Latest Stories

Most recently published stories in Criminal.

The Forest That Eats People: Inside the Bennington Triangle’s Strange Vanishings
There are forests that feel old, forests that feel quiet, and then there are forests like the Bennington Triangle—places where the silence itself feels aware of you. Tucked into the Green Mountains of Vermont, this region looks harmless at first glance: rolling hills, soft trails, tall pines. Families hike here. Tourists camp here. Sunlight slips between branches like it has for thousands of years.
By Amanullahabout a month ago in Criminal
The Man Who Locked Himself In: The Impossible Murder of Room 1046
There are murders that frighten you because they are violent. And then there are murders that frighten you because they make no sense at all. The case of Room 1046 sits firmly in the second category — a story built of contradictions, shadows, unanswered questions, and a victim whose own identity was a mystery.
By The Insight Ledger about a month ago in Criminal
The Silent Twins: A Bond So Deep It Terrified Everyone Who Tried to Break It
There are mysteries made of missing people, strange footprints, or odd camera footage. Then there are mysteries like that of June and Jennifer Gibbons — two girls who never disappeared, never hid, never ran… yet remained unreadable, unreachable, and ultimately unexplainable. Their story feels less like true crime and more like a psychological ghost story written in real time.
By The Insight Ledger about a month ago in Criminal
Shootouts, Sex & Scandals: Crimes That Forever Haunted Small Towns
Most small towns are known for their peace, routine, and tranquil predictability. But a few become known for something else entirely: dark crimes that unfold behind closed doors and echo for decades. From sexual undergrounds to vigilante justice and catastrophic cult collapses, these are the stories that turned quiet towns into global sensations.
By Chelsea Roseabout a month ago in Criminal
The Teen Killers Who Shocked the World
They were not hardened criminals, with no long-standing criminal history. They were just teenagers-kids who should have been thinking about school, friendships, and the future. Yet, behind innocent faces, they carried secrets so dark that the world still struggles to understand them.
By iftikhar Ahmadabout a month ago in Criminal
The Cobalt Lingua
Elias lived in the quiet hum of his own peculiar symphony. The world, for him, wasn't just seen and heard; it was tasted, felt, smelled, a kaleidoscope of cross-wired senses that made simple existence a constant, overwhelming performance. The color blue, his most constant companion, had always tasted of metal. Not the rough, oxidized iron of a forgotten nail, but the clean, almost electric tang of surgical steel, cold ozone, and the distant, echoing clang of a bell. It was the taste of precision, of sterile brilliance, a flavor he’d once embraced in the hushed, gleaming labs of forensic chemistry. He’d left that life behind, the constant, gruesome confluence of taste and sight, the visceral echo of death that clung to every evidence bag, becoming too much to bear. Now, he meticulously curated his world, silencing the cacophony as best he could in the quiet solitude of his apartment, surrounded by the muted, earthy tones of old books and brewing tea. But the city, always a relentless conductor, had begun to play a new, insidious tune, a growing dissonance of blue.
By HAADIabout a month ago in Criminal
The Shard Heist
Kael hated the deep. Not the kind of surface-dweller’s aversion to dark water, but a primal, bone-deep dread born of too many years wrestling with indifferent currents and crushing pressures. He was a salvage diver, or rather, had been. Now, he mostly nursed a dying sister and paid off debts that piled higher than the wreckages he once plundered. That’s how Silas Thorne found him, a shark circling a wounded fish. Thorne, with his silk suits and eyes like chips of obsidian, offered Kael a job that was less salvage and more sacrilege: retrieve something from Veridia, the Glass City.
By The 9x Fawdiabout a month ago in Criminal
Reason First: San Diego May Pay $30M to Family of Black Teen Fatally Shot by Police
When a teen is shot in the back by police, dollar figures tend to tick upward almost always. San Diego is set to pay out $30 million to the family of 16-year-old Konoa Wilson who received a cop’s lethal round in January.
By Skyler Saundersabout a month ago in Criminal
The Black Dahlia: The Unsolved Murder That Shocked Hollywood
Los Angeles, 1947: A young woman full of dreams and hope for a Hollywood career was found dead under horrifying circumstances. Elizabeth Short, later nicknamed the "Black Dahlia," had her body brutally mutilated and was left in a vacant lot. The city was shocked, the press went into a frenzy, and the case quickly became one of the most infamous unsolved murders in American history. Even more than seventy years later, the story of the Black Dahlia continues to fascinate people all over the world.
By iftikhar Ahmadabout a month ago in Criminal
The Empire of Shadows: A History of Organized Crime in New York State. Content Warning. AI-Generated.
Beyond the Five Boroughs: Beyond the celebrated skyline of New York City lies a huge state with a criminal empire that has moved and shaped itself. A criminal empire is one that operates within the wings of other operations and is normally well-organized and is run by professionals. The history of organized criminal activities within New York State is more than just a story involving gangsters lurking within the corners of New York City. It is a carefully hidden string within the fabric of the state. Crime within New York State was widespread and included various sectors such as the garment industry and construction on Long Island.
By xJRLNxabout a month ago in Criminal
EPPD Officer Castro: Cosplaying as a Sergeant While Serving as Officer in Charge
A correction is in order. In a previous article, I mistakenly referred to El Paso Police Department Officer Castro (badge #3308) as a sergeant. Multiple officers quickly set the record straight.
By Steven Zimmermanabout a month ago in Criminal
How Respect Is Earned, and Why Forcing It Puts Everyone in Danger
I never planned to write about what goes on inside the El Paso Police Department. Yesterday, while deleting old emails, I found one I had missed. After rereading it and speaking with multiple officers who still carry the weight of what it describes, I realized the story is too important, and too dangerous, to stay quiet.
By Steven Zimmerman2 months ago in Criminal