TRUE CRIME with Bratterstein

As always, thank you for hanging out and remembering Debbie Elizabeth Cameron Griggs with me today. In May 1999, Debbie Griggs, a 34-year-old pregnant mother of three from Deal, Kent, suddenly vanished from her home, sparking a missing persons investigation that would remain a mystery for decades. Debbie was three months pregnant when she disappeared, and suspicion quickly surrounded her husband, Andrew Griggs, who claimed she had simply left the family. For years the Debbie Griggs disappearance remained an unresolved UK cold case, but investigators never stopped searching for answers. In 2019, Andrew Griggs was convicted of Debbie Griggs’ murder, despite her body never being found at the time. Then, in 2022, more than 20 years after she vanished, police made a chilling discovery when Debbie Griggs’ remains were found buried in Dorset, finally confirming what investigators had long suspected. This is the tragic and disturbing true crime case of Debbie Griggs, a pregnant wife who disappeared, the husband who lied for decades, and the buried secret that took more than twenty years to uncover.

As always, thank you for hanging out and remembering Donna Ongsiako with me today.

On a July night in 2013, 51‑year‑old Colts Neck, New Jersey mother Donna Ongsiako was attacked in her kitchen by a 16‑year‑old neighbor, Brennan Doyle, who had entered her home and stabbed her repeatedly before fleeing in her car. Donna survived the assault and was able to call for help, and investigators later linked Brennan to the crime through DNA evidence recovered from the abandoned vehicle and other physical evidence.

Brennan was charged as an adult with offenses including attempted murder and carjacking, later pleading guilty to repeatedly stabbing Donna with the intent to kill and stealing her car as he fled. He received a 15‑year state prison sentence under New Jersey’s No Early Release Act, requiring him to serve about 85 percent of the term before becoming eligible for parole, and he is barred from any contact with Donna.

As always, thank you for hanging out and remembering Christian Andreacchio with me today.

On a February afternoon in 2014, 21‑year‑old tugboat worker Christian Andreacchio was found slumped over the bathtub in his small Meridian, Mississippi apartment, a single gunshot wound to the head and a pistol resting on the wrong side of his body. His death was ruled a suicide in under an hour, the scene quickly processed and the file all but closed.

But when Christian’s family walked into that apartment, what they saw didn’t match the story they were being told: blood spatter that seemed too contained, a body that looked like it had been moved, a timeline that made no sense, and a promising young man who had been making plans for his future. Over the years, new experts, podcasts, and TV investigations would pore over gunshot residue tests, shifting witness accounts, and missing evidence, turning a quiet Mississippi case file into one of the most fiercely debated “suicide or murder?” mysteries in modern true crime.

As always, thank you for hanging out and remembering Tiffany Salter with me today.

In 2012, 28‑year‑old Tiffany Nicole Salter was killed outside the Richmond County, Georgia home she shared with her boyfriend, Todd Goff, after a violent argument turned physical. Tiffany was found dead in the yard, and an autopsy determined she died from asphyxiation due to strangulation after Todd’s mother called 911 reporting that Tiffany and Todd had been choking each other and that Todd thought he had killed her.

At trial, evidence of a long‑term, volatile, and abusive relationship between Tiffany and Todd was presented, including prior domestic violence incidents and injuries consistent with ongoing physical abuse. A jury convicted Todd of malice murder and related charges, and he was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole; an attempted grant of a new trial based on claims that Todd’s lawyer was ineffective was later overturned, leaving his conviction and life‑without‑parole sentence in place.

As always, thank you for hanging out and remembering David Riess and Pamela Hutchinson with me today. In 2018, the shocking case of Lois Riess, often referred to as the “Killer Grandma,” stunned the nation. After her husband, David Riess, was found shot to death inside their Minnesota home, Lois disappeared.. withdrawing thousands of dollars and sparking a multi-state manhunt. But this wasn’t just a domestic murder case. Weeks later, in Florida, 59-year-old Pam Hutchinson was found murdered after befriending Lois.. a woman who allegedly targeted her because of their striking resemblance, then stole her identity in an attempt to start over. This true crime story explores deception, addiction, identity theft, and the chilling psychology behind a grandmother who became one of America’s most unlikely fugitives.

As always, thank you for hanging out and remembering Eve Marie Carson with me today.

Eve Marie Carson was a 22‑year‑old student body president at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill who was abducted near her home in March 2008. She was forced to withdraw money from ATMs and was then shot and killed; her body was found on a residential street not far from campus.

Investigators identified two local men, Demario Atwater and Laurence Lovette, using ATM surveillance images and other evidence. Atwater later pleaded guilty in federal and state court and received life imprisonment without parole plus additional time, while Lovette was convicted at trial in North Carolina courts and also sentenced to life in prison for Carson’s murder.

As always, thank you for hanging out and remembering Sophie Sergie with me today.

Sophie Sergie was a 20‑year‑old Alaska Native student from the village of Pitkas Point who was found murdered in a residence hall bathroom at the University of Alaska Fairbanks in April 1993. She had been visiting a friend on campus when she disappeared; hours later, a janitor discovered her body in a bathtub. She had been sexually assaulted and killed by a combination of stabbing and gunshot.

For years the case went cold, despite investigators collecting DNA at the scene and interviewing numerous students, including a young Army electrician named Steven H. Downs who lived on the same floor. It was not until advances in forensic genealogy and a re‑examination of the DNA profile in the 2010s that investigators were able to link the crime‑scene DNA to Downs, who by then was living in Maine. He was arrested in 2019, extradited to Alaska, and tried for Sergie’s rape and murder. In 2022, Downs was convicted and later sentenced to 67 years in prison, nearly three decades after Sophie Sergie’s death.

As always, thank you for hanging out and remembering all the women and young girls who lost their lives at the hands of this LOSER with me today.

Rodney Alcala, the "Dating Game Killer," murdered at least seven young women and girls across California and New York in the 1970s, posing as a photographer to lure victims. His confirmed killings included 12-year-old Robin Samsoe in 1979 and four California women between 1977 and 1979, plus two New York victims in 1971 and 1977.

Arrested in 1979 after Samsoe's murder, his convictions were overturned multiple times on appeal due to procedural errors like improper evidence admission. DNA from cold cases in the 2000s linked him to more killings. In 2010, he received the death penalty in California for five murders, pleaded guilty in New York in 2012 to two more (25-to-life each), and died in prison in 2021.

To see the photos:

⁠https://www.nydailynews.com/news/nypd-seeks-clues-photos-serial-killer-rodney-alcala-gallery-1.7546⁠

As always, thank you for hanging out and remembering Christina Marie Williams with me today.

In 1998, 13‑year‑old Christina Marie Williams disappeared while walking her dog near her home on the former Fort Ord Army base in Seaside, California. Her dog returned alone, prompting a large‑scale search; months later, Christina’s remains were found in a remote area a few miles away, confirming she had been kidnapped and murdered.​

Despite early suspicion toward convicted sex offender Charles Allen Holifield, investigators lacked physical evidence tying him to the crime, and a girlfriend initially provided him with an alibi, leaving the case cold for years. In 2016, a cold case team ordered new forensic testing on Christina’s clothing; DNA found in her underwear matched Holifield, allowing prosecutors to finally charge him in 2017. In 2020, Holifield was convicted of kidnapping and first‑degree murder with special circumstances and was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

As always, thank you for hanging out and remembering Rachel Lynn Castillo with me today.

In November 2022, 25-year-old Simi Valley social worker and graduate student Rachel Castillo vanished from her sister’s apartment after a routine custody exchange with her two young sons. Her sister found a large amount of blood inside, but Rachel and her car were gone, sparking an urgent missing-person investigation. Within days, her remains were discovered in a shallow grave in the remote Antelope Valley, with suspicion falling on her estranged husband, 28-year-old math teacher Zarbab Ali. He admitted picking up their kids, dropping them at his parents’, returning to lie in wait, and fatally stabbing her amid their ongoing separation.

Ali faced first-degree murder charges with special allegations for knife use and lying in wait, leading to life without parole. He pleaded guilty following powerful victim-impact statements from Rachel’s family, who described her as a devoted mother and advocate for domestic violence victims, training to be a therapist.