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Hi listeners, it's Vanessa Richardson. Real quick, before today's episode, I want to tell you about another show from Crime House that I know you'll love. America's Most Infamous Crimes. Hosted by Katie Ring. Each week, Katie takes on one of the most notorious criminal cases in American history. Serial killers who terrorized cities, unsolved mysteries that keep detectives up at night, and investigations that change the way we think about justice. Listen to and follow America's Most Infamous crimes Tuesday through Thursday on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music or wherever you listen to podcasts.
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This is Crime House.
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Good morning everyone. We have multiple breaking true crime cases this morning that you need to know about. And we're starting with the biggest one. Twelve American scientists and researchers with ties to nuclear weapons, classified aerospace programs and UFO investigations have turned up dead or missing in just the last few years. And now Congress gave the FBI, NASA and the Pentagon a deadline to explain what is going on. This is crime house 24 7, your non stop source for the biggest crime cases developing right now. Make sure to subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Vanessa Richardson and we have quite a lineup for you today. Here's what you need to know. Lately I've been trying to take the stress out of getting dressed. Just focusing on pieces that feel easy, comfortable and still put together without a lot of effort. That's really what's been pulling me toward quints. Their stuff just fits that effortless everyday vibe. I love their fabrics, linens, cottons, cashmere. They're all the highest quality and they feel so good. Their design is also simple in the best way. Clean silhouettes, neutral tones, and pieces that don't require a ton of styling to feel finished. I've been reaching for their staples a lot because they make it easy to get out the door quickly while still feeling like everything's intentional. And the fit tends to feel really natural, like the clothes are made to actually be lived in. I grabbed a few things thinking they'd be just basic fill ins, but they've ended up becoming some of the most worn pieces in my rotation. Refresh your everyday with luxury you'll actually use. Head to quint.com crimehouse247 for free shipping on your order and 365 day returns. Now available in Canada too. That's Q U I n c e.com crimehouse247 for free shipping and 365 day returns. Quint.com crime house24 7 April 27th marks a critical deadline in what's become One of the most gripping national security stories in recent memory. The House Oversight Committee gave four federal agencies, the FBI, NASA, the Department of Energy, and the Department of defense until the 27th to deliver staff level briefings on the deaths and disappearances of at least a dozen individuals connected to sensitive American nuclear, aerospace and defense research. Whether those briefings will produce answers or raise more questions remain remains to be seen. But what we do know is this. The FBI has confirmed it is leading a multi agency investigation. The White House has called for a holistic review of all the cases. And some of the most powerful people in Washington are publicly calling this a matter of national security. House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer told Fox News that Congress views this as a top priority. He has said publicly that there appears to be a high possibility that something sinister is taking place. Congressman Eric Burleson suggested that foreign adversaries like China, Russia or Iran could be behind the pattern. Now, the FBI confirmed in a statement that it is spearheading the effort to look for connections into the missing and deceased scientists and that it is coordinating with the Department of Energy, the Department of War, and state and local law enforcement. NASA issued its own statement saying that at this time, nothing related to NASA indicates a national security threat. The Department of Defense, interestingly had already told told the committee that it has no active national security investigations of any reported missing person who was a current or former clearance holder involved in special access programs. That response committee members said only left them with more unanswered questions. Okay, so how did we get here? The earliest case on the list, and one that's gone viral again this week, involves Amy Eskridge, a 34 year old scientist who co founded the Institute for Exotic Science with her father, a former NASA scientist. Eskridge was researching anti gravity propulsion and electrostatic propulsion systems out of Huntsville, Alabama. She was found dead on June 11, 2022 from a gunshot wound to the head. Her death was ruled a suicide. But a resurfaced video from a 2020 conversation with fellow researchers has been circulating widely online and adding fuel to questions about her case. In the video, Eskridge described being drugged multiple times at bars near her home, claiming strangers approach with detailed knowledge of her life and pressed her about whether she worked for the government. She said the harassment had been escalating over the previous year to include break ins at her home. A retired British intelligence officer named Frank Milburn, who said he'd been in contact with Eskridge before her death, shared messages she allegedly sent him in May 2022, less than a month before she died, in which she wrote that if anyone reported she had killed herself, she said, quote, I most definitely did not end quot however, Eskridge's father, Richard, has publicly refuted claims that her death was anything other than what it was ruled. He told News Nation plainly, quote, scientists die also, just like other people. End quote. The next case on the timeline involves Michael David Hicks, a 59 year old scientist who worked at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory for nearly 25 years. Hicks, who specialized in comets and asteroids, died on July 30, 2023. His cause of death was publicly disclosed at the time, but the Los Angeles county coroner later determined it was arteriosclerotic cardiovascular disease. His family has said he suffered from known medical conditions and that there is no train of logic to connect his death to any conspiracy. His daughter has said she couldn't help but laugh at the idea. In 2024, Frank Myvald, another JPL specialist in space research, died in Los Angeles at the age of 61. That same year, former US Air Force Intellig officer Matthew James Sullivan died at the age of 39, reportedly before he could testify in a federal whistleblower case about unidentified aerial phenomena, or UAPs. Then came 2025 and the pace of cases accelerated. In May 2025, Anthony Chavez, a retired employee of Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico, went missing. In June, two more people disappeared in rapid succession. Melissa Casas, an administrative also linked to Los alamos, vanished on June 26. And Monica Jacinto Ressa, a 60 year old senior aerospace engineer who'd worked at both Aerojet Rocketdyne and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, disappeared on June 22 while hiking in the Angeles National Forest near Mount Waterman in California. Ressa had served as the director of NASA JPL's Materials Processing Group. Despite extensive search and rescue efforts, her body has never been found. That Same summer, in August 2025, 48 year old government contractor Steven Garcia also went missing in New Mexico. Garcia worked at the Kansas City National Security Campus, which is involved in nuclear weapons research. He was carrying a handgun when he disappeared and left behind his phone, keys, wallet and car. In December 2025, the list took a violent turn. On December 15, Nuno Loreu, a 47 year old physicist and director of MIT's Plasma Science and Fusion center, was fatally shot outside Boston area home. The gunman, who also opened fire on Brown University's campus that day and killed two students, was later identified as a former classmate from the 1990s who had confessed to planning the attack. For years, out of resentment and jealousy toward Loreiru's success, law enforcement described it as a revenge killing, not a conspiracy. Around the same time, Jason Thomas, an assistant director and senior investigator at Novartis Institutes of Biomedical Research in Cambridge, Massachusetts was reported missing in mid December. His body was recovered from Lake quanapowet in Wakefield, Massachusetts in March 2026, three months after he disappeared. Authorities have said they do not suspect foul Play. Then came February 2026 and two more cases rocked the scientific community. On February 16, Carl Grillmire, a 67 year old Caltech astrophysicist who collaborated with NASA and was renowned for his work on exoplanets and stellar streams, was shot and kill the front porch of his rural home in the Antelope Valley, about a hundred miles from Caltech in the desert outside Los angeles. Authorities arrested 29 year old Freddie Snyder, a known criminal with a history of carjacking and burglary, including on Grillmire's own property months earlier, for which the astronomer had called the police. Investigators have said they do not believe Snyder knew Grillmire personally. Then there's the case that really set this entire story ablaze. On February 27, 2026, Air Force Major General 68 year old William Neil McCasland walked out of his Albuquerque, New Mexico home and never came back. He left behind his phone, his prescription glasses and his wearable devices, but took his wallet, his hiking boots and a.38 caliber revolver in a leather holster. McCasland had served as the seventh commander of the Air Force Research Laboratory at Wright Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio and had overseen classified space weapons programs and advanced aerospace space research. He'd been linked, at least by reporting and online speculation to the military's investigations into unidentified aerial phenomena. His disappearance is the one that brought national attention to the broader pattern. Congressman Tim Burett called it a major national security issue. But McCaslin's own wife has pushed back. She told reporters that her husband had been experiencing short term memory loss, medical issues, anxiety and a lack of sleep in the period before he vanished. She suspected he he planned not to be found. She also noted that he retired from the air force almost 13 years ago and had held only commonly available security clearance since it seems quite unlikely that he was taken to extract very dated secrets from him. End quote. And the most recent name added to this growing list is David Wilcock. Wilcock, a 53 year old new York Times best selling author, filmmaker and prominent figure in the UFO and disclosure communities, died on April 20, 2026 in Boulder County, Colorado. Authorities confirmed that he shot himself outside his home in the presence of law enforcement deputies who had responded to a 911 call about a man experiencing a mental health crisis. He was alone at the time, officials said. No one else was near the house. Wilcock had been known for his views on extraterrestrial life, ancient civilizations, and government secrecy around UFOs. Just hours before his death, during a YouTube live stream, he spoke about the disapp hearing scientists calling the situation a little bit scary. But he also told his audience not to take their own lives. He said, quote, if you lay down your life, you're done. End quote. Congressman Tim Burett responded to Wilcox's death by saying he did not believe it was a coincidence. Now, it's important to point out that not everyone is buying the idea that these cases are connected. In fact, a number of experts and journalists have been vocal about their skepticism. Michael Shermer, the founding publisher of Skeptic magazine, wrote a detailed piece this week arguing that what we're seeing is a textbook example of what he calls patternicity, the tendency to find meaningful patterns in random noise. Representative James Walkinshaw, a Democrat on the Oversight Committee, offered a different form of caution. He told CNN that while the investigation is warranted, he's not convinced that there is a coordinated motive. He said, quote, the United States has thousands of nuclear scientists and nuclear experts. It's not the kind nuclear program that potentially a foreign adversary could significantly impact by targeting 10 individuals, end quote. So where does this go from here? Well, Congress is expecting answers. Whether the briefings will reveal new information or whether agencies will push back remains an open question. But one thing is clear. Whether this is a genuine national security crisis or an extraordinary example of pattern seeking gone viral, the story has reached the highest levels of the American government and not going away anytime soon. And throughout the rest of the week, we will be doing an even deeper dive into each mysterious death. Now we're going to shift our focus to a story out of Florida involving two doctoral students from Bangladesh, a roommate now charged with their murders, and some deeply unsettling evidence, including what Prosecutors say were ChatGPT searches about how to dispose of a body. For a lot of people, the hardest part about weight loss isn't getting started. It's finding something that works and lasts. That's why weight loss by hers is designed to support you in a more effective way. 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As of April 27, 26 year old Hisham Abu Gharbia is sitting in a Hillsborough county jail cell without bond, charged with two counts first degree premeditated murder. And on April 28, a judge decides whether he stays there. But for the families of Zamil Limon and Nahida Bristi, no courtroom proceeding can undo what happened in Tampa. Limon and Bristi were both 27, both from Bangladesh and both chasing doctoral degrees at the University of South Florida. Limon was studying geography and environmental science. Bristy was in chemical engineering. They'd been in a relationship and had talked about marriage but were focused on finishing school first. Limon's brother said Zamil planned to fly home this summer and dreamed of becoming a university professor. On the morning of April 16, Limon was last seen at the off campus apartment he shared with Abu Gharbia. Bristy was spotted about an Hour later at a campus science building. And then silence. A family friend reported the missing on April 17. Lamond never showed up for a thesis meeting with his professor. The next day, the evidence started unraveling quickly. Prosecutors say Abu Gharbia told detectives he hadn't seen the couple that day, but cell phone records and surveillance footage said otherwise. His car turned up on camera in Clearwater beach that night, right near where Limon's phone had just pinged. When pressed, he changed his story. Detectives noticed a bandage on his left pinky finger. Back at the apartment. A CVS receipt from that same day listed trash bags, Lysol wipes and Febreze. A search of the complex's dumpster turned up LEM student id, credit cards, and DNA evidence linked to both victims. And then there was this. Prosecutors revealed in a weekend court filing that three days before the couple vanished, Abu Gharbia typed a question into ChatGPT asking what would happen if a person was put in a black garbage bag and thrown in a dumpster. He followed up asking how that would smell. The case broke open on April 24 when deputies showed up at Abu Garbia's family home for an unrelated domestic violence call. Officers got his family members out safely, but Abu Garbia barricaded himself inside. SWAT was called, and he eventually walked out with his hands up. That same day, investigators found Limon's remains on the Howard Frankland Bridge over Tampa Bay inside a heavy duty trash bag. The autopsy confirmed what everyone feared. Multiple stab wounds, including one to his lower back that penetrated his liver. Prosecutors believe Bristie was killed the same way. And on April 26, dive teams pulled human remains from the waterways near the bridge. Those remains have not yet been identified. This was not Abu Gharbia's first brush with the law. Court records show prior arrests for battery and burglary in 2023, a diversion program he completed in 2024, and two domestic violence petitions filed by a family member. In one of those filings, a relative alleged Abu Gharbia had attacked both his brother and their mother during an argument in which he was being asked to leave the family home. No motive has been made public. What we do know is that two young people who traveled thousands of miles to build a future through education are gone. Their families in Bangladesh have called on authorities to seek the highest possible punishment. And soon, a Tampa courtroom will take the next step in deciding what justice looks like here.
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Most violent crimes that capture the public's imagination seem larger than life. But sometimes the most terrifying criminals are right next door and he's just yelling, which translates to they killed my son. On the Fear Thy Neighbor podcast from id, we'll explore these true stories and hear what happens when neighborly disputes reach the point of no return. What do you want? Just this. Listen to Fear Thy Neighbor wherever you get your podcasts.
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Okay, before I let you go, you know we can't end without giving you a little something extra. Over on America's Most Infamous Crimes. Today, Katie's kicking off a three part deep dive into serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer. In June 1978, Dahmer claimed his first victim, 18 year old Stephen Hicks, had no way of knowing that a chance encounter would cost him his life or that the darkness behind it had been building for years. In part one of three episodes, Katie Ring traces the origins of one of America's most notorious serial killers. Dahmer's troubled childhood, his parents volatile marriage, and the escalating obsessions that went unnoticed until it was too late. We grabbed a clip from today's episode. Take a listen and if you like what you hear, don't forget to follow America's Most Infamous Crime times.
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To really understand ourselves, we need to understand where we come from. And Jeffrey Dahmer's no exception. So before we get into his story, let's start with his parents, Joyce and Lionel. Because Jeffrey's mom and dad played a huge role in who he became. And honestly, from what I can tell, they weren't exactly suited for parenthood. Jeffrey's parents got married on August 22, 1959, when they were just 23 years old. Old and from day one, the marriage had problems. Lionel was deep in a chemistry master's degree program and put his career ahead of everything, including his new wife. And Joyce did not take that lying down. Here's the thing about Joyce. When she was growing up, her own father was a neglectful alcoholic. So the minute she felt that Lionel wasn't giving her enough attention, which was basically all of the time, she let him hear about it. They were fighting constantly, almost from the moment they said I do. But that didn't stop them from starting a family. Just days after their wedding, Joyce got pregnant. And nine months later, on May 21, 1960, Jeffrey Dmer was born. For a little while, having a baby smoothed things over between them. But it didn't last for long. When Jeffrey was just 2 years old, the family packed up and moved from Milwaukee to Ames, Iowa, so Lionel could pursue a PhD in chemistry at Iowa State University. It was their second move since Jeffrey was born and Joyce struggled with all of the upheaval. There was more tension, more fighting, and more stress. But for all the chaos swirling around little Jeffrey, he honestly seemed to be handling it okay. He was a relatively normal kid, a sweet one, even at 18 months old, he already had a pet fish and a turtle. And after the move to Iowa, he started feeding a squirrel that came to his windowsill every morning, who he named Jiffy. According to Joyce, he was gentle and kind with all of his animals. But there was something else going on, too. Something much darker. In 1964, when Jeffrey was just 4, his dad was clearing out the crawl space under their house and found a pile of old animal bones. When Lionel asked him about it, Jeffrey said he called them his fiddlesticks. Now, plenty of kids think skeletons are cool. But Jeffrey's interest bordered on obsession. He liked to hold his pets and feel their bones through their skin. He wondered if all animals looked the same on the inside. And that same year, something happened to Jeffrey that would impact him for the rest of his life. At just four years old, he underwent surgery to repair a double hernia in his lower abdomen, which extended into his scrotum. When he woke up from the surgery, he was in so much pain that he was convinced his genitals had been removed. He talked about it to a psychologist, Dr. Judith Becker, years later, when he was already behind bars. It's the kind of traumatic experience that leaves a mark on anyone, and it clearly left one on Jeffrey. Back home after the hospital, things weren't getting any easier. By 1966, when Jeffrey was about 6 years old, Joyce was in rough shape. She was taking two different anti anxiety meds and wasn't really paying attention to her dosage. Most days she was in a fog, and on the day she wasn't, she was on a razor's edge. On the rare occasions when Lionel was actually home, the two of them fought nonstop. It wasn't a healthy environment for anyone, let alone a little kid. But this was the 1960s, and divorce still came with a lot of stigma. So the Dahmers stayed together. If anything, they doubled down because they started trying for a second child. Jeffrey seemed genuinely excited about having a sibling. Sibling. He'd press his head against Joyce's stomach and put his hand on her belly so the baby would know he was there. Maybe he was excited because deep down he hoped he'd finally have someone in that house who was on his side. Someone to weather it all with. On December 18, 1966, Jeffrey got his wish. Joyce gave birth to a baby boy and Jeffrey got to pick the name David. For a while, things seemed to settle. Lionel finished school and landed a job as a chemist in Ohio. Ohio. After years of moving from one rental to the next, Lionel and Joyce finally bought a house. A big ranch style home on nearly two acres of secluded wooded land in a small Ohio town called Bath. After six different addresses since they were married, it seemed like the Dahmers might finally have some stability. Jeffrey loved it. He started making friends with some of the local boys, hanging with them at school and exploring the wood woods. For a brief shining moment, it looked like the Dahmer family might be headed for better days. But nothing lasts forever. Around 1970, when Jeffrey was about 10 years old, Joyce's health hit a wall. She was spending most of her days in bed, taking up to eight anti anxiety pills a day on top of sleeping pills and laxatives. Eventually it got so bad she had to be hospitalized, spending a month in a psychiatric ward. For Jeffrey, this was devastating. Throughout his entire childhood, his mother's mental health had been a dark cloud with only brief, rare moments of sunshine. He'd never truly seen her happy. And according to author Brian Masters, who wrote the Shrine of Jeffrey Dahmer, Jeffrey may have actually blamed himself for her suffering, even though that couldn't have been further from the truth. It was the kind of thing that could make any kid lash out. But instead of making trouble, Jeffrey turned into he stopped engaging with the people around him because he figured that the less he put himself out there, the fewer problems he'd cause. It got so bad that he became completely detached, cut off from everyone around him, with nobody to pull him back. And when he reemerged, there was no getting rid of the darkness that surrounded him.
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That's Katie Ring, host of America's Most Infamous Crimes. And that's just a taste. Part 1 on Jeffrey Dahmer is outright right now on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Just search America's most infamous Crimes and make sure you follow so you don't miss part two and part three. You've been listening to Crime House 247 bringing you breaking crime news. I'm Vanessa Richardson. We'll be back tomorrow morning with more developing stories. Stay safe and thanks for listening. Foreign
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I'm Katie Ring, host of America's Most Infamous Crimes. Each week I take on one of the most notorious criminal cases in American history. Listen to and follow America's Most Infamous Crimes. Available now wherever you get your podcasts.
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Thanks for listening to today's episode. Not sure what to listen to next, check out America's Most Infamous Crimes, hosted by Katie Ring. From serial killers to unsolved mysteries and game changing investigations, each week Katie takes on a notorious criminal case in American history. Listen to and follow America's Most Infamous Crimes now wherever you listen to podcasts.