Twenty-three-year-old Marine Todd Sommer was young, healthy, and just living life with his wife and their children in San Diego, California. So when he suddenly became violently ill and died in the early hours of the morning, the explanation seemed tragic but simple. A sudden cardiac event. A devastating loss for a young family. But months later, new testing would raise a chilling possibility: Poisoning. As investigators began looking closer at Todd’s final days, attention quickly turned to his wife, Cynthia. What followed was an investigation built on toxicology results, circumstantial evidence, and a controversial picture of grief, money, and motive. In this episode, I explore a case that went from certainty to doubt and back again… leaving one haunting question behind. What really happened to Todd Sommer?

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Holly Bramley was 26 when she disappeared from the flat she shared with her husband in Lincoln, England.

He said she had walked out after an argument. But inside their home, police found evidence that told a very different story.

What followed was an investigation that uncovered coercive control, calculated deception, and a pattern of behaviour far darker than anyone around them had realised.

★ If you or someone you know needs help: Refuge’s National Domestic Abuse Helpline on 0808 2000 247, or Women’s Aid https://womensaid.org.uk/about-us/contact/

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Brittany Stykes was 22 years old, pregnant, and driving along a familiar stretch of road in Brown County, Ohio, with her young daughter in the car beside her.

She was heading to see her family. Except she never arrived.

Somewhere along U.S. Route 68, someone opened fire on her vehicle in what investigators later described as a targeted attack. Brittany was killed. Her unborn child died. And her 14-month-old daughter survived a gunshot wound to the head.

More than a decade later, no one has been arrested.

This episode explores the timeline, the investigation, the theories, and the unanswered questions that still surround the murder of Brittany Stykes, an unsolved Ohio case that continues to haunt her family and the community she left behind.

Someone knows what happened that night.

To support Brittany's family: https://www.facebook.com/share/g/1AjDZE94Xg/?mibextid=wwXIfr

To contact the Brown County Sheriffs dept:

Sergeant Terry Eshman

Brown County Sheriff's Office

750 Mt. Orab Pike

Georgetown, OH 45121

[email protected]

937.378.4435 EXT 127

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Amber Gibson had survived a childhood shaped by instability, trauma, and years in care. Despite that, she was a kind, creative teenager who was still trying to build a “normal” life.

So when, aged sixteen, she went out one evening in Hamilton, Scotland, to meet someone she trusted, there was no reason to believe she wouldn’t come home.

But she never did.

What followed would uncover a devastating betrayal, a murder investigation that shocked the community, and a second crime that added another layer of horror to an already tragic case.

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Mary Stauffer was a schoolteacher and mother living a quiet life in Saint Paul, Minnesota. So when she and her eight-year-old daughter Beth disappeared in May 1980, it made no sense.

What followed was a fifty-three-day ordeal of captivity at the hands of a man whose obsession had been building for years. But why?

As police searched for answers, another family was facing an unthinkable loss, unaware their tragedy was connected to the same man.

This episode explores the kidnapping, the stalled missing persons investigation, a child’s murder, and the rare story of survival that followed.

A true crime case about control, endurance, and a mother who never stopped fighting to bring her child home.

★ To see todays case photos head over to the Cup of Coffee and Crime Facebook Discussion Group

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Helen McCourt was twenty-two years old, known for her routines and her reliability.

Living at home in Merseyside, England, she worked full time, stayed close to her family, and was looking forward to a night out with a new boyfriend.

When Helen stepped off a bus just a few hundred yards from her front door and never made it home, panic set in quickly. This wasn’t a disappearance that made sense.

The investigation that followed would hinge on evidence alone, becoming one of the UK’s most significant murder cases without a body, and leaving one question unanswered forever.

★ To see todays case photos head over to the Cup of Coffee and Crime Facebook Discussion Group

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Ben Renick was known for breeding snakes, something most people are terrified of. From a farm in rural Missouri, he built a successful reptile business and a life with his family.

When Ben was found dead inside his own reptile facility, the assumption seemed obvious. But it was wrong. Ben had been shot eight times.

The investigation that followed exposed a case far more complicated than it first appeared. 

★ To see todays case photos head over to the Cup of Coffee and Crime Facebook Discussion Group

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Nine-year-old Daniel Handley was last seen riding his bike on a quiet East London estate. Friendly, trusting, and well known in the neighbourhood, there was no reason to think he was in danger. Then he didn’t come home.

Months later, the truth emerged far from London, revealing a crime shaped by fantasy, planning, and devastating cruelty.

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Rick and Susie Wamsley appeared to have everything; a stable marriage, a comfortable life, and a quiet home in suburban Texas.

In December 2003, they were found brutally murdered inside that home. There was no forced entry. Nothing stolen. And it quickly became clear this wasn’t a random crime.

As investigators dug deeper, a killer's resentment and entitlement was exposed, along with a plan that had been forming far longer than anyone realised.

This episode of a Cup of Coffee and Crime examines how a family collapsed from the inside, and what happens when love is mistaken for something owed.

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Jenny Nicholl was nineteen. On a warm summer evening in June 2005, she kissed her mother goodbye, picked up her camping gear, and promised she would be home the next day.

She never was.

Her disappearance left behind more questions than answers. Her car was found abandoned. Personal belongings were hidden in woodland. And days later, text messages arrived claiming she had run away and started a new life. Case closed, or so it seemed.

But something about those words felt wrong. And soon detectives would uncover a secret that ultimately cost Jenny her life.

★ To see todays case photos head over to the Cup of Coffee and Crime Facebook Discussion Group

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