“This is not like her. We think… that she is confused and scared. We’re quite sure she doesn’t know who she is.” This is a terrifying thought for any parent or loved one to come to terms with. That someone they care about could forget who they are and not even realize that there are people out there who are desperately trying to find them and bring them home. But for the family of Patricia Meehan, this wasn’t just a nightmare, it was a cold and brutal reality that began with a car accident...

When 13-year-old Bianca Piper got into an argument with her mother, Shannon Tanner, over doing the dishes, Shannon put her in the car, drove her a mile up the road, and told her to walk home. While this may seem like an odd form of punishment, it was actually something that had been recommended by Bianca’s therapist. But on March 10, 2005, Bianca never made it home. Investigators in Foley, Missouri performed an extensive search but uncovered almost no clues regarding the missing girl. Over...

“Dear Everybody, I’m sorry for everything. I won’t bother you anymore. Goodbye, Jaliek.” This is the letter that Stephen Kerr said his 12-year-old adopted son left in his empty bedroom at his grandparents’ home on November 1, 2007, right before he went missing. By all accounts, Jaliek was an emotionally troubled boy, and there was a great deal of friction within his family. Is this a note written by a child right before he decided to run away? Or, is there more to this letter and Jaliek’s...

On August 15, 2008, a mother dropped her five-year-old son off to visit his father for the weekend. Her ex, Ernesto Gonzalez, hadn’t been very involved in their son, Giovanni’s, life since their separation three years prior, but he recently started making an effort to have a relationship with the boy. Daisy Colon packed Giovanni’s backpack with clothes and dropped him off in nearby Lynn, Massachusetts. But when she came to pick him up again, her little boy was gone. An investigation was...

1, 2, 3, the Donahue family counted. 4, 5, 6, the numbers changed on the banner at their Arden Road home in Nokesville, Virginia. The days turned into weeks, which turned into months, which turned into years. The number had reached over 5,000 before the Donahue family got the news that they had been waiting for: an arrest had been made in the murder of their son, Shane. On March 22, 2010, 23-year-old Shane Donahue left his parents’ home and told them that he loved them. Shane, who didn’t...

On March 22, 2010, 23-year-old Nokesville, Virginia resident Shane Donahue was having a good day. He had just gotten paid $5,000 in cash for installing ceiling tiles at a local business. He was with his buddy, Timothy Hickerson, who helped him with the job. The friends went over to Shane’s parents’ house for a while before getting into Timothy’s truck and heading off. But no one ever saw Shane again after that. And now, over 10 years later, a grieving family continues to be rocked by tragedy...

In 1999, she saved a couple from flooding after Hurricane Floyd. In 2002, she joined the Army so she could serve her country after the 9/11 terrorist attacks. In 2006, she vanished. On October 10, 2006, 29-year-old Margaret Haddican-McEnroe was a mother of three girls, including a 6-month-old, when she allegedly walked out of her Warren, New Jersey home, leaving behind her cell phone, car, and her baby, never to be seen again. According to her husband, Margaret was dealing with post-partum...

On October 2, 2024, police announced a huge break in the case of missing 6-year-old, Morgan Nick. A hair that is a DNA match to hers was found in the truck owned by longtime suspect in her case, Billy Jack Links. Links died in prison in 2000, so now the investigation's focus is on finding Morgan's body. We released our episode on Morgan's case in 2021, so this week we are re-releasing it here.  6-year-old Morgan Nick was catching fireflies with her friends on a hot summer night in Alma,...

In the early morning hours of February 14, 2000, 9-year-old Asha Degree took her backpack and slipped out of her Shelby, North Carolina home. Several motorists later reported seeing her walking alone in a rainstorm at around 4 am. Where was she going? What or who made her leave her home that night? Over the next 24 years, Asha Degree’s story has been the subject of countless blogs, internet forums, Youtube videos, and podcasts. People have become obsessed with getting answers. What made a...

Paul Bergrin is a hotshot criminal defense attorney in Newark, New Jersey. Seemingly unstoppable and with unorthodox methods, he’s built a reputation for getting his clients off the hook. But as Paul's legend grows, so do the suspicions swirling around him. When FBI Agent Shawn Brokos starts investigating a major drug ring, she makes a shocking discovery: the gang's most powerful player is none other than Newark’s star attorney. Has the ex-federal prosecutor crossed the line and started...

A 15-year-old girl had an argument with her father about her grades. It’s a scene parents all over the world are likely familiar with, and one that is usually forgotten in a day or two. But when Katya Lyne had this argument with her father, Pat, on March 21, 1997, it ended in tragedy. Within days, Katya was missing, and her father was dead. The Lyne family’s world was completely turned upside down. Though police believed Katya was a runaway, they couldn’t be sure that she hadn’t met with...

Asha Degree was a bright, talented, happy 9-year-old living with her parents and brother in Shelby, North Carolina. She was an excellent student and the star of her basketball team. Surrounded by grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins, there was no shortage of love in Asha’s life. But in the early morning hours of February 14, 2000, Asha took her backpack that she had packed with several changes of clothes and slipped out of her house. Several motorists later reported seeing her walking...

On January 29, 1992, Byron Page was getting ready to go to college and take his driver’s exam. He had already been accepted into several schools, with more acceptance letters on the way. That afternoon, the 17-year-old decided to take the bus to his favorite movie and music store in West Hollywood, California. He never made it. Despite being a promising student with no issues in his personal life, Byron’s case garnered very little attention in a city transfixed by the Rodney King trial....

Today’s story is one about intimate partner violence. According to her family, friends, and police and court records, Mamta Kafle’s husband, Naresh Bhatt, was abusing her. He hid her documents, destroyed her phone, threatened to give their baby to social services, and physically abused her. Throughout it all, Mamta remained a kind, caring friend and a mother whose baby was her entire world. But then, sometime between July 29 and July 30, 2024, she disappeared. Now, her husband is sitting in...

On November 20, 1987, Louis and Susan Zaharias had an argument. By this point, fights weren’t uncommon for the couple, who had been married for six years. Susan was a stay-at-home mom with two small children who was feeling isolated while her husband worked long hours far away. But this day was different. Susan was acting paranoid, and not like herself. After a violent altercation, Louis left the home to give his wife some space. When he returned a few hours later, she and their children were...

On August 2, 2024, Manassas Park Police visited the Virginia home that Mamta Kafle shared with her husband, Naresh Bhatt. They were there to perform a welfare check because Mamta didn’t show up to work at UVA Health Prince William Medical Center on August 1, and her colleagues were concerned. Naresh allegedly told police that Mamta had disappeared before, and that he didn’t want to file a missing persons report. Three days later, on August 5, Naresh reported his wife missing, but Manassas...

Introducing…World of Secrets: The Apartheid Killer Introducing a NEW investigation from the BBC’s World of Secrets podcast: The Apartheid Killer. All the victims were black and the youngest was just 12 years old. Some relatives are still searching for the graves. They were killed during a three-year bloodbath in the 1980s, in the South African city of East London – by one person. He killed so many, he lost count. It has been 30 years since the white supremacist apartheid regime crumbled. The...

Disappearances can happen in an instant. On April 19, 2016, 16-year-old Tyler Christensen went on a jog. He wanted to get a short run in on his way to a youth group meeting. But Tyler never arrived. After Tyler’s family realized that he was gone, they assumed something terrible must have happened to him. After all, he was a happy kid, living in Edmonds, Washington with a loving family and seemingly no issues. But as the investigation got underway, police began to believe that maybe this...

It was a scene straight out of an action movie: specifically The Bourne Identity. On September 16, 2008, the captain of a Staten Island Ferry saw a woman floating face down in the Hudson River, near the Statue of Liberty. Horrified and thinking they found a dead body, two deckhands jumped in a rescue boat and went to her. When they reached the woman, one picked her up by her ankles, while another picked her up by her shoulders. To everyone’s shock, the woman took a gasp of air and started...

On August 1, 2018, 28-year-old Samantha Sayers was ready for an adventure. An experienced hiker, Sam decided to drive two hours away from her Seattle home and tackle Vesper’s Peak. The hike was supposed to only be a day trip, so when darkness fell with no word from Samantha, her boyfriend, Kevin Dare grew concerned. Worried that she was injured, he drove out to the trail. But instead of his girlfriend, he found only her empty car. What happened next was the largest search and rescue...

Though our podcast focuses on unsolved missing persons cases, over the course of the last four years, we’ve seen movement on many of the cases we’ve covered, including some resolutions. This week, we’re going to revisit a few of the missing people whose stories we’ve told on this podcast and give you updates on what’s going on in their cases today. In this episode, we're updating you on the stories of William Tyrrell, Irene Gakwa, and Chance Englebert. Original Episodes: William Tyrrell...

In 2014, a little girl named Relisha Rudd went missing while living in a Washington DC homeless shelter, but no one noticed. For 18 days, no one in Relisha’s life saw her, but no one reported her missing. It wasn’t until a social worker from her school visited the shelter in person that he realized the little girl whom he had been told was sick, wasn’t sick at all. She was just gone. Relisha’s story has had a deep and lasting impact on the DC region. July 11 is Relisha Rudd Remembrance Day....

On November 21, 2022, 11-year-old Madalina Cojocari boarded her school bus and went to school as usual. That afternoon, the bus dropped her off near her Cornelius, North Carolina home. But the next day, the bus went to school without Madalina, and no one at her school has seen her since. The most chilling part of her disappearance? Madalina’s family never reported her missing. Both Madalina’s mother, Diana, and her step-father, Christopher Palmiter, were arrested. Now, over a year and a half...

This is a re-release of our April 2023 episode on Madalina Cojocari. You can listen to our June 2024 update here. Imagine the abject fear a parent would experience after their 11-year-old child has been missing for over three weeks. No one has heard from her, no one has seen her. You’d be climbing the walls, right? Begging investigators and the public to help you find her? That’s what usually happens, but not in the case of Madalina Cojocari.  Madalina went to school as normal on November...