Serial Napper | True Crime for the Chronically Tired

One night, as he stumbled out of a bar with only $3 in his bank account, Dan Saunders made a simple decision that would change his luck and his life forever. He stopped at an ATM on his way home to try to withdraw cash from his nearly-maxed-out credit card and discovered a glitch in the system. Somehow, the bank machine allowed him to withdraw a lot more money than the balance in his account. He w...

The story of the unsolved disappearance of eight-year-old Relisha Rudd is particularly tragic because, in her short life, she had already survived so much: Neglect, poverty, homelessness and a cycle of trauma within her family. Her mother, Shamika Young, grew up in foster care, struggled with behavioural issues and at one point even had to be placed in a mental facility.  Now, Relisha was living w...

Zohreh Sadeghi was a 33-year-old young woman living in Redmond, Washington. She was an immigrant from Iran, a successful software engineer and a podcaster, who shared her lived experiences talking about how to find a job in the tech industry as a newcomer. In the summer of 2022, she would have the chance to meet one of her listeners, another Iranian immigrant, 38-year-old Ramin Khodakaramrezaei, w...

Barbara Mackle would regret answering the door in the early morning hours of Dec. 17, 1968. On the other side was a masked man, 23-year-old Gary Stephen Krist, who had been researching all of the intricate details of Babara’s life for the last several months. He forced her into the back of a car he had waiting around the corner and drove her out to a remote forested destination where he instructed...

When 19-year-old Cynthia Hoffman received a phone call from her best friend asking if she wanted to go for a hike, she jumped at the opportunity. The plan was to spend the day at Thunderbird Falls, a scenic hiking trail with a beautiful waterfall view. But Cynthia, who was developmentally delayed, had no idea of the secret sinister intention behind this trip. Her so-called best friend, 18-year-old...

Although the most well-known case of Munchausen syndrome involved a woman, according to webMD, it’s actually more common for men to have the disorder.  Tonight we’re talking about Jack Barron, the first man recorded to be suffering from Munchausen by Proxy. Jack loved the attention he received after his wife mysteriously died so much so that he desperately needed more. When his four-year-old son d...

It was the summer of 2013 in Campbelltown, New Brunswick, Canada. Noah and Connor Barthe, who were 4 and 6 years old, had spent the day having a blast with family friends at a farm. That evening, they had a sleepover at their best friend's house, which was located just above an exotic pet store that his father owned.  Not all of the animals were kept downstairs in the store. Jean-Claude Savoie own...

Nicola Furlong was a 21-year-old Dublin City University student who was studying University in Japan as part of an exchange program. In May of 2012, she enjoyed a night out at a Nicki Minaj concert with one of her girlfriends. When the concert was over, they planned to continue their night barhopping until the first train arrived in the morning to take them home.  While standing at the station, th...

There was a movement all across North America in the 60s and 70s that had people hitchhiking their way across the country. It was a way for young folks to get around economically while also being a bit rebellious. There was an element of adventure, as one never knew the stranger behind the wheel of the car they were getting into. But for much of Western Canada, hitchhiking was more than that - it...

On April 22, 2012, several residents living in a quiet neighborhood located in North Bend, Washington, called 911 after seeing flames coming out of the windows of a neighboring home. Thankfully firefighters arrived on the scene and were able to put out the fire quickly. But when they took a closer look at the remnants of the house, they would make a gruesome discovery - two bodies, untouched by th...

On Easter Sunday, 1991, a gas station in Bloomington, Illinois would be robbed at gunpoint. Tragically, Billy Little, the attendant working that night, would be killed - shot to death for the money in his cash register. Investigators collected evidence from the crime scene including fingerprints, shoe prints and even a DNA sample, but they struggled for years to nail down who the armed robber was....

The date was May 19, 1971. A Japanese peach farmer was perusing his orchard, located in Yuba City, California. Suddenly, he spotted something unusual. A large seven-foot-long hole, that was approximately half a foot deep, which looked like an improvised dug-out gravesite. His was private property, no one was supposed to be digging on his land. Without any witnesses to report the purpose of this la...

Tonight I’m talking about a 57-year-old Canadian man, named Kenneth Law. He stands accused and charged with 14 counts of second-degree murder for his plot to sell poison through the mail to individuals contemplating taking their own life. He may be linked to as many as over 100 deaths through his suicide-by-mail scheme. If he is found guilty, he will go down as one of the worst mass murderers in C...

On June 23rd, 2021, 24-year-old Daniel Robinson was enjoying his dream job working for an engineering company at a remote job site in an Arizona desert. It was raining that morning, so he and his co-worker would have to wait for the weather to clear up before they could start. For some unknown reason, Daniel decided not to wait. He got into his 2017 blue-grey Jeep Renegade and took off - never to...

Do you enjoy falling asleep listening to true crime podcasts? Then you‘ll love, Serial Napper! Serial Napper is an international true crime podcast hosted by Canadian Nikki Young. Each episode features a different true crime story, told succinctly the way it happened. Just the facts, ma‘am. My focus is on unsolved crimes that need more attention and supporting victims +their families. Let me guide...

Tonight’s episode is one of the most disturbing and infuriating stories I’ve ever covered — and trust me, that’s saying something. This is the case of Issei Sagawa, a man who murdered and cannibalized his classmate, Renée Hartevelt… and somehow, walked free. No jail time. No real consequences. Instead of punishment, he became a literal celebrity in Japan, writing books, giving interviews, and even...

He wasn’t hiding in the shadows. He wasn’t some mysterious figure lurking in the dark. He was wearing a white coat and carrying a stethoscope. Dr. Harold Shipman — one of the most prolific serial killers in modern history — used his trusted role as a family physician to murder over 200 of his own patients, most of them elderly women who never saw it coming. In this chilling episode of Serial Nappe...

On January 27th, 2008, 12-year-old Karissa Boudreau was riding in the car with her mother, Penny Boudreau, as they tried to mend their strained relationship. Since moving into a new apartment in Bridgewater with Penny’s boyfriend, tensions had been running high between mother and daughter. But that cold, snowy night, Penny hoped for a heart-to-heart that might bring them closer. After stopping at...

Loretta was just 26 years old—a proud Inuk woman and a university student in Halifax, Nova Scotia. She was passionate about advocating for missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls, and she was actually writing her thesis on that very topic. It was more than just a project to her; it was personal. But in February 2014, Loretta went out to run a quick errand and never came home. Two weeks lat...

On the morning of September 11th, 2015, 36-year-old Catherine Campbell—an off-duty police constable from Truro, Nova Scotia—headed to a bar in downtown Halifax to blow off steam after a long week on the force. She laughed, she danced, and then… she vanished. By Monday morning, Catherine hadn’t shown up for work. Her fellow officers knew something was wrong. The woman who always had their backs had...

It all began in the early months of 2017 when two homeless men, Daniel Aldape and David Dunn, were bludgeoned to death in separate incidents on the streets of downtown Las Vegas. With no witnesses, no weapons left behind, and no surveillance footage to aid in the investigation, Captain Andrew Walsh of the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department had to act fast. A seasoned officer with over two de...

This is a case that shook Japan to its core - a tale of unimaginable cruelty that still haunts the nation over three decades later. Picture this: It's November 25, 1988. The streets of Misato, a quiet suburb of Tokyo, are bustling with the usual after-school crowd. Among them is Junko Furuta, a 16-year-old high school student known for her beauty, intelligence, and kind heart. As she pedals home o...

Imagine a desperate plea for marital advice on Reddit that would unleash a chain of events so horrific, it would shatter a family forever. Jason Worley, a software engineer, turned to strangers online for help with his troubled marriage, unaware that his search for anonymous counsel would ignite a nightmare. His wife, Brandi Worley, had been cheating on him, and her actions would soon escalate int...

In May 1999, a 14-year-old girl walked into a Hong Kong police station, her voice trembling as she recounted a terrifying tale of being haunted by the ghost of a woman bound by electrical wires, tortured, and left to die. Initially dismissed as mere fantasy, the girl's words would soon lead police to a gruesome discovery that would shake the very foundations of Hong Kong's justice system. As the g...

On a chilly January morning in 2018, a 66-year-old freelance landscaper, Bruce McArthur, entered his Thorncliffe Park apartment building in Toronto. Known for his friendly demeanor as a self-employed gardener and even a shopping mall Santa, McArthur had been living a double life. Under 24-hour police surveillance, he was about to be exposed as one of Canada's most notorious serial killers. As poli...