The Hailey Buzbee Case

Seventeen-year-old Hailey Buzbee left her home in 2026 after months of online communication with a man she thought she knew. What followed exposed the realities of grooming and the gaps in a system still trying to catch up.https://www.change.org/p/pass-hailey-s-law-pink-alert-and-mandated-grooming-awareness-education-in-schools?utm_medium=custom_url&utm_source=share_petition&recruited_by_id=5757cf30-e8a5-012f-1742-4040b91ba155

In 1993, Lola Fry went to a party in Indianapolis and never came home.The people who were with her told police a story — but it’s one that has never fully made sense.Lola disappeared along with her car. Neither have ever been found.

In October 1995, Wilma Cheek was found shot to death in her car at Willow Grove Cemetery in Fountain City, Indiana. It was late morning. Daylight. A place that should have felt quiet, familiar, safe. Thirty years later, her case remains unsolved.https://www.in.gov/isp/crime-reporting/cold-case-investigations/cold-cases-by-county/pendleton-district-investigations/wilma-cheek-10301995/

A new case in Bloomington, Indiana. An arrest tied to alleged child sexual abuse material. In part 1, we slow down the headline and walk through what’s been publicly reported so far, how these cases often start, what digital evidence can and can’t prove at this stage, and what research says about who gets caught with csam and how often this behavior happens in secrecy. This episode avoids graphic details and centers accuracy, prevention, and the reality that harm can be amplified long after abuse occurs.

We're sharing our coverage of the waverly two case again as Terence and Ferrone work towards their deserved full exoneration after their release.In 1998, Terence Richardson and Ferrone Claiborne of Waverly, Virginia, were sentenced to life for a murder they were acquitted of, exposing systemic flaws like withheld evidence and a judge’s power to override a jury’s verdict. In this episode, we examine the controversial mechanism of acquitted conduct sentencing and the tireless advocacy work aimed at righting this profound injustice.

In Bloomington, two rape charges against a former Indiana University student ended without a trial. The charges were dismissed, a plea to battery remained, and the sentence was one year of probation. This episode follows the gap between what the public thinks the system does and what the rules of proof allow it to do.

This episode tells the story of Lisa M. Wallace, a 25 year old woman from Cadiz, Kentucky, found behind a truck stop near Interstate 70 in eastern Indiana on May 19, 1992.https://www.in.gov/isp/crime-reporting/cold-case-investigations/cold-cases-by-county/pendleton-district-investigations/lisa-m-wallace-05191992/

A Stillwater teen pleaded no contest to 11 rape related charges and walked out of court with a fully suspended 78 year sentence under Oklahoma’s youthful offender law. This episode follows the case of Jesse Butler, the outrage it sparked, and what it reveals about race, power, and who the system believes deserves another chance.

Theresa “Terry” Rideout was 36 when she vanished over Labor Day weekend in 1994. She finished a shift at Burger King in Evansville, made the night deposit, and never came back to her home in Chandler, Indiana. A week later, her fiancé, Jack Barnett, died by suicide in a Mount Vernon motel room, leaving behind a note that never mentioned Terry. With her paycheck still unclaimed, and her belongings left behind, investigators suspect foul play – but three decades later, her body has never been found and her case remains unsolved.

A Heavy Weight is re-releasing our coverage of Wilma June Nissen, a young mother of three whose homicide remains unsolved nearly five decades later. On October 4, 1978, Wilma’s body was found along Highway 182 in Lyon County, Iowa, near Rock Rapids, by a utility worker laying cable. With little usable evidence at the scene, investigators could not identify her at the time, and she was listed as a Jane Doe for years. In 2006, a forensic technician matched the unidentified victim’s fingerprints to an earlier arrest record from Los Angeles, finally restoring her name. Since then, Wilma’s daughter, Krissi Haas, has continued to push for answers and accountability, while investigators have pursued leads and tested limited physical evidence, including DNA that was reportedly too mixed to be useful at the time. Authorities have also publicly asked for help identifying people connected to the case, including individuals known by the aliases “Sugar” and “Peaches.” If you have credible information about Wilma June Nissen’s homicide, you can contact the Lyon County Sheriff’s Office at (712) 472 8300 or submit a tip through Lyon County’s online tip form. Tip submissions are not monitored 24 7, so emergencies should go to 911. For anonymous reporting and possible reward eligibility, Project Cold Case notes you can contact Crime Stoppers at (800) 222 TIPS.