Five police officers are clearing a flat in Batley Carr, West Yorkshire. They've already searched 1,800 properties. This is just another one.

Then Detective Constable Nick Townsend crouches beside a divan bed and hears a small voice coming from inside it. A nine-year-old girl wriggles out of a hidden slot in the base. Tear-streaked. Terrified. Blinking.

She says: "I'm Shannon."

Shannon Matthews had been missing for 24 days. The search had gripped the UK. A community of working-class women on a Dewsbury council estate had organised themselves into one of the most extraordinary missing-child campaigns the country had ever seen — fundraisers, search parties, TV appearances, tears.

And then Shannon told the officer one more thing. He's under the bed. The man. He's where I was.

What followed would freeze the room, break the community, and become one of the most shocking betrayals in modern British true crime.

This week on You're Killing Me, Shawnee covers the kidnapping of Shannon Matthews — the case that asked who we extend sympathy to, who we believe, and what happens when the person who should protect you is the one who put you in danger.

Topics: Shannon Matthews | UK true crime | Dewsbury | missing child | Karen Matthews | Michael Donovan | West Yorkshire | British true crime | working class | YKM

New episodes every Monday. Follow so you never miss one.

In 2006, the quiet city of Medicine Hat, Alberta became the centre of one of Canada’s most horrifying family murders.

Twelve-year-old Jasmine Richardson and her 23-year-old boyfriend, Jeremy Steinke, were accused of brutally murdering Jasmine’s mother, father, and eight-year-old brother inside their family home — a crime so shocking it immediately made international headlines.

What began as an online relationship built around dark fantasies, vampire culture, and teenage rebellion quickly spiralled into obsession, isolation, and violence. Investigators uncovered disturbing messages between the pair discussing murder, running away together, and a belief that they were destined to be together no matter who stood in the way.

In this episode, we break down the full case: Jasmine’s upbringing, her relationship with Jeremy, the warning signs missed by the adults around them, the night of the murders, the police investigation, interrogation details, and the trial that followed.

We also explore the psychological manipulation, online influence, and emotional vulnerability that turned a deeply unhealthy relationship into one of the most disturbing crimes in Canadian history.

This episode contains discussions of child victims, graphic violence, and family homicide.

On May 31st, 2014, in Waukesha, Wisconsin, two 12-year-old girls lured their best friend into the woods and stabbed her 19 times — all to prove their loyalty to a fictional internet character known as Slenderman.

This is the story behind one of the most disturbing cases in modern true crime.

We follow Payton Leutner — the girl who survived — and the two friends who believed they had no choice but to kill her. From the rise of creepypasta and the Slenderman myth, to the months of planning, the attack itself, and the chilling police interrogations where both girls calmly explained why they did it.

We also examine the evidence uncovered during the investigation, including disturbing drawings, search histories, and the belief system that turned fiction into something dangerously real.

Then, we break down the trial — and the mental health diagnoses that changed everything.

This episode contains discussions of attempted murder, childhood mental illness, and graphic violence.