Mile Higher

It’s May 2019, and the medical staff at Treliske (Treh-lisk) Hospital in Cornwall have just received a notice: their colleague, vascular surgeon Neil Hopper, is being rushed to their facility. Following a week in which he suffered from cold sweats and a fever, Neil’s feet became septic, and his team thought he would have to lose them. And while his colleagues felt awful for him and expected him to be depressed about the loss, Neil seemed to be in good spirits. He was upbeat, hopeful, and didn’t even seem to miss his legs. This shocked everyone, and they thought that he was just making the best of a bad situation. In reality, losing his legs is exactly what Neil Hopper wanted all along.

On May 7th, 2011, Anita Turner placed an emergency call near Bournemouth in the United Kingdom. Her son, Elliot, had discovered his girlfriend, Emily Longley, dead in bed. However, as the investigation went on, law enforcement soon learned that Emily had been involved in a horrific relationship with Elliot Turner, and he had threatened to kill her for months. What followed was a search for clues, a bugged home, and even potential assistance from Elliot’s parents; the question remained: what happened to Emily Longely?

On the night of March 12, 2011, in the quiet San Diego suburb of Mira Mesa, paramedics were dispatched to the home of Karina and David Ditto in response to Karina falling down the stairs. When they arrive, paramedics are surprised to find Karina is suffering from cardiac arrest – a strange anomaly for a fall victim. It’s clear this isn’t the scene of some accident but rather a heated domestic dispute. When Karina passes away from her injuries, David Ditto is quickly arrested once investigators learn how she actually died.

On June 28th, 2007, Paige Birgfeld was returning to her home in Fort Collins from a date with her ex-husband. However, as the hours ticked on, it became clear that somewhere along the road, Paige had gone missing under mysterious circumstances. But how did this upstanding single mother find herself in the position to go missing? As investigators would soon find out, Paige led a secret double life, one that introduced her to a slew of unsavory individuals. Following her disappearance, a burning car, and scattered notes, the question on everyone's minds was: what happened to Paige Birgfeld?

For many in London, the Tara Yoga Center seemed a friendly, welcoming environment for those seeking spiritual enlightenment. However, they would have no idea that its larger organization, MISA, was founded by an international criminal wanted for crimes related to sex trafficking, sexual coercion, and cult practices. His name was Gregorian Bivolaru, and for decades, he used his status as a spiritual guru to recruit young women for his own sexual pleasure and hold them in sex slavery to enrich his organization.

Shortly after a whirlwind romance, Ian Diaz and his new wife, Angela, began receiving disturbing messages from an unknown email, claiming to be someone named “Lilith.” These emails threatened Angela, their unborn twins, and even claimed to be finding strange men to assault her. Once the authorities were involved, they turned their attention to Ian’s ex, Michelle Hadley, who had sent Ian strange emails in the wake of their breakup. But following an insane turn of events, including fake cancer, wrongful imprisonment, and abuse of power, the question remained: Who was Lilith?

In May 2001, college intern Chandra Levy was preparing to return to her home in Northern California after living in DC for half a year. However, after her parents didn’t hear from her for several days, they reported her missing to the Metropolitan Police. When the police entered Chandra’s apartment, they found notes from the building’s management scattered across the floor and a voicemail full of messages. While most of the messages were from her parents, two were from Congressman Gary Condit, asking when he could see her again. Those messages were placed on May 1st, the last day Chandra was seen alive. What followed was over two decades of political scandal, false confessions, and loose threads that led nowhere. All of this, and the question still remains: what happened to Chandra Levy?

For Brian and Lynette Hooker, a life at sea had always been the goal. Over the past few years, they documented their travels aboard their sailboat, named Soulmate. However, under the surface, there were allegations and instances of domestic violence, sometimes even fueled by alcohol aboard the cramped nautical spaces. That’s why, in April of this year, 2026, it was very suspicious when Brian washed up alone in a dinghy. He said that Lynette had been tossed from the small boat and was last seen swimming away. But as the search-and-rescue team and Lynette’s family noticed inconsistencies in Brian’s story, they suspected that something far more sinister had taken place.

In the early morning hours of February 20th, 2025, a five-year-old girl in Carrollton, Georgia, woke up and discovered a truly horrific sight: her parents, 45-year-old James Brock and 41-year-old Kristin Brock, had been shot to death in their bedroom. The girl rushed to her sister’s room just down the hall, where 16-year-old Sarah Grace Patrick called the police, alerting them that her parents were dead. The home had no signs of forced entry, and the murder weapon was unrecovered. In the months afterward, Sarah Grace made several suspicious choices- delivering a bizarre eulogy, posting dozens of grief-filled videos on social media, and reaching out to true crime creators, telling them her parents’ case would be “a big hit.” This, and several unknown pieces of evidence, made investigators wonder: Did Sarah Grace Patrick murder her mother and stepfather in cold blood?

In March 2022, Utah mom and realtor Kouri Richins called 911 after finding her husband, Eric, dead in their bed. For a year, she played the grieving widow, even publishing a children’s grief book about his death. Then, investigators uncovered fentanyl, secret affairs, and a trail of deleted messages. In this episode, we dive into the night Eric died, the hidden motives, and the courtroom showdown that decided whether Kouri Richins is a murderer.

While we’ve covered a number of missing-person cases, almost always, the last time the victim is seen is also the last time they’re heard from. However, that wasn’t the case with Frauke Liebs, who disappeared in June 2006, after watching a World Cup game with her friends at a bar in Paderborn, Germany. Over the next several days, her friends and family would receive cryptic calls from Frauke, each time claiming she was headed home. Years later, following the strange communications, unknown movements, and a potential connection to two of Germany’s most prolific serial killers, the question remains: What happened to Frauke Liebs?

While we’ve certainly covered many parents who are also criminals, I’m sure we can all name a few parents who should have been held culpable for their poor parenting. These cases run the gamut from those who tried far too hard to be the cool parents (and trying to live out their High School years again), to parents who tried to involve their children in harebrained schemes. These are some cases where the parents weren’t just criminals, but were criminals in the way they parented.

Faith Hedgepeth was a bright, bubbly young woman who had become a friendly face at both her college, UNC, and her hometown. On campus, she was often seen walking around with her best friend, Karena, and the two grew closer once they moved in together. But after Karena returned home one morning to find that Faith had been brutally murdered, the entire community was gripped with shock, grief, and mystery. After investigators found DNA and a cryptic note at the scene, interviewed and tested nearly 1,800 people, the question remains: who murdered Faith Hedgepeth?

For many, the double murder case that put Makcenzie Shirilla behind bars to serve a life sentence comes as one of the most shocking true crime cases in recent memory. Driving on an obscure road in her small town of Strongville, Ohio, Mackenzie slammed her vehicle into the side of a building at nearly 100 MPH, immediately killing her passengers, Dominic Russo and Davion Flanagan. While the case garnered much attention at the time, it has recently reentered the public conversation following Netflix’s documentary, The Crash. So today, we’re reexamining the case, looking at new evidence, body cam footage, text messages, and jail cell confessions in an attempt to provide the most complete picture of Mackenzie and her crimes.

On the surface, Gerard Baden-Clay and his wife Allison had it all. A successful luxury property business, a beautiful young family, and a prestigious family lineage tracing back to the founder of the Boy Scouts. However, in reality, Gerard had woven a web of lies, affairs, and massive loans, all without his family even knowing. However, when it all started crashing down around him, Gerard decided the easiest way out was to kill his own wife. What followed were only more pathetic lies, appeals, attempts to hide the answer to this question: what happened to Allison Baden-Clay.

Lisa Dorrian was a bright, beloved young woman spending her early 20s in her hometown of Bangor, Northern Ireland. However, in early 2005, her family noticed a shift in their daughter once she began hanging out with a new friend group, and her weekend activities changed from light partying to heavy drug use. Following a strange party in a caravan park, Lisa reportedly ran off into the night, never to be seen again. Now, over 20 years later, the theories range from drug debts to paramilitary organizations, and the question remains: what happened to Lisa Dorrian?

On the surface, Victoria Cillier’s life seemed to be picturesque. She had just given birth to her second child with her husband, Emile, and the couple had planned a skydiving excursion for Victoria. However, little did she know that her husband had been marred by debt and affairs, and that he could see only one way out. When Victoria’s parachute malfunctioned, she plummeted 4,000 feet to the ground. Upon inspection, it quickly became clear that this was no freak accident; this was an attempted murder. And even worse, it was the second attempt that week.

By 2015, Peter Madsen had become an eccentric celebrity, known as a mad scientist who had not only built the world’s largest civilian submarine, but was working on a rocket that could bring him into space. This attracted the attention of numerous journalists, including Kim Wall, whose work focused on the extreme and eccentric across the world. However, for all his fanfare, Peter was harboring a deep secret: an obsession with violence, torture, and a hatred towards women. He would enact those fantasies on Kim while they were underwater in his submarine, with no one around to know the truth. In the years, since, Peter has changed his story numerous times, tried to assign blame to others, and even attempted a daring jail escape. Yet, the question still remains: what happened to Kim Wall aboard the Nautilus Submarine?

Following the publication of the book Sybil, the general public became fascinated with Dissociative Identity Disorder (then known as Multiple Personalities). However, nothing would capture this attention more than the case of Billy Milligan, who, after raping several women on the campus of Ohio State University, became the first person to plead insanity due to DID successfully. What followed was public scrutiny and attention, asking if he was simply faking the whole thing to avoid consequences, or if he truly had to contend with 24 distinct, unique personalities. But the story didn’t end there: there were novels published, movies in talk, and even a cross-country escape, all pointing to the question: what's the truth behind the many identities of Billy Milligan?

The American landscape is littered with ghost towns. One of the earliest settlements in the United States was abandoned without a trace of the settlers, sparking perhaps the first mystery in American history: what happened to the Roanoke colony? Among other places with roaring underground fires, abandoned school buses, and locations wiped from memory entirely. Today, we’re going to talk about all this and more and try to answer the question: what makes a place vanish?

Today, the fear of hacking into our government’s sensitive digital information is one of the country’s top national security priorities. However, what if the largest U.S. government hack in history wasn’t perpetrated by a foreign adversary, but a regular guy with his home computer in London? Gary McKinnon, using off-the-shelf, legal software, was able to hack dozens of Government computers, some even located in the Pentagon. His goal: to spread his political message of anti-imperialism and search for evidence of extraterrestrial life. But what followed his hacks was a decade in which he feared extradition and a life behind bars in the United States. Still, the question remains: what did he find?

In the lead-up to the COVID-19 pandemic, Gretchen Anthony’s life had undergone some big changes. She had just filed for divorce from her second husband, David Anthony, and changed the locks after he showed up one night ranting about the end of the world. However, her friends and family were disturbed when she texted them, telling them she had been diagnosed with the virus. However, her texts didn’t sound like Gretchen had written them; in fact, they sounded more like David. What followed was a cross-country chase, a scuffle with police, and the ever-present question: where was Gretchen Anthony?

While the Bible appears to be the complete written record of the Christian faith, there are multiple books of the Apocrypha that have not been included in the classic Western Bible. The most famous of these is the book of Enoch, which sheds light on the mysterious Bible character. Why was this book taken out of the Bible? Was it due to differing views on doctrine, or maybe because The Book of Enoch contains information on Ancient Aliens, Giants, and advanced Civilizations thousands of years ago?

Throughout the 20th century, the general public was entranced by stories of Alien abduction. For one man, Budd Hopkins, these weren’t just the odd paranormal occurrence but a field of science worth studying. The only problem was verifying the claims of those he was speaking to. However, that changed when he met Linda Napolitano, A New Yorker who might have had the most important abduction in history: Linda was taken from her high-rise Manhattan Apartment, and was witnessed by 23 onlookers.

Suchir Balaji was an extremely bright young software engineer. Straight out of college, he joined OpenAI and wrote some of the original code responsible for ChatGPT. However, as the company enjoyed success and massive press coverage, Suchir became concerned about some of its practices regarding plagiarism. After he left the company, Suchir became a whistleblower and joined a massive lawsuit against the company. As his fame grew, Suchir’s family was shocked to find him dead in his apartment in an apparent suicide. But, due to his high-profile nature as a whistleblower, his family and many others online have asked the question: Was Suchir murdered?

Twins Danette and Jeannette Millbrook were well-known in their Augusta, Georgia, community as sweet teenagers who adored their mother, Miss Louise. However, on one fateful Sunday in 1990, Jeannette and Dannette walked across town to get bus money for school. However, that would be the last time they were ever seen again. With police misconduct, a mysterious dumping ground, and confessions from associates of their criminal father, the question remains: where are the Millbrook twins?

When Police arrived at the scene of Tiffiney Crawford’s home, they believed they were entering into a routine suicide investigation. Her husband, Jason Crawford, had called 911, explaining that Tiffiney had been shot, though he wasn’t willing to say who had shot her. However, as others investigated, it became clear that this was much stranger than it initially seemed: Tiffiney had been killed by two gunshot wounds to the head. As the investigation continued, they learned of infidelity, violence, and a potential cover-up that led to the question: What happened to Tiffiney Crawford?

Most of us had a fantasy growing up of having a Toys R Us all to ourselves. Bikes to ride in the aisles, video games to play until the sun came up, and as much candy as you could eat. However, one man, Jeffrey Allen Manchester, got to live this fantasy as an adult. Only, he had just escaped from prison. After robbing nearly 45 McDonald’s and cutting out of jail, Jeff evaded the cops by living in the walls of a Toys R Us and the Circuit City next door, passing the time by playing with toys, spying on the employees, or going to church. But just how did a prolific criminal not only escape from jail, but live out the dream of every kid in America while doing it?

Life seemed to be ideal for Yvonne Baldelli. She had just left her successful management job and moved to Panama with her ex-marine boyfriend, Brian Brimager. To her family in the States, Yvonne’s island life seemed picaresque, with descriptions of walks on the beach and playing music at local bars. But when those happy emails stopped, Brian returned to the U.S. and married a new woman within two weeks. The only question: where was Yvonne?

Since the dawn of time, just about every culture on earth has asked the question: What happens after you die? While many religions and faiths propose some form of afterlife, many also believe in reincarnation. And for those at the University of Virginia’s Department of Perceptual Studies, children in particular are susceptible to remembering elements of their past lives. From WWII bombers to Titanic victims, today we’re going over a few of these stories and asking the question: Can you remember your past life?

Molly McLaren’s life was very promising. As a college student with a keen interest in fitness and nutrition, she had amassed a following on social media through honest posts about her struggles with mental health and wellness, and for inspiring others to live life to the fullest. But after she met a man named Joshua Stimpson on Tinder, that same honesty and struggles with mental health were used against her as he stalked and harassed her on the internet and in real life. Only two weeks after they broke up, Josh stalked her to her gym and murdered Molly in broad daylight. This raises the question: how well do you know the people you meet online?

In 2023, the small town of Korumburra in Australia was shocked when 4 of its most well-respected community members were poisoned and on the edge of death. The murder weapon? A beef wellington cooked by their daughter, Erin Patterson. What followed was years of tracking cell-phone towers, foraging, and a web of lies that asked the question: Did Erin Patterson poison her own family with death cap mushrooms?

In March of 1982, Alpine Meadows ski resort near Lake Tahoe was experiencing the blizzard of the century. Ski Patrol members were bombing the hill, blind firing in whiteout conditions to prevent a massive buildup. However, when a wall of ice hit the ski terminal building at the base of the mountain, everyone asked how could this happen? Who was buried beneath? Is anyone still alive underneath the snow?

Perhaps the most useful invention in the 20th century didn’t come from a famous scientist but, maybe, a guy in his garage. Stanley Meyer claimed to have constructed the first engine that ran solely on water, and even said that it could get you from New York to LA with only 22 gallons. However, Stanley mysteriously dies while at lunch with investors, saying with his last words, “They poisoned me!” Now, over 20 years later, the question remains: Was Stanley Meyer killed for threatening the oil industry? How realistic was his invention? And where is the water car now?

When Real Housewives premiered the first season of their Salt Lake City installation, soon, the only cast member everyone was talking about was Mary Cosby. The outsized character rose to prominence as the leader of her grandmother’s church, Faith Temple Ministries, and sparked even more conversation when it was learned she didn’t just take her grandma’s church; she took her husband, too. However, Mary and her Step-Grandfather/husband, Robert Cosby, were soon under fire, following testimony from former church members that alleged spiritual, financial, and physical abuse by the church leaders. All of these conversations led to one question: Is Mary Cosby running a cult?

On December 29, 1999, Lauria Bible visited the home of her best friend, Ashley Freeman, to celebrate her 16th birthday. The two had been inseparable since they were little girls, and the two families were very friendly with one another. But after the Freeman family's home was set on fire that night, police were able to locate the body of Ashley’s mother and determined that she had been murdered. However, the Sheriff’s Office seemed to drop the case completely, perhaps due to issues with the Freeman family. This led to Lauria’s family investigating the case for nearly 20 years, following leads to cartel leaders, abandoned mines, and known meth cooks to try and answer the question: what happened to Ashley Freeman and Lauria Bible?

In the small town of Florence, Colorado, the morticians became trusted individuals and pillars of the community. Perhaps the most respected were Charles Giebler, Anthony Wright, and Byron Griffy. But after Byron was found dead under mysterious circumstances, the town was soon caught up in a web of Charles and Anthony’s lies, deceit, manipulation, and maybe even murder. Everything pointed to the question: Who killed Byron Griffy?

For Ajike Owens, her small community in Ocala, Florida, supported her young family as her children would regularly play together in a nearby open space. However, that all changed when the “perfect neighbor,” Susan Lorincz, moved in and began harassing the children with slurs, threats, and dozens of 9-11 calls. This continued to escalate until eventually, Susan shot Ajike in cold blood. The tragic killing would garner international attention, and soon, it called into question everything from police response, stand your ground laws, and, of course, racism at large in the United States.

When 24-year-old Danyé Jones was discovered hanging from a tree in St. Louis County, local police quickly labeled it a suicide. But his mom, Melissa, a fierce frontline activist from Ferguson, had a different story to tell. Her viral post stirred up headlines, alleging her son didn't take his own life but was lynched. Despite efforts to challenge the suicide ruling and seek transparency, authorities maintained their position. The case remains unresolved, leaving unanswered questions about the circumstances surrounding Danyé Jones's death and the pursuit of justice in Ferguson.

Grace Millane was about to celebrate her birthday abroad, having spent months traveling through South America before exploring Auckland, New Zealand. However, when her family back home in the UK hadn’t heard from her in weeks, they contacted the police in New Zealand. What followed was a strange Tinder date, a hidden identity, and thousands of hours of CCTV footage that all tried to answer the question: what happened to Grace Millane?

For many, the landmark 2006 documentary The Secret was their first introduction to new age spiritualism and the law of attraction. This turned many of the Self-Help gurus featured in the documentary into overnight celebrities, including James Arthur Ray. From his “rockstar,” style seminars and in your face attitude, James rose to prominence by giving his attendees immense challenges, pushing them to breakthrough. But when a sweat lodge ran by James killed three people, the question remained: was he at fault? Did his teachings lead to this? Would he ever face justice or apologize?

It’s May of 2000, and Antarctica is deep into its over 7-month winter. At the Amundson-Scott base, only the toughest researchers and workers remain to conduct their studies within the continent’s constant dark. Scientist Rodney Marks was one of them and was now spending his second whole winter on the ice. However, one night, he fell gravely ill and soon died without anyone knowing why. When his body was retrieved months later, and it was determined he was poisoned, questions arose around the circumstances, lifestyle, and possible motives for the only possible murder in Antarctic history.

In the early morning hours of September 13th, 2013, Tiffany Whitton was shopping with her boyfriend, Ashley Caudle, when two loss prevention associates approached her. They informed her that they had seen her shoplifting on CCTV. Her next response? She ran off, and what’s even stranger is that she was never seen again. In a case filled with drug addiction, lies, and multiple arrests, the question remains: where is Tiffany Whitton?

Halloween is typically reserved for a different, more primordial form of evil. A time when the problems of this world are forgotten as we linger with the ghouls and goblins of the next. But what about the goblins of this world? Would we recognize them if we saw them ourselves? Would the monsters of this world wield evil weapons? Or would they be weird guys obsessed with esoteric political theory? Would they know dark magic, or did they simply get their start in evilness by coding B2B SAS? Are any of their hairlines actually real? On this Halloween episode, we dive into the backstories of 4 of our most evil billionaires: Mark Zuckerberg, Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk, and Peter Thiel.

For many, Halloween is the one time of year when you can shed your skin and become another person, engaging in activities you would never even consider throughout the rest of the year. But some people take that as an excuse for cranking things up to eleven and wreaking havoc and chaos on their communities. Today, we’re looking at Halloween gone wrong: from over-the-top pranks to myths and legends, and even some crimes committed in the name of the Halloween spirit.

In 2018, Karlie Gusé was getting her school life back on track. She had spent the summer with her new boyfriend and had been introduced to marijuana. After she had been caught using weed on school campus, she was put into mandatory counseling sessions and a program to get her back on track. And while she was doing very well for nearly two months, that all changed when she smoked weed while at a small gathering with friends. She entered a state of psychosis, and her family thought it would be best if she slept it off. But when they woke up the next morning, Karlie was nowhere to be seen. Following years of searches, missing posters, and misinformation, the question remains: where is Karlie Gusé?

Everyone knows about the Dyatlov Pass Incident, but what if we told you there’s another, more mysterious incident that took place in Siberia’s Khamar-Daban mountains in 1993? On a seemingly routine hike, suddenly, six experienced students began convulsing, tearing at their clothes, and even bleeding out of their eyes. What’s more mysterious is that one survivor saw it all and disappeared shortly afterwards. Were they subjected to a secret military test? Experienced something paranormal next to the world’s oldest lake? Or something even more sinister on this lonely mountain pass?

After years of being independent in Miami, 31-year-old property manager Aileen Seiden was living happily when she reconnected with an old friend from High School, Zachary Abell. While the two became romantically involved, Zach refused to leave his other girlfriend, Christina Araujo. While Zach convinced Aileen to join their relationship, she was unaware that both of them had extremely violent tendencies. What followed was years of abuse within this throuple, a two-week road trip, a mysterious hotel room, and a question: who killed Aileen Seiden?

In the world of scammers, fraudsters, and snake-oil salesmen, one stands out: Pastor David E. Taylor. Known as the Face-to-Face Apostle, David has claimed to speak to Jesus in person while his ministry amassed a following that gave him over $50 million. But, on August 27th, 2025, he and his director, Michelle Brannon, were arrested on charges of money laundering, forced labor, and allegations of human trafficking. For over ten years, David operated an abusive scheme using unpaid call-center workers to scam thousands of people in exchange for miracles. How did one man go from an apostle of God himself with a Presidential Achievement Award to the subject of a massive FBI Raid?

For years, the quiet community of Gateway in Arkansas was terrorized by its police chief, Grant Hardin. A volatile man, Grant was known for chasing down residents, pointing service weapons at them, and constantly responding with violence. Following his resignation, Grant’s story took a dark turn that involved murder, an unsolved 20-year-old crime, and even a daring prison escape that left his victims wondering: Where is Grant Hardin?