Perhaps no case more than that of 22-year-old Gabby Petito demonstrates that the images we see on social media do not accurately show us the reality of a person’s life. On July 2, 2021, Gabby enthusiastically set out on a “van life” journey with her fiancé Brian Laundrie. The two had quit their jobs and renovated a van, planning a four-month trip across the country.  Along the way, Gabby documented their adventures on social media. But behind the scenes, Brian was abusive and manipulative, controlling Gabby.

Join us at the quiet end for The Case of Gabby Petito. During her travels, the couple was seen arguing, with Gabby crying and Brian yelling at her and even slapping her.  One witness report led the police in Utah to pull over the couple, but no arrest was made and the incident was identified as a mental health crisis rather than a domestic violence incident.

Gabby’s mother Nichole last spoke to Gabby on August 25th. Then, on September 1st, Brian returned to his parents’ home without Gabby. What followed was one of the most public and emotional crime solving efforts in recent history.

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Sources

Family travel vloggers share video they believe shows Gabby Petito and Brian Laundrie’s van around time of her disappearance, Connor Perrett, 9/19/2021, Click to watch Bethune YouTube Video

Full Video: Gabby Petito and Brian Laundrie Police Stop, Inside Edition, Click to watch

Gabby Petito Case: Timeline of travel blogger’s disappearance, ABC News, Haley Yamada, 10/21/2021

Gabby Petito’s family awarded $3 million in wrongful death lawsuit against Brian Laundrie’s estate, CNN.com, 11/17/2022

Gabby Petito Search: Remains Found in Wyoming Match Description of Missing Woman Gabrielle Petito, The New York Times, 10/20/2021

The Gabby Petito Story: An American Tragedy, 60 Minutes Australia, 11/16/2021

Gabby Petito: The Untold Story, 48 Hours, S35, E1, 9/25/2021

The Murder of Gabby Petito: A Look at the Police Response and Intimate Partner Violence Among Young People, A&Etv.com, Elena Ferrarin, 6/23/2022

Petito-Laundrie trial moved to 2024, hearing set for Roberta’s ‘burn after reading’ letter, thehill.com, J.B. Biunno, 03/16/23

Who is Gabrielle Petito? The New York Times, Ethan Hauser, Maria Cramer, & Michael Levenson, 9/19/2021 

If you or someone you know is suffering from domestic violence or feels trapped in a toxic relationship, call the national domestic violence hotline at:

1-800-799-SAFE

Or text START to 88788

You can donate to the hotline by going to https://www.thehotline.org/hopecantwait/

Confident and carefree, Icelandic woman Birna Brjánsdóttir was just 20-years-old when she disappeared in 2017. Birna grew up in the nearby suburbs, but she was very comfortable in the city of Reykjavik. It’s known as a safe place to be, even for a young woman in the dark of night. The main street was busy and well-lit, with bright storefront windows and lampposts on every corner.

Join us at the quiet end for The Disappearance of Birna Brjánsdóttir. After finishing work on Friday, January 13, 2017, Birna played cards with friends in a pub.  At midnight, when the parties were getting started, they went dancing at a popular club. But when Birna’s friends decided to go home at 2am, Birna stayed behind.  When she didn’t show up for work on Saturday and her phone was off, Birna’s mother and friends knew immediately that something was terribly wrong.

CCTV footage

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Sources

I Am Birna: Iceland Mourns Murdered Woman, CNN.com, Fréttatíminn, Iceland, Thora Tomasdottir, 2/3/2017

Key Witness Tells a Very Different Story in Birna Murder Trial, Iceland Monitor, 8/21/2017

A Murder Shocks Iceland and Dents Women’s Sense of Safety, BBC News, Anna Margret Bjornsson. 1/28/2017

The Murder of Birna Brjánsdóttir: The Case that gripped Iceland and the World, The Reykjavik Grapevine, Paul Fontaine, 2/7/2017

The Murder That Shook Iceland-Birna Brjánsdóttir, The Guardian, Xan Rice, 4/12/2018

Rare Icelandic Murder of Young Woman Leaves Country Devastated, The Independent, May Bulman, 2/7/2017

Young Local Woman Missing Since Saturday: Have You Seen her? Iceland Magazine, 1/16/2017

This episode is sponsored by Magic Mind!

This episode is sponsored by Factor!

Rachel Hatfield was in a 14-year relationship with a struggling artist named Tim when she met her future husband, Todd Winkler.  Todd couldn’t be much more different than Tim. He was a former F-16 fighter pilot with a big corporate job, a house, and even his own plane. When Tim heard about Todd, he hurried to propose to Rachel.  But it was too late. Rachel had made up her mind to marry Todd within weeks of meeting him. She would be his third wife and the second one to suffer a violent and sudden death.

Join us at the quiet end for Out of Wedlock. Rachel had high hopes for a happy marriage and a family of her own. But after having three children together, the Winkler’s’ marriage was in trouble. Rachel fell in love with another man and asked Todd for a divorce. But Todd was having none of it. Then, on February 27, 2012, a neighbor received a call from Todd explaining that there had been a domestic violence incident at his house. And Rachel was dead.

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Sources

Deadly Twist, Dateline NBC, E23 S31, 3/20/2015

Edge of Reason, American Monster, S4 E9, 10/27/2019

The People v. Todd Alan Winkler, In the Court of Appeal of the State of California Third Appellate Disctrict, 11/20/2020

Prosecutor points to gruesome evidence as Winkler murder case goes to jury, The Sacramento Bee, Peter Hecht, 3/21/2015

The Two Faces of Todd Winkler, 48 Hours, CBS, S28 E11, 12/13/2014

29-year-old attorney Anna-Jane Cheney was looking forward to her wedding in March of 1994. But just a few weeks before she was to walk down the aisle, she was found dead in her Adelaide home.

Join us at the quiet end for 4 Bruises. At around 7:30pm on March 18, Anna went to the home of her best friend and sister-in-law, Susan, to walk their dogs together. Although she had been drinking earlier that evening, she did not appear to Susan to be intoxicated. But just two hours later, Anna’s fiancé, Henry, called an ambulance to their home. Henry told first responders that he had found Anna unconscious in the bathtub. Crying over the body of his beautiful bride-to-be, his story was believed. Until it wasn’t.

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Sources

Horrifying scandal of forensic doctor never qualified to be one, Under Investigation with Liz Hayes, 60 Minutes Australia.2/22/2023

How to fix Australia’s biggest legal scandal, Wrongful Convictions Report, 7/29/2020, https://wrongfulconvictionsreport.org/2023/02/02/malpractice-incompetence-and-lies-the-manock-curse-part-1/

Reasonable Doubt, 60 Minutes Australia, 2011

Unmaking a Murder by Graham Archer, 2017

A Witness of Fact by Drew Rooke, 2022

Henry & Anna-Jane

Jeff Wright was always looking for a good time. When he met his future wife, Susan, he thought she would be a good time.  But then things between the two became something more than just fun.  Susan became pregnant, they married, and they moved into a house in the suburbs of Houston. But it was not happily ever after—not even close.

Join us at the quiet end for The Last Seduction. After stabbing her husband to death in 2003, Susan Wright claimed that she had acted in self-defense after years of abuse.  But prosecutors argued that Susan had never reported any abuse to the police and that she had plotted and carried out Jeff’s murder in cold blood. At Susan’s trial, prosecutor Kelly Siegler described Susan as a calculating wife who seduced her husband into bed, tied him up, stabbed him 193 times, and buried his mutilated body in their backyard to collect on his life insurance.  Susan’s only chance at convincing the jury of her innocence was for her to testify in her own defense.  But was her testimony enough to overcome the brutal details of what she had done?

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Sources

193, Texas Monthly, Skip Hollandsworth, 2/2010

A Wife’s Revenge by Eric Francis, 2005

Betting Her Life, 48 Hours Mystery, 5/15/2010

The Blue-Eyed Butcher TV Movie, Lifetime.com, 2012

Blue-eyed Butcher’: Texas woman who stabbed husband 193 times in 2003 released on parole, Crystal Bonvillian, Fox13 Houston, 1/5/2021

27-year-old music teacher Stephanie Kupchynsky disappeared from a Rochester, New York, suburb in 1991. Stephanie grew up in New Jersey and had taught on Martha’s Vineyard. She was scheduled to attend a music conference in New Jersey that was organized by her father, also a music teacher, when she disappeared. Soon afterwards, her car was found abandoned at the airport.

Join us at the quiet end for The Disappearance of Stephanie Kupchynsky. Stephanie was an energetic, joyful person who was working to move forward from a life complicated by abuse and depression. She had recently escaped an abusive relationship and she was in love with a new boyfriend. She was looking forward to the future more than she had in a long time. But Stephanie didn’t show up for the music conference and she wasn’t answering her boyfriend’s calls. She was gone, seemingly without a trace.

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Sources

Catch the Sparrow by Rachael Rear

Confessed killer Ed Laraby dies in prison, Gary Craig, 5/5/2014

The Disappearance of Stephanie Kupchynsky, Dateline Digital, 1/20/2023, https://www.nbcnews.com/dateline/video/the-disappearance-of-stephanie-kupchynsky-160292421640

METRO NEWS BRIEFS: NEW YORK; Woman Who Vanished In 1991 Is Found Dead, New York Times, The Associated Press, 4/17/1998

New York inmate admits murder of former Martha’s Vineyard teacher, MVTimes, Janet Hefler, 7/25/2012