*We realized after recording that we mispronounced the name of Traer, Iowa throughout this episode. We are sorry to anyone from Traer who had to listen to that!*

On the morning of June 18, 2021, a frantic 911 call led deputies to a quiet farmhouse in Traer, Iowa. Inside, they found 42-year-old Ryan Cooper, a beloved local farmer, slumped in his recliner. He had been shot twice in the face. His wife, Karina Cooper, was found clinging to his body, sobbing and claiming that a mysterious intruder had broken into their home while she and their three children slept upstairs. But as investigators began to peel back the layers of their seemingly ordinary family life, they realized the scene was not what it appeared to be.

Behind the scenes, detectives uncovered a secret affair between Karina and a local 22-year-old man named Huston Danker. Though both insisted their relationship was nothing more than a harmless online fantasy, their digital footprint told a far more sinister story. Investigators recovered messages where Karina referred to her husband as merely a sperm donor, fantasized about a rogue semi-truck accident taking him out, and openly discussed building a new life with Huston. When a half-million-dollar life insurance payout entered the picture, the pieces of a cold-blooded murder conspiracy fell into place.

In 2024, nearly three years after the murder, both Karina and Huston were arrested and charged with first-degree murder. Karina chose to take the stand in her own defense, a high-risk move that ultimately sealed her fate. Following a dramatic trial, a jury convicted her in just three hours, resulting in a mandatory life sentence. Just weeks later, as his own trial was set to begin, Huston unexpectedly changed his plea to guilty, bringing a final, shocking conclusion to a devastating case.

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In October 1987, 20-year-old Corinna Mullen was found brutally murdered in the trunk of her own car behind a city garage in Central City, Kentucky. Her injuries were catastrophic. She had been beaten, sexually assaulted, and left to die. Her boyfriend, Jimmy Springer, was arrested, tried, and ultimately acquitted when the jury found the evidence too thin to convict. The investigation was riddled with problems. Evidence was never tested. Key interviews were never recorded. And a pocket knife with blood and hair on it was found by Corinna's own father after her car was returned to the family.

For nearly two decades, Corinna's parents, Claude and Patricia Mullen, refused to let the case die. They placed ads in newspapers, handed out flyers, met with agencies, and followed every lead they could find. Then in 2005, a woman named Sandy came forward with a story that changed everything. She claimed she had been a 16-year-old witness to Corinna's murder and that the man who orchestrated it was none other than Lieutenant Billy Fields, the very officer who had responded to the crime scene and led the original investigation.

In 2006, Billy Fields, Jeffrey Boyd, Jimmy Cramer, and Angela Smith were all arrested in connection with Corinna's death. The trial finally began in 2009, more than 20 years after the murder. Billy and Jeffrey each received life sentences. Jimmy Cramer received 60 years. Corinna's mother did not live to see the arrests. Her father, Claude, died just before Christmas in 2011, two years after the verdicts. Corinna's daughter, Stephanie, who was just two years old when her mother was killed, said she never believed this day would come.

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Jordan James Parke spent years chasing the next procedure, spending over £130,000 on surgeries, fillers, and dramatic transformations that made him one of the most recognizable faces in the British cosmetic industry. He called himself the Lip King, building a massive social media following and launching his own aesthetics training academy. But behind the glamorous before-and-after photos lay a deeply unregulated industry and a series of increasingly dangerous choices.

In September 2024, 33-year-old Alice Webb, a mother of five daughters, traveled to Gloucestershire to attend one of Jordan's training sessions. After undergoing a liquid BBL procedure, Alice became critically ill and died later that day from complications, sparking a national manslaughter investigation and renewed calls for tighter regulation of the cosmetic industry.

Then, before investigators could reach a conclusion or file charges, another death shocked the industry. On February 18, 2026, Jordan was found dead at a London hotel at just 34 years old under circumstances that appeared connected to the very same world that made him famous. This week, we look at the rise of the Lip King, the tragic loss of Alice, and the shocking twist that left both cases with more questions than answers.

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On March 26, 1997, deputies responding to an anonymous tip entered a luxury mansion in Rancho Santa Fe, California, and found 39 people dead. They were all dressed in matching black clothing and brand-new Nike sneakers, with purple shrouds placed carefully over their faces. The house was immaculate. The trash had been taken out.

And every single person inside had died willingly, convinced they were boarding a spacecraft hidden behind the Hale-Bopp comet.

This week, we are covering the full story of Heaven's Gate, from the very beginning. We trace the origins of the group through its two founders: Marshall Applewhite, a charismatic former music professor from Texas, and Bonnie Nettles, a Houston nurse with a deep interest in astrology and the occult. Together, they spent years building a belief system that blended UFO mythology, biblical prophecy, and New Age spirituality into something entirely their own. We talk about how they recruited hundreds of followers across the country, the strict rules that governed every aspect of daily life inside the group, and how Bonnie's death from cancer in 1985 forced Marshall to completely reinterpret everything the movement had been built on.

We also get into the final days of Heaven's Gate, the farewell videos members recorded, and the chilling, methodical way the group carried out their plan over the course of three days. This one is a deep one, and it is a story that still feels impossible to fully understand almost thirty years later.

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It seemed we missed some (ALL) edits on the last post. Thanks everyone who took the time to let us know!

We are giving you a little gift this week. This episode originally aired on our Patreon several months ago, and we loved it so much that we wanted to share it with everyone. Consider this a peek behind the paywall! And if silly isn't for you, don't worry, we'll be back to our regularly scheduled programming next week!

This week we are covering the HBO Max show Neighbors and the episode titled "Patch of Grass." If you have not seen this show yet, please stop what you are doing and get yourself a Max subscription, because this one is something else entirely. We have two stories out of Florida, which should tell you everything you need to know. In Palm Bay, we meet Johnny and Andy, two neighbors who have been locked in a full-blown war since the year 2000 over St. Augustine grass. There are death threats, acid-throwing promises, a very decorated vehicle, and a man who used to go by the Italian Stallion. In West Palm Beach, we meet Victoria and Melissa, two women who were perfectly good neighbors for 16 years until a one-foot-wide strip of grass came between them. There are guns, Zoom court, a chain-smoking Victoria, a mediator who also sells firearms, and a son named Jack who wants absolutely no part of any of this.

If you want more bonus episodes like this one, you can find them over on our ⁠Patreon⁠. We release content there regularly that never makes it to the main feed (plus our regular episodes without ads), and we would love to have you over there.

Thank you so much for listening and for all of your support. It means everything to us.

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On April 27, 2021, the quiet community of Zanesville, Ohio, was shattered when 23-year-old Jayla Wyatt was found shot to death in the entryway of a local apartment. She had been shot six times, including a devastating direct shot to the face. The apartment belonged to Patrick Downes, a man significantly older than Jayla with whom she had recently started staying.

When investigators began looking into who could have targeted Jayla, they quickly uncovered a toxic web of addiction, obsession, and volatile relationships. The trail led directly to 20-year-old Tristaney Baker and her 23-year-old boyfriend, Devin McKnelly. Driven by a deep, drug-fueled jealousy over Patrick, Tristaney had planned the execution, while Devin provided both the firearm and the getaway vehicle. Within twenty-four hours of the crime, police used emergency cellphone tracking to locate the couple in Columbus, Ohio, bringing an end to their short-lived flight from justice.

In this episode, we discuss the heartbreaking details of Jayla's life, the explosive and dangerous dynamic between her killers, and the rapid police investigation that brought them both to justice.

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For years, local authorities in Charlotte County, Florida, were called to the home of Scott Lee Huss and Yana Huss. There were restraining orders, allegations of child abuse, threats, arrests, and repeated warnings from neighbors, teachers, and deputies that the situation was spiraling out of control. Yet, despite nineteen police visits in less than a year and multiple domestic violence charges, the system repeatedly failed to protect Yana. On the morning of April 25, 2007, the violence reached a tragic and predictable end when Scott stabbed Yana to death inside their Port Charlotte home, forcing her eight year old son, Petir Huss, to witness the horrific attack and help cover it up.

In this episode, we discuss the devastating details of Yana's life, the cycle of abuse that kept her trapped, and the catastrophic failures of the justice system that allowed a dangerous man to remain free. We also look at the aftermath of the crime, including Scott's bizarre 12 page manifesto, his wild claims of a Russian mafia conspiracy, and the custody battle fought by Yana's mother, Elena Kuchinskaya, to bring her grandchildren to safety.

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Netflix is dropping a documentary today called "The Murder of Rachel Nickell," and if you want the full story before you watch, you are in the right place. On a warm morning in July of 1992, a young mother named Rachel Nickell was walking with her two-year-old son, Alex Hanscombe, on Wimbledon Common in southwest London. In broad daylight, an attacker emerged and brutally murdered Rachel.

Little Alex was left alone in the woods, clinging to his mother and trying to wake her. The crime shocked the United Kingdom and put immense pressure on the Metropolitan Police to find the killer.What followed became one of the most controversial investigations in British history. Desperate for a lead, detectives focused entirely on an innocent local man named Colin Stagg and launched a manipulative undercover sting known as Operation Edzell to trap him into confessing. Meanwhile, the real killer, Robert Napper, remained free to commit more violent crimes, including the tragic murders of Samantha Bisset and her daughter, Jazmine Bisset.

In this episode, we cover the devastating details of the attack, the police failures that led to a massive miscarriage of justice, and the long road to healing for Rachel's family.

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Back in January, we laid out ten major true crime cases we were watching closely for the first half of 2026. Now that we are halfway through the year, the courtroom developments have been absolutely wild. In this episode, we are checking in on all ten cases to bring you the shocking verdicts, final sentences, and dramatic updates that have unfolded across the country.

We cover the sentencing of Paul Caneiro in New Jersey, the disturbing family dynamics in the Kevin Ellis trial in Utah, and the stunning acquittal of former officer Kelsey Fitzsimmons. Plus, we have major updates on high profile cases like Kouri Richins, Courtney Clenney, Larry Millete, and the bizarre pregnancy fraud allegations against Laura Owens. Some of these outcomes will absolutely blow your mind, so join us as we break down where these cases stand today.

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On March 13, 2023, 24-year-old Colby Vinson received the news he had been fighting for all year. A judge officially granted him 50/50 custody of his four-year-old daughter, Preslee. But just six days later, on the very first night he brought her home, Colby was executed on his own doorstep while his little girl stood nearby.

When investigators dug into the young father's life, they quickly realized this was not a random act of violence. The trail led directly to his ex, Rachiel Moore, and her former stepfather, a man with a violent past named Jason Curtis. What followed was the unraveling of a cold, calculated murder plot documented in a series of chilling text messages and funded by fifty dollars in gas money.

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On a freezing November night in 2015, 30-year-old nursing student Angila Wilder was stabbed 44 times inside her home in Minot, North Dakota. The brutal attack happened while her two-year-old son slept safely in the very next room. When her fiancé, Christopher Jackson, discovered the scene after returning from an overnight shift, investigators immediately began untangling a web of jealousy, obsession, and domestic violence.

The evidence quickly pointed toward Angila's ex-husband, Ritchie Wilder Jr., and his new wife, Cynthia. What started as a bitter custody dispute had morphed into a calculated, years-long plot to eliminate Angila entirely. The case features one of the most chilling interrogations in true crime history, a failed prison escape, and a stunning undercover recording that finally brought the whole diabolical plan crashing down.

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