What happens when the person claiming to protect his family from danger is the one creating it?

Chris Coleman worked security for a high-profile televangelist and told investigators that threatening messages had begun targeting him and his family. Then, on May 5, 2009, his wife, Sheri, and their two young sons, Garett and Gavin, were found murdered inside their Illinois home.

But as investigators began pulling apart the threats, emails, phone records, and Coleman's private life, the story he had been telling started to unravel.

In this episode of A Dime of Crime, we're diving into the Coleman family murders—from the months leading up to their deaths and the disturbing threats sent to their home, to the investigation, evidence, trial, and motive prosecutors said was hiding behind it all.

And as always, we're going beyond what happened to ask the bigger question:

Why?

⚠️ TRIGGER WARNING

This episode discusses the murders of a mother and two children and includes descriptions of strangulation, crime-scene details, threats of violence, infidelity, sexual content, domestic conflict, and other disturbing material. Listener discretion is advised.

SOURCES & FURTHER READING

• Major Case Squad of Greater St. Louis — Report #441: Sheri, Garett & Gavin Coleman
• People v. Christopher Coleman, 2014 IL App (5th) 110274 — Illinois Appellate Court
• People v. Christopher Coleman, 2023 IL App (5th) 200320-U — Illinois Appellate Court
• CBS News / 48 Hours — “The Writing on the Wall”
• CBS News — “The Coleman Triple Murder”

A Dime of Crime — because knowing what happened is only half the story.

The Delphi Murders: Hidden in Plain Sight

For more than five years, the people of Delphi searched for the man captured walking behind Abby Williams and Libby German on the Monon High Bridge. All the while, Richard Allen continued living and working among them.

He was a husband, father, homeowner and familiar CVS employee. He processed photographs for the girls’ funerals, interacted with residents following the investigation—and had told an officer within days of the murders that he had been on the trails that afternoon.

So how did his name remain buried in the case files until 2022?

In this episode of A Dime of Crime, we examine Richard Allen’s seemingly ordinary life before his arrest, the social roles that made him appear trustworthy and the hindsight bias that changes how people remember someone after an unthinkable crime. We also explore the institutional failures that allowed a potentially critical lead to go unnoticed while Delphi searched for a killer already living in its midst.

Because Richard Allen was hidden—but he was never truly invisible.

Content warning: This episode discusses the abduction and murder of two children, violence involving minors, mental illness and failures within a homicide investigation. Listener discretion is advised.

Sources

• Indiana State Police: Delphi Homicide Investigation
• WRTV: Who is Richard Allen?
• Court TV: What We Know About Richard Allen
• Court TV: Complete Richard Allen Trial Coverage
• ABC News: Kathy Allen Discusses Her Husband and the Case
• WDRB: Allen Processed Photographs for the Girls’ Funerals
• Associated Press: Richard Allen Convicted in the Delphi Murders

On February 13, 2017, best friends Abigail “Abby” Williams and Liberty “Libby” German set out for an afternoon walk along Delphi, Indiana’s historic trail system. They never came home.

In Part One of our Delphi series, we introduce Abby and Libby as the bright, adventurous girls they were before examining their final afternoon, the search that followed and the evidence Libby courageously captured on her cellphone—including the image and voice of the man investigators would call “Bridge Guy.”

We also explore how a close-knit community responded when two children disappeared, how public participation helped propel the investigation and how the rise of online true crime transformed a local tragedy into one of the most heavily scrutinized cases in the country.

This episode centers Abby and Libby—not the rumors, theories or man accused of taking their lives.

This episode discusses the disappearance and murder of two children, child abduction, violence involving minors, graphic crime-scene details and prolonged grief. Listener discretion is strongly advised.

• FBI: Seeking information in the murders of Abigail Williams and Liberty German
• Indiana State Police: Delphi homicide investigation
• Court TV: Delphi murders case coverage
• WTHR: Delphi murders reporting and trial coverage
• ABC News: Delphi murders case timeline
• Associated Press: Background on the Delphi murders and Richard Allen case
• Down the Hill: The Delphi Murders — HLN podcast

Content WarningSources

In the final chapter of our Hillside Stranglers series, the investigation finally closes in on Kenneth Bianchi and Angelo Buono—but bringing two killers to justice would prove far more complicated than identifying them.

We follow Bianchi to Washington, where two additional murders led to his arrest, his confession, and an elaborate attempt to convince investigators that an alternate personality was responsible for his crimes. Then, we examine the controversial agreement that turned Bianchi into the prosecution’s key witness against his cousin.

With unreliable testimony, an attempted copycat murder, and prosecutors who initially believed the case against Buono was too weak to continue, the path to conviction nearly collapsed. We break down the extraordinary trial, the sentences both men received, and the lasting questions this case raises about power, misogyny, victim vulnerability, and whose lives society chooses to protect.

This is The Hillside Stranglers, Part 4: Two Killers, One Reckoning.

This episode contains discussions of:

• Murder and strangulation
• Sexual assault and sexual exploitation
• Torture and physical abuse
• Crimes involving minors
• Domestic abuse and coercive control
• Victim blaming and dehumanizing language
• Impersonation of law enforcement
• Attempted murder
• Manipulation, psychological abuse, and feigned mental illness

Listener discretion is advised. As always, we discuss these events to understand the victims, the offenders, and the systems surrounding the case—not to glorify the people responsible.

• Los Angeles Times — The Hillside Stranglers case and the trial that nearly did not happen
• Washington Courts — Kenneth A. Bianchi court opinion and sentencing history
• Loyola of Los Angeles Law Review — The Hillside Strangler Trial
• Los Angeles Times — Kenneth Bianchi denied parole in 2025
• Roger W. Boren, “The Hillside Strangler Trial,” Loyola of Los Angeles Law Review, Vol. 33, 2000.
• Darcy O’Brien, Two of a Kind: The Hillside Stranglers, New American Library, 1985.
• Martin T. Orne, David T. Dinges and Emily Carota Orne, “On the Differential Diagnosis of Multiple Personality in the Forensic Context,” International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis, 1984.

Content WarningsSources

In Part 3 of the Hillside Strangler case, we turn our attention to the men behind the name: Kenneth Bianchi and Angelo Buono. We examine their backgrounds, disturbing partnership, and the psychological and sociological forces that allowed their violence to escalate—while remembering the women whose lives were stolen.

Content warning: Murder, sexual assault, violence against women, strangulation, and disturbing details.

#ADimeOfCrime #HillsideStrangler #TrueCrimePodcast #TrueCrimeCommunity #CrimePsychology #CrimeAndSociology

Sources used in the research and production of this episode include:

• Los Angeles Times — “The Hillside Stranglers Case: The Trial That Nearly Did Not Happen”
• Los Angeles Times — Kenneth Bianchi’s 2025 Parole Denial
• Ninth Circuit Court Records — Bianchi v. Bellingham Police Department
• A&E — The Hillside Stranglers, Their Crimes and the Woman They Spared
• Oxygen — Bianchi’s Washington Victims
• Biography — Kenneth Bianchi
• Two of a Kind: The Hillside Stranglers — Darcy O’Brien
• The Hillside Strangler — Ted Schwarz
• “On the Differential Diagnosis of Multiple Personality in the Forensic Context” — Martin T. Orne, David T. Dinges and Emily Carota Orne, published in the International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis

Los Angeles, 1977.

The victim count is growing. Fear is spreading. And detectives still don't know they're hunting two killers.

In Part 2 of our Hillside Strangler series, we examine the early investigation, the lives of the victims, the evidence police did—and didn't—have, and the mistakes that allowed the murders to continue.

Every victim had a story. We're here to tell it.

🎧 Listen now on Spotify & Apple Podcasts.

#ADimeOfCrime #TrueCrime #HillsideStrangler #TrueCrimePodcast #CriminalPsychology #CrimeHistory #Unsolved #SerialKillers #PodcastTok #JusticeForVictims

⚠️ Trigger Warnings

This episode discusses serial homicide, violence against women, sexual assault, strangulation, kidnapping, murder, and graphic crime scene details. Listener discretion is advised.

Sources

• The Hillside Stranglers by Darcy O'Brien

• Lethal Intent by Dennis McDougal

• Federal Bureau of Investigation (Behavioral analysis and serial offender resources)

• Los Angeles Police Department historical case records and public information

• Los Angeles County Medical Examiner public case information

• Contemporary newspaper archives, including the Los Angeles Times

• Court records and trial transcripts related to the prosecutions of Kenneth Bianchi and Angelo Buono

Los Angeles. Fall of 1977.

What began as a single, heartbreaking homicide would soon become one of the most infamous serial murder investigations in California history.

In Part 1, we step back into a city on the edge and focus on the lives of the first three known victims: Yolanda Washington, Judith Ann Miller, and Elissa "Lissa" Kastin. Together, we'll explore who they were, the dreams they had, and the haunting similarities that first caught detectives' attention.

As investigators begin comparing evidence, an unsettling pattern starts to emerge. Witnesses come forward, theories begin to form, and Los Angeles slowly realizes these tragedies may not be isolated after all.

Because before there was a nickname...

Before there were suspects...

There were victims.

⚠️ Content Warning: This episode contains discussions of murder, sexual assault, violence against women, and crimes involving a minor. Listener discretion is advised.

🎙️ Follow A Dime of Crime so you don't miss Part 2, where the investigation takes an even darker turn and detectives begin uncovering the terrifying truth behind the case.

📚 Research & Sources

This episode was researched using a combination of court records, newspaper archives, documentaries, and historical reporting, including:

• The Hillside Stranglers by Darcy O'Brien (1981)
• The Playboy Murders
• Federal Bureau of Investigation Behavioral Science Unit historical resources
• Los Angeles Police Department historical case information
• Contemporary reporting from the Los Angeles Times
• Contemporary reporting from the The New York Times
• Associated Press archives
• People Magazine historical reporting
• A&E documentary resources
• Historical court records and publicly available trial documents

Additional research was cross-referenced with archived newspaper articles and publicly available historical records to verify dates, victim information, and investigative timelines.

She was only 23 years old. Ambitious, creative, and known for her kindness, Holly Palmer was building a future she was excited about in the small town of Granbury, Texas. But in the early morning hours of November 27, 1988, that future was stolen when Holly was brutally murdered inside the Greyhound bus station she managed. Nearly four decades later, her killer has never been brought to justice.

In this episode, Kristen examines Holly's life, the shocking crime scene, the investigation, the theories that have followed the case for years, and why so many believe the truth has been hiding in plain sight. We'll also discuss the unanswered questions that continue to haunt Holly's family and the community that refuses to let her be forgotten.

If you enjoy thoughtful, victim-focused true crime, join us as we revisit one of Texas's most heartbreaking unsolved murders.

🎙️ New episodes every week.

⚠️ Content Warning: This episode discusses homicide, violence, and disturbing crime scene details that may not be suitable for all listeners.

If you have any information regarding Holly Palmer's murder, please contact the Granbury Police Department. Even after all these years, someone may hold the key to finally bringing Holly's family the answers they deserve.

What happens when bad statistics, assumptions, and fear collide?

In this episode of A Dime of Crime, Kristen and Britan dive into the controversial case of Lucia de Berk, a Dutch nurse who was convicted of multiple murders after an unusual number of patient deaths occurred during her shifts. Dubbed an "Angel of Death" by the media, Lucia was sentenced to life in prison—but years later, shocking revelations would call the entire case into question.

Was she a serial killer hiding in plain sight, or an innocent woman caught in a perfect storm of coincidence, flawed science, and public panic?

Join us as we explore one of the most controversial wrongful conviction cases in modern history and ask the question: How much evidence is enough when someone's life is on the line?

⚠️ Listener discretion is advised. This episode contains discussions of illness, death, and criminal allegations involving children and hospital patients.

In this episode of A Dime of Crime, we dive into one of the most controversial and emotionally charged cases in recent years: the case of Mackenzie Shirilla.

At just 17 years old, Mackenzie was accused of intentionally driving her vehicle at over 100 mph into a building, resulting in the deaths of her boyfriend, Dominic Russo, and their friend, Davion Flanagan. Prosecutors argued it was murder. The defense claimed it was a tragic accident.

Join us as we break down the timeline, examine the evidence, discuss the trial, and explore the questions that continue to divide public opinion:

• Was this a deliberate act or a devastating crash?
• What role did digital evidence play in the investigation?
• Did the prosecution prove intent beyond a reasonable doubt?

We'll walk through the facts, the courtroom arguments, and the lasting impact of a case that sparked nationwide debate.

⚠️ Content Warning: This episode discusses fatal vehicle collisions, death, and sensitive legal topics.

Follow us for new episodes every week as we examine the cases that keep us asking one question: What really happened?