In 1964, Missouri executed "habitual criminal" Ronald Lee Wolfe for the brutal, non-homicidal rape of an 8-year-old girl. He would be the last person in American history executed for the crime. Discover the 1959 case that set a grim precedent, its path to the gas chamber, and how it was ultimately cited in the landmark Kennedy v. Louisiana Supreme Court decision that changed capital punishment forever.
A Diary, a Cab Ride, and a Disappearance: The Leanne Hausberg Story
On March 18, 1999, 14-year-old Leanne Marie Hausberg disappeared from a street corner in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn. Officially classified as a runaway, her case received little media attention. Her diary, however, revealed a troubled home, a mysterious older friend, and a deep longing to connect with her Navajo heritage. Decades later, her case remains cold and unsolved.
The Online Grooming and Murder of Breck Bednar
In 2014, 14-year-old Breck Bednar was groomed and murdered by 18-year-old Lewis Daynes after meeting through online gaming. Despite his mother’s desperate warning to police, the case was closed in an hour. This is the full story of manipulation, isolation, and tragedy—and how the Breck Foundation is now teaching children and parents to stay safe online.
The Girl Who Never Made It to the Mall
On a quiet winter afternoon in 1964, sixteen-year-old Beverly Jarosz returned home to get ready for an outing with friends; by dusk, her father would find her dead in her bedroom—her murder still unsolved six decades later.
Bundy’s Youngest Victim: The Vanishing of Susan Curtis
In June 1975, fifteen-year-old Susan Curtis disappeared from a youth conference at Brigham Young University. Ted Bundy confessed to killing her years later, but her body was never found.
After 44 Years, Piru’s Jane Doe Has Been Identified Through DNA
For forty-four years, the young woman found shot to death in a Ventura County orchard was known only as Piru Jane Doe. In 2025, she was finally named — Maria Belmontes Blancas — her story a quiet fracture in a town where violence rarely came.
A Colorado Mystery: The Disappearance and Discovery of Terri Ackerman
For seven years, Terri Ackerman’s family searched Colorado for her, not knowing she was closer than anyone imagined—buried in the yard she had once tended.
A Barmaid’s Final Shift and the Island Mystery That Followed
A Filipino bartender’s final shift on Saipan ended with a call for help that never finished.
For Seven Days, She Called Home. Then the Line Went Dead.
For seven nights in June 2006, a nursing student’s voice drifted through the static of late-night phone calls—calm, careful, and never free.
The Detective, The Journalist, and the Killer: Suspects in the Circleville Case
Beginning in 1976, an anonymous letter writer terrorized Circleville, Ohio, exposing secrets and threatening lives. After one death and an attempted murder by booby trap, police convicted Paul Freshour. Yet, the letters continued to arrive while he was imprisoned, turning the case into one of America's most perplexing cold cases. Decades later, the true identity of the writer remains a mystery.
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