The Bourne Investigation

It was supposed to be an incredible celebration of music - a festival like no other. But as 50,000 fans surged toward the main stage—the crowd pushed and pushed, and suddenly excitement twisted into terror. Flames shot up from the stage, illuminating a sea of panic-stricken faces as suddenly people who were once holding their hands up to film the performance, were waving their hands in desperation.  Bodies were crushed in the chaos, and screams were drowned out by the relentless roar of the music.  Ten people were dead, hundreds injured, and we were left with a haunting question - how did a night of music and fun spiral into one of the most horrifying concert tragedies in recent history?

When someone tragically dies at the hands of another person, we typically have a crime scene, DNA evidence, and a murder weapon. But what about when the weapon is the accused own words? It was called a groundbreaking case of a crime of the digital age. This is the case of Conrad Roy and Michelle Carter - also known as the case of Death By Text.

It should’ve been a typical Tuesday morning in Orlando Florida. Commuters made their way into offices, kids made their way to school. But on this particular Tuesday, one person never showed up at her desk. Jennifer Kesse, a stunning and extremely hard working 24 year old, seemingly vanished into thin air. In her apartment, no signs of a struggle or really anything out of the ordinary. But her car had vanished too. But this missing persons case wasn’t a normal case where, as you gather more evidence, things become more clear. If anything, the more police found out, the more questions they had, and the more unsettled the entire community became.

She ate her breakfast, got her uniform on and said bye to her family before heading out the door to go to school. When she failed to turn up on the day in question, her teachers and parents hoped it was a misunderstanding and she’d show up soon. In fact, on the 18th June 2001 something incredibly sinister had happened to this teenager, and she would never be seen alive again.

‘I can’t believe we got away with it’ laughed Philip Garrido after abducting a school girl in broad daylight on her way to the school bus.  What would follow were 18 agonising years of captivity, where Jaycee Lee Dugard would be subjected to the most horrific abuse imaginable. For years she was feared dead - her loved ones had no idea she was being kept prisoner in a back garden by a married couple.  She was snatched at 11 years old. When she was reunited with her family, she was 29, and a mother of 2.  What on earth happened here? Who were her captors? And how was she rescued?