Close your eyes and consider the bizarre death of Phoebe Handsjuk, a 24‑year‑old Melbourne woman found at the bottom of a 12‑storey garbage chute in 2010. The coroner ruled it a “freak accident” caused by a drug‑induced sleepwalking state, but her family never accepted that verdict. With her boyfriend from a powerful legal family, unanswered questions about blood in her apartment, and police failings, her story remains a chilling mystery of what truly happened that night.

He was a doting father, a grandfather, and a talented backyard mechanic beloved by his South LA neighbors. But in his garage and home, Lonnie Franklin Jr. hid a trove of nearly 1,000 photographs and videos documenting women he had targeted over decades. Police released 180 images of women, some appearing unconscious or dead, in a desperate search for more victims [citation:2][citation:5]. He became known as the "Grim Sleeper" due to a 14-year gap between his known murders [citation:5]. He was convicted of 10 murders and sent to death row, but police still work to identify women in his chilling collection [citation:13].

Close your eyes and enter a quiet Oregon home where a trusted babysitter, Diane Downs, turned a night of care into a scene of unimaginable horror. In May 1983, she shot her three young children in a planned attack, killing her 7‑year‑old daughter and leaving her other two children with severe injuries . She then staged the scene to look like a carjacking, even driving her wounded children to the hospital while performing her own "shocking" performance of grief . But the evidence didn't lie: a single .22 caliber bullet found in the car, her own contradictory testimony, and a chilling letter to her married lover, revealing her deadly obsession . This is the story of a woman who sacrificed her own children to win back a man who didn't want her .

A Thanksgiving turkey isn't the only thing getting carved in this stomach-churning case from Bailey Sarian. Omaima Nelson, a former model from Egypt, was the epitome of the "sugar baby" lifestyle before her marriage to the elderly William "Bill" Nelson was shattered by a gruesome murder. In 1991, Omaima dismembered, cooked, and partially consumed her husband, creating a Thanksgiving horror that experts would later describe as a chilling blend of Ed Gein and a deadly domestic dispute. But was this a cold-blooded act of cannibalism, or a brutal act of self-defense? Watch as we dive deep into the evidence, shocking details, and disturbing psychology of this case.

Close your eyes and step into the fog-choked streets of London's East End in 1888, where a shadowy figure terrorized the world's greatest city. A story of blood, mystery, and a killer who vanished into history. Over ten weeks, at least five women were brutally murdered and mutilated, their bodies found in alleys and doorways, their killer's identity never discovered [citation:2][citation:9]. The case became a media sensation, spawning thousands of hoax letters, including the infamous "Dear Boss" letter that gave the killer his iconic name [citation:9]. Despite one of the largest manhunts in history and over a century of obsession, Jack the Ripper was never caught. Some believe the killer was interrupted during one attack, while others point to conspiracy theories involving the royal family or the Freemasons. This is part one of the Ripper story—a legend that refuses to die.

There's a different kind of true crime story that lingers in the shadows—cases where the official ruling never quite fits the evidence. This collection explores deaths that deserve a second look, from families poisoned in their beds to cold cases that have haunted communities for decades. A Wisconsin mother and her two children were found dead from carbon monoxide poisoning, but detectives have always believed someone deliberately caused their deaths [citation:5]. A Philadelphia teacher with twenty stab wounds, many to the back of her head, had her death ruled a suicide [citation:7]. And a family in Mumbai died after eating a watermelon laced with rat poison, but investigators still don't know who put it there [citation:10]. These are the stories that keep true crime lovers awake at night—not solved, just suspended in uncertainty.

Close your eyes and consider the most depraved crime in Australian history. A case so horrifying it inspired a film described as both "unwatchably violent" and "an uncommonly powerful viewing experience" [citation:4]. Between 1992 and 1999, John Bunting, a former slaughterhouse worker, recruited vulnerable young men to torture and kill at least 12 people [citation:5]. They kept their victims' bodies decomposing in six plastic barrels of acid in a disused bank vault [citation:1]. Some were tortured for weeks. Bunting was convicted of 11 murders and sentenced to life without parole [citation:1]. The details were so depraved that suppression orders were in place throughout the trial [citation:7]. This is the story of Snowtown.

Where are Drew Peterson's wives? The sinister story begins with Kathleen Savio, his third wife, found dead in a dry bathtub in 2004, her death initially ruled an accidental drowning [citation:3][citation:6]. Suspicions only arose when his fourth wife, Stacy Peterson, vanished in 2007, leading investigators to exhume Savio's body and reclassify her death as a homicide [citation:1][citation:3]. The former Bolingbrook police sergeant, who once bragged he could make a murder look like an accident, was convicted of Savio's murder in 2012 and sentenced to 38 years in prison, though Stacy's body has never been found, and the mystery of her disappearance remains unsolved [citation:4][citation:11].

Close your eyes and consider the bizarre death of Phoebe Handsjuk, a 24‑year‑old Melbourne woman found at the bottom of a 12‑storey garbage chute in 2010. The coroner ruled it a “freak accident” caused by a drug‑induced sleepwalking state, but her family never accepted that verdict. With her boyfriend from a powerful legal family, unanswered questions about blood in her apartment, and police failings, her story remains a chilling mystery of what truly happened that night.

From life on the road to the realities of true crime, Bailey Sarian answers her community's most personal questions. This candid Q&A reveals the dark humor and vulnerability behind the "Murder, Mystery & Makeup" brand, touching on favorite cases, the future of the channel, and the challenges of balancing dark subject matter with mental health. With honesty and dark wit, Bailey dives into the human side of true crime, sharing what it really feels like to document the world's most disturbing stories while trying to stay sane.