Some believe that love is the result of divine intervention, fate, or cosmic design.  Others feel it has more to do with luck or sexy hormones.  But the couple featured in this completely stomach-turning case feel that love has everything to do with sharing the same DNA.  Yup.  The romantic relationship that existed between 43 year old Steven (dad) and 20 year old Katie (daughter) is just one of the many, many shocking elements of this highly disturbing and incredibly tragic true crime case.  Because first came love, then came marriage, then came triple-homicide, then came suicide.   Instagram: @psychopediapod @tank.sinatra @investigatorslater Email: [email protected] Website: www.psychopediapodcast.com

DISCLAIMER: You will be changed after hearing this absolutely horrific case. There aren't enough words in the dictionary to adequately describe the horror that 17 year old Junko Furuta endured over the course of 44 days at the ruthless hands of her four captors (as well as 100 other people). In addition to enduring heinous forms of torture and humiliation, this poor young girl suffered through some of the most brutal forms of physical abuse and sexual violence we have ever come across. Our hearts break for Junko as the world remains enraged over the absolutely mindblowing legal outcome of this tragic case. We advise that you listen to this one with caution; but do not miss it. Junko Furuta's story deserves to be heard as we remember and honor her final, and outrageously brutal, days on earth. Instagram: @psychopediapod @tank.sinatra @investigatorslater   Website: www.psychopediapodcast.com   Email: [email protected]  

Parenthood is tricky.  Do too much for your child, and you’re a helicopter parent; do too little, and your kid lacks sufficient support.  Finding the right balance is an art…or in this case, witchcraft.  Leonarda Cianciulli was a serial killer and black magic practitioner from Italy who devoted her entire life to protecting her son from a damning curse she truly believed would kill him.  Can we really fault a mother for doing whatever she thinks it will take to save her child from evil?  Yes, yes we can, because Leonarda’s depraved, immoral, and unlawful acts were (mis)guided by her belief in the “law of equivalent exchange;” that is, to save her son’s life, she'd have to take another life.  Leonarda’s maternal drive led her directly towards a very sharp ax, ritualistic human sacrifice, and cannibalism.      Instagram: @psychopediapod @tank.sinatra @investigatorslater   TikTok: @psychopediapod   Website: www.psychopediapodcast.com

On May 31, 2014 in the backwoods of Waukesha, Wisconsin, two 12-year-old girls violently plunged a kitchen knife into their best friend nineteen times before leaving her alone to bleed out and die.   The young assailants claimed that they were forced to murder "someone they loved" in order to prevent Slenderman - an evil, mythical, online urban legend - from harming their families. In an outrageous and heartbreaking act of premeditated brutality, three young lives were forever changed, causing a seismic shockwave to tear through the nation as people were forced to confront the dangers of the Internet and the frightening capabilities of two children unable to determine fact from fiction. Instagram: @psychopediapod @tank.sinatra @investigatorslater TikTok: @psychopediapod Website: www.psychopediapodcast.com

The perfect true crime case highlighting the complex and dark nature of the human psyche doesn’t exi—  Yes, yes it does exist, and you’ve just landed on it. This fascinating case centers around an individual who meticulously choreographed her own murder for the ultimate (and final) sexual experience.  Sharon Lopatka was both perpetrator and victim, predator and prey.  She was one of the first people to capitalize on a new information system known as the World Wide Web, and mastered how to use it for both monetary and personal gain. Sharon created multiple aliases and joined various online fetish forums to satisfy all of her incredibly unique, and dangerous, sexual needs.  From her desire of being force fed and cannibalized to posing as a 300 pound disciplinarian dominatrix offering to crush men like bugs, this case is as disturbing as it is tragic. Instagram: @psychopediapod @tank.sinatra @investigatorslater TikTok: @psychopediapod Website: www.psychopediapodcast.com