Betrayal in the Family: Uncovering the Shocking Disappearance of Iyana Sawyer

Imagine a serial killer so elusive, she was dubbed "The Phantom of Heilbronn" or "The Woman Without a Face." For years, German police hunted this enigmatic figure, linked to six murders and numerous thefts across Europe. The DNA evidence seemed irrefutable, pointing to a single female perpetrator. But in a shocking twist, it was discovered that the DNA was not from a serial killer at all—it was a result of contaminated cotton swabs used in DNA collection. The case of the Phantom of Heilbronn became one of the most infamous examples of DNA contamination in forensic history. Despite a massive manhunt and a €300,000 reward, the truth was far more mundane and embarrassing: the DNA belonged to a factory worker who had inadvertently contaminated the swabs during production. Join me as I delve into this gripping true crime story, exploring how a simple mistake led to a decade-long search for a non-existent killer. Discover the lessons learned from this case and how it highlights the vulnerabilities of DNA evidence in crime investigations. Will this cautionary tale change the way we rely on DNA in solving crimes? Sources: https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2008/nov/09/germany-serial-killer https://time.com/archive/6946145/germanys-phantom-serial-killer-a-dna-blunder/ https://www.nature.com/articles/543589b https://www.iso.org/news/2016/07/Ref2094.html https://www.smh.com.au/world/woman-without-a-face-leaves-german-police-in-the-dark-20081117-68dq.html Follow me here: ► YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/@SerialNapper/ ► Twitter - https://twitter.com/serial_napper ► Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/serialnappernik/ ► Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/SerialNapper/ ► TikTok - https://www.tiktok.com/@serialnappernik  I will be in London at CrimeCon UK and I would love to meet you! Use my discount code NAPPER10 for 10% off the ticket price! Visit https://www.crimecon.co.uk/Our Sponsors:* Check out Mood.com and use my code SERIALNAPPER to save 20% off your first order. https://mood.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

23 Aug 202428min

Before dawn break, on New Year's Day, 1998, 21-year-old Ben Smart and 17-year-old Olivia Hope were looking for a place to crash after spending the evening celebrating with other partygoers in the Marlborough Sounds, in New Zealand. They were last seen getting out of a water taxi and boarding a yacht after a strange man offered them a place to sleep off the champagne on board his boat. Not the greatest of decisions, but they needed a place to sleep because other partygoers had taken the place they had originally booked. They would never be seen again - and their bodies and belongings have never been found.  What followed was a five-month-long investigation into Scott Watson, who the police believed was the strange man who had offered up his yacht. However, the investigation was rife with accusations of prejudice and police incompetence, while Scott Watson maintained his innocence. This was a case based solely on circumstantial evidence and statements given by jailhouse informants - highly controversial particularly in a high-profile double-murder case like this one.  Yet it was enough to convict Scott and sentence him to life behind bars, which he has spent the last 26 years fighting.  So dim the lights, put your phone down and listen to the story of Scott Watson, who believes the case against him was a mistrial of justice and just finished his last bid for freedom, full of shocking accusations against the people who are supposed to protect us.  Sources: https://www.nzonscreen.com/title/ben-and-olivia-search-for-truth-2002  https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/519697/decision-on-scott-watson-appeal-could-take-months-judge https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/419995/ben-smart-olivia-hope-and-scott-watson-a-timeline  https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/485010/hope-smart-murders-sounds-witness-guy-wallace-s-death-was-self-inflicted-coroner-rules https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/paul-henry-on-the-ben-smart-olivia-hope-murder-case-scott-watson-and-my-fears-for-justice-our-collective-shame/MNXARCQ6ZJCCRGXMD6EVCJYRUM/ https://www.odt.co.nz/news/national/claim-mystery-ketch-identified Follow me here: ► YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/@SerialNapper/ ► Twitter - https://twitter.com/serial_napper ► Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/serialnappernik/ ► Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/SerialNapper/ ► TikTok - https://www.tiktok.com/@serialnappernik  Join the Serial Society true crime Facebook group:  https://www.facebook.com/groups/serialnapperpatron I will be in London at CrimeCon UK and I would love to meet you! Use my discount code NAPPER10 for 10% off the ticket price! Visit https://www.crimecon.co.uk/Our Sponsors:* Check out Mood.com and use my code SERIALNAPPER to save 20% off your first order. https://mood.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

19 Jun 202432min

It was the early evening hours of Sunday, April 19, 2015. Vincent Viafore and his fiancee Angelika Graswald were trying to enjoy a kayaking adventure in the Hudson River, but the water was cold and choppy, and they were not adequately prepared for the conditions. For one - Vincent wasn’t wearing a life vest and his kayak was missing a drain plug. Disaster struck as they tried to cross the river, leaving from Bannermans Island and heading towards Plum Point Park. Vincent’s kayak started to take in water, eventually capsizing, leaving him to drown in the choppy water. Angelika called 911 on her cell phone from her kayak, but by the time emergency services arrived, it was far too late to save her fiancee. His body wouldn’t be recovered from the water until a month later.  When Angelika was questioned about how things had taken such a tragic turn, she made several statements that raised the alarm and had detectives wondering whether this was truly an accident or if she had planned his murder. Then there was the detail about the missing drain plug, which she admitted to removing from his kayak herself, and witnesses who claimed they saw her pull Vincent’s paddle away from him intentionally keeping him in the water. Her motive? A $550,000 life insurance policy, according to investigators.  So dim the lights, put your phone down and listen to the story of Angelika Graswald, dubbed the “kayak killer” by the media - who some believe was treated unfairly because she was a woman. In contrast, others think she got away with the perfect murder.  Sources: https://www.goodmorningamerica.com/news/story/york-kayak-murder-case-timeline-events-mysterious-death-34973210  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oL5kTAnwFk8 https://www.elle.com/life-love/a26453558/angelika-graswald-kayak-killer-profile/ https://www.poughkeepsiejournal.com/story/news/2018/02/28/vincent-viafore-angelika-graswald/354728002/ https://www.cbsnews.com/news/kayak-murder-case-angelika-graswald-interrogation-video-raises-key-questions-in-boyfriends-death/ Follow me here: ► YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/@SerialNapper/ ► Twitter - https://twitter.com/serial_napper ► Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/serialnappernik/ ► Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/SerialNapper/ ► TikTok - https://www.tiktok.com/@serialnappernik  Join the Serial Society true crime Facebook group:  https://www.facebook.com/groups/serialnapperpatron I will be in London at CrimeCon UK and I would love to meet you! Use my discount code NAPPER10 for 10% off the ticket price! Visit https://www.crimecon.co.uk/Our Sponsors:* Check out Mood.com and use my code SERIALNAPPER to save 20% off your first order. https://mood.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

13 Jun 202433min

The date was March 6th, 1984, the night before Mardi Gras. Hailing from New Orleans, The Brown family, which included parents Johnnie Mae and Aubrey Brown and their 10 children, spent the evening getting ready to celebrate. Excitement was in the air in anticipation of the music, food and floats that they were going to be able to enjoy. The kids were put down to bed early that night so that they would be well-rested for the festivities the next day. And then, around 3 am when the house was quiet and still, tragedy struck. Flames ripped through the single-level family home, as Johnnie Mae attempted to get all of her babies out safely while her husband Aubrey Brown tried to throw buckets of water on the growing fire.  As the family stood on the front lawn, watching firefighters attempt to put out the blaze, they noted that three of the children were unaccounted for. Tragically, once the flames were extinguished, the bodies of two-year-old Kevin and four-year-old Aubrey Junior would be recovered, but where was three-year-old sister Ramona? Firefighters would search the burned remains of the house looking for any signs of the toddler, but there were none. It was puzzling - but even more so when Ramona’s six-year-old sister told her parents a story almost too shocking to be true. Older sister, Simona, claimed that that Ramona had made it out of the house and she saw her get into a car with a couple who had stopped in the street to offer help. After sharing this story, Simona stopped talking for years.  It wasn’t until 2018 when Simona reported what she had seen to the police and an active missing persons investigation began.  Sources: https://www.missingkids.org/blog/2024/after-the-fire-ramona-brown-mystery  https://charleyproject.org/case/ramona-lynn-brown https://www.wwltv.com/article/news/local/investigations/katie-moore/the-search-for-ramona-brown-the-fire/289-437896478 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iga01FJPZTQ  https://www.daytondailynews.com/news/national/new-orleans-probes-year-old-disappearance-toddler-after-fatal-house-fire/h313VPPWjqLmkCdFw4Mk0K/ https://www.scribd.com/document/347742211/Supplemental-Police-Report-for-Ramona-Brown-investigation Follow me here: ► YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/@SerialNapper/ ► Twitter - https://twitter.com/serial_napper ► Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/serialnappernik/ ► Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/SerialNapper/ ► TikTok - https://www.tiktok.com/@serialnappernik  Join the Serial Society true crime Facebook group:  https://www.facebook.com/groups/serialnapperpatron I will be in London at CrimeCon UK and I would love to meet you! Use my discount code NAPPER10 for 10% off the ticket price! Visit https://www.crimecon.co.uk/Our Sponsors:* Check out Mood.com and use my code SERIALNAPPER to save 20% off your first order. https://mood.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

8 Jun 202428min

One of the first things I noticed when I moved to Tokyo was the smiling faces of J-Pop idols posted everywhere - large billboards, moving trucks, subway cars. Japan has the second largest music market in the world, mostly due to the rising popularity of J-Pop, with millions of fans in Japan and all around the world.  One man, known as Johnny Kitagawa, considered the grandfather of J-pop, is responsible for creating idols out of hundreds of young boys who dreamed of being famous. But few know the dark secrets this man, his company and the Japanese media have kept hidden for decades. Johnny Kitagawa allegedly abused hundreds of pre-teen and teen boys who wanted nothing more than to become a J-Pop star. The stories of sexual abuse were kept quiet by many, due to greed, shame, a culture that has denied that males can be raped and the making of a legend out of a monster.  Only in his death has the truth of Johnny Kitagawa and his company “Johnny & Associates” finally come to light.  So dim the lights, put your phone down and listen to the story of how one of Japan’s most beloved and celebrated predators was enabled to abuse hundreds of boys for almost 60 years, while the media and law enforcement looked the other way.  Sources: https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x8j6ho7  https://starto.fandom.com/wiki/Junior https://www.japantimes.co.jp/opinion/2023/05/18/commentary/japan-commentary/johnnys-media/ https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-64837855  https://web.archive.org/web/20130614000713/http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2005/aug/21/popandrock3 https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-68624670 Follow me here: ► YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/@SerialNapper/ ► Twitter - https://twitter.com/serial_napper ► Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/serialnappernik/ ► Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/SerialNapper/ ► TikTok - https://www.tiktok.com/@serialnappernik  Join the Serial Society true crime Facebook group:  https://www.facebook.com/groups/serialnapperpatron I will be in London at CrimeCon UK and I would love to meet you! Use my discount code NAPPER10 for 10% off the ticket price! Visit https://www.crimecon.co.uk/Our Sponsors:* Check out Mood.com and use my code SERIALNAPPER to save 20% off your first order. https://mood.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

3 Jun 202431min

It was the very early morning of March 9, 2019 - around 3:30 am, before the sun came up. 25-year-old Aubrey Dameron walked into the living room and told her mother and brother that she was off to meet a friend. She doesn’t specify who this friend is - but she leaves home without her purse or her anti-seizure medication, which she is supposed to carry with her at all times as she suffers from epilepsy. She wouldn’t return home and after a few days of no contact with her family - they reported her missing to the police.  Aubrey is a high-risk victim - she is a beautiful, proud Cherokee woman living through a time when violence against Indigenous women is at an all-time high. She is also transgendered and identifies as Two-Spirit, a Native American term that describes a person who identifies as having both a masculine and a feminine spirit.  There are a lot of suspicious circumstances surrounding Aubrey’s disappearance - including a bloody sock found near her home, a ransom call and a confession- and her family believes she might be the victim of a hate crime. This is the story of Aubrey Dameron and her family's fight for the truth.   If you know anything about Aubrey's disappearance, call the FBI at 1-800-CALL-FBI or go online at https://tips.fbi.gov/ - or call the Cherokee Nation Marshal Service at 918-207-3800. Sources: https://www.nbcnews.com/dateline/dateline-missing-america-podcast-covers-2019-disappearance-aubrey-dameron-grove-n1297835 https://uncovered.com/cases/aubrey-dameron  https://enewspaper.latimes.com/infinity/article_share.aspx?guid=f8290c1d-17f6-41fd-a59b-faab0264b43d https://www.facebook.com/MissingAubreyDameron/ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D2qzvZIGiBA Follow me here: ► YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/@SerialNapper/ ► Twitter - https://twitter.com/serial_napper ► Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/serialnappernik/ ► Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/SerialNapper/ ► TikTok - https://www.tiktok.com/@serialnappernik  Join the Serial Society true crime Facebook group:  https://www.facebook.com/groups/serialnapperpatron I will be in London at CrimeCon UK and I would love to meet you! Use my discount code NAPPER10 for 10% off the ticket price! Visit https://www.crimecon.co.uk/Our Sponsors:* Check out Mood.com and use my code SERIALNAPPER to save 20% off your first order. https://mood.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

28 Mai 202431min

On September 4th, 2023, at around 5:53 am, 19-year-old Noah Presgrove was found dead on the side of an Oklahoma highway. It was a bizarre scene - Noah was found wearing mismatched shoes, with only one of the shoes belonging to him. His shorts were found a few feet away from his body, along with three pieces of white metal chain and part of his tooth. There were two chunks of hair found - one on the roadway and one on his right butt cheek. Noah had attended a party earlier that evening, where there was a ton of alcohol involved. He had also been involved in an ATV accident at the party but was not seriously injured.  At first glance, it appeared that he may have been the victim of a hit-and-run while walking home from the party, but his autopsy results would show that may not be the case. His cause of death was labelled “undetermined”, while his manner of death was a result of multiple blunt-force injuries, including trauma to his skull - almost splitting it in two, his neck, torso, teeth and tongue.  It would later be revealed that Noah had been involved in an argument shortly before leaving the party and now many, including his family, wonder if someone purposely took his life.   The Oklahoma Highway Patrol is not currently investigating Noah’s death as a homicide, however, Noah’s family wants answers and is raising money to hire a private investigator.  We’re going to talk about all of the reasons Noah Presgrove’s suspicious death deserves to have a second look.  Sources: https://obituaries.duncanbanner.com/obituary/noah-presgrove-1088795780  https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-bring-justice-for-noah https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/jimny-carpenter/episodes/The-Suspicious-Murder-Of-Noah-Presgrove-Part-1-e2dchac  https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13421341/Oklahoma-teen-Noah-Presgrove-beaten-death-gang-doctor-claims.html  https://www.foxnews.com/us/oklahoma-authorities-hesitant-rule-teens-death-homicide-famed-pathologist-suggests  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XjbnRj_qFJA Follow me here: ► YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/@SerialNapper/ ► Twitter - https://twitter.com/serial_napper ► Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/serialnappernik/ ► Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/SerialNapper/ ► TikTok - https://www.tiktok.com/@serialnappernik  Join the Serial Society true crime Facebook group:  https://www.facebook.com/groups/serialnapperpatron I will be in London at CrimeCon UK and I would love to meet you! Use my discount code NAPPER10 for 10% off the ticket price! Visit https://www.crimecon.co.uk/Our Sponsors:* Check out Mood.com and use my code SERIALNAPPER to save 20% off your first order. https://mood.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

22 Mai 202429min

It was the morning of February 26, 2024, and it was supposed to be a day like any other. At around 6am, Katie Proudfoot walked into the bedroom of her 15-year-old son, Sebastian Rogers, to wake him up for school. To her shock, she found his room empty - he was gone. Not in his room and nowhere to be found elsewhere in their Tennessee home. Yes, Sebastian was a teenager and sometimes they can be notorious for sneaking out or leaving without telling their parents where they’re going - but in Sebastian’s case, his absence was particularly alarming. He’s a bright young man, but he also has high-functioning autism and wasn’t known to ever leave the house on his own.  Katie called her husband, Sebastian’s step-father, who was working out of town at the time and he alerted the police to their missing son. Both state and local authorities, as well as search parties spearheaded by Sebastian’s father, Seth Rogers, have utilized drones, helicopters and canine to try to locate the teen - but it has been months without any sign of Sebastian.  With no obvious signs of foul play, it begs the question - how can a 15-year-old-run away leaving absolutely no trail behind? We’re going to talk through the timeline, the searches and a possible recent sighting of Sebastian with the hope that someone out there knows something that might help to bring him home.  Sources: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ge9Ug9tG0ZI&list=WL&index=208&t=22s https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13384915/Sebastian-Rogers-autistic-teenager-missing-Tennessee-North-Carolina.html https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/sebastian-rodgers-missing-timeline-b2515154.html https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DoDedzlr91Q https://www.newsnationnow.com/missing/missing-tennessee-teen-sebastian-rogers-private-investigator/  https://youtu.be/67QcRFTnXHs?si=yGSibnKvYHT5PElm  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ffz_5g1fEBY Follow me here: ► YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/@SerialNapper/ ► Twitter - https://twitter.com/serial_napper ► Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/serialnappernik/ ► Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/SerialNapper/ ► TikTok - https://www.tiktok.com/@serialnappernik  Join the Serial Society true crime Facebook group:  https://www.facebook.com/groups/serialnapperpatron I will be in London at CrimeCon UK and I would love to meet you! Use my discount code NAPPER10 for 10% off the ticket price! Visit https://www.crimecon.co.uk/Our Sponsors:* Check out Mood.com and use my code SERIALNAPPER to save 20% off your first order. https://mood.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

17 Mai 202425min