Suffer the Little Children

Three years ago, in episode 69, I told you the story of six-year-old Corey Micciolo, whose mother fought for months to save her son from his abusive father. Despite her pleas to New Jersey’s Division of Child Protection and Permanency and the family court system, Christopher Gregor retained primary custody of Corey. On March 20, 2021, surveillance cameras in the gym at Christopher’s apartment comp...

Over the last two episodes, I’ve told you the story of three-year-old Arabella Parker, who died in November 2019 after severe abuse at the hands of her mother’s boyfriend, Jahrid Burgess.  For this episode, I was honored to speak with three people close to Arabella’s case. First, you’ll hear my recent conversation with the Sunbury Daily Item’s crime reporter, Francis Scarcella, who followed Arabel...

In episodes 35 and 36, back in late 2020, I told you the story of 9-month-old Jacob Landin, a tiny boy with a big laugh and an even bigger personality. Jacob died in April 1987 from a severe traumatic brain injury. When the injury occurred, he was in the care of his mom’s boyfriend, Steven Chavez, who told several different stories to Brenda Landin, medical professionals, and investigators. Despit...

In the last episode, I told you the first part of the story of three-year-old Arabella Parker, who was rushed to the hospital on October 10, 2019, reportedly suffering from a seizure. Because medical staff wasn’t told that the seizure resulted from severe head trauma, the damage was irreparable, and Arabella died on November 22, 2019. In this episode, I’ll take you through the hearings and the tri...

Four years ago, in episodes 16 and 17, I told you the tragic story of 3-year-old Arabella Parker. Because that was so early in my podcasting journey, I’m not satisfied with my coverage of her story, so I’m revisiting it in an all-new, comprehensive re-telling as I’ve never told it before: with the help of her family and others.  On October 10, 2019, Arabella reportedly suffered a seizure at her ho...

(This episode was originally released in April 2022.) On the morning of Wednesday, March 18, 2020, police in Bakersfield, California responded to an apartment on a report of an eight-year-old child not breathing. Although Ger’Mya Alexander was rushed to the hospital, she died of her injuries the same day. Her mother’s boyfriend, 37-year-old Clint Mason, who had been caring for Ger’Mya when she was...

In episodes 87 and 88, I told you the story of four-year-old Judah Morgan. Judah lived for most of his life in a foster care kinship placement with the family of his second cousin, Jenna Hullett. In April of 2021, Judah was returned to his biological parents, Alan Morgan and Mary Yoder, despite multiple red flags and warnings to DCS. Six months later, Alan and Mary were arrested for Judah’s brutal...

On this podcast, I’ve told you the stories of many children whose deaths came at the hands of parents or guardians after extended periods of what can only be described as torture. Intra-familial child torture is a disturbingly common occurrence, and it has a 36% fatality rate for the children affected. In this episode, you’ll hear my conversation with childhood torture survivor and advocate Ali Da...

On February 17, 2020, police in Fort Myers, Florida responded to a horrific single-vehicle accident in which a minivan carrying two women and a three-year-old girl veered off the road, hit several palm trees, and flipped over. The little girl, Serenity Robinson, was not in a car seat and was unrestrained. Her mother, Leslie Joe Zeagler, was found to be impaired by multiple controlled substances an...

Last week, I told you about the abduction and murder of seven-year-old Joan D’Alessandro. On April 19, 1973, Joan was delivering Girl Scout cookies when her neighbor, Joseph McGowan, a high school science teacher, lured her into his basement, sexually assaulted her, and brutally beat and strangled the helpless little girl. McGowan pleaded guilty to felony murder and was sentenced to life in the Ne...

On April 19, 1973, seven-year-old Joan D’Alessandro left her family’s home in Hillsdale, New Jersey to deliver her last two boxes of Girl Scout cookies. She never returned. After a massive search and an intensive investigation, police zeroed in on the family’s neighbor, 27-year-old high school science teacher Joseph McGowan, who soon confessed that he had sexually abused and murdered Joan before d...

**This episode was originally released in June of 2021. I am re-releasing it due to the recent arrest of Lisa Jo Vanderlinden, the woman who spent less than a year in jail for Lucas's murder, on charges of abusing another child.** In 2017, Lucas Call and his baby sister were removed from their biological mother’s custody, in part because she had a learning disability and was unjustly deemed an unf...

As a child, Antonia Deignan believed that her father’s nighttime visits to her bedroom showed the special love he had for her. Still, some part of her knew that what he was doing to her was wrong. She began to create fantasy worlds in her mind to escape. As Tuni grew up, she traded her fantasies for dancing, but her inner turmoil also manifested in self-destructive ways. After she suffered a serio...

*Fallon Fridley should have turned 5 yesterday. I'm re-releasing this episode in her honor.* On December 9, 2020, in Sandy Springs, Georgia, two-year-old Fallon Fridley was spending the night at the home of her babysitter, who was also a good friend of Fallon’s mom, Kristin. The babysitter, Kirstie Flood, called 911 that evening to report little Fallon unresponsive, and Fallon was taken by ambulan...

Since I started making this podcast, I’ve told the stories of a number of children that have involved the failures of the family court system. So many names pop into my head when I think about it: Thomas Valva. Nakota Kelly. Averylee Hobbs. James Biel. Corey Micciolo. Since 2008, over 900 American children have died at the hands of a parent or guardian after involvement with the family court syste...

For fifteen years you could call a private number in Manhattan and anonymously apologize for anything. It was called The Apology Line. This is the story of the phone line and the man at the other end who became consumed by his own creation. He was known as “Mr. Apology.” As thousands of callers flooded the line, confessing to everything from shoplifting to adultery, drug dealing, to murder, Mr. Ap...

In 1997, a pair of sisters in Elk Grove, California endured the unthinkable. Their mother and stepfather, Barbara and Larry Carrasco, abused methamphetamine and somehow became certain that Barbara’s daughters, 13-year-old Jessica and five-year-old Alexia, were possessed by demons and vampires. To exorcise the unwanted beings, Barbara and Larry began forcing the girls to drink bleach milkshakes thr...

Christian Crossland spent most of his short life in the care of family friends, Brittany and Trevor Easton, who took Christian into their Indiana home and loved him like their own. In January of 2022, Christian’s biological mother, Chelsea Crossland, took him back from the family who doted on and adored him. In under three months, Christian was dead. This is the story of a little boy with a bright...

In episode 7, I told you the first part of the story of 12-year-old Alex Hurley. I provided updates on Alex’s case throughout the next three years. This past week, the last family member charged in Alex’s death was finally sentenced, so I’m revisiting Alex’s story in an all-new, comprehensive episode like I’ve never told it before. On February 3, 2020, first responders were summoned to a home in W...

When Mike Williams vanishes on a hunting trip, the authorities suspect he was eaten by alligators but the true predators who took Mike may lurk much closer to home. The mystery of Mike’s disappearance might have faded from memory, if it wasn’t for one woman’s tireless crusade. From Wondery, comes a new season of Over My Dead Body; a story about an obsessive love affair, a scandalous secret and a m...

In episodes 47 and 48, I told you the story of 4-year-old Averylee Hobbs. Avery was not even a month old when her mother, Britney Roll Mayes, fractured Avery’s skull and spent time in prison. After Britney was released, she was awarded visitation with Avery, who began returning to her paternal grandparents covered in bruises, burns, bite marks, and other inflicted injuries. Even though multiple fa...

Since 1990, well over 1,050 children in the United States have died after being left in hot cars. An untold number of additional kids have been left with permanent brain damage and other long-term injuries. The largest percentage of these kids were unknowingly left in a vehicle by a parent or caregiver. No one wants to believe their brain is capable of this kind of failure. Many place blame on the...

Leon Benson spent 24 years in an Indiana state prison for the 1998 murder of a young man named Kasey Schoen. His conviction hinged on the testimony of two eyewitnesses – but what if their memories turned out to be wrong? And what if the people who knew what really happened had never been allowed to speak? Suspect Season 3: Five Shots in the Dark is the story of two victims: one murdered, one sente...

Baby Jazmine Robin weighed under three pounds when she was born 11 weeks premature, and she spent nine weeks in a Houston hospital’s NICU before being taken home on July 3, 2018 by her parents, Jason Robin Jr. and Kat White. Only 11 days later, Jasmine arrived at the emergency room, suffering from head trauma, brain bleeding, broken bones, and bruising. The following day, Jazmine was pronounced de...

Over the course of a seven-part miniseries that began last September called Groomed to Die: The Kendzia Children, I told you about the countless alleged crimes committed by Susan Lee, formerly known as Susan Stevenson, Susan Cook, and Susan Kendzia. I told you about Susan’s charges in the 1980s for the murders of her two adopted infant sons, Michael and Kevin, and her subsequent murder trial; the...