Murder Unscripted

⚠️ Content warning: domestic violence, murder, child endangerment.

If you haven't listened to Part 1 (Ep. 98) yet — start there. This is the conclusion of one of the most devastating cases MU has ever covered.

Sheila Bellush had done everything right. She got out of the marriage, fled across the country in the middle of the night, and built a new life in Sarasota, Florida with her husband Jamie and six children - including the quadruplets who made her a local celebrity known as "The Quad Mom." She was safe,,..or so she thought.

Allen Blackthorne had spent years manipulating a golf buddy named Danny Rocha.... feeding him lies about Sheila being an abusive mother, escalating his rage, and eventually putting a $50,000 contract on her life. The man who took the job, Joey Del Torro, drove from Texas to Florida and hid inside Sheila's home while she played with her babies and did laundry, completely unaware.

In Part 2, Ed walks through the murder, the investigation that unraveled the conspiracy piece by piece, and the trial that finally brought Allen Blackthorne to justice — two life sentences without the possibility of parole. And the aftermath: what happened to Jamie, to Stevie, to Daryl, to the quads, and to Sheila's heartbroken mother Jean, who lost her third child in the month of November.

Based on Ann Rule's "Every Breath You Take" (2001) | Researched & written by Sue Grice | Hosted by Ed Hydock | A Money Beet Media Production, in association with The Darkcast Network

🎧 Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/murder-unscripted/id1750146409

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💛 Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/c/MurderUnscriptedPod/membership

📬 [email protected] | @murderunscripted

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⚠️ Content warning: domestic violence, sexual assault, animal abuse

On November 7th, 1997, Sheila Bellush was murdered inside her own home in Sarasota, Florida. It was a murder-for-hire... planned at a distance, carried out by strangers. And it would never have happened if the man she'd married had faced even one consequence for any of the things he had done before.

This is Part 1 of MU's two-part deep dive into one of Ann Rule's most chilling books — "Every Breath You Take." But before we get to the crime, Ed takes us inside the mind and the history of the man behind it: Allen Blackthorne.

Allen was a liar, a manipulator, a predator, and a con artist from childhood. He destroyed two marriages before Sheila, drove his in-laws into bankruptcy, killed two people on a highway and walked free, and told his sister-in-law, point blank, that if Sheila ever left him, he would kill her.

Part 1 is the origin story. The red flags nobody acted on. The system that failed at every turn. And the moment the crow should have been cued...long before it was.

Part 2 drops next week. Subscribe and don't miss it.

Based on Ann Rule's "Every Breath You Take" (2001) | Researched & written by Sue Grice | Hosted by Ed Hydock | A Money Beet Media Production in association with the Darkcast Network

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Crime scene cleaner Anthony Vogel has walked into homicides, suicides, and unattended deaths. He's found things nobody expected and carried the weight of other people's worst days home with him.

In the finale of our 2026 Spring Cleaning block, Ed and Melissa sit down with Anthony for one of the most fascinating conversations we've ever had — covering the training, the tools, the humor, the haunting scenes, and what crime TV gets completely wrong about his job.

This is the side of true crime nobody talks about.

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The night before Irene Izak left Cleveland, she woke up screaming. She had dreamed of a faceless figure beating her over the head with rocks. Her family calmed her down. It was just a dream.

Two nights later, on June 10th, 1968, Irene's body was found at the bottom of a wooded ravine on Wellesley Island, New York — just one mile from the Canadian border. She had been bludgeoned with rocks. Killed exactly as she had dreamed.

Irene Juliana Izak was 25 years old. A child of Ukrainian war refugees, she had survived bombings, displacement, and poverty to become a beloved French teacher fluent in six languages — a woman who radiated warmth, chased adventure, and trusted the goodness in people. She was on her way to a job interview in Quebec City but never made it.

The only real suspect was the state trooper who pulled her over that night — and then, just 30 minutes later, found her body. He had blood on his uniform. He gave three different stories for how it got there. He refused to meet with Irene's heartbroken father. He lawyered up mid-interview and was never questioned again. He died in 2009, taking any secrets to his grave.

No one has ever been arrested. No one has ever been charged.

Ed and Melissa bring you this episode with a heavy heart, and with personal connection. This case is dedicated MU listener and longtime friend of the pod, Cassandra, whose family has spent decades seeking justice for her great-aunt Irene. Cassandra's mother, Lisa, shares her family's story in her own words throughout this episode.

If you have any information about the murder of Irene Izak, please contact the New York State Police Cold Case Unit. This case remains open.

This one is for Irene. 🖤

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⚠️ CONTENT WARNING: This episode covers the deaths of infants. Ed and Melissa handle it with care, but please listen accordingly.

In 2015 and 2016, the neonatal unit at the Countess of Chester Hospital in the UK recorded a disturbing spike in unexplained infant deaths. The investigation — codenamed Operation Hummingbird — eventually zeroed in on one suspect: a quiet, introverted nurse named Lucy Letby.

After a 10-month trial, Lucy was convicted of murdering 7 babies and attempting to murder 6 more. She received 15 whole life terms — the longest sentence possible in the UK. The case rocked Britain.

But not everyone is convinced justice was served.

A panel of 14 elite international neonatal physicians — assembled voluntarily by the Canadian doctor whose research was used to convict her — reviewed all 17 cases and unanimously concluded: no crimes were committed. The medical evidence, they say, was misunderstood.

Add to that: a lead prosecution expert witness with a documented pattern of tailoring testimony to whichever side hires him. A defense team that called zero medical experts. And a handwritten note that reads 'I AM EVIL, I DID THIS' — which prosecutors called a confession and the defense called the journal of a gaslit, scapegoated nurse.

Ed and Melissa break down every angle of one of the UK's most divisive cases, from Lucy's unusually quiet childhood and rocky nursing school days, to the questionable testimony, the missing evidence, and the international doctors who may have just blown the case wide open.

This one will make you question everything. 🖤

Submitted by listener Kate M. | Written by Sue Grice | Hosted by Ed Hydock & Melissa Spivey

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On Thanksgiving Day 2018, 29-year-old flight instructor and mother Kelsey Berreth vanished from her Woodland Park, Colorado condo. She'd been at the grocery store that morning. She'd texted her mom about Thanksgiving dinner recipes. She'd left cinnamon rolls on the stove for her baby daughter. Then she was gone.

What followed was one of the most gripping murder investigations in Colorado history... a missing person case that turned into a homicide investigation when a single blood smear on a toilet changed everything. And a critical break that came not from physical evidence, but from a nurse in Idaho with a secret she could no longer keep.

In this episode, Ed covers the full Kelsey Berreth case, including:

• How Patrick Frazee (her fiancé and the father of her daughter) planned and carried out a premeditated murder.
• How he enlisted his secret girlfriend Krystal Lee Kenney to clean up the evidence and help disappear Kelsey's body.
• How an extraordinary web of phone records, surveillance footage, and one woman's devastating testimony put a killer in prison for the rest of his life.

This is a case about domestic violence, manipulation, and coercive control. It is also a case about a woman who deserved better, and a little girl growing up knowing who her mother really was.

Case suggested by listener Tiange678. Thank you!!!

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On New Year's Eve 2013, 23-year-old Ashley Kline left her Robesonia, PA home to meet a friend — and never came home. While her best friend waited at a party and her father held onto hope, Ashley had vanished without a trace. What followed was a chilling investigation: scattered belongings in a snow-covered field, a Tinkerbell keychain pulled from a drained water tank, and a body found burned in a wildlife preserve 16 miles away.

Ed and Melissa walk through every haunting detail... from the obsessive prison pen pal writing letters from behind bars, to the surveillance footage that cracked the case wide open.

This case was submitted by listener Amy F., who grew up near Robesonia. Thank you, Amy.

⚠️ Content Warning: This episode contains descriptions of murder, sexual assault, and violence.

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30 Years Fighting for Murder Victims: An Interview with Andy Kahan

Andy Kahan has dedicated over three decades to victims' advocacy at Crime Stoppers Houston. He's the expert families call when they need someone to fight for them, whether it's navigating the parole system, keeping cold cases in the public eye, or understanding why the justice system doesn't always deliver what they expect. He leads meetings for Parents of Murdered Children that can draw 30-40 attendees, and he's personally helped keep serial killers behind bars through publicity campaigns he calls the 'horsefly effect.'

In this interview, Ed and Melissa sit down with Andy to discuss his work with grieving families, the Texas mandatory release law that has allowed violent offenders to walk free, the Coral Eugene Watts and Genene Anne Jones cases where last-minute interventions changed everything, and what meaningful criminal justice reform could look like.

Plus, a special mini-game that tests Andy's encyclopedic knowledge of the cases that have shaped victims' rights.

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In June 1996, twenty-two-year-old Aimee Willard — a two-sport All-American athlete at George Mason University and a beloved daughter of the Philadelphia suburbs — vanished on her drive home from a night out with friends. Her car was found running on an Interstate 476 off-ramp in the early morning hours, door open, radio still playing. She was nowhere.

What followed was a sprawling, shocking investigation: a police impersonator who showed up at the crime scene, an off-duty state trooper with a suspicious story, an actual officer who lied to investigators, and ultimately, a convicted murderer who never should have been free.

In this episode, Ed and Melissa walk through the case that haunted a region, examine the catastrophic failures of the interstate parole system, and reveal how Aimee's mother, Gail Willard, channeled unimaginable grief into action — fighting all the way to Washington D.C. for a federal law that now carries her daughter's name.

Aimee's Law, signed by President Clinton in 2000, allows states to be financially penalized when they release violent offenders who go on to commit the same crimes elsewhere. It was born from one community's worst nightmare and one mother's refusal to let her daughter's story end with tragedy.

This episode is part of Murder Unscripted's February theme: Short Sentences — stories about violent offenders released early, and the devastating consequences that followed.

⚠️ Content Warning: This episode contains detailed descriptions of violence, sexual assault, and homicide. Listener discretion is advised.

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On March 5, 1984, a Houston father discovered both of his daughters murdered in their Heights-area home. Yleen Kennedy, 33, had been sexually assaulted, stabbed four times in the throat, and shot. Her younger sister Lillie, 23, was executed with a single bullet to the back of the head. A neighbor spoke directly to the killer that morning, and police released a composite sketch within 48 hours. Tips flooded in by the hundreds. But one by one, every suspect was eliminated, and the case went ice cold.

For over 30 years, the girls' mother Rose called the Houston media every year on the anniversary of their deaths, begging them to remember her daughters. Then DNA technology caught up, and an informant's tip from Indiana changed everything. In this episode, Ed and Melissa explore the brutal crime, the decades of dead ends, the DNA breakthrough that identified the killer, and the Texas sentencing law that delivered a bitter lesson in imperfect justice.

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