Serial Napper | True Crime for the Chronically Tired

In 1995, 17-year-old Nathan Brooks promised his classmates he’d be “famous by Saturday.” What no one realized was just how horrifyingly true that would become. On September 30th, in Bellaire, Ohio, Nathan murdered his parents in what he believed was a satanic ritual — shooting and decapitating his father, stabbing and bludgeoning his mother, and leaving behind a chilling hit list of names that inc...

Hope “Onyx” Cornish was just 18 years old when her life was stolen inside her Caldwell, Idaho home. Bold, stylish, and unapologetically herself, Onyx was queer, trans, and known for her kindness, empathy, and fierce individuality. She was thriving—sober for over a year, in a new relationship, working shifts at Wendy’s—when her adoptive father, Delbert Cornish, carried out a plan he admitted he had...

When 16-year-old Sarah Grace Patrick picked up the phone to call 911, she said she had just found her mother and stepfather brutally murdered in their Carroll County, Georgia home. Her 5-year-old sister made the gruesome discovery first, walking into their bedroom to see the unimaginable. But months later, investigators say Sarah wasn’t just a witness—she was the killer. Charged with two counts of...

In July 2005, 19-year-old Army Private First Class LaVena Johnson was found dead on a U.S. base in Balad, Iraq. The Army ruled it a suicide. Her family has spent nearly two decades saying otherwise. From the very beginning, the official story didn’t add up. The gunshot wound was inconsistent with her M16 rifle. Her body showed burns, bruises, and evidence of sexual assault. Acid had been poured on...

On March 4, 2001, 11-year-old Bethany Markowski vanished during what was supposed to be a routine weekend visit with her father, Larry. He says she went into the Old Hickory Mall in Jackson, Tennessee, while he napped in the van. But there’s one big problem—security footage shows no sign she was ever there. In this episode, we’ll dig into Bethany’s life before she disappeared, the volatile custody...

In August 2004, 12-year-old Boy Scout Garrett Bardsley vanished in Utah’s High Uintas Wilderness — just 150 feet from his campsite. He had been fishing with his father at Cuberant Lake when he stepped into cold water, soaking his shoes and socks. Garrett told his dad he was heading back to camp to change… but he never arrived. What followed was one of the largest search efforts in the state’s hist...

In December 1987, 12-year-old Trina Campbell stepped off her school bus in Brampton, Ontario—and vanished. She had survived a traumatic childhood, bounced through the foster system, and was just beginning to settle into a new group home. But the system that was supposed to protect her failed. Again. Months later, her butchered remains were found in a wooded area north of the city—dumped like garba...

In this deeply disturbing episode, we’re digging into the twisted double life of David Fuller—a seemingly friendly hospital maintenance worker who was hiding some of the darkest secrets imaginable. In 1987, the murders of Wendy Knell and Caroline Pierce rocked the quiet town of Tunbridge Wells. For decades, the case went cold—until a DNA breakthrough in 2020 pointed to one man. But what police fou...

In 1999, 15-year-old Rachel Barber walked out of her ballet class and vanished. What followed was every parent's worst nightmare—and a chilling tale of obsession, identity theft, and murder. This week on Serial Napper, I’m diving deep into the haunting case of Rachel Barber, a gifted young dancer whose life was stolen by someone she thought she could trust: her former babysitter, Caroline Reed Rob...

Grace Millane was just 22 years old when she set out on the adventure of a lifetime — a solo trip around the world. Smart, independent, and full of life, she was exploring New Zealand when she matched with a man on Tinder. What happened next shocked the world. In this episode of Serial Napper, I dive into the heartbreaking case of Grace Millane — a young British traveller whose life was tragically...

When interior designer Jade Janks discovered hundreds of explicit photos of herself hidden on her stepfather’s computer — some dating back to when she was just 16 — her world shattered. Days later, Tom Merriman, co-founder of a beloved butterfly sanctuary in Encinitas, California, was dead. What happened in the hours between that horrific discovery and Tom’s final breath? Was it premeditated murde...

On the morning of November 13, 2016, fertility doctor Dr. Eric Scott Sills called 911 from his San Clemente home, claiming he had found his wife, Susann Sills, unresponsive at the bottom of the stairs. He said she’d fallen. But the scene told a far more chilling story. In this episode of Serial Napper, I dig into the suspicious death of 45-year-old Susann Sills—an ambitious, witty, and driven woma...

On New Year’s Eve 2012, beloved kindergarten teacher Noelle Paquette disappeared after leaving a party alone. Less than two days later, her body was discovered in a wooded area outside Sarnia, Ontario, brutally taken by two strangers with a twisted fantasy that turned into a nightmare. In this episode of Serial Napper, I unravel the disturbing and heartbreaking case of Noelle Paquette: a woman rem...

When 38-year-old Kacee Lyn Terry was found unresponsive in her Utah bedroom in August 2024, everyone believed her years-long battle with cancer had finally come to an end. But what unfolded next would shock her family, friends, and the entire community. In this episode of Serial Napper, we’re diving into the twisted case of Kacee Terry and Meggan Randall Sundwall — a licensed nurse and former frie...

Let’s go down the rabbit hole of another baffling and heartbreaking case — one that had an entire country glued to their phones, refreshing for updates, and questioning what they thought they knew about missing persons. This time, we’re heading to the quiet, idyllic village of St Michael’s on Wyre in Lancashire, a place that sounds like it belongs in a cozy countryside novel, not the center of a g...

Tonight’s case is one that rattled a small seaside town in Ireland — and left the entire country asking: how can someone vanish without a trace… in their own home? The last time anyone outside of her household saw Tina Satchwell alive was on March 19, 2017. She and her husband, Richard, were browsing through bargains at a local car boot sale. By all accounts, it was just a regular Sunday. No drama...

Picture this: a young girl, clearly distressed, was found loitering near the General Post Office on bustling O’Connell Street. She’s alone, silent, and seemingly terrified. When two police officers in Ireland approach her, she doesn’t — or won’t — speak English. But she somehow manages to get one thing across: she’s 14 years old. The only other clues? Some haunting doodles of an airplane, a bed, a...

What happens when obsession crosses the line into destruction? When fantasy becomes more important than family? And when one man’s delusion spirals so far out of control… it ends in bloodshed? Night after night, Grant Amato sat in the dim glow of his family’s computer screen, utterly captivated by a woman thousands of miles away — a Bulgarian webcam model named Silvie. She danced. She posed. She t...

It all began on Friday morning, May 2nd, 2025. Lilly, who’s just six years old, and her little brother Jack, only four, were last seen around 10 a.m. near their home on Gairloch Road in Lansdowne Station, Pictou County. Their mother, Malehya, and stepfather, Daniel, were asleep with their baby in another room. Meanwhile, Lilly and Jack were supposed to quietly play by themselves. Daniel, the stepd...

Tonight, we’re talking about a crime that rocked the small village of Romeoville, Illinois. It was a quiet Sunday evening in September 2023 when police pulled up to a quaint blue home on Concord Avenue. The neighbourhood was calm and peaceful, but what they found inside was anything but. As officers moved through the dark, quiet house, their flashlights revealed overturned furniture, deceased pets...

On the night of May 12, 2003, 16-year-old Martha Puebla sat outside her home in Sun Valley, California, sharing a quiet moment with a friend. Within minutes, her life was stolen by a gunman who asked for her by name before firing multiple shots and disappearing into the night. What seemed like a cold, calculated execution quickly unravelled into a web of investigative missteps, courtroom drama, an...

The date was September 11th, 2000, in Clearwater, Florida.  Eight-year-old Zachary Bernhardt was asleep in his bedroom when his mother, Leah Hackett, stepped out of their apartment on Drew Street. It was the middle of the night, but Leah said insomnia had gotten the best of her. She went for a walk, maybe a swim in the apartment complex’s pool, hoping the movement and cool water would help her set...

In this crossover episode, Serial Napper and Perplexity: A Mystery Podcast join forces to dive deep into two of the most haunting and baffling true crime cases in recent memory. 🎙️ Nikki from Serial Napper takes a closer look at the heartbreaking case of Jelani Day, a graduate student whose body was discovered under suspicious circumstances in Illinois. Despite widespread attention, key questions...

She was just 14. A soft-spoken girl who loved her cat, sketched her dreams in notebooks, took guitar lessons, and had just begun to explore who she was—experimenting with makeup, thinking about high school, maybe even college. Her name was Emily Pike. She was a daughter. A sister. A beloved member of the San Carlos Apache Tribe. And on a quiet night in January 2025, she disappeared. Emily had been...

In the age of social media and online connections, it's easy to believe that relationships—no matter how far apart—can flourish, even across continents. But for one 19-year-old woman, an online romance with a charming young Englishman would take a dark and tragic turn. Ashley Wadsworth, a bright, adventurous teen from Vernon, B.C., had spent years building a connection with Jack Sepple, a young ma...