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Victorian Pittsburgh trusted her with the sick.

Martha Grinder was the woman neighbors called when illness crept into their homes — the quiet caregiver who brought soup, tea, clean linens, and patience. She sat through long nights at the bedside, whispering comfort, holding hands, earning a reputation as the perfect Victorian woman.

And then people died.

In this episode of CRIMERY: True Crime Uncovered, we examine one of the earliest and most disturbing “angel of death” cases in American history. Through court testimony, contemporary reporting, and forens...

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Eighteen months after Holly Maddux was murdered, her killer walked free on bail — and vanished into Europe.

In Part Two of The Unicorn Killer, the story shifts from the crime itself to the longest and most relentless manhunt most people have never heard of. As Ira Einhorn disappears across borders, changing names and building a new life abroad, Holly’s father, Fred Maddux, makes a promise at her grave: he will bring her killer home — no matter how long it takes.

What follows is an eighteen-year pursuit across continents, courtr...

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For years, Ira Einhorn was celebrated as a visionary.

He called himself The Unicorn — a peace activist, environmental prophet, and counterculture icon with powerful friends and devoted followers. He spoke about consciousness, love, and the future of humanity. People believed him.

Then, in March of 1979, police opened a padlocked closet in his Philadelphia apartment.

Inside was a steamer trunk.
 Inside that trunk was the body of Holly Maddux.

In Part One of this two-part Crimery series, we peel back the mythology surrounding Ira...

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On February 22, 1985, in rural Winfield Township, Pennsylvania, eight-year-old Cherrie Mahan stepped off her school bus at 4:10 p.m. She had only 150 feet to walk home.

She never made it.

Witnesses reported two suspicious vehicles near the stop—a bright blue van with a painted skier mural and a small blue car. In the snow, investigators found tire marks… but no footprints leading up Cherrie’s driveway.

The case became one of Pennsylvania’s most haunting child disappearances—fueling nationwide awareness when Cherrie was chosen as the first missing ch...

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On November 28, 1969—the quiet day after Thanksgiving—a 22-year-old Penn State graduate student walked into Pattee Library to retrieve one final source for a research paper.

She never walked out.

Betsy Ruth Aardsma was stabbed once—cleanly, precisely—between the shelves of the basement stacks. No scream. No visible blood. Students and staff believed she had collapsed from a medical emergency and unknowingly wiped away crucial evidence while trying to save her life.

By the time doctors discovered the wound, the killer had already left the building—possibly a...

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A 26-year-old woman vanishes from Long Pond, PA on May 11, 1983. Her husband waits 72 hours to call police. Fifteen years later, two separate accounts surface—one claiming her remains were dumped off Seaside Heights, another pointing to a shaft in Centralia, the ghost town that’s been burning underground since 1962. If investigators are right, Susan Cerritelli rests in a place no one can safely search—an impossible grave.

In this episode, we trace the timeline, the red flags, and why “no-body” cases are so hard to prosecute—then confront the grim reality of Centralia...

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Eighteen-year-old Jennifer Barziloski walks out into a warm June night in 2001 and never makes it home. Three years later, her closest friend, 22-year-old Phylicia Thomas—the one who wouldn’t stop asking what happened to Jennifer—vanishes too. One skull is found along an ATV trail years later; the other woman is still missing. The same names, the same party talk, the same rural pocket of Luzerne County keep surfacing. Coincidence—or a pattern everyone’s been too afraid to say out loud?

In this episode, we trace parallel timelines, pressure-test statements...

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An 11-year-old leaves Mercy Hospital in Scranton with a stuffed animal for her mom and starts the short walk home—broad daylight, one block to go. Witnesses see a girl matching Michelle “Jolene” Lakey get into a light yellow car near North Washington Ave. She is never seen again.

This episode of CRIMERY traces the chilling threads that still haunt Northeast PA: the three-day ransom call that named Nay Aug Park, the unexplained purse found on Jolene’s dresser, and years of scrutiny around a...

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A well-liked Pleasant Valley freshman drives to a secluded cul-de-sac for a $120 marijuana sale—and meets three teens who never planned to pay. Within minutes, 15-year-old Aiden Paiz is shot with an AR-15, his friend is wounded, and the killers scatter into the Poconos night. It will take Pennsylvania State Police less than a day to crack the case—built on a brave survivor’s account, confessions, recovered weapons, and a pattern of “drug rips” plaguing rural Monroe County.

In this episode of CRIMERY, host Jennifer Novotney<...