in an otherwise quiet community – and yet nothing led police to the truth. For years, Natalie’s family waited for answers until decades later, forensic technology finally identified a suspec...

When friends Cynthia Kane-Clark and Dawn Shippee both turned up the victims of homicide, one after the other, in the same two month span, investigators were faced with a complex investigation. It’s now been over 20 years since the two women were killed in neighboring Rhode Island towns and police are still looking for answers.  If you have information relating to the murder of Cyndi Kane-Clark or...

When a teenager disappeared from Brattleboro, Vermont, hours before the wind, rain, and damaging floods of a major natural disaster devastated the state, it took days before he was finally reported missing and initial search efforts were hindered by ongoing storm recovery. Now as the case approaches another anniversary in 2024, loved ones are still waiting for the information that could lead them...

From the location of her car, to the condition of her body, to the timeline of disappearance until discovery, Krystal Lee Higgins’ sister feels that so much of the case doesn't quite add up to an accidental death. So, we’re peeling back the layers of this case even further with the help of experts.  If you haven’t already, go back and listen to Part 1 of this story. View source material and photos...

It’s been 20 years since 17-year old Krystal Lee Higgins disappeared from her downeast Maine town only to be found dead a week later. Her death was ruled an accident, but her sister has questioned that ruling since day one.  This is Part 1 of Krystal's story. Part 2 will be out next week on Dark Downeast. View source material and photos for this episode at: darkdowneast.com/krystalleehiggins-pt1  ...

During the late 80s and early 90s, multiple women from Hartford, Connecticut were found dead in remote areas of the city and surrounding towns. After identifying a suspect in one of the cases and bringing it all the way to trial, police thought they might have a serial killer on their hands. But all the suspicion in the world was proven false when years later advanced DNA analysis challenged what...

In the last episode of Dark Downeast, you heard the story of Denise Hart and her still unsolved homicide in Vermont. I mentioned in that episode the case of another woman who grew up in the same city and around the same people as Denise. So, that’s the story I’m going to tell you today – the story of a young mother who walked out the door and got into a waiting vehicle with someone she and her fam...

Whenever Denise Lynette Hart was away from her young son, she called home every day, multiple times a day to check on him. But then one January night in 2015 those calls stopped. When Denise's family tried to report her missing, they got the runaround, and no one would know where Denise was until almost a year later when the missing persons case became a homicide investigation. If you have any inf...

For months, Frank Bowen's daughters complained of strange noises and odd happenings in their Pepperell, Massachusetts home. Frank was sure it was just their imaginations, until an intruder took the entire family hostage one night in December of 1986. When the suspect was released on bail, he was free to commit even more crimes, eventually escalating to murder. View source material and photos for t...

It’s been more than 45 years since John Donaldson was killed while sitting in his parked car just yards away from the safety of his own home in Harvard, Massachusetts. It took years for investigators to build a case and arrest a suspect, but it would all prove to be a distraction from the truth. Now, Johnny’s siblings are taking up their little brother’s case one last time in hopes of finally unco...

During the winter of 1941, the death of Philip Wendel Boyce found in a downtown Portland, Maine alleyway left investigators divided by two very different theories: Was it an accident or was it murder?  Every once in a while, I like to go way, way back and unearth cases that might otherwise be lost with time. Given its age and the circumstances you’re about to hear, it’s unlikely that any investiga...

During a nearly 18-month span beginning the winter of 2003, Audrey Lynn Harris, Christine Dumont, and Stacie Goulet disappeared without a trace from Woonsocket, Rhode Island, leaving their families and investigators searching for answers. It wasn’t until detectives received an anonymous voicemail that the pieces finally came together in what would later be referred to as one of the most horrific h...