Our True Crime Podcast

The night of April 19, 1997, was like any other Saturday at Tony’s Pizza in Hardyston, New Jersey. The dinner rush had come and gone, and as the clock neared 10:45 p.m., Jeremy Giordano,  22, and Giorgio Gallara,  25, prepared to call it a night. But first, there was one last order to deliver—two pizzas bound for 196 Scott Road. A routine run. A simple transaction. They had no idea they were drivi...

15-year-old Rachel Barber. a bright and promising teenager from Melbourne, Australia, disappeared after leaving class in 1999.Rachel's boyfriend told the Barbers his cryptic conversation he had with Rachel earlier in the day about her having a job lined up for that evening and how now she could buy some shoes she had wanted.  Another friend mentioned that Rachel had planned to “meet up” with an un...

Nestled in the small, unassuming town of Stella, Missouri, in the heart of the Ozarks, nine-year-old Rowan Ford lived a life like any kid would. She shared a modest home in Newton County with her mother, Colleen Munson, and her stepfather, David Spears. 25-year-old David Spears had a long-standing friendship with 32-year-old Christopher Collings, a man who wasn’t family by blood but had become clo...

In the early hours of December 11, 2017, the small, tight-knit community of Walkden, Salford, was thrust into the heart of a nightmare that would forever scar its residents. It was just after 5 a.m. when Michelle Pearson, a single mother of five, dialed emergency services. Desperate and trembling, her voice cut through the static as fire and rescue teams scrambled to the scene, racing against time...

Men are afraid that women will laugh at them. Women are afraid that men will kill them.-Margaret AtwoodShana Grice was a bubbly teenager who worked as an office receptionist in Portslade in the summer of 2015. At the time, she was just 18, bright-eyed and full of promise. She was excited to be able to save money for the wedding she planned with her boyfriend of two years, Ashley. Shana's co-worker...

It was a cold November evening on the 26th, 2004, in Van Buren, Missouri, when the events that would soon unravel in the small, unsuspecting town began to take shape. Two men, Lance Shockley and his sister-in-law’s fiancé, Jeffrey Bayless, embarked on an innocent enough drive in Bayless' truck. But as they made their way, something went wrong. Under Shockley’s control, the vehicle careened off the...

Sam and Margaret Kastanis met while playing in a band and were married in 1987. When the children came along, they quit the band to focus on family. Margaret said that even after a decade of marriage, she still often had butterflies in her stomach when she looked at her husband.  The couple had three beautiful children: Melissa, 11, Clinton, 9, and Christine, 6. The neighbors described the family...

Listener warning: this case is extremely disturbing. It is our final day of the 12 Nightmares Before Christmas. In May 1981, on the outskirts of Chicago, a hotel maid went to work like she did every day. For the most part, the day was uneventful, except when she noticed a horrible smell. The Moonlit Hotel wasn’t exactly a five-star place to stay. It was known as a place for drug deals and quick se...

Here is day 11 of the 12 Nightmares Before Christmas. After the American Civil War, the U.S. government decided it would be delightful to shuffle the Osage Indians from Labette County, Kansas, to what would soon be the state of Oklahoma—because who doesn’t love a good game of human chess? As they cleared the land, they rolled out the red carpet for homesteaders, luring them in with shiny promises...

We are on day ten of the 12 Nightmares Before Christmas. On a freezing cold night in December of 1977, two women in their mid-thirties were leaving the Forker’s Café at 64 Union Street in Newark, Ohio. At 2:30 a.m., Joyce Vermillion, a barmaid at the café, and Karen Dodrill (dod-rill), a patron and friend of Joyce’s, were preparing to call it a night. Karen had been out celebrating her birthday an...

It is day 9 of our 12 Nightmares Before Christmas. On a sweltering June 26, 1957, Margaret Harold, a vibrant young woman, and her boyfriend, a U.S. Army sergeant, were enjoying a rare weekend getaway. As they were making their way, a green Chrysler came barreling toward them. Without warning, the car swerved, forcing them off the road. The driver, a tall, dark-haired man, stepped out with a sinist...

It is day eight of our 12 Nightmares Before Christmas. At 5:45 a.m. on May 12, 2005, Michael Ross woke up and got out of bed as usual. It was a partly cloudy morning in Somers, Connecticut, and the day would be warm and pleasant. At 6:00 a.m., Michael had oatmeal for breakfast, then watched television and read the newspaper. After reading for a while, he received communion from a Catholic priest....

As we start this episode, it is day seven of our 12 Nightmares Before Christmas. On Sunday, February 16, 1997, around 9:45 to 10:00 a.m., an employee arrived at Captain D’s restaurant on Lebanon Road in Donelson, Tennessee, ready to start another routine day. But as he approached the establishment, an unsettling sight greeted him: the doors were firmly locked, which should not have been the case s...

It is day six of our 12 Nightmares Before Christmas, and we are headed to Germany. After World War II, Germany was divided into four Allied occupation zones, with the Soviet Union controlling East Germany and East Berlin, while the United States, France, and the U.K. managed Western Germany and West Berlin. By 1949, Europe had transformed dramatically, symbolized by the creation of two Germanies....

For the fifth day of our 12 Nightmares Before Christmas, we are headed north to Anchorage, Alaska, where we meet 52-year-old Mindy Schloss. Mindy had moved to Anchorage back in the 1980s by accident. Mindy came for a visit and never left. Mindy worked as a nurse practitioner in Fairbanks' psychiatric department. The commute from Anchorage to Fairbanks was a long one-hour flight, but Mindy had to m...

It is day four of our 12 Nightmares Before Christmas, and we are headed to the Midwest. Every city has trouble with crime. Just watch the news for an hour, and it’s pretty evident that violence occurs even in small communities, no matter how many disbelieving residents claim otherwise.  However, some cities statistically have a higher crime rate than others, and many reasons and factors contribute...

It is day 3 of our 12 Nightmares Before Christmas. In December 1995, 19-year-old Conan Wade Hale and his accomplice, Jon Susbauer, unleashed a wave of terror in Oregon. It began on December 4, when they ransacked a woman’s home, stealing valuables worth thousands and slashing furniture before fleeing. Days later, on December 16, they drove a stolen silver Chevrolet Suburban through Eugene and enco...

We are headed west on day two of our 12 Nightmares Before Christmas. It was pitch black on a gorgeous night in the middle of the Arizona desert in October 2003. There was not a cloud in the sky, but billions of stars were observable by the naked eye because Bumble Bee Road is in the middle of nowhere. In every direction, there was nothing but 90,000 acres of rolling hills dotted with Saguaro cactu...

On the first day of our Seventh Annual "12 Nightmares Before Christmas," we are heading just north of us to Fairfield, Iowa.  On November 2, 2021, the community of Fairfield, Iowa, was devastated when beloved Spanish teacher Nohema Graber, 66, went missing. She hadn’t been heard from since she set out for her daily walk in Chautauqua Park. Just one day later, on November 3, her badly beaten body w...

We’re heading to Hinckley, Utah—a remote place tied to one of the most heinous crimes in Utah’s history. It was October 14, 1979, a crisp autumn afternoon in Salt Lake City, when four-year-old Alonzo Daniels was last seen playing in the courtyard of his apartment complex. When his mother checked on him, he was nowhere to be found. Alonzo had simply disappeared.  Desperation set in as relatives and...

The summer of 1975 found the United States obsessed with Magic 8 Balls, mood rings, and disco music. People partied and danced to ”The Hustle,” all while wearing their hip-hugging bell bottoms. The movie Jaws dominated the box-office, and a new horror writer named Stephen King had just appeared on the scene, scaring anyone who dared to read his books. The people of Florida were going through a rea...

On June 10th, 1983, the decomposing body of a well-dressed man was found in a desolate canyon near Los Angeles. John Doe #94 would soon be identified as missing variety show producer Roy Radin. He'd last been seen after meeting with a mysterious woman in a gold dress. Her name was Lanie Jacobs. Jacobs and Radin were obsessed with becoming Hollywood movie producers. And when their paths collided, i...

The Memorial Day weekend brought swarms of tourists to Niagara Falls, eager to celebrate under the sun. Just an hour away, a group of local teens gathered at Wayne Fleet Quarry, diving into the water and marking the unofficial start of summer. Alison and her friends, thrilled to leave the school year behind, decided to up the ante by jumping from an old bridge spanning the quarry. But as they reac...

It was frigidly cold in January of 1994, with snow drifts a foot high, as twelve-year-old Rebecca Savarese made her way to Notre Dame Middle School in Pittsfield, Massachusetts. Suddenly, there was a man at her elbow. She was completely taken off guard because he had approached her from behind. She gave a startled jump, and the man said to her, “Do you see this gun I have?” Rebecca said that she h...

Like many Americans, Thanksgiving is a cherished occasion—a time to gather with family, indulge in turkey and stuffing, and celebrate the bonds that hold loved ones together. This Thanksgiving event hosts three generations of family ready to enjoy a day of food and good company. After a busy day of food preparation, the guests all take their seats to eat the giant feast.  A tradition that the fami...