True Crime with Elli Mac

When Jack and Paul received a text from their father inviting them over to play with the new train set he'd bought, they were filled with excitement. It seemed, for once, that Darren Sykes was making an effort to bond with his sons. But when the boys arrived for their custody visit, what started as a seemingly innocent gesture quickly turned sinister. Darren led his sons to the attic, where th...

On Friday, January 30, 1976, in Troyes, France, 7-year-old Philippe Bertrand left school, ecole pont-saint-marie at midday. He walked a short distance with his friends before they parted ways. Every day, Philippe would pick up his younger brother, Christophe, from a nearby school just around the corner, and together they would wait at a florist just 50 meters away for their father, Gérald Bertrand...

On the evening of July 13, 2020, Corinna Smith seemed like any other wife returning home after a day out with her daughter. But beneath the surface, something had shifted. After a tense conversation, a long-buried family secret had been revealed — one that would change everything. Consumed by emotion, Corinna made a phone call, then another. Her mind raced as she tried to piece together the past a...

When 26-year-old Anna Repkina met Will Hargrove on a dating site, she believed she had found the love of her life. She had recently ended a seven-year relationship and was eager for a fresh start. Without hesitation, Anna left her life in back home and moved to Oregon to be with Will, convinced they would build a future together. However, what awaited Anna was not the fairy tale she had envisioned...

On January 5, 2023, the quiet neighbourhood of St. Thomas Square in Tulsa, Oklahoma, became the site of an unthinkable tragedy. Just before midnight, a 12-year-old girl woke her mother, April Lyda, with a chilling confession: she had attacked her 9-year-old brother, Zander Lyda, three times. As officers from the Tulsa Police Riverside Division rushed to the scene, they were met with a haunting and...

On the morning of the 15th August, 1975, 8 year old Gretchen Harrington, left her home, heading to summer vacation Bible school class. The Trinity Chapel Christian Reform Church was less than half a mile up the road and she had done this walk many times, but unfortunately, on this fateful day Gretchen never made it. 2 months later, on the 14th October 1975, skeletal remains were found by a passing...

On Christmas Eve 2014, around 10 p.m., 35-year-old Dustin Lee Klopp and his wife, 34-year-old Stephanie Kilhefner, became involved in an argument at their Paradise Township home in Pennsylvania. Although the exact cause of the argument remained unknown, it escalated into a horrific act of violence. During the altercation, Dustin punched Stephanie in the face, causing her to fall to the floor. He t...

It began with what seemed like a chance encounter—two young people meeting on a dating app, exchanging messages, and agreeing to meet in person just before Christmas. Katie Locke, a vibrant 23-year-old teacher with a passion for life and a heart full of trust, believed she was heading out for a promising date with Carl Langdell, a seemingly charming man she had met online. What she didn’t know was...

When a chilling 911 call came in at 11:34 AM on Christmas Day in 2011, it immediately set off alarm bells for the Grapevine, Texas police. The voice on the other end was faint, muttering what sounded like  “Help me, help me”  before the line went dead. Concerned for the welfare of whoever was inside, officers were dispatched to the home where the call originated. When officers arrived at the apart...

On Christmas Eve in 2013, 18-year-old Alexis Valdez was simmering with anger. Six months earlier, he had moved into his aunt’s basement apartment on North Kildare Avenue in Chicago, sharing the home with her and her boyfriend, 41-year-old Sylvester Diaz-Hernandez. The arrangement came with clear expectations: Alexis was to go to school, work, and contribute to household expenses. But Alexis had qu...

On the 25th of December 2013, 37-year-old Melissa Young made a 999 call, reporting that her neighbour, Alan Williamson, refused to leave her flat. Later that evening, she made a second call to 999, this time admitting she had stabbed Alan Williamson at her flat on Glenure Loan in Corstorphine, Edinburgh. When police arrived at Melissa's flat, they found her hands covered in blood and 47-year-old A...

On the 21st of May 2020, an Amber Alert was issued for Alejandro Ripley, a nine-year-old non-verbal autistic child. Patricia Ripley, his mother, claimed that he had been abducted by two men in a car, sparking a frantic search and widespread concern. That same day, surveillance cameras captured a horrifying scene: a woman pushing the young boy into a canal behind a housing complex. Neighbours heard...

On the 6th of June, 2023, security footage captured 31-year-old Kristel Candelario as she left her home on Lorain Avenue near West 97th Street in Cleveland. She loaded a suitcase into her car and then drove off. Kristel was headed off on a 10-day summer vacation, leaving her 16-month-old daughter, Jailyn, alone in their home. The little girl was left confined to a playpen, with only a few bottles...

On March 25, 2024, at approximately 3:30 p.m., a call was received reporting an active assault in the 200 block of Carbon Street in Lehighton Borough, roughly 75 miles northwest of Philadelphia. When law enforcement arrived on the scene, they found 59-year-old Edward Whitehead suffering from a severe puncture wound on the side of his head, along with cuts to his head and arms, and defensive injuri...

On the 19th of June 2019, Virginia McCullough, poisoned her 70-year-old father, John McCullough, a retired business studies lecturer with prescription medication that she crushed and put into his drinks. She then hid his body in a makeshift tomb, covered with blankets and paintings. A day later on the 20th of June 2019, she beat her 71-year-old mother Lois McCullough with a hammer and fatally stab...

Breanna, Corey's devoted mother, sensed something was wrong immediately, the moment Christopher Gregor came into their lives. Every time her son went over to his father's house, Corey came back with bruises all over his body. As Breanna documented the marks on her son with each passing day, her pleas were ignored… Until it was too late…

On Sunday, the 4th of October, 2015, a harrowing 911 call lasting 17 minutes came in from a tearful 12-year-old, saying that her father, Daniel Luke, was attacking her mother, Angela Luke, just outside of Canal Winchester in Bloomfield Township, Ohio. The call began with the 12-year-old saying her father, 42-year-old Daniel Luke, was holding her mother, Angela Luke, down and hurting her inside the...

On the 18th of July, 2005, LaToyia Figueroa, a 24-year-old single mother from Philadelphia, vanished without a trace. Five months pregnant and deeply devoted to her 7-year-old daughter, LaToyia's disappearance sent shockwaves through her tight-knit community, leaving her friends and family in a state of panic and despair. Despite their relentless efforts, the case initially received little media a...

On a seemingly ordinary October day in 2011, the quiet town of Zanesville, Ohio, faced a shocking and unprecedented crisis. Terry Thompson, a Vietnam War veteran and lifelong collector of exotic animals, had just been released from prison. Known for his Muskingum County Animal Farm, Terry Thompson kept a staggering array of exotic creatures, from tigers and lions to bears and wolves. But on that f...

On the 1st of March 2010, single mother 26-year-old Monica Botello took her 6-year-old daughter and 8-year-old daughter to her ex-boyfriend Percil Carson’s house on the 19000 block of Glastonbury, Detroit. Percil had a 10-year-old son from a prior relationship and was a father figure to Monica’s two young girls. Following their breakup, they remained close friends. During the evening, Percil calle...

During a 2008 episode of the show Wife Swap, two starkly different families were presented. When the laid-back and carefree Tonkovic family was put against the strict Stockdale family, the Stockdale boys were introduced to a new and much different way of life. Their reclusive yet harmonious existence seemed picture-perfect to the outside world for years. But behind the closed doors of their seclud...

When Anthony Barajas and Rylee Goodrich went on their first date on the 26th of July 2021, they decided to end the evening with a 9:35PM screening of  “The Forever Purge”  at the Regal Edwards Theatre in Corona, California. Once the film was done, the cinema staff entered the screening room to tidy and clean up, but to their absolute horror, they found the pair still in their seats and covered in...

When An Ex-Boyfriend Won't Take No For An Answer: The Murder Of Lilie James | True Crime Documentary When a 000 call came in from an anonymous person, reporting a body inside the bathroom of a Sydney private school, horror rippled throughout the country. Police arrived at St. Andrew's Cathedral School just after midnight on the 25th of October 2023, and were confronted with a gruesome scene. A you...

When 19-year-old Kristin Smart vanished without a trace after attending an off-campus party on the night of the 24th of May 1996, everyone wondered where she could be. Some speculated that she might have gone on a trip, while others were concerned for her safety, fearing that something more sinister had occurred. As days turned into weeks, weeks into months, and months into years, there was still...

On the 8th of March 2007, amidst the peaceful town of Brunswick, Georgia, Christopher Barrios Jr., a bright-eyed, shy six-year-old, vanished without a trace, leaving his family shattered. As the hours turned into days and the days into an agonizing week, the search for Christopher intensified. Christopher’s family prayed every day for his safe return, while law enforcement and many volunteers from...