Nightwatch Files

In April 1975, a Rembrandt painting worth millions was stolen from Boston's Museum of Fine Arts in a daring daylight robbery. The man at the center of the theft was Myles Connor Jr.—a rock musician, master thief, prison escapee, and one of the most fascinating criminals in American history. Facing years behind bars, Connor hatched an unprecedented plan: steal a masterpiece and use it as a bargaini...

The Amityville Horror is one of the most famous paranormal stories ever told. Books, movies, television specials, and decades of media coverage have transformed a suburban house on Long Island into a global symbol of supernatural terror. But before the haunting claims, there was a real crime. In the early hours of November 13, 1974, six members of the DeFeo family were murdered inside their home a...

On February 13, 2017, an unusually warm winter day provided a perfect backdrop for an impromptu hike, particularly since Delphi Community Middle School in Indiana had canceled classes that Monday to balance out unused snow days. The morning began leisurely for fourteen-year-old Liberty "Libby" German and her best friend, thirteen-year-old Abigail "Abby" Williams, who were recovering from a Sunday...

Kathy Miller was 15 years old and looking through the classified ads — not for herself, but for her boyfriend. She found a listing, made a phone call, and told her mother not to worry about it. Her mother had a bad feeling she couldn't shake. Kathy went anyway. What investigators uncovered in the weeks that followed would connect a want ad in a Seattle newspaper to a pattern stretching across mult...

In January 1982, a Sydney mother of two vanished without a trace. Lynette Dawson was thirty-three years old. She had two daughters under the age of five, a home in Bayview on Sydney's northern beaches, and by all accounts, a life she was deeply devoted to. Then one Saturday morning, she was gone. Her husband Chris — a former rugby league player turned schoolteacher — told family she had called fro...

>> Content warning: this episode contains detailed descriptions of homicide, torture, hate crimes and the abuse of vulnerable individuals. Listener discretion is advised. << In May 1999, police in a quiet South Australian town followed a routine missing persons lead to a disused bank building on the main street. What they found inside its vault would become the most disturbing crime sc...

Passion, jealousy, betrayal, and a confession that only deepened the mystery. In the spring of 1935, a quiet seaside home in Bournemouth, England became the center of one of the most sensational murder cases of the twentieth century. Francis Rattenbury — the celebrated architect behind British Columbia's Parliament Buildings and Victoria's iconic Empress Hotel — was found slumped in his armchair,...

On the morning of June 9, 2020, nearly 100 law enforcement officers descended on a quiet property in Salem, Idaho. Five cadaver dogs swept the yard. The FBI set up a mobile command center the size of a bus. And a man named Chad Daybell sat in his SUV in the driveway — and watched. What investigators found that day would bring a years-long nightmare into devastating focus and behind it all, a story...

In the summer of 2019, a devoted father in Gilbert, Arizona begins to notice that something is deeply, disturbingly wrong with his wife. What starts as a slow drift toward fringe religious beliefs has quietly escalated into something far more alarming — and the people closest to her are only beginning to understand the extent of it. As her husband desperately searches for someone, anyone, who can...

On the night of November 12th, 2022, four University of Idaho seniors went out into the small college town they called home — and never came back. By the following afternoon, Kaylee Goncalves, Madison Mogen, Xana Kernodle, and Ethan Chapin had been stabbed to death in their beds, in a rental house just off campus, while two of their roommates slept undisturbed on the floor below. The killer left n...

In the early hours of April 4, 2023, the visionary behind the modern mobile economy staggered down a desolate San Francisco street, clutching his chest and pleading with a 911 operator for his life. Bob Lee, the man known to the tech world as "Crazy Bob," had survived the cutthroat boardrooms of Google and Square, but he would not survive the 400 block of Main Street. This episode traces the ascen...

A high-definition window into a life of absolute order was broadcast to millions, presenting a vision of modern parenting that many sought to emulate. This digital storefront sold a brand of intentional living where every movement was tracked and every child followed a clockwork routine. While the daily uploads showcased a picture of stability, the internal dynamics of the household were undergoin...

Content warning: This episode contains descriptions of violence against humans and animals. Between May 2005 and August 2006, Phoenix, Arizona lived in fear as two men in a silver Toyota Camry hunted victims at random. They killed eight people and countless animals in what they called "Random Recreational Violence"—shooting pedestrians, bicyclists, homeless men, dogs, and horses across the metropo...

In 1987, Marie Grossman was the embodiment of the American dream: a trailblazing attorney, a devoted mother, and a woman who had meticulously built a life of stability and purpose. But on a foggy December evening, a routine stop for fast food on her way to her son's wrestling match placed her directly in the path of two men with a loaded revolver and a terrifying history of "asset card" abductions...

When her daughter was kidnapped by the notorious Zeta cartel, Mexican mother Miriam Rodríguez embarked on a relentless quest for justice. Armed with disguises, determination, and unwavering courage, she tracked down those responsible, confronting one of Mexico's most dangerous criminal organizations. This episode delves into Miriam's extraordinary journey, following her transformation from caring...

A quick note from the host with some news about the show.  Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/nightwatch-files--6484889/support . SUPPORT THE SHOW & LISTEN AD-FREE Join our Patreon and unlock ad-free episodes directly in Apple Podcasts or Spotify after you connect your Patreon account. You can also join the Supporters Club for an ad-free experience. Both go fo...

In the depths of the Great Depression, two young people from the West Dallas slums began a crime spree that would captivate a desperate nation. Bonnie Parker was a nineteen-year-old waitress with dreams of becoming a poet. Clyde Barrow was a twenty-one-year-old car thief who had just emerged from one of Texas's most brutal prison farms. What started as petty theft in 1930 escalated into a two-year...

On May 31, 2014, in Waukesha, Wisconsin, a twelve-year-old girl was found lying on a trail, bleeding from nineteen stab wounds. She told the cyclist who discovered her that her two best friends had lured her into the woods and attacked her. When asked why, the girls gave an explanation that seemed impossible: they said they had done it for Slenderman—a fictional character created on an internet fo...

On Halloween morning in 1975, fifteen-year-old Martha Moxley was found dead beneath a tree in her family's yard in Belle Haven, one of the most exclusive neighborhoods in Greenwich, Connecticut. She had been beaten to death with a golf club the night before, just hours after participating in harmless Mischief Night pranks with friends. The murder weapon was traced to a set of clubs belonging to a...

On a cold January night in 1931, William Herbert Wallace returned to his Liverpool home to find his wife Julia brutally murdered in their parlor. The investigation seemed straightforward at first—a mysterious phone call had lured Wallace across town while the killer struck. But as police dug deeper, they uncovered a web of contradictions that would make this case one of the most controversial in B...

On Christmas Eve morning, 2010, a family in East Texas makes a devastating discovery in their driveway. But the tragedy is only the beginning. When relatives search the deceased woman's home days later, they find a locked strongbox hidden at the bottom of a craft supplies container. Inside are documents, photographs, and cryptic scraps of paper. What follows is a years-long investigation involving...

On September 28, 1994, eighteen-year-old Bonnie Craig disappeared while walking to catch the bus to her classes at the University of Alaska Anchorage. That afternoon, her body was discovered floating in the water at McHugh Creek. Alaska State Troopers initially ruled her death a hiking accident, but her mother Karen knew immediately—this was murder. When Karen received the devastating phone call a...

Security cameras capture a silver vehicle following a woman from a church parking lot, maintaining a careful distance. Seventeen seconds after she leaves, the car pulls out behind her. When she arrives home and opens her garage door, what unfolds in those next moments will nearly cost her everything. What investigators will later uncover is a plot involving multiple criminals, millions in embezzle...

A brilliant young woman becomes the principal of a prestigious school by age nineteen. Her crime? Using her mind too well. When she dares to challenge her husband's authority in public, voicing opinions that contradict his teachings, he finds a legal solution to silence her permanently. In 1860s America, disagreeing with your husband could be diagnosed as insanity. No trial was required. No defens...

A quick note from the host with some news about the show. Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/nightwatch-files--6484889/support . SUPPORT THE SHOW & LISTEN AD-FREE Join our Patreon and unlock ad-free episodes directly in Apple Podcasts or Spotify after you connect your Patreon account. You can also join the Supporters Club for an ad-free experience. Both go for...