Dark Downeast: Maine and New England's True Crime Podcast digs into the decades-old and modern day cases that prickle the history of Vacationland and beyond – the unsolved homicides, undetermined deaths, unexplained disappearances and other dark stories of New England. Investigative journalist and storyteller Kylie Low gets straight to the story with a mix of narrated episodes and documentary style production featuring interviews with surviving family and friends and insight on the investigations from detectives and sources who know these cases best. This is heart-centered, ethical true crime, bringing light to stories you’re not hearing on other podcasts. It is Dark Downeast's mission to honor the legacy of the humans at the heart of each story and bring new attention to the cases still awaiting justice.
Go inside the investigation of the murder of Liberty German and Abigail Williams—two bright, beloved girls from Delphi, Indiana—on the first episode of the 13th Juror. Hosted by Brandi Churchwell, unpack the long, twisting search for answers, the arrest of Richard Allen, and how the prosecution built its case.
Listen to 13th Juror now on Spotify, Apple, or wherever you get your podcasts!
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17-year-old Brandi “Amy” Sullivan was used to coming and going. She was restless, independent, and always in motion. So when she didn’t come home in the summer of 1996, her family tried not to panic. But this time was different.
Weeks later, Amy was found dead in the woods behind a warehouse in suburban Massachusetts. What followed was an investigation plagued by missing time, withheld details, and a crucial lie that shifted the timeline of her final days. There were people who saw Amy after she was reported missing. People who didn’t come forward. Why?
Nearly three decades later, no one has been held accountable for Amy’s murder. It’s time for that to change.
View source material and photos for this episode at: darkdowneast.com/brandiamysullivan
Dark Downeast is an Audiochuck and Kylie Media production hosted by Kylie Low.
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Every now and then I uncover a case buried deep in the archives with circumstances that prove truth is stranger than fiction. This story is one of them.
When a prominent Bridgeport, Connecticut woman failed to show up for lunch with a friend, it led to a devastating discovery in her overflowing home that had become a sort of treasure trove of local history. The investigation stalled until months later when some of the woman’s treasures started showing up around town.
With a suspect identified, the case was nearly closed until the accused killer quite literally slipped through investigators’ hands in one of the most bizarre escapes I’ve ever encountered.
View source material and photos for this episode at: darkdowneast.com/elizabethsterlingseeley
Dark Downeast is an Audiochuck and Kylie Media production hosted by Kylie Low.
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In late summer of 1990, a mother in central Maine seemed to slip quietly out of her own life. Shirley McAvoy had been navigating a painful separation, leaning on friends and trying to rebuild a sense of normalcy. Then, shortly before a scheduled court date related to her pending divorce, she simply disappeared.
Days turned into weeks, and small, unsettling details began to surface—things that didn’t fit with the idea of someone who’d chosen to leave. What started as a missing persons case slowly transformed into something far more disturbing, stretching well beyond the quiet town where Shirley was last seen. More than 35 years later, investigators are still trying to identify a mystery man believed to know exactly what happened to Shirley.
View source material and photos for this episode at: darkdowneast.com/shirleymcavoy
Dark Downeast is an Audiochuck and Kylie Media production hosted by Kylie Low.
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More than a century ago during the winter of 1923, a quiet Christmas in East Hartford, Connecticut took a devastating turn that would echo far beyond that holiday. Mrs. Mary Monsell never arrived for the dinner she’d been warmly invited to, and within hours, her home became the center of a crime that would send police searching for a suspect who vanished into the world and never returned.
Mary’s name rarely appears in headlines now. Her story has nearly slipped beneath the weight of time. But history leaves clues if you’re willing to look, and some stories are worth digging up again.
View source material and photos for this episode at: darkdowneast.com/marymonsell
Dark Downeast is an Audiochuck and Kylie Media production hosted by Kylie Low.
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Some cases linger for years not because the truth is hidden, but because the tools needed to prove it aren’t yet strong enough. Evidence waits on shelves, memories shift, and flawed forensic science can steer an investigation away from the person who seemed suspect from the start. This is one of those cases.
This is a story about a young woman whose life was brutally taken and the decades that followed as investigators, family members, and forensic experts worked to overcome outdated science and finally confirm what so many had suspected all along.
View source material and photos for this episode at: darkdowneast.com/judithlord
Dark Downeast is an Audiochuck and Kylie Media production hosted by Kylie Low.
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On a winter night in early February of 1992, John E. Volungis Jr. was standing on the edge of a brand-new life. After years of working toward a career in law enforcement, John was about to take off for his next step in that pursuit.
It was supposed to be a fresh start after navigating a complicated past and an equally complicated marriage. But before he could take that next step, something happened inside the Worcester duplex he shared with his wife. Something no one has ever fully explained.
View source material and photos for this episode at: darkdowneast.com/johnvolungisjr
Dark Downeast is an Audiochuck and Kylie Media production hosted by Kylie Low.
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It was early January in North Kingstown, Rhode Island, when a discovery in a quiet stretch of woods changed a family forever. A young woman had crossed paths with a violent killer close to home. The investigation led to a swift arrest and a conviction that should’ve brought some measure of justice and safety, but what came next defied reason.
The man convicted of her murder was given chance after chance to walk free – opportunities that no one could ever justify to the people who loved her. Each time he reentered the world, he proved exactly who he was.
View source material and photos for this episode at: darkdowneast.com/peggyflynn
Dark Downeast is an Audiochuck and Kylie Media production hosted by Kylie Low.
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November 26 marks three years since Reina Carolina Morales Rojas disappeared after getting into a car in East Boston, Massachusetts. She was later dropped off in nearby Somerville and that was the last time anyone saw or heard from her.
Despite being reported missing soon after, information about her disappearance didn’t reach the public for nearly two months. It was only after community advocates spoke out that her story began to get the attention it deserved.
Today, Reina Carolina Morales Rojas is still missing. There have been no new developments in her case, and her family – who once spoke to her every day – continue to wait and hope for answers. As we mark the anniversary of her disappearance, we’re re-releasing this episode to renew attention on her story, to keep her name in the public eye, and to remind listeners that she is still out there somewhere.
View source material and photos for this episode at: darkdowneast.com/stillmissing-reinarojas
Dark Downeast is an Audiochuck and Kylie Media production hosted by Kylie Low.
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One ordinary day during August of 1983, in a quiet patch of parkland just off the road in Penacook, New Hampshire, a teenager found something that didn’t belong. What followed rippled through the small community for years.
Interviews, rumors, and timelines never quite fit together. Voices clashed over what was seen, what was said, and what couldn’t be proved at all. This is a story about how quickly attention can settle on one person, and how hard it can be to find the truth once it does.
View source material and photos for this episode at: darkdowneast.com/bernardegounis
Dark Downeast is an Audiochuck and Kylie Media production hosted by Kylie Low.
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In the spring of 2017, the phone calls came almost every day. Tina Stadig always stayed in touch with her twin sister, no matter where life had taken her. The last time they spoke, Tina talked about what was next in her life. She mentioned finding a new place to land, possibly with her sister, like old times.
They never made a plan. And then, one day, the calls stopped. Days passed. Then weeks. And the silence that followed was louder than any conversation they’d ever had. It would take months before anyone realized just how long Tina had been gone… and by then, the search for answers had already become something much more complicated.
View source material and photos for this episode at: darkdowneast.com/tinastadig
Dark Downeast is an Audiochuck and Kylie Media production hosted by Kylie Low.
Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.