Innholdsfortegnelse for Issue 84 i Crime Monthly

On 30 November 2025, Danika Troy left her family home in Santa Rosa, Florida, riding on her black and red electric scooter. Earlier that day would be the last time her mother Ashley saw the 14-year-old alive. She would later tell police that Danika had been grounded for sneaking out to spend time with a boy she liked, and Ashley had no idea she had left the home the previous evening. It was only when she woke up that she realised her daughter was gone. The family of three – Danika, Ashley, and Danika's eight-year-old sister – were devout Christians, with Ashley describing her eldest daughter as ‘a beautiful girl who loves Jesus’. And despite some recent boundary testing behaviours, it was out of character for Danika to stay out…

Officials in Houston have been forced to deny rumours of a serial killer after three bodies were recovered from the city's bayous in one week. The discoveries bring the total number of bodies found in the waterways in 2025 to at least 34. Social media users immediately began sharing theories that a single killer was at large, but Harris County District Attorney Sean Teare said, ‘There is nothing – and I want to be crystal clear – to indicate there is someone operating here as a serial killer.’ Instead, investigators put the deaths down to accidental drownings, compounded by homelessness, mental health crises and substance misuse. Teare added, ‘It's a little-known fact, but when you get into the bayous, it is very difficult to get out. When you combine that…

A new legal challenge has been filed against Jesse Butler, after a controversial plea deal allowed the teenager to avoid prison, despite being convicted of serious offences linked to sex attacks on two fellow students in Stillwater, Oklahoma. Butler, now 18, was charged with first-degree rape, domestic assault and battery by strangulation, and was facing up to 78 years in prison after entering a plea of no contest. Butler was 17 at the time and was initially charged as an adult. However, a judge later reclassified him as a youthful offender and, under what one described as a ‘sketchy’ plea agreement, he was ordered to complete counselling and community service. Now, an attorney has filed a motion asking the court to enforce the victims’ rights under Marsy's Law, which is…

At around 2pm on Sunday 14 December, Romy Reiner went to check on her parents at their home in Brent wood, Los Angeles. She had been contacted by a massage therapist who couldn't get an answer at the gate for an appointment. Romy only lived across the street, so headed over with her roommate. But after entering the residence, the actress, 28, found her father's body in the master bedroom. She immediately fled, tragically not realising her mother's body was also inside. Director and filmmaker Rob Reiner and his photographer wife Michele are believed to have been killed in the early hours, with the postmortem concluding that they died from ‘lacerations consistent with a knife’. Later that day, the couple's youngest son Nick, who lived in the guesthouse of their…

Behind the cute cartoon characters, funky graphics and seemingly harmless, fun adventures on online gaming platforms such as Roblox lurks a darker side. While its mission is ‘to bring the world together through play’, the game has been accused of inviting unwanted dangers into the home. Recent cases have shown video games are not as safe as parents may think. And with rising numbers of gamers – more than 69 per cent of children aged eight to 11, and 79 per cent of those aged 12 to 15 play online – it's essential to be aware of potential perils before signing up. DANGERS One of the most popular online gaming forums for under 13s in the UK, Roblox – which is free to play and has no minimum age requirement…

On 3 July 2015, 35-year-old mother-of-five Crystal Rogers spent a quiet evening at home with her partner Brooks Houck in Bardstown, Kentucky. But by dawn, Crystal was gone and would never be seen again. Two days later, her red Chevrolet Impala was found abandoned on the side of the Bluegrass Parkway with a flat tyre – her keys, handbag and phone still inside. The question of what happened to Crystal became a mystery that would consume the next decade. But in 2025, two men were sentenced for her presumed murder in a landmark ‘no-body’ case. THE VICTIM Crystal was known as a devoted mother who built her world around her family, and friends described her as warm and steady. At the time of her disappearance, she lived with her youngest…

When he was charged with murder, robbery and desecrating a corpse in 2010, Nikolai Ogolobyak was a teenager. His litany of crimes was horrific and the 19 year old knew he was facing a long time behind bars. He was eventually sentenced to 20 years for the barbaric killings in his hometown of Yaroslavl – but Ogolobyak did not have to rely on parole to regain his freedom. A member of a Satanic cult in the west of Russia that slaughtered cats and dogs before graduating to murder, Ogolobyak and his accomplices first butchered two college students. They beheaded both victims before cutting out their hearts and tongues, frying the organs and eating them. In a separate attack, the group killed two more teenagers, Ogolobyak stabbing one of them 666…

How long were you in the force before you became a dog handler? I was a response officer and tutor constable for six years, before I joined the dog section aged 31. I actually applied to join four times before I was successful, but I was not going to give up! I have been a dog handler now for 20 years and I love it. From the age of 11, when my mum took me to a police open day where I watched a dog display, I knew this was what I wanted to do. ‘THEY HAVE ENABLED US TO SOLVE HUNDREDS OF CRIMES’ What does your day-to-day look like? No two days are the same, but a lot of the time, I attend incidents with my General Purpose dog,…

DISNEY+, STREAMING NOW The acclaimed period East End Victorian crime drama from Peaky Blinders creator Stephen Knight returns. Series one introduced us to the key figures living and working in Wapping's criminal underbelly, including boxing legend and local king pin Sugar Goodson (Stephen Graham). His Adolescence co-star Erin Doherty played ruthless Mary Carr, queen of The Forty Elephants, the all-female gang who specialised in robbery. Then, there was Jamaican immigrant Hezekiah Moscow (Malachi Kirby), who became Sugar's boxing rival. Now, a year on from the events in series one, Sugar and Hezekiah are both in a bad way. Mary returns to Wapping and forms an uneasy alliance with Hezekiah in order to take back control of her gang and their patch. But will their shaky truce last long enough for…

BBC iPLAYER, STREAMING NOW This one-off documentary investigates the tragic final years of Friends star Matthew Perry, who drowned in his hot tub due to the ‘acute effects of ketamine’. The film looks at his struggles with addiction, exploring how Perry became involved with the drug. It also centres on the controversial figure at the heart of the case, British woman Jasveen Sangha. Dubbed the ‘Ketamine Queen’ by prosecutors, she's one of five people who pleaded guilty to supplying the drug that killed Perry, and is currently awaiting sentencing. Via interviews with experts and those connected to the story, the film questions how a Hollywood star's vulnerabilities were exploited.…

The trial of Andrew James McGann, who is accused of killing California couple Clinton and Cristen Brink, is scheduled to begin this month. The husband, 43, and wife, 41, were stabbed and killed on 26 July 2025, as they hiked at Devil's Den State Park in Arkansas with their young daughters, who were later found unharmed by other hikers. After a five-day search, McGann, 28, was identified as a suspect by Arkansas State Police. The former primary school teacher was arrested as he got his hair cut when DNA found at the crime scene matched blood in his vehicle. Despite allegedly admitting to the double murders to police at his arrest, McGann – who was due to start a new teaching role – has since pleaded not guilty.…

For years, the world could only imagine what lay behind the palm-lined shores of Jeffrey Epstein's private island. Little Saint James in the US Virgin Islands was where survivors say the disgraced financier and convicted sex offender built a hidden world, designed to shield his crimes and flaunt his influence. Now, newly released photographs and video footage offer the most detailed look yet at the unsettling estate he controlled. The material was made public last month after Congress voted overwhelmingly to release the government's files, which include estate documents, videos and images taken by investigators. It is the first time a large set of unfiltered images has been publicly released, and members of the House Oversight Committee, who led the release, said the goal was to put evidence into the…

For two years, the world was gripped by the case of ‘mushroom killer’ Erin Patterson. The Australian mother-of-two was jailed for life last September for the murders of three of her relatives by poisoning. Her lunch of beef Welling ton, laced with a lethal dose of toxic death cap mushrooms, had fatal consequences, leaving Don and Gail Patterson and Heather Wilkinson dead within a week, and sole survivor Ian Wilkinson seriously ill. Former police detective Duncan McNab – whose new book Recipe For Murder takes a deep dive into the case – tells us, ‘I watched these events unfold from a horrible mystery to a murder over a period of five months. From day one, the hairs on the back of my neck stood up. How did this happen? Four…

According to the Centre for Strategic and International Studies, an estimated 250,000 Russian soldiers had died in Ukraine by the summer of 2025, with almost another million wounded. Some of the very worst of Putin's criminal conscripts have been among the growing list of fatal casualties. Up to 30,000 Russians were killed during the Battle of Bakhmut, which raged between July 2022 and May the following year – including convicted serial killer Denis Zubov. Arrested in 2016, Zubov's trial detailed how he had murdered three people, one of whom was a 70-year-old woman who he beat to death with a wrench. He castrated one of his victims post-mortem and had been sentenced to 21 years behind bars. Another monster killed in action was Denis Gorin, who murdered four people in…

They had never met each other before, but Jacqueline Marris and Tamara Brooks formed a lifelong friendship after one summer evening in 2002, when they bonded over a terrifying ordeal. The two high-school students were abducted separately from the same lovers’ lane on the same night in California. But they joined forces to fight back and escape their captor, ending their harrowing nightmare in 12 hours. NIGHT OF TERROR On 1 August, Tamara, then 16, was in a Ford Bronco SUV with her friend Eric Brown, then 18. They had driven to Quartz Hill in California – a remote teenage hangout north of Los Angeles – and had been there for around an hour when Roy Ratliff pulled up in a grey Saturn car around 1am. Tamara first thought he…

BBC1, 2026 The tense espionage thriller is returning for a third series, with Holliday Grainger (Strike) back as Rachel Carey, while the new male lead is Killian Scott (Dublin Murders). The new series is set 12 months after Carey broadcast a live deepfake of a government minister to the nation, exposing the UK intelligence service's secret video manipulation programme. Now, she's acting head of SO15, but soon she has to deal with a sudden act of terror.…

BBC IPLAYER, STREAMING NOW The Inspector Lynley Mysteries ran for six series from 2001 to 2008 on the BBC, until it was controversially axed. Now, it's been rebooted into a sexier series of 90-minute episodes created by Sherlock writer Steve Thompson, and starring Leo Suter (Vikings: Valhalla) as Tommy Lynley, a genius detective who's considered an outsider because of his posh upbringing. In contrast, his partner is working class sergeant Barbara Havers (Sofia Barclay, Ted Lasso). Their boss DCI Brian Nies is played by the great Daniel Mays, and Lynley has an unrequited love in Helen Clyde (Niamh Walsh). The first case involves a suspicious death and a priceless piece of art.…

PRIME VIDEO, AVAILABLE 21 JANUARY Sophie Turner did a great job portraying Joan Hannington in ITV's 2024 drama about the infamous jewel thief. Now, she's back in another British robbery-based series – except this time, she's on the receiving end of the crooks’ actions, rather than the one carrying out the crime. Sophie plays Zara, a regular office drone working for pension-fund investment firm Lochmill Capital. So far, so meh. Then her working day is turned upside down when a gang of thieves burst in and strong-arm Zara and her best mate Luke (Archie Madekwe, Saltburn) to help them carry out an audacious billion-pound heist. On the crooks’ trail is DCI Rhys (Jacob Fortune-Lloyd), who's determined to find out who would want to plunder thousands of innocent people's pensions. He…

CHANNEL4.COM, STREAMING NOW This four-part drama, adapted by Ailbhe Keogan (Bad Sisters) from the bestselling novel by Louise Kennedy, is a love story set during the height of the Troubles in Northern Ireland. Lola Petticrew (Say Nothing) plays Cushla, a young teacher who works nights in her family's pub, serving Catholics from her own community, British soldiers and Protestant civilians. There, she meets Michael (Tom Cullen, The Gold), an older, married Protestant barrister who loves jazz and whiskey. Their illicit love affair, against a backdrop of curfews, bombings and violence, feels dangerous and thrilling. But as the love between Cushla and Michael deepens, things just get ever more dangerous……

Former university coach Sherrone Moore has been charged with stalking, breaking and entering and home invasion, after being arrested at the home of a staff member. The disgraced American football coach, 39 – who looked after the Michigan Wolverines football team for two seasons – had been fired by the University of Michigan prior to his arrest in December, after ‘engaging in an inappropriate relationship’. Moore was detained at the alleged victim's home, following a call to police by her law yer, shortly after the woman had filed a report against him. She reportedly called her attorney and put it on speakerphone, saying, ‘Sherrone is here’. She started screaming after Moore allegedly armed himself with two knives, which he at first pointed at her. ‘You ruined my life. You ruined…

After meeting her father in a restaurant for dinner, Michele Maday continued her 20th birthday celebrations with a friend at a nightclub. It was late May 1982 in Houston, and as Michele parked her car outside her apartment at four the following morning, she had no idea Carl Watts was watching. As she unlocked her front door, he emerged from the shadows and bundled her inside. After strangling her unconscious, he stripped her naked and drowned her in the bath. Her heartbroken mother found the body later that afternoon, but by then, Watts was back on the hunt. He selected 21-year-old Lori Lister at random, again forcing his way in as she returned home. Watts choked Lori and began running taps in the bathroom, but then realised Lori's flatmate Melinda…

Putin's attempts to prop up his invasion has seen a limited number of women released from prison early to fight in Ukraine. One of the first groups of female fighters was recruited from a jail near St Petersburg in early 2024, including Elena Pimonenkova, one of 10 women enlisted from the 60 who had volunteered. The 37 year old had been jailed for various crimes, including a knife attack, carjacking, robbery, damaging property and threatening to kill – and had a year left to serve. She was sent to the Belgorod region, joining an infantry unit, but in September, she became the first female convict killed in action. Her death, however, was shrouded in mystery. Her family were informed by the Russian military she had lost her life behind the…

MGM+, LATE JANUARY Former LA homicide detective Frank Salerno revisits the biggest case of his career: that of the Hillside Strangler. It was his determination that led to the capture and imprisonment of Kenneth Bianchi and his cousin Angelo Buono – who between them were responsible for the murders of 12 women in the late '70s. Buono died in 2002, but for the first time ever, Bianchi will tell his side of the story in this docuseries.…

CHANNEL4.COM, STREAMING NOW Series two of this crime drama sees the return of Ella Maisy Purvis as autistic Patience, who works for the York police criminal records department and whose analytical skills prove invaluable for solving crimes. Her mentor, Detective Metcalf, has relocated unexpectedly, causing Patience to spiral – not least because Bea's replacement, DI Frankie Monroe (Jessica Hynes), rudely dismisses her. She'll learn… The first case deals with a photographer found dead with a stake through his chest and fang marks on his neck.…

PRIME VIDEO, STREAMING NOW One of the downsides about having so much content just a click away is that some really great things don't get the credit they deserve – and this is one such example. Creeping onto Prime at the end of last year, this taut thriller stars Riz Ahmed (The Sound Of Metal) as ‘Tom’ (not his real name), a recovering addict with an interesting sideline: he runs a service that helps corporate whistleblowers get one over on their former bosses. Going about his task with ruthless Jason Bourne-like efficiency and communicating only via an audio relay service for the deaf, he is hired by Sarah (Lily James, Baby Driver) to get a settlement from her evil bio-science employers, who are trying to rush through a new grain…

On the night of 31 March 1987, 30-year-old Rhonda Marie Fisher was seen walking north on South Monaco Park way in Denver, heading towards the junction with Leetsdale Drive. It was after dark and she was alone and on foot, moving towards the home of a friend she was staying with. The sighting was brief – and it was also the last one. Rhonda didn't arrive and the next day, a tragic discovery was made. In the early hours of 1 April, a motorist travelling along South Perry Park Road -a rural route cutting through woodland in Douglas County – spotted a body lying in a shallow ditch. The scene was isolated, the road bordered by trees and open land. It was confirmed to be Rhonda, who had been sexually…