Going West: True Crime

In March of 2003, a 20-year-old woman, who happened to be the daughter of an NYPD detective, was found brutally beaten to death in Hudson Valley, discarded on a rural dirt path. It was quickly determined that she had been killed in her car, by someone sitting in the backseat behind her. But despite having multiple persons of interest in her case, an arrest wasn’t made for YEARS, and even then - many were on the fence about his involvement. This is the murder of Megan McDonald.

In March of 1993, a 27-year-old American woman returned home to her Dublin apartment after picking up groceries to cook dinner for her friends the following evening. But when her roommates arrived home two days later, they found the apartment empty, and her spoiled groceries still in their shopping bag. Concern quickly turned to panic as sightings of her in an Irish mountain town surfaced, leading investigators down many fruitless paths, which all culminated in an arrest in June of 2025, 32 years after she vanished. This is the disappearance of Annie McCarrick.

In March of 2004, a 17-year-old girl left the late shift at a small-town Vermont inn and began her short drive home. But she never made it. The next day, her car was discovered backed into the side of an abandoned farmhouse, its headlights still on and her belongings left behind. With no clear signs of a struggle and no trace of her, her family, as well as investigators, were left to wonder: what happened to her? This is the disappearance of Brianna Maitland. https://www.investigationsforthemissing.org/news

In February of 1988, four members of a Minnesota family were brutally murdered in their home in the middle of a winter’s night. The shocking nature of the crime stunned a quiet, rural community and left investigators grappling with the sheer violence of the act, especially when they learned who the murders wete committed by, and what their larger plan was... These are the Brom Ax Murders.

In February of 1974, the body of a 25-year-old woman was found covered in snow in a roadside ditch after she headed out hitchhiking in Minnesota. Despite an eyewitness watching a man dispose of her body and drive off, decades passed without answers in the case. But eventually, DNA testing would bring closure - too late for some, but not for her remorseless killer. This is the murder of Mary Schlais.

In February of 2025, firefighters responded to an emergency call from a Waterbury, Connecticut home. But what initially appeared to be a routine house fire became a disturbing mystery when police made a horrific discovery: the fire had broken out inside a room upstairs with locks on the outside. What followed was an investigation into two decades of abuse inside the house that came to be dubbed as the “house of horrors.” This is the story of S and Kimberly Sullivan. Also known as the Connecticut House of Horrors.

In February of 1987, a 30-year-old woman left her boyfriend’s home in Maryland during the onset of a severe snowstorm, planning to beat the weather in time to make it back to her Pennsylvania home. But the next morning, her car was found abandoned off a highway, and the only sign of her was a vicious bloodied mess. Within hours, a stolen credit card and a bloodstained shirt deepened the mystery, leaving police to wonder: who brutally murdered her and why? This is the disappearance of Sheree Magaro.