Day By Day: True Crime Stories

On December 21, 1988, Pan Am Flight 103 took off from London’s Heathrow Airport, bound for New York and Detroit, carrying 259 people—many of them heading home for the holidays. Just 38 minutes later, the plane exploded over the Scottish town of Lockerbie, killing everyone on board and 11 people on the ground.The bombing would become the deadliest terrorist attack on British soil and launch a decades-long international investigation. What began as a devastating midair explosion evolved into a massive criminal inquiry involving Libyan intelligence, sanctions, a controversial conviction, and an ongoing search for full accountability.In this episode, host Kona Gallagher walks through the human tragedy, the forensics, and the political ripple effects of the Lockerbie bombing. From the first responders in Scotland to courtroom battles in Europe and the U.S., this case shaped the future of aviation security and international justice—and left behind hundreds of families still seeking answers.#Lockerbie #PanAm103 #AviationDisasterAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

On the night of December 20, 1984, 12-year-old Jonelle Matthews returned home from a Christmas choir performance in Greeley, Colorado — and vanished before her father got home. Her shoes were by the heater, the TV was on, and a message was left by the phone. But outside, someone had tried to cover their tracks — literally — by raking over footprints in the snow.For decades, Jonelle’s face was one of the first in the milk carton campaign, symbolizing the fear and heartbreak of missing children in the 1980s. It would take 35 years for her remains to be discovered — and nearly 38 before someone was convicted in her case.In this episode, we trace Jonelle’s story from that ordinary December night through the long cold case, a surprising suspect, and the trials that finally brought answers to a family and community that had waited far too long.#truecrime #jonellematthews #coldcase #missingchildrenAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

On a cold night in December 1979, 18-year-old high school senior Michelle Martinko attended a choir banquet, stopped by the brand-new Westdale Mall in Cedar Rapids, Iowa — and never came home. The next morning, her body was found in her family’s Buick, parked in a quiet corner of the mall lot. She had been stabbed nearly 30 times in what investigators described as a “personal” and “frenzied” attack. There were no signs of robbery or sexual assault.For nearly 40 years, her murder remained unsolved. But thanks to breakthroughs in forensic genealogy, a discarded straw, and tireless cold-case work, justice finally caught up with her killer — on the very same date the crime took place.In this episode, we explore Michelle’s life, the night she was killed, the investigation that spanned decades, and how a small trace of blood ultimately helped close one of Iowa’s most haunting cold cases.#TrueCrime #MichelleMartinko #GeneticGenealogy Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

In the early morning hours of December 18, 2013, 20-year-old Heather Elvis vanished from Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. Just hours earlier, she’d gone on a first date, sent a cheerful selfie, and talked about starting fresh after ending an affair with a married man.But by dawn, her car was found abandoned at a remote riverside boat landing — her phone, keys, and purse gone. Heather herself? Missing without a trace.This episode unpacks the tangled web of secrets, surveillance footage, payphone calls, and jealousy that followed. It also explores the convictions of Sidney and Tammy Moorer for her kidnapping — and the lingering mystery that still haunts Heather’s family and community to this day.More than a decade later, her loved ones are still asking the same question: Where is Heather?#HeatherElvis #MissingPerson #sidneymoorer #tammymoorerAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

On this day in 1968, 20-year-old college student Barbara Jane Mackle was kidnapped at gunpoint from a Georgia motel room and buried alive in a homemade underground box. For more than 83 hours, she lay trapped beneath the soil while her kidnappers demanded a $500,000 ransom and the FBI raced against time to find her.In today’s episode, host Kona Gallagher walks through the harrowing details of one of the most infamous kidnappings in American history — a case that led to the first woman ever placed on the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted list, and that still captivates the public over half a century later.#BarbaraMackle #BuriedAlive #CrimeHistoryAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy