The Crash: Is Public Opinion Going to Keep Mackenzie Shirilla in Prison?

Why Nancy Guthrie's Ransom Hoaxer Barely Got Punished

Nancy Guthrie is still missing six months later, but a separate criminal case connected to her disappearance just came to an end. A California man pleaded guilty to sending the Guthrie family fake bitcoin ransom demands while the active search for her was still underway.  The reason people are angry is the outcome. His charge was pled down to harassment, capped at two years in the federal system, and he ultimately received five years of probation, with both counts running together instead of being stacked. Retired FBI special agent Jennifer Coffindaffer called it a travesty, warning the sentence could set a precedent that emboldens the wave of copycat notes still coming in — a group being called the TMZ Twelve, which the FBI has reportedly suggested are likely not authentic.  Two separate notes are being treated very differently by investigators. One demanded four million dollars, threatened to raise it to six million, and warned Nancy would be killed. The other is an apology letter, sent only to local television stations, expressing remorse and calling her death an accident. Both are reportedly linked to the same IP address, which investigators consider one of the strongest leads they have.  There's also the mystery of Porch Guy, someone connected to the case who hasn't been publicly identified or arrested, despite legal tools used successfully in other investigations that could help track him down faster.  We break down the sentence, the notes, and where this investigation actually stands.  New episode is up now — link below.  Social Links & Legal Footer  Join Our SubStack For AD-FREE ADVANCE EPISODES & EXTRAS!: https://hiddenkillers.substack.com/ [https://hiddenkillers.substack.com/]  Want to comment and watch this podcast as a video? Check out our YouTube Channel. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8-vxmbhTxxG10sO1izODJg?sub_confirmation=1 [https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8-vxmbhTxxG10sO1izODJg?sub_confirmation=1]  Instagram https://www.instagram.com/hiddenkillerspod/ [https://www.instagram.com/hiddenkillerspod/]  Facebook https://www.facebook.com/hiddenkillerspod/ [https://www.facebook.com/hiddenkillerspod/]  Tik-Tok https://www.tiktok.com/@hiddenkillerspod [https://www.tiktok.com/@hiddenkillerspod]  X Twitter https://x.com/TrueCrimePod [https://x.com/TrueCrimePod]  This publication contains commentary and opinion based on publicly available information. All individuals are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. Nothing published here should be taken as a statement of fact, health or legal advice.  Hashtags  #NancyGuthrie #RansomHoax #TrueCrimeToday #TMZTwelve #Bitcoin #FBIInvestigation #TulsaOklahoma #PorchGuy #TrueCrimePodcast #UnsolvedMystery

D4vd: Two Sheriff’s Departments Had His Name and Did WHAT?

D4vd murder case: how did two sheriff’s departments have David Burke’s name, number, and address in a missing child investigation and still fail to protect Celeste Rivas Hernandez? She was thirteen. She was reported missing three times. Deputies called Burke, went to his home, and confronted him with her age. What they did with that information — and what they didn’t do — is the center of this episode.Prosecutors allege Burke paid a thousand dollars to one of Celeste’s junior high classmates to give her a replacement phone after her parents cut off contact. Over the following year, she allegedly traveled with him to Las Vegas, London, and Texas. She met his family. She had matching tattoos with him. She had his name permanently inked on her ring finger.This is the first of three parts in a Hidden Killers investigation into the D4vd case — and the adults who allegedly let every red flag pass. LINKS: Join Our SubStack For AD-FREE ADVANCE EPISODES & EXTRAS!: https://hiddenkillers.substack.com/ [https://hiddenkillers.substack.com/] Want to comment and watch this podcast as a video? Check out our YouTube Channel. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8-vxmbhTxxG10sO1izODJg?sub_confirmation=1 [https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8-vxmbhTxxG10sO1izODJg?sub_confirmation=1] Instagram https://www.instagram.com/hiddenkillerspod/ [https://www.instagram.com/hiddenkillerspod/] Facebook https://www.facebook.com/hiddenkillerspod/ [https://www.facebook.com/hiddenkillerspod/] Tik-Tok https://www.tiktok.com/@hiddenkillerspod [https://www.tiktok.com/@hiddenkillerspod] X Twitter https://x.com/TrueCrimePod [https://x.com/TrueCrimePod] DISCLAIMER: This publication contains commentary and opinion based on publicly available information. All individuals are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. Nothing published here should be taken as a statement of fact, health or legal advice. HASHTAGS: #D4vd #CelesteRivas #HiddenKillers #DavidBurke #TrueCrime #WelfareCheck #SystemFailure #LakeElsinore #HollywoodHills #JusticeForCeleste

What Nolan Wells' Friends Won't Hand Over

There's a new layer to the Nolan Wells story out of Jackson County, Mississippi, and it centers on one detail: one of the friends who left him behind on Horn Island is the son of a sitting county judge. Since that connection came out, the judge has gone dark on social media — and so has the entire friend group.  A sitting congressman and a nationally recognized civil rights attorney representing Nolan's parents are now publicly calling on local law enforcement for transparency. There's also the matter of the phones. Investigators asked the friends to voluntarily surrender their cell phones rather than compel them with a subpoena, and retired FBI special agent Jennifer Coffindaffer explains why that distinction matters — a voluntary handover gives people time to erase anything before it's officially reviewed, and any gaps investigators later find could become grounds for a deeper, court-ordered search.  Again, no one on this show is claiming Nolan's death was anything other than a tragic accident. That theory still holds up. But the optics of a case running through a small department, with a sitting judge's family connected to one of the friends involved, raise fair questions about how evenly this investigation is actually being handled.  We lay out the judge connection, the phone surrender, and what the silence from everyone involved could mean for where this goes next.  New episode is up now — link below.  Social Links & Legal Footer  Join Our SubStack For AD-FREE ADVANCE EPISODES & EXTRAS!: https://hiddenkillers.substack.com/ [https://hiddenkillers.substack.com/]  Want to comment and watch this podcast as a video? Check out our YouTube Channel. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8-vxmbhTxxG10sO1izODJg?sub_confirmation=1 [https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8-vxmbhTxxG10sO1izODJg?sub_confirmation=1]  Instagram https://www.instagram.com/hiddenkillerspod/ [https://www.instagram.com/hiddenkillerspod/]  Facebook https://www.facebook.com/hiddenkillerspod/ [https://www.facebook.com/hiddenkillerspod/]  Tik-Tok https://www.tiktok.com/@hiddenkillerspod [https://www.tiktok.com/@hiddenkillerspod]  X Twitter https://x.com/TrueCrimePod [https://x.com/TrueCrimePod]  This publication contains commentary and opinion based on publicly available information. All individuals are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. Nothing published here should be taken as a statement of fact, health or legal advice.  Hashtags  #NolanWells #JacksonCountyJudge #TrueCrimeToday #HornIsland #MississippiMystery #CivilRightsAttorney #MissingTeen #CoastGuardSearch #TrueCrimePodcast #UnsolvedMystery

Why Nolan Wells' Friends Really Left Him Behind

Eighteen-year-old Nolan Wells went to Horn Island, Mississippi, for the Fourth of July with a group of friends. He never made it home. He was last seen talking to a girl on the north end of the island around three in the afternoon. His friends' boat left the island an hour and a half later — without him.  The explanation on record is that the boat was taking on water, which is the detail that keeps getting picked apart online and in this episode. Boats near shore, on a holiday weekend, with patrols on the water and life jackets required — leaving someone behind for that reason is not the obvious call it's being presented as.  Two days later, following a search by the Coast Guard, the National Park Service, and Jackson County authorities, a park ranger found Nolan's body almost exactly where he'd last been seen. Reports say alcohol and drugs have been ruled out. His friend group has remained close to his mother throughout. And there's one more detail that matters — Nolan left his phone with her before he ever set foot on that island, which says plenty about the kind of son he was.  His family has since hired a civil rights attorney, and the questions haven't stopped: about the boat, about who made the call to leave, about whether the story investigators have on record actually adds up. We lay out the full timeline and the pieces still missing from it.  New episode is up now — link below.  Social Links & Legal Footer  Join Our SubStack For AD-FREE ADVANCE EPISODES & EXTRAS!: https://hiddenkillers.substack.com/ [https://hiddenkillers.substack.com/]  Want to comment and watch this podcast as a video? Check out our YouTube Channel. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8-vxmbhTxxG10sO1izODJg?sub_confirmation=1 [https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8-vxmbhTxxG10sO1izODJg?sub_confirmation=1]  Instagram https://www.instagram.com/hiddenkillerspod/ [https://www.instagram.com/hiddenkillerspod/]  Facebook https://www.facebook.com/hiddenkillerspod/ [https://www.facebook.com/hiddenkillerspod/]  Tik-Tok https://www.tiktok.com/@hiddenkillerspod [https://www.tiktok.com/@hiddenkillerspod]  X Twitter https://x.com/TrueCrimePod [https://x.com/TrueCrimePod]  This publication contains commentary and opinion based on publicly available information. All individuals are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. Nothing published here should be taken as a statement of fact, health or legal advice.  Hashtags  #NolanWells #HornIsland #TrueCrimeToday #MississippiMystery #FourthOfJuly #MissingTeen #JacksonCounty #CoastGuardSearch #TrueCrimePodcast #UnsolvedMystery

How Did A Text Message And A Truck Lead To Rex Heuermann's Arrest?

The evidentiary chain that ultimately identified Rex Heuermann as the Gilgo Beach killer began with two pieces of information that sat dormant for more than a decade: a roommate's description of a first-generation Chevrolet Avalanche, and a text message from a burner phone sent after a failed encounter the night before Amber Costello disappeared. This look back traces that chain from its origin through to the guilty plea. On September 1, 2010, a man matching Heuermann's description arrived at a West Babylon residence to meet Costello. Her roommate ran a scam, and the man left. A text followed from the burner: an acknowledgment of what happened and a request for a return visit. The following night, the man returned. Costello walked out to meet him. Her roommate, Dave Schaller, observed the truck. Costello was never seen again. When the Gilgo Beach task force was formed in 2022 and ran the vehicle description through registration databases, Heuermann's name surfaced. From there — surveillance, the pizza-crust DNA recovery, search warrants, the planning document, electronic device seizures, and ultimately the arrest and guilty plea. The segment also examines, with psychotherapist Shavaun Scott, the erosion-of-agency pattern connecting the Heuermann and Richins cases. Asa Ellerup spent twenty-seven years married to Heuermann and defended him for three years after his arrest before his guilty plea to eight murders. Eric Richins documented his wife's financial misconduct, changed his estate, and still could not leave. Scott examines the incremental loss of boundaries that keeps people in place — and turns the clinical research toward the listener. Heuermann is expected to be sentenced to three consecutive life terms plus an additional hundred years. We revisit where the matter stood at the time of our reporting. Join Our SubStack For AD-FREE ADVANCE EPISODES & EXTRAS!: https://hiddenkillers.substack.com/ [https://hiddenkillers.substack.com/] Want to comment and watch this podcast as a video? Check out our YouTube Channel. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8-vxmbhTxxG10sO1izODJg?sub_confirmation=1 [https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8-vxmbhTxxG10sO1izODJg?sub_confirmation=1] Instagram https://www.instagram.com/hiddenkillerspod/ [https://www.instagram.com/hiddenkillerspod/] Facebook https://www.facebook.com/hiddenkillerspod/ [https://www.facebook.com/hiddenkillerspod/] Tik-Tok https://www.tiktok.com/@hiddenkillerspod [https://www.tiktok.com/@hiddenkillerspod] X Twitter https://x.com/TrueCrimePod [https://x.com/TrueCrimePod] This publication contains commentary and opinion based on publicly available information. All individuals are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. Nothing published here should be taken as a statement of fact, health or legal advice. #AmberCostello #RexHeuermann #GilgoBeachKiller #LISK #ChevyAvalanche #ShavaunScott #ErosionOfAgency #TrueCrime #GilgoBeach #HiddenKillers