The crazy tale behind Silk Road’s missing bitcoin
News today is reporting that bitcoin worth just shy of $1 billion, believed belonging to Silk Road and dormant since Ross Ulbricht’s arrest in 2013, has just moved address. (As an aside, the transaction cost $12 in fees) Several years ago, while researching The Darkest Web, I had reason to visit Roger Thomas Clark, aka […]
The victim in “3 Guys, 1 Hammer”
Most of you would have heard of the Dnepropetrovsk Maniacs, two Ukrainian teenagers when went on a two-week killing spree in 2007. By the time they were captured, the boys had killed at least 21 people and seriously injured many more. Their weapon of choice was a yellow-handled hammer. Their crimes were heinous enough, but […]
Psycho.com: serial killers on the internet
My new book is finally available for purchase. It’s a foray into the world of serial killers who use the internet in some way to commit or promote their crimes. A pair of teens go on a murderous rampage and their exploits are immortalized in the most shocking video ever to circulate the internet, […]
Behind the Casefiles: “Mark and John”
Note: although it is a simple matter to discover the true identity of “John”, the internet being what it is, I’m not going to blatantly do so here, as there is an indefinite court order prohibiting naming either of the boys. This is another entry into my series of a behind-the-scenes look at the episodes […]
The recently arrested “redandwhite”: one of Silk Road’s greatest nemeses
I was blown away today to read the news that one of the Silk Road arrests, James Ellingson, aka “MarijuanaIsMyMuse” is apparently also the Silk Road user known as “redandwhite”. If my theory is right, redandwhite is one of the greatest scammers Silk Road ever encountered. MarijuanaIsMyMuse tickled my fancy back in the SR days […]
Behind the Casefiles – Stephen Hilder
Blue Skies, Black Death This is another entry into my series of a behind-the-scenes look at the episodes I write for the podcast Casefile. These posts will explain how and why I choose each case and the research that goes into writing the stories. This post is about Episode 88 – Stephen Hilder. Best to listen […]
Behind the Casefiles – Dnepropetrovsk Maniacs
The 8-minute video “3 Guys, 1 Hammer” is infamous. I wanted to discover the story behind it. This is another entry into my series of a behind-the-scenes look at the episodes I write for the podcast Casefile. These posts will explain how and why I choose each case and the research that goes into writing the stories. […]
Behind the scenes of a CBS 48 Hours story on dark web hitmen
How I became a dark web consultant to a TV show, and my somewhat complicated relationship with the owner of the most profitable online murder-for-hire service in history I recently worked as a consultant to CBS for their season premiere of 48 Hours: “Click for a Killer” after I met a CBS producer at the trial […]
Behind the Casefiles – Ella Tundra
This is another entry into my series of a behind-the-scenes look at the episodes I write for the podcast Casefile. These posts will explain how and why I choose each case and the research that goes into writing the stories. This post is about Episode 89 – Ella Tundra. Best to listen to it […]
Behind the Casefiles: Amy Allwine
I have been writing episodes of the excellent true-crime podcast Casefile and as I’ve been rather slack in updating this blog lately, I thought I would write up a little about each case I contribute to the show. These posts will explain how and why I choose each case and the research that goes into […]