Going West: True Crime

In February of 2023, a 41-year-old woman failed to pick her kids up from school in Quincy, Illinois. When her father went to her home to check on her, he discovered her dead on the bathroom floor with 14 bullet wounds to her body. After police uncovered disturbing Google searches and a distasteful segment on an episode of Family Feud, a suspect was arrested. This is the story of Becky Bliefnick. H...

In late January of 1993, over Super Bowl weekend, a 39-year-old Texas man vanished while his wife and daughter were on a girls weekend in Dallas. Just one day later, he was seen walking on a highway multiple states away, looking disoriented, shortly before he would become the victim of a hit-and-run. But it took eleven years for him to be positively identified, bringing more questions than answers...

In February of 2023, a 37-year-old pediatric nurse was stabbed to death inside her suburban Virginia home, alongside a stranger from a dating app. But what appeared to be the scene of a sexual tryst gone terribly wrong quickly changed in the eyes of investigators the more they questioned the family’s live-in au pair. And when they did, a sinister plot revealed itself. This is the story of Christin...

In February of 2016, a 19-year-old woman departed her home state of South Dakota bound for Atlanta, Georgia. She had arranged to stay at the home of a man she’d met on Craigslist, in exchange for cleaning his house, but he kicked her out after just one day. And then, she disappeared. Mired in unsubstantiated rumors, pointed fingers, and familial disputes, this case has been complicated from the st...

In March of 2017, a 36-year-old Navajo woman left her aunt’s house in New Mexico after visiting Arizona, but she never made it to her destination. Five years after she went missing, her former boyfriend was arrested for the murder and dismemberment of at least three people - later saying they were ritualistic sacrifice killings whom he engaged in cannibalism with. This is the story of Tanya Begay,...

In January of 2022, a Boston police officer was found dead in a snowbank outside the home of a friend. When his cause of death was discovered to be blunt force trauma and hypothermia, it soon became the belief that it had not been the result of a tragic accident, but instead, a murder. His killer, at least according to the people in attendance that night, was his girlfriend. But many others point...

In January of 1958, a 41-year-old Indiana mother went missing from her home, only to be found dead in her bathtub. Still mostly clothed and submerged under the water, she had drowned, but had also sustained blunt force trauma before her death - with clear signs of homicide. When her friends reported seeing someone flee in her vehicle shortly before her body was discovered, police questioned over 2...

In February of 2021, a 23-year-old aspiring police officer in Massachusetts was found dead in her apartment under suspicious circumstances. After police investigated the scene, they concluded that she had taken her own life. But as her family pushed for answers, they uncovered a shocking case of abuse of power and assault by multiple men she knew and trusted. This is the story of Sandra Birchmore....

In January of 2019, a 16-year-old girl went missing, last seen at a community park near her Moreno Valley, California home. As police searched for any sign of her, a sinister revenge plot unfolded before their eyes, with the main suspect in her likely murder described as nothing but “pure evil.” This is the story of Aranda Briones. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for...

In February of 2003, a 40-year-old model and actress living in Los Angeles headed to her shift at the House of Blues Hollywood like any other Sunday. When a successful, notable music producer walked in to her VIP lounge, they got to talking - and her shift ended with him inviting her back to his mansion for a nightcap. But within an hour of his driver dropping them inside his home, a gunshot rang...

In January of 2016, a 13-year-old Virginia girl snuck out of her bedroom in the middle of the night, headed to meet up with someone she had befriended online. But unbeknownst to her, she was being groomed by a young man who had horrific plans for her. When her mother discovered she was missing, and the police and FBI became involved, they quickly found the identity of their suspect, with a second...

In January of 2001, two wonderful and married German-born Dartmouth College professors were stabbed to death inside the study of their New Hampshire home. An investigation into their brutal homicides began, with police initially believing it was a crime of passion. But after sifting through numerous false leads, a bloody footprint and two distinctive knife sheaths led them to their unassuming culp...

In January of 2017, a 20-year-old aspiring actress in Los Angeles went missing after abruptly leaving her boyfriend’s Calabasas home in the early morning hours after seemingly suffering a panic attack. Days later, her car turned up on the Pacific Coast Highway in nearby Malibu, but she was nowhere to be found. Investigators are still hoping that the multiple clips of surveillance footage available...

In the 1970s, shortly after the horrific reign of the Zodiac Killer, another serial killer wreaked havoc on San Francisco, killing as many as seventeen men he’d met at bars and nightclubs across the city. Intriguingly, the killer reportedly sketched his victims before stabbing them and leaving their bodies to be discovered in public places - most commonly on a beautiful beach along the city's edge...

WE LOVE YOU LA. WE ARE SAFE from these fires right now, but staying aware here in Los Angeles of the developing chaos. Our hearts go out to the firefighters, the first responders, the animals, and all the people who have lost their homes or loved ones and are experiencing this. Everyone in LA is being affected by these fires right now. It's absolutely devastating. This episode was recorded before...

In December of 1994, a 23-year-old Italian actress headed to New Orleans to explore the city and write a novel. But shortly after arriving, she mysteriously vanished without a trace after leaving a hotel. And suspiciously, in the days leading up to her disappearance, she had been staying with a much older man there; one whom she was reportedly afraid of, who she wrote in her diary had practiced vo...

In October of 2024, a 51-year-old San Antonio mom went missing after visiting an exclusive supper club with her husband. When word spread of her disappearance, her personal banker revealed that, before her disappearance, she had said ominously, “If I go missing, look for me in the lake.” When her husband was spotted on camera dumping garbage bags the day after she vanished, police narrowed in on h...

Between 1971 and 1983, an unknown perpetrator committed dozens of kidnappings, rapes, and murders, wreaking havoc on the state of Alaska. The assailant was elusive, striking against area women during the freezer winter temperatures, and the extended daylight hours of Alaska’s Midnight Sun alike. But eventually, they uncovered the monster behind it all, who posed as a respected and unassuming fathe...

Between 1971 and 1983, an unknown perpetrator committed dozens of kidnappings, rapes, and murders, wreaking havoc on the state of Alaska. The assailant was elusive, striking against area women during the freezer winter temperatures, and the extended daylight hours of Alaska’s Midnight Sun alike. But eventually, they uncovered the monster behind it all, who posed as a respected and unassuming fathe...

In December of 1996, a 12-year-old girl went missing from her New Jersey home overnight. Her family fell under suspicion when they took 24 hours to report the disappearance, and then weeks to publicize it. But investigators were even more wary of her family when it was revealed that they operated a religious cult, and later, were casually informed that this 12-year-old victim was pregnant. This is...

In November of 1978, four young employees of the Speedway, Indiana Burger Chef restaurant mysteriously vanished at the end of their shift. When police investigated the scene that night, it was clear something had happened to them. But the case wasn't taken seriously until almost two days later, when all their bodies were found - proving they had died by homicide. This is the story of Jayne Friedt,...

In December of 2022, a 27-year-old woman met a stranger in a bar in her small, West Virginia hometown, only to disappear after leaving with him. As an investigation into her disappearance began, it was revealed that the man she was last seen with is an ill-mannered ex-cop who had recently changed his name. Countless women have come forward since to describe their disturbing and unsettling encounte...

In December of 1974, just two days before Christmas, three girls, ages 17, 14, and 9, disappeared while shopping at a mall in Fort Worth, Texas. 50 years into the investigation, thousands of leads have been followed up on, and hundreds of people have been interviewed, but none of the girls have ever been found. What happened to them, and does the person responsible for their disappearance have mor...

In a strange and eerie coincidence, in autumn of this year, two young nurses working at the same hospital in Portland, Oregon were murdered by different men in separate parts of the world. A 32-year-old woman was murdered in her Beaverton apartment in an act that has been described as “deliberately cruel.” Then, just two months later, her 31-year-old colleague was murdered while on vacation in Hun...

In November of 2002, a 20-year-old man left a party at his Minnesota university and seemed to vanish into thin air. Police originally believed that he had simply fallen into a nearby lake and drowned by accident. But when they couldn’t find any trace of him, they began to suspect that he was met with foul play after walking home alone. Especially as they unraveled the disturbing accusations agains...