The Dark Divide

When 19-year-old Phyllis Jepleting of Nakuru, Kenya failed to get in touch with family during Christmas break while away at university, they immediately knew something was wrong. As authorities worked out a timeline for her last known whereabouts, suspicion would fall upon her boyfriend, Ezra, who had been the last person to see Phyllis alive. 

48-year-old Trina Hunt would seemingly vanish from her Port Moody home on January 18th, 2021. When her husband Iian returned home from work that day, he reported the suspicious disappearance. For weeks, police rescue crews and hundreds of volunteers would search the area for the missing woman, with no sight or sign of her. Finally, the investigation would switch to a homicide case when her body was discovered in Hope, two months later. Trina's murderer still has not been brought to justice, but the details of her last known whereabouts and the strange story that Iian Hunt told authorities would have the court of public opinion already sure of who was guilty. 

Tim Bliefnick made headlines back home in Quincy, Illinois after sharing a funny answer during an appearance on Family Feud in 2020. But this wouldn't be the last time that his name and face would be on national television. Just two years later, Rebecca and Tim Bliefnick would file for divorce. By 2023, Becky Bliefneck would be murdered and Tim would become the main suspect in the case. The once innocent game show moment would become evidence in the court of public opinion, causing everyone to wonder if there was more truth to this harmless joke that now seemed haunting.

It was August 2006 when Leicester police were called to the home of Jason Moore after a 999 call reported there had been a brutal stabbing. Upon arrival, they discovered a scene reminiscent of something straight out of horror film: two men covered in blood, with one of them wearing a five-bladed glove just like the fictional antagonist, Freddy Krueger. The community would be held in suspension at such a horrifying example of imitation. How much blame does art carry when it comes to imitation in life, and when does obsession become insanity? 

In December 2006, Kelly Morrisseau of Sagkeeng First Nation was a pregnant mother of three when a passerby discovered her near death in Gatineau Park. It had been 15 years since the Morrisseau family experienced a similar tragedy, when her aunt Kelly had been kidnapped and murdered. Through the cruelty of a nightmare they had all been through before, leads and details would surface, but once again, any sense of closure or justice quickly slipped through their fingers. How could this be happening again?

It was the middle of July 1991 when nineteen-year-old Glenda Morrisseau of Sagkeeng First Nation went missing right from her own doorstep. Weeks would go by with no sign of her, until her body was discovered in a scrapyard near her home, displaying a ruthless scene of brutality and violence. After 33 years, the Morrisseau family still holds tight to the hope that Glenda's killer will be found and justice will finally be served. 

The morning of July 12, 1976 started out the same as any other easygoing summer day at California State Fullerton. The sunrise had barely finished when gunshots rang out, piercing the quiet of the campus library. Within five minutes, the worst mass murder in Orange County would be committed by Edward Charles Allaway. Skeptics would doubt his claims of delusional vengeance, leading to vital conversations of sanity and justice. Why had Edward planned to kill so many people he barely knew, and how much does the why even matter?

At just 24-years-old, Andy Cash was carrying a chip on his shoulder the size of a mountain and his destructive behaviors had landed him in a strange tension with the rest of his family. But between his unpredictable outbursts and drunken bouts of rage were small moments of promise that kept everyone hoping for a new normal. Nobody ever suspected that there were more sinister urges, even darker than the worst parts of himself he had already exposed. And on a calm night in September 2022, Andy would walk into his family home in Tallaght, Dublin where his younger siblings slept peacefully. Hungry for blood with a twisted vendetta, he would carry out the most unimaginable act while sparing no remorse. Only to walk out leaving his family, the town and the entire country at a loss for words or understanding. 

By all appearances, Karen Gunn had it all: a perfect family, a gorgeous home and a prominent career in the veterinary space. So when she decided to file for divorce from her husband in 2011, many were surprised at how little you truly know about the private lives of other people. His temper and controlling ways had become both impossible and dangerous to tolerate. But Graham Gunn was unraveling quickly, in ways that nobody saw coming. And as he watched his family slip through his fingers, he refused to lose one thing: total control.

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It was no neighborhood secret that Martha and Jeffrey Freeman were dealing with martial issues for over a year. It had been months since Martha's vehicle sat parked next to his in their driveway. But eventually with a promise of reconciliation, she would finally return. Unfortunately, even in the midst of repair, Jeffrey was unaware of three major things: One, Martha didn't actually want to fix their marriage. Two, Martha was cheating on him. And three, the two men were living under the same roof.

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