In October 2003, 39-year-old airline professional Karen Pannell was found stabbed to death inside her Oldsmar, Florida villa. Near her body, written in blood on the kitchen wall, was a single word: “ROC.”

At first, investigators believed they were looking at a dying message — a final act of identification left by a woman who knew she was dying. Karen’s ex-boyfriend, whose nickname was Roc, became the immediate focus.

But the evidence didn’t hold.

In this first episode of a two-part investigation, Dark Dialogue examines how a crime scene that seemed to explain itself slowly unraveled. Forensic analysis revealed the blood writing was staged. Cell-tower data contradicted alibis. Witnesses stepped forward. And a relationship marked by control, deception, and a hidden violent past came sharply into focus.

This episode follows:

This is not just a murder story. It’s a case study in how control escalates when it begins to fail, and why leaving an abusive relationship is often the most dangerous step of all.

Part Two will take listeners into the courtroom — where lies collapse, evidence speaks, and accountability is finally forced into the open.

If You or Someone You Know Needs Help

If you are in immediate danger, call 911 (U.S.) or your local emergency number right now.

Confidential support is available 24/7:

Leaving an abusive relationship is dangerous — but you do not have to do it alone. Advocates can help you create a safety plan tailored to your situation.

How You Can Take Action Beyond Listening

Part Two drops next — and the truth doesn’t stay hidden forever.

…and keep the dialogue alive…

Christmas is supposed to be a refuge—a pause from the chaos, a promise of peace.

In this Dark Dialogue Distilled Christmas Special, John examines some of the most disturbing cases of domestic violence and family annihilation to occur on or around Christmas—not as isolated tragedies, but as part of a repeating and deeply uncomfortable pattern.

From the 1929 Lawson family murders in North Carolina, to the unresolved mystery of the Sodder children, to the Carnation family massacre, the Covina Christmas Eve Santa-suit attack, and modern cases where violence unfolded quietly behind closed doors, this episode strips away holiday mythology and confronts the truth:

Christmas doesn’t create abuse. It concentrates it.

Alcohol, financial pressure, forced proximity, isolation, and the expectation that everything should “look fine” collide—often with devastating consequences. These crimes were not spontaneous. They were escalations of control, resentment, entitlement, and fear that already existed long before the tree went up.

This episode is not about fear-mongering.

It’s about recognizing that holidays can be a high-risk moment for those already living with domestic violence—and that silence, tradition, and appearances can be deadly.

You’ll also hear a data-driven discussion that separates myth from reality: why December is not statistically the deadliest month overall, yet remains a documented danger window for escalation, emergency calls, and lethal outcomes.

We close with a Christmas victim tribute, honoring the lives lost—not for how they died, but for how they lived—and a reminder that checking in, listening, and refusing to look away can matter more than any tradition.

If this episode resonates with you, or raises concern for someone you love, please don’t ignore that feeling. Help is available. Reaching out is not weakness—it’s survival.

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true crime

Sometimes you need a break from the heavy stuff — and that’s where Shadow Chat Sessions comes in.

In this episode, John and Angela dive headfirst into a chaotic mix of strange headlines, conspiracy nonsense, Reddit rabbit holes, dumb criminal behavior, and truly weird shit that absolutely does not matter… but is way too entertaining to ignore.

You’ll hear the unbelievable true story of a babysitter who checked under a child’s bed for monsters and found a real man hiding there, why some people are convinced King Charles is secretly a vampire, and the deeply unsettling mystery of a stranger who appears in decades of childhood photos without ever aging.

The Dipshit Diaries deliver peak criminal incompetence — including a robber who left his phone number at the crime scene, a nail salon robbery defeated by total indifference, and a car thief who managed to trap himself inside the vehicle he was trying to steal.

Then things get even stranger with man-eating spider legends from the Congo, haunted wedding venues built on battlefields, moon unicorns that fooled 19th-century America, a beer-drinking bear who became an enlisted WWII soldier, and the infamous severed-leg-in-a-grill case that somehow ended up on Judge Mathis.

It’s weird. It’s absurd. It’s darkly funny.

That’s the therapy.

If you enjoy the chaos and want to support what we do:

• Visit DarkDialogue.com to explore all shows on the Dark Dialogue Podcast Network

New episodes drop regularly.

Dark Dialogue: Unraveled Truths returns with a deep, unscripted examination of Making a Murderer, starting at the beginning.

In this episode, John and Angela break down Episodes 1–3, not to recap them—but to interrogate them. We examine how narrative framing, selective editing, and strategic omissions shape public opinion long before juries ever hear the evidence. From Steven Avery’s exoneration to the early construction of conspiracy, this episode explores what the documentary emphasizes, what it minimizes, and what it leaves out entirely.

This is not a verdict.

If you’ve ever felt pulled toward certainty by a documentary, this episode is your reminder: don’t take it at face value

Unraveled Truths Making a Murde…

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We’re ringing in the New Year LIVE with a Dark Dialogue livestream—no edits, no polish, just real conversation.

🕛 New Year’s Night

Set a reminder, bookmark the page, and jump in with us in real time

Unraveled Truths Making a Murde…

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From all of us here—thank you for listening, thank you for supporting independent true-crime analysis, and keep the dialogue alive

Unraveled Truths Making a Murde…

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On the second day of a siege, the gunfire matters less than the waiting.

Day Two of the Battle of Lincoln (July 16, 1878) does not erupt—it calcifies.

In this episode of Gallows & Gunfights, we examine Day Two of the Lincoln siege not as a shootout, but as a stress test applied to authority itself.

Inside the McSween house, Billy the Kid and the Regulators hold their ground under sustained but calculated fire. Outside, Sheriff George Peppin and the Murphy–Dolan faction confront an uncomfortable reality: numbers and badges are no longer enough.

This episode covers:

The full tactical stalemate of Day Two

Civilian confinement and the transformation of homes into firing positions

Billy the Kid’s role as a fixed defensive force

The request for federal artillery—and its legal denial

The firing upon a U.S. Army courier

How accusation, not evidence, reshaped the narrative

Why restraint—not bloodshed—became the hinge point of the siege

By nightfall, no ground has changed hands.

This is not myth.

If you value evidence-driven historical accountability, you can support this work at:

Patreon: https://patreon.com/DarkDialoguepod

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Substack: https://darkdialoguecrime.substack.com

Help preserve the names erased by frontier violence at

Research, documentation, or formal inquiries:

On Thanksgiving 2018, Colorado mother Kelsey Berreth vanished without a trace.

This is the story of Krystal Lee Kenney.

In this episode, we break down:

You’ll hear a long-form tribute to Kelsey — not as a victim, but as a mother, daughter, pilot, and woman who deserved a lifetime of moments she never got to live.

If you value the work:

This is Dark Dialogue: Distilled.

In May 1993, three eight-year-old boys were found murdered in a drainage ditch in West Memphis, Arkansas. What followed became one of the most controversial criminal cases in American history — driven by fear, moral panic, and a justice system desperate for answers.

This is not a traditional deep dive.

In the debut episode of Dark Dialogue: Unraveled Truths, John McColl sits down with Angela for an unfiltered, unscripted conversation about the West Memphis Three — a case so embedded in true crime culture that even decades later, it still ignites anger, disbelief, and unanswered questions. No polished timeline. No scripted forensic walkthrough. Just lived research, firsthand reactions, and the uncomfortable realities that refuse to stay buried.

Together, they examine the Paradise Lost documentaries, the role of Satanic Panic in 1990s policing, the deeply flawed confession that anchored the prosecutions, and the cascade of investigative failures that shaped the outcome from the very beginning. From the unexplained “Bojangles” incident to mishandled evidence and ignored leads, this episode challenges how narrative replaced proof — and how three teenagers became casualties of institutional failure.

This conversation arrives at a critical moment. In late 2025, after years of legal battles and public pressure, a judge finally approved advanced DNA testing on key evidence, including the shoelaces used to bind the victims. For the first time in decades, modern forensic science may finally answer the question that has haunted this case for over thirty years:

If it wasn’t them… who was it?

Dark Dialogue: Unraveled Truths exists to revisit infamous cases without reverence for broken systems or comfort in familiar conclusions. Some stories don’t end with a verdict. Some truths remain buried because digging is inconvenient. This series is about pulling those cases apart — carefully, critically, and without fear of where the answers lead.

If you value investigative journalism, victim advocacy, and long-form case analysis done with integrity:

Subscribe on Substack for long-form articles, case updates, and exclusive written investigations

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Visit DarkDialogue.com for victim tributes, case resources, and network updates

Your support helps keep these stories alive — and ensures they’re told with the care they deserve.

By the time the Chicago Ripper Crew finally stood before a judge, the worst of their crimes were already over — but justice was only beginning its long, uneven struggle.

In this final episode of Dark Dialogue’s Chicago Ripper Crew series, we step inside the courtrooms, parole hearings, execution chambers, and political backrooms that determined how four men responsible for some of the most sadistic crimes in Illinois history would ultimately be punished — or spared.

This episode examines what happened after the arrests:

Most disturbing of all, we confront the truth that the man believed by investigators and co-defendants to be the architect of the violence was never convicted of a single murder.

Through trial transcripts, sentencing records, appellate rulings, and survivor testimony, this episode lays bare the legal mechanics that shaped the outcome of the case — plea deals, confession battles, death-penalty politics, commutations, and sentencing laws written long before anyone imagined their consequences.

We explore:

This is not an episode about shock value.

Above all, this episode gives the final word to the women — the named, the unnamed, the survivors, and those whose bodies were never recovered. Their lives mattered long before they were reduced to exhibits, transcripts, and case numbers.

If you’re listening on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or any major platform:

If you’re watching on YouTube:

To support the work behind Dark Dialogue:

To share insights, corrections, or case information, you can always reach us directly — we read every message, and your voice matters.

Because when the headlines fade and the verdicts are filed away, the dialogue must continue.

Keep the dialogue alive.

When the sun rose over Lincoln on July 15, 1878, the town wasn’t waking up — it was bracing for war.

Billy the Kid, Doc Scurlock, Tom O’Folliard, Jim French, and nearly sixty Regulators fortified the McSween home and Tunstall store, carving rifle portholes into adobe walls as they prepared for the inevitable clash with Sheriff George Peppin, The House, and their hired guns.

Across the street, Peppin and James Dolan transformed the Wortley Hotel and Murphy-Dolan store into military strongholds. Reinforcements thundered in from the west — the Jesse Evans Gang, John Kinney’s fighters, the Seven Rivers Warriors — men who weren’t there for law, but for blood and pay.

By mid-morning, Lincoln’s single dusty street had become a war zone. Civilians hid behind adobe as volleys cracked across the valley. The Torreón fell into a mini-siege. A newborn and her mother were caught in the crossfire. And the law — the real law — never came.

Day 1 of the Lincoln Siege was defined not by high casualties but by the birth of inevitability.

This episode takes you inside that first day — the fortifications, the failed warrants, the battlefield psychology, and the quiet moments between gunfire when every man wondered whether dawn would be his last.

If you think you know Lincoln… you’ve never stood inside the smoke.

⭐ Like, follow, rate, and review Gallows & Gunfights to keep these stories alive.

Episode 3: “The Breaking Point — Arrests & Confessions”

When Chicago police arrested Robin Gecht on October 20, 1982, they didn’t yet realize they were dismantling one of the most sadistic cults in American history.

Over the next twelve days, detectives arrested Edward Spreitzer, Andrew Kokoraleis, and Thomas Kokoraleis, unraveling a ritual network that turned murder into ceremony. Through firsthand statements, investigative records, and survivor accounts, John and Angela take you inside the interrogation rooms, the forensic evidence, and the confessions that finally broke the case wide open.

This episode exposes the moment when police, prosecutors, and the public first faced the unthinkable truth — and the women who refused to be erased by it.

🔦 Calls to Action

If this story mattered to you, help keep the dialogue alive:

🔚 Closing Line

Because every story deserves to be told, every victim deserves to be remembered…