Michael Woods was an angry man with a bad temper. He wanted to become a rock star and he dragged his long suffering wife, Susan from town to town chasing his dream. She finally put her foot down and when she stayed in Stephenville, Texas, Michael left her and returned to Indianapolis where he was from. Then Susan Woods was murdered, found in her bathtub in July of 1987. Everyone involved was convinced the killer was Michael Woods and for decades, he was hunted and chased by police. When the scie...
Oct 15, 2025•36 min
We'll call this Part One. Kouri Richins has not yet gone to trial. She is accused of massive financial fraud, shoddy builder practices, forgery, drug possession and murder. When her husband Eric Richins died suddenly, Kouri wrote a book called "Are You With Me," about children dealing with the death of a parent. She even went on a media tour to promote the book. Then, Kouri was arrested charged with killing Eric by poisoning his cocktail. This is a wild story about a devious woman who would do a...
Oct 13, 2025•29 min
Laurie Shaver claims she was terribly abused at the hands of her husband Michael. Laurie's daughter, Isabelle backs those claims. The couple fought constantly and then one day, Michael Shaver vanished. Laurie told people he'd run off with another woman. For two years, her story held until Michael's old friend went to the police stating he couldn't get in touch with Michael. The cops served a search warrant and found some bits of clothing in the back yard near a fire pit so they decided to dig it...
Oct 08, 2025•29 min
Are killers born or are they made? That is the question we ask all the time here on Dark Hearts. In today's story, there is a strong argument for those who believe some people are just born bad. Kim Edwards and Lucas Markham were obsessed with each other. When Kim's mother, Elizabeth Edwards tried to keep them apart, Kim and Lucas decided she had to go and with her, Kim's younger sister, Katie. The facts of this case are chilling, the killers remorseless. ❤️ Subscribe: https://www.youtube.com/ch...
Oct 06, 2025•27 min
Paul Castellano was a man who wanted to polish the image of the mafia. He preferred conversation to confrontation but wasn't afraid to order a hit on anyone who insulted him. When godfather Carlo Gambino died, Paul took the reins and this made a lot of mob guys unhappy. One in particular, John Gotti, despised Paul's corporate mentality and ban on the sell of drugs for profit and so Gotti set a plan into action to get rid of Paul Castellano ❤️ Subscribe: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCu9SNFGpY...
Oct 01, 2025•27 min
Private investigators, drugs and reality TV clash in this incredible story of jealousy and a desire for fame. Years before landing the role of a young Joe Kenda on the crime TV show Homicide Hunter, struggling actor Carl Marino was working for a private investigator in San Francisco named Chris Butler. When the Lifetime Network decided to produce a reality show about Chris Butler's all female staff called P.I. Moms, Carl Marino wanted to be a part of the show. When he found out he would not be f...
Sep 29, 2025•32 min
Grace Millane was a young woman full of hope for the future. She took a solo backpacking trip through South America and then flew to New Zealand to continue. There, she matched with Jesse Kempson on Tinder and the two went out for dinner and drinks. They went back to his hotel room for what Grace thought would be a sexual encounter. Instead, she ended up murdered and stuffed into a suitcase. We track their movements caught on CCTV and discuss this disturbing story about a man with a lot of secre...
Sep 24, 2025•25 min
Young Living Oils, doTerra, Tahitian Noni, Paparazzi, Nature's Sunshine, Nu Skin and many more, all huge companies got their start in Utah. Why? Because Mormons are primed for the thinking required inside an MLM. Multi Level Marketing companies make billions each year but many who get involved don't make any money, they lose money. ❤️ Subscribe: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCu9SNFGpY_odhZT_LevkGvw 📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/darkheartswithstacylee?igsh=Z2d3bTJtZ2NsNXIy&utm_so...
Sep 22, 2025•31 min
Sandra Birchmore had a difficult life. She was the only caretaker to a chronically ill mother and she had no father. Sandra joined the Stoughton Explorers program, a place for kids to interact with cops. She wanted community and support. Instead she was groomed and sexually exploited by those who should have protected her. When Sandra became pregnant, Matthew Farwell, a thirty five year old married father decided he had to get rid of her. He couldn't have Sandra threatening his family life. So h...
Sep 17, 2025•31 min
This is a story about drug abuse and terrible parenting. It's also a story about what happens to people when they fall down the conspiracy rabbit hole and it takes over their lives. Eldon Samuel Jr. was a bad father. His wife, Tina abandoned the family leaving her two sons, Eldon Samuel III and Jonathan in the care of their father who took the kids from California to live in Coeur d'Alene Idaho. Once the family of three was settled, things only got worse. Eldon was struggling in school and his b...
Sep 15, 2025•29 min
This is a story about the Jensen family but it is also a story about Utah, the fraud capital of America. James Lael and Kelly Walker Jensen were living the life of rock stars in the hills of Sandy, Utah. Their twenty seven square foot stone and glass mansion a testament to their incredible success. But in April of 2025, it all came crashing down. James and Kelly Jensen, along with their two adult sons, Joshua and Zachary, were arrested and indicted on charges of fraud, money laundering and suppo...
Sep 10, 2025•32 min
Miles, not his real name, was living a usual life as a web designer. His life was on the internet even in the early days. When Twitter went live, Miles grabbed a very coveted cool handle to use on Twitter and then he used that same handle across other platforms like Instagram and Facebook. In 2016, someone decided they wanted Miles online handle and they started sending messages to Miles. Soon those messages turned into threats and then, those threats turned into pizza. This is the bizarre story...
Sep 08, 2025•27 min
Keli Lane is a celebrated water polo champion. She had a very successful career in that sport but friends noticed something strange about Keli. Her weight fluctuated dramatically and people wondered at times if she was pregnant but Keli never talked about a pregnancy and no babies ever appeared. Then, when she was pregnant for a fourth time that we know of, she gave birth to a baby girl she named Tegan. Keli left the hospital with Tegan and Tegan was never seen again. When Keli gets pregnant for...
Sep 03, 2025•27 min
Rory Enrique Conde was an angry man. He abused his wife and kids, and he lived a double life. By day, he was a friendly and helpful lumber salesman. By night, he was visiting area prostitutes and peeping in his neighbors windows. After years of this behavior, it escalated and Rory murdered his first victim. Soon, body after body were turning up along the Tamiami Trail near Miami and the press dubbed the killer The Tamiami Trail Strangler. The public was aware of the murders but the police were h...
Sep 01, 2025•30 min
This is a serial killer we don't talk about much because his horrific crimes are mainly unsolved. Robert Ben Rhoades took some of the most desperate women from truck stops around the country and they were never seen again. The problem is that no one was looking for them. These were women with no families, mostly drug addicted, and women who would not be missed. That doesn't mean their stories do not matter. This case involves one of the most disturbing photos published in the true crime communit...
Aug 27, 2025•27 min
Roch Thériault, who later claimed he was Moses and then changed his name to Rock believed he was chosen by God to do a great and important work. He gathered a small group of followers and took them into the Canadian wilderness. As his followers worked to build a small commune, one day Rock said, "you look like ants on a hill." So the group became known as The Ant Hill Kids. Rock began to drink and soon, he was inflicting horrific torture and abuse on his followers. The authorities got involved a...
Aug 25, 2025•40 min
Ben Novack grew up in the luxurious Fontainebleau Hotel in Miami. His parents, Ben and Bernice Novack divorced and then Ben Novack Sr. died. Benji, as he was known, went on to start a successful convention planning business but his personal life was riddled with problems. Benji had the world's second largest collection of Batman memorabilia and he spent a lot of money acquiring every item of Batman merchandise he could get his hands on. He also spent a lot of money on strippers and porn stars. W...
Aug 20, 2025•28 min
Paul and Betty Jeanne Solomon were living a quiet life in Greenburgh, New York. Paul came home one night after bowling with friends to find that his wife had been murdered, brutally shot nine times. She was dead inside their townhome. When the police begin to investigate, they quickly learn that Paul Solomon is a womanizer. He was having an affair with twenty eight year old Carolyn Warmus, a rich and worldly young woman, educated at Columbia, who was heiress to the American Way Life Insurance fo...
Aug 18, 2025•34 min
Pete Coones father Olin was elderly and in poor health. His caretaker, Kathleen Schroll was intentionally driving a wedge between Pete and his father. Then Pete found out that Olin had signed his house and all his property over to Kathleen Schroll. A court battle ensued and Kathleen was losing. Then, she and her husband Carl Schroll ended up dead, shot to death in their own home. The police examined the scene and said it was a murder suicide but then they found out Kathleen made a phone call jus...
Aug 13, 2025•35 min
Kelly Cochran claims she has killed up to twenty one people. When she married her high school sweetheart, Jason Cochran, the two made a pact. If either of them ever cheated, they would be forced to kill their lover. So when Kelly had an affair with coworker Chris Regan, the Cochrans honored the pact. Christopher Regan was murdered and then dismembered. Kelly claims parts of his body were fed to family and friends at a BBQ. The police were onto the Cochrans so they skipped town. And then, Jason C...
Aug 11, 2025•30 min
Cullen Davis and Priscilla Davis were the talk of the Texas social scene. Cullen Davis was a billionaire in today's money and Priscilla Davis was a petite bleached blonde who liked to wear revealing and flamboyant clothing. When the two separated and Priscilla filed for divorce, things quickly turned ugly. Priscilla then began dating six foot nine inch Stan Farr, a former TCU basketball player and NFL player. One night, the lovers returned home to Stonegate Mansion in Fort Worth to find an armed...
Aug 06, 2025•30 min
Steven and Alyssa Pladl were in an abusive relationship. Alyssa decided to give their eight month old up for adoption and Denise then became Katie Fusco. Katie was raised in Dover, New York but decided to try and find her biological family. When she did, she began a twisted and illegal sexual relationship with her own biological father, Steven Pladl and became pregnant with his child. The courts finally get involved but it is much too late and Steven Pladl decides he will seek revenge on everyon...
Aug 04, 2025•26 min
Ben and Kristi Strack were a Mormon family living in Springville, Utah. Kristi began to believe that Dan Lafferty, the convicted murderer featured in the story Under the Banner of Heaven, was the reincarnated prophet Elijah and that he was here to usher in the second coming of Christ. As the Strack's beliefs become more and more extreme, they isolate their little family and cut off all communication. Their oldest son then comes home to find that his entire family is dead. This is a story about w...
Jul 30, 2025•31 min
When Mary Catherine Edwards parents couldn't get a hold of her on the phone, the drove to her house to check on her. What they found was a horrific murder scene. Catherine had been sexually assaulted, brutally murdered, and left in the bathtub with her hands handcuffed behind her back using a set of police issue handcuffs. The Beaumont Texas police worked the case but couldn't find her killer and the case went cold. Decades later, the Texas Rangers allocated funds for cold cases and two detectiv...
Jul 28, 2025•31 min
Wadsworth Ohio was experiencing a rash of crimes and then there was a horrific murder. Margaret Douglas, 98 years old, was brutally murdered and defiled in her own home. As police begin to go through surveillance footage from the area, they find two teenaged boys sneaking around the neighborhood. Gavon Ramsay is brought in for questioning and soon, the police become convinced they've found their killer. As the investigation continues, cops become convinced that Gavon Ramsay is not just a killer,...
Jul 23, 2025•35 min
Mark and Debby Constantino wanted to be famous ghost hunters. When Zak Bagans put them on his show, Ghost Adventures, the couple thought they'd hit the big time. Unfortunately, their constant violent fighting and drinking hurt their reputation and soon, Mark and Debby were on the outside of the community they'd fought so hard to get into. Their marriage began to fall apart. Debby's jealousy and drunken rages inhibited their ability to get more work and they began to have money troubles. It all e...
Jul 21, 2025•34 min
Reagan Simmons Hancock was a beautiful young wife and mother who was expecting her second baby girl. She got a call from her friend, Taylor Parker, saying she was going to come and visit her. When Taylor Parker left Reagan's house, Reagan was dead and her baby was gone. Taylor Parker had been lying to everyone in her life. She lied about being rich, she lied about her family, and she lied about being pregnant. The lengths Taylor went to in order to cover her lies left the entire state of Texas, ...
Jul 16, 2025•32 min
Nona Dirksmeyer was a college student and beauty pageant participant living in Arkansas. When her boyfriend Kevin Jones couldn't get a hold of her, he went to her house where he found her murdered in her living room. Kevin was taken in for questioning and soon realized, he was a suspect. The police and the public got tunnel vision. The crime scene investigation was botched so poorly that it looked as if Kevin would be in prison for the rest of his life simply because the Russellville police depa...
Jul 14, 2025•33 min
Gudni Gudnason always knew he was destined for stardom. When he failed as a movie star and then as a karate master and bodyguard, he found the world of new age spiritualism. From Iceland to Sweden to Utah and Japan, he's built a small following of people who believe they can hack their "24 strands of DNA" (we have 23/46), activate a "24th" strand of DNA spiritually, and use ancient technology from King Solomon and Thor to make their dreams come true. Miley Cyrus, Fletcher and Shawn Mendes have a...
Jul 09, 2025•30 min
Brian and Amy Fanion were not getting along. Brian was about to retire from the Westfield, Massachusetts police department and the couple had different ideas about how they would spend the next chapter of their lives. Amy Fanion was completely unaware that her husband of thirty years had been cheating on her with a church friend, Cori Knowles. Brian claims Amy pulled his service revolver from his holster and held it to her head and the gun went off but the investigation that followed revealed ch...
Jul 07, 2025•31 min
