Hello to all our regular readers who are returning! And to those who are true crime lovers or crime fiction readers finding us here, welcome! We usually run this weekly feature on Sundays, but due to scheduling conflicts, for this week and next, The TWITCH is on Tuesday. We think The Tuesday TWITCH has a nice ring to it.
But enough about that. There’s been a lot going on in the true crime world, so let’s go!
England: Where is Kate Middleton? Just kidding… sort of.
Nashville, Tennessee: The case of missing student Riley Strain had us all watching and hoping for good news this past week. The 22-year-old, 6’,6” University of Missouri student was in Nashville for a conference with his fraternity, but was kicked out of a bar for being intoxicated on March 8. He walked off into the night, staggering and— according to CCTV footage— even falling. He has not been seen again. This week more footage emerged, including an officer’s body cam who crossed paths with Riley without incident. Riley’s bank card was also found on the riverbank. As parents ourselves, our hearts especially go out to his parents as they wait for news about their son.
Batavia, Ohio: Chad Doerman, the man accused of shooting his three little boys in cold blood back in June, got the statements he made in the interrogation room at the time of his arrest thrown out by a judge this week. This is a point in his favor, but other statements he made, and body cam footage by officers who arrived on scene, are still in play. Plus we’re betting that the eyewitness testimony of his wife and stepdaughter, who were also victims that day, will more than make up for whatever he did or didn’t say on the day of the incident. We continue to think of them and their healing.
Boston, Massachusetts: Karen Read, suspected of hitting her Boston police officer boyfriend, John O’Keefe, with her car was in court this week for some pretrial hearings ahead of her looming April court date. The US Attorney is investigating John O’Keefe’s death, but is being hush hush about it, and the lead investigator on the case, Trooper Michael Proctor, is under investigation. Read has long claimed that she is the victim of a coverup and did not murder her boyfriend on that cold, wintry night in January.
Park City, Utah: Kouri Richins was in court today— but not to be tried for the murder of her husband, Eric. She was there on potential violation of a plea deal related to the alleged assault of her sister-in-law Amy after Eric’s death. But that’s not all the news about this case. In a newly disclosed search warrant, it was revealed that Kouri’s mother, Lisa Darden’s partner, Gertrude Moore, died of a drug overdose in 2006, and Kouri’s mother was the recipient of her partner’s life insurance benefits. An investigation was begun in May, 2023, which raises speculations as to how the mother and daughter cases could be related. We admit that there are details that do sound familiar.
Nashua, New Hampshire: Harmony Montgomery, the 5-year-old little girl whose father Adam Montgomery was recently convicted of murdering her, was declared dead by a judge this week. Her mother, Crystal Sorey, petitioned the court for the declaration and it was granted. This ruling makes Sorey the sole administrator of the little girl’s estate, and enables her to pursue wrongful death suits against the child welfare systems of Massachusetts and New Hampshire.
Osceola County, Florida: Stephan Sterns, the boyfriend of murdered 13-year-old Madeline Soto’s mother, faced 60 new counts against him this week. We will not go into what they are because it’s too disturbing. We will just say, as more evidence is revealed and more facts about the timeline of alleged abuse come to light, this man is looking more and more like a real-life monster, and the truth about Madeline’s life behind closed doors has us all wishing things could’ve been vastly different for this little girl.
San Mateo, California: Scott Peterson was in court this week via camera to fight for a new trial as his efforts to be exonerated for the murder of his wife Laci and son Conner keep moving forward. The LA Innocence Project is spearheading this effort, claiming that new and overlooked evidence could exonerate him. No one wants to see an innocent man sit in prison for something he didn’t do. But it’s hard to forget the multiple lies. And Amber Frey, too.
Moscow, Idaho: Bryan Kohberger, the man accused of brutally murdering the four University of Idaho students in November of 2022, saw his last-ditch effort to dismiss the indictment against him crumble this week. The Idaho Supreme Court refused to hear his request, citing a “creative argument.” But, no dice. Mr. Kohberger is going to trial in the lower courts. Next up is a hearing for a change of venue motion on May 14, and the hopes that the trial will happen in June of 2025, though that remains to be seen. We know the families of these four precious souls are anxious for justice.
Pontiac, Michigan: After a short trial, James Crumbley, father of the Oxford High School shooter, was found guilty on four counts of involuntary manslaughter this week. This verdict was in keeping with a jury’s decision for his wife, Jennifer Crumbley in February. These two cases set a potential legal precedent for holding parents accountable for their kids’ actions that could force parents to speak up, to ask more questions, and to pay closer attention to what their kids are up to. We’re not stating an opinion on whether this is right or wrong, good or bad. It just is. The juries have spoken.
Ongoing cases we are still keeping an eye on: No news on the missing boy, Sebastian Rogers. Ana Knezevic, the missing Florida woman who moved to Spain is still missing, as well as little Elijah Vue. We also still want to get to the case of the mother/daughter who were killed in Worcester, MA. We still have not had time to do a deep dive on that case, but we did see that arrests have been made. Newer (to us) cases we are looking into are the cases of Brice Rhodes and Dan Howard, who apparently tried to— allegedly— make a run for it in the midst of his trial this week? We will look into this.
So, what about you? What cases have your attention? Did any we discussed today stand out to you? Do you enjoy this weekly breakdown? Your comments help us, so please chime in! If you love true crime and want to be part of our community here, please subscribe, comment, and keep coming back.
And, always, remember these are real people whose real lives are affected. We can read a digest like this and go about our business. But this is their very lives. Let’s all keep them in our thoughts and prayers. May justice prevail.
Thank you for reading and for commenting! We hope we are building something here, and building anything takes time. We are grateful for people like you who “get” what we are doing from the beginning.
Your comment about the novel and the detective had me seeing it all in my head— you’re so right!
We hope his family has answers soon. I saw this morning that an independent search team has come in to continue the search. Haven’t dug into the details yet but will continue to follow.
I’m always interested in reading your weekly true crime stories roundup. Thank you for that! I’ve been keeping up with the Riley Strain case in Nashville. So sad. It’s an interesting twist that Tik Tok users found his credit card by the river. If this were a mystery novel, this is where there would be a scene where the lead detective on the case would warn the Tik Tokkers to not interfere with the investigation.