On April 28, 2007, Kate and Gerry McCann and their three children were arriving to start their Spring Break vacation in Portugal with some family friends. The tiny resort town they were staying at was a safe and quiet spot for families and a very popular spot for British tourists like themselves, so the family felt right at home. They checked into their ground-floor apartment across the street from the Mark Warner's Ocean Club Resort and quickly got busy exploring the beach, enjoying the resort, and catching up. A few days into the trip, a devastating turn of events would change this family for a lifetime. Listen to hear the story of 3-year-old Madeleine McCann.

Sources: 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disappearance_of_Madeleine_McCann

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-52910472

https://www.cnn.com/2022/05/05/europe/new-evidence-madeleine-mccann-intl-gbr/index.html

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/christian-brueckner-suspect-maddie-mccann-case-germany-rape-sexual-abuse/

https://globalnews.ca/news/9603699/madeleine-mccann-dna-test-results-polish-woman-julia-wendell/

https://www.the-independent.com/news/uk/home-news/madeleine-mccann-apologises-julia-wandelt-b2488066.html

On August 8, 1980, a 16-year-old girl named Joyce McLain, waved goodbye to her mom and started on a run in the small town of Millinocket, Maine. It was evening, but she was determined to get back into shape after summer break for her upcoming soccer season. Before she could make it home, Joyce was brutally murdered in the woods behind the high school. Listen to hear as the case unfolds to discover the tragic details of a promising young life lost.

Sources:

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt8884672/

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/119983653/joyce_marie-mclain

https://www.google.com/maps/place/Schenck+High+School/@45.6331384,-68.5713445,760m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m6!3m5!1s0x4ca54c018a163eb3:0xafe3b8aca651d063!8m2!3d45.6320973!4d-68.5718321!16s%2Fm%2F0125_vxt?entry=ttu&g_ep=EgoyMDI0MTIxMS4wIKXMDSoASAFQAw%3D%3D

On March 14, 1960, three best friends from Riverside, Chicago - Frances Murphy, Mildred Linquist, and Lillian Oettin - checked into the Starved Rock Lodge at Starved Rock National Park. It was an average winter day for Illinois, but the cold didn't slow the women down. They were determined to get the most out of their long weekend together. So that afternoon, they took off together for their first hike of the day. The three women were never seen alive again.

Sources:
https://www.wspynews.com/news/local/new-person-of-interest-comes-forth-in-starved-
rock-murder-exoneration-case-weapon-tested/article_67242f4e-386e-11ef-8590-
f3a1f0df67ec.html
https://www.wspynews.com/news/local/so-called-starved-rock-murderers-defense-falls-
apart-in-judge-s-ruling/article_db710a0a-f801-11ee-900f-5b1764ed5fb9.html
https://www.the-sun.com/news/12186309/chester-weger-starved-rock-murders-
bombshell-evidence-hbo/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Starved_Rock_State_Park
https://www.wunderground.com/history/daily/us/il/utica/KPIA/date/1960-3-14
https://www.americanhauntingsink.com/the-starved-rock-murders

On Christmas Eve, 2008, the Ortega family was gathered at the home of Joe and Alicia Ortega in Covina, California. It was getting late and the night was winding down after a day full of Christmas fun. Right before midnight, as the kids were playing with toys and the parents gathered at the table to play cards, a man dressed as Santa knocked on the front door. What happened next would change the Ortega family forever. Listen to hear the story of the Christmas Eve Massacre.

Sources:

https://www.sgvtribune.com/2008/12/25/christmas-eve-massacre-leaves-9-dead-in-covina/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Covina_massacre

https://www.latimes.com/local/la-me-santa-shooting31-2008dec31-story.html

https://murderpedia.org/male.P/p/pardo-bruce.htm#google_vignette

Edward Wayne Edwards was a reformed criminal who after years of crime decided to change his ways. He met a woman, got married and started a family. He became a motivational speaker, wrote an autobiography titled The Metamorphosis of a Criminal: The True Life Story of Ed Edwards, and he seemed to be using his dark past to rebuild a more meaningful and respectable life for himself. He was well-liked and trusted in every town his family settled in and he spent his time bonding and connecting with local police. Both sides enjoyed sharing stories and chatting at bars together. During this time, across the Midwest, multiple seemingly random murders were being committed. Police dug in but ultimately all of these cases grew cold - it was as if they were chasing a ghost. Listen to hear how the killer's own daughter was ultimately the key to solving these decades-long cold cases. 

Sources:

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7503736/

https://open.spotify.com/show/5MvbeTCMNepJWuGDFETan0 

https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Raised-by-a-Serial-Killer/April-Balascio/9781982177034

https://www.google.com/search?gs_ssp=eJzj4tLP1TdIz65KLi4xYPTiS00pTyxKUYBQxQCFtAmw&q=edward+edwards&rlz=1C1CHBF_enUS950US950&oq=edward&gs_lcrp=EgZjaHJvbWUqDAgBEC4YJxiABBiKBTIPCAAQIxgnGOMCGIAEGIoFMgwIARAuGCcYgAQYigUyBggCEEUYOTIKCAMQLhixAxiABDITCAQQLhiDARjHARixAxjRAxiABDITCAUQLhiDARiRAhixAxiABBiKBTIWCAYQLhjHARiRAhixAxjRAxiABBiKBTIKCAcQLhixAxiABDINCAgQABiDARixAxiABDIKCAkQLhixAxiABNIBCTQ5NjRqMWoxNagCCLACAQ&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norton,_Ohio

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Edwards_(serial_killer)

Serial killers are a scary breed of people. Serial killers who blend in and even thrive in the world as charming and successful people are a special kind of evil. Rodney Alcala was positively connected to 8 murders, but experts believe his victim count to be much, much higher. Preying on young, hopeful, ambitious people by using his photography skills as an excuse to get them alone, over 130 people are thought to have been victimized and brutalized by this monster.

Sources:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rodney_Alcala

Woman of the Hour – 2024 Netflix Film

https://criminalminds.fandom.com/wiki/Rodney_Alcala

On November 2, 2016, a 34-year-old wife and mother of two was out on a run when she seemingly vanished from a quiet road in Redding, California. A chilling 911 call came in that evening when she wasn’t at home and her children were still at daycare. Her worried husband Keith had called when he found her iPhone and headphones on the side of the road nearby. She was a beautiful, blonde “super mom” with a picture-perfect husband and a life everyone envied, and the media exploded as the search for this missing woman began.

Sources:

https://people.com/crime/the-piece-of-evidence-that-broke-open-the-sherri-papini-case/

https://abcnews.go.com/US/vanishing-act-sherri-papini-fooled-investigators-family-phony/story?id=90381451

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sherri_Papini_kidnapping_hoax

Hulu Documentary Perfect Wife: The Mysterious Disappearance of Sherri Papini

On May 2, 1995, a 15 year old girl named Kiplyn Davis disappeared in Spanish Fork, Utah. She had gotten to school early that morning and made it to her first few classes. But after eating lunch with her friends, she was never seen again. She seemed to have vanished without a trace. Listen to hear the small town rumors, tireless work, and the eventual convictions made as her family continues to fight for justice decades later.

Sources:

https://www.facebook.com/tcstorymagazine

When An Angel Leaves Your Life

On February 13, 2017, two best friends, Abigail Williams and Liberty German, were exploring the woods in their hometown of Delphi, Indiana. It was a warm, sunny winter day and they were excited to hang out and enjoy their day off school. A few hours later, when Libby’s dad came to pick them up, the girls were nowhere to be found. The town quickly organized a search and what they found the next day was worse than anyone could’ve ever imagined.

Sources:

https://fox59.com/delphi-trial/delphi-murders-former-fire-chief-recalls-nighttime-search-for-girls-and-lack-of-sightings/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murders_of_Abigail_Williams_and_Liberty_German

https://fox59.com/delphi-trial/delphi-murders-jurors-watch-video-extracted-from-libby-germans-phone/

https://www.the-independent.com/news/world/americas/crime/delphi-murders-suspect-updates-allen-b2415838.html

In November 1978, the town of

Speedway, Indiana was changed forever when a group of four young Burger Chef employees were taken from the restaurant during their closing shift. Their names were Jayne Friedt, Danny Davis, Mark Flemmonds, and Ellen Shelton. Listen to hear the decades-long unsolved mystery that has captured a nation.

Sources:

https://www.wunderground.com/history/daily/us/in/speedway/KIND/date/1978-11-17

The Speedway Murders (Released: October 20, 2023)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burger_Chef_murders