In May 2012, a young woman jogging around a lake in Westminster, Colorado, was attacked by a man who tried to subdue her with a chemical-soaked cloth, but she managed to escape. Months later, in October, a ten-year-old girl went missing while walking to school in the same area. A massive search ensued, and the girl's backpack was found with DNA evidence linking it to the earlier jogger attack. Tragically, the girl's dismembered body was discovered in a nearby park. As the community grappled with fear and grief, investigators worked tirelessly to find the perpetrator, unaware that the culprit was a local teenager with a deeply disturbing history and obsessions.

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In 2002, a seventeen-year-old transgender girl in the Bay Area of California befriended a group of young men in their late teens and early twenties. The girl, who had been living as a female since she was fourteen, partied with the men and engaged in sexual encounters with some of them, who were unaware that she was transgender. As the men began to suspect her biological sex, tensions rose within the group. The situation escalated when, during a confrontation at one of the men's homes, the girl's identity was revealed, leading to a shocking act of violence that would forever change the lives of all involved.

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In 1991, a middle-aged Texas man and a young Egyptian woman met in a California bar and quickly fell in love despite their significant age difference. After a whirlwind romance, they married and embarked on a cross-country trip to introduce the new bride to the husband's family. Upon returning to their Costa Mesa home, their relationship took a dark turn. The young wife, who had a history of theft and violence, claimed that her husband had sexually assaulted her. What followed was a gruesome discovery that shocked investigators and revealed the disturbing depths of the woman's troubled past.

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In 2018, a young woman from Michigan went missing after visiting a male friend with a troubled past. The woman's mother grew increasingly concerned when her daughter failed to show up for an important appointment and couldn't be reached. As the mother desperately tried to locate her daughter, the male friend provided a series of lies and misleading information. Eventually, the truth came to light when a horrific discovery was made in the basement of the man's apartment building. The ensuing investigation and trial revealed the disturbing details of what had happened to the missing woman and the extent to which the man's family had gone to help him conceal the crime.

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In the late 1990s, women began disappearing at an alarming rate from the Downtown Eastside of Vancouver, Canada, an area known for poverty, drug addiction, and prostitution. Many of the missing women were sex workers, and a disproportionate number were Indigenous. Despite the growing list of missing persons, authorities were slow to investigate. Suspicion eventually fell on a local pig farmer who was known to frequent the Downtown Eastside and bring sex workers back to his farm. The man had a history of violence against women and had been previously charged with attempted murder, though the charges were dropped. As the investigation unfolded, the horrifying extent of his crimes would shock the nation.

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In 1994, nine-year-old Penny Davis disappeared near her rural home in Okanogan County, Washington. Six months later, her body was found in a shallow grave. The prime suspect was Jack Spillman, who had a criminal history and had dated Penny's mother. In 1995, Spillman brutally murdered Rita Huffman and her fourteen-year-old daughter Amanda in their home in Wenatchee, Washington. Evidence linked Spillman to both crime scenes, and while in prison, he revealed disturbing details about the murders to his cellmate. To avoid the death penalty, Spillman pleaded guilty and was sentenced to life in prison without parole.

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Lauren Giddings was a promising twenty-seven-year-old law school graduate, eagerly awaiting the start of her career as a public defender. But just weeks after graduation, as she prepared for her bar exam, Lauren vanished from her apartment right across the street from her law school in Macon, Georgia. Her friends and family grew increasingly worried as days passed with no word from her. When police finally entered Lauren's apartment, her belongings were untouched, and there was no sign of a struggle. But a horrifying discovery in a curbside trashcan soon confirmed their worst fears. As authorities investigated the disturbing crime scene and interviewed Lauren's neighbors, suspicion quickly fell on Stephen McDaniel, a socially awkward law school classmate living in the apartment next door. Witness the chilling investigation and mounting evidence that shook this quiet community and the final revelation of what really happened to Lauren Giddings in the place she called home.

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On a summer afternoon in 1996, Tim Walthall was testing out his new high-powered telescope along the banks of the Ohio River bordering Indiana and Kentucky. But instead of the usual wildlife and barges, he witnessed a horrifying crime through the lens: the abduction of a young woman sunbathing on a remote beach across the river. Tim immediately called 911, but by the time police arrived, the perpetrator and victim had vanished. The missing woman was identified as twenty-three-year-old Heather Teague, a former honor student and beauty queen whose life had recently taken a troubled turn. Eyewitness testimony and a suspicious vehicle description soon pointed to one man, Marty Dill, who was well-known to police in the area. But what exactly happened to Heather that fateful day? Join us as we unravel a mother's desperate quest for the truth about her missing daughter, a convoluted investigation spanning two states, and a tragic case that remains shrouded in mystery to this day.

For photos pertaining to this case, visit the online appendix at TrueCrimeCaseHistories.com.

For more information on this story and others in the True Crime Case Histories book series, visit us at JasonNealBooks.com or check us out on Amazon.