Dark and Devious

On March 24, 2004, 31-year-old Kevin Clewer is found dead in his Lakeview apartment, located in the historic gay district of Chicago known as Boystown. Kevin has been stabbed 42 times and left on the floor of his bedroom to die. He was last seen with a mysterious man named, “Fernando” and despite forensic evidence left behind the case has since gone cold.

Between February of 1976 and March of 1977 a terrifying wave of child abductions and murders plagued Oakland County, Michigan, one of the wealthiest counties per capita in the country. The resulting investigation was one of the largest in history, but even with hundreds of officers on the ground and thousands of hours of work there has still never been anyone formally charged with the crimes. But in today's episode you may get some ideas of who the perpetrator or perpetrators might have been. The main source for this episode is The Kill Jar by J. Reuben Appelman, which is available in paperback now.

Recently, record setting droughts have been shrinking the size of Nevada's Lake Meade and as waters recede, secrets emerge. A discovery of a body in a metal barrel has caused local investigators to revisit the Mafia-linked past of nearby Las Vegas. Get a little dose of mobster history with this fascinating story of current events.

The idea behind trash streaming simple: invite a few friends over, get drunk, start a live broadcast and ask viewers to donate in exchange for carrying out the dares they suggest. What really drives trash streams into a subject of concern is the type of dares suggested and carried out.  For Valentina Grigoyeva, the dares and requests would unfortunately cost her her life, and at the hands of her lover and boyfriend.

Sylvia Likens was a happy, beautiful 16-year-old when her parents left her and her sister in the care of Gertrude Baniszewski while they went on the road for work. Within a few short months in Gertrude's care, Sylvia's treatment turned horrifyingly awful. She was beaten, humiliated, and ultimately left to die from neglect and abuse. When all was said and done, Gertrude was not the only one guilty of tormenting the teen; other neighborhood children would ultimately be indicted as well.

In today's minisode we wanted to shed light on hate crimes. We'll discuss two examples of bad dudes who are getting prosecuted for their racist actions. In one, a man in New York is arrested after a road rage incident directed at an off duty police officer (never a good idea). In the other a Wisconsin man faces sentencing after throwing acid in the face of a man at a bus stop. You'll be shaking your head in disbelief when you hear the details from these two articles.

(TW: Violence toward children is mentioned) Father's Day is coming up this week and today's episode looks at two dads that are definitely on the worst end of the spectrum of parents. Ryan Lawrence of Syracuse, NY brutally took the life of his little girl, Maddox after praying for a sign from God not to kill her. And Josh Powell of Puyallup, Washington blew up his house with his two sons, Charlie and Braden, inside after their mother, Susan, disappeared under mysterious circumstances. 

Hailey Christiansen was a single mother of one, a loving family member, and all around kind person.  Sadly her life was cut sort in July, 2020 in a horrific way.  Requested by one of our devoted followers, we will discuss the recent murder of Hailey Christiansen and the truly senseless motives behind the crime.

When a 20-year-old soldier goes missing from one of the largest military bases in the country, her tight-knit family is determined to find her and bring her home. But the investigation into her disappearance uncovers more than anyone bargained for – secrets, lies, and a system that failed to protect the people within it. And it has left everyone asking: what is going on at Fort Hood, Texas?

The websites you visit every day represent just a small fraction of the whole internet. Beyond this “surface web” is the Deep Web, and within the Deep Web is the Dark Web. In this mysterious corner of the internet all sorts of criminal enterprises occur and we will discuss the urban legend of "Red Rooms." Red Rooms supposedly allow viewers to watch real people be harmed in real time and even allow requests, but do these macabre portals really exist? Check out this latest episode as we discuss the darkest and most devious elements of something we use almost every day: the internet.