Cleophus Emmanuel Cooksey Jr. | The Phoenix Spree Killer

For three weeks in late 2017, people were shot and killed across the Phoenix metropolitan area.

Different neighborhoods.

Police didn’t tell the public a serial killer was operating in the Valley. By the time the pattern became clear, eight people were dead — including the killer’s own mother and stepfather.

Cleophus Emmanuel Cooksey Jr., recently released from prison, carried out a violent spree that left families shattered and questions unanswered. Ballistics, DNA, and stolen personal items would eventually link him to the murders, revealing a trail of violence hidden in plain sight.

In this episode of Unsaid Case Files, we examine:

The 21-day killing spree that gripped Phoenix in silence

The victims whose lives were cut short — and often overlooked

The evidence that finally exposed the truth

The 2025 trial that ended with multiple death sentences

And the unanswered question: were there more victims?

This is not a story about spectacle.

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Some stories were never meant to stay buried.

Between 1982 and the late 1990s, dozens of women vanished along the highways and riverbanks of King County, Washington. Many were young. Many were never reported missing right away. All were vulnerable.

This episode of Unsaid Case Files examines the Green River Killer—Gary Leon Ridgway—one of the deadliest convicted serial killers in U.S. history.

Beginning with the discovery of 16-year-old Wendy Lee Coffield in the Green River, we trace how a pattern slowly emerged, how early warnings were missed, and how a killer operated in plain sight for nearly two decades. Through investigative failures, advances in forensic science, and the voices of those left waiting, this two-hour episode focuses not just on the man who killed—but on the women who were forgotten.

For more than fifty years, the Zodiac Killer has remained a ghost—an unidentified murderer who terrorized Northern California with guns, knives, letters, and cryptic messages sent straight to the press.

In this Unsaid Case Files, we open the complete record:

This is not just a story about a killer who wanted attention—it’s about the people who paid the price, the evidence that never spoke, and the questions that refuse to disappear.

No hype.

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After a heated argument with her boyfriend during a night out in Green Bay, Wisconsin, 31-year-old mother of three Nicole “Nikki” VanderHeyden stormed away from her friends and vanished into the darkness. She was never seen alive again.

The next morning, her brutalized body was discovered in a secluded field—beaten, strangled, and bearing signs of a violent struggle. Investigators quickly focused on Nikki’s boyfriend, Doug Dietrie. The fight. The delay in calling police. Blood near their home. It all seemed to point in one direction.

But as forensic evidence trickled in and digital data told a different story, the case took a chilling turn. Fitbit records, cell phone location data, and DNA would ultimately expose a man with no connection to Nikki—and a version of the night that ended in sexual violence and murder.

In this episode of Unsaid Case Files, we examine how assumptions nearly destroyed an innocent man’s life, how modern technology reshaped a homicide investigation, and how a woman who simply walked away from a fight crossed paths with someone far more dangerous.

On May 30, 2025, three young sisters—Paityn, Evelyn, and Olivia Decker—vanished after a routine custody visit in Wenatchee, Washington. Three days later, their bodies were found near an abandoned campground truck their father had been living in. He was gone.

What followed was the largest manhunt in Chelan County history: a months-long search across dense forests, remote terrain, and off-grid wilderness for a man authorities could not confirm was alive—or dead.

In this episode of Unsaid Case Files, we examine the disappearance of Travis Decker, the discovery of his daughters, the unanswered questions surrounding the search, and the haunting reality of a case that ended without a trial, without a confession, and without closure.

This is not a story about spectacle.

Listener discretion advised.

Eighty-two-year-old Marcia Norman lived alone in Tenino, Washington. She followed routines. She stayed in touch. She trusted the people she let into her home.

On April 1, 2025, she made dinner for her handyman. After that, she was never heard from again.

Days later, investigators uncovered a crime so methodical and disturbing it would be described by the coroner as the worst he’d seen in 25 years. Marcia’s body was found buried beneath a freshly built shed, encased in concrete, bound, and brutally murdered over the course of hours.

This episode examines how familiarity became a weapon, how warning signs went unreported, and how a convicted sex offender—released early and largely unsupervised—was able to move freely through the community.

This is not a story about strangers.

Listener discretion is advised.

The death of two-year-old Caylee Anthony became one of the most polarizing criminal cases in American history.

In this episode of Unsaid Case Files, we trace the timeline, the prosecution’s theory, the defense’s claims, and why the jury ultimately said not guilty—leaving a child’s death officially unresolved.

A man convicted of murdering a mother and her four-year-old daughter is sentenced to life in prison—again.

On Christmas night, a six-year-old girl was killed inside her own home—and the truth has never left that house.

In this episode of Unsaid Case Files, Johnny Black examines the murder of JonBenét Ramsey, a case defined not just by violence, but by silence, missteps, and unanswered questions. From the infamous ransom note to a crime scene that was never secured, we trace the critical moments that shaped one of the most debated investigations in American history.

This is not a theory-driven retelling. It’s a careful breakdown of what happened, what failed, and why—nearly thirty years later—justice still hasn’t spoken.

Some crimes don’t go cold. They just go quiet.

The unsolved murder of Elizabeth Short — known as The Black Dahlia — became a media legend, but the truth of what happened to her was buried beneath headlines, rumors, and failure. This episode explores what went wrong, and what was never said.