True Crime Now

She was taken from her bedroom in the middle of the night. Her younger sister witnessed everything. For nine months, America searched for Elizabeth Smart, unaware that her captor had once worked at the family home. Salt Lake City, Utah. June 5, 2002. Fourteen-year-old Elizabeth Smart disappears from her bedroom while her family sleeps. Her younger sister, Mary Katherine, witnesses the abduction but is too frightened to intervene. Within hours, a massive search begins. Police, volunteers and the FBI follow hundreds of leads as Elizabeth's photograph appears on television screens across America. But the investigation takes a devastating turn when attention focuses on the wrong man. Meanwhile, Elizabeth is being held by Brian David Mitchell, a self-proclaimed religious prophet, and his wife, Wanda Barzee. For nine months, they keep her under their control, moving between Utah and California, sometimes taking her into public places without anyone realising who she is. Then, an extraordinary breakthrough. Mary Katherine remembers a familiar voice. A former handyman. A man known as Immanuel. On March 12, 2003, police spot three people walking through Sandy, Utah. One of them is Elizabeth Smart. In this four-chapter investigation, True Crime Now examines the night Elizabeth disappeared, the nine months she spent in captivity, the investigative failures and breakthroughs that eventually brought her home, and the criminal proceedings that followed. We uncover how Mitchell managed to evade detection, why crucial clues were initially overlooked, and how a fourteen-year-old girl survived an ordeal that captivated the world. How could Elizabeth remain missing for nine months while sometimes appearing in public? And what finally led investigators to the man responsible? SUPPORT TRUE CRIME NOW Support the podcast: https://www.gofundme.com/TrueCrimeNow FOLLOW TRUE CRIME NOW YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@TrueCrimeNowTV Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/truecrimenow_/ PRODUCTION CREDITS Narrated by Erica VossExecutive Producer: Lee MannProduced by Audio Bleach Global Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

A bitter divorce. A wealthy Florida family. A carefully planned execution. What began as a custody dispute would become one of America's most extraordinary murder-for-hire investigations. Tallahassee, Florida. July 18, 2014. Forty-one-year-old law professor Dan Markel is shot in the garage of his home. He dies the following day, leaving behind two young sons and a devastated family. At first, investigators struggle to identify who wanted him dead. But attention soon turns towards Dan's contentious divorce from Wendi Adelson and a custody battle that had divided two families. What follows is an extraordinary investigation involving hired killers, secret payments, FBI surveillance, undercover operations and years of intercepted telephone conversations. Detectives gradually uncover a conspiracy stretching from Tallahassee to Miami, involving members of the wealthy Adelson family. The investigation leads to five convictions. In November 2023, Dan's former brother-in-law, Charlie Adelson, is convicted of arranging the murder. Then, in September 2025, his mother, Donna Adelson, is found guilty of first-degree murder, conspiracy and solicitation. Both receive life sentences. In July 2026, an appeals court upholds Charlie Adelson's conviction, while Donna continues to challenge hers. In this four-chapter investigation, True Crime Now examines Dan Markel's murder, the bitter family dispute that preceded it, the extraordinary FBI operation that exposed the conspiracy, and the courtroom evidence that brought five people to justice. We follow the money, the wiretaps and the testimony that eventually revealed who arranged Dan's killing. How did a dispute over two children become a murder-for-hire conspiracy? And how did investigators unravel a plot that took more than a decade to expose fully? SUPPORT TRUE CRIME NOW Support the podcast: GoFundMe FOLLOW TRUE CRIME NOW YouTube: True Crime Now TV Instagram: @truecrimenow_ PRODUCTION CREDITS Narrated by Erica VossExecutive Producer: Lee MannProduced by Audio Bleach Global Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

She vanished without a trace. Her husband claimed she had walked away. Three years later, investigators discovered her body hidden inside a sealed industrial tank on the family property. Michigan. April 2021. Fifty-two-year-old Dee Ann Warner disappears from her home in Lenawee County, leaving behind five children, a successful farming business and a family desperate for answers. Her husband, Dale Warner, maintains that she left voluntarily. But Dee's family is convinced something terrible has happened. As investigators examine the couple's troubled marriage, financial disagreements and the events surrounding Dee's disappearance, suspicion increasingly falls on Dale. For years, there is no body. Then, in August 2024, investigators make an extraordinary discovery. Inside a large industrial ammonia tank on the Warner property, sealed and welded shut, they find Dee Ann's remains. The discovery transforms a missing-person investigation into a murder case with devastating physical evidence. In March 2026, Dale Warner is convicted of second-degree murder and tampering with evidence. Two months later, he receives consecutive prison sentences totalling a maximum of seventy years. In this four-chapter investigation, True Crime Now examines Dee Ann Warner's disappearance, the marriage and financial disputes that became central to the case, the remarkable discovery that ended a three-year search, and the courtroom evidence that led to her husband's conviction. How did Dee Ann remain hidden on her own family's property for more than three years? And what finally brought the truth to light? SUPPORT TRUE CRIME NOW Support the podcast: https://www.gofundme.com/TrueCrimeNow FOLLOW TRUE CRIME NOW YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@TrueCrimeNowTV Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/truecrimenow_/ PRODUCTION CREDITS Narrated by Erica VossExecutive Producer: Lee MannProduced by Audio Bleach Global Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Ted Bundy was executed in 1989. Thirty-seven years later, DNA evidence has connected him to two murders that remained officially unsolved for more than half a century. Utah. October 1974. Seventeen-year-old Melissa Ann Smith disappears. Nine days later, her body is discovered in a wooded area. Just weeks later, another seventeen-year-old, Laura Ann Aime, vanishes after leaving a Halloween party. Her body is discovered the following month. For decades, investigators suspect one of America's most notorious serial killers: Ted Bundy. But suspicion is not enough to close either case. In April 2026, advances in forensic DNA analysis finally confirm Bundy's responsibility for Laura's murder. Then, on October 27, 2026, exactly fifty-two years after Melissa's body was discovered, authorities announce another breakthrough. DNA evidence has helped investigators establish that Bundy was also responsible for her death. In this four-chapter investigation, True Crime Now examines Ted Bundy's criminal history, the murders that terrorised America during the 1970s, his dramatic escapes, trials and execution, and the extraordinary forensic discoveries that continue to reveal new information about his crimes. We explore how investigators recovered DNA from evidence preserved for decades, how modern profiling techniques connected the two murders, and the difference between conventional DNA analysis, familial DNA searching and investigative genetic genealogy. With other disappearances still under investigation, one question remains. More than thirty-seven years after Ted Bundy's execution, how many secrets could the evidence still reveal? SUPPORT TRUE CRIME NOW Support the podcast on GoFundMe FOLLOW TRUE CRIME NOW YouTube: True Crime Now TV Instagram: @truecrimenow_ PRODUCTION CREDITS Narrated by Erica VossExecutive Producer: Lee MannProduced by Audio Bleach Global Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

She was accused of stalking, making death threats and arranging a violent sexual assault. The evidence appeared overwhelming. But Michelle Hadley was innocent. And the people responsible for framing her were closer than anyone imagined. California. 2016. When Michelle Hadley's former fiancé, Ian Diaz, and his new wife, Angela, reported a terrifying campaign of online harassment, investigators believed they had identified the perpetrator. Threatening emails, fabricated online identities and disturbing advertisements appeared to point directly towards Michelle. She was arrested, charged with serious crimes and held on one million dollars bail. For 88 days, Michelle remained behind bars, facing the possibility of life in prison. But as investigators examined the digital evidence, the story began to unravel. The messages were fabricated. The accusations were false. And the apparent victims had orchestrated an extraordinary conspiracy. Angela Diaz would receive a five-year prison sentence. Years later, Ian Diaz, a former deputy United States Marshal, would be convicted of cyberstalking, conspiracy, perjury and obstruction of justice, receiving a sentence of ten years and one month. In this four-chapter investigation, True Crime Now examines the relationship that preceded the accusations, the elaborate digital deception, the investigation that exposed the conspiracy and Michelle Hadley's long fight for justice. How did an innocent woman spend nearly three months in prison for crimes she never committed? And how did the people responsible manage to make their fabricated evidence appear so convincing? SUPPORT TRUE CRIME NOW Support the podcast on GoFundMe FOLLOW TRUE CRIME NOW YouTube: True Crime Now TV Instagram: @truecrimenow_ PRODUCTION CREDITS Narrated by Erica VossExecutive Producer: Lee MannProduced by Audio Bleach Global Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices