Podcast: The Dark Oak

Episode 146: Kanika Powell – Killer in the Hallway

Kanika Powell was a 28-year-old Army veteran and security contractor with top-secret clearance who lived alone in the Deerfield Run Apartments in Laurel, Maryland, and led a quiet, ordinary life of work, family, and close friends. In the week before her death, she endured three bizarre knocks at her door: a man claiming to be…

Read More

Episode 145: Amanda Antoni – The Basement Mystery

On a Saturday night while he was out of town, Lee Antoni was on the phone with his 31 year old wife, Amanda, when he heard strange noises on the other end of the line before the call was abruptly disconnected. Unable to reach Amanda for the rest of the weekend, Lee returned home to…

Read More

Episode 144: The Ice Miracle – Jean Hilliard

In December 1980, 19-year-old Jean Hilliard from Lengby, Minnesota, slid her car into a ditch on an icy rural road during a bitterly cold night with temperatures at -22°F. She decided to walk about two miles to a friend’s house for help but collapsed unconscious in the snow just 15 feet from the door, where…

Read More

Episode 143: The Strange Death of Blair Adams

There are some cases that make absolutely zero sense- the death of Blair Adams, a 31-year-old Canadian construction foreman found murdered in a Knoxville, TN parking lot on July 11, 1996, is one of those cases. In the days leading up to his death, Blair began exhibiting extreme paranoia, emptying his savings, crossing the U.S….

Read More

Episode 142: Shannan Gilbert’s Disappearance and the Long Island Serial Killer

In May 2010, 24-year-old escort Shannan Gilbert vanished after a frantic episode in Oak Beach, Long Island, captured on a bizarre 911 call where she claimed people were trying to kill her. Her disappearance prompted searches that uncovered the remains of multiple women along Ocean Parkway, including the “Gilgo Four” (Melissa Barthelemy, Maureen Brainard-Barnes, Megan…

Read More

Episode 141: The Disappearance of Heidi Allen

On Easter Sunday, April 3, 1994, 18-year-old Heidi Marie Allen vanished from the D&W Convenience Store in New Haven, New York, where she was working alone as a cashier, with her last transaction recorded at 7:42 a.m. and the store found abandoned shortly after 7:50 a.m. despite money and personal items left behind. The case…

Read More

Episode 140: Demons on Film and in Real Life – The Exorcist

When Paul Bateson was cast in the 1973 horror classic The Exorcist, there was no way of knowing that just a few years later life for those around him would become even more terrifying than the movie.  Paul has been rumored to be a serial killer so heinous that his crimes were featured on ‘Mindhunter.” In this episode…

Read More

Episode 139: Changeling in Real Life: The Disappearance of Walter Collins

In March 1928, 9-year-old Walter Collins disappeared from Los Angeles after going to the movies. His single mother, Christine Collins, reported him missing, triggering a massive LAPD search amid the department’s corruption scandal and recent criticism over the brutal Marion Parker murder.   Five months later, the LAPD reunited Christine with an impostor boy from…

Read More

Episode 138: Twins Divided: The Story of Frederick and Cedric Young

Identical twins Frederick and Cedric Young were caught in a wrongful-conviction controversy after a 1993 string of armed robberies, when Frederick was convicted largely on eyewitness identification and guns found in his car, despite alibis, claims of mistaken identity, and later testimony that Cedric was the real perpetrator. The case, featured on Unsolved Mysteries, highlights…

Read More

Episode 137: The Indiana Dunes Mystery

On July 2, 1966, three young women went to Indiana Dunes State Park for a day of sunbathing and swimming. Witnesses reported seeing them leave their belongings unattended around noon and enter the water together, but they were later seen boarding a boat with an unknown man. After some time, the women were seen returning…

Read More