Killer Destinations

The rural town of Fernley, NV was shocked by horrifying crimes that happened on May 13, 2013. One 911 call after the other came into sheriff's dispatch and neighboring communities sent officers to assist. This close-knit community never imagined the day would end with five of their friends and neighbors gone. Did they have a serial killer stalking their small town?

Anastasia King was just 18 when she decided she wanted to live the American dream and signed up for an online matchmaking service. Within just a few months she moved from her home country of Kyrgyzstan and was living with her new husband in Washington State. But when she disappeared after missing a flight home from Kyrgyzstan, police uncovered secrets that shocked everyone.

In 1970, Nancy Harwood’s body was found along a desolate stretch of the Ajo Highway in southern Arizona. To everyone’s horror, her young children were found playing in the sand next to the car. The victim was the second of two females killed two months apart – and it showed all the markings of a possible serial killer. With no witnesses, would detectives be able to solve the case before the person struck again?

We're kicking off the new year by bringing you updates on three of our most noteworthy cases over the past 12 months. Our updates include Episode 71 - the murders of four young University of Idaho students; Episode 81 - the murder of Reeva Steenkamp and conviction of Olympian Oscar Pistorius; and Episode 112 - the disappearance of Suzanne Morphew and the discovery of her remains.

This week's episode is a flashback to one of our earliest episodes! It was the second episode we dropped more than two years ago (!!) and is one of our all-time favorites. It takes place in 1983 and is about Sidney Merrick, a young woman found stabbed to death in her car on the side of a major interstate freeway. Thanks to numerous witnesses coming forward, not only were police able to solve her case but also a cold case that happened in another state. 

In 1989, 18-year-old Mandy Stavik was home from college to spend Thanksgiving with her family. She was from a small town in Washington, where everyone knew each other and looked out for each other. Mandy was an avid athlete and went for a run with her dog... but only her dog returned home. After several days of searching, her body was found. And it would take an unlikely reunion to provide police the break they needed.

In 2002, Elizabeth Garcia was working hard to create a better future for herself and her children. To keep her afternoons free for her kids, she took a part time job working overnight at a convenience store. It was during her second shift that she disappeared and was found deceased in a field. The case went cold until another murder happened in the small town a year later. The cases didn’t seem to overlap… but was it possible they were looking for the same perpetrator?

In December 1996, Juli Busken had just completed her studies at the University of Oklahoma and was packing up to go back to her native Arkansas and begin graduate school. The day she was scheduled to leave, she did an early morning airport run to drop off a friend… and disappeared. Police contacted almost every person they could find who had ever known her, but the DNA was never a match. It took years, but finally there was a hit in CODIS that changed everything.

In 2007, Rhoni Reuter and her longtime boyfriend, former Chicago Bears player Shaun Gayle, were awaiting the birth of their first child. But one morning when Rhoni opened her front door to leave for work, someone was waiting for her. Police scoured the scene for clues, but when all of the suspects had alibis, investigators had to dig deeper to find the secrets that had been hidden from almost everyone.

In December 2004, Johnia Berry was ready to start her life after college. She was applying to graduate school and was four months away from her dream wedding to her dream guy. And then her life was brutally taken. There were very few clues and even fewer suspects. How would detectives solve her murder?