True Crime Recaps

Latest Episodes:

Bodies in the Backyard: The Family of Killers No One Saw Coming Dec 23, 2025

Show notes

In 1981, police in California uncovered a horrifying crime. The body of 23-year-old Barbara Levoy was found buried in the backyard of long-haul truck driver Ward Francis Weaver Jr. She had been kidnapped and murdered after Weaver offered roadside help. At the time, investigators believed it was an isolated crime. They were wrong.

Two decades later, history repeated itself in Oregon City. In 2002, twelve-year-old Ashley Pond vanished on her walk to school. Two months later, her best friend Miranda Gaddis disappeared the same way. As the community searched desperately, one neighbor seemed eager to help. Ward Weaver III gave interviews, welcomed media into his home, and spoke calmly to reporters while standing on a concrete slab in his backyard.

That slab covered Ashley Pond’s grave. When police finally searched the property, they found her body sealed in a barrel beneath the concrete. Miranda’s remains were buried nearby. Weaver III was sentenced to life in prison without parole.

Years later, the pattern grew even darker when Weaver III’s son, Francis Weaver, was convicted of murder in an unrelated case. DNA testing later revealed Francis was not biologically related to Ward at all, leaving investigators and the public with one chilling question.

Was this evil inherited, learned, or something far more complicated?

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Trinity Poague Killed 18-Month-Old Romeo ‘J.D.’ Angeles While His Father Was Out Getting Pizza Dec 20, 2025

Show notes

Trinity Poague appeared to be the perfect college student. A beauty pageant winner, nursing major, and leadership scholar with a bright future ahead of her. But behind the polished image, people close to her noticed growing tension when she was left alone with her boyfriend’s 18-month-old son, Romeo “J.D.” Angeles.

On the morning J.D. died, everything seemed normal. Trinity, Julian Angeles, and the toddler spent the morning together, talking about lunch and playing. When Julian stepped out to pick up pizza, he expected to return to the same routine. Instead, minutes later, he found his son unresponsive and Trinity screaming for help.

Doctors quickly determined J.D.’s injuries were not accidental. He had a fractured skull, severe internal trauma, and signs of violent force. Investigators concluded the injuries occurred while Trinity was alone with him. At trial, prosecutors laid out evidence that left the jury with little doubt.

Trinity Poague was convicted of felony murder and sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole. The case left a community reeling and raised painful questions about trust, resentment, and what can happen behind closed doors.

What do you think drove this tragedy?

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Abandoned at Christmas: The Real Life Home Alone Case That Shocked America Dec 18, 2025

Show notes

Four days before Christmas in 1992, two sisters, nine-year-old Nicole Schoo and four-year-old Diana, knocked on a neighbor’s door in Chicago. They were freezing, frightened, and completely alone. Their parents had boarded a plane to Acapulco for a nine-day vacation, leaving the girls behind with frozen meals, written instructions, and no adult supervision.

As days passed, the situation inside the house spiraled. A blaring fire alarm and an overflowing bathtub finally forced the children to call 911. What police found shocked the nation. There was no babysitter, no emergency contact, and no way for the girls to reach their parents. Investigators soon learned this was not a mistake. The children had been intentionally left alone.

When David and Sharon Schoo returned from their tropical trip, police arrested them at the airport. As the case unfolded, allegations of prior neglect and abuse emerged, raising serious questions about how the family had gone unnoticed for so long.

The fallout changed the law. Public outrage led Illinois to pass the Home Alone Bill, clearly defining when children can legally be left unsupervised. Nicole and Diana were removed from their parents’ custody, later adopted, and have remained out of the public eye ever since.

This is the real life Home Alone case that ended with a law meant to protect children nationwide.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Skelton Brothers Case: Father Long Suspected Is Now Charged With Murder of His 3 Kids Dec 16, 2025

Show notes

On Thanksgiving weekend in 2010, three brothers Andrew, Alexander, and Tanner Skelton vanished during a court ordered holiday visit with their father, John Skelton. What was supposed to be a routine custody exchange became one of the most haunting child disappearance cases in the Midwest.

John claimed he handed the boys to a woman named Joann Taylor to keep them safe while he attempted suicide. Investigators later proved Joann Taylor did not exist. Neither did the underground foster network John insisted had taken his sons. With no bodies, no witnesses, and no clear timeline, the case stalled while John served time for unrelated charges.

Now, fifteen years later, everything has changed. In 2025, prosecutors officially charged John Skelton with the murders of all three boys just weeks before his expected release from prison. Investigators believe new evidence finally supports what many feared from the beginning.

As the case moves back into court, one question still hangs over everything. Will these charges finally reveal what happened to the Skelton brothers, or will the truth remain buried forever?

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

She Vanished Overnight and the Person of Interest Was Found in a Car Trunk Dec 13, 2025

Show notes

Jamie Fraley was just twenty-two when she stepped out for a late-night hospital trip and vanished without a trace. Her purse, wallet, keys, and dog were left untouched in her locked apartment, but her phone was later found abandoned a mile away.

Detectives quickly focused on one man Ricky Simonds Sr, Jamie’s neighbor and future father-in-law. A convicted strangler fresh out of prison, he was the last person known to have seen her. But before investigators could question him further, Ricky was found dead in the trunk of his girlfriend’s car. The case collapsed instantly. No suspect. No confession. No Jamie.

Sixteen years later, the mystery still grips North Carolina. Did Jamie’s neighbor kill her and take the truth to the grave, or is someone else responsible for her disappearance

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A Murderer Claimed He Was Sleepwalking and the Jury Believed Him Dec 11, 2025

Show notes

Kenneth Parks committed one of the strangest and most controversial crimes in modern history. In 1987, he drove fourteen miles in the middle of the night to his in-laws home and attacked them, leaving his mother-in-law dead and his father-in-law severely injured. Then, covered in blood, he walked into a police station and confessed.

But Parks insisted he had been asleep the entire time. Doctors found no signs of psychosis, only a lifelong pattern of sleepwalking and night terrors. His defense argued that he experienced a violent sleepwalking episode and never woke up during the attack.

In a shocking outcome, the jury agreed. Parks was acquitted of murder and walked free, creating one of the most debated legal precedents in Canadian history. He has lived quietly ever since, with no further violence.

So what do you think happened that night? A tragic medical mystery or the perfect excuse for murder?

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Slavemaster Killer: The Businessman Who Hunted Women Online Dec 09, 2025

Show notes

John Robinson was the last person anyone expected to become one of America's most disturbing killers. A churchgoing father, Scoutmaster, and respected Kansas City businessman, he hid a second life built on manipulation, fraud, and murder. Under his online persona, the Slavemaster, Robinson lured vulnerable women with promises of work, housing, and love, only for them to disappear without a trace.

When investigators finally closed in on him in 2000, they uncovered a nightmare across two states. Barrels filled with bodies. Forged letters to families. Stolen identities. And one devastating truth: baby Heather Robinson, raised by Robinson's brother, was actually the daughter of one of his victims, Lisa Stasi.

Robinson's crimes earned him the title of America's first internet serial killer. Now on death row, he has never fully revealed how many women he targeted or how far his violence went. Was he a con man who escalated into murder, or was he always a predator waiting for the internet to give him cover?

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The 1958 Killing Spree That Put an Entire State on Lockdown. Dec 06, 2025

Show notes

In January 1958, nineteen-year-old Charles Starkweather and his fourteen-year-old girlfriend, Caril Ann Fugate, launched one of the most terrifying killing sprees in American history. Over eight days across Nebraska and Wyoming, ten people were murdered in shootings, stabbings, and home invasions that blindsided communities and left entire towns sheltering indoors.

Their victims ranged from Caril’s family to strangers who simply crossed their path. As police scrambled to make sense of the violence, Starkweather embraced the fear he created. Fugate told investigators a very different story, claiming she had been taken hostage and believed her family was still alive. Starkweather supported her version, then reversed himself, pointing the blame back at her.

Captured after a high-speed chase in Wyoming, Starkweather was sentenced to death and executed in 1959. Fugate, only fifteen at the time of the crimes, was convicted of murder and served seventeen years before being released. More than sixty years later, questions about her true role have never been fully resolved.

Was Caril Ann Fugate a prisoner, a participant, or something in between?

Follow True Crime Recaps for more cases that changed the course of American true crime history.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Friend Who Turned Out to Be the Killer. Dec 04, 2025

Show notes

Nineteen-year-old music student Jessie Blodgett returned home from a cast party, went to sleep in her childhood bedroom, and never woke up. By morning, her mother found a scene that shattered the quiet town of Hartford, Wisconsin. There was no forced entry and no clear motive, leaving investigators with more questions than answers.

Then, in a nearby town, a young woman survived a violent attack in a park. Her detailed account pointed police toward someone no one expected. Jessie’s close friend, Daniel Bartelt, had been the last person anyone would suspect. But a slip during questioning, a blue van, and a roll of HVAC tape began to connect the two crimes.

When detectives searched Bartelt’s home and the trash cans at the park, the pieces snapped into place. DNA, ropes, tape, and his own writings revealed a disturbing double life. Bartelt was spending his days pretending to work, isolating himself, and writing violent fantasies while spiraling further into darkness.

Jessie’s family now carries her legacy forward through the Love Is Greater Than Hate Project, ensuring her light continues to reach others long after her life was stolen.

What do you think happened that summer? Did Daniel plan this, or did something snap?

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

He Kept a Murder Scoreboard for 50 Years. Dec 02, 2025

Show notes

Joseph Naso spent more than fifty years living a quiet life as a photographer, drifting from California to Nevada and blending into every neighborhood he entered. But behind the camera, he was documenting something far darker. Hidden in his home were thousands of photographs of women, mannequins posed like victims, and a handwritten “top 10” list that pointed investigators toward cold cases stretching back decades.

A routine probation check in 2010 blew his secrets open. Detectives discovered journals detailing attacks, coded entries about women he called “projects,” and a disturbing pattern connecting him to the murders of women with matching double initials. His meticulous note taking and trophy keeping revealed the mind of a killer who treated murder like a lifelong hobby.

Even today, from death row, Naso’s secrets are still helping investigators identify victims and reopen long unresolved mysteries. The evidence he left behind continues to answer old questions while raising new ones.

How many victims did Joseph Naso really have, and how many are still waiting to be identified?

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Our TOPPODCAST Picks

Follow Us

Stay Connected

Related Podcasts

Links

Stay Connected