Dark Dialogue

By the time the Chicago Ripper Crew finally stood before a judge, the worst of their crimes were already over — but justice was only beginning its long, uneven struggle.

In this final episode of Dark Dialogue’s Chicago Ripper Crew series, we step inside the courtrooms, parole hearings, execution chambers, and political backrooms that determined how four men responsible for some of the most sadistic crimes in Illinois history would ...

Episode 3: “The Breaking Point — Arrests & Confessions”

When Chicago police arrested Robin Gecht on October 20, 1982, they didn’t yet realize they were dismantling one of the most sadistic cults in American history. From Beverly Washington’s miraculous survival to the chain of interrogations, confessions, and forensic discoveries that followed, this episode chronicles the pivotal week when the façade of normalcy collapsed — rev...

Chicago wasn’t just terrified— it was being hunted.

In Part 2 of our Chicago Ripper Crew series, Dark Dialogue descends into the darkest chapter of the investigation: the rituals, methods, mutilations, and psychology behind a murder cult that operated in broad daylight and believed every killing was an act of worship.

Through rare survivor accounts, forensic reconstruction, and psychological analysis, this episode exposes the cold,...

Chicago, 1981. A city drowning in crime, corruption, recession — and something darker lurking beneath the surface. In this episode of Dark Dialogue, John takes Angela (and listeners) into the heart of one of the most disturbing cases in American criminal history: the Chicago Ripper Crew, a cult-like group led by Robin Gecht that turned a red van into a mobile house of horror.

From the first victim, Linda Sutton, to the escalating r...

High in the Colorado mountains, the quiet town of Guffey hid a nightmare no one saw coming. In the winter of 2001, three members of the Dutcher family were brutally murdered — not by strangers, but by teenagers under the control of an unlikely ringleader: 19-year-old Simon Sue, a self-styled commander who built his own secret “organization” and convinced classmates to kill in his name.

The Pact of Shadows explores how Sue’s delusio...

In October 2008, the quiet streets of North Canton, Ohio—a place known for safety, family, and small-town calm—were shattered by an act of horror that still defies belief.

Thirty-four-year-old Brett W. Smith was found brutally murdered and decapitated inside his own home at Evergreen Mobile Home Park. His killer wasn’t a stranger or a drifter. It was the man who lived just across the fence — William D. Perry, a neighbor whose rage ...

When a quiet September night in 2006 turned into a real-life horror film, Bannock County, Idaho, would never be the same. Filming Death: The Scream Murder of Cassie Jo Stoddart tells the chilling true story of a responsible, kind-hearted teenager betrayed by classmates who wanted to turn murder into a movie.

Cassie was just seventeen — house-sitting, caring for family pets, and planning for her future — when two of her peers, Brian...

Home is supposed to be safe — but what if the danger is already inside? In this chilling October episode of Dark Dialogue, John and Angela pull back the walls on one of the most disturbing cases in American true crime: the story of Danny LaPlante, a teenager who secretly lived inside a family’s home, watching them, tormenting them, and ultimately becoming one of Massachusetts’ most terrifying killers.

The case begins like a ghost s...

When fourteen-year-old April Millsap left home to walk her dog on a warm July evening in 2014, no one in the quiet town of Armada, Michigan could have imagined the horror that would follow. Hours later, her loyal dog Penny came home alone — and a small community was forever changed.

In this episode of Dark Dialogue, John and Angela take you inside the groundbreaking trial that proved a killer’s guilt without a single eyewitness or ...

When a 14-year-old’s evening walk ends in tragedy, the town of Armada, Michigan is shaken to its core. In this episode of Dark Dialogue, John and Angela dissect the early investigation that turned a nameless “man on the dirt bike” into a household name—and a prime suspect.

Follow the crucial leads that shaped the case:

• Eyewitness accounts of a helmeted rider who shouldn’t have been on the trail.

• Digital footprints from Apri...

On July 24, 2014, the quiet town of Armada, Michigan was forever changed when 14-year-old April Millsap set out for a walk with her dog and never came home. What began as a summer evening stroll on the Macomb Orchard Trail ended in a brutal attack that left investigators — and an entire community — reeling.

In this episode of Dark Dialogue, we take you inside the earliest hours of the investigation: the discovery of April’s body, t...

She was just 14. A daughter, a dreamer, a life that mattered.

On July 24, 2014, April Millsap leashed up her beloved dog Penny and set out on the Macomb Orchard Trail in Armada, Michigan. Minutes later, she sent her boyfriend a chilling text: “I think I almost got kidnapped.” By nightfall, Penny returned alone—and April’s body was discovered just off the trail.

In this first chapter of Dark Dialogue’s April Millsap series, John and...

Heather Dawn Church’s story shattered the silence—and exposed the chilling truth about one of America’s most calculating killers.

In this final installment of The Forest Kept Her Silence, we confront Robert Charles Browne—the drifter whose fingerprint ended Heather’s case and whose later confessions claimed up to 48 more murders across nine states. Was he telling the truth, or was it the ultimate manipulation?

Join John and Angela ...

When Heather Dawn Church disappeared from her Black Forest, Colorado home in 1991, the trail went cold—until legendary detective Lou Smit stepped in. In The Fingerprint in the Silence, John and Angela take you inside Smit’s methodical, victim-first approach that transformed an overlooked piece of evidence into a game-changing arrest.

From his early days solving some of Colorado’s toughest murders—including the infamous Karen Gramme...

When 13-year-old Heather Dawn Church vanished from her Black Forest, Colorado home in 1991, the investigation faltered. Evidence was mishandled. Theories went nowhere. The system stayed quiet.

But one man refused to let her be forgotten.

Retired Colorado Springs Police commander John Wesley Anderson watched from the sidelines as the El Paso County Sheriff’s Office stumbled—and decided that if they wouldn’t fix it, he would. His cam...

Thirteen-year-old Heather Dawn Church was supposed to be safe. She was home alone doing her homework in the quiet, wooded Black Forest of Colorado when she vanished without a trace. Her schoolbooks were still open. The lights were on. And her little brother was fast asleep. But Heather was gone—and no one heard a thing.

In this gripping first installment of our Heather Church series, John and Angela take you deep into the night of ...

In this gripping final installment of our Brianna Maitland series, we confront the shadows one last time—and ask the questions that still haunt a community.

On March 19, 2004, 17-year-old Brianna Maitland vanished from a lonely Vermont road, leaving behind a mystery that has defied answers for two decades. Her car was found backed into an abandoned farmhouse, keys still in the ignition, personal belongings untouched—and no sign of ...

In this chilling installment of Dark Dialogue, we venture into the shadows that connect two of the most unsettling disappearances in New England: Brianna Maitland and Maura Murray.

Brianna vanished in 2004, her car discovered mysteriously backed into an abandoned farmhouse wall. Just six weeks earlier and 90 miles away, Maura Murray disappeared under eerily similar circumstances. No struggle. No trace. No goodbye.

In Episode 5: Cro...

In Part 4 of our Brianna Maitland series, Dark Dialogue dives into one of the most personal—and controversial—chapters yet: the brutal assault Brianna endured just weeks before she vanished.

Seventeen-year-old Brianna was punched in the face at a party by Keallie Lacross, a former friend, in what many describe as a jealousy-fueled attack. The injuries were severe: a broken nose, concussion, and long-lasting emotional fallout. Brian...