Crime Couch Podcast

In the early evening hours of July 22, 1995 Three teenage boys, Royce Casey, Jacob Delashmutt and Joseph Fiorella convinced 15-year-old student Elyse Pahler to come hang out with them and party at a favorite spot of theirs in a eucalyptus grove on the Nipomo Mesa which is an area in California. Pahler had been well acquainted with the boys for a while since they went to school together and the boys also played in a local heavy metal band known as Hatred. She had no idea of the terror that would follow that evening.

8 year old Madyson or Maddy Middleton disappeared from her Santa Cruz apartment complex on Sunday July 26th at around 4:26pm in the afternoon while she was riding her Razor scooter around the neighborhood. This is something a lot of the kids did around the complex as there was a lot of space to just go outside and play. But just like that, as her mom came back outside to look for her, she was gone, almost as if she had vanished into thin air. Almost immediately after they were notified, The police released a missing persons report.

In the early morning of May 9th, 2021, Tristyn Bailey was heading out around 1:15am to go hang out with a few friends. At her age, sneaking out was very prominent especially in a small town like St. Johns County in Jacksonville, Florida. It wasn’t unusual for kids to want to sneak out in the middle of the night to hang out with their friends and Tristyn was overall a well behaved girl who followed the rules so it wasn't assumed that she was going out to do anything bad. She was a 13 year old student attending 7th grade at Patriot Oaks Academy which was also located in a small suburb in Jacksonville. She was heavily involved in Cheerleading and was the head Cheerleader and cheer captain of her team. She had already won many awards and her coaches recognized her as a leader with a dedicated work ethic and lively personality. Her friends and family describe her as one of the most caring and sweetest people they ever knew and said she brought light to everyone around her. Her parents and siblings were sound asleep in their home the night of May 9th, and it being mothers day, they had no clue what they would be waking up to in the morning.

The Zodiac Killer, more formerly known as “The Zodiac” was an unidentified American serial killer who is believed to have murdered at least five people in northern California between 1968 and 1969. He taunted police and made threats through letters sent to area newspapers from 1969 to 1974, before abruptly ceasing communication. Despite intensive investigations, no one was ever arrested for the crimes and the case remains open. The mystery surrounding the murders has been the subject of numerous books and movies, including director David Fincher's acclaimed 2007 feature Zodiac.To this day he has never been found, although throughout the years many people have tried to solve the ciphers that he left behind and sent to police.

Jodi Ann Arias was born on July 9, 1980, in Salinas, California. Arias was a carefree aspiring photographer from Palm Desert, California when she met Alexander, a motivational speaker, salesman, and devout Mormon from Mesa, Arizona. The pair had met at a company convention in Las Vegas in September 2006. At the time, Arias was looking for opportunities in network marketing. The pair seemed to have hit it off and started a long-distance relationship for a few months. As of February 2, 2007, Alexander and Arias were officially a couple.

Lyle and Erik Menendez grew up in the suburbs of Beverly Hills with their parents Jose and Mary “Kitty” Menendez. They seemed to be living the perfect American dream during the 1980’s. Jose was born in Cuba and migrated to America in the 1950’s and eventually earned a college degree in swimming. He then later met Kitty who was a beauty pageant queen and once they got married they started rising to the top. Jose became a very well known entertainment executive. He became the head of RCA records and played a big part in signing bands such as Duran Duran and The Eurythmics. The entire family became very successful very quickly. Their house was even located on the most exclusive block of Beverly hills and was once owned by none other than Michael Jackson and Elton John.

On April 28th, 2007 Kate and Gerry Mccann along with their three children, Madeleine, Amelie, and Sean arrived in Portugal at the Ocean Club Complex in Praia da luz for a family vacation. Most of the evenings, the adults staying in the resort would meet up for dinner and hang out until the early hours of the morning. The restaurant was located inside the resort itself and was only about 50m away from where the McCann children were sleeping. And just to add in 50m is only around 164 feet so they saw no issue in being away from the rooms within that close of a proximity.

Kendrick Johnson was a 17 year old student who attended school at Lowndes highschool in Valdosta, Georgia. He participated in many sports for fun and was considered a three sport athlete at his school. His overall dream one day was to play professional football. Unfortunately for him he met his fate on January 11th, 2013.

In 2008, the media and the entire country was distraught by a horrific murder and cover up that occurred in Orlando Florida. Casey Anthony was the mother to an adorable 2 year old little girl known as caylee anthony. She was born on August 9, 2005, and when Casey got pregnant she denied it to her family throughout the entire pregnancy. There have been a few suspicions as to who Caylee's father was such as her short term fiance Jesse Grund, and a former boyfriend of Casey who was reported to have died in a car accident, however the public doesn't really know for sure. Casey was 22 years old and it is unknown the kind of living situation that was provided to Caylee up until 2008 when the family became more well known to the media. Caylee was raised by her grandparents Cindy and George Anthony for the majority of her life since Casey was so young and not prepared at the time to be a mother.

Chris Watts was a young family man from Fredrick, Colorado starting his new life with his wife Shanann Watts. Together they had two daughters, Bella who was 4, Celeste who they called “ce-cee” who was 3, and shanan was also 15 weeks pregnant with their third. Shanann announced on facebook on June 11th, 2018 that they were having their 3rd child, and posted a video of her surprising chris. Shanann regularly used facebook to share her family life with her friends and from the outside she was in a loving relationship with Chris. She also describes in multiple videos how he saved her and how much he’s done for her and their daughters. There were never any signs of abuse or any issues within their relationship at all. To everyone around them they were living the perfect suburban family life.