Who Killed Strawberry?

This week, we’re talking about evidence. Fingerprints, Ring doorbell camera footage, witness testimony, DNA, all those clues that eventually lead investigators to perpetrators – and alleged perpetrators of crimes.

Finding the evidence and using it to piece together how crimes were committed is complicated in and of itself. Things get even more complicated in the courtroom, where prosecutors, defense attorneys, judges and jurors pore over it. And administrative issues like DNA testing backlogs can snarl the process.

We’ll cover several cases today where we can see how evidence, or the lack of evidence, has played a role in the search for justice.

We’ll also focus on one type of evidence in particular -- DNA evidence – and efforts to improve how it’s collected and how it’s tested.

This week, we’re covering stories that touch on red flags of abuse that are overlooked. In one case, alleged warning signs may have been glossed over due to a family connection. In another, a faith community reportedly allowed a system of abuse to go unchecked.

Today, we’re taking a look at teens who kill, in particular teen mass shooters. Since teen assailants Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold killed their fellow Columbine High School students in 1999, these criminals have faced increased public attention.

According to the Violence Prevention Project at Hamline University, shooters between the ages of 11 and 19 have conducted 19 mass shootings in the US since 1966, killing 162 people and injuring 145.

This episode will address four of these shooters: Payton Gendron, Salvador Ramos, Colt Gray and Ethan Crumbley, and the devastation they have left behind.

This week, we are catching up on several cases you may have missed this month.

First, we’ll get an update on the case of a nurse in the Detroit area who has been accused of sexually abusing patients for years after a whistleblower complaint.

Then, well look into two cold cases – one in Minnesota that’s still open and one in Pennsylvania that authorities say has been solved after more than 60 years.

Finally, we’ll return to both of those states to check in on a number of cases currently under investigation, from two bodies found dead in a Best Buy parking lot to a shooting on the campus of Historically Black College.

This Halloween weekend, we’re focusing on cases that haunt us. These include unsolved crimes that sleuths are still investigating and atrocious acts that leave their imprint on the places where they were committed: the Black Dahlia murder in Los Angeles, the disappearance of University of Minnesota student Mike Olson in Florida, the horrors of Pennhurst asylum and the haunting of Detroit’s Cadieux Café.

Eli Frankel, award-winning documentarian, spent five years investigating the Black Dahlia case, where a 22 year-old Elizabeth Short was sawed in half and left in a field outside Los Angeles. He believes the case is solved, alongside a much-lesser known cold case in St. Louis. Frankel, author of 'Sisters in Death,' discusses his findings here with Christy Strawser.

This week, we’re covering news of a tip that reopened the 40-year old disappearance of Cherrie Mahan, an eight-year-old who vanished from the driveway of her own home in Pennsylvania

We’re also checking in on another Pennsylvania case that’s currently under investigation, the murder of 23-year-old Penn State graduate Kada Scott. Her remains were found this month after left home to go to her overnight job at an assisted living facility and never returned. While one suspect in the case has been arrested, authorities are searching for another.

In Minnesota, we’ll also get the latest updates in the Annunciation Catholic Church mass shooting that claimed two lives and inured two others in August. A girl who shot in the left frontal lobe during the attack went home this weekend in time for her 13th birthday. As she heals, so does the community shocked by the tragedy. We’ll hear from the father of girls who witnessed the shooting and a state lawmaker on efforts to move forward.

This week, we’re focusing on updates to three cases. One is the 2011 death of Ellen Greenberg in Pennsylvania. This case been covered in the Hulu documentary series “Death in Apartment 603”.

This week, we’re taking a look at cases that bring up questions about the signs leading up to crimes. Are there ways for us to predict when a perpetrator will strike, ways to prevent crimes from happening? Are we doing enough to make sure perpetrators won’t strike again?

You’ll hear from KNX News’ the LA Local podcast about the man arrested for starting the massive Pacific Palisades Fire that claimed 12 lives while also ruining homes, businesses and more. You’ll also hear from a crime expert in New Orleans about a carjacker with a frightening past and from the legal team of a woman who claims she was sexually abused by a nurse in Michigan about that nurse’s alleged history of assault.

On this roundup of true crime news reported from Audacy stations across the country, we bring you updates on the Michigan church shooting, the yogurt shop murders and other crime headlines you might have missed, including the gripping story of a young mother who was murdered at a gas station.

Here is a link to our overage of the Yogurt Shop Murders: https://www.audacy.com/wwjnewsradio/news/national/yogurt-shop-murders-solved