Crime Junkie

On Black Friday 2016, 22-year-old Christopher “Cole” Thomas was driving through rural North Carolina with two coworkers. Hours later, the coworkers approached police and said Cole had suddenly panicked, pulled over, and ran into the dark, never to be seen again.

But their story later changed. Surveillance footage showed Cole was not alone. Phone data appeared to place the group at the scene of a late-night drug deal that went wrong...

Spencer Irwin was just 30 years old when he vanished one Sunday morning in July 2024. Days later, his body was found in a way that raised questions – naked, alone and quickly dismissed by authorities. But their assumptions about Spencer were wrong. As his mother began asking questions, the answers she received only raised more red flags: no autopsy, missing belongings and a timeline full of gaps no one seemed interested in filling....

On May 4, 2007, 19-year-old Brittany McGlone did something she rarely did. Instead of going home after work, she went to her boyfriend’s house. By that afternoon, she was found dead in his bed, brutally beaten. She was naked, and her underwear was missing from the scene. In the home’s only bathroom, investigators found signs the killer may have showered before leaving. There were no signs of forced entry or robbery, only a small ci...

The Melissa Casias case keeps unraveling, and the more we learn, the less anything makes sense. New details have emerged about the strange woman who showed up at Sierra's job to deliver $50 in graduation money, and the trail leads to a confusing tangle of mismatched names. Meanwhile, the family fracture has only widened, with a private investigator turning up the heat and the FBI now stepping in. Was Mark's theory about a subcontra...

In June 2025, Melissa Casias dropped her husband off at work in Los Alamos, New Mexico… then did something nobody expected. She turned around and drove home. By that afternoon, she had vanished, leaving behind her wallet, her keys, both of her personal phones wiped to factory settings, and a family already splitting in two over what to believe. Her husband, Mark, insists she walked away on her own. Her parents and siblings are cert...

In 1976, a 22-year-old nursing student was murdered in her Los Angeles apartment, leaving behind just one clue: a bloody fingerprint. Decades later, that print was matched—and the case was quietly marked solved. But no one ever publicly announced who did it. So we set out to find the answer… and to uncover what else he may have done.

Source materials for this episode cannot be listed here due to character limitations. For a full ...

In the summer of 1969, Stephanie Casberg walked out the front door of a Milwaukee restaurant after her waitressing shift — and was never seen alive again. Days later, her dismembered remains were found near a condemned bridge along the Root River, leaving investigators with a chilling conclusion: the work of someone methodical, skilled and patient.

More than five decades later, the case has led detectives from a co-worker who lied ...

On the heels of our investigation into Laura Sweetman’s death, the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office fulfilled our FOIA request, providing new audio files—including recordings of Laura arguing with her estranged husband, Dave, and deputies’ interview with him. Laura was found dead in her Gilbert, Arizona bathtub in December 2013, and despite early red flags, her case was ruled undetermined and quietly closed. Now, these newly obtain...

In December 2013, 42-year-old Laura Sweetman was found dead in the bathtub of her home in Gilbert, Arizona. Despite numerous red flags identified during early interviews, her death was ruled undetermined and the case was quietly closed. More than a decade later, our team has uncovered critical details that were overlooked, raising questions about whether the investigation was prematurely closed. 

• If you have any information a...

In May 2020, Nick Cordova was shot in the head while on FaceTime with his children. Suspicion initially focused on one man, but surveillance video showed he was not the shooter.. Nearly six years later, Cordova’s family is still pleading for answers. 

• If you have any information about the death of Nicholas “Nick” Cordova in Gilbert, Arizona, contact the Gilbert Police Department at 480-503-6500. To remain anonymous, reach out...

On Feb. 23, 2020, 6-year-old Joseph “Jo-Jo” King III was found unresponsive at home with his stepfather. The initial explanation was simple: he had accidentally suffocated inside a toy chest. But the toy chest was not airtight. Parts of the scene were wet. And the autopsy was later amended to include “concern for possible homicidal drowning.” Still, the manner of death remains undetermined.

Jo-Jo’s stepfather is in prison for abusi...

An arrest has been made in the 1990 Lovers' Lane murders of Cheryl Henry and Andy Atkinson. More than 30 years after the killings, a DNA match led investigators to a suspect. Listen for the full update and to learn what investigators need your help with.

 Already familiar with this case? You can skip to 32:23 to hear the latest update. 

• If you had any contact with Floyd William Parrott or you think you might know something ab...

At a busy campsite one summer night, Darrel “Bubba” Johnson Sr. says goodnight and zips up his tent. By sunrise, he’s gone. No Bubba. Just a borrowed flashlight, a phone that pings but is never found, and stories that don’t make much sense. Did Bubba wander off…or did something more sinister happen in the dark?

Source materials for this episode cannot be listed here due to character limitations. For a full list of sources, please v...

In July 2015, Mary Yoder, a healthy 60-year-old chiropractor, went to work as usual. Later that day, she began feeling sick. Within 48 hours, she was dead. At first, her sudden decline seemed like a medical mystery. But investigators soon uncovered evidence of poisoning, launching a murder investigation that divided her family and the community.

What appeared to be a clear path forward quickly grew more complicated. Detectives unco...

In the summer of 2015, Mary Yoder, a healthy 60-year-old chiropractor, went to work as usual. Later that day, she began feeling sick. Within two days, she was dead. At first, her sudden decline seemed like a medical mystery. But investigators soon uncovered evidence of poisoning, launching a murder investigation that divided her family and the community.

As questions mounted, grief quickly gave way to suspicion. Subtle details abou...

In the 1980s and early 1990s, a serial predator targeted young girls in the suburbs of Melbourne, Australia. He wore a mask and left little evidence behind. Investigators described him as calm and calculating, earning him the nickname, “Mr. Cruel.” More than three decades later, he has never been caught. But continued reporting by crime journalists and renewed hope from crime junkies have kept the case in the spotlight, fueling hop...

In 1981, a Harvard graduate student vanished after stepping out of Logan Airport the night after Thanksgiving. As investigators searched for answers, they focused on a suspect connected to another murder – a woman who was killed just two years earlier. He was convicted in one case and widely believed responsible for the other. But after reviewing thousands of pages of records, we found gaps that raise difficult questions: Was the w...

In 1984, when Robin Altman was just 22 years old, her brother Steven was found hanging by his neck in an apparent suicide. 12 years later, tragedy struck this family again when Robin's mother Mary Ann took her own life by self-strangulation. But Robin had a nagging feeling that something wasn't right. There was one question she could not get out of her head: what if these deaths weren't suicides at all? What if her brother Steven a...

On June 2, 2022, Rachel Hansen opened her eyes to a dark figure standing over her bed, staring at her. She screamed, and the person took off. But the very next night — just after 2 a.m. — a dark figure entered her Gilbert, Arizona, apartment again, kicked down her bedroom door and shot her in the abdomen before fleeing.

Head over to our Crime Junkie YouTube channel to WATCH this episode: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a_ytPB_pg6...