← Twisted Tales with Heidi Wong
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- [00:02]
Heidi Wong
Hi Crime House Community, It's Heidi Wong, and if you love digging into the most gripping true crime stories, then you need to listen to another Crime House original Crimes of with Sabrina Diana Roga and Corinne Vien. Crimes of is a weekly series that explores a new theme each season from Crimes of paranormal, unsolved murders, mysterious disappearances, and more. Sabrina and Corinne have been covering the true stories behind Hollywood's most iconic horror villains, and this month they'll be diving into the paranorma. Listen to Crimes of every Tuesday on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, or wherever.
- [00:37]
You listen to your podcasts. This is crime house. Two living gods who turn to murder. A woman whose beauty attracts a killer, a homicidal gang who kills to sell skincare products, and a Hungarian noblewoman who bathes in the blood of innocents to preserve her youth. These all sound like something the villain in a horror movie would do, right? But these stories all come from real life, and they're just as horrifying as they sound. Welcome to Twisted, A Crime House Original. I'm Heidi Wong. Every week I'll take you deep inside the real stories behind horror's most terrifying legends. From vengeful ghosts to bloody slashers to alien encounters and more, these real life accounts are guaranteed to keep you up at night, but scary stories aren't any fun if you're telling them alone. If you've ever had a haunted moment or a twisted tale of your own, I want to hear about it. Drop it in the comments. The creepier the better. Crime House is made possible by you. Follow twisted Tales and subscribe to Crime House on Apple Podcasts for ad free early access. And if you're into true crime as well as horror, go search and follow Crime House daily. Our team's twice a day show bringing you breaking news of and unbelievable stories from the world of crime that are happening right now. Today, I'm diving into the glamour gone wrong world of the substance. The movie itself isn't based on a true story. There's no chemical that'll make a better version of you sprout out from your back. But there are plenty of stories out there of people whose quest for physical perfection led to disaster. Whether you're into bodybuilding, makeup or skincare, the desire to look young and attractive forever is a universal one. We all fear that moment when our bodies start falling apart. But obsessing over it can have terrible consequences. Throughout history, it has driven people to do unspeakable things to themselves and others just to try and answer the question. The substance asks, have you ever dreamt of a better version of yourself?
- [02:52]
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- [03:25]
Heidi Wong
The Substance was the unexpected horror smash of 2024. It's a body horror fable about aging, sexism, and the impossible standards that women are held to in society. If you haven't seen it, here's a quick recap. The Substance follows Elizabeth Sparkle, a Hollywood star who just turned 50. She's keeping her celebrity alive with an aerobics show on tv, but when the men who run her network fire her for being too old, she looks for a way to restore her youth and beauty. She discovers the Substance, a miracle cure that splits her into two people. Sue, the newer, younger self, takes over Elizabeth's show and reignites her fame. Meanwhile, Elizabeth holes up in her apartment as her body rapidly ages. Desperate to spend as much time as sue as possible, Elizabeth ignores the Substance safety warnings, causing both of their bodies to fall apart before they merge into a single grotesque monster. The movie is super gross, but it's also amazing. It shows that horror movies don't only have to be scary, they can have a deeper message. And the Substance does both. Now, as I've mentioned before, it's not literally based on a true story, but it draws on a lot of real world experiences. Looking your best is hard work, countless cosmetic routines, beauty products, working out, and then no matter how hard you try, it's never enough. So even though the Substance has some truly gruesome side effects, you can't help but would it be worth it? We all want to be irresistible. Even if it ultimately ends in tragedy. Bodybuilding isn't just a hobby. For some people, it's a calling. The amount of work it takes to push your body to the absolute limit. Stretching tendons, straining muscles, reshaping your body until you look like you're chiseled from stone. No judgment to those who love it. But there's almost a body horror element to it already, isn't there? And when some people are this dedicated to transforming their bodies, their humanity can get left behind. To start us off, I have three chilling stories from the world of Bodybuilding. The first started almost 40 years ago. In 1987, a 21 year old U.S. marine named Ray McNeil married Sergeant Sally Loden. The two had a lot in common. They were in the military, they were both young and beautiful, and they both shared a passion for bodybuilding. Ray had joined the Marines for financial security, but his real dream was to participate in bodybuilding competitions. Sally had the same dream, and when they both left the military, they worked hard to make it happen. Shortly after their wedding, the young couple moved in together in Oceanside, California with Sally's kids from a previous marriage. Money was tight, but they were a true power couple. At least that's how they seemed at first. Ray and Sally both competed in bodybuilding competitions, but it came at a huge cost, financially and emotionally. In order to get by, Sally started making videos of herself wrestling men and performed what are called muscle worship sessions. It's described as a private wrestling session, but there's a sexual fetish aspect to it for a lot of people. Sally says none of her clients tried to have sex with her, but it still made her feel weird. Especially because the money she did make allegedly went towards Ray's bodybuilding career and his steroid addiction. Meanwhile, Ray worked as a bouncer, won several bodybuilding titles and even competed in the world famous Mr. Olympia competition in 1993. And while he was living his dream, he allegedly created a nightmare for Sally and her kids. According to them, Ray was extremely abusive. Sally says that Ray punched her in the face after they'd been married for only three days. But every time he'd hurt her, Ray would always apologize and promise that he'd do better. And according to the kids, he'd target them when Sally wasn't around. This terrifying cycle went on for eight years until things finally hit a breaking point. On the evening of Valentine's Day 1995, Ray went out on a grocery run to buy some chicken. Or at least that's what he said he was doing because he didn't get home until about 10:30, a full two hours after the usual store closed. Ray told Sally that he'd just gone to a different store, but she called him on it. In what world does it take two hours to grab some chicken? Even with LA traffic? That is ridiculous. Sally already suspected that Ray was cheating on her and his flimsy excuse sent her over the top. The two of them got in an explosive argument and Sally hit him where it really hurts. She told Ray that he was not looking good and that he wasn't going to do well. In his upcoming bodybuilding competition, which was only few days away in Florida. And then Ray lost it. According to Sally, he shoved her to the floor and started choking her. She managed to fight him off and ran into their bedroom to hide. Ray didn't go after her. Instead, he went into the kitchen and started cooking the chicken he'd bought. Can't let that go to waste, I guess. But Sally didn't think he was, like, really done with her. She claims that she was afraid for her life. So she grabbed the shotgun they kept in their room and loaded it with a stick single shell, while grabbing another for backup. Then Sally walked into the kitchen, aimed the gun at Ray and fired. According to Sally, Ray doubled over in pain and then charged at her. So she loaded the second shell into the gun and shot him again. After that, she gave the gun to a neighbor and called 911. She told the dispatcher, I shot my husband because he just beat me up. Over the phone, the dispatcher could hear Ray moaning in pain, asking why she'd shot him. She snapped back, I told you I wasn't taking your s anymore. When the police arrived, they found Ray MacNeil on his hands and knees inside. He was still alive, but there was a large hole in his torso and his jaw was shattered. As Sally told them that he had assaulted her, he shook his head emphatically. All he could say through his shattered jaw was no. He died two hours later at the hospital. In court, Sally insisted that she killed Ray in self defense, but the evidence suggested otherwise because it seemed like she'd shot her husband in the chest, reloaded the gun, and then shot him in the face while he was already on the floor. Which didn't seem to line up with her story that he charged at her. Meanwhile, Sally's lawyers argued that she suffered from battered woman syndrome, from the years of abuse that Ray had inflicted on her. And because of this, she really had thought her life was in danger. But ultimately, the jury wasn't convinced. Sally was convicted of second degree murder and sentenced to 19 years to life in prison. She was granted parole in 2020 after 25 years behind bars. We may never know for sure what happened in their house that night, but one thing seems Ray and Sally may not have been in their right minds. After Ray's death, Sally tested positive for the steroid Deca Duraboan, and Ray's body tested positive for five different kinds of steroids. I know roid rage is kind of a meme, but it's also very real. Steroids can provoke mood Swings and lead to heightened aggression. It seems like in this case, they may have inflated already existing problems in this relationship. Ray and Sally's mutual passion for bodybuilding had brought them together and then it broke them apart in the most terrifying way possible. But our next story is a little different. It's also about a bodybuilding power couple gone wrong. But they didn't wind up taking it out on each other. Instead, they found a victim of their own. Melissa James was an ambitious young woman from Florida. She was a dancer, an entrepreneur, and very self driven. And in 2001, when she was 24, she met Craig Titus and Kelly Ryan at a bodybuilding competition in Vegas. Both in their early 30s, Craig and Kelly were a married pair of bodybuilders who also sold workout equipment on the side. The three got along so well, Craig and Kelly offered Melissa a job managing their retail store. I'm sure some of you already know where this is going. It's giving. We saw you across the bar and really dig your vibe. And yep, that's exactly where this is going. Before long, Melissa was Craig and Kelly's live in assistant. People who knew Craig and Kelly heard they were both hooking up with Melissa. Craig and Kelly were at the top of their game professionally, regularly landing medals in multiple competitions a year. They go out every night drinking, doing drugs, everything you imagine that would happen in Las Vegas. Now, Melissa wasn't a bodybuilder, but she really enjoyed being with this couple. Until things took a terrifying turn. On December 14, 2005, a trucker called 911 after spotting a burning Jaguar on the side of the road outside of Vegas. After firefighters put out the flame, police inspected the car and what they found inside was horrifying. A woman's badly burned body was in the trunk of the car with her head completely covered in duct tape. The authorities immediately brought her to the medical examiner's office to see if they could determine the cause of death. But they weren't able to. But what the examiner did find is that the victim hadn't inhaled any smoke, meaning that the woman had been dead before she'd been put in the trunk. And there was also a significant amount of morphine in her system. When they peeled away the tape from her face, they were able to positively identify the woman as Melissa James, dead at 28 years old. And the car was registered to Kelly Ryan. Investigators started digging and found what they called sexually charged messages from Craig Titus on Melissa's cell phone. They never said whether this meant full on sex or just spicy innuendo. But all the same, the story was starting to take shape. Kelly had grown jealous of Craig and Melissa and had a motive to get Melissa out of the picture. But Kelly and Craig's friends didn't seem to think that's how it went down. The first witness who came forward said that Craig had found Melissa already dead from a drug overdose. Terrified that it would look bad for his reputation, Craig and a male friend threw the body in Kelly's car and used her card to buy lighter fluid, then drove into the desert to get rid of the evidence. If Melissa had died of a drug overdose, it would account for the morphine in her system. But this story only told a partial truth. Police looked over security footage and realized that Kelly was the one who brought the lighter fluid. So she had also been involved. Another friend came forward to say that Kelly and Melissa had fought the night Melissa died. They said that Melissa had pulled a Taser on Kelly and threatened her with it. But Kelly managed to get it away and tased Melissa instead. And when the police searched Kelly and Craig's apartment, they did find evidence of Taser use. If you didn't know, every time a Taser is fired, it discharges a confetti like packet. Each packet is individually marked, so you can always tell when a Taser has been fired somewhere. Police found this confetti at Craig and Kelly's house and were able to determine that a Taser had been fired not just once, but five times the night Melissa died. We don't really know the full story of what happened, but what we do know is Melissa had a fight with Craig and Kelly. Whether Kelly was jealous of how close Melissa and Craig were or the other way around, we don't know. Either way, even armed with a Taser, Melissa didn't stand a chance against two angry bodybuilders. The fight ended with Melissa getting Tased, beaten and burned. Craig pumped her with morphine and she died. Craig and Kelly then disposed of the body. Both Craig and Kelly were arrested and charged with second degree murder, assault, and arson. On the stand, they claimed that Melissa James had stolen from them. She'd been an unreliable drug addict, a danger to them and to herself. This testimony was ultimately not successful. Craig ultimately pleaded guilty to the murder charge to avoid the death penalty, and Kelly pleaded guilty to assault and arson. Kelly Ryan was released on parole in 2017 after serving 13 years and has kept a low profile ever since. As of this recording, Craig Titus is still behind bars. For years, both of them felt like they were Greek gods, but their actions had real consequences. An innocent woman lost her life. And in the end, Craig and Kelly ended up in a hell of their own making. As we learned in the substance, beauty and fame come with a price. And in this last story about bodybuilding gone wrong, our victim did nothing to warrant the terrible cost of her success. In June of 2025, 43 year old Colombian bodybuilder Zunhilda Amy Hoyos Mendez, whose friends called her Amy, was on vacation in Spain. The woman was a champion, nicknamed she Hulk by her adoring fans. Looking at any picture of her, you can see why she'd earned that nickname. But for all the success in Amy's professional life, things weren't going as well for her personally. According to friends, she made the decision to leave her American husband and coach, Jared Gelling after his vacation. But while they were abroad, Amy's family stopped hearing from her. And even on vacation, this wasn't normal. She normally talked to them every day. The last day they heard from Amy was June 15th. Three days would go by with no word from amy and on June 18, two of her nieces go to social media and various group chats to see if anyone has heard from her. But nobody has. One of Amy's friends is so concerned that she files a missing persons report. That same day, less than 24 hours later, Spanish police went to the villa where Amy and Jared had been staying and discovered a horrifying scene. Inside they found the bodies of both Amy and Jared. Amy had been killed by a hammer and Jared was dead from a number of knife wounds. Analysis of the scene determined that Jared's injuries were self inflicted and Amy's injuries weren't. Meaning Jared killed Amy and then took his own life. It turned out that their relationship had gone through cycles of abuse and that Amy was finally ready to end it before her life was taken away. Amy was also starting to become a lot more successful in bodybuilding and on social media where she had over 75k followers. On Instagram, Amy also had over 100k followers on OnlyFans, which would have added more financial independence and maybe jealousy from her husband. Like we see in the substance, it doesn't matter how much control you're taking over your own appearance, there will always be someone who will think that they own you. And as we'll find out in our next story, in some cases, it's a total stranger foreign.
- [18:27]
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- [19:25]
Heidi Wong
On May 13, 2025, Mexican beauty influencer Valeria Marquez was live streaming on her TikTok. Ever since winning a pageant in 2021, her stardom had been on the rise and she's getting popular on social media with over 200k followers on Instagram and over 100k on TikTok. And she was branching out professionally too. In 2024, she opened a beauty salon in Zappapan, which is where she was streaming from. On May 13, during the livestream, there was a knock on the door. A courier was delivering Valeria a package. Valeria kept streaming. As she went to open it, she was excited to see that someone had sent her a stuffed pink bunny. Then she looked up, confused. She said something about the courier still standing by the door. Then all of a sudden, she grabbed her chest and fell down. Valeria had been shot. A friend of hers heard the gun go off and turned off the livestream. But the event was understandably a big story. And here's the terrifying we still don't know who killed Valeria Marquez or why. Some suspected it was a cartel killing, but the motive is still unknown. According to CCTV footage, it seemed like the shooters used the package to confirm her identity before opening fire. It was a targeted hit of some kind, one that she never saw coming. The investigation into Valeria's death is still ongoing. Investigators suspect it is a part of a pattern of violence targeting women that has seized Mexico in recent years. And because Valeria was attractive, even her death became about her appearance. But this wouldn't be the first time that gang violence would be linked to the beauty industry. In November of 2009, three gang members were captured by police in Peru. It seemed like an ordinary arrest until the men were searched, according to the police statement Two of the suspects were carrying bottles of liquefied human fat, almost a quart in total. The police obviously were shocked and horrified. They demanded to know where this stuff came from. One of the suspects led them to a nearby valley, where they found human remains scattered in a grove of cocoa trees, including the decomposing head of one of the gang's victims. The MO of this gang was awful. If you're easily grossed out, brace yourself. They wouldn't just decapitate their victims. After heads were removed, they'd dismember the bodies, cutting off their arms and legs. Then they cut them open and remove the organs. The torso would be hung up using hooks like a butcher chop. Finally, using candles, the gang would melt the fat from the torsos and collect it in bottles. According to the police report, human fat sold for $60,000 a gallon. That's around $90,000 today. With inflation, what the hell? But who on earth would want to buy this stuff? Cosmetics companies, apparently. The gang allegedly sold the fat in Peru, where it was then passed on to the cosmetic companies in Europe, who would use the human fat fat in skincare products. Somewhere in Europe, countless unwitting people were spreading human fat on their skin as a part of their beauty routine. It's not publicly known which companies did this or if it even happened at all, because none of it has been proven. But the police statement alleged that the gang had been doing this for well over three decades. In 2009 alone, almost 60 people were reported missing in the region where the gang operated, who would soon become known as the Peachtaco's gang. A peachtaco is a South American boogeyman, a man who kills and butchers you with a long knife and melts your fat, just like the gang we described. This myth is thought to originate from the colonization of South America, where Spanish conquistadors allegedly used fat from bodies of indigenous Mayans to treat injuries. Flash forward a few centuries, and we have a story about gang members turning human fish fat into cosmetic products. Same horror, different motive. The event in 2009 became known as the Peach Tacos Affair. And like the killers of Valeria Marquez, they would never be heard from again, allowing them to become the new version of an old boogeyman. But if you want a real old world story of horrors for the sake of beauty, we need to go much, much further back than 2009. This final story is from the late 1500s. It's about one of the most infamous serial killers ever documented, One who killed not just for sadism, but for Vanity as well. A woman known as the Blood Countess. For this final story, we're going deep into the Carpathian Mountains, the same place where Bram Stoker placed Dracula's castle. In actual history, a different vampire lived in a castle in these mountains. It was a place called Cheta Castle, the ancestral seat of a Hungarian noble family and their daughter, who would go down in infamy. Elizabeth Bathory was born in 1560. Like many noble daughters of the era, she was raised with everything she could want, except for a husband of her own choosing. When Elizabeth was 15, she got married for political reasons. Her husband, Ferenc Nadazdi, was five years older than her. He would become an accomplished soldier, leading Hungarian armies into battle against the Ottoman Empire. While Fernk was away fighting their enemies, Elizabeth and her servants lived in one of the many castles the couple owned, managing their lands. And it turned out this was more than a marriage of convenience. In the worst way possible. When Ferranc and Elizabeth did get time to spend together, they learned they shared an interest. Ferranc learned a lot lot of horrifying techniques during his time at war, and he was happy to teach them to Elizabeth, too. For instance, he showed her how to rouse servants by rolling pieces of oiled paper between their toes before lighting it on fire. A really nice way to treat your employees. And Fereng wasn't the only one showing Elizabeth new ways to inflict indescribable pain. While he was away on duty, a servant named Anna Darvolia joined the Bathory household. It was rumored that she was a witch who taught her mistress even deeper and crueler methods of torture. One eyewitness described her administering punishment to a shoemaker's daughter named Alonka. She stripped the girl naked and shoved a knife into her fingers, one by one. Then she had the girl beaten and held a candle to her arms until they started burning. Another victim was stuck with countless needles as punishment for not being able to sew. Soon, Anna was Elizabeth's closest companion. And Elizabeth was going to need all the support she could get, because in 1601, after 25 years of marriage, Ferenck fell ill. It's not clear what he was sick with, but it's believed that he eventually lost the ability to use his legs. And it didn't seem like their castle had accessibility in mind. Because Ferenc couldn't join his wife in the torture chamber as often. Within a few years, he would be dead, leaving her a widow. But Elizabeth refused to grow old and wither away in her castle. She maintained her iron grip on her lands, and even started using her people to keep herself young. In her later years, it's said that she captured beautiful virgins and bathed in their blood as a way to preserve her own youth and beauty. In 1609, when Elizabeth was 1549, she turned part of her castle into a school for women. Only the countess, her friends and her female servants were allowed in this part of the building. To the country at large, this would be a place for her to educate the daughters of nobility in etiquette and culture. Sort of like a finishing school, if you've seen the ugly stepsister. But the only thing Elizabeth was finishing was their lives. Countless girls poured into Elizabeth's castle, and under the COVID of darkness, their bodies were carried out. And it wasn't long before people started to notice. Disappearing peasant girls was one thing, but going after the aristocracy was stepping too far. Nobles whose daughters disappeared wrote to the King of Hungary demanding justice. He assigned an official named Girgi Torrizo to investigate the rumors of murder. On New Year's Eve, see 1610, Therezo made a surprise appearance at Elizabeth's castle. By this point, Elizabeth's bestie Anna had died of a stroke. But it seemed like Elizabeth had found other people who shared her passion for torture. Tereso rang in 1611 by arresting Elizabeth and four of her accomplices. Her friends were detained and tortured until they confessed, and when Elizabeth went on trial, their testimony was used against her, along with multiple witnesses. Elizabeth's first trial had about 17 people testify, and by the second, that number had grown to 300, all with secondhand stories of her cruelty. Although aside from her four confessed accomplices, none of the witnesses had actually seen Elizabeth kill anyone. After the trial, her accomplices were punished. Those who'd participated in the torture were burned to death, and those that didn't were beheaded. As for Elizabeth, she maintained her innocence throughout both trials, even as her body count grew in the minds of the court. But being a noblewoman came with benefits. Instead of being executed, she was sentenced to house arrest in her castle, where she lived out the rest of her days under guard. But that didn't turn out to be very long. Four years later, Elizabeth died at the age of 54. I guess the whole bathing in the blood of virgins thing didn't do much to extend her lifespan. After all, at her peak, it's estimated that Elizabeth killed as many as 650 people, though the true number may never be known if it even happened at all. See, many of the stories surrounding Elizabeth Bathory and her cruelties aren't backed by evidence. You may have noticed that the best testimony we have for her murders comes from the four servants who were tortured into admitting that they helped her kill her people. It's possible that Elizabeth was the target of a politically motivated smear campaign. As a widow from a powerful family, she had incredible amounts of power. Even the King was in debt to her, so he may have used a good old witch hunt to get rid of her. All that said, nobles from the time weren't known to be the nicest people around. It's not impossible that Elizabeth was a cruel and inhuman mistress to work work for, even if her vampire behavior was largely exaggerated. After all, it's easy to imagine a noblewoman so obsessed with beauty that she turned her servants into a source of cheap skincare. There's nothing wrong with wanting to look amazing. Self improvement is a good thing, whatever that means for you. But as we see in the substance and the stories from today, when that passion turns into obsession, things can get dangerous. And instead of turning into your best self, you become a monster. Thanks so much for joining me on this episode of Twisted, a Crime House original. I'd love to hear from you. What did you think about today's stories? Anything you're dying for me to COVID Leave a comment or review wherever you're tuning in. And be sure to follow Twisted Tales so we can keep building this community together. I'll be back next week with another unbelievable true story. Until then, stay curious and remember, there's no reason to fear the dark unless you try to hide from it.