Podcast Summary: Something About Cari — The Family Wedding

Host: Keith Morrison (NBC News/Dateline)
Date: December 2, 2025
Episode: 1 — "The Family Wedding"

Episode Overview

This episode of Something About Cari dives into the mysterious disappearance of single mom Cari Farver from the heartland of America. Just weeks into a new romance, Cari vanishes, sparking a bizarre series of events: taunting texts, stalking, arson, threats, and ultimately, murder. Host Keith Morrison sets the stage for a story that’s as confounding as it is heartbreaking, marked by shocking twists, unreliable clues, and a family grasping for answers.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. A Shocking Night in the Park

• Timestamp: [01:28]–[06:42]
• Morrison begins with a gripping recount: a woman is shot in the leg in a park near the Missouri River, and a massive manhunt ensues after she calls 911.
• The shooter, notably, is identified as a woman, contradicting law enforcement assumptions about gun violence statistics.
• This event is presented as the case's turning point—when its years-long confusion began to untangle.

Quote:
“It was a woman in pain, obviously. … The shooter was a woman, a fact that flew in the face of all those statistics that law enforcement collects about gun violence.”
— Keith Morrison ([03:01] & [04:43])

2. Years of Torment: Stalking, Arson, and Fear

• Timestamp: [05:55]–[06:42]
• Morrison outlines the bizarre and escalating events following Cari’s disappearance: stalking, harassment, arson, and murder.
• Friends and family lived in constant suspense—unsure what horror might come next.

Quote:
“Here was harassment, stalking, assault, arson, and, of course, murder.”
— Keith Morrison ([05:58])

3. The Disappearance: The Family Wedding

• Timestamp: [06:44]–[08:24]
• The episode shifts three years earlier—to the weekend of a family wedding in November 2012, which Cari misses without explanation.
• Cari’s absence is immediately alarming to her son, Max, and her mother, Nancy, as she never would have skipped such an event, especially with her father gravely ill.

Quote:
“She wouldn't have missed then.”
— Max Farver ([10:20])

4. Cari’s Background: Unpredictability and Struggle

• Timestamp: [08:42]–[12:12]
• Morrison explores Cari’s life: fiercely loving and determined, yet prone to impulsiveness and troubled choices.
• Max and Nancy discuss Cari’s mental health, failed relationships, and how her unpredictability shaped their lives.

Quote:
“Carrie was fierce, bright, determined. But there was something else about her too. And it mattered.”
— Keith Morrison ([09:02])

5. The Relationship with Her Son, Max

• Timestamp: [08:26]–[09:57]
• Cari’s bond with Max is central—she’s a devoted single mother, sharing everything from music to life decisions with him.
• The emotional blow of her standing Max up for the wedding is underscored.

Quote:
“We were definitely really close. … She would always ask what I thought of him. And I knew that if I said anything bad, she'd end it right there.”
— Max Farver ([08:26])

6. Early Clues and the First Red Flags

• Timestamp: [15:53]–[21:22]
• After Cari misses the wedding, Max and Nancy receive strange, unsettling texts from her.
• A text to Nancy claims Cari quit her job, moved to Kansas with her boyfriend Dave, and sold all her furniture.
• Nancy’s instincts tell her something is wildly wrong, especially when the messages become aggressive.

Quote:
“I said, absolutely not. I said, either you call me, you come to see me, I'm not doing anything until I hear you. And that's when the nasty text started coming.”
— Nancy Rainey ([21:22])

7. The Role of Mental Health

• Timestamp: [18:24]–[19:58]
• Nancy reveals Cari’s diagnosis of bipolar disorder, noting past bouts of severe depression and concern she might have gone off her medication.

Quote:
“It's just frustration and just helplessness. … It scared me. Tremendously scared.”
— Nancy Rainey ([18:25], [18:33])

8. Escalating Fears & Protective Instincts

• Timestamp: [21:41]–[23:36]
• Max recalls feeling unsafe, believing someone might try to take him from school.
• Nancy files for temporary guardianship to protect her grandson from possible abduction by Cari or the mysterious Dave.

Quote:
“I was thankful to have my cousin as one of the teachers at school because he's a big guy … he wasn’t gonna let me want to take me.”
— Max Farver ([22:23])

9. A Tangled Web: The “Furniture Sale” and Meeting Liz

• Timestamp: [23:55]–[26:32]
• Investigators track down Liz Gollier, a woman whose stolen checkbook was used in the supposed sale of Cari's furniture.
• Liz had also dated Dave (the same boyfriend), further complicating the relationships.

10. Meeting Dave Krupa: The New Boyfriend

• Timestamp: [28:32]–[34:55]
• Detectives visit Dave Krupa, Cari’s recent boyfriend, who at first seems unconcerned but soon reveals he last saw Cari about a week before her disappearance.
• Dave describes the beginnings of their relationship: an immediate spark, agreements about keeping things “no-strings,” but growing closeness over time.

Quote:
“She turns to me and she said, 'Look, if we're gonna have sex, that's all it is, period. There's nothing more to it.' And asked me, 'Are you good with that? … My eyes lit up and I'm like, ping. I hit the Powerball.'”
— Dave Krupa ([33:11])

11. The Timeline of Cari’s Disappearance

• Timestamp: [34:55]–[36:59]
• Dave explains Cari had stayed at his apartment for several days before her disappearance.
• On the morning of November 13, 2012, she was fine—he kissed her goodbye as he left for work.

Quote:
“I gave her a kiss on the way out the door … this beautiful lady was gonna be in my house when I got home. I don't know who wouldn't smile about that.”
— Dave Krupa ([36:29])

12. The Post-Disappearance Anomalies: Strange Messages

• Timestamp: [37:24]–[37:47]
• Hours after Cari went missing, Dave receives an odd text from her, asking if he wants to move in together—completely out of character from their earlier arrangement.
• Dave shares with police how quickly everything went sideways, foreshadowing many more bizarre developments to come.

Quote:
“By 10 o'clock, I receive a text from her that says, 'Do you want to move in with me?' … Very weird. Very. What is going on here?”
— Dave Krupa ([37:24])

Memorable Quotes

• On the oddity of the case:
  “Had you ever encountered a thing quite that elaborate before? No, Nothing. Nothing like this.”
  — Keith Morrison & Max Farver ([05:55])

• On Cari's complex character:
  “She was a Carrie.”
  — Nancy Rainey ([12:15])

• On family’s resilience:
  “She had had him laying in her lap and she said, 'oh gosh, … you're all mine. I don't have to share you with anybody.'”
  — Nancy Rainey ([12:56])

Timestamps for Notable Segments

• The shooting in the park: [01:28]–[06:42]
• Max remembers his mom missing the wedding: [08:26]–[10:26]
• Discussion on Cari’s mental health: [18:24]–[19:58]
• Nancy gets guardianship of Max: [23:26]–[23:36]
• Interview with Dave Krupa about relationship and last sighting: [28:32]–[36:59]
• Strange texts after disappearance: [37:24]–[37:47]

Overall Tone & Style

Keith Morrison delivers his trademark, suspenseful storytelling, with a touch of tenderness and dry wit. The episode flows naturally between first-person recollections, empathetic interviews with family, and police procedural, alternating between confusion, mounting dread, and the longing for answers.

Takeaway

The Family Wedding sets the stage for a mind-bending true crime story—one as much about loss and love as it is about deception and psychological torment. The narrative weaves together family heartbreak, small-town bonds, and the unnerving possibility that not everything—or everyone—is what they seem. The cliffhanger surrounding the strange texts and Cari’s fate promises many more twists in episodes to come.