Siblings in Crime

In 1912, eight people went to sleep inside a small house in Villisca, Iowa.

By morning, every one of them was dead.

Six were children. The murder weapon was left behind. Every mirror in the house had been covered. And despite a town full of suspects, a confession, two trials, and an investigation that lasted years—no one was ever convicted.

More than a century later, one question remains:

Who killed the Moore family and their two young houseguests?

This is the case of the Villisca Axe Murders.

Sources:

• Iowa Cold Cases: victim details, crime scene, Kelly's confession and trials
• Smithsonian Magazine: crime scene reconstruction, Jones motive, Midwest axe murder pattern
• Omaha Daily Bee (1917): Kelly trial, defense fund, slander suit
• Iowa State Capitol Tour Guides, Pieces of Iowa's Past: discovery, suspects Sawyer and Moyer
• 1912 Nebraska wire report: Sam Moyer's arrest in Nehawka
• Newspapers.com archive: 1912–1917 headlines
• WOI / WeAreIowa: interviews with historian Edgar Epperly
• The Hatchet: Jones and Wilkerson
• Villisca Axe Murder House: inquest testimony, house history and restoration
• Associated Press (2014): the overnight stabbing
• Roadtrippers: visitor haunting reports
• Wikipedia: legislative dates and case cross-reference
• The Man from the Train by Bill James and Rachel McCarthy James

In 1995, a mother and her 17-month-old baby were found inside the burned remains of their home.

For two months, it looked like a tragic fire... until it didn't.

It was a double homicide.

What followed was thirty years of conflicting statements, unexpected suspects, and justice that remains unfinished.

This is the case of Kim and Daniel Fulton.

Sources:
- WTAP (Parkersburg): day-by-day trial coverage, sentencing, the 2023 memorial vigil, and Johnny Ball's 2024 and 2026 arrests and arraignment
- The Marietta Times: case background, the family's story, defense motions, trial testimony, sentencing, and the 2026 indictment
- Parkersburg News and Sentinel: the cold case reopening, the prosecution's account of the night, the 2024 perjury charges, and the verdict
- WCHS: the 2026 indictment of Johnny Ball
- Ohio Attorney General's Office: indictment, conviction, and sentencing announcements
- Ohio Revised Code and Ohio Legislative Service Commission: definitions of aggravated murder, murder, and complicity, and the 1997 change to the aggravated murder law
- Kimberly Fulton's 1995 obituary (via Find a Grave): Kim's life and family
- Wikipedia: Waterford population figure

Julie Mott had spent her entire life fighting cystic fibrosis. After she died at just 25 years old, her family gathered at a San Antonio funeral home to say goodbye on what would have been her 26th birthday.

Hours later, the funeral home locked its doors for the night.

By the next morning, Julie was gone.

Someone knows what happened to Julie Mott.

The question is who.

Sources

• NBC News — initial reporting on Julie Mott's disappearance and the search for her body
• CBS News — early coverage naming Bill Wilburn as a person of interest
• KSAT (San Antonio) — ongoing coverage from 2015 through 2019, including Wilburn's arrest, GPS monitoring and trespassing conviction, the civil trial, the courtroom casket demonstration, and the jury's $8 million verdict
• San Antonio Current — civil trial coverage, including the Nicholas Moreno storyline
• KENS5 — civil trial coverage and attorney statements
• Spectrum News — Dick Tips's response to the verdict
• Texas Hill Country — feature coverage of the case
• Find A Grave — Julie Mott's memorial and biographical details
• SA Legal Solutions — law firm summary of the civil trial
• Fourth Court of Appeals of Texas — the 2019 appellate ruling that vacated the judgment following settlement
• Cystic Fibrosis Foundation — FDA approval of Trikafta
• Pushing Up Lilies (podcast) — background on subcontractor building access

In the middle of the night, a window shattered on the 13th floor of a Manhattan hotel. Moments later, government scientist Frank Olson was found dying on the sidewalk below.

Authorities called it suicide.

But Frank worked inside some of the most secretive programs in the United States government and in the days before his death, something had gone terribly wrong.

It would take 22 years for his family to learn the first secret the government had kept from them. And once they did, they began questioning everything they had been told about Frank's death.

Was this really a tragic suicide or was there another reason Frank Olson went through that window?

This is the case of Frank Olson.

Sources 

• John Marks, The Search for the Manchurian Candidate — ch. 5, full text. Source for the real Gottlieb and Ruwet quotes.
• National Security Archive — Vincent Ruwet's Dec. 1, 1953 statement on Olson's death.
• Frank Olson Project — James Starrs' exhumation memorandum. Backbone of the entire Scene Six autopsy material.
• Olson v. United States, 953 F. Supp. 2d 23 (D.D.C. 2013) — the actual court opinion, including Judge Boasberg's quote.
• A Study of Assassination — the declassified CIA manual, via The Black Vault.
• The Washington Post — 1994 exhumation coverage ("Digging for New Evidence," "Tests Contradict U.S. Story of Man's Suicide").
• The Baltimore Sun — 1994 exhumation coverage ("Study of Exhumed Body Hints at Homicide").
• CovertAction Magazine — "There's Something Rotten in Denmark," source for the Cournoyer/torture material.
• New York Review of Books — the Ignatieff/Leitenberg exchange on the biological-weapons motive.
• The New York Times — "Sidney Gottlieb, 80, Dies" (1999), source for the 174-day LSD dosing detail.

Twenty-three-year-old Phoenix Coldon left her family’s home on a Sunday afternoon in December 2011 and never returned.

Hours later, her Chevy Blazer was found abandoned across state lines in East St. Louis. Her purse, wallet, glasses and other belongings were still inside. But Phoenix was nowhere to be found.

As her family searched for answers, they discovered a side of Phoenix’s life they never knew existed.

Nearly fifteen years later, three major theories remain. Did Phoenix leave intentionally? Or was foul play involved? 

This is the disappearance of Phoenix Coldon.

Sources:

• Disappearance of Phoenix Coldon, Wikipedia
• Death of Stacey English, Wikipedia
• Phoenix Lucille Coldon, The Charley Project
• Missing Phoenix: Coldon family asks UMSL community for help, UMSL Daily
• Police in Atlanta and St. Louis Search for Missing Black Women, ABC News
• Body identified as missing Ga. woman Stacey English, CBS News
• Missing in America: Phoenix Coldon, NBC News
• Phoenix Coldon's mysterious disappearance perplexes retired officer in new doc, Fox News
• Phoenix Coldon: Cruel Hoax Costs Family Their Life Savings and Home, HuffPost via MadameNoire
• Phoenix's Mom Talks Heartbreak, TV One
• The Disappearance of Phoenix Coldon coverage, Oxygen (8 articles)

Six months into their marriage, Dalia Dippolito returned home from the gym to find police tape surrounding her townhouse and officers waiting with devastating news—her husband, Michael, had been murdered.

This case dives into Mikes past and the lead up to the crime scene on August 5th, 2009 leaving you "five thousand percent sure" with what truly happened this summer day.

This is the unbelievable true story of Michael and Dalia Dippolito. 

SOURCES

• New Times — "Michael Dippolito Is No Saint" (2010) https://www.browardpalmbeach.com/news/dalia-dippolito-may-have-tried-to-kill-him-but-michael-dippolito-is-no-saint-6343534/
• New Times — Michael's police interview (2009) https://www.browardpalmbeach.com/news/michael-dippolito-police-interview-im-not-a-drug-dealer-i-never-was-6456301/
• CBS Miami — trial testimony (2011) https://www.cbsnews.com/miami/news/boynton-man-back-on-stand-in-murder-for-hire-trial/
• ABC 20/20 — case overview (2015) https://abcnews.com/US/hidden-cameras-reality-tv-inside-strange-case-wifes/story?id=35538983
• ABC 20/20 — first sentencing (2011) https://abcnews.com/2020/newlywed-dalia-dippolito-20-years-murder-sting/story?id=13866581
• ABC — mistrial (2016) https://abcnews.com/US/judge-declares-mistrial-dalia-dippolitos-murder-hire-retrial/story?id=44190614
• NBC/AP — final sentencing (2017) https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/ex-escort-dalia-dippolito-gets-16-years-trying-have-husband-n785621
• WFLX — appeal denied (2019) https://www.wflx.com/2019/03/13/court-denies-dalia-dippolitos-latest-appeal-overturn-her-conviction/
• WPTV — Shihadeh found dead (2021) https://www.wptv.com/news/state/dalia-dippolitos-former-lover-found-dead-police-say
• Court — conviction overturned (2014) https://law.justia.com/cases/florida/fourth-district-court-of-appeal/2014/4d11-2628.html
• Court — conviction upheld (2019) https://law.justia.com/cases/florida/fourth-district-court-of-appeal/2019/17-2486-0.html
• Court — federal petition (2023) https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/USCOURTS-flsd-9_23-cv-81027
• AP wire report and Boynton Beach PD arrest affidavit (August 2009)
• @crime-cracked https://youtu.be/wUGPnwzSnuM?is=Nq9fDMxJsa23aUkH

A 17-year-old wakes up on the first day of his senior year to find both of his parents brutally attacked inside their own home. Hours later, police tell him his dying father identified him as the killer. 

A confession, questionable police tactics, ignored evidence, and a case that will leave you wondering if anyone is ever telling the truth. 

This is the story of the Tankleff family.

Sources:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C87Stc56CA0&t=1808s

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GdPv0BvlT1I&t=1s

https://libn.com/2017/10/30/tankleff-case-heads-for-trial/

The Night Stalker terrified California for over a year.

But how was he finally caught?

In this episode we follow the investigation step-by-step, discuss his childhood and criminal development, explain the evidence that led to his arrest, and of course, the final verdict.

This is the reveal of The Night Stalker.

Sources

• CBS News — "Richard Ramirez and the Night Stalker Murders" (cbsnews.com)
• History.com — coverage of the capture and manhunt (history.com)
• Gizmodo — retrospective on the AFIS fingerprint match (gizmodo.com)
• Biography.com — Richard Ramirez biography and background (biography.com)
• Grunge — "The Disturbing Story of Miguel Ramirez" and related coverage (grunge.com)
• Refinery29 — "A Detailed Timeline of Night Stalker Richard Ramirez' Crimes" (refinery29.com)
• Britannica — Richard Ramirez entry (britannica.com)
• Daily Beast — "The Tale of a Shoe, My Father, and the Night Stalker" (thedailybeast.com)
• Sportskeeda — coverage of lead investigators Salerno and Carrillo (sportskeeda.com)
• LAmag — coverage of the investigation and James Romero (lamag.com)
• Newsweek — investigation retrospective (newsweek.com)
• Crime+Investigation UK — case timeline (crimeandinvestigation.co.uk)
• Wikipedia — used for cross-referencing dates and case details

For sixteen months, someone moved through California under the cover of darkness, entering homes through unlocked windows and leaving behind scenes so brutal that investigators initially believed none of the crimes were connected.

In Part One, we experience the case exactly as the victims, survivors, and detectives did—in real time. No suspect. No clear motive. Just a series of increasingly violent attacks that slowly reveal a terrifying pattern.

This episode covers the first wave of attacks that would eventually become one of America's most infamous serial killer investigations.

(Turn on notifications for Part Two that will be coming next week as we cover the investigation, identification, capture, trial, and the mistakes that finally brought the killer down.)

Sources

• CBS News — "Richard Ramirez and the Night Stalker Murders" (cbsnews.com)
• E! Online — "Richard Ramirez and the Real American Horror Story Behind the Night Stalker Murders" (eonline.com)
• Refinery29 — "A Detailed Timeline of Night Stalker Richard Ramirez' Crimes" (refinery29.com)
• The Escapist — "The Bloody Trail and History of California's Night Stalker" (escapistmagazine.com)
• Vocal Media / Criminal — coverage of Netflix's "Night Stalker: The Hunt for a Serial Killer" (vocal.media)
• Deranged LA Crimes — "The Night Stalker: Epilogue" (derangedlacrimes.com)
• True Crime Zone — Richard Ramirez case profile (truecrimezone.com)
• Los Angeles Times — archival coverage of the Vincow and Mei Leung cases
• San Francisco Chronicle — archival coverage of the Mei Leung DNA match, October 2009
• Wikipedia — Richard Ramirez case timeline, used for cross-referencing dates and ages

Everyone makes mistakes.

Most people get another chance.

In 1994, one man didn't.

After one split-second mistake, Andrés Escobar became the target of national outrage, organized crime, and death threats. Five days later, he was gunned down in a parking lot.

This is the unbelievable true story of Andrés Escobar.

Sources:

• Wikipedia — Andrés Escobar
• Britannica — "Was Andrés Escobar Killed for Scoring an Own Goal?"
• A&E — "How Andrés Escobar Became 1 of Soccer's Darkest Stories"
• CBS News — "Suspect killed 32 years after Colombian soccer star Andres Escobar murdered"
• Grokipedia — Andrés Escobar
• Kiddle — Andrés Escobar facts for kids
• Colombia Reports — "Colombia's 1994 World Cup"
• The Ringer — "Andrés Escobar, an Own Goal, and Tragedy at the 1994 World Cup"
• Vice — "How Colombia's 1994 World Cup Campaign Led To The Murder of Andres Escobar"
• Vice / These Football Times — "The Own Goal That Led to Murder"
• The Irish Times — "World Cup moments: Andrés Escobar's fatal own goal in 1994"
• The Bogotá Post — "Drug lord and prime suspect of footballer Andres Escobar's murder has been arrested"
• ColombiaOne — "30 Years Ago, Footballer Andres Escobar Was Assassinated in Medellin"
• NamuWiki — Andrés Escobar
• Daily Nation — "1994 Fifa World Cup, and fatal shooting of Colombia captain Andre Escobar that shocked the world"