Coffee and Cases Podcast

A century ago, a mysterious illness swept across the world—and instead of killing quickly, it stole something far stranger: movement, speech, and the ability to wake. Victims of encephalitis lethargica, the so-called “sleeping sickness,” became trapped inside their own bodies—some frozen mid-step, mid-sentence, or mid-bite, aware of everything but unable to respond. Millions were infected and many...

For years, Kimberly Cain has been seeking closure for her sister Sabrina’s murder in 1974. Interestingly, since the discovery of Sabrina’s body, all eyes turned toward one perpetrator; unfortunately, all of the evidence against him was circumstantial.  Between questioned testimonies, missing guns, local rumors, missed opportunities in investigaton, will we ever know the truth? Please consider join...

In 1979, skeletal remains were discovered along the Alaska Highway near Tok—belonging to a man no one could name. He wore a black eye patch, carried a marble prosthetic eye in his pocket, and had been dead for more than a year before anyone noticed he was gone. Police knew who killed him, but the victim himself disappeared into history, leaving behind only fragments of a life and a question that h...

In January of 1984, seven-year-old Gary Grant Jr. walked out to play in Atlantic City, New Jersey—and never came home. His parents did everything right… and still, something went terribly wrong. What began as an ordinary day quickly became a nightmare that would fracture a family, a neighborhood, and an investigation for decades. This case is filled with whispered clues, troubling questions, and a...

German Luis Clerici ("Jersey" to his friends) disappeared in January of 2010. Days later, his body was found in a rural Kansas culvert. His shoes were clean. His wallet was still on him. His car was missing. And for more than a decade, no one could explain what happened. In April 2021, Coffee & Cases became the only podcast to ever cover Jersey’s case — just months before new information surfaced...

Tony Urciuoli, Jr. went out the night of January 24th, 2001 to play pool after receiving a page from someone. He told family that he’d only be out an hour or two before returning home, but Tony, Jr. never returned. Two days after Tony Urciuoli, Jr. disappeared, a relative found his car, which was abandoned, free of fingerprints, and provided no further clues. Today, 25 years later, we are still no...

On a sunny June afternoon in 1983, four-year-old Nyleen Kay Marshall disappeared during a family picnic in the Elkhorn Mountains of Montana. Other children last saw her talking to an unknown man in a purple jogging suit who told her to “follow the shadow.” What followed was one of the largest search efforts in Montana history—and decades of chilling letters from someone claiming to have kidnapped...

His wallet. His shoes. His car. The location of his body. These are the clues that keep us wondering who could have killed German Luis Clerici... and why? Please also consider supporting Coffee and Cases by joining us over on our Patreon page! Are you up-to-date on all our regular content?! Be a part of the C & C Fam by going to ⁠https://www.patreon.com/coffeeandcases⁠ to register! Learn more abou...

The sleepy town of Ina, Illinois was rocked in the aftermath of one of the most heinous family homicides in American history. The Dardeen family murder was gruesome-- brutal beatings, unimaginable crimes, and mutilation. It was a crime claimed to have been the work of serial killer Tommy Lynn Sells, but was his confession of the murders just a sadistic lie? If you would like to join Coffee and Cas...

In January 2000, a single mother named Jodi Foster moved with her young daughter into an apartment on Parmac Road in Chico, California—unaware that the unit had a dark and unfinished past. As unexplained disturbances escalated into terrifying dreams and a child’s repeated visions of a woman called “Myliz,” Jodi would eventually uncover a chilling connection to the 1976 disappearance of Marie Eliza...

A young mother was working the night shift at Thornton’s gas station in the small town of Versailles, Kentucky, but it was a shift from which she would never return home. Thirty-five years later, the family of Valeri Brooks is still fighting for coverage and still praying for answers. If you would like to join Coffee and Cases Patreon to support the show and listen to bonus content, please go to ⁠...

From hitchhiking all the way to Canada and back down to Mexico, to couch-surfing her way to Florida, to starting her own rock band, Kelley Brannon was the definition of a free spirit. But when this free-spirited soul left a voicemail message on her boyfriend’s cellphone that she was “getting in a car,” no one thought that over a year later she still wouldn’t be back home.  Please consider joining...

Could it really be the case that Michelle Von Emster had survived cancer and escaped a stalker, only to be the victim of a fatal shark attack? This week, Allison and Maggie delve into the theories and questions surrounding this case and why perhaps Michelle’s official cause of death deserves another look. Please consider supporting the pod by joining us over on our Patreon page! Are you up-to-date...

Amy Lynn Bradley’s case has taken on new life in recent months, thanks to a powerful documentary that unearthed never-before-heard testimony, new witness statements, and deeply unsettling details from the ship’s staff. Since its release, major news outlets have reported additional revelations, and new tips have begun to reach the Bradley family—some of which may shift long-standing theories about...

Amy Lynn Bradley’s case has taken on new life in recent months, thanks to a powerful documentary that unearthed never-before-heard testimony, new witness statements, and deeply unsettling details from the ship’s staff. Since its release, major news outlets have reported additional revelations, and new tips have begun to reach the Bradley family—some of which may shift long-standing theories about...

On May 17, 1968, in Scott County, Kentucky, a man stumbled upon a tarp he thought he could salvage—only to find a woman whose identity would remain a mystery for nearly three decades. Who was she? How did she come to be left alone in that field? And what details were missed that might have connected her to her family sooner? In this episode, we explore the extraordinary path that led from an unmar...

Vacations are supposed to be carefree—a time to disconnect from stress and reconnect with loved ones. But for the Bradley family, a Caribbean cruise aboard Rhapsody of the Seas became the start of a nightmare. Just three days into their trip, 23-year-old Amy Lynn Bradley vanished without a trace. No signs of struggle. No clear answers. How does someone disappear from a ship filled with thousands o...

Often considered “The Strangest Missing Person’s Case in Europe,” this week we explore the case of Juan Pedro Martinez-- a boy who vanished under bizarre circumstances. A grandmother’s concern led to a full-scale investigation into a missing 10-year-old boy whose parents had just been involved in a deadly, and inexplicable, accident. In a case that involves corrosive acid, drug trafficking rumors,...

For more than 50 years, the world knew her only as Little Miss Panasoffkee—a Jane Doe science once “proved” was a young woman from Greece. In this episode, we revisit her case now that she finally has her name back: Maureen “Cookie” Minor Rowan. Her daughter, Ann, shares with us the truth of growing up in the shadow of her mother’s disappearance and reveals the haunting, intimate details of her li...

For more than 50 years, the world knew her only as Little Miss Panasoffkee—a Jane Doe science once “proved” was a young woman from Greece. In this episode, we revisit her case now that she finally has her name back: Maureen “Cookie” Minor Rowan. Her daughter, Ann, shares with us the truth of growing up in the shadow of her mother’s disappearance and reveals the haunting, intimate details of her li...

For thirteen months from 1966 to 1967, a creature (or creatures) terrorized several small communities across Ohio and West Virginia, particularly the West Virginia town of Point Pleasant. The stories that come from witnesses to the phenomena are the stuff of nightmares, so much so that they were later made into a hit film. Was this all just a big media storm and all hogwash? Some say it was anothe...

Due to a tragic circumstance when he was sixteen, Cecil Gaddy knew loss, and he learned to be resilient. But no amount of inner strength could have saved him from the circumstances in which he found himself only three years later-- circumstances that resulted in his untimely death. Even though Cecil Gaddy’s death was ruled an accident, odd details of the crime scene and confusing details on the de...

We never knew that our bodies could give so much of our personal backgrounds, until we heard about the science in this case. Could that science, in turn, lead to answers in the murder of Little Miss Panasoffkee? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On February 19, 1994, at Riverside General Hospital in California, 31-year-old Gloria Ramirez—a mother of two battling late-stage cervical cancer—was rushed into the ER struggling to breathe. But what began as a desperate fight to save her life quickly spiraled into one of the most baffling medical mysteries in modern history. What happened inside the trauma bay that night would terrify even the m...

PART TWO: On January 26, 2011, twenty-seven-year-old first-grade teacher Ellen Greenberg was found dead in her Philadelphia apartment with twenty-three stab wounds and more than thirty bruises. Despite the violence of the scene, her death was ruled a suicide—a ruling that has been challenged for more than a decade by Ellen’s parents, Josh and Sandee Greenberg. The case has since become one of the...