Moni was missing, but it didn't make any sense. She would never have left her young daughters. Her family hadn't seen her for months. But she had been posting on social media, texting them, and had even called her landlord. Or had she? Monica Moynan actually wasn't behind any of these communications. It was the man who killed her, the father of her children, the man that disposed of her body so expertly that investigators couldn't find Moni. Police and prosecutors built a meticulous case against Brian Sluss—they had evidence, evidence that he had pretended to be her in digital communications, Moni's blood beneath the floor tiles in her home, and sudden, unexplained changes to the furnishings in her home. But they still didn't have one important thing—Moni's body. In this episode, Kathryn Pomeroy and Melanie Shekita walk us through how they built a murder case without a body against Brian Sluss and put him behind bars for life.

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47-year-old Teresa Richardson was found dead in her home on Bluebird Lane in New London, North Carolina exactly 21 years ago this week. She lived alone in the mobile home park. Her neighbor found her with multiple stab wounds on the floor of her home when she failed to show up for a planned social gathering. Immediately, investigators in Montgomery County had boots on the ground interviewing people who knew Teresa and taking DNA samples from anyone who would consent. More than 75 samples were taken. Family, friends, and acquaintances were eliminated through DNA and interviews. The case went cold. Now, the State Bureau of Investigation is relooking at the cold case hoping advancements in DNA technology or a tip could be the key to getting justice for Teresa. In this episode, we go behind the scenes of this cold case with an investigator from the State Bureau of Investigation.

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In this episode, we're going to be talking about a national crisis that's happening right under our noses, in our backyards—human trafficking. What exactly is human trafficking? Well, many people still think of it as women being smuggled in a van across the border and forced into sexual servitude in a modern-day brothel. To be clear, this still happens. But what's more common is a business that's operating in plain sight, massage parlors that seem legitimate, but they're not. In most cases, the only way to disband these businesses and free these women, because most of the victims are women, is to catch the people who are operating them.

It's estimated that there are 13,000 illegal massage businesses operating across the country, in every single state. They generate an estimated 5 billion dollars a year in revenue. So, whose is responsible for stopping these businesses from operating? Police departments don't usually have the manpower or the time to handle these cases because there are so many. In addition, the business owners usually face light penalties and often reopen their illegal establishments quickly even after they've been charged. Plus, the ugly truth is that the employees often face penalties for prostitution even in this day and age when we know they are victims of sex trafficking. And even if employees aren't charged, they're reluctant to testify against the business owners for fear of retribution making these cases very difficult to prosecute.

Our guest for this episode has dedicated much of his attention and energy to shining a light on human trafficking and sharing the information with law enforcement partners so they can properly charge people, prosecute them, and disband these businesses for good. Mike Longmire says these businesses represent organized crime and require community outrage to run them out of town.

29-year-old Mary Davis, a married mother of two, worked at a hardware store in Lexington, North Carolina in the 1980's. On May 7, 1987, Mary stepped out for lunch and never returned. Mary's body was found the next day behind a local grocery store by family members during a search for her. She had been raped and strangled. Immediately, suspicion fell on her husband and her boyfriend that she was having an extramarital affair with. This cloud hung over them for more than three decades until the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation cracked the case by testing DNA that had been expertly preserved by the Lexington Police. A suspect, Russell Grant Woods, was identified, and even though he had died a decade prior, the information gave the heartbroken family information they desperately needed to put their lives back in order. In this episode, we talk to the SBI about how the preservation of evidence and advanced technology are solving more and more cold cases.

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July 11, 1997, started out like any other day for Raleigh Police investigator Patrick Niemann. He was riding with 35-year-old Raleigh Police Detective Paul Hale, who had just been promoted to investigations 5 days earlier. They approached a car at an apartment complex that they believed contained a potential witness in a murder case. 19-year-old Kwame Mays was in the back seat. He fired his 9mm handgun killing Hale. Niemann returned fire, wounding Mays. Mays was arrested on two counts of first-degree murder-one in Hale's death, and one in the homicide of Ralph Walker who had been shot in the head earlier that morning while driving his pickup truck. In May of 1998, the jury convicted Mays in the murder of Walker, but deadlocked in the murder of Hale. Mays was retried and convicted in September 1998 of killing Hale. Mays faced the possibility of the death penalty, but instead, was sentenced to life in prison. Patrick Niemann went on to have a long career in law enforcement, one that included helping other officers who had experienced critical incidents emotionally process what they had been through. He has never sat down for a media interview about the case, until now. In this powerful conversation, Patrick describes the shooting, the trauma that followed, and ultimately, his will to move forward in large part to honor Paul Hale's legacy of service.

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When Jerri Williams was sworn in as an FBI agent in 1982, she was one of just 23 Black female agents out of 7000 total. To say she is a trailblazer is an understatement. For more than two decades she uncovered corruption and investigated major crimes. She went on to be the spokesperson for the FBI in the Philadelphia area. In her fifties, Jerri blazed another trail. She became a podcaster at a time when most people didn't even know what a podcast was. Today, her show, FBI Retired Case File Review, has posted more than 400 episodes and has millions of downloads. She features the stories of retired FBI agents as they share the details of their most compelling cases. Jerri is also a successful author and a doting grandmother, not to mention an amazing person. In this bonus episode, we delve into Jerri's unique career path and some of her most compelling cases.

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He was an Eagle Scout and a high school student in a small North Carolina town who volunteered at his church. But people who loved Matthew Silliman said he fell in with the wrong crowd, outcasts who partied hard and spun wild stories about being stalked by the mafia. One fateful night he went to an unoccupied home with four other teens who dabbled in Tarot cards and put horse tranquilizers in his wine. They tied his legs together, covered his mouth with duct tape, hit him in the head with a hammer, and then covered his head with a plastic bag. Several days later Matthew was found dead, zipped up in a sleeping bag. And for what? That's the question years later that people involved in this case are still asking. The assistant district attorney at the time, Jason Waller, was prosecuting his very first high-profile murder case. The defense attorney for the ringleader, Robert Padavano, was assigned what seemed like and impossible case to defend. We speak with both of them for this episode as we unpack the details of this senseless crime.

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It was supposed to be a celebration. Lights. Music. Families lining the streets. A holiday tradition in Raleigh where nothing bad was supposed to happen. But on November 19th, 2022—that changed in an instant. The Raleigh Christmas Parade was underway. Floats rolled down the street. Performers smiled and waved. And then—something went wrong. A vehicle towing a float lost control. In seconds, the celebration turned into chaos. People screamed. Spectators ran. A young dancer was struck and killed. Her name was Hailey Brooks. She was just 11 years old. In this interview with Wake County District Attorney Lorrin Freeman, we go through the complexities of holding someone responsible in a case like this and talk about ways to prevent it in the future.

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