Crime Curious

In 1979, Hope College senior Janet Chandler vanished from her night shift at a Holland, Michigan motel. What looked like a simple abduction unraveled into a shocking story of jealousy, abuse, and a violent conspiracy involving private security guards stationed during a local labor strike. For decades, the truth stayed buried—until a student documentary cracked the case wide open. This episode explores Janet’s life, the ...

Buford Pusser rose from small‑town constable to one of Tennessee’s most feared and celebrated sheriffs, waging a one‑man war against the State Line Mob. But behind the legend was a trail of violence, unanswered questions, and a marriage that ended in tragedy. This episode unpacks the myth, the man, and the recent revelations that challenge everything the public thought they knew about Buford Pusser’s story.

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In the early 1990s, a string of disappearances along Australia’s backpacker trails led investigators deep into the eerie silence of Belanglo State Forest. What they uncovered would shock the nation. This episode unpacks the life and crimes of Ivan Milat — the man believed responsible for the infamous Backpacker Murders. Through survivor testimony, forensic breakthroughs, and the relentless work of detectives who refused...

Fifteen-year-old Stephanie DuBay was searching for independence when she walked away from home after a fight over a simple rose tattoo. She crossed paths with two young men in a Warren, Michigan crash house — a place known for drugs, danger, and predatory behavior. Within days, Stephanie vanished. 

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In January 1997, 10‑day‑old Delimar Vera vanished from her family’s Philadelphia home under the cover of a house fire that investigators quickly ruled accidental. But her mother, Luz Cuevas, never accepted that her baby had died in the blaze. For six long years she held onto an unshakable intuition — that Delimar was alive.

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In the quiet woods of rural California, two men built a world fueled by paranoia, domination, and unimaginable cruelty. Leonard Lake and Charles Ng weren’t just survivalists—they were predators hiding behind the façade of self‑reliance and doomsday prep. As their bunker took shape, so did a chilling pattern of disappearances that would haunt the community for years. This episode unravels how their partnership formed, ho...

Oklahoma teen Jesse Mack Butler was a rising baseball star with a dark, escalating history of violence that the public never saw — until two brave girls came forward. One survivor endured a brutal assault that required surgery. Another was choked unconscious while Butler filmed it. Despite 11 felony charges and a documented pattern of predatory behavior, the court handed down a sentence so lenient it sparked national outrage....

Dr. Thomas Neill Cream wasn’t practicing medicine — he was perfecting murder. A trained physician with a taste for poison, Cream used strychnine the way most doctors use a stethoscope. Women seeking help ended up dead, investigations twisted into chaos, and Cream himself kept inserting his smug self into every inquiry like he wanted a spotlight more than a license.

From Chicago to Canada to London, he left a trail of vi...

A young mother vanishes from the quiet village of Middleburgh, New York in 1986 — and no one reports her missing for four months. Erica Jayne Franolich had been trying to escape an abusive marriage, made a terrified call to her brother the night before she disappeared, and then walked into the October darkness and never came home. Nearly forty years later, her family is still fighting for answers in a case where the truth has...

When 46‑year‑old Andrea Stranko returned home from a neighborhood UFC watch party with her boyfriend, Daryl Smith, the night should’ve ended quietly. Instead, it became a deadly ambush. Waiting in the shadows was Daryl’s ex, 35‑year‑old Morgan Jane Smith—armed with a shotgun and fueled by obsession.

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A chilling case of a family man living a double life. In this episode, we dive into the story of Thomas Richard Bunday, an Air Force technical sergeant whose quiet, disciplined exterior hid a pattern of escalating violence in Fairbanks, Alaska. Between 1979 and 1981, five young women vanished or were found murdered — and for years, investigators struggled to connect the dots.

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Between 1972 and 1985, Schenectady mother Marybeth Tinning lost nine of her children—one after another—under circumstances doctors initially labeled as SIDS or tragic coincidence. But as the pattern grew impossible to ignore, investigators uncovered a chilling truth: MaryBeth had confessed to smothering her infant daughter, Tami Lynne, leading to her 1987 conviction for second‑degree murder

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When 25‑year‑old grad student Jelani Day vanished in August 2021, his family’s world stopped. Jelani was focused, joyful, and deeply loved — not someone who would simply disappear. But within days, his car was found hidden in the woods, and weeks later, his body was discovered miles away in the Illinois River under circumstances that still make no sense.

In this episode, we break down the timeline, the unanswered questi...

Every now and then, even the most dedicated true‑crime brains need a palate cleanser — and today, we’re giving your nervous system a break. In this bonus episode, we’re stepping away from murder, mystery, and mayhem to answer funny and unhinged questions. Nothing is off‑limits, everything is chaotic, and yes… we absolutely roast each other in the process. 

If your soul needed a breather, a laugh, or a ...

Part Two takes us into the heartbreaking events of August 2018, when Baylie’s life was cut short in a tragic accident that left her family searching for answers no parent should ever have to seek. We examine the timeline of that day, the medical decisions that followed, and the emotional and legal battles her mother, Shawnee Baker, has fought in the years since. This episode explores the complexities surrounding Baylie’...

In Part One, we step into the world of 19‑year‑old Baylie Grogan — a brilliant, compassionate young woman from New Hampshire whose life was defined by discipline, empathy, and a love for horses that shaped her entire identity. Through the voices of those who knew her best, we explore Baylie’s childhood, her deep bond with her family, her early dreams of becoming a doctor, and the unwavering work ethic that carried her f...

In this episode of Crime Curious, we’re heading to Adelaide — a city known for beaches, wine, and, unfortunately, one of the most chilling figures in Australian true crime: Bevan Spencer von Einem.

Von Einem was the quiet, well‑spoken accountant who blended into the background… until the abduction and murder of 15‑year‑old Richard Kelvin shattered that illusion and exposed a far darker reality. As investigators d...

When a simmering Manchester gang feud exploded into violence, it unleashed one of the most shocking crime sprees in modern UK history. In this episode, we dive into the chilling case of Dale Cregan—a man whose name became synonymous with calculated brutality, a nationwide manhunt, and a tragedy that shook the British public to its core.

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In this chilling Italian true‑crime case, we explore the life and crimes of Leonarda Cianciulli, a seemingly warm and well‑liked shopkeeper in the town of Correggio whose desperation and superstition spiraled into horror. After a lifetime marked by tragedy — including the loss of multiple children and ominous warnings from fortune tellers — Cianciulli became convinced that human sacrifice was the only way to keep her el...