A trusted mentor. Four phones. Hundreds of messages. We trace how a robotics “helper” turned access into leverage and mentorship into control, grooming a 17-year-old through flattery, secrecy, and fear. The story unfolds in stages: off-campus meetups, gas station weed, a house visit that became a crime scene, and a flight to a rural hideout where deputies later seized devices and a firearm. What emerges through texts, diary entries, and an interview is a pattern that experts recognize: minimi...
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A trusted mentor. Four phones. Hundreds of messages. We trace how a robotics “helper” turned access into leverage and mentorship into control, grooming a 17-year-old through flattery, secrecy, and fear. The story unfolds in stages: off-campus meetups, gas station weed, a house visit that became a crime scene, and a flight to a rural hideout where deputies later seized devices and a firearm. What emerges through texts, diary entries, and an interview is a pattern that experts recognize: minimi...
A trusted mentor. Four phones. Hundreds of messages. We trace how a robotics “helper” turned access into leverage and mentorship into control, grooming a 17-year-old through flattery, secrecy, and fear. The story unfolds in stages: off-campus meetups, gas station weed, a house visit that became a crime scene, and a flight to a rural hideout where deputies later seized devices and a firearm. What emerges through texts, diary entries, and an interview is a pattern that experts recognize: minimi...
A simple traffic stop cracked open a far more unsettling story. We start with a warrant, a BMW X5, and a baggie that tested positive for cocaine—but the real revelations unfold through a chain of search warrants, IP logs, Amazon receipts, and devices pulled from a condo that point to harassment, nonconsensual recording, and calculated online impersonation. We walk through how fake Instagram accounts pushed intimate videos to the victim’s contacts, how detectives traced activity back to a Veri...
Blue lights cut through the dark on KY-80, a state trooper lies 18 feet from his cruiser, and the questions haven’t stopped for 35 years. We revisit the life and final shift of Kentucky State Trooper Johnny Edrington, retracing the timeline from Post 11 to a fateful U-turn after a speeding pickup and the moments that vanished in between. With eyewitness accounts, a stolen light-colored Ford truck, and scene details that don’t add up, we unpack a case that sits between homicide, suicide, and s...
The predatory saga of former teacher Brittany Fortenberry takes another disturbing turn as we examine shocking new allegations from a third victim. What began as innocent visits to a friend's "aunt's" house quickly spiraled into a calculated pattern of exploitation that parents never suspected. Through exclusive analysis of the latest probable cause affidavit, we uncover how Fortenberry allegedly groomed this teenage boy beginning at age 14. The victim describes a methodical progression of b...
The digital shadows we cast can sometimes conceal our darkest impulses - but what happens when the monster behind the screen is the very person sworn to protect you? In the tiny Michigan town of Bill City (population 312), 13-year-old Lauren received her first anonymous text message during a Halloween party. "Owen is breaking up with you," it claimed, referring to her boyfriend. What began as seemingly typical teenage drama quickly spiraled into a 15-month nightmare of relentless psychologic...
What happens when every system meant to protect a child fails at once? Five-year-old Zara Arnold's story answers this question in the most devastating way possible. Zachary Arnold's violent history was no secret. With multiple arrests for violating protective orders, stalking charges, and even a rape accusation, he was a walking red flag. Yet somehow, the courts kept setting him free with minimal consequences, reducing his bonds from $200,000 to just $4,000, and dismissing serious felony cha...
A disturbing pattern of institutional failure at Mooresville Christian Academy has finally come to light with the arrest of Jacob Wessel, a former robotics teacher now facing multiple charges involving minors. For years, school administrators ignored glaring red flags while Wessel allegedly groomed and victimized students right under their noses. The earliest documented incident dates back to 2021, when Wessel reportedly showed pornography to a 12-year-old student while driving him to a socc...
What drives someone to risk everything for the darkest of compulsions? In this gripping episode, we dive into the disturbing case of Christopher Cooley, a Mooresville man who couldn't stop his predatory behavior even while out on bond for child exploitation charges. The digital breadcrumbs tell a chilling story. Despite pretrial release restrictions, Cooley acquired burner phones, created fake accounts, and attempted to cover his tracks with technological tricks that ultimately failed. When ...
What drives a person down a path of escalating criminal behavior despite multiple chances at redemption? In this eye-opening episode, we dive deep into the troubling case of Ryan Davis, Indiana DOC inmate #263161, whose criminal journey spans decades and reveals critical failures in our justice system. From a Christmas Day arrest for syringes to hiding in a police officer's attic, carjacking a neighbor, and most recently being caught with a 15-year-old runaway and dangerous drugs, Davis's st...
Nestled among Kentucky's rolling hills and bourbon distilleries, Bardstown's charm earned it the title "America's Most Beautiful Small Town" in 2012. Yet behind this picturesque facade lurks a darker reality—five unsolved murders that have traumatized the community and left families searching for answers for over a decade. At the heart of this mystery is Crystal Rogers, a devoted mother of five who vanished without a trace on July 3, 2015. Her abandoned car discovered on the Bluegrass Parkwa...
A father's worst nightmare unfolded in the dead of night when Aaron Spencer discovered his 14-year-old daughter missing from her bed. What followed was a desperate search that would end in bloodshed and raise profound questions about justice, protection, and the failures of our legal system. At the center of this Arkansas tragedy stands Michael Fosler, a 67-year-old Army veteran facing 43 felony charges including rape, sexual assault, and possession of child sexual abuse material—all related...
The true crime landscape is forever changed when you hear the story of Morgan D. Stapp, a mother of seven whose life spiraled into a nightmare of unimaginable accusations. What began as a shocking headline—a 32-year-old woman allegedly attempting to sell her infant daughter for sexual acts via Snapchat—quickly evolves into a complex digital mystery that challenges everything we think we know about online evidence. As we delve into the FBI investigation that started with disturbing messages t...
Some crimes shake us to our core, forcing us to confront uncomfortable questions about justice, revenge, and where to draw the line. The case of Allen Cogswell and Nicholas Stanley embodies this moral quandary in its rawest form. When authorities discovered explicit images of underage girls on Allen Cogswell's phone in January 2018, they uncovered something far more disturbing. Two young sisters, just five and seven years old, revealed during forensic interviews that Cogswell had been enteri...
Trust shattered in an instant. The Jayson Tatlock case reveals the devastating consequences when school authority figures cross unthinkable boundaries with students under their care. This episode unpacks the troubling relationship between Jayson Tatlock, a 45-year-old school resource officer with extensive law enforcement experience, and a 17-year-old Bloomington North High School student. What began as casual office visits morphed into something far more sinister when Tatlock took the stude...
A chilling investigation unfolds as we dissect the case of Jayson Tatlock, a former school resource officer who betrayed his position of trust in the most devastating way. What started as seemingly innocent interactions with a 17-year-old student spiraled into a calculated pattern of grooming that culminated in sexual assault during a private fishing trip. The evidence paints a disturbing portrait of predatory behavior. Tatlock meticulously established himself as a trusted figure—bringing St...
Two predators, two victims, and a system that failed them both. In the quiet city of Anderson, Indiana, Leslie Houston's life ended violently at the hands of her husband of seven years, John Daughtry. What began as a medical emergency call quickly revealed a horrifying pattern of abuse that had been occurring for years. Leslie's body told a story her voice no longer could – bruises in various stages of healing, evidence of strangulation, and a fatal brain hemorrhage that doctors immediately r...
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The digital shadows that conceal online predators are being illuminated by sophisticated detective work, as demonstrated in the shocking case of Ryan Wade Layman - a recently retired Martinsville firefighter facing multiple felony charges for child exploitation and possession of child pornography. Detective Jonathan Moscato's investigation through the Indiana Internet Crimes Against Children task force revealed a disturbing pattern of activity on the eDonkey file-sharing network that led dir...
The haunting question "What would happen if I said I lied?" sits at the heart of this gripping exploration into a long-buried child sexual abuse case that's finally seeing the light of day. Ten years after a teenage victim recanted her allegations against her stepfather, she's back—armed with recordings, screenshots, and the unshakable determination to set the record straight. John Dale Payton, a longtime resident of Morgan County, Indiana, now faces serious felony child molestation charges ...
A mother's worst nightmare unfolds in real-time at an Indianapolis hotel when she returns to Room 111 to find convicted child molester Bruce Pierce attacking her 12-year-old daughter. In that split-second of horror, she makes a decision that will forever alter multiple lives—she draws her gun and fires. The bullet-riddled walls of Room 111 tell only part of a story that stretches back more than a decade. Bruce Pierce's predatory shadow first emerged in 2013 when a courageous 10-year-old girl...
A trusted mentor. Four phones. Hundreds of messages. We trace how a robotics “helper” turned access into leverage and mentorship into control, grooming a 17-year-old through flattery, secrecy, and fear. The story unfolds in stages: off-campus meetups, gas station weed, a house visit that became a crime scene, and a flight to a rural hideout where deputies later seized devices and a firearm. What emerges through texts, diary entries, and an interview is a pattern that experts recognize: minimi...
