Suffer the Little Children

Last week, I told you about two-year-old Santina Cawley, a happy little red-haired Irish girl who lit up her family’s lives. I also told you about Santina’s tragic and brutal death and the intensive gardaí investigation that led to the arrest of Karen Harrington, the pregnant girlfriend of Santina’s father, Michael Cawley. In this episode, I’ll continue where I left off last week, jumping right in...

In the early morning hours of July 5, 2019, Michael Cawley left his two-year-old daughter, Santina, with his girlfriend, Karen Harrington, at her apartment in Cork, Ireland. Michael and Karen had argued that morning, but Michael had no reason not to trust the woman he knew to be excellent with children. Michael couldn’t have predicted that he would return two hours later to find Santina naked unde...

On July 15, 2020, Briseida and Sukhjinder Sran reported their two-year-old special needs son, Thaddeus, missing from the family’s new home in Madera, California. When the parents stopped cooperating with the police early in the investigation, Thaddeus’s parents came under suspicion, which only intensified after the public learned that the couple had another child, four-month-old Divina, who died f...

I’ve spent weeks telling you about the countless alleged crimes committed by Susan Lee, formerly known as Susan Stevenson, Susan Cook, and Susan Kendzia. I’ve told you about her charges for the murders of her two adopted infant sons, Michael and Kevin, and her subsequent trial; the chronic, inexplicable illnesses suffered by Susan’s daughter, Shain, throughout her first 28 years; and Susan’s alleg...

For more than three and a half decades, the disappearance of 12-year-old Jonelle Matthews was a mystery – a riddle neither authorities nor her family members could solve. The residents of her cloistered Colorado hometown had scoured every inch of prairie. Jonelle’s face had been on milk cartons nationwide. Even the President of the United States had appealed to the public for help. Still, every le...

Over the past five episodes, I’ve told you about the many acts of child abuse allegedly perpetrated by Susan Lee, including her murder charges for the deaths of her two adopted infant sons; twenty-eight years of medical abuse of her younger daughter; physical and mental cruelty toward her daughters and step-sons; and maltreatment of a number of children she babysat. I also told you a little about...

**This episode was originally released in November of 2021. I am re-releasing part 1 and part 2 of Judah's story in honor of his father being sentenced this week to 70 years in prison for Judah's murder.** Last week, I told you the story of Judah Morgan, a bright, loving four-year-old boy with blond curls, brown eyes, and a disarmingly sweet smile, who was removed in April 2021 from the loving fos...

**This episode was originally released in November of 2021. I am re-releasing part 1 and part 2 of Judah's story in honor of his father being sentenced this week to 70 years in prison for Judah's murder.** Little Judah Morgan spent almost the entirety of his four years in the loving, stable foster home of his second-cousin, Jenna Hullett, and her family. When Indiana DCS essentially forgot to term...

In the first four episodes of this miniseries, I’ve talked about Susan Kendzia’s adopted baby boys, Michael and Kevin, and their suspicious deaths that led to Susan’s murder trial and subsequent acquittal. I’ve also talked about Susan’s alleged medical, psychological, and physical abuse of her second biological daughter, Shannon, now known as Shain. In this episode, I’ll tell you about the abuse m...

In episode 8, I covered the story of 16-month old Alissa Guernsey, who died in 2009 while in the care of her mother's cousin, Christy Shaffer. Alissa's death was ruled a homicide caused by blunt force trauma. The police had only one suspect: Christy. However, Prosecutor Jeff Wible charged her with nothing more than neglect, and the judge let her out of jail after a mere 77 days. In the first segme...

A hiker terrorized for days by two unknown figures… A man stalked through the woods while camping, who barely escaped with his life… two cops who quit their job at a local theater because of unexplained encounters with an alleged demon… These are just some of the unbelievable cases you’ll hear on the MrBallen Podcast on Amazon Music. Each week you’ll get new inexplicable encounters, shocking disap...

*This episode was originally released on August 18, 2020. I am re-releasing it today (10/31/22) in honor of the third anniversary of James's death, which still has not been investigated.* Illinois mother Kara Witkowski, who joins me on today’s episode, spent months trying to protect her two young children from harm while in the care of their father. Thomas Biel had confessed to raping and abusing...

In part three, I told you about the early childhood experiences of Shannon Kendzia, who was chronically ill beginning at the age of two weeks, even though doctors could never determine exactly why. Shannon spent her entire childhood enduring a never-ending series of gastric and other health issues, the symptoms of which – coincidentally or not – closely resemble the signs of frequent use of ipecac...

In the first two episodes of this miniseries, I told you about the deaths of two baby boys who were adopted and died within nine months of each other. I also told you about the subsequent murder trial of their adoptive mother, Susan Kendzia, who was acquitted of Michael’s murder and never tried for Kevin’s. In this episode, I will tell you about another child who endured years of abuse and torture...

The Generation Why Podcast released its first episode in 2012 and pioneered the true crime genre in the podcasting world. Two friends, Aaron & Justin, break down theories and give their opinions on unsolved murders, controversies, mysteries and conspiracies. One of the longest running true crime podcasts out there, Generation Why has a little something for every true crime listener. Follow The Gen...

Last week, I told you the story of Michael and Kevin Kendzia, two baby boys adopted nine months apart by Susan and Tom Kendzia. Michael and Kevin also died nine months apart, each just two months after his adoption, under suspicious circumstances. The death of a second adopted baby in the Kendzia home led to an investigation into both deaths. In this episode, I’ll go into the aftermath of Michael...

Susan Stevenson. Susan Cook. Susan Kendzia. Susan Lee. All of these names belong to the same woman. You’d never know by looking at this charming, gray-haired 62-year-old southern grandmother that she has spent decades leaving a trail of illness, abuse, and death in her wake. Even though the words “Munchausen syndrome by proxy” have hovered over Susan’s head since the mid-1980s like a dark cloud, s...

On May 11, 2020, a young mother ran to her neighbor’s house with her two-month-old son, saying the baby was vomiting and his breathing was labored. Dawson McKinney was taken to St. Luke’s Hospital in Boise, Idaho, and placed on life support, suffering from severe brain injuries. Danielle Radue was taken into custody and charged first with her son’s injury and later with his murder. On May 15, Daws...

Last week, I told you the story of three-year-old Hazel Homan, whose brain was fatally injured while she was in the care of her father’s girlfriend, Kamee Dixon. This episode features two special guests. First, you’ll hear my conversation with Stephanie D., the jury foreperson at Kamee’s murder trial, who is the first juror I’ve spoken to on the podcast and who had a very valuable perspective of t...

On November 27, 2019, 27-year-old Kamee Dixon called 911, saying her stepdaughter had choked and was unresponsive. Sadly, the damage to three-year-old Hazel Homan’s brain was not survivable. After police found evidence of a pattern of abuse, Kamee was arrested and charged with her murder. This is the story of how child protection agencies failed a little girl who was removed from her parents’ cust...

On April 18, 2019, JoAnn Cunningham and Drew Freund called 911 to report their 5-year-old son, AJ, missing from the family’s home in Crystal Lake, Illinois. Days later, police discovered AJ’s battered body in a shallow grave, and both JoAnn and Drew were charged with the murder of their little boy. I’ve told AJ’s story in parts over the course of two regular episodes, a few update episodes, and mu...

On October 7, 2017, 22-year-old Kelsie Blankenship burst out of her Conneaut, Ohio apartment, carrying the limp body of her almost-13-month-old daughter, Sereniti, and screaming for help. It was too late, however, and Sereniti was pronounced dead at the hospital. After both Kelsie and her live-in boyfriend, 37-year-old Joshua Gurto, were questioned, Joshua went on the run, resulting in a 3-week ma...

Two years ago in episode 21, I told you the story of one-year-old Sereniti Sutley, whose mother found her gravely injured in her crib on the morning of October 7, 2017. Sereniti was rushed to the hospital in Conneaut, Ohio, where she was pronounced dead. Although almost five years have passed since Sereniti’s death, the man accused of her murder, Joshua Gurto, still has not faced a jury for his cr...

When an unresponsive nine-year-old boy died shortly after his arrival at a hospital in Boise, Idaho, it was obvious there was nothing natural about his death. Emrik Osuna was severely emaciated at barely forty pounds and covered from head to toe in extensive bruising. Police discovered hours of footage from nanny cameras set up in the family’s apartment that sealed the fates of Emrik’s killers. Er...

In episodes 111 and 112, I told you the story of three-year-old Moko Rangitoheriri, who died on August 10, 2015 while in the care of a woman his mother considered a friend. Moko is well known in New Zealand as one of the country’s worst cases of child abuse, but Moko himself was so much more than that. For this episode, I was honored to speak with Moko’s mum, Nicola Dally-Paki, who told me all abo...