Murder U
Join your host, Maddy, for this original true-crime podcast that explores the most shocking school-related murder cases and true crime stories. From mass murders to jealous lovers to gripping cold cases, we’ll take an in-depth look at the motives, mysteries, and mayhem surrounding these unthinkable acts. Follow us at: @murderupodcast on Instagram & TikTok Watch on YouTube @MurderUPodcast Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/murder-u--6152042/support.
Episodes
August 5, 2025 • 15 mins
He agreed to fight in a fraternity boxing match. The following night he was dead.
A college student steps into the ring for a charity boxing event—just days before his 21st birthday. Hours later, he suffered a fatal brain injury. The match was organized by a fraternity, held off-campus, and widely attended by students. University officials were aware the event was happening but did not intervene.
There was no licensed referee, no par...
A college student steps into the ring for a charity boxing event—just days before his 21st birthday. Hours later, he suffered a fatal brain injury. The match was organized by a fraternity, held off-campus, and widely attended by students. University officials were aware the event was happening but did not intervene.
There was no licensed referee, no par...
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July 29, 2025 • 18 mins
A college student vanishes after a late-night stop at a gas station. Nineteen-year-old Aniah Blanchard had just texted a friend when she pulled into a convenience store in Auburn, Alabama—and was never seen again. Her car was found days later, abandoned and damaged, miles away from where she disappeared.
As investigators pieced together the timeline, surveillance footage showed a man inside the store at the same time as Aniah. He ha...
As investigators pieced together the timeline, surveillance footage showed a man inside the store at the same time as Aniah. He ha...
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July 22, 2025 • 18 mins
A father is gunned down after pulling over to move a tire. Jared Bridegan had just dropped off his twin children at his ex-wife Shanna Gardner's home when he stopped on a quiet Jacksonville Beach road. His two-year-old daughter was still in the back seat when someone opened fire, killing Jared in what looked like a senseless act of violence. But police quickly realized this was no random attack.
As detectives began to unravel the c...
As detectives began to unravel the c...
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July 15, 2025 • 19 mins
(00:00:00) The Last Walk Home
(00:01:19) Who was Kristin?
(00:03:33) The night of May 24, 1996
(00:05:28) Early investigation missteps
(00:05:55) Who is Paul Flores?
(00:08:47) A family that wouldn’t stop
(00:09:52) A podcast changes everything
(00:10:45) A new interest
(00:11:07) Backyard searches & secret recordings
(00:11:55) Flores family secrets
(00:12:24) The push for justice
(00:16:05) What really happened?
Kristin Smart le...
(00:01:19) Who was Kristin?
(00:03:33) The night of May 24, 1996
(00:05:28) Early investigation missteps
(00:05:55) Who is Paul Flores?
(00:08:47) A family that wouldn’t stop
(00:09:52) A podcast changes everything
(00:10:45) A new interest
(00:11:07) Backyard searches & secret recordings
(00:11:55) Flores family secrets
(00:12:24) The push for justice
(00:16:05) What really happened?
Kristin Smart le...
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July 8, 2025 • 25 mins
When 18-year-old Katie Autry was found barely alive inside her Western Kentucky University dorm room, it triggered a frantic search for her killers.
Katie had been beaten, assaulted, and set on fire in a crime so vicious it stunned the world. Detectives soon focused on two young men with ties to the area, unraveling a web of shifting stories, surprising alibis, and a trial that left many wondering if the full truth ever came out.
In...
Katie had been beaten, assaulted, and set on fire in a crime so vicious it stunned the world. Detectives soon focused on two young men with ties to the area, unraveling a web of shifting stories, surprising alibis, and a trial that left many wondering if the full truth ever came out.
In...
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July 1, 2025 • 15 mins
A single rock, hurled from a passing car, turned an ordinary drive home into a fatal ambush. Nineteen-year-old Alexa Bartell was on the phone with a friend when it happened — the last words anyone would hear from her. What started as a reckless thrill for three teenagers ended in an unthinkable tragedy that shattered a family and shocked the entire community.
In this episode of Murder U, we trace the devastating final moments of Ale...
In this episode of Murder U, we trace the devastating final moments of Ale...
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June 24, 2025 • 28 mins
She thought they were her best friends... until they led her into the woods and pulled out the knives.
In this episode of Murder U, we examine the shocking murder of 16-year-old Skylar Neese, an honors student from Star City, West Virginia, who vanished after slipping out of her bedroom window one summer night.
For months, her disappearance remained a mystery—until one of the killers broke down and confessed to a crime so cold and c...
In this episode of Murder U, we examine the shocking murder of 16-year-old Skylar Neese, an honors student from Star City, West Virginia, who vanished after slipping out of her bedroom window one summer night.
For months, her disappearance remained a mystery—until one of the killers broke down and confessed to a crime so cold and c...
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June 17, 2025 • 23 mins
She thought she was dating a fellow college student. He was actually a 37-year-old convicted sex offender using a fake name.
In this episode of Murder U, we investigate the heartbreaking case of Lauren McCluskey, a 21-year-old track star at the University of Utah who tried everything she could to stay safe—reporting threats, breaking off the relationship, even calling campus police more than 20 times. But when her cries for help wen...
In this episode of Murder U, we investigate the heartbreaking case of Lauren McCluskey, a 21-year-old track star at the University of Utah who tried everything she could to stay safe—reporting threats, breaking off the relationship, even calling campus police more than 20 times. But when her cries for help wen...
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June 10, 2025 • 21 mins
Two brilliant students at the University of Virginia. One forbidden romance. And a secret so dark, it ended in blood.
In 1985, the mutilated bodies of Derek and Nancy Haysom were found in their Virginia home. Their daughter, Elizabeth Haysom, and her boyfriend, Jens Soering, quickly became the focus of a case that would span decades, cross international borders, and spark global controversy. In this episode of Murder U, we unravel t...
In 1985, the mutilated bodies of Derek and Nancy Haysom were found in their Virginia home. Their daughter, Elizabeth Haysom, and her boyfriend, Jens Soering, quickly became the focus of a case that would span decades, cross international borders, and spark global controversy. In this episode of Murder U, we unravel t...
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June 3, 2025 • 21 mins
She was a star athlete, weeks away from graduating from the University of Virginia. He was her ex-boyfriend, a fellow lacrosse player, and increasingly volatile. Then, on May 3, 2010, Yeardley Love was found brutally beaten in her campus apartment.
In this episode of Murder U, we examine the violent murder that shocked the collegiate sports world and sparked national conversations about dating violence, toxic masculinity, and instit...
In this episode of Murder U, we examine the violent murder that shocked the collegiate sports world and sparked national conversations about dating violence, toxic masculinity, and instit...
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May 27, 2025 • 29 mins
On August 1, 1966, Charles Whitman climbed to the top of the University of Texas tower with a footlocker full of guns. By the time it was over, 16 people were dead, dozens more were wounded, and America had experienced its first modern mass shooting.
In this episode of Murder U, we trace Whitman’s life from gifted child and former Marine to the deeply disturbed killer who changed the way police, schools, and the public responded to ...
In this episode of Murder U, we trace Whitman’s life from gifted child and former Marine to the deeply disturbed killer who changed the way police, schools, and the public responded to ...
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May 20, 2025 • 34 mins
The mystery gripped the nation—four University of Idaho students murdered in their off-campus home, and for weeks, no suspect in sight. Then, investigators made a stunning discovery: Bryan Kohberger, a 28-year-old PhD student studying criminology at Washington State University, became the focus of a sweeping multi-state investigation.
In this second part of our true crime podcast series, we revisit the turning point in the case. Fro...
In this second part of our true crime podcast series, we revisit the turning point in the case. Fro...
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May 13, 2025 • 26 mins
In November 2022, four University of Idaho students were found brutally murdered in their off-campus home — stabbed to death as they slept. Weeks passed with no arrest. Then came Bryan Kohberger, a 28-year-old criminology PhD student no one expected.
In Part 1 of this two-part Murder U episode, we trace the night of the killings, the victims’ final hours, and the investigation that led to Kohberger’s arrest. Who is he, and how did i...
In Part 1 of this two-part Murder U episode, we trace the night of the killings, the victims’ final hours, and the investigation that led to Kohberger’s arrest. Who is he, and how did i...
Mark as Played
May 7, 2025 • 19 mins
She was texting her boyfriend one minute… and gone the next. What happened to Brittanee Drexel would haunt Myrtle Beach for thirteen years—until her killer finally confessed, and his accomplice revealed a disturbing truth.
In this episode of Murder U, we examine how 17-year-old Brittanee Drexel vanished while walking alone at night during an unsanctioned spring break trip in South Carolina. As rumors swirled, false confessions surfa...
In this episode of Murder U, we examine how 17-year-old Brittanee Drexel vanished while walking alone at night during an unsanctioned spring break trip in South Carolina. As rumors swirled, false confessions surfa...
Mark as Played
April 29, 2025 • 17 mins
A popular cheerleader. A desperate classmate. And a lie that would turn deadly. When 15-year-old Kirsten Costas answered an invitation to a secret club dinner, she had no idea it was a trap. Hours later, she was bleeding to death on a neighbor’s porch, and the hunt for her killer would expose a world of jealousy, obsession, and betrayal lurking beneath the surface of suburban Orinda, California. In this episode of Murder U, we dive...
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April 22, 2025 • 15 mins
When 17-year-old Alissa Turney vanished from her Phoenix high school in 2001, her stepfather claimed she ran away to California. But her abandoned phone, untouched paycheck, and sudden silence told a darker story. Two decades later, a shocking arrest turned this cold case into a courtroom cliffhanger. Was this a teenage runaway—or a carefully staged cover-up of an unsolved disappearance?
In this episode of Murder U, we trace the fin...
In this episode of Murder U, we trace the fin...
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April 15, 2025 • 15 mins
On May 4, 1970, a student protest against the Vietnam War at Kent State University ended in unimaginable violence when members of the Ohio National Guard opened fire on a crowd of unarmed demonstrators. In just 13 seconds, four students were killed and nine others wounded—some of them bystanders simply walking to class. What led to such a deadly confrontation on an American college campus? Who gave the order to fire—and was there a...
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April 8, 2025 • 18 mins
When 21-year-old Samantha Josephson called for an Uber after a night out, she thought she was heading home safely. Instead, she stepped into a car driven by a predator. Nathaniel Rowland saw an opportunity — and Samantha never made it out alive. In this episode, we unpack the chilling case that shocked the nation, examine the hunt for a killer, and explore the safety changes sparked by Samantha’s tragic murder.
Become a supporter of...
Become a supporter of...
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April 1, 2025 • 17 mins
In 1979, 16-year-old Brenda Spencer became the first juvenile mass school shooter when she killed two staff members and wounded eight children at Grover Cleveland Elementary School in San Diego. She took careful aim at the young students and fired from her house across the street. When asked why she did it, she cooly replied that she “Didn’t like Mondays.”
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/murder-u...
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/murder-u...
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March 25, 2025 • 20 mins
December 16, 2024. Abundant Life Christian School in Madison, Wisconsin. A quiet study hall turns into a war zone when 15-year-old Natalie “Samantha” Rupnow opens fire—killing a student, a teacher, and ultimately herself.
In this chilling episode of Murder U, we unpack the first juvenile female mass school shooting in 45 years. Who was Samantha Rupnow, and how did her obsession with violence go unnoticed? From troubling online posts...
In this chilling episode of Murder U, we unpack the first juvenile female mass school shooting in 45 years. Who was Samantha Rupnow, and how did her obsession with violence go unnoticed? From troubling online posts...
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