The Pittsburgh Phantom // 536

In August of 2017, a 35-year-old woman was found dead outside her Michigan home, discovered by her daughter near an open second story window. When police arrived to their affluent neighborhood, a crime originally didn’t appear to have taken place. It looked like she had simply and tragically fallen while cleaning an upstairs window. But when they reviewed footage from the homes surveillance cameras, police would make a bombshell revelation. This is the murder of Nada Huraniah.

In the late 1970s, suburban Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania lived in the fear as an apparent strangling serial killer hunted young women - walking to school, leaving work. With so many other murders occurring in the area at the time, police originally didn’t know if any of these cases were connected. But soon, DNA would pin at least two of them together, and a consistent MO would help pool a collection of these horrific murders under the same umbrella. This is the story of the Pittsburgh Phantom.

In September of 1977, a promising 19-year-old college student in San Francisco disappeared after heading to study in her university’s library. Horrifically, she was found brutally murdered the next morning in a locked faculty reading room on the fourth floor, her belongings neatly piled nearby. With an attack on another local woman occurring in the same area that same summer, an intriguing and disturbing suspect came into play. This is the murder of Jenny Low Chang.

In September of 2009, a 24-year-old woman was released from a Los Angeles sheriff’s station in the middle of the night after being arrested for failing to pay her bill at a Malibu restaurant. In the hours preceding her arrest, she had been acting strangely and speaking in riddles. She had no car, phone, or money, yet she seemed determined to set off into the dark hills of Malibu Canyon, and was never seen alive again. This is the strange death of Mitrice Richardson.

On a stormy night in August of 1961, an eight-year-old girl vanished from her family home in Tacoma, Washington. There was no ransom note and surprisingly little evidence left behind. So after decades with no answers, an eerie link between the young girl and a man on death row birthed the theory that a notorious serial killer may have claimed her as his first victim. This the disappearance of Ann Marie Burr.

In August of 1989, a 26-year-old man in Prince George, British Columbia was given an unexpected lifeline when a bearded stranger at a pub offered him and his partner short-term work at a logging ranch nearby. With two young children, desperation for employment outweighed caution. Later that night, a witness saw the family pack their belongings and step into the man’s truck outside their home. But they were never seen again. This is the disappearance of the Jack family.

In August of 2011, a 21-year-old art student suddenly vanished from her Ohio townhouse. Her purse, her car —even her beloved dog—were all left behind. And with no signs of struggle and no clear explanation, the case baffled investigators and shook her community. For nearly two years, her disappearance was a haunting mystery… until a discovery miles away across state lines changed everything. This is the murder of Katelyn Markham.

In August of 1973, a 22-year-old woman was beginning her graduate degree in psychology at the same Missouri university when she was brutally murdered in her apartment. Originally, police believed the crime was committed by a woman. Or, a professor she may have been seeing on campus. Now, 52 years later, even more curious potential suspects have come into play, as a whole new investigation is underway. This is the murder of Tess Hilt.

In July of 2023, a beloved elementary school teacher took a walk through her Maryland neighborhood, just as she did every evening. But this time, she never came home. Within days, her disappearance sparked a massive search effort involving local authorities and concerned volunteers alike. As the weeks wore on, eerie details surfaced, including a photograph of the murder suspect as he was disposing of her remains. This is the murder of Mariame Toure Sylla.

In the spring of 2009, a short-lived spree of attacks against women in Boston and Rhode Island had the Eastern Seaboard on edge. But when a suspect was finally identified, the revelation was almost too bizarre to believe: a clean-cut, promising medical student with a seemingly perfect home life. As investigators dug deeper, they uncovered a dual existence darker and more calculated than anyone who knew him could have possibly imagined. These are the crimes of the Craigslist Killer, otherwise known as Philip Markoff.