A teenage hitchhiker crosses paths with unimaginable violence—and survives. This episode explores a brutal crime, an extraordinary will to live, and the long shadow left behind when someone refuses to stay a victim.

In early 1996, Amber Hagerman was abducted while riding her bike. A neighbor witnessed the crime, called 911 immediately, and provided police with crucial details about the suspect and his vehicle. The response was fast and thorough: officers, volunteers, and neighbors worked side by side to search nearly 100 square miles in the area, leaving no stone unturned. Media outlets and federal investigators were quickly brought in, helping to coordinate the massive effort. Despite their efforts, the case ended in tragedy. At the time, there were weather alerts and civil defense alerts, but no alerts for abducted children. The Amber Alert system was finally implemented, and since then, over 1,000 children have been successfully recovered.

In 1928, a quiet rural community in Pennsylvania was shaken by a killing rooted not in greed or passion, but fear. Whispers of curses, sickness, and bad luck turned neighbors into suspects—and superstition into a motive. What happened at Hex Hollow blurred the line between folklore and murder, leaving behind a case that still unsettles more than ninety years later.

In July 1966, a drifter with a violent past slipped into a South Chicago townhouse and turned an ordinary summer night into one of the most terrifying crime scenes in American history. Eight student nurses vanished into hours of chaos and terror... while one survivor hid in the shadows, watching the horror unfold and ultimately exposing the killer.

When 40-year-old Tamla Horsford attended an overnight birthday gathering in Forsyth County, Georgia, it was supposed to be a low-key moms’ night in. But by morning, Tamla was gone, and from the very start, the investigation meant to explain what happened stumbled—evidence wasn’t preserved, inconsistencies weren’t pursued, and key questions were left hanging. What followed was a case marked by unexplained injuries, shifting timelines, and a series of missteps that deepened the uncertainty around Tamla’s death in a community already carrying a complicated history.

The Beast of Jersey was a mysterious, night-stalking attacker who terrorized the island of Jersey for over a decade, slipping through rural paths and quiet neighborhoods while evading police, until his unexpected capture revealed an ordinary man hiding an unsettling double life.

In April 1981, Cabin 28 in the tiny town of Keddie became the site of a shocking triple homicide and a missing child. The brutality of the crime, the children left alive, and the sudden disappearance of 12-year-old Tina Sharp created a mystery that investigators never managed to untangle. With conflicting accounts, overlooked clues, and a crime scene full of contradictions, the Keddie murders remain one of the most chilling unsolved cases in American history.

In November 2022, four University of Idaho students were found brutally murdered inside their home on King Road. The crime shocked the nation and left a small college town terrified. In this episode, we break down the timeline, the investigation, and how a single piece of DNA led to the arrest.