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TAKEN IN THE NIGHT: THE NANCY GUTHRIE DISAPPEARANCE — MASKED INTRUDER, DOORBELL VIDEO, DNA GLOVE, AND THE $6M BITCOIN RANSOM

On January 31, 2026, at 1:47 a.m., the doorbell camera at an isolated desert home outside Tucson, Arizona suddenly went offline.

Forty-one minutes later, a masked man wearing gloves, a backpack, and a gun appeared on the front porch.

By morning, Nancy Guthrie was gone.

Blood was found outside her home. Her phone, wallet, hearing aid, and medication were left behind. Her pacemaker — which tracked her heart activity — stopped communicating with her phone at 2:28 a.m.

Nancy Guthrie is not just anyone. She is the mother of NBC Today show host Savannah Guthrie. And her disappearance immediately became one of the most high-profile abduction investigations in America.

Then came the ransom demand.

Six million dollars. In Bitcoin.

But the ransom notes weren’t sent to the family.

They were sent to news stations.

As investigators searched the desert surrounding her home, they recovered critical evidence — including a black glove matching the suspect’s clothing, containing DNA from an unknown male. FBI analysts are now processing that DNA through CODIS, the national database that could identify the masked intruder.

Doorbell footage revealed key details:

A masked suspect
 A Walmart-sold Ozark Trail backpack
 A gun holster
 A carefully timed intrusion in complete darkness

Seventeen days later, Nancy Guthrie remains missing.

No arrests.
 No confirmed contact.
 Only evidence, questions, and a family waiting for answers.

This episode breaks down everything confirmed by law enforcement — including the doorbell footage, the ransom demands, the DNA evidence, and the ongoing FBI investigation.

Facts only. No guessing. No rumors.

What you’ll hear:

• The exact timeline of the night Nancy Guthrie disappeared
 • What the doorbell footage revealed about the suspect
 • The $6 million Bitcoin ransom demand sent to media outlets
 • The glove containing DNA now being analyzed by the FBI
 • The mistakes investigators believe the suspect made
 • Why this case may be closer to a breakthrough than anyone realizes

Hosted by Tim Novotney.

Visit the official website:
 www.crimery.show

Music: "No Copyright True Crime Investigation Music"
Artist: Soundridemusic
https://youtube.com/@soundridemusic

If you have information about this case, contact the FBI tip line at 1-800-CALL-FBI.

Crimery is a true crime podcast focused on verified facts, real investigations, and the stories behind the headlines.

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Legal: Everyone mentioned is presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. Content may include descriptions of violence. Listener discretion advised.

©2025 CRIMERY. All rights reserved.

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On November 13, 2022, four University of Idaho students were murdered inside an off-campus house in Moscow, Idaho. In the days that followed, fear spread across the country as investigators searched for the person responsible.

In this episode of Crimery: True Crime Uncovered, we break down how one overlooked mistake—a knife sheath left behind at the crime scene—became the key that unraveled the entire case against Bryan Kohberger.

Using court filings, the probable cause affidavit, digital evidence, and investigative records, we trace how law enforcement connected DNA, phone data, surveillance footage, and vehicle movements to identify and arrest a criminal justice graduate student living just miles away.

We also examine what happened after the arrest—how the case moved through the courts, why Kohberger ultimately pleaded guilty, and why the most important question remains unanswered: why did he do it?

In this episode:

• What the surviving roommate saw that night
• How the knife sheath changed everything
• The role of cell phone data, cameras, and vehicle tracking
• How Bryan Kohberger was identified and arrested
• Why the case ended with a guilty plea instead of a trial
• The unanswered questions families still live with

Content warning: descriptions of violence involving young adults.

I’m Jennifer Kist — and this is Crimery: True Crime Uncovered.
More episodes and updates: crimery.show

Music: "No Copyright True Crime Investigation Music"
Artist: Soundridemusic
https://youtube.com/@soundridemusic

Keywords: Idaho 4 murders, Bryan Kohberger case, Moscow Idaho killings, true crime podcast, knife sheath evidence, college house murders, unsolved motive, criminal psychology, Crimery podcast

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Legal: Everyone mentioned is presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. Content may include descriptions of violence. Listener discretion advised.

©2025 CRIMERY. All rights reserved.

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September 18, 1992: the Pennsylvania Supreme Court overturns Jay C. Smith’s conviction—and bars a retrial for prosecutorial misconduct so extreme the court says trying him again would violate double jeopardy. After 13 years in prison—seven on death row—Smith walks free. Meanwhile, William Bradfield remains locked up on three consecutive life sentences.

And the children—Karen Reinert (11) and Michael Reinert (10)—are still missing.

In Part 2, the case shifts from a murder investigation into a system-level collapse: hidden evidence, jailhouse testimony, courtroom strategy, and the constitutional ruling that ended the Commonwealth’s ability to prosecute Smith forever. We follow the investigation’s most disturbing throughline—how “programming” can look like prediction, how an alibi can look like architecture, and how silence can become the final lock on an ending no one can recover.

In this episode:

• The Supreme Court ruling that freed Jay C. Smith and permanently barred retrial
• The investigation timeline and why Bradfield’s alibi raised red flags
• The jailhouse confession testimony—and the credibility war around it
• Brady violations, prosecutorial misconduct, and how the system broke the case
• The haunting question that remains: where are Karen and Michael?

Content warning: violence against women and children.

Check out our website at crimery.show

Music: "No Copyright True Crime Investigation Music"
Artist: Soundridemusic
https://youtube.com/@soundridemusic

Support the show

CRIMERY

Tip line & inquiries: [email protected]

If you found this episode valuable, follow, rate, and review in your podcast app it really helps others find the show.

Legal: Everyone mentioned is presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. Content may include descriptions of violence. Listener discretion advised.

©2025 CRIMERY. All rights reserved.

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In June 1979, a teacher’s body was found in the trunk of a car in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.
 Susan Reinert had been drugged, beaten, and suffocated. Her two children—Karen, 11, and Michael, 10—were gone.

They have never been found.

This is the story of William Bradfield—a charismatic English teacher who inspired devotion, loyalty, and obedience from everyone around him. For months before Susan’s murder, Bradfield told friends exactly what was going to happen. He named the victim. He named the killer. And when it finally did happen, he already had an alibi waiting.

Part one of this series examines how Bradfield built a cult-like inner circle of teachers and former students, how he manipulated women into believing they were his future wife, and how he used psychological programming to turn witnesses into accomplices—without ever asking them to act.

What you’ll hear:

• How Bradfield predicted Susan Reinert’s murder months before it happened
• The cult-like control he exercised over colleagues and protégés
• The inheritance, insurance policies, and financial motive behind the crime
• The alibi weekend that investigators would later call “designed to be remembered”
• Why Susan’s children vanished—and why their fate still haunts this case

Content warning: violence against women and children.

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Legal: Everyone mentioned is presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. Content may include descriptions of violence. Listener discretion advised.

©2025 CRIMERY. All rights reserved.

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Weatherly/Freeland, Pennsylvania. 2016.
 A house fire at 234 Third Street looks like simple insurance fraud… until federal agents start pulling at one landlord’s life and uncover something far worse.

Roberto Torner—a convicted felon turned “King of Weatherly”—ran a Pepto-Bismol-pink boarding house called The Cottage Hotel, collecting vulnerable tenants the way he collected distressed properties. Inside that world, fear was currency. Loyalty was demanded. And one man’s disappearance cracked the whole thing open.

That man was Jose “Pepe” Herran—a Cuban immigrant, a father, and a confidential informant for the FBI. Torner called him “brother.” Then Pepe got into a van headed for the woods of Buck Mountain Road… and never came back.

What followed was not just murder—it was domination. A cult-like kingdom built on threats, weapons, and control. And when investigators searched Torner’s properties after the fire, they found an arsenal, a trailer with blood hidden under oil-based paint, and a burn pit that would reveal the most haunting evidence of all: human skull fragments.

This episode stays close to court testimony and investigative records—and when we infer, we’ll tell you.

Content warning: graphic violence, desecration of a body, drugs, coercion, murder.

WHAT YOU’LL HEAR IN THIS EPISODE

• How a 2:00 a.m. fire in Weatherly triggered an ATF investigation that exposed a hidden “kingdom”
• The Pepto-Bismol-pink boarding house locals couldn’t ignore—and why tenants were too afraid to speak
• The eerie Buck Mountain Road property near “The Stone Couch” legend
• The “vampire disease” witness who watched Pepe enter a van and never return
• Dummy bullets, oil-based paint, bleach, and the chilling signs of premeditation
• How prosecutors built a first-degree murder case with no body—and still won
• The convictions and sentences that finally ended Torner’s control

True crime, Pennsylvania true crime, NEPA, Weatherly Pennsylvania, Freeland Pennsylvania, Roberto Torner, Jose Pepe Herran, Cottage Hotel Freeland, Buck Mountain Road, ATF investigation, FBI informant, murder without a body, cult-like control, landlord crime, arson investigation

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Tip line & inquiries: [email protected]

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Legal: Everyone mentioned is presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. Content may include descriptions of violence. Listener discretion advised.

©2025 CRIMERY. All rights reserved.

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It’s an ordinary Thursday night in Shavertown, Pennsylvania — until a family member walks through an unlocked door and finds the lights on… a ceiling fan still spinning… and a trail of blood cutting through the house like a roadmap of violence.

At the end of that trail is 56-year-old Jonathan Balester, stabbed repeatedly in the back inside his own home. No forced entry. No robbery. Just brutal, personal violence in a quiet neighborhood where residents said “nothing ever happens.”

Jonathan wasn’t just a name in a case file. He was a longtime local businessman, deeply rooted in the community — a man who opened his doors to people trying to get their lives back on track, taught Bible studies at the Luzerne County Correctional Facility, and even cared for stray cats.

For 14 years, investigators stayed tight-lipped and the case went cold. The family believed they knew who did it. Police said they had a suspect. Still — no arrest.

Then everything changed.

In a major break, Pennsylvania State Police arrested 69-year-old Frederick Balester and charged him with criminal homicide. Authorities allege the motive was “murder for profit,” tied to the attempted sale of the family business — and that evidence reexamined years later finally helped crack the case.

Content warning: graphic violence and murder.

WHAT YOU’LL HEAR IN THIS EPISODE

• The chilling discovery inside 137 North Lehigh Street — lights on, door unlocked, blood trail through the home
• Why “no forced entry” immediately changed the suspect pool
• What we know about Jonathan’s last 48 hours — and why investigators begged the public to help fill in the blanks
• How the case stayed cold for 14 years despite evidence collection and public appeals
• The forensic and investigative developments that led to an arrest — and why prosecutors say it was murder for profit

Have a tip or case suggestion? [email protected]
Host: Jennifer Novotney
Show: CRIMERY

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Tip line & inquiries: [email protected]

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Legal: Everyone mentioned is presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. Content may include descriptions of violence. Listener discretion advised.

©2025 CRIMERY. All rights reserved.

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Victorian Pittsburgh trusted her with the sick.

Martha Grinder was the woman neighbors called when illness crept into their homes — the quiet caregiver who brought soup, tea, clean linens, and patience. She sat through long nights at the bedside, whispering comfort, holding hands, earning a reputation as the perfect Victorian woman.

And then people died.

In this episode of CRIMERY: True Crime Uncovered, we examine one of the earliest and most disturbing “angel of death” cases in American history. Through court testimony, contemporary reporting, and forensic science that was revolutionary for its time, we trace how Martha Grinder used trust, caregiving, and arsenic to poison her neighbors — slowly, deliberately, and repeatedly.

The case unravels when one husband notices a pattern no one else wants to see, and insists on an autopsy that exposes massive arsenic poisoning. What follows is a sensational Victorian trial, a chilling confession, and an execution that forces society to confront an uncomfortable truth: some predators hide behind compassion, not violence.

We stay close to historical record — and when we infer, we tell you.

What you’ll hear in this episode:

• How a routine arrest and mounting suspicions cracked open deaths long dismissed as natural
 • Why arsenic was the perfect Victorian murder weapon — tasteless, legal, and almost impossible to detect
 • How a husband’s refusal to accept a diagnosis forced one of the earliest forensic poison investigations
 • Why prosecutors believed Martha Grinder wasn’t motivated by greed or revenge — but by fascination with death itself
 • How this 1860s case created the blueprint for modern “angel of death” killers

Content warning: poisoning, prolonged suffering, graphic descriptions of illness and execution, murder.

Have a tip or a case suggestion? [email protected]

Learn more: crimery.show
Host: Jennifer Novotney
Show: CRIMERY — True Crime Uncovered

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Legal: Everyone mentioned is presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. Content may include descriptions of violence. Listener discretion advised.

©2025 CRIMERY. All rights reserved.

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Eighteen months after Holly Maddux was murdered, her killer walked free on bail — and vanished into Europe.

In Part Two of The Unicorn Killer, the story shifts from the crime itself to the longest and most relentless manhunt most people have never heard of. As Ira Einhorn disappears across borders, changing names and building a new life abroad, Holly’s father, Fred Maddux, makes a promise at her grave: he will bring her killer home — no matter how long it takes.

What follows is an eighteen-year pursuit across continents, courtrooms, and governments. A private citizen takes on international law, forces Pennsylvania to change its statutes, and challenges Europe’s human-rights protections — all to prevent a murderer from escaping justice through paperwork and time.

This episode is not about mystery.
 It’s about endurance.
 About obsession.
 About what justice costs — and who pays the price for refusing to let a crime be forgotten.

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Legal: Everyone mentioned is presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. Content may include descriptions of violence. Listener discretion advised.

©2025 CRIMERY. All rights reserved.

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For years, Ira Einhorn was celebrated as a visionary.

He called himself The Unicorn — a peace activist, environmental prophet, and counterculture icon with powerful friends and devoted followers. He spoke about consciousness, love, and the future of humanity. People believed him.

Then, in March of 1979, police opened a padlocked closet in his Philadelphia apartment.

Inside was a steamer trunk.
 Inside that trunk was the body of Holly Maddux.

In Part One of this two-part Crimery series, we peel back the mythology surrounding Ira Einhorn to reveal the man behind the movement. Through his own journals, survivor testimony, and long-buried history, we trace a disturbing pattern of control, sadism, and violence — years before Holly was murdered.

This episode isn’t about speculation.
 It’s about how charisma becomes camouflage.
 How power protects predators.
 And how a man who preached love lived with a corpse beside his bed for eighteen months.

Next episode: the arrest, the bail that set him free, and the international manhunt that followed.

Content warning: intimate partner violence, homicide.

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Legal: Everyone mentioned is presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. Content may include descriptions of violence. Listener discretion advised.

©2025 CRIMERY. All rights reserved.

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On February 22, 1985, in rural Winfield Township, Pennsylvania, eight-year-old Cherrie Mahan stepped off her school bus at 4:10 p.m. She had only 150 feet to walk home.

She never made it.

Witnesses reported two suspicious vehicles near the stop—a bright blue van with a painted skier mural and a small blue car. In the snow, investigators found tire marks… but no footprints leading up Cherrie’s driveway.

The case became one of Pennsylvania’s most haunting child disappearances—fueling nationwide awareness when Cherrie was chosen as the first missing child featured on National Center for Missing & Exploited Children postcards.

And now—four decades later—new leads, a major reward, and active searches have reignited hope that the truth may finally come out.

In this episode of CRIMERY, we reconstruct the last known moments of Cherrie’s walk home, the vehicles that still haunt the investigation, the anonymous “Pastor Justice” letter, the decades of false claims, and the renewed 2025 push to finally bring Cherrie back to her mother, Janice.

Content advisory: child abduction, violence, and sensitive details involving a missing child case.

If you have information about Cherrie Mahan, contact:
 • Pennsylvania State Police Butler Barracks: 724-284-8100
• Pennsylvania Crime Stoppers: 1-800-4PA-TIPS (8477)
You can also email us at [email protected]
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CRIMERY

Tip line & inquiries: [email protected]

If you found this episode valuable, follow, rate, and review in your podcast app it really helps others find the show.

Legal: Everyone mentioned is presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. Content may include descriptions of violence. Listener discretion advised.

©2025 CRIMERY. All rights reserved.