Dark As Hell: A True Crime Podcast

The thing about the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum heist is that, on the surface, it might seem like a simple whodunnit, a true instance of the stars aligning for an almost perfect crime to have taken place.

But as Anthony Amore, the security director of the museum says, “The deeper and deeper you dig, the more questions are raised.”

Let’s get ready to get Dark As Hell.

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The art world is, undeniably, almost inextricably linked to crime — and history has shown how true that connection is.

And the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum heist is a crime truly like no other.

It’s a tale of millions — hundreds of millions of dollars, that is; a serendipitous middle of the night robbery on St. Patrick’s Day; and ties to the bloody gang wars that were fought in the streets of 1980s Boston.

But when you strip down the story of the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum heist, what is at its heart is art and crime.

As well as one simple, but mystifying question:

How does all that art...simply vanish? 

Let's get ready to get Dark As Hell. 

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We’ve all heard the classic set up for an even more classic joke: a guy walks into a bar, and some sort of groan-worthy play of word and punninness occurs.

It’s a classic — if cringe-worthy — way to get a laugh out of people.

And when it comes to the case of Brian Shaffer, this is a story that, when the very basic elements are considered, it reads like a bad slapstick joke.

A guy walks into a bar...but never walks out.

Let's get ready to get Dark As Hell. 

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This week, we’re continuing to dive deeper into the strangeness that has surrounded Shelly Miscavige since even before the last time she was seen in public. It’s difficult to truly nail down a term to describe what it is that happened to Shelly, the woman who once carried the title of First Lady of Scientology.

How has an entire organization simply...forgotten this former high priestess of its highest ranks, seemingly pretending as if she never existed?

What has Scientology done to — and done with — Shelly Miscavige?

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You might think this episode is asking what happened to Shelly Miscavige in terms of her disappearance, but you’d be wrong.

It’s not only about her disappearance.

Because this week, we’re asking: what exactly happened to Shelly Miscavige, the once high priestess of Scientology who seemingly fell from grace...and vanished into thin air on her way down.

Let's get ready to get Dark As Hell. 

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No one should ever have to question if their own space is safe.

Certainly, Jennifer Kesse didn’t think she would ever have to do that.

She did, as the saying goes, everything right. She followed the rules. She had her sharpened instincts, her watchful eye, and her wits about her.

She kept herself safe. Until the day she wasn’t. 

Let's get ready to get Dark As Hell. 

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This story of Laci and baby Conner holds more questions than not,

And seriously — we need to discuss husband Scott.

So, on questions, on strangeness,

On twists, and on mistresses,

This, my friends, is the conclusion of the story of Laci Peterson.

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The police tape was strung across the driveway with care, 

While the hope of finding a clue, even one,

Hung precariously in the air;

No one was nestled inside of their beds,

Because only dreadful visions that night,

Danced in any of the family’s heads;

The mama in question, one month from being due,

Well, no one could say exactly where she might have got to.

Let's get ready to get Dark As Hell. 

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Twas the night before Christmas,

and all through the house,

The Modesto police were roaming, asking:

“But what’s with the spouse?”

Let's get ready to get Dark As Hell. 

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The story I’m telling you today isn’t based in Rhode Island, but in a small town called Fayetteville, located at the bottom of the borders of West Virginia. Our story takes place in 1945, that year of miracles and abominations both.

And in the town of little old Fayetteville, at the end of one of the most historic years on record, there was a family.

The Sodder family. 10 children in total, born to George and Jennie Sodder.

Except come Christmas Day 1945, there would only be five Sodder children left alive.

Or so they say.

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The month of December is always one filled with certain elements: preparation, anticipation, tidings of comfort and joy, and — no matter how old, jaded, or bah-humbug you might be any other month of the year — there’s always at least the tiniest bit of magic in the air.

Maybe that same sense of giddy anticipation is what coursed through Rachel Trlica, Renee Wilson, and Julie Moseley on the morning of December 23rd, 1974, just two days before Christmas.

Except those three girls never saw Christmas 1974. Those three girls were never seen again.

Let's get ready to get Dark As Hell.

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The story I’m telling you this week reads more like...a movie straight out of Hollywood, destined for the box office.

Except this isn’t the feel-good, family-friendly movie it started out as. As it stands now, this is a story of deception, of disappearances, and — possibly — of murder.

Let's get ready to get Dark As Hell. 

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The role of law enforcement is one that’s been a forefront of national conversations this year. It’s been clear for years — decades — that that role is something that needs to change in monumental ways.

What’s also clear, when it comes to the role of the Lost Hills Sheriff Department, is that their role in Mitrice Richardson’s disappearance and subsequent death — that is also monumental. They have made it abundantly clear over the years that they will go to great lengths to keep hidden just how monumental a role law enforcement might have been in Mitrice’s death.

This is the story of Mitrice Richardson. Let’s get ready to get Dark As Hell.

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The story I’m telling you today is one that only became stranger and stranger, the more I dug into it. With each new factor or detail, I thought, okay, surely this will be the one that starts to clinch everything in this story together — but no.

Each new detail only drags you further into this story that simply...doesn’t make sense.

That phrase is something I found myself muttering out the side of my mouth as I frantically scribbled notes, and, on more than one occasion, out and out loudly stating: “This doesn’t make sense.”

Let me tell you how we THINK the mysterious death of Blair Adams came about in 1996, and why we still don’t have any clue to explain away the countless mysteries that surround it to this day.

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If you listened all the way through last week's episode, you know that this week, I'm not telling you a typical story about a typical case. 

Instead, I'm telling you a story — a scary story, perhaps even the OG American horror story. 

I'm telling you a story about a place called Roanoke, about 115 souls, and the mystery surrounding one word: Croatoan. 

Let’s get ready to get — not only Dark as Hell — but let’s get a little bit spooky.

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The case I’m telling you about this week on Dark As Hell has been called “gruesome.”

Those who were present that night of December 6, 2014 have said — usually while crying or tearing up — they’d never seen anything like it.

The story of Jessica Chambers is one that is truly terrifying because, like so many people have remarked about it, what could have a 19-year-old girl done...in order for someone to purposely set her on fire?

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The case I’m telling you about this week has been called “gruesome.”

Those who were present that night of December 6, 2014 have said — usually while crying or tearing up — they’d never seen anything like it.

The story of Jessica Chambers is one that is truly terrifying because, like so many people have remarked about it, what could have a 19-year-old girl done...in order for someone to purposely set her on fire?

If you’re of a delicate constitution, consider this introduction your trigger warning for this entire episode.

Because this week, we really are getting Dark As Hell.

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What if you went missing...and you didn’t even know you were missing?

And what if this happened to you not once, not twice...but three times?

That unsettling idea is what’s at the heart of today’s story. It might seem improbable, someone going missing without even knowing it, but I promise: not only is it possible, but for Hannah Upp, it happened more than once.

Which, when you learn that, makes one really beg the question: what in the world happened to Hannah Upp?

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This week on Dark As Hell, we're discussing the second half of the story about Elisa Lam's mysterious death. 

Though she was found floating in a water tank high above the Cecil Hotel three weeks after she was last seen, there are a lot answers that we're still looking for, even so many years later. 

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This week's case is...one of those cases in the true crime community. It’s a case that feels as if it’s simply always been around because of how much of a cornerstone it’s seemingly become to the true crime doctrine. The name of our victim alone conjures up imagery steeped in strangeness, a prickly kind of unsettledness, a feeling of — what is really going on here?

What really happened to Elisa Lam?

It’s the month of weird and spooky and unsettling, friends. This is a story that has all of those elements, and we are just getting started.

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They say pictures speak a thousand words. But what does the last picture ever taken of Kyron Horman on June 4, 2010, have to tell us about what happened to him on that last morning he was seen at his elementary school before vanishing?

And what answers does that picture hold about answering the question of where Kyron can be found, 10 years later? 

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Halloween is a time of year that a LOT of us DAH Crew-Mates look forward to — that particular crisp bite in the air, the explosion of leaves that herald in the fall, and of course, the propensity to indulge in all things spooky and ghoulish.

For the McCann family of Alexandria, Virginia, though, Halloween 2008 wasn’t just spooky — it was nightmarish.

And their nightmare continues to this day as the mystery surrounding their daughter Annie and her baffling death still haunts them, following them like a ghost of the cruelest design.

When a sweet, shy girl from the Virginia suburbs is found dead in the projects of Baltimore, you know there’s a lot of #QUESTIONS to be asked.

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This week on Dark As Hell, we're going deep into the jungle — literally. We're asking the #QUESTION that has haunted a small, picturesque town in the mountains of Panama for over half a decade now: 

What happened to the holandesas, Lisanne Froon and Kris Kremers? 

It was supposed to be an afternoon hike. How did it go so wrong? 

Let's get ready to get Dark As Hell. 

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This week, I’m asking the question at the forefront of everyone’s minds right now is: what the fuck is going on at Fort Hood?

Because the story of Fort Hood, and the stories of the ten soldiers who have wound up dead on or near the base under mysterious circumstances since March of this YEAR — well, today’s story really is about to get Dark As Hell.

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This week on Dark As Hell, we're heading back to school -- or at the very least, reminiscing about what are supposed to be the best four years of your life. For Lauren Spierer, her time at Indiana University seemed to promise that same adage so many before her have heard. 

Except Lauren wouldn't ever see the end of those four years. And I have to wonder if she ever really left her college campus at all after June 3, 2011. 

Let's get ready to get Dark As Hell. 

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This week on Dark As Hell, I’m telling you a story about a good Catholic schoolgirl -- one so good, she became a nun as a young woman. But this isn’t just the story of Sister Cathy Cesnik; this story also involves many other good Catholic schoolgirls; most who knew and loved Sister Cathy as her students at Archbishop Keough High School in Baltimore, Maryland.

This isn’t just a case about a ruthless, senseless murder — it’s about the extensive cover up of this murder, and the 50 years that many Baltimore organizations have spent turning their gaze heavenward when asked why, oh, why have you forsaken Sister Cathy Cesnik?

Let's get ready to get Dark As Hell.

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Today, I’m telling you the second half of the story surrounding the murder of JonBenét Ramsey. We'll dive deep into what all unfolded after December 26th, 1996: the infamous media interviews, the tense relationship between the Ramsey family and the Boulder police, the most crucial pieces of evidence at the case, and of course - the theories beyond just what did happen to JonBenét and why she was murdered. 

Let me just say: buckle the hell up. We’ve got a lot to discuss. Let's get ready to get Dark As Hell. 

This week on Dark As Hell, I'm telling you the story of the case that has captivated and fascinated America for decades.

It’s a sordid tale that has all of the elements: a beautiful little girl brutally slain; whispers of exploitation and sexual abuse threaded throughout the questionable beauty pageant realm she existed in; a glimmering example of the All-American family whose carefully curated veneer cracked under incessant scrutiny; and an unanswered question that has haunted countless of people for over twenty years.

Who killed JonBenét Ramsey? 

Let's get ready to get Dark As Hell. 

New Englanders, this one's for you. This week, I'm sharing the story about a case that's haunted the region for 20 years: the abduction and murder of Molly Bish. Just 16 days ago, we marked the 20th anniversary of Molly's disappearance, and yet there are still so many #QUESTIONS we don't have answers to. What happened that morning on June 27th, 2000? Who was the man in the white car Molly's mother saw just the day before she vanished? Who murdered Molly Bish, and why? 

Let's get ready to get Dark As Hell.

Anyone with information about the Molly Bish case can contact the Massachusetts State Police tip line at 508-453-7575.

This week, I'm telling you the story of one of the most baffling disappearances I've ever come across: the case of Bryce Laspisa. As we track Bryce's movements from his last few bizarre days at Sierra College to the inexplicable scene of his abandoned Toyota Highlander on the banks of Castaic Lake, one #QUESTION remains constant. 

Where did Bryce go? Or better yet: why did Bryce go? 

Let's get ready to get Dark As Hell. 

Get your record player and '60s garb out, because this week, we're diving deep into the mysteries surrounding the murder of the King of Soul, Sam Cooke. Did J. Edgar Hoover let the best of his paranoia get to him, and order Sam killed? Who were the two women he was with during the last minutes of his life? Was his own manager out to silence him -- permanently? All of these #QUESTIONS and more are what we ask ourselves on this week, so let's get ready to get Dark As Hell. 

Album suggestions for post-episode homework: Portrait of a Legend: Sam Cooke and One Night Stand - Sam Cooke Live at The Harlem Square Club, 1963

Welcome back to another episode of Dark As Hell. This week, I'm saying the name and telling you the story of a woman whose name and story deserve much more attention: Tamla Horsford. 

We're discussing the multitude of #QUESTIONS surrounding this case with a side of frat houses and physics, I get a little squeamish about dental injuries, and most importantly, we examine how deep the threads of racism have continued to run throughout one town for over a century.  

Let's get ready to get Dark As Hell. 

Grab your life jackets and your notebook full of #QUESTIONS, crew -- this week on Dark As Hell, we're diving deep into the Disappearance of Amy Lynn Bradley.  

Rule #1 onboard the Good Ship DAH: Never trust a man named Yellow. 

Links for Amy's case: