allowed her to be eligible for release in 2014, but her parole was denied. She was eligible again in 2017, but her parole was denied once again. Finally, in 2020, Susan applied for parole once more, and her request was granted. She was released from prison on December 30, 2020. As of 2022, Susan has essentially fallen off the map. She's now living a very low-profile life somewhere in Texas, and appears to be meeting all the terms of her parole. Her children were adopted by Jeff's brother during the trial, and were allowed to live as normal of a life as possible, thankfully. At the end of it all, Susan's anger towards Jeff may have been justified. After all, you can only abuse someone and push them so far before they snap. But does that defend what Susan did? Absolutely not. Was Jeff a bad husband? Most likely. Substance abuse can destroy even the best of us, but there's no way to excuse what Susan did to her husband. She could have reported into the police and had him sent to prison. She could have done a million other things than claim his life, but Susan was so blinded by her own rage that none of these possibilities felt like reasonable options to her. I'll never be one to paint an abuser as some sort of martyr or innocent victim, but Jeff certainly didn't deserve what Susan put him through, and that's just the honest truth. Susan has since become known in the media as the Blue-eyed Butcher, a pretty fitting name considering what she's done. Susan's life has since moved on, but for Jeff's family, life will never be the same. Maureen Kelly was just 19 years old when she went out with a group of friends to Canyon Creek Campground near Cougar, Washington in the summer of 2013.  Maureen never returned. Her friends reported her missing the following morning, but investigators quickly realized that this case was far more bizarre than they could have ever anticipated. So what happened to Maureen? Was this a simple case of misadventures in the forest, self-harm, foul play, or yet another disturbing missing 411 disappearance? Being out in nature while camping or hiking can be a very rewarding and relaxing experience, though most of us know that it can also be very dangerous, since there are wild animals to consider. Temperatures could suddenly drop very drastically, or you could get lost, which obviously means that it's vital to be as prepared as you possibly can be. But not every excursion into the wild is planned ahead of time. It's good to be a little spontaneous, but even then, you need to keep your wits about you to ensure that you can make your way out of the woods and return home safely. But sometimes, even the most prepared people on the planet can still be bested by unforeseen circumstances, and Maureen Kelly is certainly no exception. In 2013, Maureen Kelly, known to her friends and family as Anu, was just 19 years old. She had been born and raised in Vancouver, Washington in September of 1993, and was raised alone by her mother. Most of Anu's early life is largely a mystery. Her family has been pretty tight-lipped about her upbringing, and all we know for certain is that Anu was of Pacific Islander descent. As Anu grew older, she eventually began attending Lewis and Clark High School in Spokane, Washington. This was a school steeped in history, having first opened its doors way back in the late 1800s. For Anu, it was a great place to be. She seemed to have made many friends here, and all things considered, it seemed like a great place to have grown up. Her hometown of Vancouver, on the other hand, couldn't have been more different. According to neighborhood scout and city data, Vancouver is in the top 10% of the most unsafe areas in the entire country. So to say that Anu grew up surrounded by crime would be an incredible understatement. I'm sure this played a part in Anu's personality and lifestyle choices. Despite being surrounded by the worst of the worst, Anu was an incredibly spiritual person. She loved to stay in touch with nature and embrace the more natural aspects of humanity. Anu felt that the moment we're born were about as connected to the planet and mother nature as we'll ever be. In her eyes, as we grow up, our connection with the world around us begins to fade as we become influenced by outside factors, many of which are less than ideal. When Anu wasn't out hiking, or generally being the respectful, carefree person she was known for being, she could be found singing or playing the ukulele. She loved to post photos and videos of herself online and join music in the outdoors. She even had her own YouTube channel where she would post about her many interests predominantly her music. It was the 7th of June 2013 when Anu created a post on her Facebook account in which she asked whether any of her friends who had a vehicle were available to go camping on the upcoming weekend. See, Anu had made plans to take herself and a few of her friends on what she described as a spiritual quest, but unbeknownst to her loved ones, this quest would be Anu's last. Some sources state that Anu contacted her half-sister, Cherry, to ask if she could borrow some of her camping gear. But it isn't known whether she ever collected any of that gear, or if she had any of it with her while she was camping and getting ready for her spiritual journey. We don't know much about the specifics of Anu's spirituality or her spiritual quest, but it goes without saying that she wanted to do everything she could to stay in touch with Mother Nature, and this journey was going to expedite that process. Cherry would later report that during the phone call with Anu, she seemed very excited about the prospect of going camping, and that she just seemed like her normal self, happy-go-lucky and full of life. With the ride sorted out and a group of friends to accompany her, Anu set out to campsite number three at the Canyon Creek Campground, which is situated in Gifford, Pinchot National Forest, just two days later on Sunday, the 9th of June. The site is known to be surrounded by dense foliage and tall trees, and hence it's a tent-friendly only area. It's the perfect place for remote escape, far away from the hustle and bustle of everyday life, especially considering it's darn near impossible to even have an RV in this area or anything of the sort. Many people who have visited the campsite describe the surrounding areas as hard to traverse, since there's a steep slope leading up to the campground into the dense national forest beyond, which encompasses an area of over 1.32 million acres. This forest is incredibly large. When the group arrived at the campsite, the weather was mild at a pleasant 70 degrees. There was no threat of rain, and it all seemed very idyllic for an afternoon of camping. There's no indication whether the group of friends had anything to eat or drink while they were out there that afternoon. But one would assume that they made a fire at some point, since it would begin to cool down soon. There's been a lot of speculation about whether the group took part in any alcohol or anything else while out in the woods. Many people claim that this may have been what led to the terrible series of events that's to follow. But the reality is that this information simply isn't available. No one from the group has spoken up about this, so I can't really say anything with certainty. Regardless of this, everything seemed to go exactly as planned that afternoon, until around five o'clock, when Anu suddenly announced to the group that it was time for her to set out on the spiritual quest that she'd been planning for so long. As she proclaimed that the time had come, she caught everyone off guard when, without warning, she stripped off all of her clothes, including her shoes. She acted like this was no big deal, but her friends were all shocked to say the least.  She then turned away and wandered off into the woods, telling her friends that she planned to be back by midnight. Many people have questioned why Anu's friends didn't stop her from going into the woods by herself, especially since she was incredibly underdressed and unprepared. But according to Sheriff David Cox, her friends felt that this was something that she needed to do, since she'd been talking about it for a very long time. I wish we knew more about her mental state at this time, as well as the specifics of her spirituality, because it could help to shed a lot of light on this case, but unfortunately that information just isn't there. One thing is clear, though. For Anu, this trip wasn't something that she had suddenly decided she wanted to do. In her mind, this was something she needed to do. As Anu stepped away from her group of friends, she showed them one final glimpse of her smile before walking off into the woods, never to be seen alive again. The term Missing 411 refers to individuals who have gone missing under bizarre circumstances inside of a national park. Unfortunately, Anu's case is the very definition of bizarre. Anu's friends waited patiently for her to return as promised, but when temperatures started to drop into the 40s, accompanied by light rain, they became concerned since she wasn't wearing any clothing and will be left at the mercy of the elements if she didn't make it back to the campsite soon. She did have matches with her so she would have been able to start a fire, but if the rain got any worse, that fire would have been useless. When midnight came and there was no sign of Anu, her friends felt that something had to be done and they contacted the Scamania County Sheriff's Office to report Anu as a missing person. A search party was quickly organized, and soon as it started, detectives felt that there was a good chance that she would be found, since they very quickly discovered bare footprints not far from the campsite that were estimated to be about the same size as Anu's feet. The footprints led them to Canyon Creek, which isn't too far from the campground, and it was determined that she had crossed the creek, seemingly without any problems. Most people have, though, expressed their astonishment at the fact that she made it this far, since the going from the campsite to the creek is very steep and it would not have been easy to traverse the terrain, especially while not wearing any shoes. Just as astounding was the fact that she seemingly climbed up the other side of the canyon, which was also very steep, and she seemed to have made it to Forest Road 54. But unfortunately, this is where searchers were unable to find any more footprints, so they had no idea which direction Anu may have walked. It was as if she had approached the road, then vanished. There were no signs of a struggle, no clues or evidence, nothing. It was genuinely like she just blipped out of existence. The decision was made to bring in search dogs from a non-profit company called Pacific Crest Search Dogs to aid in the search, but they were unable to pick up on Anu's scent past this road. At one point, searchers considered calling in helicopters to help the search from the air, but it was the following day at this point and a thick cloud cover had formed, which made this mission impossible. Unwilling to give up, searchers continued scouring the area for the rest of the day, but were unable to find any trace of Anu, and they had no choice but to suspend the search when it started getting dark, as their efforts would have now put even more lives in danger. They resumed the search the following morning, but again, they were unable to find a single clue as to which direction Anu had traveled, and her family and friends started to fear the worst. She had now been nude in the wilderness for multiple days. Temperatures had dropped multiple times. Rain and mud now covered the terrain and the conditions were dire to put it mildly. But what's incredibly odd is that the search efforts were called off after just two days, which is a very short time in a missing person investigation. Oftentimes, rescue personnel will search for clues for weeks, even months, but in Anu's case, this simply didn't happen. It's unclear why this was done since the forest is massive and Anu could have walked in any direction that had not been searched yet. This decision admittedly seems incredibly irresponsible, but I feel like we have to assume that the Sheriff's Office likely had their reasons. Anu's family and friends then launched an urgent appeal in which they spoke to the media, begging for searchers to continue their efforts. This had the desired effect, and the search was indeed resumed that same week. But many people who followed the case still wonder why the decision was made to suspend the search in the first place, since no explanation was ever given. This wasted large amounts of crucial time. Considering Anu had no food, no water, no hope of shelter, it just boggles my mind how they could have tried to give up after less than 48 hours. One thing that's interesting about the search is that some of the searchers stated that the brush was so thick that they could probably walk right up to someone who was lying on the ground and never even notice them. They feared that the chances of finding Anu after she'd been out in the elements for nearly a week were now slim to none. This is a very, very old growth forest, so it makes sense that the undergrowth would be quite substantial. Anu and her friends waited day after day, hoping, praying, and begging that they would receive some sort of news. As fate would have it, they received news just six days later. But it wasn't the news that they had hoped for. At 6pm on the 15th of June, just six days after her disappearance, Anu's friends and family were informed that the search was officially called off. Not a single trace of her was found, and since the likelihood that she would have succumbed to hypothermia due to the low nighttime temperatures was very, very high, authorities stuck to their decision this time around. It was announced that Anu was presumed deceased, and that was that. Not one trace of Anu has ever been found, even all these years later. It's been almost 11 years since Anu ventured out into the wild on her own, and to this day, no one knows where she went, what happened to her, or if she was trying to make her way back to the campsite when she went missing. As with most unsolved missing person investigations, those that kept close tabs on the case had their own theories as to what happened to Anu, and some of them make a lot more sense than you would expect. This isn't one of those typical missing 411 cases where everyone suspects some kind of alien abduction. This case hits very close to home for a lot of people, and some of these theories may just be correct. The most common and most likely scenario is that Anu lost her way while in the forest, and having no clothing or other supplies like food to keep her warm, she had to bunker down for the night planning to finish her journey in the morning. While this would have been a good idea under normal circumstances, Anu would have been far more affected by the low temperatures and soft rain that was falling, leading many people to believe that she succumbed to hypothermia in her sleep. The reason why she was never found? Well, it's entirely possible she was taken off by an animal, as disturbing as that may sound. One would think that if this were the case, Anu's remains would have eventually been found, in part or in whole. But since there are any number of wild animals in this area, it's also very likely that there's simply wouldn't have been anything left for rescue workers to find, especially when taken into account the thick underbrush. The next much debated theory has to do with Forest Road 54. It's here that all traces of Anu stopped after her footprints led searchers here, and since it's a well-maintained asphalt road, it's led to some interesting speculation. Most people believe that Anu never crossed the road, since her footprints would have been found on the other side, which they weren't. Hence, it's been suggested that she either followed the road before heading on to a different part of the woods, or she was picked up by someone when she reached that point. And this is the theory that I find most plausible as well. After all, we know the area Anu came from was incredibly crime-ridden and dangerous. Could you imagine what would happen if one of these criminals happened to be passing by and saw a nude 19-year-old by the side of the road? Another theory that's also been suggested is that she planned to be picked up ahead of time, unbeknownst to her friends and family. It's possible that the entire situation was planned and Anu simply left to start any life, though admittedly this theory is wildly unlikely as no one in her circle believes she had any reason to want to disappear, especially not in such an unorthodox way. The prevailing theory for most people is that Anu simply reached the road at just the wrong time, resulting in her being taken against her will. But this theory has drawn a lot of criticism, since it seems somewhat sensationalized in most media reports and since investigators have stated that they don't suspect any type of foul play in her disappearance. But the theory that she was picked up by someone may just hold some water, since search dogs were unable to find her scent again after they reached this part of the road. And since she was barefoot, one would imagine that her scent would still be present for some time if she left that area on foot. If she ever set foot on that road that day, I just feel certain that the dogs would have found something, anything. The fact that her scent stopped so suddenly right there, well it just seems suspicious. But not everyone is convinced that Anu has lost her life. One of her friends, a woman named Yasmine, stated that there is always the possibility that she simply wandered into the forest with no intention of ever returning. She has been quoted by multiple sources as saying, quote, she may not want to be found. This theory may, in all actuality, be correct. One final idea is that given Anu's outlook on life and her spiritual nature, she may have taken illegal substances before she headed out on her quest, but Sheriff Cox stated in an interview that there was no indication that she had taken any such substance or any alcohol, and it's far more likely she was just eager to head out in a nature on her own, then got lost or didn't make it to shelter in time. It's entirely possible that Anu is still alive somewhere, but given her loving character, it seems far more likely that if this were the case, she would have reached out to one of her loved ones at some point to reassure them that she's alright, and that they no longer need to worry about her. Whatever the case may be, Anu's disappearance has never been solved, and at this point it seems very unlikely that her friends and family will ever receive the answers they are so desperately searching for. If you have any leads on Anu's case, you're asked to get in contact with the Scamania County Sheriff's Office at<PHONE_NUMBER>. The small town of Bathurst in New South Wales is rarely interesting. Being a small college town when the students are at school or gone for the holidays, the town falls eerily silent. But this wasn't true during the holiday season of 2001. Janine Vaughn was a local shopkeeper who was known all throughout the town, so when she vanished without a trace on the evening of December 7th, the entire town waited on the edge of their seats to find out what had happened to her. Janine was last seen stepping into a small red car, but after this, she was never seen again. The police force were hot on her trail, taking action the moment she was reported missing. But that's when a few people started to suspect that investigators may have known a lot more than they were letting on, and one of their own detectives may just be responsible. 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That's trifum.com and use the code truecrime to save an additional 10% off your order today, thanks to Fume for sponsoring today's video. Janine Vaughn grew up in New South Wales' Hunter Valley region. Janine had a largely happy childhood, but she certainly had a few struggles as well. She lived in a household filled with various members of her extended family, but even with all these people around, there were still times that she felt alone. See, Janine's mother had stepped out of the picture when she was quite young. The circumstances surrounding this are unclear, but one source indicates that her mother abandoned her shortly after she was born, leaving her to be raised by other members of her family. By the time she was a young adult, she decided to move to Bathurst with her boyfriend. The two lived in Bathurst for quite some time together, but their relationship eventually broke down. At this point, Janine had already made a home for herself here, so rather than head back to Hunter Valley, she opted to stay in the area of Bathurst, making a really solid life for herself. Janine soon found a job at an Ed Harry menswear store, selling suits, pants, pretty much everything a businessman could need. She was the manager of the store and seems to have taken great pride in her work. Even though Janine had left many of her friends and family members behind in Hunter Valley, she'd found a close knit group of friends in Bathurst as well, so she wasn't really missing out on much in terms of her social life. Janine's best friend, Rebecca, was always around when she needed someone, and the two were virtually inseparable. Rebecca remembers Janine as being a fun, easygoing person who was super outgoing. Rebecca says that Janine was always there for anyone who needed a friend, and she loved taking care of other people. She was also a very social person and looked for any excuse to head out into the town to have a good time. On top of all this, Rebecca says that Janine was also a very careful person. Even though she loved meeting new people and making new friends, she always kept her wits about her and kept people at a safe distance until she felt that she could truly trust them. For Rebecca, this made things all the more bizarre when she learned from investigators that Janine had vanished after getting into a car with someone that she'd never met before. According to Rebecca, there was a zero percent chance Janine would have done this. She claims that she and Janine shared all of their friends. Janine didn't have a single acquaintance or friend that Rebecca wasn't fully aware of. To her, Janine would have never entered a car with someone she didn't know, and according to Rebecca, this means that whoever took Janine on that warm December evening, she knew them. It was December 6, 2001. Janine had met up with two of her close friends to head out into the town and spend the evening at one of the bars and bathrooms. Her friends were Jordan Morris and Juanita Murphy, who appeared to have been dating at the time. The three spent the evening at the Metro Tavern, also known as the Metro Night Club. They spent the entirety of the evening here, carrying over their affairs into the early morning hours of December 7, finally leaving the bar at about 3.45 am. CCTV footage from the evening showed that shortly before leaving the bar, Jordan and Juanita had gotten into an argument. While this was going on, Janine had lost her handbag and was desperately searching for it. She never did find her bag, but the three decided to leave the bar anyway. Several hours later, her bag was found by a member of the cleaning crew. When her bag was investigated later on, it was found to have contained her cell phone, keys, money, and identification, so Janine would have been virtually helpless without it. After they left the Metro Tavern, the three decided to head toward the Oxford Hotel nearby, planning to have one final round of drinks before calling it a night or a morning at this point. It seems that Janine was growing tired of hearing the couple bickering all the time because, according to police, Janine was walking about 40 meters ahead of the couple as they made their way toward the hotel. They all made their way onto Keppel Street, and that's when Jordan and Juanita noticed a car up ahead. The car suddenly popped a U-turn and pulled up alongside Janine. The grainy CCTV footage shows that the car had stopped for about 27 seconds before Janine agreed to get inside. Multiple witnesses at the time remember that the car was red, but that's about all they could say with any certainty. A few sources claim that the car was also a Mazda, but it's unclear how they came to this assumption, though police are accepting this information as likely factual. Investigators have supplied a reconstruction image of the vehicle they believe to be a close match to the one that Janine was seen getting into, but this reconstruction looks more like a BMW than a Mazda, if you ask me. Janine's friends were, rather obviously, confused by her sudden decision to hop into a car that evening. But one thing I haven't seen anyone else report on is the fact that it was raining very heavily that night. As the three left the bar, it was merely a drizzle, but at the time that Janine got into the car, it was pouring. Janine's family and friends, Rebecca specifically, says that there's no chance she would have gotten into that car if she didn't know the person who was driving. But what we have to keep in mind is that when people are desperate for help, for example if it's pouring down rain and they have no ride, they can do some rather unusual things. To top this off, not only was it pouring down rain, but Janine and her friends had been at a bar for hours upon hours that night. It's safe to assume that she was probably pretty drunk, so I don't personally find it too crazy to believe that Janine may have gotten into a vehicle with someone she wasn't familiar with that night. When Janine rode off with this unknown individual that evening, her friends didn't bother reporting her to the police. After all, they were operating under the assumption that she likely knew this person. Because of this alarms weren't raised until hours later when Janine failed to show up to her store later that morning. After she was reported missing, everyone in the town began to fear the worst, not because Janine was a fairly vulnerable young woman who was kidnapped under highly suspicious circumstances, but because of something much worse. See, in the weeks leading up to Janine's disappearance, the town of Bathurst was already on edge. A series of unusual and unsettling crimes had been taking place over the last few weeks, and police were beginning to fear that they may have a much bigger problem on their hands, and a serial attacker may have been lurking the streets. To say that Janine Vaughn vanished without a trace would be the understatement of the century. Janine left behind zero evidence, the very definition of nothing. In all seriousness, she may as well have been abducted by aliens because there wasn't even the slightest inkling of where she may have gone. One interesting bit of information that makes this case all the more suspicious is, according to the cleaner who found Janine's purse, the purse appeared to have been deliberately hidden. The cleaner says that when they found the purse, it had been forcefully wedged into a corner and was being covered up by a couple of bags of chips. Whoever put the purse here didn't want it to be found. According to the Sydney Morning Herald, a total of three police forces investigated her disappearance, including the Strike Force Toco, the Mountain Baton PD and Toco 2. Toco 2 is still actively investigating the case, but they've still largely come up empty-handed even after all this time. When speaking with various officers and police departments who were assigned the case, they all say that the case was contaminated and doomed from the start. One officer reported at the beginning of the investigation that resources were plentiful and they felt optimistic that they would be able to get to the bottom of this relatively quickly. With CCTV evidence and various witness reports collected during the beginning stages of the investigation, things were looking up, but as time passed by, resources quickly needed to be allocated to other investigations, leading Janine's case to run cold sooner than anyone had hoped. By 2005, the case had begun to fall apart. This is because of an investigation into the potential involvement of a local police detective. This detective had a romantic interest in Janine and showed this shortly before she went missing, but he was also the lead investigator in her disappearance, according to the Sydney Morning Herald. One of the most crucial pieces of evidence in this case is Janine's diary. In her diary, she repeatedly wrote about a detective by the name of Mr. Hosemans. Janine claims that Mr. Hosemans was stalking her and refused to leave her alone. He was very obviously interested in her, but the feeling was not mutual. It's assumed that Janine made this known to Mr. Hosemans, but he simply wasn't getting the message or didn't care. Multiple investigations helped to clear this detective's name, but rather mysteriously, the diary that implicated this detective in the first place has miraculously vanished from evidence archives, which is pretty fishy if you ask me. By 2006, an alternative task force was established to help continue the investigation into Janine's disappearance, and this new task force pulled the case away from the desk of Mr. Hosemans, who again was the lead investigator into a case that he was also the primary suspect for, finally giving this case a fair shot at actually being solved. This new task force announced that they were closing in on a person of interest, but this person has never been named publicly. It was around this same time that the Sydney Morning Herald, a simple news and media company, made a heroic effort to try to help push the case along, assigning their own team of investigators to push for answers and try to bring this case to a close. An investigator for this newly established force explained that when he was handed the case, it was incredibly contaminated. He said that they needed to go back and re-interview many of the witnesses and informants from years ago, but that their statements were largely unhelpful, presumably because the public's opinion on the case in the years since the crime unfolded had now swayed people's memories and perceptions about what had really taken place that evening. By 2009, the state coroner had announced that she feared the trail for Janine had completely gone cold and she feared the criminal may never be caught, as too much time had passed since the incident. A total of three people of interest were privately named, but each of these people insisted they were innocent, and officers didn't have nearly enough evidence to accuse any of the three of them for any sort of involvement. But that's when the Sydney Herald made a groundbreaking discovery that may just help bring this case to a close. The Sydney Morning Herald was given access to a total of 47 people of interest who investigators believe may somehow be involved with the case. The Herald was able to hone in on one person in particular, who seems to have had a very strange connection to Janine's disappearance. According to the Herald, they were able to track down dozens of people who knew this man personally, including his friends, family, and people that had worked with him in the past. More specifically, they were interested in people who had visited his home around the time that Janine had vanished. Two of the witnesses that detectives spoke with had very vivid memories of what had taken place all those years ago, and they specifically recalled visiting his home between late 2001 and 2002, just months after Janine had vanished. Each of these witnesses requested that their identities remain anonymous, and rightfully so. One of these individuals recalled an incredibly strong, quote, horrendous odor coming from an indoor area of the suspect's home. He claimed that this terrible smell lasted for several weeks before it finally began to fade. The witness remembers the time that he entered the home and says that he distinctly remembers claiming that the place smelled awful. He also remembers a very specific sound, which he described as sounding like a beehive. He says that there was a lot of buzzing, and considering this man used to live on a farm, he felt that it suggested the presence of a dead animal. But in his mind, he felt that the sheer number of bees or bugs that would be required to make such a loud noise would have been far more than the number that would have been interested in any animal. He believed something had died here, and it was quite large, maybe even the size of a human. The witness also recalls seeing a note that had been attached to the suspect's fridge, a note that he found very unusual, but the contents of this note have not been made public, as the Herald fears that it may hinder their investigation. They've since passed the contents of this note on to professional investigators. The second witness that the Herald spoke to remembers visiting the suspect's house around 2002, and she doesn't remember any particularly offensive smell, but she does remember the loud buzzing sounds. Worse yet, she witnessed the bugs firsthand. She says that she saw an incredibly unusual number of bugs that were interested in one particular area of the home. She says that this area of the home is, quote, insanely full of bugs that she described as either bees or wasps. She says that none of the insects were flying, though, but they were crawling around on the ground and hundreds of them were lying there dead. She says that after sweeping them up, she would come back and hundreds more would have appeared. The one says that this infestation lasted for several months. When speaking to a forensic biologist, the Herald says that they were led to believe that these insects were most likely hoverflies, which can often be found at the site of decomposition. She also said that these bugs closely resemble bees or wasps, but it was at this point that the case truly took a turn that, in all honesty, blew me away. The Herald looked back through various property records, and they came across a man who owned this property back in the 1980s, and he had outlined the rough location of a cellar that had since been closed up. This was found on a floor plan that the man had created many years ago. He mentioned that when he purchased the home, a cellar could have been accessed by opening up a hatch or a trap door, as he called it. He said that he used the cellar to store renovation supplies when he was carrying out the work on the home. When the work was completed, he said that he felt as though the trap door was a hazard, so he decided to close it up permanently, eliminating access to the cellar entirely. But the cellar was still completely intact underneath the subfloor. The cellar was never filled in. The Herald says that they passed this information on to investigators, but the detectives refused to comment on whether or not they'd followed up on this new lead. But rather interestingly, several of the witnesses that the Sydney Herald had spoken to said that they were contacted by investigators within a few weeks after the Herald reported this information to them. So this leads us to one big question here. Who was the owner of this house when Jeanine went missing? And who could possibly be responsible? Well, the truth may be stranger than fiction. If you remember, the Sydney Morning Herald announced that they were handed a list of 47 total people of interest. Well, one of these people was none other than the lead investigator in Jeanine's case, as mentioned a moment ago. This man was Detective Brad Hoesman. Brad was interviewed at length regarding Jeanine's disappearance after it was found that he had a romantic interest in her in the weeks leading up to her sudden disappearance. One witness claimed to have actually seen Jeanine with Brad on the night that Jeanine vanished, but that's not all. See, the witness didn't spot the two having a friendly conversation. Instead, the witness claimed to have seen Jeanine bound and gagged in the back of Brad's car. Brad claimed that he had no idea what had happened to Jeanine. To top this off, he claimed he wasn't even in bathrooms at the time that she vanished. He claimed to be in Newcastle, but police very quickly found evidence that proved otherwise. In fact, he was in bathrooms when Jeanine vanished.  Hoesman has repeatedly denied any involvement in Jeanine's disappearance, but many people simply aren't buying this story. About four years after Jeanine disappeared, the New South Wales police received an anonymous letter that insisted that Detective Hoesman was behind the crime, but the letter was unable to provide any irrefutable evidence that this was true. Another detective says that this letter suggested local police were covering up the crime to help protect one of their own, but there just wasn't enough evidence to back this up. There have been many eyes on Detective Hoesman's ever since he was first suspected of involvement in this case, but there's truthfully no solid evidence against him, and we have no reason to believe he may have been this mysterious person of interest. Well, except for one small footnote that I found while investigating this case. One article I came across referenced an investigation that was carried out at Brad Hoesman's home. This article detailed how a team of investigators arrived at his home and drilled through the concrete floor at Brad's home. There were no other details about this investigation that were mentioned, but this begs the question, why would detectives have wanted to look underneath the floor of his home? This is just my personal theory, but is it possible that there may have been a cellar hidden underneath the floor? Maybe even the cellar that was uncovered by the Sydney Herald. Obviously, the person of interest was never named by the Sydney Morning Herald, but this just seems too specific to not be the case. Though let me be clear, there is no proof that Brad Hoesman's is responsible for this. After all, the drilling investigation allegedly didn't find anything beneath his flooring that implicated him in the case, though I've not been able to confirm when this drilling took place. So it is entirely possible that if it was Brad Hoesman's home that had the hidden cellar and Janine's body was somehow placed down there, well it may have already been eliminated by the hundreds of bugs by the time investigators looked for it, but again, that's just my personal input. One thing about this unknown person of interest that's incredibly interesting and can't be overlooked is that nearly all of his former coworkers recalled the man as being remarkably volatile, and you'd never know which version of him you'd be greeted by each day of the week. He was regarded as having zero respect for females, particularly his female coworkers. He was noted on multiple occasions by multiple women as making unwanted sexual advances, just like what happened to Janine, but it doesn't seem like any legal action was ever taken. Several people described him as having a Jekyll and Hyde personality type. When it came to men, he was very well composed, honest and decent, but when women came into the picture he would shift, coming off as arrogant, mean and downright nasty. He was also described as showing up to work incredibly clean, cut and proper one day, only to show up looking disheveled, sweaty and dirty the next day. Several of his former coworkers recall their time working with him, saying that there were many days when they felt genuinely scared around him. He would often shout angrily at people, particularly females, and many people remarked that he seemed to have some demons buried beneath the surface. One male coworker recalled that he got along very well at the man, but said that he was in constant fighting with women and it certainly made him apprehensive about it. He specifically recalled that when dealing with women he was quote, a nasty person, no doubt about that. He added the confrontation was real, but he had no explanation about why the man was so mean to his female coworkers. So is this mysterious man Detective Brad Hoseman's? Well, maybe. It has been noted by one of the more recent investigative task forces that Brad is, at this very moment, still one of the top three persons of interest. Even though his own police force cleared him of any involvement, that doesn't mean they were honest during their investigation. After all, cops don't rat out other cops and live to tell the tale. That's just common knowledge. But the reason I believe there may be some level of corruption going on in this case is actually tied back to one particular piece of evidence that, again, I haven't really seen mentioned in any of the write-ups about this case. See, back in 2001, police collected a knife as a piece of evidence that they strongly believed may have been tied to Janine's possible demise. Very little information is available about this knife, but what's incredibly shocking and supremely fascinating is that the knife was destroyed by police officers back in February of 2002, less than three months after Janine disappeared. And what investigative team was leading the case at the time? Brad Hoseman's. The same team who mysteriously lost the diary that implicated Brad in the first place. Though in all fairness, we don't know for sure whether or not this knife was even related to Janine's case, it's just strongly suspected to have been. In fact, if this knife was involved in the case, it could possibly implicate an entirely new suspect, a man named Dennis Briggs. Dennis knew Janine, but not on a personal level. They went to the same bar quite often, but he claims to have never seen her there. Dennis says he only knew of Janine from the men's wear store where she worked. There was a report that Dennis supposedly confessed to the crime, but this confession was later tossed out after Dennis claims to have been intimidated by the police in order to coerce a false confession. Several other people have spoken out about Dennis over the years, and it's even known that he owned a red car at the time of the crime, but this car was searched and no evidence was found. Dennis remains a person of interest, but there isn't really any real evidence tying into the case. The final person of interest is a man named Andrew Jones, a local pharmacist who owns a red car matching the one seen at the scene of the crime. Andrew's pharmacy was located in the same shopping center as Janine, but he claims to have never known her, though it appears he did know of her. Receipts were found that proved he visited the store where she worked, but dozens of people shop there every day, so it doesn't prove anything. Andrew also bears a bit of a resemblance to the man who was witnessed driving the red car that evening, but the description is also pretty vague, so that's not really conclusive either. Janine's family are still actively pursuing her case, and so are investigators. There's currently a $1 million reward available for any information that brings this case to a close, but Janine's family have completely lost faith in the police force at this point, and who could really blame them? Her family has spoken out as recently as 2023, saying that Janine's father is now in very poor health and more than anything, they want to bring this case to a close before he inevitably loses his life. So if you have any information regarding what happened to Janine Vaughn, you're urged to contact Crime Stoppers Australia at 1-800-333-000. This case still remains unsolved, but let's hope it doesn't stay that way for much longer. The unsolved disappearance of Ray Grakar is one of the most shocking and confusing true crime cases in Pennsylvania history. Once a well-respected district attorney, Ray Grakar would suddenly and tragically go missing in 2005, after taking a drive to clear his head after a long week at work. The only problem is, Ray would never come back. His notebook computer was later found at the bottom of a lake, but the hard drive was mysteriously missing. Ray's whereabouts have never been uncovered, and most people believe that he was likely involved in a secret life of crime that ultimately led to his demise. The story of Ray Grakar has been requested dozens of times over the years, so I figured I'd do a deeper dive into Ray's disappearance this week. By the way, if there's any other stories you'd like me to cover, just let me know in the comments. Most of the topics I cover are recommendations from you guys, so I'm always looking for suggestions. The story of Ray Grakar may seem a bit boring and rather mundane at the beginning, but that's how some of the greatest true crime stories start out, making the crimes even more bizarre and unexpected. Ray was never a guy that you would expect to go missing under such mysterious circumstances, and his early years are certainly telling of this. Ray Grakar is most well known for being a lawyer who practiced in Pennsylvania for most of his life. Ray was born in Cleveland, Ohio and grew up in what was once considered one of the greatest areas in all of Cleveland, Collinwood. In the years since, the town has certainly seen a bit of a decline, later leading to what many would call the city's downfall. It's now considered a historic region in Cleveland, but it's also known for being rather crime-ridden, an impoverished area these days. As of 2020, the area is home to around 26,000 people, but the median income is just 27,000, with a population that's around 10% Caucasian and 85% African American. Considering Ray grew up during the glory days of this area, he was quite privileged as a teen and a young adult, eventually attending a well-to-do Catholic school in Gates Mills. After leaving high school, he attended the University of Dayton, where he began studying law and interning at the local prosecutor's office, an internship that would drive him for pretty much the rest of his life. As he realized, he didn't just have a passion for being a lawyer, but he had a passion for law and justice. Now, that may sound kind of redundant, but you've gotta realize there's a big difference between being a criminal lawyer and being a criminal lawyer, and it seems like most lawyers fall into the latter category these days. Sorry for any lawyers who may be watching this, but you and I both know that's just the honest truth. If we fast forward a bit, Ray finished up his schooling and internship programs, and a few years later, eventually accepted a job at the county prosecutor's office in Cuyahoga County, Ohio, specializing in homicides. By 1980, Ray had made his way to Pennsylvania in order to be with his newfound wife, who'd recently accepted a job at Penn State University. But in a shocking move to many of his family members and peers, Ray decided to quit his career as a lawyer and prosecutor entirely, opting to become a stay-at-home father to his children. If Ray was anything, he was a great father and a great husband. No one has ever spoken ill about his family or his home life. He was a man who seemed to have put his family first in all of his endeavors, so it made things even more strange when, without any prior notice, Ray packed up his car and disappeared, leaving his family, his friends, and one heck of a mystery in his wake. While Ray was enjoying his life at home, raising his children and attending the family matters, his new lifestyle didn't last too terribly long before Ray got an itch to begin working again. He was soon contacted by David E. Grime, who worked with the Sinner County District Attorney's Office in Pennsylvania. David had heard great things about Ray, so he made him an offer that he couldn't refuse, leading Ray to begin working again, accepting a new position as the Sinner County District Attorney. This took place around 1985, when the former District Attorney had decided not to run for reelection, paving the way for Ray to swoop in and claim the election by a margin of just 600 votes. When Ray accepted this new position, he agreed to work only part-time, but by 1996 he had campaigned to begin working full-time, and this request was ultimately granted. The people of Pennsylvania loved Ray, re-electing him in 1989, 1993, 1997, and 2001, but it was around 1998 when Ray's relationship with the public began to sour a bit. Even though he managed to get re-elected in 2001, his election wasn't without its share of controversy. In 1998, news began to break about the Penn State assistant football coach, Jerry Sandusky. For any of you who may not be aware, Jerry Sandusky is a name that's now gone down in infamy in the world of football. While Jerry may have been a great coach in his own right, he had many dark secrets that he was hiding behind closed doors, 52 secrets to be precise. Jerry had been putting on a front that he was a family man and all around a nice guy. But as it would turn out, he had been accused by countless young boys of, well, you can fill in the blank, but he had a thing for them. In 2011, he would be convicted of 52 counts of violations against minors. He was sentenced to serve between 30 and 60 years in prison, but now you may be wondering how all of this pertains to Ray Grecar. As it would turn out, Ray had allegedly known about these crimes all the way back in 1998, and Ray was asked to press charges against Jerry, but he refused. According to Ray, there simply wasn't enough evidence against Jerry at the time, so he let the case slide. Now, in the years since, the details of this situation have faded a bit, so I can't say for sure whether or not Ray was in the wrong here. After all, it wouldn't be the first time an attorney's let things slide, especially when their mayor may not have been under the table money involved. Mind you, this has never been proven, but a scumbag is a scumbag, and I wouldn't put anything past Jerry's and dusky. But I haven't found any reason to suspect that Ray was wrong in his claim that there simply wasn't enough evidence against Jerry at that particular moment. We know that the crimes were going on, that much is obvious, but if there isn't enough evidence for a conviction, then there's no reason to begin a lawsuit that's guaranteed to fail from the get-go. Thankfully, the evidence against Jerry mounted over the years, and he was finally sent to prison. But for many people, this raised concerns about Ray Grecoire's integrity. Some people even believe that this may have been what led to Ray's eventual disappearance. Maybe it was vengeance by one of the parents of the victims. Some believe that Ray didn't disappear of his own accord. They believe that he was kidnapped. It was 11.30 am, April 15, 2005. Ray had moved in with his longtime girlfriend, Patti for Nicola, back in 2003, and the two were living in her childhood home in Bellafont at the time. Ray had called Patti to let her know that he was going to take a drive through the Brush Valley area, just a short distance away from Center Hall. This wasn't out of the ordinary for Ray. According to those that knew him, Ray loved to take long drives to relax and clear his head. It was supposedly something he did quite often. But on this particular day, Ray's drive would take him much farther than he anticipated, and he would never make it home. Ray was expected to be home by dinner that evening, but he never made it back. Patti waited and waited for him to return, or at least call, but she never heard from him. As evening turned into night, Patti grew concerned and reported him missing. It would take investigators nearly 24 hours before they found any clues about where Ray might have gone. As they searched the areas around where he was known to have been driving that day, they eventually encountered a tip that his car had been parked outside of an antique store in Lewisburg. When detectives arrived at the vehicle, they found nothing but his cell phone inside. They knew that he had his notebook computer, wallet, and car keys with him that day, but all of these items were missing. But strangely, officers found no evidence of foul play at the scene of the crime, so wherever Ray had gone, he had gone there willingly, and he had taken his notebook computer with him. Or so it seemed. Police, as well as his family and friends, noticed that the scene of the crime seemed a bit familiar. It didn't take them long to realize that the circumstances in which Ray's car was found bore a striking resemblance to the situation of Ray's brother, Roy, who had taken his own life back in 1996, with Roy's car being found in almost the exact same situation. Ray's brother had left one day in May of 1996 to allegedly go purchase a few bags of mulch, but he never made it home. A few days later, his car was found after it was abandoned in Dayton, Ohio, near the Great Miami River. Roy had reportedly taken his own life by jumping off of a bridge into the lake after suffering from years of depression. Ray's car was found parked very close to the Susquehanna River, so police naturally suspected Ray may have ended up taking his own life as well. This led them to conduct a very thorough search of the river, but they found no signs of Ray or any of his belongings. Police later brought in sniffer dogs and had them search the area near Ray's car. We don't know specifically what led police to say this, but they claimed that the behavior of the sniffer dogs led them to believe that Ray had been meeting up with someone that day and may have left the scene of the crime in another vehicle. Pennsylvania police at this point asked the FBI to step in. The FBI then gained access to Ray's bank records, credit card statements, cell phone records, and every other aspect of his personal life. Ultimately, they found no clues or anything that seemed suspicious. Ray was in a good financial situation, his life was completely in order, and he planned on retiring later that year. But for reasons unknown, he had simply vanished before being able to live out his golden years. It would be several months later before the case would see any more progress. By July 30th, a group of fishermen had been traveling down the Susquehanna River when they came across a notebook computer at the bottom of the water, located just beneath a bridge that separated Lewisburg and Milton. And I believe this is the same bridge that was within walking distance of Ray's car, the bridge that police initially feared he may have jumped from, but don't quote me on that. Police showed up to collect the notebook computer, but they found that the hard drive was missing. This is interesting for two reasons. The most obvious reason is that it appears as though something was on the hard drive that someone either wanted access to or wanted it destroyed. As it would turn out in the months leading up to Ray's disappearance, he'd spoken with several people inquiring about how he could erase his hard drive, so that none of his information could be found or tracked. When Patty told police about this, she revealed that his search history on their home computer had alluded to some rather suspicious activity. He had searched how to fry a hard drive, as well as how to wreck a hard drive and even water damage to notebook computer. Mind you, these searches took place just a few weeks to months before he disappeared, so while we don't know much for certain, it seems that Ray Grecar was hiding something on his notebook computer that, for whatever reason, the world simply couldn't find out about. If this wasn't weird enough, things were about to get even worse. As police continued looking through his search history, they found that he had visited the MapQuest website and searched the driving directions of getting from Bellafont to Lewisburg, but Ray had made this trip countless times before. He knew the journey like the back of his hand, so why would he suddenly need directions? Well, it's possible that he'd been looking up these directions so that he could print them out for someone else. The case got even more bizarre when investigators processed Ray's car for evidence. Inside the car, they found evidence of cigarette ash on the floorboard. They also noticed a strong cigarette odor inside the car. This is strange because not only was Ray not a smoker, but he hated the smell of cigarettes and all of his closest friends knew this, so someone else must have been in the car with him that day. This all became more plausible when just a few months later, someone found a mysterious unmarked hard drive on the banks of the Sescajana River. Just 100 yards from where Ray's notebook computer was found under the bridge, and also in close proximity to where his car had been found. Unfortunately, police weren't able to determine for sure if the hard drive truly belonged to Ray, but it seems a bit suspicious that it'd be found in such close proximity to his notebook computer if that weren't the case. Police sent the hard drive to a team of experts in the hopes of recovering some of the data from the drive, but it had simply been too badly damaged and there wasn't anything to be recovered, not one single file. No one knew what to make of Ray's disappearance. There were no signs of foul play ever uncovered, nor was there any indication that Ray had wanted to start a new life. After all, all of his money had been left behind untouched in his bank accounts. He made no plans to go anywhere other than visit Lewisburg that day, and it seems strange that if he wanted to vanish and leave no trace behind, that he would call his girlfriend and tell her about the upcoming journey. If he wanted to dip and run, he would have just done that without saying a word. Despite all of this evidence that proves otherwise, the Grecarre family believed that Ray most likely met with foul play that day, and I'll be honest, I tend to believe them. It's far too much of a coincidence that police found evidence that he printed out instructions for a journey that he'd taken many times before, and later found cigarette ash in his car, as well as the sniffer dogs that believed that he left the scene of the crime in another vehicle that just doesn't add up unless there was someone else involved. This all came to a head when a former district attorney and close friend of Ray spoke out in the months after Ray's disappearance. This friend came forward and explained that he'd recently been contacted by a prison inmate. This inmate, whose name has never been released, claimed that he had been cellmates with a man who claimed to have been involved in Ray's disappearance. The inmate claims that his cellmate openly confessed to taking Ray's life and had no problems talking about the crime. The cellmate supposedly wanted to take Ray's life because Ray had been the one who landed him in prison. The cellmate wanted revenge. He says that he claimed to raise life in Lewisburg that day, then dumped his body on hunting grounds just outside of Lewisburg. The only problem was, police found no reason to believe that this story is true. They claim that they have no evidence pointing to foul play even after all these years. The district attorney believes that the inmate is telling the truth but that police simply won't follow up on the lead well enough. But if this is true and the cellmate did take Ray's life that day, then why was his laptop found in the river? And why was the hard drive removed and thrown in a different location? And what about the cigarette Ash in his car? Truth be told, we simply don't know what happened to Ray Grecar. Many people believe his disappearance may have had something to do with his unwillingness to charge Jerry Sandusky back in 1998. But there's no evidence to suggest that there's any relation here, literally nothing. In the end, Ray Grecar was legally declared deceased in 2011. So what happened to him? Well, we may simply never know. Bianca Devins was an up-and-coming Instagram celebrity who gained quite a sizable following online. She made many friends and fans on social media, but one friend in particular seemed to have been much more interested in Bianca than anyone realized. While Bianca and her newfound friend seemingly cared for each other and did everything together, investigators would soon learn that he had an ulterior motive, one that detectives never saw coming, and one that would cost Bianca her life and lead to one seriously twisted crime scene. If you're in a relationship with someone, whether you're married or dating, it's best to check in with one another from time to time to make sure everyone's needs are being met, and to be sure that you're on the same page. This is where Paired steps in. Paired is an incredible app that can help you improve communication, stay connected to your partner, and deepen your intimacy as a couple. Most importantly, Paired was designed to help you improve the happiness of your relationships, and it does a wonderful job. You can explore fun games, quizzes, and even receive expert guidance to help strengthen your relationships and overcome your struggles or shortcomings. 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Bianca Devins was a self-described fake internet girl who had gathered quite a following on Instagram, but Bianca was also a very real person, something we all may tend to forget from time to time when keeping tabs on some of our favorite social media stars. Bianca seems to have been focused on attempting to make a career out of being a social media influencer, and she was certainly on her way to making these dreams a reality. I can't say for sure just how large of a following that she had, but her account currently sits at just under 150,000 followers, so I'm sure many of these followers found her account after the crime took place, but more on that in just a moment. Being just 17 years old, Bianca had a good head on her shoulders for her age. She was incredibly talented as an artist, and this shows in many of her more expressionistic Instagram posts. Bianca wasn't a so-called e-girl in the traditional sense of the word, rather than posting provocative photos like many people do these days, she would pose for more artistic shots, often adding in captions or other images alongside herself, making her posts more of a modern art form than anything else. While Bianca focused heavily on her potential career online, she also took the proper steps to ensure that she'd have a successful life in case social media didn't pan out. Bianca was a remarkably bright girl, and her family says that she took pride in her efforts to help others. A former online friend spoke about Bianca, and remembered that she always was willing to help those around her, even if she was going through some dark situations in her own life. Bianca had made plans to study psychology at Mohawk Valley College in Utica, New York. She doesn't appear to have decided on what she planned to do with this degree just yet, but I would imagine she would have been involved in counseling or some sort of therapy if I had to guess, but we really don't know for sure. While Bianca presented herself online as a powerful and willful girl, she had some pretty serious struggles that she had to deal with on a daily basis for a number of years. I'm sure most of us are aware that being a teenager is incredibly hard, and many teens end up battling depression at some point. But for Bianca, her struggles were much deeper than anything many of us would have ever had to deal with. Her family spoke about her teenage years, and recalled that Bianca had been battling serious bouts of depression for a number of years. Not only this, but she also had to deal with crippling anxiety and a diagnosis of borderline personality disorder. Now, I don't know really anything about BPD, so I'm certainly not going to try to give any real detail to try to describe the disorder, but I know that a large number of people often struggle with BPD, and many of them are teenagers. The only thing I can say for sure about BPD is that it often leads to a disturbingly warped sense of reality and dramatically heightened emotions. And it's been said that up to 10% of people who suffer with BPD will end up taking their own life before finding a suitable form of treatment. If this weren't bad enough, Bianca would also be treated for PTSD, but we don't know for sure what may have led to all these troubles. Bianca's loved ones say that because of all these struggles, she found herself in and out of mental hospitals all throughout her teenage years. Bianca was seriously having a hard time, and she did everything she could to keep her health troubles at bay, but she'd often lose these battles and be forced to spend additional time in various hospitals for treatment. With all of the issues that she faced in her day-to-day life, it's no surprise that Bianca found refuge in online communities, particularly 4chan and discord. And who can blame her? Many of these forums that she became a part of predated themselves on the anonymity that they offered, meaning that Bianca could be whoever she wanted to be without feeling judged for the troubles that she faced on the daily. Bianca found a great number of friends online, but she also made more than a few enemies. According to a newspaper article, while Bianca loved to hide away on the internet, she found herself being harassed by perverted men on multiple occasions, and these men would go to great lengths to lure Bianca in to do whatever they wanted her to do. I say that as a joke, but seriously, if you have teenage kids, keep a close eye on the people they talk to online. One thing can lead to another very quickly, and Bianca was about to learn this in the worst possible way. One of the men that Bianca had been speaking with online went by the name of Brandon Clark. Brandon was a bit of a troubled child. While details of his childhood and upbringing haven't really been shared publicly, we do know that he had to deal with a lot of trauma in his younger years, much like Bianca. He recalled one particular incident where he witnessed his father using a weapon to hold his mother hostage for several hours. Thankfully, the situation seems to have cleared itself up, but this did a great deal of damage to Brandon, considering he was so young at the time. As time passed by, Brandon was able to hold himself together, but he always had troubles and triggers that would send him into fits of rage, paranoia, or worse. While he was able to live a normal life, he'd been battling demons for as long as he could remember, and that's probably why Brandon and Bianca hit it off so well. It's believed by many that Bianca and Brandon met on Instagram sometime in the spring of 2019. He began following Bianca because he enjoyed her posts, but he soon began privately messaging her as well. Bianca thought that he seemed like a perfectly nice guy, so she even messaged him back. Eventually, their relationship blossomed into a real-world friendship, but that's the problem. See, Bianca was just 17 at the time, and Brandon was 21, but this didn't matter to Brandon. While he loved being friends with Bianca, for him, that simply wasn't enough. While their relationship wasn't illegal, per se, considering the age of consent in New York is 17, their relationship certainly turned a few heads. Brandon had expressed his romantic feelings for Bianca several times, but Bianca quickly set him straight, explaining that she wasn't interested in becoming anything more than friends. She felt that the two had a lot in common, and they were both able to get a lot out of their friendship, but Brandon just wasn't able to let it go. But here's where things get a bit confusing. According to investigators, they have evidence to suggest that Bianca was quote, personally intimate with Brandon. Now, your guess is as good as mine as far as what that means, but to me, this suggests that they have reason to believe that the relationship was of a private consensual nature. It could be wrong about that, but that's the implication as far as I can tell. But Bianca's mother refutes these claims, saying that she'd spoken with Bianca about Brandon on several occasions, and Bianca had assured her that the relationship was nothing more than friendly. But let's be real for a minute. If you were 17, and you were having relations with someone who was 21, would you really tell your parents? I don't know the dynamic of Bianca's relationship with her mother, and I'm certainly not suggesting that Bianca was lying to her mom. I don't know this family at all. The only point I'd like to make here is that it's entirely possible that her mother wasn't aware of the full nature of this relationship. I may seem way out of line to even suggest such a thing, considering Bianca was a minor. But the reason I've come to this conclusion that Bianca wasn't being entirely open with her mother is because one of Bianca's mother's close friends claims that she feared that Brandon was manipulating Bianca. The friend claims that Brandon would get Bianca high and then coerce her into sexual encounters. So if this family friend had reason to believe that Bianca and Brandon were intimately involved with one another, and detectives claim the same thing, well I don't think it would be too much of a stretch to assume that they were intimately involved. But we still need to treat this idea as nothing more than a rumor since it can't be proven. But the real kicker here is that in all honesty, regardless of the details of Bianca's relationship with Brandon, one thing is certain, she was not interested in him when it came to a serious or even long-term relationship. While they may have been slightly more than friends, she didn't plan on things going any further than that. But Brandon was a very jealous man and Bianca was a young girl who turned quite a few heads. And unfortunately, this would lead to a dramatic fallout in their relationship, and one that Bianca wouldn't recover from. It was July of 2019. Over the last couple of weeks, Bianca had been speaking with her mother about attending a concert in Queens. A gothic folk singer that Bianca was extremely interested in was coming to town and Bianca wanted more than anything to be there. Bianca's mother was extremely nervous about letting her daughter go to a concert unattended, but she soon learned that Brandon would be there as well. Bianca's mother loved Brandon. He seemed like a very clean-cut guy and she felt much better about letting Bianca go to the concert after learning that he would be going with her. Now, to be clear, her mom still didn't want her to go, but in her mom's own words, Bianca was nearly 18 and she knew that she would go whether she said yes or not. When the night of the concert came, Bianca couldn't contain her excitement. She'd spent the majority of the evening trying on various outfits and asking for her mother's feedback.  It was around this time that Bianca's mother learned about another person who'd be going with the two to the concert, a young man named Alex that Bianca had met on Discord. We don't know Alex's age, but we know that he lived somewhat close by and Bianca thought that this concert would be a great way for the two to meet up for the first time. Bianca eventually left home with Brandon and met up with Alex a short while later. According to various reports about the meetup, Bianca appears to have been romantically interested in Alex, even though she had told her mother that she wanted to remain single so that she wouldn't be tied down when she left home to attend college in a few months. But for whatever reason, Bianca appears to have been taken aback by Alex. The two had so much in common and Alex was an incredibly sweet and caring young man. The two had chatted for hours upon hours online, talking about anything and everything. Bianca felt that the two had been friends for years, even though they'd only known each other for a matter of weeks, as far as I can tell. This relationship only continued and strengthened once they met in person, and Bianca seems to have been falling head over heels for Alex, and the two ended up kissing at a nearby store in Queens. As you could imagine, this kiss angered Brandon greatly. Brandon, being somewhat possessive, felt betrayed by Bianca. After all, she'd no sooner told Brandon that she wasn't interested in anything serious when she, in his eyes, then turned around to begin pursuing someone else. Brandon was devastated to say the least. Bianca insisted to Brandon that this was nothing more than a friendly kiss, but Brandon consents that something more was going on here. Nevertheless, it appears as though the three attended the concert together anyway, but Brandon kept a much closer eye on Bianca after this. Bianca had been checking in with her mother all throughout the evening, and her final text rang through at about 7.30pm when the three were looking for a parking spot at the show. After this, her mother was left completely in the dark. When her mother hadn't heard back from them by about 1.45 the following morning, she became a bit concerned, but she assumed that Brandon and Bianca had pulled over somewhere to sleep before attempting to drive home after dark. Unfortunately, this wasn't true. By 7am that morning, Bianca's sister Olivia heard a knock at the door. She answered and was shocked to find that it was the police, and they wanted to talk about Bianca. When prosecutors arrived at Bianca's home, they weren't there because Bianca had gotten into trouble or had been arrested.  Bianca's life had been stolen from her, and if this weren't bad enough, it was taken by a trusted family friend. While Brandon may have given outward appearances of being a very calm and collected young man, he wasn't by any stretch of the imagination. The two had argued about Bianca's kiss with Alex for hours after the concert had let out. While Bianca thought it was nothing more than a misunderstanding, Brandon perceived this as a direct violation of his trust, and he wasn't going to stand for it. Brandon truly believed that he loved Bianca, and he would have done anything to have had her love him back, but if he couldn't have Bianca, no one could. While the two were in the midst of a heated disagreement in Brandon's car, Brandon pulled out a knife that he had hidden in his car earlier and claimed Bianca's life with one swift movement. For reasons that remain unclear, Brandon appears to have been under the assumption or the delusion that he and Bianca were dating, even though she had allegedly made it painfully obvious that she was uninterested. We know that this is the case because Brandon actually called the police himself and confessed to the crime, but rather than admitting that he had taken the life of his closest friend, he phoned 911 and said, quote, I just killed my girlfriend. But here's where things get disturbing, confusing, and just plain dark.   If this weren't bad enough, these photos spread like wildfire, but it gets even worse from here. Considering Bianca was an up and coming Instagram celebrity, these photos eventually made their way to Instagram. And soon enough, the photos had been sent to the inboxes of Bianca's family members.  These images were sent alongside hurtful and untrue statements, with some users claiming that Bianca got what she deserved, with some even saying that Bianca was sleeping around with various people and that she had it coming. But this statement is an outright lie. When detectives dug into the situation further, they learned that Brandon had first posted the images to one of Bianca's regular Discord servers that she was known to frequent. He posted the image alongside an expletive laced comment saying that her fans would need to find someone else to follow now that Bianca had been dealt with. Detectives have even suggested that Brandon filmed himself committing the crime, and it's rumored that this video is floating around on the internet as well, but to tell you the truth, this isn't an allegation that I'm willing to dig into because some videos are better left unseen, so if you're curious about the validity of these claims, I'll let you do the digging on your own. When police arrived at the scene of the crime following Brandon's phone call and his confession, he turned the weapon on himself and attempted to take his own life, but thankfully first responders were able to administer aid in order to keep him alive long enough to stand trial. In the end, Brandon made a full recovery. Investigators say that they have every reason to believe that not only did Brandon take Bianca's life out of jealousy, but they believe he also did it for the fame, as they found a note left behind at the scene of the crime that was written by Brandon, reading, May you never forget me. Worse yet, the crime may have even been premeditated, and the kiss may not have actually been what provoked Brandon. He may have planned on committing the crime from the very beginning. Police claim that they have more than enough evidence to suggest that Brandon had been planning the crime for quite some time. If you remember, the weapon that Brandon had used to commit the crime had been stashed away in his car ahead of time, presumably long before Bianca's kiss with Alex. Brandon had also spent several days googling information about the location of the carotid artery online, as well as how to incapacitate someone. By all means, it seems as though Brandon had every intention of claiming Bianca's life for weeks in advance, but in the end, he was only sentenced to prison for second degree murder, presumably due to a lack of irrefutable evidence. But thankfully, Brandon was given life in prison with the possibility of parole after 25 years. But if we're being honest, I think we all know that this man will never see the light of day again. In the aftermath of the crime, Bianca's crime scene photos were popping up all over the internet. Her family were forced to not only live through the tragic and heartbreaking loss of their loved one, but every time they opened social media, they were greeted with more disturbing images of their family member. One of Bianca's friends recalled a time when someone had forwarded the photo to her. The friend had flagged the photo and reported it to Instagram so that it could get removed. But get this, she got a message back from Instagram the following morning saying that the image didn't violate their terms of service and thus it wouldn't be taken down. This happened on more than one occasion as well. Some of Bianca's family members said that they continued to receive these images in their inboxes for more than two years after Bianca had lost her life. With her family essentially being unable to do anything to drown out these disturbing photos, fans of Bianca came up with a different idea. Her followers all worked together to begin sharing photos of pink clouds in Bianca's honor. The idea here seems to have been to snuff out the images of Bianca's crime scene with images of peaceful pink clouds, and this movement certainly worked to a certain extent. For Bianca's family, though, the damage had already been done.  Worse yet, she found out that the Oneida district attorney's office also leaked private images and videos of Bianca to the press, so now these videos are circulating around on the internet as well. These images supposedly came from Bianca's private phone, and when investigators and detectives searched the phone during the investigation, these images were uploaded to a database shared by multiple law agencies, then eventually leaked to the public somehow. Without getting into too much detail, all I can really say is that these photos and videos, well, they're disturbing and highly illegal, as Bianca was underage. That should tell you all that you need to know. Bianca's family has since pressed charges, but as of now, the case hasn't been settled. This story is just disgusting from beginning to end. From Bianca's mental health issues, to the actions of her close friend, to the mishandling of her case by the district attorney's office, everything about this case is just tragic. Bianca's family will still be battling court cases for many years to come, but maybe on some level, the incarceration of Brandon will help bring them some form of peace, knowing that the man that ruined their lives will now be locked away forever. At trial, Brandon certainly did show signs of remorse, but whether these feelings were genuine or all for show remains to be seen. All we can hope for now is that Brandon never gets to live his life in the free world ever again. For Lauren Phelps, life had really just begun when she married the love of her life, Matthew Phelps, in 2016. The two were deeply involved in their local Baptist church, with Lauren being a Sunday school teacher and Matthew being a church minister. But in the fall of 2017, their lives would forever be changed. In the middle of the night, a crime of unspeakable proportions took place in the Phelps household, a crime that Lauren unfortunately wouldn't survive. When Matthew phoned 911 to report the crime to investigators, the statements he gave were haunting, confusing, and unlike anything investigators would have expected. Unfortunately, this is one of those cases where we don't have a lot of backstory. I'm not sure if the family of Lauren and Matthew wanted to maintain their privacy after the crime, or if it's simply that reporters didn't have too many interviews with the family. But the early lives of both Lauren and Matthew were largely a mystery. Oddly enough, most of the information I have been able to find about the couple comes from Instagram of all places. I was able to find out that Lauren was involved with a company known as Sensey. Sensey is a service pretty similar to Avon and countless other programs where you can sign up on their website to sell products in exchange for a small commission. Sensey in particular deals in fragrances such as wax warmers and candles, and they're not a sponsor, by the way. The best I can tell, Sensey seems like it may just be another pyramid scheme, but I don't know enough about the company to say that for sure. It's just the impression that they give. But anyway, Lauren teamed up with Sensey sometime in 2015 or 2016 and it seems as though she was doing quite well. She received a few awards during her time working for the company and everything seemed to be working out great for her. As far as I can tell, the work that Lauren was able to do with Sensey allowed her to maintain a stay-at-home lifestyle while her boyfriend and soon-to-be husband was attending schooling and training to become a pastor at the couple's Baptist Church. For those of you that may not know much about the Baptist Church, and I'll be the first to admit I don't know much about the Baptist faith either, a pastor is someone who leads church services, gives sermons, and even counsels members from time to time. In a non-denominational church, which is what I'm more familiar with, a pastor is more akin to an elder or rather someone who makes decisions about the church's donations and outreach projects and the overall directions of the church. But in the Baptist faith, this isn't really the case typically. It appears as though Lauren met Matthew sometime in mid-2014. The first mention of Matthew on Lauren's social media was in the fall of that year, and the two seemed to have hit it off immediately, officially becoming a couple in November of 2014. Matthew and Lauren seemed to have been great for one another, and all of Lauren's family members agree, saying that the two seemed destined to be together, with Matthew being a very honest, clean-cut guy. It seemed that for Lauren, the stars were finally aligning, and she'd found the one that she'd been looking for for all this time. Matthew allowed Lauren to be herself, and he loved her forehead. We don't know if Lauren had any ambitions of college or a long-term career path, but we know that once she met Matthew, her life began to change for the better. She became even more deeply involved with her local church, and when Matthew announced that he wanted to begin studying to become a pastor, Lauren was more than happy to support him. After dating for just under two years, the two got engaged on Valentine's Day in 2016, and they would get married later on that year. According to social media, the two were beyond happy together. In fact, their lives seemed to be perfect, but you always have to remember, social media is only a slight glimpse into the lives that people are actually living. As it would turn out, no sooner than their marriage had begun, it had begun to fall apart. According to Lauren's family, despite how happy Lauren may have seemed, she was miserable, and most of this misery stemmed from her new husband, Matthew. As it would turn out, Matthew wasn't at all the man that he claimed to be. You would never guess it, but Lauren and Matthew were walking on very thin ice from the moment they got married. I'm sure most of us already know that when you marry someone, typically you combine finances. I know there are certain couples out there that don't do this, but more often than not, couples share everything with one another, including their money. This is where things began to cause trouble for the Phelps household, though. See, when they were single, everything was working out great between Matthew and Lauren. After all, they each had control over their own lives, and they were able to share only what they felt comfortable sharing with one another. But now that they were married, they more or less felt obligated to share every little detail with one another. And that's when Lauren began to make a few discoveries about Matthew that she never would have expected. After living together for a few short months, Lauren began to realize that Matthew had a serious problem with money. We don't know for sure just how deep the rabbit hole really goes, but according to Lauren's family and friends, Matthew was spending like he was a member of Congress, but in reality, his income was virtually nothing. At least it was nothing compared to the amount that he was spending. It's pretty safe to assume that Matthew was likely in a lot of debt, but I haven't been able to confirm this for certain, so don't take that as fact. But according to Lauren's peers, Matthew was living a lifestyle that simply wasn't sustainable, no matter how you looked at it. This naturally caused serious problems in the couple's relationship, and Lauren was at wit's end no sooner than their marriage had begun. Lauren was known for being a very resourceful, honest, and caring person about how she lived her life. Matthew, on the other hand, was a bit more rambunctious and careless. Lauren had spoken with him time and time again about the sheer amount of money that he was spending, and Matthew seems to have made every attempt to cut down on his spending, but he just couldn't shake the habit. After all, for some people, buying things can be an addiction, even a way to hide their pain and discomfort in various aspects of their lives, and this certainly seems to have been true for Matthew. Matthew was unhappy with his life. On the surface, he had everything, a beautiful wife, a fulfilling job, a nice car, everything most people would ever aspire to have, but that just wasn't enough for him. Lauren grew so concerned about Matthew's spending habits that she began limiting access that he had to their bank accounts, but even this didn't seem to work, as he'd always find ways around Lauren's safeguards. This led to one argument after another, and before they knew it, both Lauren and Matthew were at wits end with one another. Lauren seems to have been set on working out whatever flaws the couple had, but she can only take so much. In mid-2017, Lauren had been speaking with a few of her friends about Matthew, and she began to fear that their relationship wasn't going to work out. No matter what she did, she felt like Matthew wasn't willing to cut back on his spending, and if the couple were ever going to start a family together, big changes would need to be made, but Matthew wasn't willing to make these changes. To top this off, Lauren had begun to suspect that Matthew was being unfaithful, but she couldn't prove anything just yet. At this point, it was more of just a gut feeling than anything else. Lauren did her best to see past Matthew's flaws, but they were becoming too large to ignore, and it was causing their lives to spiral out of control. While Lauren was obsessed with things like her cute outfits, Star Wars, dogs and children, Matthew's priorities were elsewhere. See, Matthew wasn't the man that he portrayed himself to be. Matthew had a dark side. Contrary to Lauren's more lighthearted interests and hobbies, Matthew seemed to have had an affinity for horror movies and the macabre, particularly the movie American Psycho. If you've never seen the movie, a quick rundown is that the main character, Patrick Bateman, is an investment banker who lives a double life as a serial killer. According to Matthew's friends, he was truly obsessed with the film to a concerning degree. He even dressed up as some of the characters from the film on holidays from time to time. But things got much darker and much more concerning when Matthew was casually talking with one of his friends over drinks one day. This friend says that seemingly unprovoked, Matthew brought up serial killers. But not only this, he confessed that he often wondered what it would be like to claim someone's life. I'm sure this is a thought that's crossed all of our minds at some point in our lives, but Matthew seemed strangely curious. This wasn't just a passing thought for him. The friend said that he could tell there was a strange energy that encompassed Matthew as he pondered the thought of this. It wasn't too long after this that tragedy struck. It was September 1st, 2017. The Phelps couple were happily asleep in their apartment and it was, by all means, a night like any other. The two had turned in for the evening and went to bed as they always did, but at some point in the middle of the night, Matthew was haunted by twisted dreams that he couldn't seem to shake off. Matthew had actually revealed that he struggled to sleep most nights. This led him to go to various means to try to get some rest, oftentimes relying on over-the-counter medications to get to sleep, though there are some rumors that he may have been involved in much harder substances as well. On this particular night, Matthew had taken a high dose of cough medicine, as he'd heard from a friend that it was the easiest way to turn in for the night. But one of the side effects of this medicine is that it can cause some rather wild dreams, and Matthew was experiencing this first hand. He never revealed specifically what these crazy dreams were about, but they were so disturbing that he eventually got out of bed to clear his mind for a bit, trying to calm down. As he crept out of bed, he stumbled over to the bedroom doorway and turned on the light, but when he turned to face the room, he couldn't believe his eyes. At first he thought he was still dreaming, but he quickly realized this was no dream, this was real life. When he turned around, Matthew found Lauren lying on the floor, the entire bedroom covered in red stains. On the bed, he noticed a knife, and when he looked down at his clothing, he noticed he was covered in red from head to toe. Unsure of what to do, Matthew did the only sensible thing and called the police. After dialing 911, Matthew made a truly disturbing revelation to the dispatcher. As he spoke with the 911 operator, he explained that he had a terrible dream, but when he turned the lights on, he found his wife on the floor.  The dispatcher began desperately asking how something like this could have happened, but all Matthew could do was describe the scene of the crime. He was very clearly in shock by what had taken place. All he was able to explain was that he had taken a large amount of cough syrup, then woke up to the scene of a crime. As the call came to an end, Matthew began sobbing, saying that his wife didn't deserve this. But Matthew was shocked, wouldn't last for very long. As investigators later made their way to the scene of the crime to collect whatever evidence they could, they realized a particular aspect of the crime scene didn't make any sense. When they arrived to speak with Matthew, they realized that he was strangely clean. Even though he had told the dispatcher he was covered in red stains, they found he was in pretty good shape for someone who had just woken up to a crime scene. It didn't take detectives long at all to prove that Matthew had, in fact, cleaned up long before the 911 call. I don't know about you, but if I woke to find my wife on the floor in a bedroom covered from floor to ceiling in evidence, I don't think taking a shower would be the first thing on my mind, and police picked up on this clue immediately. All throughout his interrogation and interviews with police, Matthew maintained his story. Each time he was asked, he'd say the same thing. He took a much larger dose of cough medicine than he should have, and then he went to bed and woke up to the scene of a crime. Police didn't have any evidence to prove otherwise, outside of the strange fact that he had cleaned up before calling 911, but this isn't a crime by any means, it's just weird. But while Matthew had initially maintained his innocence during the investigation, he would soon make a bizarre confession that took everyone by surprise. At this point, investigators were unsure of what to believe. The evidence told a clear story of what had taken place that evening, but the account that Matthew had given made an equal amount of sense, at least to a certain point. Matthew claimed he was under the influence of cough syrup when the crime occurred, and this appeared to have been true, but the manufacturer of the cough syrup in question explained that in their countless years of research, they found zero evidence that could link the medication to violence. Police were highly suspicious, but they weren't able to prove much of anything, at least not yet. As his trial was underway, Matthew was speaking with the judge who'd be overseeing his case. As he spoke with the judge, Matthew's demeanor began to change. Up to this point, Matthew had shown no signs of remorse. In fact, when investigators spoke with him at the scene of the crime, they noted that he showed no significant signs of emotion, claiming he didn't even shed real tears. But as he spoke with the judge, Matthew underwent a major shift and actually admitted to the crime. He told his side of the story, and he opened up about the possibility of being responsible for the crime. Then, just a few brief moments later, he more or less confessed the cough syrup probably had nothing to do with his actions that evening. The judge asked, are you admitting guilt? And Matthew agreed. Some prosecutors believe Matthew only did this as a way to avoid the death penalty, while others believe he really was beginning to show signs of remorse. It's difficult to say one way or the other if I'm being honest, but this is nowhere near the end of the story and things would only get worse for Matthew from here. As the case was still undergoing investigation and the trial was underway, detectives managed to track down multiple social media accounts that Matthew owned. He had two Instagram accounts, one titled Marty Radical and another titled Uncanny Maddie. On his Marty Radical page, Matthew almost exclusively posted screenshots and quotes from the film American Psycho. This account has since been set to private, so I can't confirm any of the specific posts that Matthew made, but the profile image from this account is still visible, and it's an image of Christian Bale from the film covered in red spatter, so it's pretty safe to say that the allegations there are most likely true. As for Matthew's other account, well let's just say that his bio didn't age well. The only part of this page that is still visible is the message in his bio that reads, I'm just a pitiful anonymous drifting into the abstract. I can't seem to tell if I'm dreaming anymore. Police have made a few bold suggestions, claiming that Matthew was so fascinated with American Psycho and so frustrated with his wife for trying to control their finances and threatening divorce that he snapped. In a fit of rage, they claimed that he enacted one of his favorite scenes from American Psycho, inflicting more than 120 individual wounds on his wife, then taking the time to clean himself up before ever calling the police. While Matthew was never admitted directly to all of these allegations, I don't think it would be much of a stretch to assume that investigators are probably correct in these assumptions. In the aftermath of the crime, Lauren's family has spoken out about the case, and Lauren's father has expressed regret over the last few weeks of Lauren's life. He mentioned that just a few weeks before his daughter lost her life, he noticed that her demeanor had changed. She seemed paranoid, afraid and worried about something. He regrets that he didn't question her further about this, and he believes that this may allude to Matthew's crime having been premeditated, and Lauren may have felt that something bad was about to happen. To make matters even worse, Lauren also learned that Matthew had been cheating on her. Lauren's sister says that she spoke with Lauren just hours before the crime unfolded, and she discovered that Lauren and Matthew had been arguing about Matthew's alleged affair, after Lauren had witnessed her husband sneaking out of the house to be with another woman. Lauren's sister believes that the two were most likely revisiting this argument when Matthew lost his temper and began attacking Lauren, but this has never been proven, though it would certainly make sense. We may never know for sure, but Lauren's family has been beyond heartbroken by the entire situation, though I'm sure that really goes without saying at this point. Lauren's mother describes Matthew as a master manipulator, also believing the crime was premeditated for months before it took place, though in all honesty, I've found no reason to believe that this is true. According to Lauren's mother, police allegedly told her that most of Lauren's wounds had also come from behind, and they have reason to believe that he had knocked her to the ground, sat on top of her and inflicted most of the wounds while she was defenseless against him. In response, Lauren's father said, I think about it every day, what I did wrong, what I missed.  I took everything as it was. When asked about the possibility of forgiving Matthew one day, Lauren's father replied, no, I'll take it to my grave and I'll still hate him. In the end, Matthew was sentenced to life in prison with no possibility of parole. Now, I can already tell that a few select people watching this video are going to run to the comments and start ranting about how this Christian man killed his wife. Let me just tell you, Matthew was not a Christian man.  In fact, one of his social media accounts didn't even describe himself as being a pastor or even a pastor in training. He described him as an entrepreneur. Christianity is about living up to the example that Christ set for his people, helping those who are less fortunate, loving our neighbors, and being in the world, but not of the world, and following the very simple commands that God has given to his followers. Matthew was none of those things. Matthew was a hateful man who turned his back on religion a long time ago. He is not representative of any Christian I've ever met, and it pains me to have even mentioned him in the context of being a minister of God's word. He's nothing but a wolf in a sheep's den, and Matthew got exactly what he deserved. But in the real world of Christianity, as painful as it may be to hear at times, there's always a possibility of redemption. And I certainly hope that before his life is over, Matthew is able to truly turn his life around and realize the pain and the grief that he's inflicted on so many innocent people, and maybe even turn himself around before it's too late. Melissa Jenkins was a schoolteacher and basketball coach from Vermont who went missing under mysterious circumstances in March of 2012. Thankfully, she was found within 24 hours of her disappearance, but unfortunately her discovery would reveal a disturbing crime that was committed by two suspects who claim they were her friends. Melissa Jenkins was a 33-year-old single mother who on the surface seemed like her typical American woman, but in reality she was far more than that. Melissa was truly one of the nicest women in her area and she would do just about anything for anyone. Everyone in her community, both before and after her untimely passing, had nothing but nice things to say about her. She made a living by teaching at St. Johnsbury Academy in Vermont. St. Johnsbury is a private school, but it's considered a non-profit as well, giving it a leg up over some other schools of this nature. Melissa was one of the school's science teachers who was loved by all of her students. Every year, it seemed like students fought as hard as they could to land a place in her class. She was a great teacher who got on well with all of her students and made sure that each of them felt welcomed, heard, and cared for. She always had her students' best interest at heart and had a true passion for furthering the future generations. When she wasn't teaching science, she spent her time coaching the school's basketball team. Coaching grades 9 through 12 as far as I can tell. Melissa knew that if her students were going to succeed, they not only needed a proper education, but they needed an extra curricular outlet as well, and she was more than willing to provide this for them. Not only was Melissa an amazing teacher and coach, but she was a great mother as well. We don't know much about what led Melissa to become a single mother, but we know that she had a two-year-old son who was the center of her world. Unfortunately, she needed to work two jobs to make ends meet, but she was happy to do so if it meant building a better life for her son. To make this happen, she would spend nights and weekends working as a waitress at a local restaurant. Considering Melissa spent almost every waking minute of her day, either at work or in the public in some capacity, it became all the more shocking when she seemingly dropped off the face of the earth on March 25, 2012. None of her friends were able to get in touch with her throughout that evening, and she'd been watching her two-year-old son that evening as well. So her boyfriend grew incredibly concerned for both the safety of Melissa and her son. After several hours went by and he had still been unable to reach her or locate her, he decided to call 911. It was March 25, 2012, when police received a call from Melissa's boyfriend. He explained that he'd received a call from Melissa earlier that night about a couple of friends of hers that were having car troubles. He explained that Melissa had offered to come help the friends out, but he never heard another word from her after this, despite dozens of phone calls. Her boyfriend continued by saying that he'd gone out looking for Melissa that evening, but he couldn't find any trace of her. But this is where things get pretty interesting. He explained that Melissa sounded strange when he spoke to her on the phone, but he didn't think much of it at the time. But he grew incredibly concerned when he found her car abandoned on Gos Hollow Road. This doesn't seem to have been a road that she would have normally traveled down. It was just a dirt road a short distance from her home. But her boyfriend couldn't figure out any reason that she would have been in this area at this time of night. When he approached her car, he realized it was still running. He looked in the windows, but there was no sign of Melissa. But then he noticed the most disturbing detail of all. Her son was still strapped into his car seat in the back of the car, all by himself. After telling police all of these details, investigators showed up within minutes. We don't know why the young boy wasn't given to his father, but he was sent to live with a family friend while police ironed out the details of what was going on. There were obvious signs of a struggle just outside of the car, including various shoe prints, scrapes, smudges, and unidentified tire tracks. A baseball hat was found on the ground near the front of the car, but it didn't belong to Melissa, and none of her friends or family recognized the hat. The tire tracks that were seen a short distance away looked as if the person driving the car had sped away in a hurry, but it was this next piece of evidence found near the tire tracks that made police all the more suspicious. They found Melissa's cell phone on the ground crushed and rendered useless. Officers collected the phone for evidence, but there wasn't much information on the phone that proved to be beneficial to the investigation. By the time detectives had collected all of the evidence from the scene of the crime, it was beginning to get dark out, meaning their investigation met a new challenge. Regardless, police worked tirelessly through the night to collect every piece of evidence they could, but it seemed the suspects had managed to successfully leave the scene of the crime without leaving anything of significance behind. Except for Melissa's two-year-old son. As it would turn out, he witnessed the entire struggle, and he was willing to tell the police everything he saw. As with most missing person cases, the first person detectives suspected of the crime was Melissa's boyfriend. Police interviewed the boyfriend, and he gave a few conflicting accounts to officers. According to Melissa's brother, the boyfriend wanted a serious relationship, but Melissa just wasn't into him like that, or at the very least, she wasn't ready for such a strong commitment so soon, considering she had a son now. She either wanted to break things off or just keep things somewhat casual. According to her brother, the boyfriend wouldn't let this go, and it seems as though he often pressured Melissa into committing, even though she wasn't ready. But when officers spoke with the boyfriend about this, he claimed that the brother was either lying or ignorant to the truth. According to the boyfriend, he agreed with Melissa's decision to take things slow. Police weren't buying this at first, so they decided to take a mold of his boots to compare them to the boot prints found at the scene of the crime. Turns out they weren't a match, and police decided to let him go. The following day, investigators called him the help of a detective who specialized in interviewing children. They brought in Melissa's son and spoke with him about what had happened that night, the night that his mother went missing. It turns out the boy, despite being only two years old, was able to reveal a lot of information to the police about the crime. He told investigators that his mother had been attacked by two people. Not only this, but when police asked him what happened to his mom, he grabbed himself by the neck, looked at the detective, and said, Mommy cried. After hearing this terrifying confession from Melissa's son, the next person of interest was the father of Melissa's son. Just to clarify things here, Melissa's boyfriend, the one we've been speaking about up to this point, the one that discovered her car, was not the father of her son. The boy's father lived about 80 miles away in Burlington. Police interviewed him, but he had an alibi and was cleared almost immediately. This brought police back to St. Johnsbury. When they made their way into Melissa's home, they searched every square inch of the property, but found no indication of a struggle or anything that was amiss. It seemed as though they'd reached a dead end. But as they looked around, they noticed one small detail that seemed vaguely interesting. A business card for a snow plowing business, owned by Alan and Patricia Prude. The police didn't know if this business card was significant, but it seemed as though she'd only recently received the card, so they thought the owners of the business might have some details to share if they happen to be present prior to the crime taking place. By this point in the investigation, police strongly suspected that Melissa had already lost her life. They kept their options open, but they prepared for the worst, as the evidence found at the scene of the crime didn't suggest that the perpetrators intended to keep Melissa alive for very long and time was running out. Police searched every possible area where someone might have wanted to dispose of incriminating evidence, but they continually turned up empty handed. They even searched all of the local rest stops and ditches, but there was nothing to be found. It was around the 24 hour mark that investigators received a tip that would blow the case wide open. Someone had called in from a local boat launch and reported that they noticed something suspicious sticking out of the water in a local fishing spot. Investigators didn't think much of it, but they decided to investigate anyway. Once they arrived, they immediately knew that they had encountered a crime scene. As they drew closer to the mysterious object in the water, they found out quite quickly that this wasn't an object. It was a woman, and this woman was none other than Melissa Jenkins. A scuba team was called to the scene of the crime to help collect all of the evidence that may have been left underwater. Mind you, all of this was taking place in the middle of March in Vermont. The waters were borderline freezing temperatures, but the scuba team had a job to do and they did it well. As they looked under the water, they found that Melissa had been secured in place with a few cinder blocks and rope. Thankfully, they were able to free her without much issue, allowing police to look into the case without too much degradation of evidence. Photos from the scene have been kept under wraps, but officers revealed that Melissa was placed in the water face down. She was then secured with the aforementioned cinder blocks and rope and was then covered up with sticks and brush to try to conceal her location. But this seems to have been done in a half hazard rush, proving that the criminals weren't prepared for this crime ahead of time. None of Melissa's clothes were found at the scene of the crime, and there was virtually no other evidence to lead investigators to the suspects that may have done this. But when she was pulled from the water, police realized something that shocked them to their core. When police looked into the evidence that was collected directly from Melissa's remains, they found that she was covered in bruises and had several serious wounds that were inflicted immediately prior to her losing her life. These wounds were indicative of a stun gun being repeatedly used, but the next piece of evidence wasn't what officers would have ever expected. They found that someone had taken Melissa's life with their bare hands, an up close and personal attack that wasn't consistent with the evidence officers had collected up to this point. They believed that they were initially investigating a crime of opportunity, but now they were investigating a crime of passion. When officers began to backtrack Melissa's steps from that day, they first checked her phone records to see who she'd spoken to that evening. They found one call had come in from a prepaid burner phone at around 8.30 that evening. They found that the burner phone had only been used to make this one single call. This led investigators to a store in New Hampshire where the phone had been purchased. When they asked the manager about the sale of the phone, they learned that the device had been purchased with a check. The signature on the check tied it to none other than Patricia Prue, the same name that had been printed on the business card that was found inside of Melissa's home. Police planned on calling in the Prues to interrogate them, but as it would turn out, they didn't need to call them because when they arrived back at the police station, the Prues were there waiting on them. When officers spoke with the couple, Patricia said that she'd come into the police station to report her identity as being stolen, and she believed her ex-husband was behind it. But police quickly turned the conversation to Melissa Jenkins, and the couple both admitted that they had met Melissa before. In fact, they were friends of hers. They'd plowed her driveway a couple times the previous winter, and friends and family of Melissa also said that this was true. They learned that Melissa was very friendly with the Prues couple, but that she hadn't spoken to them in several months. They had been reasonably close friends leading up to this, but according to one of Melissa's friends, Melissa had to end their agreement because she was creeped out by Allen. As it would turn out, Allen Prue had romantic feelings towards Melissa, but these feelings were not mutual. Allen had asked her out on multiple dates, but Melissa repeatedly declined and eventually terminated their business agreement as a result. The Prues were allowed to leave the police station that day, but they were secretly placed under police surveillance over the next few days. Investigators knew that the couple were acting suspicious, and they believed that they may be involved in the crime, but they just didn't have any evidence to prove it just yet. Police eventually managed to retrieve the CCTV footage from the store where the burner phone had been purchased, and as expected, both Allen and Patricia were seen in the footage. During their interrogation with the couple, police noted that Allen mentioned visiting a drive-thru restaurant that same evening, so they requested footage from the restaurant as well. When the footage finally arrived, investigators were speechless. The CCTV footage showed Allen wearing the same hat that had been found at the scene of the crime that day, the one that had been left in front of Melissa's car. Police called the couple back in for follow-up questions, this time speaking to them separately. Patricia denied any involvement and any knowledge about the crime even when she was confronted with the CCTV footage and the images from the scene of the crime. Allen, on the other hand, buckled under pressure. Allen opened up to the officers and explained the details of what had taken place that fateful evening, and it wasn't pretty. Police knew that he'd previously shown a romantic interest in Melissa, but they couldn't have expected what he revealed next. Allen admitted that his wife was bisexual, not only this, but she struggled with monogamy. She would often ask Allen if they could invite other partners into their bedroom, and he felt forced to comply. On this particular occasion, the couple had agreed to find someone willing to come home with them, and Allen specifically wanted to bring Melissa into the equation. The two hatched a plan to fake car troubles, calling Melissa to help them. It seems that the plan was simply to try to seduce Melissa into coming home with them, but the plan went south very quickly. Soon after Melissa arrived, Allen jumped on her and managed to overpower, but he wasn't able to finish the job. Patricia then jumped in and put an end to things, and the two worked together to steal Melissa in the back of their car, now panicking about what they had done. All the while, Melissa's son watched from the backseat of the car, with both Allen and Patricia blissfully unaware that Melissa had even brought her son with her that evening. The crime wasn't premeditated, so to speak. Yes, they conspired together to try to get Melissa to go home with them, but both Allen and Patricia insist that they had no plans of taking her life that day, and the evidence certainly seems to support this. Allen says that even after things went south, he still had no plans of claiming her life. He admitted to police that he wasn't feeling like himself that night and seems to have been filled with misguided rage, but when he realized what he was doing, he stopped. But that's where Patricia jumped in to finish the job, allegedly against Allen's wishes. During the couple's court proceedings and future interrogations, Allen continually claimed that Patricia was the one to blame for claiming Melissa's life. He admitted to letting his temper get the better of him and was willing to accept whatever punishment the court deemed necessary, but he never admitted to taking her life. Regardless, a jury decided that they were both guilty and sentenced each of them to life in prison. Both Patricia and Allen have appealed their sentences since then, but their cries have fallen on deaf ears. In the years since the crime, both Allen and Patricia have continued to blame one another, passing the buck, so to speak. The truth is, we don't know which of these two was truly the mastermind behind the crime. All I can say for sure is that, thankfully, it doesn't look like either of these two will ever see the light of day again, and Melissa's family can finally begin their search for closure. Most of us fall in love for the first time while we're still in school or attending college, and for Alex Skeel, a 28-year-old man from Stewardby in Bedfordshire, England, this was no different. But his case is one that's left many people in disbelief when it came to light that he'd been suffering horrific abuse at the hands of Jordan Worth, the woman who claimed to love him, and it would take a near-death incident to finally bring her heinous misdeeds into the public eye for all to see. Alex Skeel didn't have an easy start to his life. He and his twin brother Luke were both born prematurely on the 17th of August 1995, and weighing just two pounds, he had to spend some time in intensive care and underwent several surgical procedures while he was still an infant. He went on to make a full recovery, and later on, he and his brother became models for the well-known supermarket franchise, ASDA, a pretty happy ending to an otherwise tumultuous situation. While growing up, Alex developed a deep love for football, or soccer as we call it in the States, and Alex spent most of his weekends playing the game with his friends. By June of 2012, Alex was 16 years old and attending Bedford College in Bedford, England. It's here that he would meet Jordan Worth, a fellow student who was studying fine arts. On the 3rd of June of that year, one of Alex's friends was performing in a play at the college, and Alex decided to attend to show his support. Jordan was also in attendance, since one of her friends was also in the play, and soon, she and Alex started chatting. Alex had never shown much interest in women, but something felt different when he was with Jordan, and before long, he was falling head over heels for her. He found it surprising and exhilarating that Jordan showed interest in him, and at the time, he described her as a confident, caring, and loving person. He introduced her to his friends, and they all got along, though Jordan seemed reserved and introverted compared to the rest of the group. Regardless, they accepted Jordan for who she was, and soon, she was just as much a part of the group as anyone else. Alex later introduced Jordan to his family, and this is when he started to notice strange things about her behavior. Jordan would comment on the clothes that he was wearing, and on some occasions, would mention that she didn't like the color and that it didn't suit it, and that she thought he should wear something else. She would also make comments about other things like his hairstyle, suggesting that he'd rather wear it in a style that she preferred, and at first, he didn't think much of it, but changed some things that she had mentioned since he wanted to impress her. After all, every relationship is full of compromise, though admittedly, these were some pretty strange things to compromise on, and a lot of the time, it wasn't a compromise at all. It almost felt as though Jordan was demanding these things, while offering nothing in return. Alex's parents also started noticing that Jordan was playing mind games, and they tried to warn him, but he felt that when he and Jordan were alone, things were different, and although he had also noticed some strange behavior on her part, he was sure that it was nothing to worry about. That brings us to the 17th of August, 2013. Alex and Luke were celebrating their 18th birthdays, and their mother decided to make the day special by hiring a caterer and inviting all of their friends to celebrate with them. But when Jordan got wind that a certain family friend's daughter would be attending, she proclaimed that she wouldn't be going to the party, end of story, but Alex eventually convinced her to change her mind. During the night, though, an altercation broke out between Jordan and the girl, who was just 15 at the time, with Jordan hurling some rather nasty language towards her. Jordan was generally unhappy that Alex was spending all this time with people other than her. She wanted him all for herself and nothing else would do. Although Alex's friends tried to warn him that Jordan was nothing but trouble, he just couldn't see it. Considering how much he loved her, he allowed her antics to continue, believing it was all for the best. After this argument at the party, the couple started fighting much more frequently, and on one occasion, Jordan lost her temper and snapped Alex's phone's SIM card in half, preventing him from contacting anyone on his phone. He suddenly realized that his family and friends were right, and he decided to end the relationship, much to the relief of everyone around him. From this point forward, things seemed like they'd begun to cool down for Alex. His life gradually got back to normal and all was well. But Jordan she had other things in mind. Unfortunately, as is true in many abusive relationships, the separation between Alex and Jordan didn't last long. Just a few days after the breakup, Jordan arrived at the family's house with the shocking news that she was pregnant with Alex's child. He agreed to support Jordan and their child financially, but told her that they couldn't be in a relationship since he couldn't handle the mind games and her controlling behavior. For the next 12 months, they had virtually no contact, and for Alex, things couldn't have been better. Jordan gave birth to a healthy baby boy on the 19th of May, 2014, and without prior warning, Jordan showed up to the family's home with the boy so that everyone can meet him. Though Alex was unhappy with Jordan being invited into the house, his family felt that she changed after becoming a mother, since she showed none of the strange behavior that they'd witnessed in the past. For Alex though, the wounds still felt too fresh, and he wanted no part in this. Instead, he decided to meet his son for the first time without Jordan present, opting instead to do so with his grandfather, who he was very close with by a side. But before long, as you probably expected, Alex and Jordan started spending time together again while caring for their son, and the following year, they decided to officially and formally get back together. This time, everything seemed different. Jordan truly seemed to have turned over a new leaf, and by Alex's own admittance, the relationship was better than it had ever been. But just a short while later, Alex's family started noticing more alarming behavior, and when Alex confronted Jordan about it, she lost her temper yet again. She told Alex that he had to choose between her and his family. Alex didn't want to be separated from his son, and so he decided to move in with Jordan. His family wouldn't see him again for the next two years. The couple had moved into Jordan's parents' house, but here, Jordan's controlling behavior only escalated. She forced Alex to change his phone number, and on several occasions a