Crime Clueless

When a torso washes up in Galveston Bay, police brace for a gritty whodunit. But what they unravel instead is one of the strangest stories in true crime history. In Part 1 of our deep dive into the twisted life of Robert Durst, we follow the trail from dismembered body parts and a neighbor in drag to a decades-long saga of wealth, deception, his missing wife, and one shockingly cheap apartment.

We dig into Durst’s bizarre early year...

When 27-year-old schoolteacher Ellen Greenberg was found dead in her Philadelphia apartment—stabbed 20 times, including 10 times in the back of her neck and back—authorities quickly labeled it a suicide. But how does someone stab themselves in the spine? How does a body end up with bruises in various stages of healing, a knife lodged in the chest, and no note… and it’s still ruled self-inflicted?

In this episode, we walk you through...

In April 2011, the Philadelphia Medical Examiner’s Office changed Ellen Greenberg’s manner of death from homicide to suicide—despite 20 stab wounds, 11 bruises in various stages of healing, and injuries to the back of her neck and skull.

This decision would devastate her grieving parents and effectively close the door on a criminal investigation before it truly began.

In Part Two of our deep dive into Ellen Greenberg’s mysterious and...

In 1900, Iowa farmer John Hossack was murdered in his sleep. His wife, Margaret, claimed she didn’t hear a thing. But two women, brought into her home under the guise of gathering belongings, noticed what clues the men missed and the silent unraveling of a life in isolation.

This real case inspired Susan Glaspell’s iconic short story A Jury of Her Peers, a quietly revolutionary piece of feminist literature. And now, over a century l...

What do Scott Peterson, Chris Watts, and a surprisingly incriminating Fitbit all have in common? Bad alibis—and worse lies. In this episode, Jenna and Kayla pull back the curtain on how killers fake innocence, from phony fishing trips to emotionless press conferences. We dive into the psychology of deception, the verbal and behavioral red flags investigators love to catch, and real-life cases where the “I swear I was somewhere else...

From 1918 to 1919, a mysterious figure wielding an axe terrorized the streets of New Orleans. His victims were often asleep, his weapon usually their own, and his signature? A chilling letter promising to spare any home playing jazz music. In this one-hour deep dive, we unravel the full timeline of the Axeman’s reign—from the first brutal murders to the citywide panic, a jazz-fueled night of fear, and the haunting finale.

We’ll expl...

On a chilly March night in 2004, 17-year-old Brianna Maitland clocked out from her shift at the Black Lantern Inn in rural Vermont and was never seen again. The next morning, her car was discovered mysteriously backed into an abandoned barn just off a quiet road—driver’s door open, her medication and purse inside, and her uncashed paycheck still sitting on the passenger seat.

And Brianna? Gone. No note. No sign of struggle. No confi...

She made breakfast. Kissed her kids goodbye. And by 9am, she was fighting for her life.

In this chilling episode of Crime Clueless, we take you back to a quiet Minnesota neighborhood in 1963—where one mother’s morning routine turned into a brutal crime scene. Carol Thompson had no idea what waited for her inside the walls of her own home. And neither did anyone else.

What started as a violent break-in quickly unraveled into something...

(Summer recording had to be from a distance, and not in person. We apologize for the change in sound quality for this episode!)

Think hiring a hitman is as easy as ordering takeout? Well, some people definitely think so. From clueless criminals turning to the dark web (spoiler: it’s usually an FBI sting) to hiring an undercover cop instead of a killer, the world of contract killing is filled with more blunders than blockbusters.

In t...

Abraham Shakespeare thought winning $30 million would change his life—and it did. Just not in the way he’d hoped.

In this twisted true crime saga, we unravel the story of a Florida man who went from broke and hardworking to multimillionaire overnight, only to be manipulated, exploited, and ultimately murdered by a woman who promised to protect him. Her name? Dorice “Dee Dee” Moore—a self-proclaimed businesswoman who saw Abraham not ...

In April 2001, Robert Fisher disappeared without a trace after allegedly murdering his wife, Mary, and their two children, Brittney and Bobby, before setting their Scottsdale, Arizona home on fire. The fire was a deliberate cover-up, an explosive attempt to erase the evidence of a horrific crime. But Robert Fisher didn’t just disappear into the smoke—he fled, leaving behind a trail of unanswered questions that has haunted investiga...

New York City, 1924. The speakeasies were buzzing, the bobbed hair was flying, and jazz wasn’t the only thing making headlines. A string of brazen, gunpoint robberies begins sweeping through Brooklyn—each more daring than the last. But what really sets this spree apart? It’s not the cash stolen, or even the growing pile of NYPD shame. It’s who seems to be behind the pistol.

As police scramble for answers, the press turns the mysteri...

The killing spree should have ended with victim number five—but it didn’t. In this second part of our I-70 Killer deep dive, we pick up with the murder of Sarah Blessing in Raytown, Missouri, and follow the chilling possibility that the killer didn’t stop… he just changed highways.

From eerily similar executions in Texas to a liquor store murder caught on camera nearly a decade later, this episode unpacks the lingering questions and...

“He didn’t run. He didn’t panic. He just walked away… like he’d done this before.”

He didn’t leave calling cards.

No dramatic symbols, no cryptic notes, no demands.

He didn’t stalk his victims, not in any way that left a digital trail.

And if anyone saw him at all, he barely made a dent in their memory—just a quiet, white man, average height, maybe in his late 20s or early 30s. Not handsome. Not ugly. Not anything that stuck.

But by the...

In Part 2 of our deep dive into the baffling death of Phoebe Handsjuk, we’re pulling back the curtain on the investigation—and it’s not pretty. From missing security footage to bizarre crime scene oversights, this episode unpacks the behind-the-scenes missteps that left a grieving family with more questions than answers. We’ll break down the leading theories—accident, suicide, or something much darker—and explore the details that j...

When 24-year-old Phoebe Handsjuk was found dead at the bottom of a luxury apartment building’s garbage chute—missing a shoe, her foot nearly severed, and surrounded by trash—the official word was “accidental death.” But… excuse us, what now? In this head-scratching episode, we dive 12 stories deep into a case that makes zero sense the more you learn about it. Was Phoebe's death a tragic mix of wine, Ambien, and poor judgment? ...

It started with a friend request. Then a petty comment. Then a block. Then… murder.

In this jaw-dropping episode of Crime Clueless, we’re diving into one of the pettiest—and most tragic—double murders ever linked to a social media fight: the killings of Billie Jean Hayworth and Billy Payne, two young parents gunned down in their home in Mountain City, Tennessee, while their baby lay in Billie’s arms.

And behind it all? A wannabe-crim...

On a quiet February morning in 1996, 31-year-old Terry Paquette showed up early to work at the Lil’ Champ convenience store in Orlando. Hours later, his coworkers walked into one of the most horrifying crime scenes the area had ever seen—Terry was found brutally murdered in the store’s bathroom. He had been stabbed 73 times, his throat was slashed, and blood covered the floor, the walls, even the stall doors. But despite DNA left a...

When ophthalmologist Toni Henthorn set off on a romantic anniversary hike with her husband, Harold, she had no idea she was about to take her last step. What should have been a scenic, love-filled getaway ended in tragedy when she mysteriously fell 140 feet to her death in Rocky Mountain National Park.

Harold, ever the devoted husband (cough), had an explanation—an unfortunate accident. Just like when his first wifedied in a freak a...