20-year-old Betty Smithey strangled one of the four children she was trusted to look after. She was caught a day later attempting to flee to Mexico.

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As we look ahead to the new year, we want to take one last chance to say thank you for the year that was — and present our “Best of 2021”! Please enjoy this episode from Disappearances with Sarah Turney, one of our favorite new shows of the year.

Officially, 23-year-old Michael Rockefeller drowned off the coast of New Guinea in 1961. But disturbing rumors add another dimension to his death. 

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A plan months in the making, serial killer Ted Bundy cut a hole in the ceiling of his cell and escaped from a maximum-security prison in Glenwood Springs, Colorado.

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The body of 18-year-old Sarah DeLeon was found on a stretch of isolated train tracks by a railway worker. Decades later, her case remains unsolved. Guest hosted by Alastair Murden from Once Upon A Time, a Spotify Original from Parcast.

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An online fued between two Call of Duty players turned deadly when a swatting incident went horribly wrong, killing an innocent victim.

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Chechen rebels drove two trucks full of explosives past checkpoints at a government building in the capital city of Grozny and detonated them, killing 72 people.

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On an island off the coast of Scotland, the strange disappearances of three lighthouse keepers called for an investigation. A log kept by one of the keepers only deepened the mystery. 

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On Christmas Day 1868, U.S. President Andrew Johnson extended a pardon for Confederate veterans, leaders and supporters who participated in the Civil War. 

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Not long after 27-year-old Laci Peterson vanished from her neighborhood in Modesto, California, suspicion fell on her husband, Scott Peterson. 

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Following the victory of the Allied powers in World War II, the American military executed seven convicted Japanese war criminals in Tokyo.

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