research based

The final image of 24-year-old Sydney Loofe, taken and sent on November 15th, 2017.

On the day this Snapchat was taken, Sydney planned to go on a second date with 23-year-old Bailey Boswell, a woman she had met on Tinder. Sydney never returned to her Lincoln, Nebraska home after meeting with Boswell. She was reported missing after she failed to show up to work on November 16th. Around two weeks later, on November 28th, Lincoln Police announced that they wanted to question two persons of interest in Sydney’s case. One of those persons of interest was Bailey Boswell. The other was Boswell’s boyfriend, a 51-year-old man named Aubrey Trail. Between November 29th and 30th, Boswell and Trail posted two videos to the Find Sydney Loofe Facebook page, declaring their innocence in the case. In the first video, Boswell says that when she went to drive Sydney home after their date, Sydney requested to be dropped off at a friend’s house instead. After allegedly dropping her off at the home of this unidentified friend, Boswell claims she has not seen or heard from Sydney again. That first video was deleted a few hours later and the joint Facebook account that Boswell and Trail had been using was deactivated. Trail posted the second video on the following day. He once again declared their innocence in Sydney’s case and angrily called out people who accused them of wrongdoing. At the end of the video, Trail explains that, despite having warrants for other unrelated charges, he and Boswell were going to turn themselves in because it was the “only viable option” in order to clear their names in Sydney’s case. The two were taken into custody in Taney County, Missouri and were taken back to Nebraska on December 1st. After the Lincoln Police were able to speak with Trail and Boswell, they announced on December 2nd, 2017, that the two remained persons on interest in the case, but they had still had not been charged with anything related to Sydney’s disappearance. The two remained behind bars on the aforementioned unrelated charges. On December 4th, 2017, Sydney’s body was found in a rural area of Clay County, Nebraska. In a press conference held the following day, authorities said that they had been following a “digital footprint” that prompted a search of that area and subsequently lead to the discovery of Sydney’s body.  Sydney had been strangled to death and dismembered. Bailey Boswell and Aubrey Trail remained the only suspects in Sydney’s murder, however they were not immediately charged with anything related to her case. Then, in February 2018, Trail reportedly admitted to killing Sydney. In a phone interview with a local news station, Trail said that Bailey Boswell was not in the room when Sydney was killed. “When she was told what happened, she freaked out so badly she had to be sent out with a bag of weed to try and calm down,” he told reporters. Finally, on June 11th, 2018, Boswell and Trail were finally charged with first-degree murder and improper disposal of human skeletal remains in the killing of Sydney Loofe. As the case progressed, the truth about what truly happened to Sydney was finally revealed.

Danielle Moss vanished in Washington, DC on April 9th, 2023. The 32-year-old woman was last seen between 11:00 AM and 12:00 PM that day, reportedly at a liquor store near her residence on Q Street. Danielle was supposed to go to her parents’ residence that afternoon to celebrate Easter with her family members. She never showed up, and her loved ones never saw or heard from her again.

Danielle was reported missing on April 11th, 2023, after her family learned that she had not been answering phone calls from Andre Hudson, the father of her son. Danielle’s son was only 3 years old at the time, and he had been with his father on the weekend of Danielle’s disappearance. Family members say that Danielle would never ignore calls regarding her son, nor would she ever voluntarily leave him behind. 

Two months passed without any sign of Danielle. Then, on June 10th, 2023, police in Waldorf, Maryland received a call about a partially covered body that had been spotted in a wooded area near Holly Springs Drive. Days later, authorities announced that the body was that of Danielle Moss. Her death was ruled a homicide, though her exact cause of death has not been disclosed.

Shortly after Danielle’s body was found, police stated that they were speaking to a person of interest. However, years have passed, and no persons of interest or suspects have ever been publicly identified. Reports indicate that Danielle’s family believed she was “involved with some people who didn’t have her best interests in mind”, but they still do not know who would have wanted her dead. Danielle has been described as a dedicated mother who had a good co-parenting relationship with her son’s father. She did not have any known enemies.

Nicole Ganguzza had many things to look forward to during June 2008. The 26-year-old woman was a graduate student at University of Central Florida and was close to finishing her master's degree in marriage and family therapy. Additionally, Nicole had recently gotten married and was looking forward to starting a family with her new husband. Unfortunately, none of those exciting things ever got to happen, as Nicole's life was tragically taken on June 10th, 2008. 

The day of Nicole's murder began as a typical one. Nicole attended class at the Orlando university, finishing around 5:30 PM. Shortly thereafter, she called her new husband, Brendan Ganguzza, to tell him that she was going jogging at the nearby Jay Blanchard Park. 

Brendan began to worry around 7:00 PM, after he could no longer reach Nicole via phone. He then went to the park himself to search for his wife. Brendan searched unsuccessfully for about 2 hours before calling the police to report Nicole's disappearance.

Authorities searched for Nicole until 1:00 AM without any success. Around 60 people returned the following day to continue the search, during which Nicole's body was discovered around 5:15 PM. It was clear that she had been attacked and dragged off the trail by her assailant. Authorities later confirmed that Nicole died by strangulation. 

Reports note that Blanchard Park was not Nicole's usual jogging spot. However, it is a popular jogging spot amongst Orlando locals. A 2008 report on Nicole's murder states that authorities believe Nicole's killer was a "stranger who had lain in wait on the jogging trail for the appropriate situation to occur." It was noted that two other women had been attacked on the same trail in 2006 and 2007 respectively. Both women escaped their attacker.

Shortly after Nicole's murder, a man named Clemente F. Garcia was arrested in connection to the 2007 attack. The arrest came after the then-20-year-old Garcia's DNA matched DNA found on the victim from 2007. At the time of Garcia's arrest, authorities stated that they hoped to question him in Nicole's case.

In March 2009, it was reported that police executed a search warrant "on the mobile home of a man who is considered a person of interest in the case." However, over 15 years have passed since that reporting, and no arrests have ever been made in Nicole's case. No suspects have ever been publicly identified. 

Maria Nina Miller has been missing since February 4th, 2011.

The last known sighting of the then-34-year-old woman occurred at her workplace, Dandy Mini Mart, in Towanda, Pennsylvania. Maria told coworkers that she was going to take the next few days off so she could go with her husband to visit his sick mother in Charleston, West Virginia. She planned to be back in Towanda by February 7th to work an overnight shift, but she never showed up. Maria has never been seen or heard from again.

Maria is originally from the Philippines. She met her husband, Kenneth Miller, while he was deployed in Philippines by the U.S. Army. The couple moved to the United States in 2005. They lived in Norfolk, Virginia for approximately five years before moving to Towanda, Pennsylvania in 2010. There, Kenneth worked as a recruiter while Maria worked at the Dandy Mini Mart.

Police were not notified about Maria's disappearance until June 10th, 2011 - over four months after she was last seen. The U.S. Army filed the report after it became known that nobody had seen or been able to get in contact with Maria for a long period of time. Throughout the investigation, it was established that the last confirmed sighting of Maria occurred at the Dandy Mini Mart on February 4th. 

When Kenneth was questioned, he said that he and Maria traveled to Charleston after her February 4th shift. He claimed that the two of them got into an argument in the parking lot of Charleston Area Medical Center, and that Maria demanded to be taken to Virginia Beach. Kenneth said that he complied with her request and ended up dropping her off at an apartment complex in the Virginia Beach area. He told police that, after that, he never saw or heard from his wife again.

There has been inevitable suspicion about Kenneth since the onset of the investigation. Not only did he not report Maria missing, but he also claimed that he drove Maria all the way from Charleston to Virginia Beach - over 400 miles away and an approximate 6-to-7-hour drive - to drop her off. This would mean that the couple had already traveled an approximate 6-to-7 hours from Towanda to Charleston, and then another 6-to-7 hours from Charleston to Virginia Beach. 

It's worth noting that investigators have not been able to confirm Kenneth's version of events. All online reports about Maria's disappearance state that she was last seen at her workplace in Towanda. As noted above, this appears to be the last sighting of her that police have been able to verify. However, Kenneth has continuously denied involvement in Maria's disappearance. Police have declined to answer whether or not they consider Kenneth a suspect.

Janell Balogun was only 33 years-old when she was found murdered on June 10th, 2012. It was shortly before 10:30 AM when a bicyclist spotted a woman lying in a wooded area of the Oella neighborhood in Catonsville, Maryland. Police were called to the scene, and it was quickly determined that the woman was deceased.

The deceased woman did not have any identification on her when her body was found. As such, fingerprints were used to determine that the woman was Janell Erlita Balogun - a mother of 3 from Baltimore County. Investigators also noted that Janell's body did not have any immediately obvious signs of trauma. However, an autopsy later determined that Janell's death was caused by trauma to the upper body. The case was labeled a homicide.

Janell's death has been inevitably devastating and baffling to her loved ones. Shortly after the news broke, Janell's sister told reporters that the area in which her body was found was "not an area that she would be in." It seems as if Janell's body was placed there in an attempt to conceal her death, as she was found lying behind a short wall adjacent to the road. 

In that same report, a public appeal was made for anyone with information to come forward. A detective from the Baltimore County police stated, "we are reaching out to anyone in the Oella community who may have seen or heard anything unusual, and also anyone who has had contact with this victim who may be able to provide some insight into why she was killed."

Jeremy Jackson was only 30 years-old when he was found brutally murdered on June 10th, 2017. The young man lived in Jackson, Mississippi - as did many of his family members. On the day Jeremy was found, his older brother received a text message containing a picture of a severed head placed upon front porch steps of a local home. It was immediately clear that the severed head belonged to Jeremy.

A few hours later, the rest of Jeremy’s body was found less than a mile away. His body had experienced trauma, including severe burns and a gunshot wound to the leg. However, an autopsy later confirmed that Jeremy died by decapitation - meaning he was still alive up until the moment his head was decapitated. His head was then placed on porch steps where it could be seen by passersby.

Jeremy’s family members are baffled by his murder. He was raising three children and working towards his master’s degree at the time of his death. His older brother Corey reported that he last saw Jeremy alive a day earlier, and nothing seemed unusual. He had driven him to a job interview that day, and he was offered the position. Corey explained that Jeremy “didn’t seem worried or scared like something was going to happen to him or someone was looking for him.”

By all accounts, it appeared that Jeremy was doing well before his death. So, what led to him being murdered in such a brutal way? Unfortunately, Jeremy’s murder remains unsolved - but there are a few theories about the killer(s).

The morning of June 9th, 2004 began as a regular day for Yvonne Torch. The 31-year-old woman went to work that day at her business called “His and Hers Hair Salon” in Newburgh, New York. Around 10:00 AM, Yvonne saw a familiar client: her husband’s grandmother. That appointment lasted approximately 30 minutes, and the grandmother left the salon before 10:40 AM. The next customer, who arrived around 10:55 AM, stumbled upon a horrific scene: Yvonne was on the floor, laying in a pool of her own blood. It was later determined she had died from blunt force trauma to the head. Investigators were quickly able to conclude that Yvonne was killed within a small timeframe between salon clients. Still - many other questions remained; namely - who killed her? And why? A motive to kill Yvonne still remains unclear to this day. Yvonne and her husband, Pierre Torch, had lived in the Newburgh area for several years. The two raised Yvonne’s daughter from a previous relationship and also had a child of their own. Yvonne opened her salon in 1994 and ran a successful business. By all accounts, she was a beloved member of the community.

Chenell ‘Renee’ Gilbert has been missing since June 9th, 2020. The then-42-year-old was last seen around 6:15 AM on Mars Drive in Indianapolis, Indiana. Renee was supposed to return to her daughter’s house that afternoon, but she never arrived as planned. She has never been seen or heard from again.

Renee’s 19-year-old daughter later used a location app to track Renee’s phone. The last place where Renee’s phone pinged was at the home of her ex-boyfriend. The phone was shut off shortly thereafter. Renee’s daughter went to Renee’s ex-boyfriend’s house to see if she was there, and the ex-boyfriend claimed that Renee had been outside of the house that morning but had never come inside. The ex refused to let Renee’s daughter inside the house, and he also later refused to let the police inside.

Renee’s ex-boyfriend has not been publicly named by news sources, but a Change.org petition calling for his arrest has identified him as a man named Bryan Lyons. Renee’s family members stated that Lyons was abusive towards Renee throughout their relationship. Due to this, and due to his suspicious behavior when Renee was discovered to be missing, it’s fairly easy to suspect that Lyons had something to do with Renee’s disappearance. An article from April 2021 states that police did obtain a warrant to search Lyons’ residence, but it is unclear what was found during the search. In October 2021, police reclassified Renee’s case as a homicide investigation. Still, no arrests have been made.

According to Renee’s write-up on The Charley Project, the police no longer consider Lyons a person of interest in the case. Other than that, it appears that very little other information about the investigation is available.

13 year-old Jamie Hernandez-Zubia ran away from her foster home in Wathena, Kansas on June 9th, 2012. Prior to her disappearance, Jamie had recently been prosecuted in a juvenile court for drug possession. She was due in court for her sentencing shortly after her disappearance; she never showed up and has not been seen by her foster family since then. There was unfortunately very little media coverage on Jamie’s disappearance, likely due to her runaway status.

Three years later, during the early morning hours May 30th, 2015, a Kansas City resident called the police to report a shootout on the 2500 block of Ridge Avenue. According to the witness, two vehicles fired shots at each other, and a female passenger in one of the vehicles was killed as a result. The female passenger’s body was dumped on the side of the road and the vehicles drove off before the police arrived. Two days later, on June 1st, 2015, authorities announced that the slain female was identified as Jamie.

Cortney Lake (24) has been missing since June 7th, 2017. The young woman was last seen getting into a truck in front of her Mount Pearl home–which is near St. John’s in Newfoundland. Cortney was getting into the truck of her ex-boyfriend, Philip Smith (25). Just hours before that, Philip pleaded guilty to assaulting Cortney and to distributing intimate pictures of her. He was released from jail under the condition that he would stay away from Cortney, but obviously that did not happen. When Cortney never returned home, her family members reported her missing.

Authorities questioned Philip on numerous occasions and he reportedly denied being involved in Cortney’s disappearance. However, it was confirmed in August 2017 that Philip admitted to being the person who picked Cortney up on the evening she vanished. Months later, in November 2017, Philip was found dead near a family cabin in the woods. He had taken his own life.

10 year-old Kiaya Campbell was brutally murdered by 15 year-old Aidan Zellmer on June 7th, 2017. The two lived in Thornton, Colorado, and they became acquainted after Kiaya’s father began a relationship with Aidan’s mother. On the evening of the murder, Kiaya and Aidan left Kiaya’s father’s home together to walk to the store. Aidan returned alone a few hours later. He told his mother and Kiaya’s father that he ran and became separated from Kiaya during a rainstorm. Shortly before midnight, Kiaya’s father called the police to report his daughter missing.

Throughout the night, police conducted a wide search that included nearby bodies of water. By 1:30pm that afternoon, an AMBER Alert was issued. However, it was cancelled by 5:30pm, after a resident of the neighborhood found a body in a nearby drainage ditch. The following day, the coroner confirmed the body was that of Kiaya Campbell. The coroner also announced that her death was “other than accidental.” Later that evening, authorities officially announced that Kiaya’s death was a homicide. She had been brutally beaten to death.

The following evening, Aidan was taken into custody. The police announced to the public that they had a minor in custody for Kiaya’s murder. Aidan’s name was not initially released to the public, however many people were already aware of his identity. By June 14th, Aidan was charged with first-degree murder charges in juvenile court. The same day, the prosecution announced that they were going to aim to have the charges moved to adult status. Seven months later, on January 23rd, 2018, Aidan’s was officially charged as an adult. Up until this point, Aidan had only been charged with Kiaya’s murder, but now he was being charged with sexually assaulting her as well. Specifically, Aidan was indicted on charges of first-degree murder after deliberation, first-degree murder by a person in a position of trust, two counts of felony murder, one count of sexual assault on a child and two counts of felony sexual assault.

Over a year later, on February 1st, 2019, Aidan accepted a plea deal. He ultimately pleaded guilty to the first-degree murder of Kiaya. In exchange for the guilty plea, the other murder charges and the sexual assault charges were dropped. 

On March 11th, 2019, Aidan Zellmer was sentenced to life in prison for the murder of Kiaya Campbell. At the sentencing, it was revealed that on the night of the murder, Aidan hit Kiaya in the head with a metal pipe five times before dragging her into a ditch and leaving her there to die. Her body was found naked from the waist down in a drainage ditch the next day. An autopsy confirmed that Kiaya died from blunt-force trauma.

Joshua Hilberling (pictured left) was only 23 years old when his life was tragically taken on June 7th, 2011. Joshua had been married to his wife Amber Hilberling (pictured right) for about a year at the time. Though they had only had been married for a short amount of time, their relationship had turned quite volatile. On the day of his death, Joshua and Amber got into an altercation that resulted in Joshua being pushed out the window of their Tulsa, Oklahoma apartment, which was located on the 25th floor of their building, and falling to his death. Amber, who was 19 years old and 7 months pregnant at the time, was arrested and charged with second degree murder.

According to Joshua’s parents, he had been abused by Amber throughout their relationship. In fact, a month before his death, he had visited Domestic Violence Intervention services to get help. Joshua filed a protective order against Amber as well, alleging that she had hit him over the head with a lamp, causing him to need 21 stitches. However, Joshua ultimately decided to stay with Amber because she was pregnant with his child. The protective order was never finalized after the couple failed to show up in court.

Amber’s lawyers acknowledge that Amber and Joshua were in an abusive relationship, however they listed Joshua as the abuser, not Amber. Her defense claimed that, during the June 7th altercation, Amber pushed Joshua away from her because she was trying to protect her unborn child, and that she did not intend to push him out the window. The prosecutor agreed that Amber likely did not intend to kill Joshua that day, but that her actions did ultimately cause his death. As a result, they offered Amber an alternative charge: first-degree manslaughter involving an allegation that the death occurred while she was committing a misdemeanor domestic assault and battery. If Amber accepted this plea deal, she would only have had to serve five years in prison plus 15 years of probation.

Still, Amber refused to accept the plea deal. She claimed that she acted only out of self-defense, and that Joshua was killed while she was trying to defend herself, rather than him being killed as a result of her abuse. Due to her refusal to accept the plea deal, Amber was ultimately put on trial for second degree murder. A jury ruled in favor of the prosecution and found her guilty as charged. She was sentenced to 25 years in prison.

Tianna Phillips has been missing since June 13th, 2018. The 25 year-old woman was last seen in Berwick, Ohio. Tianna reportedly left her ex-boyfriend’s residence in Berwick at some point between 11:00 PM and 12:30 AM and never returned home. She has never been seen or heard from again.

Tianna left behind two young sons who are now in the care of a relative. It was quite uncharacteristic for her to be out-of-touch with her loved ones, despite some rumors that she left on her own accord. Tianna’s social media presence completely stopped after her disappearance, but she was previously quite active on Facebook. In fact, just hours before she vanished, Tianna posted the following on her Facebook page: “FOR EVERYONE TO KNOW… ME AND SCOTT ARE NOT TOGETHER HE THREW ME OUT… WE ARE BROKE UP AND THATS HOW ITS GOING TO STAY….”

After Tianna was reported missing, people began commenting on that final Facebook post. Several commenters asked if her ex-boyfriend Scott had been investigated. Some replied stating that Scott was cooperating with the investigation, but there were still some commenters who have questioned whether or not that was true. Other commenters on the post indicated that Tianna might have been avoiding her family. Her family denied this and believed she was harmed. Nearly three years later, an arrest would be made that would disprove not only the rumor that Tianna’s ex was involved, but also the rumor that she was hiding from her family.