Murder, She Told

1989 - Worcester, Massachusetts. June 5, 1989, was supposed to be a day of celebration for 17-year-old Nereida “Nettie” Melendez. The responsible and ambitious teenager was set to graduate from high school and begin the next chapter of her life. But when Nettie failed to appear at her graduation ceremony, her family immediately knew something was wrong. Their worst fears were realized the followin...

2019 - Manchester, NH. On December 31st, 2021, the Manchester, NH police went to the media with an alarming press release: a little girl named Harmony Montgomery was missing, and she hadn't been seen in 2 years. In 2024, her father, Adam Montgomery, was convicted of second degree murder for the death of his daughter. In June of 2026, there was a major update in Adam's conviction. This is what you...

1977 - Elwood, Illinois. In September 1977, 84-year-old Alice Sturm was murdered in her bed inside her home in Elwood, Illinois. Suspicion quickly fell on Alice’s live-in granddaughter, Sheila, and her friend, Ernest Stanberry. But almost as quickly as the charges were filed, they were dropped — and Alice’s case quietly faded into obscurity for decades. What investigators didn’t know at the time w...

1987 - Westbrook, Maine. In October of 1987, 23-year-old Alice Hawkes was brutally murdered inside the apartment she shared with her boyfriend in Westbrook, Maine. Her killer left her dying on the bathroom floor, locked the door behind them, and disappeared into the night. For nearly four decades, Alice’s case remained unsolved. But now, after 39 years of unanswered questions, there has been an ar...

1990 - Springfield, Massachusetts. On the morning after Christmas in 1990, a parks employee at Blunt Park in Springfield, MA, made a grim discovery: the body of 17-year-old Shana Renee Price. Initially, police suspected she had been shot, but an autopsy later revealed the brutal truth behind her death. Shana was a young mother to a baby boy, living a vibrant life surrounded by her friends and fami...

1984 - Windham, New Hampshire 25-year-old Chris Bird was missing. According to his friend, Richard Brunt, he was last seen at DQ Stables after the pair returned from a camping trip in July of 1984. Days later, Chris's car was found abandoned at a nearby mall. Chris was nowhere to be found. But Richard Brunt was hiding a violent past. Years earlier, he had been convicted of murdering his partner in...

1984 - Windham, New Hampshire 1975 - Plantation, Florida When 25-year-old Chris Bird didn't return home after a camping trip in New Hampshire with a friend in July of 1984, alarm bells began to ring. Days later, his car was found abandoned at a nearby mall with a flat tire-Chris was nowhere to be found. Nearly a decade earlier, on New Year's Day in 1975, the Broward County Sheriff's Office in sout...

Listen to My Victorian Nightmare, a podcast about mysterious deaths, morbid fascinations, true crime and disturbing stories from the Victorian era. This preview is from episode 82, “Madame Vesta la Viesta’s Galactic Love Affairs & The Meek’s Family Murders.” In this episode, Genevieve discussed the eccentric Madame Vesta la Viesta, the galactic mystic and clairvoyant, suicidal ghosts, mediums in s...

1993. Chelmsford, Massachusetts. 23-year-old Deborah Lynne Bates, known as Debbie, was trying to start over after leaving her abusive ex, George, with whom she shared a child. She wasn't perfect, but she was determined to build a better life. One February night in 1993, seven months pregnant, Debbie stepped out of her apartment for a pack of cigarettes and vanished. She never came home. Police tre...

Back in November 2024, I spoke with investigative genetic genealogist Cairenn Binder of Ramapo College about the basics of investigative genetic genealogy and how it helps solve cold cases and restore the names of unidentified people. Now, in an interview with Laurah Norton of The Fall Line, Cairenn returns to discuss a recent development that has shaken the field. Changes to the terms of service...

1975 - Concord, New Hampshire. In May 1975, a rent collector knocked on the door of 22-year-old Judith Lord’s apartment. There was no answer—only the sound of her baby crying. When he went inside, he found Judy dead in her upstairs bedroom. From the beginning, police had suspects. The case moved quickly. An arrest felt imminent. But then, a single scientific conclusion shifted the trajectory of th...

1937 - Mexico, Missouri On the eve of Thanksgiving in 1937, 46-year-old Margaret Mortimer, who went by Peggy, was just steps from her front door when she was attacked and killed by an unknown assailant. Investigators found few clues and no obvious suspects, despite a city-wide manhunt. And as early leads faded, local police turned to Ira Cooper, the St. Louis Police Department’s first Black lieute...

1981 - Winchendon, Massachusetts. On January 30, 1981, 19-year-old Nancy Williams picked up a last-minute shift at the Cumberland Farms in Winchendon, Massachusetts. Just two hours before closing, an unknown assailant entered the store, robbed it, and brutally stabbed Nancy, leaving her for dead behind the counter. The crime stunned locals, who struggled to believe something so violent could happe...

1963 - Wytopitlock, Maine. In April of 1963, a violent discovery was made inside a tiny, one-room cabin in the woods off Route 2A in Aroostook County. 68-year-old Emil Andrew Martens was found brutally beaten to death, setting off a brief and fragmented investigation that produced a swirl of suspects, rumors, and unanswered questions. Today, Emil Martens’ name does not appear on any official unsol...

This special episode to kick off the New Year brings together fellow true crime podcasters Aaron Habel of Generation Why, and Lucy Fitzgerald from Wine & Crime for a wide-ranging, candid conversation. We dive into our work as podcasters, the very real flaws of the justice system, debate the possibility of quantifiable alien activity, relive Kristen's hilarious and slightly surreal encounter in Ire...

Tis the season for true crime chaos! Hosts Kristen Seavey from Murder, She Told, Javier Leiva from PRETEND, and Shaun from Sins & Survivors join forces to explore Christmas crimes gone horribly wrong. From a bath salts-fueled home decorator in suburban Ohio to a serial burglar stealing Robert De Niro's wrapped presents right from under his tree, these real-life Grinches prove that the holidays bri...

Special bonus episode! Kristen is joined by fellow true crime podcasters Javier Leva from Pretend, and Shaun from Sins and Survivors for a special "Podcasters on Podcasters" style crossover conversation where we let our guard down and talk shop. Follow Pretend and Sins and Survivors wherever you're listening now. Support the show: ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.murdershetold.com/support⁠⁠⁠⁠ Instagram: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@mur...

1990 - Portland, Maine.  When Portland Police responded to a call of a man lying on the sidewalk in front of Pine Street Variety on a chilly November night in 1990, they initially assumed he’d simply passed out after drinking. But 26-year-old Scott Sampson—a father of two young boys—was already dead, and had been for hours, with no one calling for help. 35 years have passed, yet Scott’s sister rem...

1989 - Concord, New Hampshire. When the bouncer at Take Five Music Hall in Concord, NH saw 21-year-old David Braley darting into the woods after being kicked out, he thought little of it and moved on. But that fleeting glimpse would turn out to be the last time anyone saw David alive. Months of frantic searching ended on a cool spring day in 1990, when a body appeared along the Merrimack River. Da...

2012 - Cambridge, Massachusetts. On a June evening in 2012, 16-year-old Charlene Holmes, who went by Chay, was exactly where she was supposed to be—walking home with friends in her own neighborhood in Cambridge—when a car crept down Willow Street. Moments later, shots rang out. She wasn’t the intended target. She was a bright, hopeful teenager caught in someone else’s crossfire. More than a decade...

This week I wanted to bring you a spooky and fun Halloween season bonus from my friend, Laurah Norton of The Fall Line.  This is One Strange Thing: a podcast that brings you witty true stories of ghost sightings, strange disappearances, supernatural events and famous crypitds, creatures, and lore from small town America.  This episode is The Connecticut Witch: “In Southwestern Connecticut, in a li...

1977 - Monroe, Connecticut UPDATE: This week brought a major development in the long-unsolved murder of 8-year-old Renee Freer, who was brutally killed behind her home in Monroe, Connecticut, in June 1977. After nearly 50 years, Renee's case has taken a stunning turn—and it’s not the resolution anyone wanted. The original episode on Renee Freer was released on March 25, 2025 in collaboration with...

Holden, Maine - 1983 In the summer of 1983, Kitty Collins Wardwell vanished after a fight with her much older boyfriend and business partner, Francis ‘Frank’ Julian. Kitty was only weeks away from turning 30—ambitious, full of plans, and then, without warning... she disappeared. For years, her family searched and speculated. Rumors spread, and the truth seemed to slip further away with every passi...

1974 - Swampscott, Massachusetts. In the shadows of the early-December afternoon, somebody with a baseball bat beat the life out of 15-year-old Henry Bedard Jr. He had been on his way home to wrap a Christmas gift, and was found the following day in a well-travelled patch of woods that was popular amongst the town’s youth. Henry was a good kid from a good family, who, to this day, still can’t unde...

1996 - Milo, Maine. On a cool April day in 1996, 32-year-old Michael Madore disappeared without a trace. He left behind everything—his possessions, his beloved dogs, and a letter claiming he was bound for Alaska to live out a childhood dream of becoming a “mountain man” like Grizzly Adams. But that dream was only ever a fantasy. The circumstances Mike left behind painted a confusing picture, and t...