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The Crime Shack

The Crime Shack

Written by: Michelle Pense
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The Crime Shack is a true crime podcast covering cold cases, unsolved murders, missing persons, infamous crimes, and current cases with clear, fact-based storytelling. We focus on real victims, verified sources, and updates when new information emerges.


Topics we cover: cold cases, unsolved murders, missing persons, serial killers, current investigations, case updates, wrongful convictions, forensics, trials, crime psychology.

© 2026 The Crime Shack
Politics & Government Social Sciences True Crime
Episodes
  • EP46: The Murder of Agnes Wanjiru
    Jan 16 2026

    In 2012, a 21 year old Kenyan woman named Agnes Wanjiru went out for a night in a small town shaped by the presence of a foreign military base - and never came home.

    In this episode, we trace Agnes’s last known hours, the uneasy power dynamics of the British troops stationed in Kenya, and the long trail of missed chances that followed. Sometimes the most terrifying mystery isn’t who did it, it’s how so many people knew about it, and did nothing to stop it.

    RESOURCES:

    • itv.com/news/2025-11-07/british-soldier-appears-in-court-over-murder-of-agnes-wanjiru-in-kenya
    • itv.com/news/2025-10-15/niece-of-murdered-kenyan-woman-calls-for-british-soldiers-extradition
    • theguardian.com/uk-news/2025/nov/07/former-british-soldier-robert-purkiss-accused-of-murdering-kenyan-woman-agnes-wanjiru-appears-in-court
    • theguardian.com/uk-news/2025/sep/21/british-soldier-accused-of-murdering-kenyan-woman-agnes-wanjiru-named
    • theguardian.com/uk-news/2025/nov/22/british-ex-soldier-denies-meeting-kenyan-woman-agnes-wanjiru-alleged-murder
    • theguardian.com/world/2025/oct/16/agnes-wanjiru-niece-urges-labour-extradite-ex-soldier-kenya
    • theguardian.com/uk-news/2021/oct/24/uk-defence-minister-faces-call-for-inquiry-into-2012-killing-of-kenyan-woman
    • reuters.com/world/africa/former-british-soldier-arrested-over-alleged-kenyan-murder-2025-11-07
    • reuters.com/world/uk/kenyan-lawmakers-identify-disturbing-trend-misconduct-by-british-troops-2025-12-03
    • apnews.com/article/2bfc454e5c3c1eaa8bb227c5e6445cbe
    • apnews.com/article/0389c1ecb7f2a593796869e77180e79e
    • apnews.com/article/23ef6d907b869bdcd2e0ffa40cb35bda
    • gov.uk/government/news/defence-secretary-meets-family-of-the-late-agnes-wanjiru-in-kenya
    • gov.uk/government/news/defence-secretary-meets-with-the-niece-of-the-late-agnes-wanjiru
    • questions-statements.parliament.uk/written-questions/detail/2025-04-30/49427
    • news.sky.com/story/niece-of-kenyan-woman-murdered-by-british-soldier-calls-on-king-to-act-during-visit-12996890
    • news.sky.com/story/agnes-wanjiru-niece-of-kenyan-woman-murdered-by-british-soldier-comes-to-uk-to-seek-justice-13449012
    • the-independent.com/news/uk/home-news/agnes-wanjiru-death-british-army-b1944227.html
    • forcesnews.com/services/army/charting-timeline-agnes-wanjirus-death-former-soldier-faces-extradition-kenya
    • aljazeera.com/news/2025/9/20/kenya-court-orders-uk-soldiers-arrest-for-agnes-wanjiru-death-all-we-know
    • aljazeera.com/news/2025/12/5/british-soldiers-accused-of-more-abuses-in-kenya-what-we-know
    • thetimes.co.uk/article/soldier-accused-murder-agnes-wanjiru-w6c62w8st
    • thetimes.com/uk/crime/article/robert-james-purkiss-agnes-wanjiru-jnx7bgvm9
    • thetimes.com/uk/defence/article/british-army-soldier-murder-mother-kenya-9hffnjqqv
    • www.sbs.com.au/news/article/family-of-kenyan-woman-allegedly-murdered-by-british-soldier-to-sue-uk-army/9fuxv02y0

    Listener Supported

    Support the show

    Follow / Support The Crime Shack and Host Michelle Pense:

    Website: www.thecrimeshack.com

    Instagram: www.instagram.com/thecrimeshackpodcast

    TikTok: www.tiktok.com/@thecrimeshack

    SUPPORT THE SHOW: Invisawear Safety Jewelry: The 'smart' jewelry that could save your life!

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    33 mins
  • EP45: Dima Tower
    Dec 14 2025

    They spent their life savings to save a boy from a harsh Ukrainian orphanage, then one night, everything inside their quiet Florida home went violently wrong.

    In this episode, I unravel the story of Robbie and Jennifer Tower, the son they adopted as a teen, the unsettling red flags leading up to a bloody crime scene, and the courtroom showdown that left everyone questioning how well we can ever truly know the children we bring into our homes.

    RESOURCES:

    • forgave-him-for-everything-adoptee-from-ukraine-allegedly-murdered-loving-parents-after-troubled-history-of-violence/
    • https://www.courttv.com/news/fl-v-dima-tower-troubled-orphan-murder-trial/
    • https://www.courttv.com/news/dima-tower-admits-to-brutal-murder-of-adoptive-parents-in-chilling-testimony/
    • https://www.courttv.com/title/eyewitness-defendant-dima-tower-had-blood-on-his-hands/
    • https://www.courttv.com/title/neighbor-i-heard-banging-and-screaming-for-help-made-911-call/
    • https://www.courttv.com/tag/dima-tower/
    • https://robersonfh.com/obituary/robbie-tower/
    • https://robersonfh.com/obituary/jennifer-christine-tower/
    • https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/portcharlotte/name/robbie-tower-obituary?id=53054160
    • https://www.echovita.com/us/obituaries/fl/north-port/jennifer-christine-tower-16901680
    • https://nypost.com/2025/11/13/us-news/ukrainian-adoptee-dima-tower-breaks-down-in-florida-court-as-hes-accused-of-slaughtering-parents-in-murder-trial/
    • https://open.spotify.com/show/5uzx4TEFdqTLhBvycXYLDm
    • https://www.facebook.com/groups/43679042799/posts/10160307474627800/

    Listener Supported

    Support the show

    Follow / Support The Crime Shack and Host Michelle Pense:

    Website: www.thecrimeshack.com

    Instagram: www.instagram.com/thecrimeshackpodcast

    TikTok: www.tiktok.com/@thecrimeshack

    SUPPORT THE SHOW: Invisawear Safety Jewelry: The 'smart' jewelry that could save your life!

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    40 mins
  • EP44: Ed Gein • The Butcher of Plainfield
    Oct 22 2025

    In 1957, police in a quiet Wisconsin town entered a farmhouse and uncovered one of the most disturbing crimes in American history. What they found inside revealed a life consumed by grief, isolation, and madness. This episode explores the true story of Ed Gein - the man whose obsession with his mother and the dead blurred the line between devotion and horror, and whose crimes still cast a shadow over modern culture and film today.


    Follow / Support The Crime Shack and Host Michelle Pense:

    Website: www.thecrimeshack.com

    Instagram: www.instagram.com/thecrimeshackpodcast

    TikTok: www.tiktok.com/@thecrimeshack

    SUPPORT THE SHOW: Invisawear Safety Jewelry: The 'smart' jewelry that could save your life!

    RESOURCES:

    • Ed Gein (overview, trial, myth-vs-fact anchor): https://www.britannica.com/biography/Ed-Gein
    • “How Many People Did Ed Gein Kill?” (victim count context): https://www.britannica.com/topic/How-Many-People-Did-Ed-Gein-Kill
    • “Body of Ed Gein’s final victim, Bernice Worden, is found” (Nov. 16, 1957): https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/november-16/ed-gein-kills-final-victim-bernice-worden
    • “Ed Gein dies” (1984 death at Mendota): https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/july-26/real-life-psycho-ed-gein-dies
    • Ed Gein Farm Auction notice (IM2022): https://www.wisconsinhistory.org/Records/Image/IM2022
    • Ed Gein at State Crime Lab (photo, Nov. 17, 1957): https://www.wisconsinhistory.org/Records/Image/IM41777
    • Milwaukee Journal Sentinel photo gallery (includes the shed photo; graphic): https://www.jsonline.com/picture-gallery/news/2023/09/15/images-from-the-strange-highly-disturbing-case-of-ed-gein

    Listener Supported

    Support the show

    Follow / Support The Crime Shack and Host Michelle Pense:

    Website: www.thecrimeshack.com

    Instagram: www.instagram.com/thecrimeshackpodcast

    TikTok: www.tiktok.com/@thecrimeshack

    SUPPORT THE SHOW: Invisawear Safety Jewelry: The 'smart' jewelry that could save your life!

    Show More Show Less
    37 mins
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