TRUE CRIME with Bratterstein

Rick Ennis is at the center of not one—but two chilling murder cases that shocked the nation. In 1993, at just 12 years old, Ennis brutally murdered his mother and stepfather in Smithfield, Maine. Because of his age, he was tried as a juvenile offender and served nearly 9 years in a juvenile facility. During that time, he escaped not once, but twice—yet no new charges were brought against him. His...

As always, thank you for hanging out and remembering Darlene Vander Giesen with me today. In February 2006, Darlene Kay VanderGiesen, a Deaf woman active in her local community, disappeared after meeting a friend at a Sioux Falls Pizza Hut. Her car was later found abandoned, and her family feared the worst. Weeks later, her dismembered remains were discovered—in parts found in both a landfill and...

As always, thank you for hanging out and remembering Lizette Andrea Cuesta with me today. In February 2018, 19-year-old Lizette Andrea Cuesta was found gravely injured on a remote stretch of road in Livermore, California. Despite a slit throat, she crawled nearly 100 yards—identifying her attackers in her final moments before she died. Lizette had entered a car voluntarily with two coworkers— Dani...

As always, thank you for hanging out and remembering Shari Smith and Debra Helmick with me today. In the summer of 1985, 17-year-old Shari Smith was abducted from her mailbox in Lexington County, South Carolina. Over the next days, the killer cruelly taunted her family with phone calls—only to lead them to her body with chilling instructions. Then, on June 14, 9-year-old Debra Helmick vanished fro...

As always, thank you for hanging out and remembering Annie Kasprzak with me today. In 2012, the tragic murder of 15-year-old Anne Kasprzak shocked the quiet community of Riverton, Utah. Anne was reported missing after leaving her home one evening, and by the next day, her body was found in the Jordan River, brutally beaten and discarded. This heartbreaking Utah murder case quickly gained national...

On September 22, 2023, 29‑year‑old Ashli Ehrhardt was found dead in her Kansas City home. Her husband, John Wonder, has been charged with first‑degree murder and armed criminal action after reportedly strangling and stabbing her, then writing his own name in blood across her leg. That morning, Wonder dropped off their two young children at a relative’s home but left them on the porch without going...

In February 2014, 15-year-old Corriann Cervantes was found brutally murdered in a vacant Houston apartment, in what investigators described as a satanic ritual killing. The case shocked the nation due to its graphic violence, the young age of the victim, and the disturbing motive behind the crime. Corriann was lured by two teenage boys— 17-year-old Jose Reyes and 16-year-old Victor Alas —both clas...

In August 2020, 44-year-old Hope Ann Parks was reported missing by her husband, Michael Parks, in Crawfordsville, Indiana. Just days later, her headless body was discovered on a bridge over Sugar Creek. The investigation quickly unraveled a chilling truth: Michael had shot Hope in the head, decapitated her using a miter saw, buried her head in their basement, and left her body on the bridge. Micha...

In the early hours of October 4, 2009, the quiet town of Mont Vernon, New Hampshire, was shattered by a brutal home invasion. 42-year-old Kimberly Cates was murdered in her bed, and her 11-year-old daughter, Jaimie, was left severely injured. The attackers, Steven Spader and Christopher Gribble, teenagers seeking a "thrill," randomly selected the Cates' home for their heinous act. Th...

In January 1997, 41-year-old Yarmila Falater, a devoted wife and mother, was found dead in her backyard pool in Phoenix, Arizona. She had been stabbed 44 times and drowned. Her husband, Scott Falater, was discovered at the scene, claiming no memory of the incident. He asserted that he had been sleepwalking during the attack, a defense that would captivate the nation. Despite his claims, the prosec...

Elizabeth Olten was a 9-year-old girl from St. Martins, Missouri, whose shocking disappearance and murder in 2009 made national headlines. On October 21, 2009, Elizabeth vanished while walking home from a friend’s house just a few doors down. After an intense 48-hour search by law enforcement and volunteers, her body was found buried in a shallow grave in a wooded area near her home. The disturbin...

In February 2021, 69-year-old Warren Barnes, a homeless man known affectionately as "The Reading Man" in Grand Junction, Colorado, was brutally murdered while sleeping under a bridge. His killer, 19-year-old Brian Cohee, later confessed to the crime, revealing a chilling motive: he wanted to know what it felt like to kill someone. Cohee, who had a documented fascination with serial kille...

In August 2020, 33-year-old Kassanndra Cantrell vanished from her home in Tacoma, Washington. She was excited about her first ultrasound appointment, but she never arrived. Her sudden disappearance left her family and friends desperate for answers. Through meticulous investigation, authorities uncovered a trail of digital evidence pointing to her ex-boyfriend, Colin Dudley. Surveillance footage, c...

On Mother's Day 2015, 42-year-old Christine Santurri, a mother of three from East Providence, Rhode Island, was brutally murdered in her own home. Her ex-boyfriend, Yuland Stanfield, violated a restraining order and stabbed her multiple times, all in front of her 21-year-old daughter. Just days before, Christine had reported Stanfield's threatening behavior to the police, but despite her e...

In April 2017, 19-year-old Serena McKay, an Indigenous high school student from Sagkeeng First Nation, Manitoba, was brutally beaten by two teenage classmates after a house party. The assault was recorded and shared on social media, remaining online for hours before being removed. Serena's body was discovered the next day; she had succumbed to her injuries and hypothermia. The two teenage girl...

In July 2016, 14-year-old Grace Packer vanished from her home in Abington Township, Pennsylvania. For months, there were no answers—until her dismembered remains were discovered in a remote part of Luzerne County. What came next would horrify even seasoned investigators. Grace hadn’t just been failed—she had been betrayed by the very people who were supposed to protect her. Her adoptive mother, Sa...

In October 2012, 43-year-old Janette Tovar, a transgender woman and beloved bar promoter in Dallas, Texas, was found unresponsive in her home. Earlier that day, her partner, Jonathan Stuart Kenney, had violently assaulted her—slamming her head into concrete and continuing the attack behind closed doors. Despite confessing to the crime, Kenney received a plea deal that resulted in just 10 years of...

In the summer of 1993, 15-year-old Becky Stowe disappeared from her hometown of Niles, Michigan. What began as a missing person case quickly turned tragic when her body was discovered weeks later, buried in a remote wooded area. Becky had been lured there by her boyfriend, 16-year-old Robert Leamon, who later confessed to killing her. The motive? Becky was pregnant—and Robert didn’t want anyone to...

In January 1995, Mary Catherine Edwards, a 31-year-old beloved middle school teacher in Beaumont, Texas, was found murdered in her home. The crime scene was chilling—Mary had been sexually assaulted and drowned in her own bathtub. Despite a thorough investigation, the case went cold for over two decades. It wasn’t until 2020, thanks to advancements in DNA genealogy, that investigators linked the c...

In November 1988, 17-year-old Junko Furuta disappeared while walking home from school in Tokyo. Her case would become one of the most haunting and disturbing crimes in Japan’s history. Junko was held captive for 44 days and subjected to prolonged abuse at the hands of four teenage boys. The crime took place inside a residential home—unseen, unreported, and ignored by those who might have intervene...

It was a quiet October afternoon in 2000 when 22-year-old Rachel Kiely took her dogs for a walk near her home in Ballincollig, County Cork. She never came back. The next day, her body was discovered near the park — she had been raped and strangled. The town was shaken. Rachel was well-known, kind, full of life — and the brutality of the crime was incomprehensible. The investigation quickly led to...

Kris Zocco’s trial for the reckless homicide of Kelly Dwyer was a twisted, haunting case that gripped Milwaukee. The prosecution painted Zocco as someone with a dangerous obsession with asphyxia during sex, citing testimonies from multiple women who described terrifying experiences where he ignored their pleas for air. Kelly's tragic death in 2013 allegedly resulted from one of these extreme encou...

On a cold morning in January 2017, 14-year-old Alianna DeFreeze left her Cleveland home, heading to school like any other day. But Alianna never made it to class. What began as a routine walk turned into a parent's worst nightmare when she crossed paths with Christopher Whitaker—a violent predator hiding in plain sight. In this episode, we dive deep into the heartbreaking case of Alianna DeFreeze:...

The Quinton Simon case shocked the nation, as his mother, Leilani Simon, was arrested and charged with his murder in 2024. After a 10-day trial, Leilani was found guilty of 19 charges, including the brutal killing of her 20-month-old son. Despite her attempts to downplay the situation, the prosecution argued that her actions were premeditated, pointing to her history of neglect and abuse toward Qu...

Stephen Grant was convicted of second-degree murder for the brutal killing of his wife, Tara Grant, after weeks of testimony detailing his manipulative and calculated actions. Prosecutors revealed that after strangling Tara, he dismembered her body in his father’s tool shop and disposed of her remains in the woods. The jury couldn't agree on premeditation, but the judge called Grant’s actions "dem...