A young girl leaves her hometown of Ohio for the Big Apple with her heart set on a career as a Broadway dancer. Instead, she meets a young man who becomes obsessed with controlling her life. Unable to let her go, Paul Cortez ...

This week’s episode details a murder that, at first glance, appears to be a cut-and-dried case of a lover’s quarrel turned deadly. Upon investigation, it is discovered to be a much more thought-out and sinister plan. When a...

In this month’s series “Final Curtain Call” a film or theater actor is connected to a sensational crime. In 1973, The Exorcist was released in theaters. Moviegoers were shocked by the film’s graphic depiction of a little girl...

Harry Uzoka was a rising star who’d broken into the world of high-end modeling against all odds. But another model envious of his success began a rivalry which lead to a violent showdown that no one saw coming. Resources Adey...

In light of the ongoing tragedies of frequent mass shootings in America, I’ve decided to make this week’s episode one of hope and heroism. In this story, a young girl becomes an unlikely hero when she acts upon a hunch derail...

In 1996, the longest and most expensive investigation in the FBI’s history was successfully solved when Theodore Kaczynski was identified as “The Unabomber” 18 years after he began building and planting bombs at various locat...

Christopher Wilder posed as a photographer to lure beautiful young women with the promise of modeling work. Those who take him up on his offer - and even those that didn’t - found themselves victims of a serial rapist who soo...

A young woman who creates a YouTube channel to advocate for animal rights and veganism becomes disgruntled with the social media platform when she feels she is being targeted for discrimination. But, no one imagined that her ...

In this episode, a young man who dubs himself “Mr. Anime” gains a large following as a critic and reviewer on YouTube.. But, he’ll later admit to harboring dark fantasies most of his life after he commits a shocking act of vi...

This week I have a special episode diving into the topic of the psychology of mass killers. What prompts someone to commit mass murder against random strangers? How did Columbine become a cultural touchstone that inspired oth...

A young couple on a quest for internet fame record a prank for their YouTube channel with tragic results. Resources: YouTube Prankster Jailed, BBC News, March 15, 2018 https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-43410816 The Las...

This is part 2 of a 2-part- episode. As we continue the story, Shelly and Dave Knotek have isolated themselves, their three daughters, nephew, and a boarder, Kathy Loreno, in their Ramond, Washington home. The torture and abu...

Shelly Knotek has been called “America’s Most Evil Mom”. She abused, tortured, and humiliated her children and partners, but her control and abuse went beyond her own family members. One-by-one people she took into her home a...

In this month’s series, we’ll take a look at the fascinating phenomenon of narcissistic family cults - a family unit that exhibits all the hallmarks of a traditional cult group but is led by a narcissistic family member - usu...

A young man’s racist ideology lead him to take the lives of 51 people and injure dozens more all while recording and uploading a video of the murders to Facebook Live. Resources: Royal Commission of Inquiry into the Terrorist...

A young man who identifies with as an Incel carries out a mass shooting at an Arizona mall while livestreaming it via Snapchat. Special thanks to Dr. Sohom Das for lending his expertise in this episode. Check out his YouTube ...

A disgruntled, former television station employee takes out his revenge during a live news broadcast. Resources: “Ex-Broadcaster Kills 2 on Air Virginia Shooting” by Michael D. Shear, Richard Perez-Pena, and Alan Blinder, The...

A bizarre and terrifying crime spree has been on the rise in the UK for the past several years. In this episode, I’ll share stories illustrating how acid attacks have increasingly been used to retaliate against a romantic par...

In this special episode, Esther sits down with Pulitzer Prize-winning author Jake Halpern to talk about Season 2 of his podcast Deep Cover: Mob Land. They also discuss podcast storytelling and Jake reveals which well-known ac...

In this episode, I’ll share with you one of the craziest “love” stories you’ve ever heard - right in time for Valentine’s Day. Burt Pagach meets Linda Riss in 1957 and quickly becomes obsessed with her. When she breaks off th...

A 22-year-old recent graduate of a New Zealand University breaks off a short-lived relationship. Her ex would take deadly revenge on her in one of the most horrific attacks ever perpetrated in the country’s recent history. Re...

One family appears to have it all - success, wealth, a happy family life, and a beautiful ocean-view home on the California coast. But, trouble behind the scenes tears the family apart and the story of the Sachs family will e...

An heiress builds a grand mansion as a showplace on a hill in the San Francisco Bay Area. But, it would become a white elephant and an eyesore during its long history. And, in 1985, it became a house of horrors for two youn...

July 27, 2001 Jeanine Sanchez Harms went missing after a night out with friends in Campbell, California. A man she'd only become acquainted with that night, Maurice Xavier Nasmeh, would be suspected of involvement in her disa...