Have you ever thought about whose job it is to track international fugitives, hunt child abductors, conduct espionage, or pull human remains from concealed mass graves? Everyday thousands of good and decent people work in these Dark Arenas. They’ve chosen professions that grapple with the grotesque, deal with the deviant, and dodge the dangerous.

When two friends sitting on a bench in an Ohio park are gunned down in cold blood, the investigators responsible for solving they murders are left dumbfounded.

One of the worst crimes to consume British headlines in 1986 leads authorities on a search for a killer who was in the thick of a murder investigation the entire time.

When an elderly couple on a romantic camping trip in the bushland of Australia vanished from their burned-out campsite, authorities quickly identify a suspect.

At the dawn of the 20th century, two brothers prospecting for gold hoped to find their fortune in the Northern region of Canada.

A solo backpacking trip in Asia turns dark when a 23-year-old woman fails to return to her family in Colorado.

When a joyful festival rolled through a small Oklahoma town outside of Platt National Park in 1975, a young woman's dead body was left in its wake.

When a family is slaughtered inside their tent at a popular Iowa park during the summer of 2022, news of the tragedy spreads far and wide.

In the summer of 1989 a husband and wife on vacation at their favorite hiking spot in Wales fall victim to a vicious killer.

In 2017, avid cyclist Tim Watkins was gunned down and buried in a shallow grave off a popular trail in Mount Herman, Colorado. Identifying the shooter has led authorities on a puzzling and frustrating journey for justice in Pike San-Isabel National Forest.

When a family man is found alone, shot and beheaded in Australia's Royal National Park in 1975, no one could fathom the brutality of the crime.

A devoted conservationist and a journalist set off into the depths of the Amazon to report on corrupt and criminal activity but were never seen alive again.

In 2004, 9-year-old David Gonzales vanished from his mother's sight in San Bernardino National Forest.

In 2010 an elderly couple set out on a road trip across Canada only to have their travels and lives cut short by a ruthless killer.

A teenage girl disappears while on a horseback riding trip in Yosemite National Park during the summer of 1981.

The brutal shooting deaths of two college students in a Florida forest in 2006 reveal a budding serial killer was on the loose for years before anyone stopped him.

When 57-year-old Bruce Cucchiara was gunned down in the parking lot of a New Orleans East apartment complex in 2012 his murder devastated his family and stumped law enforcement. For more than a year CounterClock's Delia D'Ambra has investigated the case and unraveled a web of bizarre information and circumstances about his life and those who benefitted from his death.

A story that is based in no other than Wayne National Forest.

An attempted assassination of the warden of Africa’s oldest national park reveals to the world the dangers and violence lurking inside one of the most beautiful landscapes on earth.

A vicious serial killer terrorized and hunted young backpackers in Australia’s Belanglo State Forest in the early 1990’s. The impact of his heinous crimes still resonates with residents to this day. How he committed his crimes made even the most seasoned investigators shudder and the true number of victims he’s suspected of murdering may never be known.

An elderly woman working alone high up in a fire-spotting tower in the Canadian wilderness disappears while on-duty. Evidence at the scene points to foul play but police investigators remain baffled as to who climbed the tower to get her and why?

When a toddler vanishes from a campground in Joshua Tree National Park, her name becomes a national headline overnight. The decades-long investigation to determine what happened to her leads authorities in many directions and a father to the brink of his sanity.

When two women are viciously gunned down in a Pennsylvania state forest, authorities are left chasing a man who knows the mountains like the back of his hand. The motive behind the slaying is dubbed a hate crime and the lone survivor ensures the world knows it.

Two young girls vanish into thin air along the boundary of Glacier National Park in Montana. Their disappearance plagues a small Montana community for years, until a ruthless predator strikes again, leading authorities to the doorstep of a sadistic man who claimed to have no memory of his horrific deeds.