When Brooke Skylar Richardson, 18, discovered she was pregnant, she was afraid to tell either her parents, who would have been shocked and disappointed, or her boyfriend Brandon Saylor, Richardson is charged with aggravated murder, involuntary manslaughter, endangering children, tampering with evidence and abuse of a corpse for the incident that occurred in May 2017. Brandon Saylor, Richardson’s boyfriend in the winter and spring of 2017. The 21-year-old said he did not know Richardson was pregnant when they went to prom in May 2017. He only learned about it about on television when the remains were recovered. In the hours after the birth, well before he or anyone knew there was a birth, she texted Saylor: “Ill tell you all about it later but last night was like the worst ever and I didn’t go to sleep till 5:30 but I feel soooooo much better this morning I’m happy.” The prosecution also showed a series of text messages between Richardson and her mother just before and after the baby was born, talking about getting birth control and weight loss. The jury was again shown a photo of Richardson working out that the gym on the night after giving birth in which she was tracking her weight loss. Skylar was found not guilty of aggravated murder and involuntary manslaughter, but will spend three years on probation for “gross abuse of a corpse.” This episode contains excerpts from the trial: Brandon Saylor on direct, and Detective Christopher Wong (cellphone expert) on direct, reading texts between Skylar and her mom, Kim Richardson. Listen to the episode here.

Pensacola private investigator and former police officer Taylor Wright, 33, was last seen on September 7, 2017. Taylor had been going through a difficult divorce and had taken money that the court had ordered her to pay to her ex-husband, Jeff, who’d been given custody of their young son, Drake. When she went missing, gun-loving Taylor had been living with a woman, P.E. teacher Cassandra Waller, but this couple, too, were at odds. Cassandra had just discovered that Taylor was cheating on her with Ashley McArthur, 42, a former crime scene technician for the Sheriff’s Office. Taylor had asked Ashley to keep $34,000 in her safety deposit box so she wouldn’t have to pay it to Jeff. Now, she was having problems getting the money back from Ashley. Investigators learned that Ashley, who was married, had many lovers, including Brandon Beatty, owner of Stix billiard hall, and Audrey Warner, who tended bar there. Her phone and bank records showed that on August 16, 2017, a cashier’s check for $34,000 had been deposited into her account and had since been spent. Taylor’s body was discovered on October 19 buried under concrete and potting soil on a property neighboring Ashley’s aunt’s horse farm in north Escambia County. The jury found Ashley McArthur guilty of first-degree premeditated murder with a firearm.  This  episode contains excerpts from Jeff Wright on direct, Cassandra Waller on direct and cross, Audrey Warner on direct and cross, and Zachary McArthur on direct. Listen to the episode here.

In December 2012, Jerrod Murray, 18, a freshman at East Central University, Oklahoma, asked fellow student Generro Sanchez, also 18, for ride to Wal-Mart in exchange for $20. Once inside the vehicle, Murray pulled out a gun and forced Sanchez to drive five miles north of Asher, Murray’s hometown. While driving, Sanchez began begging Murray […]

At 11.30am on Sept. 27, 2017, housekeeper and nanny Jennifer Fulford received a FedEx package from the “Bacon of the Month Club” at the home of her employer in Winter Park, Florida, Reid Berman. Shortly after that, she was supposed to pick up Reid Berman’s son Oliver from school. She didn’t show up. Her body […]

This episode contains highlights from the 2015 deposition of David E. “The Apostle” Taylor, of J.M.M.I Ministries in St. Louis, Missouri. Taylor is being questioned by attorney Colleen Ronayne as part of a divorce suit filed by Ricky Frazier, the ex-husband of one of Taylor’s “volunteers” Deborah Frazier, who has donated over a million dollars to the ministry. Ronayne questions Taylor about his claims to have been visited personally by Jesus, and to have cured people of blindness and AIDS. She also asks about his cars (a BMW, Mercedes, Bentley, and a Range Rover), and his clothing bills ($6,000 at Louis Vuitton, $3,500 at Versace, $1,700 at Monsieur Clothing, and other designer items totaling $30,000 over a two-year period). It’s sometimes painful to listen to Taylor’s fumbling, inarticulate responses. Visibly nervous and biting his bottom lip, Taylor makes pitiful excuses for his frivolous purchases (he has to buy his belts at high-end stores because “they have a better TV appearance”). Interestingly, like Pastor Timothy Omotoso (whose case was featured in Episode 74), Taylor has a particular fondness for garish military jackets. He claims to know almost nothing about his own finances, repeatedly telling Ronanye that she should ask Michelle Brannon, his fellow board member. He claims not to know his own office address, or the purpose of a $2.8 million dollar property in St. Louis that is listed as an asset on J.M.M.I.’s tax forms, or even the identity of one of his dependents. Every time he’s trapped in a contradiction or a lie, his response is the same: “ask Michelle.” Listen to the episode here.

This child murder took place on August 28, 2014 in Lexington, SC, and this time, there were multiple victims. When interviewed by FBI agent David Mackey and Lexington County sheriff’s Detective Adam Creech, Jones, a divorced dad who had sole custody of the kids, explained that his oldest child, 6-year-old Nahtahn, deliberately blew out four […]

On the afternoon of June 9, 2017, Ms. Yingying Zhang, 26, a Chinese student at the  University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign, went missing after she was offered a ride while waiting at a bus stop. She was last seen on a surveillance tape, around 2.30pm, getting into a black Saturn Astra. Police traced the Astra to Brendt Christensen, 28, a former physics grad student who was, at the time, unemployed after dropping out of a PhD program. This episode contains part of the FBI interview with Brendt Christensen that took place on June 15, six days after Ms. Yingying’s disappearance. This is his second interview. After some pressing, he admits that he gave an Asian female a ride the previous weekend, but said he dropped her off after only a few blocks when a wrong turn caused her to panic. He also explained that he was married, that he and his wife were in an open relationship with another couple, and that she had been out of town with her boyfriend the day Ms. Yingying went missing. After this questioning, the FBI agents took possession of Christensen’s computers and cellphone, and placed him under continuous surveillance. They also asked his girlfriend, Terra Bullis, to wear a wire. On June 29, Christensen attended a memorial walk for Ms. Yingying with his girlfriend. Later, he confessed to Terra that he had picked up Ms. Yingying, brought her back to his apartment, and held her there against her will. Christensen’s trial took place in June 2019. He had no had no prior criminal record and no record of disciplinary problems at the university. The FBI report on his cellphone noted that in April, he used his cellphone to access the sexual fetish website Fetlife, and visited the forum “Abduction 101.” At the trial, it was revealed that Christensen admitted he had raped, assaulted, and decapitated Ms. Yingying. Her body has still not been found. Christensen is about to be sentenced, and the prosecution is pushing for the death penalty. Warning: audio ends abruptly. Listen to the episode here.

This episode contains the testimony of Father Bill Swengros of St. Paul’s Catholic Church, Tampa, Florida, in the trial of John Jonchuck Jr. for the murder of his 5-year-old daughter, Phoebe. Jonchuck and his wife were engaged in a custody battle over Phoebe when Jonchuck went to see his attorney and began to make bizarre statements. He claimed he was God and the creator. He then wanted her to read him the Bible in Swedish. When she refused, Jonchuck said he was going to find a minister. He called Father Bill Swengros for an appointment, then arrived at St. Paul’s and said he wanted to join the church and be baptized. Phoebe was with him; Swengros said she seemed “bright, amiable, and self confident.” He said Jonchuck did not appear to be mentally ill. Shortly after midnight that same evening, Jonchuck drove to the Tampa Bay bridge and threw Phoebe over the edge. Despite his claims of insanity, Jonchuck was found guilty of first degree murder, and sentenced to life in prison. Listen to the episode here.

Dr. Kendra Hatcher, 35, a Dallas pediatric dentist, was fatally shot in the head by an unknown assailant in the parking garage of her Dallas apartment building Sept. 2, 2015. Dr. Hatcher was about to leave for Mexico for a vacation with her new boyfriend, Dr. Ricardo Paniaguia, a dermatologist. Kendra was a step up […]

On April 15, 2014, Father Jerome Kern, a priest in the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis, was deposed as part of a sexual abuse lawsuit filed in Minnesota  While Kern does not admit to sexually abusing children in the deposition, he does admit to “horsing around” with young boys, and doing something he calls […]