True Crime Creepers

Latest Episodes:

Natalia Grace Part 2 Aug 24, 2023

Show notes

Michael and Kristine Barnett are convinced that their adopted daughter, Natalia, is not a 6 year old little girl from Ukraine, but a psychotic adult imposter using her dwarfism to masquerade as a child. They manage to convince a judge that this is true, and after that life will get much, much more difficult for Natalia.

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Sources:

HBO Documentary - The Curious Case of Natalia Barnett

Five-year-old girl who started her period age four now faces the menopause after suffering from Addison's Disease | The Independent

Dr. Phil S18E44 ~ Ukrainian Orphan- Child or Adult Sociopath- The Exclusive Interview

6 Facts About Fecal Smearing That You Need To Know

Antisocial personality disorder - Diagnosis and treatment - Mayo Clinic.

5 Things To Know About The Natalia Grace Barnett Case | Shows | Investigation Discovery.

Did Michael, Kristine Barnett change Natalia Grace's age and abandon her? Here's what we know

Study: Experiencing childhood trauma makes body and brain age faster

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Natalia Grace Part 1 Aug 17, 2023

Show notes

This is one of the most complex and bizarre stories we’ve covered: the story of Natalia Grace, a little girl adopted from Ukraine whose age and behavior ignited a global firestorm of controversy. When Michael and Kristine first adopted 6 year old Natalia, everything was great. Natalia was welcomed into the family, she seemed to fit right in. But after a few months, issues started to arise that caused the Barnett’s to question who Natalia really was. Was she an innocent child looking to be loved by her adopted family, or was everything about her a lie?

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SOURCES:

HBO Documentary - The Curious Case of Natalia Barnett

Five-year-old girl who started her period age four now faces the menopause after suffering from Addison's Disease | The Independent

Dr. Phil S18E44 ~ Ukrainian Orphan- Child or Adult Sociopath- The Exclusive Interview

6 Facts About Fecal Smearing That You Need To Know

Antisocial personality disorder - Diagnosis and treatment - Mayo Clinic.

5 Things To Know About The Natalia Grace Barnett Case | Shows | Investigation Discovery.

Did Michael, Kristine Barnett change Natalia Grace's age and abandon her? Here's what we know

Study: Experiencing childhood trauma makes body and brain age faster

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The Disappearances of Terrance Williams and Felipe Santos Aug 10, 2023

Show notes

This is one of the most baffling stories we have ever covered. Terrance Williams and Felipe Santos were two young men who vanished into thin air under eerily similar circumstances. In January of 2004, Terrance vanished after he was last seen getting into the backseat of Sheriff's Deputy Steven Calkins' car, who initially said he had no recollection of the event. Later, his memory would return and he said he'd only given Terrance a ride to work at a nearby Circle K. This story left so many questions unanswered: Terrance did not work at the Circle K, so why would he have told the deputy that? And where had he gone after the Circle K? This case would become even more baffling when it was connected to the disappearance of a man named Felipe Santos, who had gone missing a few months before Terrance after last being seen in Deputy Calkins' squad car. At that time, Calkins had said he'd only given Felipe a ride.... to a nearby Circle K.

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Sources:

Disappeared - Season 5, Episode 3: Crime and Punishment

Never Seen Again: Season 1, Episodes 1 and 2

https://www.paramountplus.com/shows/video/VKJQeGxZPxOs96Zh6a8Rh5E79jqr17Vg/\

The Naples, Florida, deputy and the disappearances of Terrance Williams and Felipe Santos

These families of missing Black people are frustrated with the lack of response to their cases | CNN

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The Case Against Nikki Addimando Aug 03, 2023

Show notes

When a police officer saw a red car stopped at a green light just after 2 AM, he figured the driver had fallen asleep and he blew his horn hoping to wake the person up and continue on his way. What he didn’t expect was for the driver, a very small, young woman, to get out of the car and start confessing to a murder.

The woman was 28 year old Nikki Addimando, and she told the police officer how she had shot and killed her boyfriend of 9 years, Christopher Grover, and that his body was lying on the couch in their apartment. She told the officer she'd done it in self defense - Chris has been horrifically abusive to Nikki throughout their 9 year relationship. But there was something about her story the officer didn't like, and the prosecutor thought she could see Nikki for exactly what she really was - a master manipulator.

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Sources:

Get Help - 50 Obstacles to Leaving - The Hotline

National Statistics on Domestic Violence

Judge denies use of DVSJA in Poughkeepsie murder trial – The Miscellany News

The Evidence Against Her - Type Investigations

People v Addimando :: 2020 :: New York Other Courts Decisions

Watch 48 Hours Season 33 Episode 59: The Case Against Nicole Addimando - Full show on Paramount Plus

Watch 20/20 Season 45 Episode 18 Kill Or Be Killed Online

Nikki Addimando speaks out from prison and shares her story - ABC News

Battered Woman Syndrome Is a Legitimate Defense (From Violence: Opposing Viewpoints, P 158-161, 1996, David Bender, et al, eds. -- See NCJ-159343) | Office of Justice Programs

When Can a Woman Who Kills Her Abuser Claim Self-Defense? | The New Yorker

Someone I Know is Being Abused. Should I Call the Police? - The Hotline

Battered Woman Syndrome

Restraining orders among victims of intimate partner homicide | Injury Prevention

Is the Heat of Passion Biased Against Women? | Psychology Today

Women Who Kill Their Abusers Go to Prison. So Why Did Rachel Walk Free?

Why don't women leave? - Women’s Aid

Nicole Addimando guilty verdict a rare outcome in Dutchess County history

Are women punished more harshly for killing an intimate partner? | US crime | The Guardian

Nicole Addimando's sentence reduced under Domestic Violence Survivors Justice Act

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The Murder of Cara Knott Jul 27, 2023

Show notes

It was every parent’s worst nightmare: Two days after Christmas, Sam and Joyce Knott’s very reliable daughter, Cara, never made it home. They knew something was wrong, so they spent the entire night searching everywhere for her. They pleaded with the police to help with the search because this was so out of character for her, but all of their cries for help were ignored.

That is, until her body was discovered.

Now the police would have to investigate a murder, which would lead to the discovery of a serial predator…. One of their own.

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SOURCES:

The Murder of Cara Knott at the Hands of a CHP Officer | by Lori Johnston

Prosecutors Outline Evidence They Say Ties Peyer to Slaying of Knott - Los Angeles Times

True Stories of Law & Order: SVU: The Real Crimes Behind the Best Episodes of the Hit TV Show - Kindle edition by Dwyer, Kevin, Fiorillo, Juré.

Murder Behind the Badge: True Stories of Cops Who Kill eBook : Dittrich, Stacy, Pat Brown: Kindle Store

KNOTT v. STATE (1994)

Mom to Face Cara Knott’s Killer – NBC 7 San Diego

Sam Knott; Father of Murder Victim - Los Angeles Times

A Father's Crusade : Eight years after a CHP officer murdered his daughter, Sam Knott is still trying to childproof the world.

Officer Allegedly Altered Citation Night of Slaying : Driver Says Hour of Ticket Changed to Time of Killing

An Anxious Peyer Showed Undue Interest in Knott Case, Officer Says - Los Angeles Times

Jury Deadlock Ends Peyer's Murder Trial - Los Angeles Times

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The Zimmer Family Murders Jul 20, 2023

Show notes

Picture it: you’ve just made a dream come true by moving from the midwest to the beach. What could make it better? Oh right, the perfect guy. Joe Collier was seemingly the perfect man for Candy Williams. He was good looking, charming, smart, he seemed to have his act together. What’s not to like? Candy thought her search for the one was over. He spoiled her with gifts, he was always wanting to give her whatever she needed, he was so attentive to her.

But in April of 2006, she walked into her house to find what I would consider a horror scene. Every surface of the house was covered in thousands of post it notes, all of them saying something along the lines of I’m sorry, it’s too hard, I can’t do this.

From here, Joe’s behavior became increasingly bizarre. Candy started to realize that he was not her perfect match. Just when she thought it couldn’t get any worse, she found out about…… the murders.

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Sources:

I Dated a Psycho (S1, E1) | Full Episode | LMN

A mother's pain, a dark secret

A teen killer's dark secret

Woman wants isle to know of killer's presence | Local News

Youth Convicted in Adoptive Parents' Murders Collects from Estate | AP News

Teen's Dark Secret: He Murdered His Family - ABC News

Peter Zimmer | Murderpedia, the encyclopedia of murderers

Ethan Allen School, Wisconsin Inmate Booking

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3 Billboards Outside Vidor, Texas (From the Vault) Jul 13, 2023

Show notes

We are still on vacation this week but didn't want to leave y'all hanging, so we are releasing an episode from the vault! This was one of the first bonus episodes we ever released, and still one of Kristin's favorites :)

Martin McDonagh was driving through Vidor, Texas when he saw a series of billboards with a dramatic message: Raped While Dying. Still No Arrests. From Day One Police Knew Who Did It. These billboards left a very emotional impression on him. Such an impression that, without knowing the full story behind those billboards, he wrote a screenplay inspired by what he saw called 3 Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, which he would also go on to direct.

Some of the billboards in the movie came word for word from the billboards he’d seen in Vidor. And in the real case, 30 years later, there have still been no arrests in the murder of Kathy Page, even though those billboards say the case is solved and police know who the culprit is. So today I’m telling you the true story behind the movie. This is the story of 3 Billboards Outside Vidor, Texas, where the more I dug, all I found were lies upon lies, and at the center of it, heart ache. The more I read about this case, the more I realized - nothing was what it seemed.

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The Myths of Human Trafficking (From the Vault) Jun 29, 2023

Show notes

**Originally released as a mini creep on our Patreon**

There are so many myths and rumors surrounding human trafficking, to the point where it's confusing what it actually is. So we decided to spend this mini creep talking about what is human trafficking, and what it is not.

Sources:

Myths, Facts, and Statistics - Polaris.

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The Murder of Belinda Temple Jun 22, 2023

Show notes

It was January 11, 1999 in Katy, Texas when 30 year old David Temple called 911 to report the murder of his wife, Belinda Temple. He said that he'd been running a few errands with his 3 year old son, Evan, and arrived home to find Belinda dead in their closet, shot to death.

Years would go by without any movement in the case. Investigators were at a standstill. They were certain they knew exactly what happened to Belinda, but they just couldn't prove it.

Sources:

Book: Shattered by Kathryn Casey

How a Texas football coach twice found guilty of his wife's murder may still walk free - ABC News

David Temple's call for help - CBS News

David Temple sentencing: Former HS coach sentenced to life for murder of pregnant wife

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The Manti Te'o Catfish Scandal Jun 15, 2023

Show notes

In a bizarre tale that captivated the sports world, a star linebacker at Notre Dame found himself entangled in an intricate web of deception and emotional manipulation. When Manti Te'o started talking to Lennay Kekua online, they quickly bonded over their Samoan culture, their faith, and their connection to football. Texts turned to phone calls, and Manti found himself falling for her. But then, in September of 2012, he got a call letting him know that Lennay had died of the leukemia she'd been battling. Manti was heartbroken, but he decided to use his grief to fuel his football game, and he became unstoppable. Everyone knew what he'd gone through, and everyone was rooting for him. It seemed like such an inspirational story. That is, until he, and the entire world, discovered it was all a lie.

This podcast is sponsored by:

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Sources

University of Notre Dame

The New York Times | As ESPN Debated, The Manti Te'o Story Slipped Away

Wikipedia | Manti Te'o

Manti Te’o: A Linebacker, A Made-up Girlfriend and a National Hoax (Lateef Mungin and Steve Almasy)