The Strangled Bride: Unraveling a Fiance’s Dark Secrets

When Jessica and Daniel Groves fought to regain custody of their newborn son, Dylan, they promised to keep him safe. Born prematurely and with a mix of methamphetamines, fentanyl, and opiates in his tiny body, Dylan was already battling withdrawal, his arms shaking and legs twitching. For a brief time, he found a safe haven with a foster mother, a sober school teacher whose community rallied to create a perfect room for him in a single day. She took time off work to hold him constantly, easing the painful symptoms his parents' addiction had caused.Despite her warnings to child services that she believed Jessica was under the influence during a visit, the system made a fateful decision. On January 28th, Dylan was placed back into his father's care, based on the false belief that Daniel was clean and employed. A social worker last saw the baby alive two months later, on March 28th, seemingly unharmed. After that, the family vanished. Daniel began missing doctor's appointments, court dates, and visits with child services, who for two months could find no trace of them. When the sheriff's department finally surrounded their trailer, they found the parents, but not the baby. Jessica and Daniel both told the same story: child services had taken Dylan—the very agency that had reported him missing. ⚠️ Content Warning: This episode contains descriptions of child abuse, addiction, and systemic failure that some listeners may find disturbing. Listener discretion is advised.----------------------------------------------------------Don't forget to subscribe to the Casefile Confidential podcastFrom now on, two chilling episodes will be released every week, on Tuesdays and Fridays.---------------------------------------------------------- Visit tonysale.com for original case files, in-depth articles on unsolved and forgotten crimes, and a collection of books that dig deep into the world’s darkest chapters.

23 Sep 21min

In the small, quiet community of Hoffman, Oklahoma, Arthur Bernie was known by everyone as a kind, sociable, and hardworking mechanic. After a 20-year marriage ended, he feared he was destined for a life of loneliness, terrified of the time that was passing him by. But then, in the most unexpected way, he met Patricia Meeks. She was his opposite in every way—vivacious, wild, and exciting—and Arthur fell madly in love.Their whirlwind romance led to a new marriage and a new family, and for years, it seemed Arthur had found the happiness he was looking for. Friends and family saw a man who was happy, in love, and at peace.But on February 18, 2011, that peaceful facade was shattered. Arthur was found dead in his barn, and his family believed he had suffered a heart attack. There was no sign of a struggle, no reason to suspect anything else. After all, who could possibly want to harm a man who didn't have a single enemy?----------------------------------------------------------Don't forget to subscribe to the Casefile Confidential podcast, at least one new chilling episode every week---------------------------------------------------------- Visit tonysale.com for original case files, in-depth articles on unsolved and forgotten crimes, and a collection of books that dig deep into the world’s darkest chapters.

19 Sep 14min

It was a routine walk home for Sarah Everard on March 3, 2021, a two-and-a-half-mile journey she had taken many times before from her friend's house in London. She called her boyfriend, made plans, and was captured on well-lit CCTV. Then, silence. Her phone switched off, her work meeting missed, Sarah's disappearance was alarming and utterly out of character. The city erupted in an 'enormous and immediate' search, her name trending on Twitter as a desperate community sought answers. But as investigators pieced together her last known movements, a chilling image emerged from CCTV: Sarah, standing by a car with its hazard lights on, speaking to a man. Who was this man, and how could a woman simply trying to get home become the center of a case that would shake the nation's sense of security and expose a profound breach of trust?----------------------------------------------------------Don't forget to subscribe to the Casefile Confidential podcast, at least one new chilling episode every week---------------------------------------------------------- Visit tonysale.com for original case files, in-depth articles on unsolved and forgotten crimes, and a collection of books that dig deep into the world’s darkest chapters.

16 Sep 22min

A crumbling marriage, a jealous husband, and a family caught in the middle.It’s November 1996 in southern Italy, and what should have been a quiet evening in a small Calabrian village will instead turn into a nightmare. Alfredo Valente, a carabiniere tormented by the idea of losing his wife Genny forever, sets out on a rain-soaked drive across hundreds of kilometers. In his mind, the separation is more than a personal failure, it’s a betrayal — and he is determined to confront those he believes have turned his family against him.When he finally reaches the Salemme household that night, a house full of parents, siblings, and children is waiting inside. None of them know that Alfredo has arrived with his service pistol loaded, and with a plan that will change their lives forever. An unmissable case!----------------------------------------------------------Don't forget to subscribe to the Casefile Confidential podcast, at least one new chilling episode every week---------------------------------------------------------- Visit tonysale.com for original case files, in-depth articles on unsolved and forgotten crimes, and a collection of books that dig deep into the world’s darkest chapters.

12 Sep 27min

In the quiet, free-spirited mountain community of Jamestown, Colorado, peace shattered one Saturday morning. A frantic 911 call described a harrowing scene: 30-year-old Solange Haikkala, a beloved mother, discovered cold and unresponsive on a couch in her artist's studio, her face smeared with blood. The studio itself was described as "completely ransacked," hinting at a violent struggle, leaving detectives to wonder how such a brutal crime could unfold in a town where crime was a rarity. As investigators go through into the "sea of evidence" on Solange's body – from puzzling bruises to the chilling detail of her being found naked from the waist down – they confront a mystery that challenges the very veneer of their peaceful mountain home. Every fiber, every wound, becomes a piece of a dark puzzle – a story only the medical examiner can begin to unlock and bring justice to Solange.----------------------------------------------------------Don't forget to subscribe to the Casefile Confidential podcast, at least one new chilling episode every week---------------------------------------------------------- Visit tonysale.com for original case files, in-depth articles on unsolved and forgotten crimes, and a collection of books that dig deep into the world’s darkest chapters.

9 Sep 20min

John was a medical student in Chicago, Tracey a brilliant and ambitious radiologist. They met and, after just eighteen days, decided to marry. The suddenness of their decision surprised many, but to them it all seemed natural. Tracey had a special talent: she could read people's minds, sense what they wanted to hear, and adapt accordingly. No one then could have imagined that from that relationship would grow a story marked by... lethal consequences. An unmissable case that will keep you in suspense until the end----------------------------------------------------------Don't forget to subscribe to the podcast, at least one new chilling episode every week----------------------------------------------------------Visit tonysale.com for original case files, in-depth articles on unsolved and forgotten crimes, and a collection of books that dig deep into the world’s darkest chapters.

5 Sep 17min

On a quiet October morning in 2011, the lives of a Dyersburg, Tennessee family were irrevocably altered when 44-year-old Karen Swift, a beloved mother of four, simply vanished. She was last seen tucking her 9-year-old daughter into bed the night before, only to be gone by dawn.Her white Nissan Murano was later discovered abandoned on a rural highway, a single rusty screw puncturing its tire, but the vehicle offered no clues, and her home revealed no signs of a struggle. Investigators were left with an immediate suspicion of homicide, yet faced a baffling lack of witnesses, DNA, or clear cell phone data, and a main suspect who appeared physically incapable of such a crime. This is the chilling story of a sudden vanishing, a community desperate for answers, and a mystery that would take years to even begin to unravel.----------------------------------------------------------Don't forget to subscribe to the podcast, at least one new chilling episode every week----------------------------------------------------------Visit tonysale.com for more criminal stories and ebooks about true crime casesVisit tonysale.com for original case files, in-depth articles on unsolved and forgotten crimes, and a collection of books that dig deep into the world’s darkest chapters.

2 Sep 17min

On October 28, 1999, shortly before 9:00 PM, several gunshots shattered the evening silence in the parking lot of a Methodist church. A woman was found lying in a pool of blood next to her Jeep as a light-colored car sped away. Thus begins a murky story of sex, betrayal, corruption, and murder. A case where nothing is as it seems, an investigation worth following to the end. We are about 100 kilometers north of the Big Apple, in a small, seemingly peaceful family community, yet that remote place in provincial America hid a disturbing truth: a dark soul made of sex and corruption.----------------------------------------------------------Don't forget to subscribe to the podcast, at least one new chilling episode every week----------------------------------------------------------Visit tonysale.com for more criminal stories and ebooks criminal seriesVisit tonysale.com for original case files, in-depth articles on unsolved and forgotten crimes, and a collection of books that dig deep into the world’s darkest chapters.

29 Aug 19min