The Darkness Vaults

For journalists all over the world, reporting true crime stories is a day-to-day reality. But what do journalists do when that reality is so dark that it feels like we’ve reached a new depth of human cruelty? For the first time, a network of 600 of these journalists have invited us into the darkest recesses of their world. They’ve shared stories of some of the most disturbing cases ever reported, past and present. From Podimo and Vespucci — this is The Darkness Vaults, released weekly on Wednesday. Hosted by Luyanda Lewis-Nyando. A note to listeners — due to the nature of their subject matter, some of these stories discuss suicide, sexual assault and may include detailed descriptions of violence. Please take care while listening. Looking for more true crime podcasts? Listen to Murder in the North from Podimo. Available wherever you get your podcasts.

Episodes

10: Death in the Chat Room (William Melchert)

May 24, 2023 • 37 mins

On a cold Sunday in March 2008, an 18-year-old woman jumps off a bridge in Canada's capital, Ottawa. She sinks into the icy water and welcomes death to end the darkness that has consumed her mind. Three years before, a 32-year-old man hanged himself in his apartment in the city of Coventry in central England. He could see no other way out. The two apparently have nothing in common, but they both leave behind an open computer. ...

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9: The St. Petersburg Sacrifices (Tamara Samsonova)

May 17, 2023 • 31 mins

In St. Petersburg's gray suburbs, loneliness hits hard. The elderly Tamara Samsonova desperately tries to fill the void left by her husband's sudden disappearance by renting out a room. But the tenants never hang around. Is it due to the bleak surroundings? Is it because Tamara herself is becoming more and more eccentric? Or is it connected to the mutilated corpses and occult signs that are found in the area? Listen to the hai...

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8: The Abattoir in the Australian Outback (Katherine Knight)

May 10, 2023 • 31 mins

There can be a certain joy associated with being engrossed in one's work. But when is enough enough?

Katherine works as a butcher in the small village of Aberdeen, and thrives among cattle hooks and butcher knives.

But trauma from the past haunts her, and seeps into her romantic relationships.
Violence and bloody rage become a recurring theme both in her workplace and in her private life.

So even if Kat...

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7: A Deadly Secret (Charlie Brandt)

May 3, 2023 • 30 mins

Can a traumatic childhood experience turn you into a serial killer? This is the story of Charlie Brandt, who, together with his wife Teri, must leave their home in the Florida Keys before the hurricane arrives. Fortunately, they can stay with Teri's beautiful, successful niece in Orlando. But when all three are found dead behind locked doors, there is no doubt who wielded the knife. And suddenly it becomes clear that Charlie h...

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6: This Time I Did It (Lawrence Singleton)

April 26, 2023 • 31 mins

The year is 1979. Mary Vincent is only 15 when she decides to leave her home in Las Vegas and pursue her dream of becoming a professional dancer in Los Angeles. She will hitchhike down there and take a few detours along the way. But she should never have settled for the friendly middle-aged man in the blue van. This is the tragically bloody story of how Mary is subjected to a macabre assault, but nevertheless survives against ...

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5: Butchered in the Valley (Charles Kennedy)

April 19, 2023 • 30 mins

In 1870 New Mexico, few things get people in the saddle like the prospect of a bright and shiny future – especially in the form of gold. Big and small make pilgrimages to the mountains "Sangre de Cristo" (Blood of Christ) with an ambition and a hope to find both gold and green forests.

But not everyone in the mountains considers gold to be the greatest treasure, and soon it is not only the blood of Christ that flows in ...

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4: Father, Son, and Sacrifice (The Alexander Family)

April 12, 2023 • 34 mins

How does a stonemason and his family from post-war Hamburg become a family of mass murderers in Tenerife? And how do they go from being a somewhat quiet and shy family to being the center of one of the most brutal mass murders in recent history? Dive into the story of the Alexander family, their sick pursuit of ultimate purity, their escape from the German authorities, and finally their role in a bloodbath; the likes of which ...

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3: Murder in Central Park (Daphne Abdela)

April 5, 2023 • 35 mins

At night, New York's Central Park turns into a dark labyrinth, where alcoholics, the homeless and rootless, and other people on the fringes of society meet in open spaces and under the cover of the shelter of trees and bushes. In May 1997, 44-year-old Michael McMorrow drinks with the wrong people and is later found brutally murdered in the park's large lake near Strawberry Fields. Two young people from very different backgroun...

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2: The Bloody Trunk (Winnie Ruth Judd)

March 29, 2023 • 41 mins

In 1931, train workers detect a foul stench coming from a suitcase left at a Los Angeles train station. Initially, police think that the case contains illegally-smuggled meat, but when they open the suitcase, they discover a badly abused corpse. The story behind the macabre find centers on three women who lived together in a small apartment in Phoenix. What started as a strong friendship between them was put to the test when a...

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1: Murder in the Highlands (Fiona Torbett)

March 29, 2023 • 28 mins

The story of 62-year-old Fiona Torbett who disappeared in the Highlands on July 7, 1993. Fiona was a seasoned 'hill bagger' having spent many years hiking and documenting walks in the Scottish Highlands, particularly in the collection of hills known as the "five sisters". But after one such hike, she failed to return to her boarding house. What was initially assumed to be a tragic but simple hiking accident came to be viewed w...

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Introducing: The Darkness Vaults

March 15, 2023 • 1 min

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