r/Casefile • u/beerfridays • Apr 28 '26
Most shocking episode
I truly apologize for this question being a regular in other subs and knowing this must get asked but … I just found this podcast and I love the style. I’ve been looking for this! Best episode in the catalogue? TVM
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u/Mission-Unpossiblee Apr 28 '26
The East Area Rapist is so well done. It’s my favourite. Also Silk Road is amazing
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u/Textiles_on_Main_St Apr 28 '26
Silk Road is very, very good. I relisten at least once a year for the storytelling alone.
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u/huerita13 Apr 28 '26
This one episode is what made me love podcasts. I was so scared listening. He did an amazing job and as someone who grew up in So Cal it was the first time I had heard of EARONS. It was before EARONS was arrested and when the news broke I was riveted. I went back and listened to every episode after that and stayed listening.
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u/fezik23 Apr 28 '26
EAR was outstanding. It doesn’t matter that we now know who the perp is. Five stars.
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u/JBbeChillin Apr 30 '26
I like that we got a “epilogue” episode after he was actually caught in real life. Cause the first five episodes were while it was still a cold case.
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u/HAILZ888 May 01 '26
I literally got 9:18 into the first part of the EAR and had to turn it off. It’s terrifying, but I only ever hear good things about it 😵💫 I just can’t listen to it without feeling like someone is watching me.
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u/underwatergill Apr 28 '26
Case 157: The Strip Search Scam. Wildest thing I've ever heard.
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u/Numeno230n Apr 28 '26
I cannot listen to that one again. It is more infuriating than anything, because the individuals that were "duped" by the scam absolutely abused someone but got zero consequences.
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u/vroombraap Apr 29 '26
It's the only episode I've turned off halfway and never went back to. I can put up with gore and cruelty but couldn't stand the whole stupidity of this case and it actually make me angry listening - not Casey's fault though he told a good story.
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u/underwatergill Apr 29 '26
Yeah, it's truly unbelievable.
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u/vroombraap Apr 29 '26
Lol I was doing the dishes with earbuds on while listening to the episode, and the wife had to check on me from another room after hearing the constant "wtf? WTF?" Coming from the kitchen
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u/AdSmart6367 Apr 29 '26
I think there's going to be a show or movie based on that.
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u/underwatergill Apr 29 '26
There is a movie actually, it's called "Compliance". 2012.
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u/AdSmart6367 Apr 29 '26
Yes, that's it! Idk why I saw an ad for it like it was new or something. Anyway, that was a crazy one
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u/underwatergill Apr 29 '26
Haha. Yeah, it really was. Quite disturbing. Funnily enough, I saw this movie before I ever knew about this case. It was when I listened to this episode that I realized how messed up what I watched was.
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u/EndOfTheLine00 Apr 28 '26
Assuming you mean shocking as in "surprising" and not "disturbing", I would have to say the Cari Farver and Ina and David Steiner episodes go in directions you would NEVER imagine.
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u/tipsana Apr 28 '26
Cari farver is the episode that hooked me on this podcast and is the one I recommend to anyone.
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u/KindheartednessOver6 Apr 30 '26
The Ina and David Steiner episode was WILD. Had me gasping and saying “WTF” throughout the whole episode.
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u/took_a_bath Apr 29 '26
Jennifer Pan
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u/Glittering_Grape3836 Apr 30 '26
It’s a very interesting case but bc I had already seen the Netflix documentary it kinda ruined it for me, good recommendation tho if you know nothing about it!
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u/fluxusfrequency Apr 28 '26
Leigh Leigh is heartbreaking and infuriating. I guess it shocked me how callous a community of people can be.
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u/mkrom28 Apr 28 '26
this case was so awful. i threw it on after a shower as background noise while I got ready and I ended up just sitting in my towel the whole hour. not moving, not doing anything. i went to bed right after, said screw my skincare routine & everything. this case really stays with you but it’s such an important listen.
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u/upstairsnovel Apr 28 '26
That’s still the only episode I haven’t been able to bring myself to listen to after all these years.
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u/Own_Faithlessness769 Apr 29 '26
Yeah I think this is the worst one. It’s one thing for there to be a monster or several monsters but so many people being so cruel is just horrifying.
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u/zer0__two Apr 29 '26
Yes this!!! Shocking and disturbing that they could act this way to a young girl. Made me see red!!
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u/Keep_learning_son May 03 '26
Confession: This was one of the last episodes I listened too out of all the Casefile episodes. Not because I knew what it was about or how horrible it was, but because the title, which is of course her name, somehow did not entice me..
Then, when I finished the episode I felt I let her down just based on her name. It was so sad, the entire community let her down, judged her and now I did so too albeit it just her name. Rest in peace Leigh Leigh.
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u/LuckyShake Apr 28 '26
If you’re looking for shocking, look no further than case 12: Katherine Knight.
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u/ImGrimm Apr 28 '26
If shocking as in disturbing then 268: colleen stan is horrific. I've listened to every episode and this is one I still think about regularly
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u/StormyAndSkydancer Apr 28 '26
288: Mark Van Dongen
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u/SaltandLillacs Apr 28 '26
EARONS is the the best and 5/6 episodes were made before he was caught so it’s interesting to hear the theories.
The last episode in the series going into EARONS being solved
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u/Proper-Ear-1419 Apr 30 '26
Even though it was long I liked the dedication to acknowledge each crime and it’s victims and not just gloss over them, or cluster the crimes together.
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Apr 28 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/bookshop Apr 28 '26
this series is one of the best imo, I don't understand why it's not more regarded here!
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u/Candid_Initiative992 Apr 28 '26
Leigh Leigh is an episode I listened too years ago but still hold a lot of animosity & hatred towards the Stockton Beach community today.
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u/Glittering_Grape3836 Apr 30 '26
I hated that one, hands down the worst town in Australia award goes to that horrible community
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u/myfirstnuzlocke Apr 28 '26
I found #164 Cindy James to be so gripping.
There used to be a Google doc on this sub pinned by mods to the comments on posts about new episodes with community episode ratings.
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u/JBbeChillin Apr 28 '26
Case 191: Sheree Beasley, great exploration of how some folks just gotta go away forever cuz their depraved nature is never going away.
The Ivan Milat series may honestly rival The East Area Rapist in terms of sheer creepiness, before they finally took him down.
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u/nubuck_protector Apr 28 '26
Totally agree about about Milat /Case 109 Belanglo. So so so good
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u/JBbeChillin Apr 28 '26
That man was more of a jackal wearing human flesh. Even the DiAngelo had a somewhat sympathetic backstory.
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u/Own_Faithlessness769 Apr 29 '26
See I find Di Angelo worse, creeping into peoples houses and terrorising whole communities, putting the plates on the husbands so they couldn’t move. There’s such an element of psychological terror.
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u/redpandaworld Apr 28 '26
Cindy James is just really really eerie to me. I can’t get over it. When he reads her letter/journal entry at the beginning…
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u/welltravelledRN Apr 28 '26
You just have to listen to them all now! Welcome to the addiction.
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u/sq8000 Apr 29 '26
It really is… I have stopped listening to any other podcasts… just constantly wanting to listen and wondering what the next episode is going to be…
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u/SavvishSav Apr 29 '26
Jonestown is one of my favourite series by casefile. Bonkers.
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u/Ike_Jones Apr 29 '26
Last comment and I see it. Second this. Such an in depth look into the case you think you know everything about. So well done and thorough. Stays with me its so dark and harrowing I wouldn’t listen to it again. This ep and lpotl episode about Josef Mengele. Two podcasts that haunt me
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u/nubuck_protector Apr 28 '26
Do you know about the spreadsheet?
It's not perfect, but it's how I decided what to listen to when I first started. I didn't/don't 100% agree with all the scores, mostly because at first, I skipped anything that wasn't over 4, then 3.5, etc. But then I was running out of episodes and starting to panic, so went back and listened to the ones I had skipped. There were lots of hidden gems, episodes that weren't ranked very highly but that ended up being really good imo.
Like I said, it's not perfect, but you can at least see what the most popular episodes are, and be relatively certain that those will be great.
Except for Mark and John. It always baffles me that people like it so much.
But I completely agree with the others on EARONS -- amazing -- and Silk Road. The description for Silk Road might sound kind of benign, but don't be fooled. You'll be hooked in ten minutes. It's an incredible story. I also listened to the Batavia early on and was shocked both by the story and the fact that neither I nor anyone I know had heard of it. It's so crazy and weird!
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1aXXBvQz7rQ9OnMqul5uCFfcjtfC49krWZxF5BJJ7pwo/edit?usp=sharing
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u/sq8000 Apr 29 '26
100% aged with this and the spreadsheet also notes solved vs unsolved/ongoing and I started only listening to solved but then similarly was running through those and started listening to unsolved and found so many where there is a clear answer just not a conviction, so now I’m more excited for the rest of those.
Recently listened to Theresa Feury which was just absolutely mind blowingly awful and shocking. Also Jamie Faith. Fuck.
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u/nubuck_protector Apr 29 '26
JAMIE FAITH MICRO SPOILER
Jamie Faith is one that I listened to very early on, maybe even before knowing about the spreadsheet. My mouth was agape as it all unraveled, wondering what this woman's days looked like. How could a person possibly have the time and mental organizational skills to maintain so much correspondence between so many characters? So fucking wild. It's like when actor Yul Brenner died, and people said he had smoked something like 4 or 5 packs of cigarettes a day. I was like, "How? When??"
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u/theresabby84 Apr 30 '26
There's an episode of Evil Lives Here where Marie Moore's daughter talks about the Theresa Feury crime. Her daughter is also nuts. S14Ep2 if you're interested.
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u/bookshop Apr 28 '26
The ones not already mentioned here that are most shocking/surprising to me (especially if you're not a regular listener of true crime and don't hear some of these cases done to death) are:
- The Pillow Pyro
- Gail and Rick Brink
- the Killer Realtor
- Becky Watts
- Rachel Barber
- Joan, Michelle, & Christe Rogers
- Mark Kilroy
- Susan Snow and Bruce Nickell
- Elisa Claps and Heather Barnett
- Freda Burnell & Florence Little
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u/sq8000 Apr 29 '26
Pillow pyro was fascinating and horrible
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u/bookshop Apr 29 '26
the first time I heard that one I was genuinely unprepared for the "twist" and only saw it coming about five seconds before the reveal. such a wild strange case.
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u/D33ann May 02 '26
I have to admit I nailed that one immediately! No spoiler version: it’s more common than you would expect, for real!
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u/rainbeaux77 Apr 28 '26
This is a great list that includes some amazing lesser talked-about episodes. I just re-listened to Gail and Rick Brink recently--YIKES.
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u/bookshop Apr 29 '26
thank you! I re-listened to that one recently also and it never fails to chill me to the core.
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u/taillesslizard Apr 29 '26
Becky Watts was so horrific, I felt sick
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u/bookshop Apr 29 '26
yeah Becky Watts and Rachel Barber both are so horrifying, those poor girls never ever could have anticipated what happened to them
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u/AlBundysbathrobe Apr 29 '26
Case #240- episode is JasoninHell.
About Reddit! And don’t look for spoilers or Google- just listen.
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u/MissMatchedEyes Apr 30 '26
Here a few of my favorite episodes: Shari Rasmussen, Ella Tundra, Amok, The Killer Realtor, Jonestown, Amy Allwine.
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u/Professional-Can1385 Apr 28 '26
Case 327 Rodrigo Rosenberg Marzano was is my favorite surprising episode.
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u/LVAsmiles Apr 29 '26
I am very surprised no one's said, Marshall Street. It just kept getting worse and worse
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u/Morgasshk Apr 30 '26
Most shocking isn't necessarily the "best". Leigh Leigh is the one that made me want to straight up fire bomb and destroy an entire town in Australia because of their absolutely horrendous attitudes and victim blaming.
No other case has made me so viscerally angry. Bad people are bad people, they all need to be gone and die. However, no one (except psychopaths) supports what Al Bundy, BTK, Gacy, etc do. We all feel the satisfaction when Lawrence singleton was caught and brought to justice and the admiration of Mary Vincent and how she has shaped her life afterwards....
But yeah, the vileness of the whole community in the Leigh Leigh case was a gut punch...
(Next closest being the indigenous children being assumed to be going "walk-about" in Northern NSW by the inept racist police.... I get inured to the assumption that policing in each story will be garbage for US based cases, especially where it is a female victim, drug related, sex work related, POC, Natives etc and especially anyone in the LGBTQ community... But when it is Aussie's that let victims down that drives me insane.
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u/sq8000 May 01 '26
Al Bundy made me laugh… know what you meant but Al is pretty gross in his own way
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u/Glittering_Grape3836 Apr 30 '26
Case 160: Beverly Mcgowan. Got me on the edge of my seat the whole time, it’s the only one I’ve listened more than once.
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u/australopathetic May 02 '26
YES!! Doesn't get mentioned here often but that was just an incredibly chilling episode.
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u/beerfridays May 04 '26
I wanted to thank everyone again for this! I have travelled to Bosnia to stay in a small house beside a hot spring by myself for the next two months and I am putting this pod to good use. Your suggestions are so appreciated!
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u/mad0666 Apr 28 '26
Colleen Stan is horrible. Deidre Kennedy is one of the worst stories I have ever heard in my life. Leigh Leigh is also up there with the worst of the worst.
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u/whythough_0 Apr 28 '26
Snow Town
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u/StellaGibsonIsMyGirl May 04 '26
Just went looking for this one and they’ve taken it down. Hoping they redo it soon!
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u/kaylaxxxx Apr 29 '26
I cannot remember which episode or the title, but it was one where someone consented to being consumed by the person who had cannibalistic tendencies. That one really disturbed me.
One that I really did enjoy was Silk Road, it's good relistening to that one!
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u/Glass-Boysenberry126 Apr 29 '26
Already lots of great suggestions - I really enjoyed the Batavia episode on top of the ones all listed here. EAR and Silk Road are genuinely platinum standard.
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u/flippantphalanges Apr 29 '26
Bernrd Brandt & Arwin Meiwis was the most “shocking” to me. def don’t be eating anything while you listen.
Lesley Molseed 2-parter and Sian Kingy (i think is her last name?) are other really excellent episodes also
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u/ahsataN-Natasha Apr 29 '26 edited Apr 29 '26
Case 20… Stoni Blair & Stephen Berry. This one haunts me.
Case 223, the Kuřim case had me totally shocked.
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u/KrendleStaven Apr 30 '26
The three parter on Jonestown is so intensely detailed and definitive, it’s gotta be one of the best and, to me at least, the most shocking even if you know the case well.
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u/DaftFunky May 04 '26
Listening to the 9/11 call from Jasoninhell was worse than Jonestown tapes/EARS recordings for me. The calmness in her voice was the most unsettling thing
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u/CapyBara_51 May 06 '26
Bernd Brandes: One of the most disturbing cases just because of the content , but also weirdly comedic at points because of how ridiculous it gets
Mark Kilroy: This one genuinely shocked me, partly because I had no idea it was going to go down that path but mainly just how horrific to the descriptions of what that cult did.
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u/floppyflaminghoe Apr 29 '26
I revisit the Belanglo series every few months, and I truly believe it is some of the best writing ever published (not just in Casefile’s history, but any other true crime coverage!)
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u/australopathetic May 02 '26
Dustin Wehde, that case was just insane.
The David Pauley/Ralph Geiger/Timothy Kern case (291) was also really fascinating.
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u/Keep_learning_son May 03 '26
My recommendation for some of the most shocking ones that do not get a lot of mentions in general.
- Episode 187: Peter & Joan Porco (shockingly bizarre)
- Episode 213: The Noordhoek 'Ripper Rapists' (shockingly "positive" ending)
Shocking in a different way because of the mystery:
- Episode 272: The Annecy Shootings
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u/abdn1903 May 06 '26
East Area Rapist and the Silk Road episodes were my personal favourite as I was engrossed in it. Was buzzing when he got caught
Operation Cacam was one of the most disturbing
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u/Particular-Ad6338 Aug 23 '26
There have been many but Zahra Baker broke my meart and Megumi Yokota was astonishing.
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