The Casual Criminalist

Faith Hedgepeth, a nineteen-year-old University of North Carolina student, was sexually assaulted and bludgeoned to death in her Durham apartment in September 2012. Despite extensive DNA evidence, the case remained unsolved for nine years until genealogy testing identified Miguel Salguerro-Olivares. In 2026, he was convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Thomas Randolph married six times, with four wives dying suspiciously whilst he collected hefty life insurance payouts. When his sixth wife Sharon was shot dead in 2008, he killed the alleged intruder, his own handyman. Detectives uncovered disturbing patterns spanning decades, eventually securing his conviction for murder after two trials. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Donald Harvey worked as a hospital orderly in Kentucky and Ohio for seventeen years, killing dozens of patients through poisoning, suffocation, and deliberate overdoses. He claimed mercy motivated his crimes, but investigators uncovered something far darker: a desperate need for control over helpless people who trusted him with their lives. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In 1986, Sherri Rasmussen was brutally murdered in her Los Angeles home. Police dismissed it as a botched burglary for twenty-three years. DNA evidence finally revealed the killer was an LAPD detective and her husband's obsessive ex-girlfriend. This chilling case exposes stunning police failures and raises troubling questions about justice. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

For fifteen years, Akku Yadav terrorised the slum of Kasturba Nagar through extortion, murder, and sexual assault while police turned a blind eye. When he threatened the wrong woman in 2004, the entire community finally fought back, cornering him inside a courtroom and delivering their own brutal form of justice. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Sonia Exelby was a kind, talented music tutor from England who struggled privately with severe mental health issues. Through dark online communities, she connected with Dwain Hall, a Florida man now charged with her murder. Evidence suggests that despite earlier discussions, Sonia changed her mind and desperately wanted to escape. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

For three weeks in October 2002, snipers terrorised Washington DC, killing randomly at petrol stations and car parks. Behind the attacks were John Allen Muhammad, a Gulf War veteran with a troubled past, and teenager Lee Boyd Malvo, whom he had groomed into a killer. This is their chilling story. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In 2007, Ellen Pakkies strangled her drug-addicted son after six years of abuse, theft, and violence. Her trial revealed a childhood of neglect, institutional failures, and a community ravaged by tik. The judge gave her a suspended sentence. Today, she campaigns for Cape Town mayor, fighting addiction and demanding accountability. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In 1880s Austin, Texas, a serial killer stalked domestic servants, brutally murdering eight people with axes before vanishing into history. The police failed spectacularly, private detectives proved useless, and two husbands faced murder trials. Was the killer a local man named Nathan Elgin, or did he become Jack the Ripper? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In 1991, four teenage girls were brutally murdered at an Austin yogurt shop. For decades, the case was plagued by wrongful arrests, coerced confessions, and constitutional violations. Finally, in 2025, advanced DNA testing identified serial killer Robert Brashers as the true perpetrator. Four wrongly accused men were declared factually innocent. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices