The Murder Blog
Susan Monica: The Pig Farmer Killer of Oregon
The Strange, Self-Made Life of Susan Monica
Susan Monica wasn’t exactly what you’d call average. Born Stephen Buchanan in California in 1948, she served in the U.S. Navy during the Vietnam War as an engineer before deciding to trade military life f…
Was Jack the Ripper Hiding in Plain Sight? The Charles Lechmere Theory
Jack the Ripper’s Brutal Legacy: The Eleven Women and the Theories That Followed
By the end of the 19th century, London wasn’t just grimy—it was scared. A series of brutal murders had gripped the city, leaving eleven women dead on the very streets …
Kelly Tinyes and the Basement Horror the Courts Almost Missed
The Last Normal Night: Kelly Tinyes Gets a Phone Call
On the night of March 3, 1989—just one day before her fourteenth birthday—Kelly Tinyes was holding down the fort at her family’s home in Long Island, New York. She was the responsible one that e…
The Untold Story of Julia Bulette: Survival, Scandal, and Silver Rush Secrets
The Lone Woman of Virginia City: Juliette Bulette’s Wild Gamble
Most people who chased the American Dream back then didn’t find a dream. They found hard dirt, broken ribs, and disappointment that smelled like cheap whiskey. But Juliette Bulette? Sh…
Jealousy, Journals, and Justice: The Horwitz Family Murder
High School Sweethearts, Hall of Fame Expectations, and the Start of Something Expensive
Late 1940s, Buffalo, New York. Two high schoolers, side by side. Donna Carnevale was bright, sharp, and the kind of beautiful that stops a crowded room cold. L…
The Incel Killer: Elliot Rodger and the Isla Vista Attack
Hollywood on the Outside, Something Else Brewing Inside
Elliot Rodger grew up in a world that looked, from the outside, like privilege wrapped in prestige. Born in London, he was the son of Peter Rodger, a filmmaker who would go on to work on major…
Andrea Yates: The Case That Shook the Country
The Day Andrea Yates Stopped Being Just a Name
June 20th, 2001, is the day Andrea Yates went from anonymous suburban mom to headline shorthand for something unthinkable. For some, she was clearly broken. For others, she was evil. There wasn’t a lot…
Fame, Black Magic, and Murder: The Mona Fandey Story
From Wannabe Pop Star to Spiritual Power Broker: The Reinvention of Mona Fandey
If fame were a currency, Nur Maznah binti Ismail was ready to go bankrupt chasing it.
Born into a modest Malaysian family, she came out of the gate with two things: am…
The Joe Arridy Case: A Tragedy of Justice?
In the annals of legal history, certain cases stand out not for their clarity or resolution, but for the profound questions they raise about justice, fairness, and the fallibility of the system. Among these, the case of Joe Arridy is particularly ha…
Duty To Warn: The Case Every Therapist Learns About
What We Say Behind Closed Doors
At some point, a lot of us end up sitting across from a therapist. Usually it’s to unpack something heavy from our past—trauma, abuse, neglect, take your pick. We talk, they listen, maybe nod at just the right time t…
How Arthur Gary Bishop Fooled a Community
Arthur Gary Bishop: The Predator Hiding in Plain Sight
Why is it that some of the worst people seem to come wrapped in the most respectable packaging? The clean-cut guy who smiles too much. The one who always volunteers. The one you’d trust to watc…
Myrtle Beach Mystery: The Search for Brittanee Drexel
Brittanee Drexel: A Bright Teen With Big Dreams and a Bigger Heart
Spring Break has always been a strange mix. Part beach parties and freedom, part bad decisions and worse outcomes. And sometimes, when everything goes sideways, it stops being fun a…
Jesse James Hollywood: The Killer Who Inspired Alpha Dog
Jesse James Hollywood: From Suburban Privilege to Something Much Darker
In the early 2000s, Jesse James Hollywood was living like the lead in a teen drama. San Fernando Valley. Los Angeles. Private school. Well-off parents. He had money, grades, fr…
When TikTok Beef Turns Deadly: The Durhams vs. The Lathams
When TikTok Beef Turns Deadly: The Durhams vs. The Lathams
Let’s be clear—this isn’t some medieval tale of knights defending family honor. It’s not epic. It’s not noble. It’s suburban South Jersey in 2020. The only armor involved was probably Carha…
Stand Your Ground or Hunt Your Target? The Trayvon Martin Case
A Name That Should Have Never Made Headlines
There’s a saying that nothing is ever black or white. That life exists in the gray, where nuance matters. And sure, if every single moment of someone’s life was put under a microscope, most people wouldn…
Six Murders, No Answers: What Happened at Hinterkaifeck?
A Quiet Farm, a Troubled Home
In 1922, deep in the Bavarian countryside, nestled among rolling fields and medieval towns, was Hinterkaifeck—a small farming community where everyone knew everyone. And on one of its remote farms lived the Gruber fami…
The True Story of Kelly Bates: A Case That Can’t Be Forgotten
The Illusion of Respectability
In 1980s Manchester, James Smith looked like the kind of man who had his life together. Middle-aged, well-groomed, and with an almost obsessive dedication to keeping his home spotless, he stood out—especially among hi…
Book Deals, Blood Feuds, and a Bullet That Changed Everything
Tucker Reed: Born Into a Storybook Life
Tucker Reed didn’t just grow up around stories—she was one. The eldest daughter of New York Times best-selling authors Daniel Reed and Kelly Moore, she was practically written into existence. Her parents had …
Altamont 1969: When a Free Concert Became a Murder Scene
The Swinging Sixties and the Illusion of Peace
The 1960s came with a promise—or at least, that’s what the idealists believed. Across America, young people draped themselves in the language of love and peace, convinced that a little flower power and…
Hunting ‘Rat Man’: The Unbelievable Crimes of Tsutomu Miyazaki
Tsutomu Miyazaki: An Isolated Beginning
Tsutomu Miyazaki came into the world already marked as different. Born in Tokyo in the 1960s, he had a rare birth defect that fused the bones in his wrists together, preventing him from bending them upward. I…
John Crutchley: The Vampire Rapist Who Walked Free
A Child Born to Disappointment
In October 1946, in Clarksburg, West Virginia, William Crutchley and Mildred Burnside welcomed a new baby into the world. But this wasn’t just any birth—it was supposed to be a do-over. A cosmic correction to the trag…
Right-Wing Death Squads & Radicalization: What Led to the Allen Massacre?
A Normal Day Turns into a Nightmare
On May 6, 2023, a man dressed head-to-toe in black pulled up to an outlet mall in Allen, Texas. No hesitation, no buildup—just cold, deliberate action. The second his foot hit the pavement, he raised his gun and …
Casey and Caylee Anthony: A Murder, A Trial, and a Nation’s Outrage
It has been over a decade, and people still can’t believe she walked free.
One of the jurors in the Casey Anthony trial summed it up best when he turned to his fellow jurors and said, “Holy crap, we are letting her go free.”
It was July 5, 2011, w…
Manuel Vela: A Crime So Disturbing It Defies Explanation
Some crimes are so disturbing, so completely unhinged, that trying to make sense of them is a waste of time. This is one of those cases.
In December 2016, Manuel Vela murdered his pregnant girlfriend, cut the baby from her body, and then led police…