Maple Batalia was beautiful, talented, and on the verge of something bigger. But as the college student and aspiring actress began gaining attention for her modeling and television work, not everyone in her life was happy to see her star rise.

When Maple was shot and killed in a parking lot on the campus of Simon Fraser University in Surrey, British Columbia, investigators uncovered a case fueled by jealousy, obsession, and betrayal.

Listen now to hear the full story.

Then, in a twist of fate that defies almost every expectation of justice, the man who pulled the trigger walks free – while the father of the deceased student is the one who ends up behind bars.

This is a case that forces us to ask uncomfortable questions about self-defense, accountability, and how the justice system decides who is allowed to claim fear – and who pays the ultimate price for it. Listen now to hear the full story.

On April 1, 2008, 21-year-old Skye Budnick — a junior at Central Connecticut State University — boarded a one-way flight to Japan. She traveled alone. She packed lightly. And after she landed, she seemingly vanished without a trace. Her family searched desperately. They made two separate trips across the world, navigating a country they didn’t know, chasing leads, holding onto the hope that someone, somewhere, had seen Skye. But years later, Skye has never been seen again. She never came home. She never returned to American soil. Listen now to hear the full story.

After Labor Day weekend in 2005, 17-year-old Taylor Behl returned to the campus of Virginia Commonwealth University eager to resume her freshman year. Away from home for the first time, Taylor was embracing the independence and excitement of college life. But when more than 24 hours passed without anyone hearing from her, concern quickly turned to alarm – and those closest to her knew something was terribly wrong.

Listen now to hear the full story.

When a beloved college student and aspiring beauty queen was found dead inside her apartment in a quiet Arkansas town, investigators quickly locked in to one single suspect – a person who insisted that the police had it all wrong. And when a jury agreed, delivering a stunning acquittal, police were forced back to square one in the hunt for her killer. Listen now to hear the full story.

After a night of birthday celebrations and heavy drinking, three friends stumbled back to a tiny high-rise apartment just outside of Washington, D.C. But within just a few hours, one of them would be dead, while the other two would have no memory of what happened, or how. Listen now to hear the full story.

Imagine losing your father from a heart attack when you’re only 11 years old; losing your stepfather from an apparent suicide a few years later at 16, and then waking up in the hospital at 20 years old, only to be told that you were poisoned by the one person you trusted most in the world. While this might sound like the plot of the next horror film to hit theaters, it was a terrifying reality for college student Ashley Wallace. Listen now to hear the full story.

In February of 1980, Katherine Foster, an 18-year-old freshman attending the University of South Alabama in Mobile, was found shot to death in a wooded area next to campus. For nearly three decades, her case went unsolved until a new piece of evidence – a confession letter from the killer – busted the case wide open and a suspect was finally arrested in 2008 and later convicted in 2010. 

Listen now to hear the full story.

In the summer of 2012, 24-year-old nursing student Megan Sharpton was standing at the edge of a bright future. Just months away from graduation, she was eager to step into the career that she had always wanted – one where she could care for others and put her compassion to work as a nurse. So, when the chance for a potential job interview came along, she leapt at the opportunity to jumpstart her career.

But instead of opening the door to the life she had worked so hard for, that so-called “opportunity” led her somewhere far darker. What awaited her was not a new beginning – it was a terrifying tragedy. Listen now to hear the full story.

On the night of May 11, 2019, three friends met for what was supposed to be a relaxed evening by the pool and hot tub — laughing, drinking, and soaking in the music. But by daybreak on Mother’s Day, May 12, two of them were dead. And the only survivor had a story that would raise more questions than answers. Listen now to hear the full story.

In the spring of 2017, Timothy Piazza was like many college sophomores — eager to find his place, to build lasting friendships, and to be part of something bigger than himself. At just 19 years old, he had his sights set on Beta Theta Pi, one of the most respected fraternities at Pennsylvania State University. To Tim, pledging meant brotherhood — an unbreakable, lifelong bond with men who would have his back. But what he couldn’t see was the danger lurking beneath the surface. Behind the promises of tradition and unity was a brutal culture of hazing, one that didn’t just test loyalty — it pushed young men to the edge of what their bodies and spirits could endure. For some, like Tim, the price would prove far too high.

Listen now to hear the full story.

In the spring of 2017, Timothy Piazza was like many college sophomores — eager to find his place, to build lasting friendships, and to be part of something bigger than himself. At just 19 years old, he had his sights set on Beta Theta Pi, one of the most respected fraternities at Pennsylvania State University. To Tim, pledging meant brotherhood — an unbreakable, lifelong bond with men who would have his back. But what he couldn’t see was the danger lurking beneath the surface. Behind the promises of tradition and unity was a brutal culture of hazing, one that didn’t just test loyalty — it pushed young men to the edge of what their bodies and spirits could endure. For some, like Tim, the price would prove far too high. Listen now to hear the full story.

In the spring of 2017, Timothy Piazza was like many college sophomores — eager to find his place, to build lasting friendships, and to be part of something bigger than himself. At just 19 years old, he had his sights set on Beta Theta Pi, one of the most respected fraternities at Pennsylvania State University. To Tim, pledging meant brotherhood — an unbreakable, lifelong bond with men who would have his back.

But what he couldn’t see was the danger lurking beneath the surface. Behind the promises of tradition and unity was a brutal culture of hazing, one that didn’t just test loyalty — it pushed young men to the edge of what their bodies and spirits could endure. For some, like Tim, the price would prove far too high. Listen now to hear the full story.

Brandy Stevens-Rosine was a bright 20-year-old college student with a passion for understanding human behavior. Studying psychology and sociology at Youngstown State University in 2012, she was driven by the question: Why do people do what they do? But Brandy would never get the chance to answer that question for herself. That spring, Brandy was lured into the woods by someone she once trusted, only to be ambushed, beaten, strangled, and then buried in a pre-dug shallow grave while she was still breathing. Listen now to hear the full story.

It was supposed to be routine — just another custody handoff between two parents in rural Madison County, Tennessee. Tyeasha Starks, a bright young student at Austin Peay State University, had done this before. She was there to pick up her 1-year-old son. But what happened next would shatter everything.

A heated argument. A gunshot. And then, sheer chaos.

In broad daylight, in front of her child’s grandparents’ home, Tyeasha was gunned down. The shooter? Known. The method? Recorded. The time? Documented to the second in a chilling audio file.

And yet… there’s been no arrest. No trial. No justice. And, the perpetrator is not hiding. He’s simply living his life, in another state, untouched. Listen now to hear the full story.

Now, I didn’t just pick this one at random — there’s a specific reason I wanted to bring it back. There’s actually been a new development in this case in 2025, and I’ll be sharing that update at the very end of this episode. So definitely stick around for that.

Now, with that, this episode is rated a 5. It’s the heartbreaking story of Alexis Crawford — a 21-year-old student at Clark Atlanta University with a bright future ahead of her. She considered her college roommate one of her best friends. But tragically, that same roommate — Jordyn Jones — along with Jones’ then-boyfriend Barron Brantley, would be responsible for ending Alexis’s life. Listen now to hear the full story.

In 1994, Stevin “Hedake” Smith was the star point guard at Arizona State University and the leading returning scorer in the Pac-10. But off the court, he was buried in gambling debt. His way out? A dangerous gamble of his own – fixing games in one of the biggest point-shaving scandals in NCAA history. Listen now to hear the full story.

In that episode, I told you the chilling story of Sydney Powell, a college student at the University of Mount Union in Ohio. After being placed on academic suspension for poor grades, Sydney's defense claimed she suffered a psychotic break, which led her to brutally attack and kill her mother, Brenda Powell. But prosecutors argued—and successfully proved in Sydney's September 2023 trial—that she was fully aware of her actions when she beat her mother with an iron skillet and stabbed her roughly 30 times with a steak knife. The jury ultimately found her guilty of murder, and a judge sentenced Sydney Powell, then 23 years old, to life in prison with the possibility of parole after 15 years.

Now, you might think that would be the end of the story—a conviction, a sentence, and justice served. But as we know, court cases rarely end there. Appeals are a huge part of the process, and in December 2024, an Ohio appeals court made a surprising move: they REVERSED Sydney Powell’s conviction for her mother’s 2020 murder.

Today, I’m bringing you Part 2 of this update in a mini episode, where I will share all the details about the shocking development and where the case stands now, in 2025. Listen now to hear the full story.

In that episode, I told you the chilling story of Sydney Powell, a college student at the University of Mount Union in Ohio. After being placed on academic suspension for poor grades, Sydney's defense claimed she suffered a psychotic break, which led her to brutally attack and kill her mother, Brenda Powell. But prosecutors argued—and successfully proved in Sydney's September 2023 trial—that she was fully aware of her actions when she beat her mother with an iron skillet and stabbed her nearly 30 times with a steak knife. The jury ultimately found her guilty of murder, and a judge sentenced Sydney Powell, then 23 years old, to life in prison with the possibility of parole after 15 years.

You might think that would be the end of the story—a conviction, a sentence, and justice served. But as we know, court cases rarely end there. Appeals are a huge part of the process, and in December 2024, an Ohio appeals court made a surprising move: they REVERSED Sydney Powell’s conviction for her mother’s 2020 murder.

I’ve got all the details about that shocking development and where the case stands today coming up next week, on Monday, March 24.

But before we get to that bombshell update, I wanted to make sure you’re fully caught up on the case. So today, I’m re-releasing the original episode from March 2024. Listen now to hear the full story.

 Although they had a good idea of exactly who this person was for years, police never publicly identified Megan’s killer – that is, until April 20, 2023. And THIS is where our update comes in. When I first dropped this episode on April 10, 2023, it was just 10 days before police announced that Megan’s ex-boyfriend, a man by the name of Edward Holley, had been arrested for her murder. Now, when I first covered this story, all investigators were saying at the time was that they hoped to make an arrest soon… Y’all, I didn’t realize they meant like, TEN days away soon… So, that means when I ran the episode, I told the whole story without ever identifying a suspect. In fact, I used the pseudonym of John, instead of using the suspect’s real name because I didn’t know his real name at the time. So, NOW, I’d like to replay the episode. I’m not going to re-record it, but when you are listening to it this time around (or, perhaps the first time if you’re new here), I want you to do so with this guy in mind. Every time I refer to the prime suspect or the pseudonym of John, just know it is this guy, Edward Holley, who police were looking at the whole time.

But stick around until the end because not only will I give you additional information about Edward Holley, but as you’ve probably noticed already from the title of this episode, there is SO much more to this story and SO much more that needs to be told – so much so that I couldn’t fit it all into one single episode. I needed to make it a two-parter.

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If you have any information about Megan McDonald's murder, contact the New York State Police Department, Troop F Investigators.

CONFIDENTIAL Tip Line: 845.344.5370.

Email: crimetip@troopers.ny.gov.

The NYPD Detective Endowment Association and the FBI are each offering $10,000 rewards for information leading to the arrest of the suspect.

Stillwater Police Department: 405.742.8357

Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation: 800.522.8017 or tips@osbi.ok.gov.

Press Release (Moscow Police Department): https://www.ci.moscow.id.us/DocumentCenter/View/24812/12-02-22-Moscow-Homicide-Update

Tip Line: 208-883-7180

Email: tipline@ci.moscow.id.us

Digital Media: fbi.gov/moscowidaho

Press Release (Moscow Police Department): https://www.ci.moscow.id.us/DocumentCenter/View/24812/12-02-22-Moscow-Homicide-Update

Tip Line: 208-883-7180

Email: tipline@ci.moscow.id.us

Digital Media: fbi.gov/moscowidaho