Crime Adjacent

We had to get ahead of this guy. That was my thinking. 

The clown creeper was breaking into cabins with impunity, and now he was in downtown Petoskey, where he was responsible for the murder of Allison Barnes and apparently tried to do the same thing to Ebony Aster just minutes later.

So my plan was simple. We would plant a decoy to lure him out of hiding.

It was the biggest mistake in this case.

This is part 14 of the 8th season of Crime Adjacent: the untold story of the Michigan Nightstalker.

What happens if your favorite character jumps off the page and starts a podcast? That’s Crime Adjacent, the never-ending true crime thriller told weekly.

With the help of devoted listeners and true crime fans, the international #1 smash hit Crime Adjacent podcast team has already captured the Bay Area's Rest Stop Killer in 2023, stopped the Mercy Street Butcher in 2019, and exposed the AmaniCorp conspiracy in 2024.

But now, the darkest chapter begins, as host and serial killer survivor Chase Patrick is pulled into the case of the Michigan Nightstalker.

New episodes every Wednesday.

Weekly live BTS videos and our True Crime College profiling group at Patreon -- http://www.patreon.com/crimeadjacent 

Instagram -- https://www.instagram.com/crimeadjacent

Web site -- www.crimeadjacent.com

Crime Adjacent is written and performed by Mike Adamick. 

It is produced & edited by Multitude.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Just a few blocks from the Clinton Street house where Allison Barnes was murdered that Saturday, Realtor Ebony Aster was hosting her own open house on Lake Street.

But while she was getting ready, she heard something. Upstairs. That strange noise soon turned to pounding footsteps, and she knew, immediately, she had to get out of the house. Fast.

It turns out, these type of attacks on Realtors happen all the time. In Florida, from 2024 to 2025, a man would check out open homes hosted by women Realtors, and then, when they were alone, he would try to grab their feet.

Ebony was thinking about assaults like these, wondering who was upstairs. And then, the chase began.

This is part 13 of the 8th season of Crime Adjacent: the untold story of the Michigan Nightstalker.

What happens if your favorite character jumps off the page and starts a podcast? That’s Crime Adjacent, the never-ending true crime thriller told weekly.

With the help of devoted listeners and true crime fans, the international #1 smash hit Crime Adjacent podcast team has already captured the Bay Area's Rest Stop Killer in 2023, stopped the Mercy Street Butcher in 2019, and exposed the AmaniCorp conspiracy in 2024.

But now, the darkest chapter begins, as host and serial killer survivor Chase Patrick is pulled into the case of the Michigan Nightstalker.

New episodes every Wednesday.

Weekly live BTS videos and our True Crime College profiling group at Patreon -- http://www.patreon.com/crimeadjacent 

Instagram -- https://www.instagram.com/crimeadjacent

Web site -- www.crimeadjacent.com

Crime Adjacent is written and performed by Mike Adamick. 

It is produced & edited by Multitude.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Can you kill a person in five minutes? And then appear perfectly reasonable when the cops arrive?

These questions were floating through Sheriff Press's mind as she questioned Billy Barnes, who had just discovered his wife had been murdered. 

Why, Press wondered, did it take him five whole minutes from the alleged discovery of her body until the time he called 911?

The more she dug into the story of Billy and Allison Barnes, the more she discovered reason after reason about why he might have killed her. And she wondered, was this the case of a local foot fetish creep escalating to murder, or yet one more horrible example of an enraged husband taking his anger out on the supposed "love of his life"?

This is part 12 of the 8th season of Crime Adjacent: the untold story of the Michigan Nightstalker.

What happens if your favorite character jumps off the page and starts a podcast? That’s Crime Adjacent, the never-ending true crime thriller told weekly.

With the help of devoted listeners and true crime fans, the international #1 smash hit Crime Adjacent podcast team has already captured the Bay Area's Rest Stop Killer in 2023, stopped the Mercy Street Butcher in 2019, and exposed the AmaniCorp conspiracy in 2024.

But now, the darkest chapter begins, as host and serial killer survivor Chase Patrick is pulled into the case of the Michigan Nightstalker.

New episodes every Wednesday.

Weekly live BTS videos and our True Crime College profiling group at Patreon -- http://www.patreon.com/crimeadjacent 

Instagram -- https://www.instagram.com/crimeadjacent

Web site -- www.crimeadjacent.com

Crime Adjacent is written and performed by Mike Adamick. 

It is produced & edited by Multitude.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

As more and more cabins were broken into and more and more visitors were assaulted, or murdered, the town grappled with a sticky moral dilemma.

Who belongs? Who gets to call this place home, and who should be kept away?

The town boiled with debate and turmoil that Saturday. But as residents gathered inside the town hall to discuss these issues, the clown creeper was elsewhere. No longer content to remain at the lake, he moved to downtown at that very moment, sizing up his next murder victim.

This is the story of Allison Barnes.

This is part 11 of the 8th season of Crime Adjacent: the untold story of the Michigan Nightstalker.

What happens if your favorite character jumps off the page and starts a podcast? That’s Crime Adjacent, the never-ending true crime thriller told weekly.

With the help of devoted listeners and true crime fans, the international #1 smash hit Crime Adjacent podcast team has already captured the Bay Area's Rest Stop Killer in 2023, stopped the Mercy Street Butcher in 2019, and exposed the AmaniCorp conspiracy in 2024.

But now, the darkest chapter begins, as host and serial killer survivor Chase Patrick is pulled into the case of the Michigan Nightstalker.

New episodes every Wednesday.

Weekly live BTS videos and our True Crime College profiling group at Patreon -- http://www.patreon.com/crimeadjacent 

Instagram -- https://www.instagram.com/crimeadjacent

Web site -- www.crimeadjacent.com

Crime Adjacent is written and performed by Mike Adamick. 

It is produced & edited by Multitude.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Best-selling author Aitana Ruiz heads to Walloon Lake every September to put the finishing touches on the latest book in her popular series Daggers and Wind. But 2024 was different.

Because on Saturday morning, September 28, she awoke close to daybreak with a man in a clown mask at the foot of her bed. 

This man snapped a length of rope between his hands, whispering, "And now, the fun begins."

This is part ten of the 8th season of Crime Adjacent: the untold story of the Michigan Nightstalker.

What happens if your favorite character jumps off the page and starts a podcast? That’s Crime Adjacent, the never-ending true crime thriller told weekly.

With the help of devoted listeners and true crime fans, the international #1 smash hit Crime Adjacent podcast team has already captured the Bay Area's Rest Stop Killer in 2023, stopped the Mercy Street Butcher in 2019, and exposed the AmaniCorp conspiracy in 2024.

But now, the darkest chapter begins, as host and serial killer survivor Chase Patrick is pulled into the case of the Michigan Nightstalker.

New episodes every Wednesday.

Weekly live BTS videos and our True Crime College profiling group at Patreon -- http://www.patreon.com/crimeadjacent 

Instagram -- https://www.instagram.com/crimeadjacent

Web site -- www.crimeadjacent.com

Crime Adjacent is written and performed by Mike Adamick. 

It is produced & edited by Multitude.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Can you get away with murder if someone is forcing you to do it?

This episode looks at crimes of duress and just how far some people force others to go on their behalf. 

Because that is exactly what was happening in Petoskey in 2024, in the lead up to the murders that began in September.

This is part nine of the 8th season of Crime Adjacent: the untold story of the Michigan Nightstalker.

What happens if your favorite character jumps off the page and starts a podcast? That’s Crime Adjacent, the never-ending true crime thriller told weekly.

With the help of devoted listeners and true crime fans, the international #1 smash hit Crime Adjacent podcast team has already captured the Bay Area's Rest Stop Killer in 2023, stopped the Mercy Street Butcher in 2019, and exposed the AmaniCorp conspiracy in 2024.

But now, the darkest chapter begins, as host and serial killer survivor Chase Patrick is pulled into the case of the Michigan Nightstalker.

New episodes every Wednesday.

Weekly live BTS videos and our True Crime College profiling group at Patreon -- http://www.patreon.com/crimeadjacent 

Instagram -- https://www.instagram.com/crimeadjacent

Web site -- www.crimeadjacent.com

Crime Adjacent is written and performed by Mike Adamick. 

It is produced & edited by Multitude.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Someone was following me. At the diner, at the bookstore, the cafe, the town square. Wherever I went that day, the same day the clown struck again, the same man appeared behind me. 

He was watching, waiting.

In the pedestrian tunnel that connects downtown Petoskey to the waterfront, he finally struck.

Get out of town, he said. Now.

Petoskey, Michigan, had been hit by a strange wave of crime since the beginning of 2024, and this man in front of me, threatening me, was just the latest.

Stop the investigation, he warned. Or else.

This is part eight of the 8th season of Crime Adjacent: the untold story of the Michigan Nightstalker.

What happens if your favorite character jumps off the page and starts a podcast? That’s Crime Adjacent, the never-ending true crime thriller told weekly.

With the help of devoted listeners and true crime fans, the international #1 smash hit Crime Adjacent podcast team has already captured the Bay Area's Rest Stop Killer in 2023, stopped the Mercy Street Butcher in 2019, and exposed the AmaniCorp conspiracy in 2024.

But now, the darkest chapter begins, as host and serial killer survivor Chase Patrick is pulled into the case of the Michigan Nightstalker.

New episodes every Wednesday.

Weekly live BTS videos and our True Crime College profiling group at Patreon -- http://www.patreon.com/crimeadjacent 

Instagram -- https://www.instagram.com/crimeadjacent

Web site -- www.crimeadjacent.com

Crime Adjacent is written and performed by Mike Adamick. 

It is produced & edited by Multitude.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Do you know about those fancy shoes with the red soles? How about that brand with the plaid design crawling over coats and purses? What does a belt with "G" on it denote, or "H"?

In the field of conspicuous consumption, these are what sociologists call loud signals of wealth. 

But there are quiet signals as well, signals so subtle and obscure as to be noticed only by the truly, impossibly rich -- those who don't even need fancy brands to signal their wealth.

So what does this have to do with murder? Or this case?

Everything. Because Sheriff Press and Deputy Swanson found a coat so obscenely expensive in the cramped, studio apartment of their main suspect that they wondered: Could this be the final piece of evidence that nails the clown creeper once and for all?

This is part seven of the 8th season of Crime Adjacent: the untold story of the Michigan Nightstalker.

What happens if your favorite character jumps off the page and starts a podcast? That’s Crime Adjacent, the never-ending true crime thriller told weekly.

With the help of devoted listeners and true crime fans, the international #1 smash hit Crime Adjacent podcast team has already captured the Bay Area's Rest Stop Killer in 2023, stopped the Mercy Street Butcher in 2019, and exposed the AmaniCorp conspiracy in 2024.

But now, the darkest chapter begins, as host and serial killer survivor Chase Patrick is pulled into the case of the Michigan Nightstalker.

New episodes every Wednesday.

Weekly live BTS videos and our True Crime College profiling group at Patreon -- http://www.patreon.com/crimeadjacent 

Instagram -- https://www.instagram.com/crimeadjacent

Web site -- www.crimeadjacent.com

Crime Adjacent is written and performed by Mike Adamick. 

It is produced & edited by Multitude.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

United States Olympic Rugby gold medalist Aubrey Ertz went to Walloon Lake for a short vacation and a team-building retreat. The 2028 Olympics are fast approaching, and Ertz wanted to set the goals for the team.

But on Friday morning, September 27, 2024, she woke to a horrible surprise. Someone was in her room, rubbing her feet. 

And so she did what she normally does in situations like this: Punch first and ask questions later.

It turns out, this punch provided yet another important clue in this case.

This is part six of the 8th season of Crime Adjacent: the untold story of the Michigan Nightstalker.

What happens if your favorite character jumps off the page and starts a podcast? That’s Crime Adjacent, the never-ending true crime thriller told weekly.

With the help of devoted listeners and true crime fans, the international #1 smash hit Crime Adjacent podcast team has already captured the Bay Area's Rest Stop Killer in 2023, stopped the Mercy Street Butcher in 2019, and exposed the AmaniCorp conspiracy in 2024.

But now, the darkest chapter begins, as host and serial killer survivor Chase Patrick is pulled into the case of the Michigan Nightstalker.

New episodes every Wednesday.

Weekly live BTS videos and our True Crime College profiling group at Patreon -- http://www.patreon.com/crimeadjacent 

Instagram -- https://www.instagram.com/crimeadjacent

Web site -- www.crimeadjacent.com

Crime Adjacent is written and performed by Mike Adamick. 

It is produced & edited by Multitude.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

On Sept. 3, 2024, Realtor Yuki Sugita was hosting an open house in a rural neighborhood on the outskirts of Traverse City.

Sometime between 1:30 and 3:30 p.m., someone showed up at this house and discovered Sugita alone. No neighbors. No buyers. Just her and an empty, quiet home.

Sugita was tied up and stabbed to death, only to be discovered by potential buyers out shopping for homes that afternoon. 

While the case looked, on the surface, so different and far away and unrelated to the clown creeper cases on Walloon Lake -- a full 60 miles away -- Sheriff Press soon discovered something that would lead her to a horrifying conclusion. The clown creeper was more than capable of murder.

This is part five of the 8th season of Crime Adjacent: the untold story of the Michigan Nightstalker.

What happens if your favorite character jumps off the page and starts a podcast? That’s Crime Adjacent, the never-ending true crime thriller told weekly.

With the help of devoted listeners and true crime fans, the international #1 smash hit Crime Adjacent podcast team has already captured the Bay Area's Rest Stop Killer in 2023, stopped the Mercy Street Butcher in 2019, and exposed the AmaniCorp conspiracy in 2024.

But now, the darkest chapter begins, as host and serial killer survivor Chase Patrick is pulled into the case of the Michigan Nightstalker.

New episodes every Wednesday.

Weekly live BTS videos and our True Crime College profiling group at Patreon -- http://www.patreon.com/crimeadjacent 

Instagram -- https://www.instagram.com/crimeadjacent

Web site -- www.crimeadjacent.com

Crime Adjacent is written and performed by Mike Adamick. 

It is produced & edited by Multitude.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.