Murdered and Missing News True Crime

Send us Fan Mail Anthony Sowell, known as the Cleveland Strangler targeted women addicted to crack, incorrectly assuming that none of his victims would be missed. Sowell sexually assaulted countless women, and murdered eleven, whose decomposing bodies were found hidden around his family home in the Mount Pleasant neighborhood. Cleveland Police did little to investigate any of the disappearances, b...

Send us Fan Mail Today marks the 46th anniversary of the largest ever kidnapping for ransom in the US, which spawned the largest manhunt in California history. The unprecedented abduction saw 26 children aged 5-14 and their 55-year-old bus driver intercepted on their regular route and redirected to an underground prison dug out by their captors. The group's incredible escape brought about the...

Send us Fan Mail Alton Coleman and Debra Brown were a young couple from Illinois who together went on a murderous rampage across the midwest in 1984. The duo's 53 day reign of terror spanned 6 states, and resulted in a trail of murders, rapes, and robberies. This violent spree resulted in the deaths of eight people, and left many traumatized and badly injured survivors in its wake. In July of...

Send us Fan Mail Joel Rifkin murdered up to 17 women over the course of a four-year killing spree that came to an end during this week in true crime history. The most prolific serial killer in New York State preyed on sex workers, knowing their disappearances were less likely to be investigated. On June 28th 1993, Rifkin was caught red-handed with the body of his last victim in the back of his tru...

Send us Fan Mail Four years after the Stonewall Inn Uprising, and 49 years ago today, there was an arson attack at Upstairs Lounge, a gay bar in New Orleans, LA. The event was the worst fire in New Orleans' history, and the deadliest attack on the LGBTQIA+ community in American history until the mass shooting at Pulse Orlando in 2016. Thirty-two people were killed and many more gravely injure...

Send us Fan Mail Enjoy an episode from our friends at Fruitloops Podcast! ----- Today Wendy & Beth discuss the case of Chai Soua Vang, a Hmong American man who was hunting in Wisconsin, wandered onto private land and was confronted. This led to Vang killing six and wounding two during this hunting dispute. He’s more like a mass murderer than a serial killer, but sometimes we like to cover thes...

Send us Fan Mail Enjoy an episode from one of our faves, Beyond the Rainbow! ----- March 2022, a wealthy 73 year old gay man named Gary Ruby was viciously murdered in his multi million dollar home in Hawaii. His 23 year old boyfriend has been arrested for it. True Crime Quickie: Bernie Tiede, a 27 year old gay funeral director became person assistant to one of the richest widows in Carthage, Texas...

Send us Fan Mail In June of 1960, a scenic campsite overlooking Finland's Lake Bodom was the scene of a vicious multiple murder. Maila Bjorklund, Seppo Boisman, and Anja Maki were murdered as they slept in their tent. Their friend Nils Gustafsson survived, but with head injuries so severe that he lost all memory of the attack. Police pursued several probable suspects, Nils Gustafsson even com...

Send us Fan Mail Many historians believe the Axeman of New Orleans terrorized a total of 12 victims, the first of which were Joseph and Catherine Maggio. The couple were bludgeoned in their sleep with their own axe, which would turn out to be a major part of the killer's MO. The Maggios died 104 years ago this week, on May 23rd, 1918. There is, however, a lot of lore surrounding the case, and...

Send us Fan Mail In May of 1977, 20-year-old Colleen Stan was abducted while hitchhiking to Northern California to surprise a friend for their birthday. She spent seven long years in captivity, and was subjected to unimaginable torture at the hands of her captor, Cameron Hooker. Hooker kept Colleen locked inside a box underneath the bed where he slept with his wife, in the home they shared with th...

Send us Fan Mail Long distance partners Claudia Brenner and Rebecca Wight met up for a romantic weekend of camping and hiking around the Appalachian Trail in the spring of 1988. At the time, they felt like they might spend the rest of their lives together. However, their time was cut short when Rebecca and Claudia were attacked by a stranger in the woods 34 years ago today. Writing and research by...

Send us Fan Mail For Myra Hindley and Ian Brady, Manchester was their hunting grounds, and the moors -- a vast stretch of barren landscape -- was their dumping grounds. Britain's most reviled killers preyed on children, abducting and violently murdering their victims before leaving their bodies in shallow graves.  Ordinarily, criminals of this scale would have been executed, but the death pen...

Send us Fan Mail 40 years ago, Dorothea Puente had everyone fooled into thinking she was a kindly grandmother. Friends, tenants at her boarding house, social workers and the police all bought her act.  In reality, she was much younger than she appeared, and far from kind. Preying upon the elderly, unhoused people and alcoholics, Dorothea assumed no one would search very hard for her victims. For a...

Send us Fan Mail In April of 2006, local authorities were called to the scene of a triple homicide in a family home on a quiet street in Medicine Hat, Alberta. When they realized the Richardson’s 12-year-old daughter was missing from the scene, police issued an Amber Alert. After uncovering some disturbing evidence, the girl quickly went from missing person to person of interest. Jasmine Richardso...

Send us Fan Mail In 1980, single mother Sue Sharp escaped an abusive marriage and she and her five children moved from Connecticut to California to start afresh. The Keddie Cabin Resort, where the Sharps ultimately landed, was a one-time vacation destination turned low-income housing complex. Not long after the family settled in to cabin #28, it became the scene of a horrific multiple murder. It s...

Send us Fan Mail A lesser-known case that you'll be shocked you don't know about, the investigation into the Monster of Florence is the largest and most expensive in Italian history, spanning more than four decades. Getting his name from investigative journalist Mario Spezi, Il Mostro di Firenze preyed on couples in cars parked in known lovers' lanes in the 70s and 80s. Anyone and e...

Send us Fan Mail Missouri killer Maury Travis is better known as the Videotape Killer. His disturbing VHS collection was uncovered in a search of his home, along with plans to build a basement torture chamber. The killer's MO was to target primarily black sex workers, whose disappearances are less likely to be investigated. Travis died before he could be convicted, but is believed to have mur...

Send us Fan Mail In March of 1873, Mary Ann Cotton died in a botched execution. Convicted of the murder of her stepson Charles, she was sentenced to hang. Her reputation preceded her, as rumours swirled that she may have also had a hand in the deaths of several husbands, and the children she shared with them. Many believe the executioner deliberately tied too long of a rope so that a crowd of onlo...

Send us Fan Mail Rebecca Klein didn't show up for work on March 16th, 2007. After receiving a call from Becky's employer, her partner Nicole Abusharif reported her missing. One day later, the 33-year-old woman's body was discovered inside the locked trunk of Nicole's vintage Mustang, which was parked in the garage of the home that the couple shared. Investigators from the Chica...

Send us Fan Mail Steven Stayner escaped his captor and returned home to his family in March of 1980. 19 years later his older brother Cary Stayner was arrested in connection with the murder of a young woman named Joie Armstrong in Yosemite Park. Before he was even a suspect, Cary confessed. What's more, he confessed to being the Yosemite Park Killer, wanted for the murders of a woman and two...

Send us Fan Mail After 7 long years with his captor, 14-year-old Steven Stayner escaped. He and another survivor, 5-year-old Timmy White showed up to the Ukiah Police Department hand-in-hand, 42 years ago this week. Steven wouldn't have escaped on his own, as he had been brainwashed to believe his captor had obtained legal custody of him. He just had to save Timmy from going through the kind...

Send us Fan Mail Despite being active in the so-called 'golden age' of serial killers, and operating in California to boot, you've probably never heard of Juan Vallejo Corona. Dubbed the Machete Murderer, Corona carried out violent machete attacks, murdering at least 25 men in Yuba City, California in the early 1970s. Juan would people-watch at a cafe owned by his brother, and lure...

Send us Fan Mail One of the pillars of the Remnant Fellowship Church is submission. Submission to God, a wife's submission to her husband, and a child's submission to their parents. If children aren't submissive and obedient and quiet, the Remnant Fellowship recommends corporal punishment. At the church's advice, Sonya and Joseph Smith put their 8-year-old son, Josef, through a...

Send us Fan Mail Today marks the twelfth anniversary of the murder of Jennifer Lee Daugherty by the Greensburg 6. The Greensburg 6 were a group of people led by a close friend of Jennifer, who tortured their victim over the course of two days before violently murdering her and attempting to stage it as a suicide. The group took advantage of 30-year-old Jennifer, whose mother described her as havin...

Send us Fan Mail One year ago today, on February 4th 2021, Alexander Blake VanDalsen was reported missing. Five days later, Alex's body was found 10 miles from his home in Lafayette, Indiana. Authorities were quick to rule his death a suicide, but the details just don't add up. We spoke with Alex's mother, Jennifer VanDalsen, who is still fighting for justice for her son. She shared...