Beyond the Ferns

On this week's episode we are headed to the greate state of Alaska!

On April 26, 1993, 20-year-old Sophie Sergie was found murdered in a women's restroom inside Bartlett Hall at University of Alaska Fairbanks. Sophie, a Yup'ik student from the small village of Pitkas Point, had traveled to Fairbanks for orthodontic appointments and was staying with friends in the dormitory. Investigators determined that she had been sexually assaulted and shot in the back of the head sometime during the early morning hours of April 26. Despite hundreds of interviews and years of investigation, the case went cold and remained unsolved for more than two decades.

However, investigators would have their breakthrough in 2018. Despite knowing the person responsible for murdering Sophie, there were many questions that have continued to puzzle investigators. No murder weapon, an unclear motive, what exactly would lead someone to do such a heinous act?

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This week we are headed to Rhode Island!

On the evening of August 31, 1990, Adam and Elena Emery were enjoying dinner with friends in Rocky Point, Rhode Island, when a passing vehicle sideswiped Adam's parked Ford Thunderbird. Rather than stopping to exchange information, the driver sped away into the night. Furious over the damage and determined to find the person responsible, Adam started chasing the car he believed to be responsible. However, this night ended in way more than confrontation. After forcing a young group of men in the car before them, the altercation turned from road rage fury to a full blown murder investigation.

In the weeks and months that followed, investigators worked to unravel exactly what happened that night, while the case drew intense media attention across the state. As the legal proceedings moved forward, it appeared the story was headed toward a conclusion.

But then came a shocking twist.

Authorities discovered Adam and Elena's vehicle abandoned on the Claiborne Pell Bridge, which stretches across Narragansett Bay. And there would be plenty of unanswered questions, that only Adam and Elena had the answers to... unfortunately, there's a lot of missing pieces even thirty years later...

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In this week's episode, we are headed to Iowa!

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This week we are headed to Maryland!

We will be stepping inside the mind of Edgar Allan Poe to explore the darkness that shaped some of his most haunting works. Poe’s writing wasn’t simply created from imagination — it was deeply rooted in his own grief, isolation, fear, and a lifelong sense of never truly belonging anywhere. After enduring repeated loss throughout his life, including the deaths of the women closest to him, Poe became consumed by themes of mortality, madness, psychological torment, and the terrifying fragility of the human mind.

We will deep dive into writings, including The Tell-Tale Heart, The Premature Burial, The Raven, and The Fall of the House of Usher — unraveling the fears, obsessions, and emotional wounds hidden between the lines. From paranoia and guilt to death and the fear of losing those we love most, this episode explores how Poe transformed personal suffering into some of the darkest literature ever written.

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This week, we are staying in Indiana to finish out Belle Gunness' horrifyingly shocking legacy!

After arriving in La Porte, Indiana, Belle Gunness seemed determined to build the kind of life she had always wanted—land, financial security, and control. To neighbors, she appeared hardworking and capable, running her farm with a steady hand while raising children and welcoming a steady stream of hired men, visitors, and suitors through her doors. But beneath the surface, strange patterns began to emerge. Farmhands disappeared without much explanation. Men who arrived carrying savings or dreams of a new life were suddenly gone, often with Belle calmly offering a reason no one could fully verify.

As the years passed, rumors around the farm grew harder to ignore. Belle continued expanding her property and finances, even as tragedy seemed to follow closely behind her. Fires, sudden deaths, missing people, and whispered suspicions became woven into the story surrounding the isolated farmhouse on McClung Road. Then, in the spring of 1908, everything changed when a devastating fire tore through the property in the middle of the night—leaving behind a scene so horrifying that it would turn the quiet Indiana farm into one of the most infamous crime scenes in American history.

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This week, we are headed to Indiana!

Belle Gunness didn’t just chase a better life—she seemed to study where money followed misfortune, and then quietly position herself in its path.

Born as Brynhild Paulsdatter Størseth in rural Norway in 1859, she grew up in poverty, where survival meant hard work and very little security. But when she immigrated to the United States in the 1880s, something shifted. In Chicago, she moved from domestic labor into a life that, on the surface, looked ordinary—marriage, children, a modest home. Underneath it, though, patterns began to form.

Fires. Insurance policies. Sudden deaths that came with payouts.

Her first husband, Mads Sorenson, died under circumstances that raised concern and all pointed back to Belle. But it wouldn't end or even begin with Mads. Each time, the money came through. And each time, Belle moved forward—never collapsing under grief for long, but instead using those moments to rebuild, often bigger than before.

By the time she relocated to a farm in La Porte, Indiana, her methods seemed more deliberate. She placed personal ads, attracting men—often immigrants like herself—who arrived with cash, property, or the promise of both. Many were never seen again. Neighbors noticed the steady flow of visitors, and the silence that followed.

Belle wasn’t impulsive. If anything, she appeared calculated—someone who understood systems like insurance, property ownership, and trust, and found ways to exploit them. Whether through arson, suspected poisoning, or manipulation, money was often at the center of what followed.

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In this week's episode, we are headed to Tennessee!

On the surface, Janet March seemed to have built a beautiful life. She was an artist, a mother of two, and living in an affluent area of Nashville with her husband, successful attorney Perry March. Perry was intelligent, ambitious, and by many accounts, difficult to be around. He had built a reputation as a sharp attorney, but behind the scenes, cracks had already started to form in both his career and his marriage.

By the summer of 1996, Janet and Perry’s relationship was unraveling. The couple fought often, there were rumors of infidelity, and Janet had begun talking seriously about divorce. Then, in August, Janet suddenly vanished. Days passed before she was officially reported missing, and by the time investigators began looking into what happened, precious time had already been lost.

What followed was a case filled with strange behavior, mounting suspicions, years of legal battles, and a man who seemed more focused on controlling the story than finding his missing wife. In this episode, we look at who Janet was before she became a headline, the warning signs in her marriage, and the long road investigators took to uncover the truth.

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In this week's episode, we are headed to Arkansas!

In 2005, in the quiet college town of Russellville, AR, 19-year-old Nona Dirksmeyer was found brutally murdered inside her off-campus apartment. A student at Arkansas Tech University, Nona was known for her easygoing nature and close relationships— a talented woman who was crowned beauty pageant queen at Miss Jean Petit.

In the earliest moments of the investigation, attention turned quickly to someone close to her—her boyfriend, Kevin Jones. He had been one of the last known people to see her, and his account of what happened raised questions for investigators. After discovering Nona, Kevin’s behavior—emotional, frantic, and, at times, inconsistent—drew intense scrutiny.

He was brought in for questioning and interrogated for hours, as investigators worked to reconcile his version of events with the physical scene they were trying to understand. Early on, it seemed as though the case might center around him.

But as the investigation continued, what initially appeared straightforward began to fracture. Evidence didn’t align as cleanly as expected. Certain assumptions were challenged. And questions started to surface—not just about what happened inside that apartment, but about whether the investigation itself was heading in the right direction. Kevin may have literal blood on his hand from rushing to Nona's side, but did he really do it?

Over time, the case would shift in unexpected ways—introducing new angles, new individuals, and growing controversy over how key pieces of evidence were handled.

Years later, the story of Nona Dirksmeyer remains one that lingers—not just because of the violence of that day, but because of everything that followed—and everything that still doesn’t quite fit. And there may be a person currently walking free, that many expect did this, but they can't quite prove it.

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In this week's episode, we are headed to North Dakota!

Savanna LaFontaine-Greywind was a 22-year-old woman from Fargo who was eight months pregnant and preparing for a new chapter in her life. In August 2017, she vanished from her apartment complex after briefly going upstairs to help a neighbor with a simple request. When she didn’t return, concern quickly escalated into a desperate search led by her family and local authorities.

As investigators worked to piece together her last known movements, the case began to unfold in unexpected ways, drawing in the surrounding community and capturing national attention. What initially seemed like a missing persons case soon revealed deeper, more troubling layers—raising questions about trust, vulnerability, and the hidden dangers that can exist in the most ordinary places.

Savanna’s story is not only about the mystery of her disappearance, but also about the lasting impact her life and legacy have had—helping bring awareness to violence against Indigenous women and sparking conversations that continue today.

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