Global True Crime

In 1984, Baton Rouge in Louisiana was shaken by a kidnapping that quickly gained national attention across the United States. An eleven-year-old boy was taken by someone the family believed they could trust. When he was eventually found, the case took an unexpected turn. What followed was a widely discussed act of revenge, one that was captured on camera as it happened.

It was the night between December 7th and 8th, 2000.Twenty-two-year-old Trevor Deely stepped out into the rain after attending a Christmas dinner and after-party with colleagues in Dublin, Ireland. On his way home, he stopped by the bank where he worked to pick up an umbrella, and then continued walking toward his apartment. At 4:14 a.m., a security camera captured Trevor walking down the street, heading home with the umbrella in his hand. It would be the last confirmed sighting of him. After that moment, Trevor Deely disappeared without a trace. And among the many questions that remain from that night, one stands out: Who was the man dressed in black who was also captured on camera and was he waiting for Trevor in the dark, rain-soaked street?

In the early hours of 25 March 1990, a party was in full swing at the Happy Land Social Club, an unlicensed nightclub located in the Bronx in New York City. The atmosphere was lively and music poured from the speakers. But before long, Happy Land would be transformed into a burning inferno, and only a handful of people would manage to escape in time. All of this because of an impulsive act of revenge carried out by a single man. A decision that would lead to the deadliest fire in New York City since 1911, a tragedy that ultimately claimed the lives of 87 young people. This is the story of the deadly fire at the Happy Land Social Club.

It was June 2006. Germany seemed to stand still during the World Cup. Streets filled with flags, cheering crowds, and a sense of collective celebration. In Paderborn, a small university town caught up in the festivities, 21-year-old Frauke Liebs left a pub on a warm summer evening and began walking home. She was seen leaving just after 11 p.m. A few hours later, a text message was sent from her phone. She wrote that she would be home a little later. Then, silence. A few days later, the phone rang.

Violence against young women is, tragically, not uncommon. Crimes like these have taken place throughout history. But the murders of Mary Ashford and Barbara Forrest have drawn particular attention because the circumstances surrounding their deaths were eerily similar, even though the second murder occurred 157 years later. Both Mary and Barbara were 20 years old. Both were found dead in the same area of Erdington, just outside Birmingham, after having gone out dancing the night before. And the similarities do not end there, which has led many to question whether this was simply a strange coincidence or something far more unsettling.

In May 1968, the body of a young woman was discovered in a ditch outside Georgetown, Kentucky. She was naked and wrapped in a green canvas tent bag. No one knew who she was. Despite extensive police efforts, the years passed without answers. The woman became known only as “Tent Girl”, and her identity remained a mystery for three decades. Then a teenager named Todd Matthews began digging into the case. His persistent search, which would last more than ten years, did not only lead to her identification. It also became the beginning of something larger, a movement to restore names to the dead and answers to the living. This is the story of “Tent Girl”, and of the person who refused to let her remain unknown.