On November 30, 1989, a seemingly ordinary encounter along a Florida highway marked the start of one of the most infamous crime sprees in American history. That day, 51-year-old Richard Mallory picked up hitchhiker Aileen Wuornos—an act that would end with his murder and launch a high-profile investigation into a series of killings by the woman the press would later call America’s first female serial killer.

In this episode, we retrace the events of that night and explore the complex backgrounds of both Wuornos and Mallory. We examine Wuornos’s changing accounts of the shooting, the controversial trial that followed, and the long-running debate about whether her actions were cold-blooded murder—or an act of desperate self-defense.

#AileenWuornos #SerialKillers #RichardMallory

On November 29, 1981, Hollywood legend Natalie Wood disappeared from her yacht off Catalina Island. Hours later, her body was found in the Pacific Ocean, wearing a nightgown, socks, and a jacket. Though her death was initially ruled an accident, shifting witness accounts, newly uncovered injuries, and a changed death certificate have kept the case alive for over four decades. Was it a tragic misstep—or something more?

In this episode of Day by Day: True Crime Stories, we revisit the weekend voyage aboard the Splendour, the conflicting stories that emerged, and the reopened investigation that named her husband, actor Robert Wagner, as a person of interest. The result is one of Hollywood’s most enduring mysteries.

#NatalieWood #HollywoodMystery #RobertWagner #UnsolvedMystery

On November 28, 2009, 25-year-old Larry Ely Murillo-Moncada ran barefoot into a snowstorm and disappeared. For nearly a decade, his family in Council Bluffs, Iowa, searched for answers. Then, in 2019, contractors renovating the grocery store where Larry once worked made a chilling discovery—his remains trapped behind a commercial cooler.

This episode explores the heartbreaking story of Larry’s disappearance, the mystery that gripped his family for ten years, and the strange and tragic circumstances that kept him hidden in plain sight. Police ruled his death accidental. But for his loved ones, questions remain: Could more have been done to find him? And how did a young man in crisis end up lost—just feet from where he worked?

#LarryMurilloMoncada #PodcastClip