A respected doctor. A troubled marriage. An "undetermined" death that still raises questions over a decade later.

This week, we dive into the mysterious death of Dr. Laura Sweetman and the disturbing events leading up to her final days including a husband who would later find himself connected to the unsolved death of Nick Cordova.

The similarities seem impossible to ignore.

Coincidence? You tell us.

Sources

• Crime Junkie Podcast: Mysterious Death of Laura Sweetman
• Crime Junkie Podcast: UPDATE: Laura Sweetman
• Legacy obituary for Laura Sweetman
• San Diego Union-Tribune obituary for Laura Sweetman
• User research and compiled script

When Nick Cordova was murdered inside his own business in Gilbert, Arizona, detectives said two masked men were responsible. But six years later, those men have never been identified, hundreds of pages of the case file remain redacted, and the victim's family is still searching for answers. Today, we're diving into one of Arizona's most frustrating unsolved murders.

Sources

• Crime Junkie Podcast
• KTAR News / Silent Witness
• Silent Witness Arizona
• Reddit (r/Gilbert)
• YouTube: HCViIMwuDO0
• YouTube: EOy0yxCuBcE
• Gilbert Police Department records and publicly released case materials

This episode is a a little different.

Two stories.
Two victims.
Two reveals you may not see coming.

Story 1

• WBIR (Knoxville): Kenny Chesney’s father charged in assault
• Knoxville News Sentinel (Claiborne County Sheriff statements)
• WREG Memphis
• NewsChannel 5 Nashville
• People Magazine coverage

Story 2

• North Carolina Innocence Inquiry Commission case materials
• The Assembly NC (Winston-Salem Five coverage)
• WFMY News 2 (hearing + appeal updates)
• NC Center on Actual Innocence
• Winston-Salem Journal
• Wake Forest OGB / UNC Media Hub

An 81-year-old farmer.

A phone call about a loved one in danger.

And a woman in a black Acura looking for the package.

What happens next leaves two families shattered—and one question that still doesn’t have a clear answer.

This is the devastating case of William Brock and Lo-Letha Toland-Hall.

Thank you for supporting the show!

Sources

• Court TV / Vinnie Politan Investigates — broadcast transcript + case coverage
• Springfield News-Sun — pretrial filings, scam sequence detail, sentencing coverage
• CNN — Lo-Letha Hall profile, Mario Hall interviews, verdict and sentencing reports
• WKBN — William Brock trial testimony coverage
• WDTN — trial day three, verdict report
• WHIO / News Center 7 — indictment, jury selection, sentencing
• Dayton 24/7 Now (WKEF/ABC6) — arrest, arraignment, dashcam release
• WOSU Public Media — post-indictment case summary
• CBS News — verdict and deliberation time
• AP / Springfield News-Sun wire — indictment and charge details
• 10TV Columbus — case coverage
• Clark County Sheriff's Office — incident report, press releases
• Clark County Prosecutor Daniel Driscoll — public statements
• Uber — public statement re: banned account
• FBI — confirmed awareness of case (no further comment per DOJ policy)

In the fall of 1986, five women disappeared from Perth, Australia within just five weeks. With no clear connection between them, police struggled to understand what was happening—until a 17-year-old girl escaped from captivity and led investigators straight to a suburban home hiding unimaginable crimes.

This is the story of Mary Neilson, Susannah Candy, Noelene Patterson Parr, Denise Keren Brown and Kate Moir.

Sources

• Wikipedia — "David and Catherine Birnie"
• The West Australian — "Survivor wants Birnie forgotten"
• ABC News Australia — "Serial killer refused parole"
• Yahoo News Australia — "'Monster' serial killer could get parole"
• Yahoo News Australia — "How a young girl and rookie cop caught serial killers David and Catherine Birnie"
• The Line-Up — "Moorhouse Murders: The Killers May Have Inspired 'Hounds…'"

After a week-long vacation, Lars Mittank should have boarded a flight home to Germany.

Instead, he ran.

What followed was a decade-long mystery filled with paranoia, unanswered questions, and four competing theories, none of which fully explain what happened.

This is the missing persons case of Lars Mittank.

Sources

Wikipedia — Disappearance of Lars Mittank
Crime & Investigation — The Disappearance of Lars Mittank: Overview & Analysis
People — All About Lars Mittank’s Mysterious Disappearance
All That’s Interesting — The Disappearance of Lars Mittank And The Haunting Case
Mirror — Chilling Mystery of the ‘Most Famous Missing Person’
AOL — Lars Mittank Was Last Seen Sprinting Toward a ForestDark Tales — The Disappearance of Lars Mittank
True Crime Society — Lars Mittank Case Overview
Reddit — Lars Mittank Disappearance Discussion (compiled timeline)

Before the Hinterkaifeck murders, the family noticed warning signs they couldn’t explain: footsteps overhead, a newspaper no one ordered, and tracks in the snow that led to the house but never away. What followed was a crime so unsettling it still has investigators, historians, and true crime fans asking the same question over 100 years later: who or what was inside that farmhouse?

This is the case of Andreas Gruber, Cäzilia Gruber, Viktoria Gabriel, Cäzilia, Josef and Maria Baumgartner.

Sources

• Wikipedia — Hinterkaifeck Murders
• onoff.gr — Hinterkaifeck Farm: 6 Dead and the Killer Lived There
• The True Crime Database — Hinterkaifeck Murders
• Mental Floss — The Chilling Story of the Hinterkaifeck Killings
• Headcount Coffee — The Unsolved Hinterkaifeck Murders
• Headcount Coffee — Hinterkaifeck Footprint Analysis
• StrangeCo Blog — The Hinterkaifeck Mystery
• Kim Parr (Medium) — Horror at Hinterkaifeck, Part II
• Jack Rosewood — The Hinterkaifeck Murders
• 10 Minute Murder — Six Murders, No Answers

For years, the small town of Skidmore, Missouri lived under the shadow of one man. Accused of dozens of crimes and known for intimidation tactics that kept witnesses silent, he seemed untouchable. But in the summer of 1981, everything changed. What happened next would leave investigators stunned, a community silent, and a case that remains unsolved to this day.

This is the case of Ken McElroy

Sources

• In Broad Daylight by Harry N. MacLean
• Wikipedia (Ken McElroy case, cross-referenced)
• A&E — case feature
• Fox2Now — reporting
• Crime Library
• Mental Floss
• Morbidology
• Patch
• U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit (grand jury documentation)
• All That’s Interesting
• Northwest Missouri News
• Weird History (limited, corroborated details)