The Unknown Files

On the night of October 15th 2021, four-year-old Cleo Smith went to bed in her family's tent at a remote campsite on Western Australia's Gascoyne coast. At 2:30am she woke up asking for water. Her mum Ellie tucked her back in. By 6am Cleo and her sleeping bag were gone. The tent zip had been opened from the outside. What followed was 18 days that brought an entire nation to its knees. One...

On December 7th 2003, 13-year-old Daniel Morcombe left his home on Queensland's Sunshine Coast to catch a bus to the shopping centre. He wanted to buy Christmas presents for his family and get a haircut. The bus broke down. He waited alone for more than 30 minutes. When a replacement bus drove past without stopping, a predator who had been watching made his move. Daniel was gone in 90 seconds....

On the morning of September 12th 2014, a three year old boy in a Spider-Man suit was playing in his foster grandmother's backyard in Kendall NSW.His mother heard one last roar. Then silence. William Tyrrell has never been found. What followed was one of the largest investigations in Australian history. A $1 million reward that has never been claimed. An innocent man whose life was destroyed by...

Between September 1990 and February 1991 — over just five months — three Aboriginal children vanished from the same street in a small NSW town called Bowraville. Colleen Walker-Craig was 16. Evelyn Greenup was 4. Clinton Speedy-Duroux was 16.Their remains were found off the same dirt track in bushland outside town. There has always been only one suspect. A white man who attended every party. Who w...

On June 16th, 2008, a two year old girl left her grandparents' house for the last time. Her mother didn't report her missing for 31 days. In those 31 days, Casey Anthony went to nightclubs, entered a Hot Body contest, borrowed a shovel from a neighbour, and got a tattoo on her shoulder that read Bella Vita. Beautiful Life. Caylee Anthony's skeletal remains were found six months later i...

On the night of April 25th, 2026, a five year old girl was seen holding hands with a man she trusted. She was never seen alive again. Kumanjayi Little Baby — a Warlpiri girl from Alice Springs who could not speak and communicated only through hand gestures — was abducted from a town camp on the outskirts of Alice Springs. Five days later her body was found near the banks of the Todd River. The man...

On the evening of May 3rd, 2007, a three year old girl went to sleep in a holiday apartment in Portugal. Her parents were 55 meters away having dinner. When her mother came to check on her at 10pm, the bedroom window was open, the shutter was up, and Madeleine was gone. What followed was the most heavily reported missing person case in modern history. An investigation spanning three countries, cos...

On the morning of April 21st, 2012, a father went to wake up his six year old daughter. She wasn't there. Her bedroom window was open. The screen had been removed from the outside. Isabel Celis was gone. What followed was one of the most heartbreaking missing child cases in Arizona history. A desperate community search. A family torn apart by suspicion. A case that went cold for five years whi...

Gypsy Rose Blanchard spent her entire childhood in a wheelchair she didn't need. She was told she had leukemia, muscular dystrophy, epilepsy, and a dozen other conditions. She was fed through a tube, kept out of school, shaved bald to mimic chemotherapy, and made to believe she would die without her mother's care. None of it was true. Her mother, Dee Dee Blanchard, had been fabricating every illne...

She Lived in a Box for 7 Years… And Could Have Left Whenever She WantedIn 1977, 20-year-old Colleen Stan accepted a ride from a young couple with a baby in the back seat. She thought she was safe. She wasn't. What followed was seven years of captivity so psychologically complex that the FBI described it as unparalleled in their entire history. Colleen was locked in a wooden box under a waterbed fo...

In April 2025, 14-year-old Celeste Rivas Hernandez went to a house in the Hollywood Hills. She never came home. Months later, her dismembered remains were found in the front trunk of a Tesla belonging to rising music star D4vd — a TikTok sensation with nearly 4 million followers and a world tour selling out arenas. Prosecutors allege that David Anthony Burke had been sexually abusing Celeste since...

She lied about EVERYTHING… until someone died. Jennifer Pan spent years living a life that didn’t exist. Fake grades. Fake university. Fake future. To her parents, she was the perfect daughter. But when the truth came out… everything collapsed. What followed wasn’t a mistake. It was planned. This is the case of Jennifer Pan — one of the most disturbing true crime stories in Canada.

This is one of the most disturbing true crime cases ever recorded. Junko Furuta was held captive for 40 days in a normal house… while people knew and did nothing. This video breaks down what really happened — the timeline, the control, the missed chances, and how it finally ended. Viewer discretion is advised.

In 1965, 16-year-old Sylvia Likens was left in the care of a woman in Indianapolis. Within months, she was dead. What happened inside that house is one of the most disturbing cases in American history — not just because of the brutality, but because it didn’t involve just one person. Multiple children took part. Neighbors heard the screams. Warnings were ignored. This episode of The Unknown Files...

In 1995, six-year-old Elisa Izquierdo died after months of horrific abuse. But this case isn’t just about what happened inside one apartment…It’s about what happened outside of it. Teachers noticed the bruises. Neighbors heard the screams. Authorities received reports. And still… nothing was done. This is the story of a child who didn’t disappear…but was failed by everyone around her.🎧 Welcome to...

What really happened to 6-year-old JonBenét Ramsey the night after Christmas 1996? Nearly 30 years later, her brutal murder remains one of America's most infamous unsolved cases. A bizarre 3-page ransom note demanding $118,000 written inside the house, a contaminated crime scene, pineapple in her stomach, unknown male DNA, and a botched investigation that still sparks massive controversy. In this...

On January 6th, 2007, a young couple went out for what should have been a normal night in Knoxville, Tennessee. 🎥 Original Documentary: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CqS6OFuUXe8 If you enjoy detailed true crime storytelling, make sure to subscribe and turn on notifications so you don’t miss the next episode.

On January 26, 1966, three siblings—Jane, Arnna, and Grant Beaumont—left their home for a short trip to Glenelg Beach in Adelaide. They never came back. What started as a normal summer day quickly became one of Australia’s most chilling and enduring mysteries. Witnesses saw the children playing with an unknown man. Hours later, they were gone—without a single trace. No bodies. No confirmed suspect...

Los Angeles. 1947.A young woman is found in a vacant lot…at first mistaken for a mannequin. But this wasn’t a mannequin. This was Elizabeth Short. The case would go on to become one of the most infamous unsolved murders in history — known around the world as The Black Dahlia. Her body was carefully staged. The scene was deliberate. And the killer was never found. In this episode of The Unknown Fil...

There are cases in true crime that feel almost unreal… and then there is the story of David Parker Ray. Known as the Toy Box Killer, Ray built a soundproof trailer in the New Mexico desert—equipped not for living, but for control. Inside, investigators discovered a horrifying system designed for kidnapping, torture, and psychological manipulation. Despite the disturbing evidence, David Parker Ray...

She was just 14 years old when she met him. At first, he seemed kind… protective… someone she could trust. But behind that image was something far darker. Over time, Kelly Anne Bates became isolated from her family, her friends, and the life she once knew. What followed was a chilling case that shocked investigators, devastated her family, and still haunts those who hear it today. In this episode...

On a cold night in November 1987, an entire family in Ina, Illinois was wiped out in one of the most disturbing unsolved cases in history. Keith and Elaine Dardeen were living a quiet life with their young son and unborn child. But within less than an hour, something entered their home and left behind a crime scene so brutal… investigators still struggle to talk about it decades later. Elaine was...

For 7 years, Cindy James claimed she was being stalked. She reported nearly 100 incidents — including threatening phone calls, break-ins, arson, and violent attacks. But over time, police began to doubt her story. Then in 1989, Cindy disappeared. Two weeks later, her body was found in the yard of an abandoned house… hogtied, strangled, and with lethal levels of drugs in her system. Authorities bel...

Welcome back to The Unknown Files. The Australian outback is one of the most isolated places on Earth — endless land, no signal, and no help for miles. But the real danger isn’t just the environment…It’s the stories. From a family nearly attacked on a deserted highway…to a couple trapped with a man holding a crossbow…to unexplained lights that follow drivers through the darkness…These are real, di...

In December 2012, a brutal crime in Delhi shook India — and the entire world. A 23-year-old student, later known as Nirbhaya (“the fearless one”), became the center of one of the most horrifying and impactful cases in modern history. This is not just a true crime story. This is a story of:• unimaginable brutality• nationwide protests• a fight for justice• and a case that changed laws foreverIn thi...