Brenda and Dennis Freeman were peaceful, quiet Jehovah's Witnesses who had planned to raise their three sons to be just the same. They wanted their boys to grow up in their faith and be good citizens..but who doesn't want their kids to be good people? This changed when two of their sons, Bryan Freeman and David

Freeman chose to denounce their faith and become involved with Neo-Nazism after discovering it and being intrigued by it at a rehabilitation facility they were sent to at ages 12 and 13 due to drug and alcohol use. The boys were not shy about their beliefs, dressing in camo pants, doc marten combat boots, shaving their heads, and even displaying their beliefs across their heads and necks by the way of tattoos expressing their hatred. It was known that the boys caused trouble at school and at home, but not known by many just how bad Brenda and Dennis struggled to help their sons. Eventually, on February 26, 1995, the two boys at ages 16 and 17, along with their 18-year-old cousin, Nelson Birdwell III committed the ultimate act of violence toward Brenda, Dennis, and Brian and David's 11-year-old brother, Erik by bludgeoning all three of them to death and fleeing to Michigan where they were ultimately caught.

Sources

The Roanoke Times (1995)

Sun Signs

Oxygen (2022)

Grunge (2022)

The Morning Call (2015)

On October 9, 2022, two brothers, Billy and Mark Chastain along with two of their friends, Alex Stevens and Mike Sparks left Billy’s home on bicycles at 8:00 P.M. The men were later reported missing by Billy’s wife and Alex’s mother a few hours later when they had not been seen or heard from. Mark’s phone pinged at a salvage yard owned by Joe Kennedy off Highway 75. Evidence of a violent crime was located at an adjacent property from this salvage yard. On October 14, the four men’s bodies were located in the Deep Fork River with multiple gunshot wounds and severed in half. Joe Kennedy became a person of interest, and then the prime suspect due to the evidence against him found at his salvage yard, in his vehicle, on his shoes, and in the field nearby. He awaits trial currently on four counts of first degree murder.

Sources

ABC 7

KJRH

NY Post

CBS News

The Guardian 

CNN 

NY Times 

CBS News

Obituaries

Mark Anthony Chastain 

Billy Jack Chastain Smith 

Mikel Tyrel Sparks

In June 2004, 22-year-old Timothy Ray Jones, Jr. met 18-year-old Amber Kyzer. They were married a month after meeting, and over the course of their relationship, had five children: Merah, Elias, Nahtahn, Gabriel, and Abigail. Their marriage was rocky, as Amber was forced to be subservient to her husband due to his religious beliefs. They struggled to care for all of the children while keeping a clean home, and Tim developed some rather aggressive discipline habits where he would force the children to workout until absolute exhaustion if he felt they had done wrong. DSS became involved, but had failed to see the whole picture of what was going on, as they deemed the only problem to be with the cleanliness of the home. Amber and Tim eventually got divorced, and Tim had custody of the children. It seemed as though he was struggling to care for all of them and the home, as Amber had in the past, as well. One day, Nahtahn was accused by Tim of damaging an electrical outlet, causing him to have to endure exhausting physical punishment (running laps around the family home for hours) until he couldn't breathe. Tim went to check on Nahtahn later that night, claiming he had passed away in his sleep. Instead of getting help for Nahtahn, Tim then did the unthinkable. 

Was all of this because he did not want Amber to have the children, or was it all only because he was just truly mentally ill as he claims? 

Sources

News19 (2021)

PostandCourier (2021)

USA Today (2019)

Greenville Online (2019)

News 19 (2019)

WYFF4 (2014) 

Audio:

Timothy Jones, Sr. Testimony Law&Crime Network 

On April 16, 2022, 51-year-old Orsolya Gaal, a Hungarian-born wife and mother of two sons living in Forest Hills, New York was approached in her home between 12:30 and 12:40 A.M. by 44-year-old Mexico City native, David Bonola and viciously stabbed 55+ times, stuffed into one of her son's hockey duffel bags, and dragged 0.4 miles to the Jackie Robinson highway. Allegedly, David and Orsolya had an on-again-off-again affair, and Orsolya broke things off for good, angering David to the point of finally taking her life. 

Sources:

People

NY Post

Law and Crime 

NY Post

NY Daily News 

Patch

Audio:

Orsolya Gaal murder case NYPD update  

In May of 2021, a police officer's (Bruno Portillo) wife (Reyna  Gonzalez-Amador) set out to go on a shopping trip in Atizapan de  Zaragoza, Mexico with an elderly man (Andres Mendoza) who had become a  friend of the family. He was also somewhat of a charity case for the  couple and their children, as he seemed dirty, poor, and down on his  luck. They often invited him to their home for meals, and so he was not  so lonely. Since he seemed as though he meant them no harm, Reyna wanted  his help shopping for supplies for her cell phone business on May 14,  2021. When she had not returned that night, Bruno knew exactly where to  turn his attention, Andres. Bruno reported his wife missing, but with  barely any help from police at first due to their lack of funding, etc.,  he took it upon himself to obtain the police street surveillance  footage of the street where Andres lived. Reyna was seen entering Andres  house, but never exiting with him to go shopping. This is when Bruno  knew he had to take officers there to do a search for his wife. After  Reyna had been missing for four days, a search was finally able to be  conducted, and what Bruno found was horrifying. What was found after  this discovery was also never expected and launched and investigation  into one of Mexico's most prolific serial killers whose reign of terror  has lasted decades.

Sources:

Infobae (2022, March)

Cynthia "Cindy" Louise Vanderbeek and her husband, Stephen Alfred Vanderbeek were travelling vendors that travelled to boat shows during the 1990s, selling boat cleaning supplies and other items. Cindy gave up her whole life to be with a man she thought was absolutely perfect.  In March of 1995, Cindy was to attend the christening of her newborn nephew as she was the godmother, but when she doesn't show up, and Stephen shows up on her family's doorstep alone, they begin to worry. Stephen tells them a story about how she was offered a quick job in Wisconsin and she would be late arriving to Maryland. He then changes his story, saying she will meet him in Florida, withdraws all of their savings from the bank, asks Cindy's mother, Camille, for the money she had been saving for them, and makes his way back home. Her family struggles to report her missing as no department will take her case when finally, the police department in Montgomery county, Maryland takes it on. Detective Robert Nichols doesn't give up or lose hope and investigates this case for ten years before finally solving the mystery of what happened to Cindy Vanderbeek. 

OG Release Date: 06/14/2021

Sources:

The Washington Post (2005, June)

Soundings (2005, September)

Doe Network (2005, June 21). 

Tapatalk (2006, June 19.)  

Anatomy of Murder. Sail Away Part 1

Anatomy of Murder. Sail Away Part 2. 

Media in this episode:

NPR News (2008, January 28).

The Texas Killing Fields is an area that borders the Calder Oil Field in League City Texas. The Calder Oil Field is a 25-acre patch of land that is situated a mile from Interstate 45. This location, as well as the surrounding areas have been dubbed "The Texas Killing Fields" or "The Highway to Hell" due to a string of 30+ cases involving female murder victims' bodies being found in these locations from the span of 1971 to the early 2000s. Several other disappearances in the area have been thought to be linked to these cases, as well. Many of the cases still remain unsolved, despite suspects and confessions while few have been solved and deemed to be unrelated. Many of the victims were in the age range of 12-25 years old and had similar physical features which makes many people believe the killings to be the work of a serial killer or multiple serial killers during that time period. The Killing Fields have been often described as the perfect place to kill someone and get away with it, as it is difficult to be heard if yelling in the area and there is really no where to hide when running.  

OG Release Date: 01/18/2021

Sources: 

 Texas Killing Fields Wiki  

Websleuths Forum 

Unsolved Mysteries Rhonda Johnson & Sharon Shaw

 I-45 Victims

Chron 

Patch 

Ranker 

Texas Equusearch 

Galv News 

Audrey Cook-Cold Case #86-216  

Chron

Charley Project Shelley Sikes 

Suzanne Rene Richerson: Charley Project  

 Lynette Bibbs 

Chron

 Laura Smither article  

Tot Tran Harriman- Charley Project 

 Remembering Jessica Cain, 20 years after her disappearance

Terressa Vanegas Reddit

 Donna Prudhomme-Cold Case #91-2200

Houston Matters article

On this episode, I feature 3 cases chosen by my past coworkers who are also listeners of my podcast! Two cases are local to us, one is local to my friend at the time she lived in Kentucky, and the final case is one I have been wanting to get out there for a long time.  

Case #1 On October 31, 2019, 35-year-old Benjamin Lee Figard of New Paris phoned 9-1-1 to report that he had shot and killed his 40-year-old wife, Amanda Jane Figard, and his 12-year-old step-daughter, Laina Rae Haney and placed their bodies in the basement.  

Case #2 On the night of January 8, 2015, 21-year-old Stephanie Waters went to meet 15-year-old Ryan Hardwick and 16-year-old Deauntay Dontaz Moye in place of her boyfriend, Benjamin Holsinger to sell them some Marijuana. When she arrived with her dog, Duke, the two teens shot her and her dog, placed her in the back of the vehicle, and drove around the Altoona area while smoking the Marijuana.  

Case #3 29-year-old Tromain Jerome Mackall from southern Maryland moved to Owensboro, Kentucky to be with his girlfriend, Johnathan Dewitt aka Simone Dahlia in February 2016. After attending a party on July 24, 2016 and leaving at 1:30 A.M. on the morning of July 25,  he went missing. A body was found floating in a truck toolbox on August 2nd in Spring Fork Creek near Owensboro Road in Falls of Rough, Kentucky about 30 miles from the party Tromain had attended. The body was identified as Tromain's using dental records on August 23rd. The cause of death was determined to be homicide from multi-modal asphyxiation. 5 people were charged in connection to the kidnapping and murder of Tromain Mackall.  

Case #4 Revell Reuben Jeeter, a 59-year-old man from Maryland moved to the quiet village of Harrisonville, Pennsylvania on 12 acres of land he had purchased to enjoy his retirement with his best friend, his dog, Bubba. On July 21, 2003, after obtaining meat from a butcher shop in McConnellsburg with his dog, he was to attend a crab feed with his friends and family but did not show up, and has not been seen since. He is still missing 17 years later. Anyone with information is asked to call the PSP at (717) 485-3131. 

Sources:

 Hancock Clarion Altoona Mirror 

 Leagle.com 

 **there are 3 more sources listed on instagram**