Profiling Evil

Chad Daybell just dropped Letter #9 about his “third near-death experience” from 2017, complete with a Spirit Woman in Black, a minute-long blackout where family says he turned purple, and a “fiery dart” that he and Tammy interpreted as a spiritual weapon. Let’s unpack how this letter fits Chad Daybell’s Death Row Marketing Plan. It’s a rebranding campaign that uses religious imagery, paranormal claims, and nostalgia to pu...

Welcome to Feedback Friday, where I answer your questions, revisit parts of the week’s biggest crime stories, and highlight the behavioral patterns that help investigators understand how offenders think and operate.

This week we updated four major cases:

1) The missing 9-year-old Melodee Buzzard and the release of her mother Ashlee Buzzard

2) The brutal assault of 88-year-old Emma Cotton in Seattle

3) The Pittsburgh base...

Welcome to the premiere episode of our new series, True Crime Tuesday, because evil doesn’t take weekends off, and neither do we. Each week, we’ll break down some of the most intriguing and high-impact criminal cases making headlines. It’s not only about what happened, but why. We’ll dig into the behavioral clues, offender decisions, and investigative angles that reveal how crimes unfold in the real world.

This week we’re e...

In 1929, a young Japanese pilot named Masashi Goto set out to achieve the impossible: fly his homemade biplane, the Ryofu-Go (“Thunderbird”), across three continents and land in Japan. Goto was the first Japanese citizen to earn a U.S. pilot’s license, inspired by pioneers like #HarrietQuimby, #AmeliaEarhart, and #BessieColeman. After years of hard work, Goto finally launched his world flight attempt. On July 4, 1929, carr...

Nine-year-old Melodee Buzzard disappeared from Vandenberg Village where she lived in Lompoc, California. The case has left investigators and family searching for answers and this episode reconstructs the official timeline, down to the white Chevy Malibu rental on Oct. 7th, to a license-plate swap and a confirmed Oct. 9 sighting near the Colorado–Utah border. Let’s talk about the homeschool-study process that delayed report...

Convicted killer Chad Daybell has released a new letter from death row, Letter #8 - “The Great Eclipse.” In it, he turns an ordinary solar eclipse into a supernatural event and compares himself to a cartoon character as he rewrites his own story as a misunderstood prophet rather than a three-time convicted killer. Let’s look at Daybell’s deliberate marketing strategy that uses public relations tactics, psychological manipu...

When the “Letters from Chad” project launched in September 2025, convicted killer Chad Daybell tried to rebrand himself as a persecuted prophet, writing from his death row cell in Idaho, preaching innocence between the lines. But the words that were supposed to save his image did something else entirely. They exposed him. Let’s walk through the full timeline of these letters, when they began, what he said, and why they sud...

Dive into the disturbing reality of child brides in the FLDS (Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints) under Warren Jeffs' leadership. This video explores the dark underbelly of polygamy, coercion, and generational control within cults like the FLDS in Caliente, Nevada. Learn how leaders manipulated families, exploited young girls, and isolated members from society. We’ll also discuss the broader impact ...

Lori Vallow Daybell is back in court — and this time, the outburst wasn’t about murder charges, but money. From behind bars at the Pocatello Women’s Correctional Center, Daybell was ordered to pay nearly $12,000 in restitution to Kay Woodcock.  What should’ve been a simple hearing quickly turned bizarre when the judge asked if she was under the influence of drugs or alcohol. Lori snapped back: “Is your honor aware that I a...

He was trusted. He was respected. He was a monster hiding in plain sight. For 16 years, Charles Cullen worked as a nurse in hospitals across America, all while committing one of the worst serial killing sprees in history. He moved from hospital to hospital, leaving a staggering body count in his wake, and every institution that suspected him let him walk away—until one brave nurse-turned-whistleblower helped bring him down...

She was a law student, a mother, and by all appearances, the picture of composure — but behind the charm, investigators say Ana Paula Veloso Fernandes was orchestrating a trail of death across São Paulo. Let’s jump behind the headlines and into the psychology of female serial killers, exploring why women who kill often use deception, poison, and trust itself as their weapons. Police say Fernandes first tested her poison on...

In today’s sentencing hearing, Donna Adelson delivered a dramatic, emotional statement asserting her innocence in the 2014 murder of her former son-in-law, FSU law professor Dan Markel. Let’s break down what she said and contrast it with what the state proved at trial. Then, see how the judge responded to her performance, particularly criticizing the theatrics and lack of genuine remorse. 
#DonnaAdelson #DanMarkel #True...

Chad Daybell is publishing “uncensored” letters from death row, recasting himself as a misunderstood, faithful father who loved Tammy and was framed by the media. Lori Daybell is doubling down from prison with a different kind of sermon, claiming she’s exactly where “her God” wants her to be, ministering to women behind bars. Neither convicted killer confronts the evidence, things like how they were carrying on in an affai...

When a man convicted of murdering his wife and his lover’s two children begins writing ghost stories from his prison cell, you’d think the world might respond with silence. But Chad Daybell , the Idaho gravedigger, self-styled prophet, and now, Death Row inmate, has found a new platform. Through a website managed by his daughter, he’s publishing “Letters from Chad,” little episodes designed to sound like spiritual memoirs,...

Colby Ryan has carried a burden most of us can’t imagine. He lost his siblings, Tylee and JJ, to murder, and watched the justice system hold his mother, Lori Vallow Daybell, and her new husband, Chad Daybell, accountable. His stepfather, Charles Vallow, was also murdered, and the ripple of violence extended into the life of Brandon Boudreaux. In this powerful conversation, Colby opens up about Chad Daybell’s letters from D...

Chad Daybell’s Letter #6 is all about image repair and another near death experience. He walks us from a normal newsroom job into his 2nd NDE, a dramatic near-death experience at La Jolla Cove that ultimately lands squarely in a cemetery sexton role that fits his afterlife branding like a glove. Let’s decode the storytelling tricks of how an ocean wave becomes a divine assignment… how a “grandpa appearing in robes” turns i...

Letter #5 is Chad Daybell seizing the microphone. He promises a “foundation of facts,” blames the State for twisting his beliefs, accuses his own attorney of missing cross-examination opportunities, and then pivots to four claimed near-death experiences as the key to making “2019 finally make sense.” Let’s expose the psychological choreography: externalizing blame, elevating theology to evidentiary status, laundering credi...

Letter #4 isn’t a confession—it’s a stage play and Chad Daybell reaches for the biggest levers of moral authority in Latter-day Saint culture—mission stories, lifelong service, and the language of persecution. Don’t be confused though, it’s all done to sell his spiritual rebrand from Death Row. Let’s expose the psychological choreography behind it: origin story as moral title, social proof disguised as gratitude, excommuni...

Chad Daybell’s Letter #3 paints a cozy picture of rural Idaho—Salem farms, Indian Runner ducks, family business wins, and a string of fainting spells that conveniently suggest a “natural” decline. But when you put that Hallmark reel next to the forensic record of Tammy Daybell’s death and the convictions tied to this case, the manipulation snaps into focus. We’re going to tear this letter apart line by line and expose Chad...