True Crime Cases You Haven't Heard

In October 2019, a crew wearing DEA vests, carrying badges, and driving a car with working police lights abducted a Naperville businessman from a parking lot while bystanders looked away — then spent the night torturing him for a $500,000 ransom. This episode is built from 91 federal court documents: the indictment, trial testimony, the government's 33-page sentencing memorandum, and the signe...

A true crime case built from a teenager's price list: $40 for a gas leak, $50 for a major police response, $75 for a bomb threat. Alan Winston Filion — online alias "Torswats" — ran a swatting-for-hire operation from his bedroom in Lancaster, California, starting at age 15. Over 18 months, he made more than 375 swatting calls targeting mosques, schools, historically Black colleges, t...

Peter Karasev bombed two PG&E transformers in the middle of the night — then bicycled home to his partner and three young children. A PhD from Georgia Tech. A senior ML engineer at Amazon's autonomous vehicle subsidiary. A $250,000 salary. And 300 pounds of explosive materials in the garage of a $1.5 million home, across the street from a high school. Built from 167 research files and 78 c...

A $120,000 juror bribe in a butterfly-covered Hallmark bag — this true crime case exposed the desperation behind America's largest pandemic fraud. Five co-conspirators in the $250 million Feeding Our Future fraud tracked a 23-year-old federal juror online, followed her home from the Minneapolis courthouse, and delivered $120,000 in cash with instructions to vote not guilty. She called 911 imme...

Craig Lang murdered a Florida couple to fund a mercenary trip to Venezuela — then fled to Ukraine, where he was celebrated as a war hero before being extradited and convicted in one of the rarest Neutrality Act prosecutions in US history.                          Built from federal court documents, trial testimony, and international extradition records, this episode traces a dishonorably discharge...

Christina Chapman's North Korea laptop farm is one of the most unusual true crime cases we've covered. A homeless woman in Minnesota received a LinkedIn message that changed everything — and within three years, she was running 90 labeled laptops from her Arizona home, each one enabling a North Korean operative to work at an American company under a stolen name. Built from 402 pages of fede...

Hassan Elliott's murder of SWAT Sgt. James O'Connor is one of the most devastating true crime cases in Philadelphia history. Elliott fired 16 rounds through a closed bedroom door — killing a 23-year veteran he never saw. Built from 544 pages of federal court documents, this episode traces four murders and nine shootings committed by the SG1700 gang over 15 months — and the 353-day gap betw...

Joseph LaForte's Par Funding fraud is one of the most brazen true crime cases Merchant Cash Advance I've covered — $547 million raised under a stolen identity, then protected with violence. LaForte — twice convicted for fraud before Par Funding existed — hid behind the alias "Joe Mack," registered the company in his wife's name, and convinced more than 1,200 investors to trus...

Dr. Phillip Jensen's theft of fentanyl from his own dental patients is one of the most methodical true crime cases we've covered. For eight months, the oral surgeon pierced sealed medication vials, extracted half the fentanyl, replaced it with saline, and glued the safety caps back shut—leaving 99 patients partially conscious through oral surgery. Built from federal court documents in Case...

The Fairhope sisters' murder-for-hire plot is one of the most morally complex true crime cases we've covered. Three Alabama sisters paid a five-time convicted felon to kill their brother-in-law — and she became the only person who did the right thing. Built from 76 pages of federal court documents including the sentencing transcript, this episode reveals how a $500 vet bill became a murder...

Lt. Sean Williamson's death in a Philadelphia building collapse is one of the most preventable true crime cases we've covered. The fire was out. He was inside checking the structure — then three stories came down on six people. Built from 466 pages of federal court documents, this episode reveals how building owner Al-Ashraf Khalil set fire to his own pizza shop for an insurance payout, te...

William Woods told the truth about his identity — and they put him in a psych ward. This true crime case begins at an Albuquerque hot dog cart in 1988, where a coworker stole Woods' wallet and spent the next 35 years living as him. Built from 359 pages of federal court documents, this episode reveals how Woods was arrested, jailed for 428 days, committed to a mental hospital, and forcibly medi...

Putnam Richardson's kidnapping of attorney Mel Shelander is one of the most ironic true crime cases we've covered. At 79 years old, Richardson abducted his own former defense lawyer—the man who represented him on kidnapping charges 40 years earlier—and held him chained in a shed for 55 hours demanding $1 million ransom. Built from 65 pages of federal court documents including the factual b...

John Walker's aviation fraud is one of the deadliest true crime cases we've  covered. He built "Frankenstein helicopters" from crashed remains, bribed an FAA inspector, and ran 48 shell companies from Guam—while pilots kept dying.   Built from 3,070 pages of federal court documents, this episode reveals how Walker's scheme killed 10 pilots, including one who died during his o...

Hunter Hudson Jr.'s check fraud case is one of the most self-incriminating true crime cases we've covered. The Montgomery rapper named his album "SWIPE GOD," gave a 27-minute interview titled "What You Know About Swiping," and coordinated his crimes through a Telegram group chat called "Fraud Academy"—while the FBI was already watching. Built from 294 pages of federal court documents, this crime c...

Eliud Montoya's murder is one of the fastest whistleblower retaliation true crime cases ever documented. He filed a federal complaint on Thursday exposing his supervisor's $3.5 million labor trafficking scheme—and was shot six times by Saturday afternoon. Built from 3,090 pages of federal court records including trial transcripts, the getaway driver's 141-page confession, and the civil...

Cory Martin's murder of Brandy Odom is one of the most calculated true crime cases we've covered. He spent a year planning—taking out $200,000 in life insurance and studying Dexter daily to learn how to kill. Built from 2,977 pages of federal court documents and trial testimony, this episode reveals how digital forensics and a co-conspirator's confession finally brought justice after t...

True Crime Cases You Haven't Heard investigates the double life of Randy Constant, a Missouri farmer who committed the largest organic fraud in American history—$142 million. He packed bags for hungry children. He led church mission trips. He also spent $360,000 on Las Vegas escorts and hid three secret relationships from his wife of 39 years. She learned everything when prosecutors read his bank...

The prosecutor reviewed everything and said something haunting: "I don't think Sasser knows why she wanted her dead either." In 2023, Melody Sasser—a 47-year-old environmental compliance specialist from Knoxville, Tennessee—paid nearly $10,000 in Bitcoin to have a woman murdered. The target wasn't an ex-lover. Wasn't a rival. She was the fiancée of a man Sasser had hiked with...

Eli Weinstein defrauded investors of $275 million across three separate Ponzi schemes spanning two decades. He went to federal prison. He received presidential clemency. Within months, he was running another scheme. This episode goes deep inside the mechanics of serial financial fraud—how these criminals build trust, move money, hide assets, and exploit the very systems designed to stop them. From...

Between September and December 2022, a murder-for-hire conspiracy in Mobile, Alabama produced one of the most spectacular criminal failures in recent memory. John McCarroll recruited shooters, provided illegal weapons including machineguns, and directed attack after attack against his target: Milton Carter. The result? Two innocent people murdered. One permanently paralyzed. Six others wounded. Ni...

It was about 2 AM when I realized the Lobster Trap Murder case wasn't what I thought it was. I'd been reading court documents for hours—the victim, the violence, the assumptions. But then I got to the transcripts about the accomplice who got dragged in. She wasn't a criminal. She was trying to help someone she thought cared about her. Bad choices in a moment of misplaced loyalty destroyed her life...

After 14 brutal months in a Colombian maximum-security prison, 71-year-old fashion designer Nancy Gonzalez stood before a federal judge in Miami for sentencing. Her crime? Smuggling handbag samples made from exotic leather to meet Fashion Week deadlines. In this conclusion to Nancy's story, prosecutors compared her to a "cocaine kingpin" and argued she deserved years in federal priso...

July 2022. Colombian federal agents arrest Nancy Gonzalez—a luxury fashion designer whose handbags were sold at Bergdorf Goodman, Saks, and Neiman Marcus. The charge: wildlife smuggling. But here's what makes this case unforgettable: Nancy went to federal prison while the retailers who sold her bags faced zero consequences. This is True Crime Cases You Haven't Heard—and Part 1 reveals how an empir...

Ashley Grayson Murder-for-Hire Case Summary: Social media influencer Ashley Grayson was sentenced to 10 years in federal prison for conspiracy to use interstate commerce facilities in commission of murder-for-hire. The 2022 case involved three targets: business rival Derricka Harwell, ex-boyfriend Patrick Tate, and TikTok critic Sherell Hodge. Olivia Johnson recorded the plot on FaceTime, leading...