Dark Dialogue Podcast Network

Dark Dialogue - The Murder of Sarah Wisnosky Part 1: Last Seen With Him

Seventeen-year-old Sara Wisnosky had been at Old Dominion University for only a few weeks when her life was violently taken.
In Part One of Last Seen With Him, Dark Dialogue focuses not on speculation or verdicts—but on context. Who Sara was before she became evidence. What her early college life looked like. And how a carefully constructed social persona allowed one man to move undetected through a university community.
This episode traces the days leading up to Sara’s death without jumping ahead to conclusions. We examine the environment of early-1990s campus life, the blurred lines of off-campus fraternity culture, and the subtle power dynamics that shaped Sara’s world as a 17-year-old freshman navigating independence for the first time.
We end this episode just before the forensic investigation begins—at the moment when two realities can no longer coexist.
Part Two will examine what was left behind: the evidence, the interpretations, and how forensic science in the early 1990s became the foundation of a capital murder case that still sparks debate today.
Original music featured in the victim tribute includes “Whispers Of The Night” by The JJ Hawk Band, produced by Hawk Studios, and used with permission.Learn more about The JJ Hawk Band and Hawk Studios here:https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61574578047424
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Explore the Dark Dialogue Network:• Rocky Mountain Reckoning• Dark Dialogue: Distilled• Dark Dialogue: Unraveled Truths• Dark Dialogue: Gallows & Gunfights• Dark Dialogue: Shadow Chat Sessions
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Dark Dialogue Shadow Chat Sessions: Basement Deer, Lemon Juice Robbers, Phantom Apartments & Cold War Cola Navies

What do a deer trapped in a basement, a bank robber who trusted lemon juice science, phantom apartment units that don’t exist, and a soda company that once owned submarines all have in common?
They all belong in Shadow Chat Sessions.
In this episode, John dives headfirst into a perfectly unhinged mix of weird headlines, conspiracy theories, Reddit rabbit holes, dumb criminals, and high-strangeness history—the kind of stories that start funny, get unsettling, and end with you questioning how civilization is still functioning.
In this episode, we cover:
A Wisconsin homeowner returns from vacation to find a full-grown deer squatting in their basement for two days
A scientific theory suggesting a solar flare may have interfered with Titanic navigation and rescue efforts
A Reddit mystery involving maintenance logs for apartment units that officially do not exist
The infamous lemon-juice “invisibility” bank robbery that inspired the Dunning–Kruger effect
A burglar who wore a bag on his head… then removed it to stare into a security camera
Two drunk tourists who stole a penguin from Sea World and tried to care for it in an apartment
Operation Cat Drop, when the British Royal Air Force parachuted cats into the jungle
The Sandown Clown—one of Britain’s strangest humanoid encounters
The Black Hope Curse, where a Texas subdivision was built over an unmarked cemetery
The time Pepsi technically became a naval power during the Cold War
The enduring mystery of the Sodder Children, who vanished in a house fire with no remains
As always, John brings the sarcasm, dark humor, and grounded analysis—treating absurdity with respect, stupidity with honesty, and high strangeness with just enough skepticism to make it unsettling.
If you like your podcasts funny, creepy, smart, and slightly existential, you’re in the right place.
Shadow Chat Sessions is part of the Dark Dialogue Podcast Network.

Dark Dialogue - The Murder of Karen Pannell Part 2: Written in Blood — Trial, Verdict, and Legacy

The word “ROC” written in blood shocked investigators and the public alike. But in Part Two of The Murder of Karen Pannell, the truth emerges not from what was written on the wall — but from what the evidence refused to ignore.
In this episode, Dark Dialogue follows the case into the courtroom, where forensic science, timelines, and witness testimony dismantled the idea of a dying declaration and exposed a carefully staged crime scene. Prosecutors laid out a case built on bloodstain pattern analysis, medical testimony, DNA evidence, cell-tower data, and a collapsing alibi — while the defense fought to inject reasonable doubt through challenges to interpretation, memory, and motive.
We examine the full trial:• The medical examiner’s testimony and why Karen could not have written “ROC”• Bloodstain analysis proving the message was added after the attack• DNA evidence tying Tim Permenter to a close, violent struggle — and excluding others• Cell-tower records and eyewitness timelines that placed him at the scene through the night• George Solomon’s account of a late-night confession and request for cover• Tim Permenter’s decision to testify — and how jurors weighed his explanations
The episode concludes with the jury’s verdict, the death-penalty recommendation, the judge’s ultimate sentence of life without parole, and the appellate rulings that upheld the conviction. We also return to Karen — not as evidence, but as a person — in a final victim tribute that centers her life, her strength, and the cost of intimate-partner violence.
This is not a story about a word written in blood.It is a story about control, deception, and how truth survives even the most deliberate attempts to bury it.
Original music featured in the victim tribute includes “Paper Wings” by JJ Hawk, produced by Hawk Studios, and used with permission.Learn more about JJ Hawk and Hawk Studios here:https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61574578047424
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Listener discretion advised: this episode contains discussion of violent crime and graphic details.

Dark Dialogue: Written in Blood: The Murder of Karen Pannell (Part 1)

In October 2003, 39-year-old airline professional Karen Pannell was found stabbed to death inside her Oldsmar, Florida villa. Near her body, written in blood on the kitchen wall, was a single word: “ROC.”
At first, investigators believed they were looking at a dying message — a final act of identification left by a woman who knew she was dying. Karen’s ex-boyfriend, whose nickname was Roc, became the immediate focus.
But the evidence didn’t hold.
In this first episode of a two-part investigation, Dark Dialogue examines how a crime scene that seemed to explain itself slowly unraveled. Forensic analysis revealed the blood writing was staged. Cell-tower data contradicted alibis. Witnesses stepped forward. And a relationship marked by control, deception, and a hidden violent past came sharply into focus.
This episode follows:
The discovery of Karen’s body and the initial investigation
Why the bloody message pointed investigators in the wrong direction
How forensic science exposed staging rather than truth
The “exit-ramp danger zone” — the statistically most lethal moment in abusive relationships
The early cracks that shifted the case away from a framed suspect and toward the real killer
This is not just a murder story. It’s a case study in how control escalates when it begins to fail, and why leaving an abusive relationship is often the most dangerous step of all.
Part Two will take listeners into the courtroom — where lies collapse, evidence speaks, and accountability is finally forced into the open.
If You or Someone You Know Needs Help
If you are in immediate danger, call 911 (U.S.) or your local emergency number right now.
Confidential support is available 24/7:
National Domestic Violence Hotline (U.S.)📞 1-800-799-SAFE (7233)💬 Text START to 88788🌐 https://www.thehotline.org
National Center for Victims of Crime📞 855-4-VICTIM (855-484-2846)🌐 https://victimsofcrime.org
StrongHearts Native Helpline📞 1-844-7NATIVE (1-844-762-8483)🌐 https://strongheartshelpline.org
Leaving an abusive relationship is dangerous — but you do not have to do it alone. Advocates can help you create a safety plan tailored to your situation.
How You Can Take Action Beyond Listening
Join the Adopt-a-Victim ProgramHelp support research, records review, and investigative work for a missing or unsolved case:👉 www.darkdialogue.com
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Check Out Our Other Shows🎙 Dark Dialogue (long-form investigations)🎙 Dark Dialogue: Shadow Chat SessionsAvailable everywhere podcasts are listened to.
Part Two drops next — and the truth doesn’t stay hidden forever.
…and keep the dialogue alive…

Dark Dialoged Distilled: When Christmas Isn’t Safe: Domestic Violence Behind Holiday Traditions

Christmas is supposed to be a refuge—a pause from the chaos, a promise of peace.But for many families, Christmas doesn’t calm the storm. It traps it.
In this Dark Dialogue Distilled Christmas Special, John examines some of the most disturbing cases of domestic violence and family annihilation to occur on or around Christmas—not as isolated tragedies, but as part of a repeating and deeply uncomfortable pattern.
From the 1929 Lawson family murders in North Carolina, to the unresolved mystery of the Sodder children, to the Carnation family massacre, the Covina Christmas Eve Santa-suit attack, and modern cases where violence unfolded quietly behind closed doors, this episode strips away holiday mythology and confronts the truth:
Christmas doesn’t create abuse. It concentrates it.
Alcohol, financial pressure, forced proximity, isolation, and the expectation that everything should “look fine” collide—often with devastating consequences. These crimes were not spontaneous. They were escalations of control, resentment, entitlement, and fear that already existed long before the tree went up.
This episode is not about fear-mongering.It’s about honesty.
It’s about recognizing that holidays can be a high-risk moment for those already living with domestic violence—and that silence, tradition, and appearances can be deadly.
You’ll also hear a data-driven discussion that separates myth from reality: why December is not statistically the deadliest month overall, yet remains a documented danger window for escalation, emergency calls, and lethal outcomes.
We close with a Christmas victim tribute, honoring the lives lost—not for how they died, but for how they lived—and a reminder that checking in, listening, and refusing to look away can matter more than any tradition.
If this episode resonates with you, or raises concern for someone you love, please don’t ignore that feeling. Help is available. Reaching out is not weakness—it’s survival.
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Babysitter Finds a Real Monster, Vampire Royals, and the Dumbest Criminals Alive

Sometimes you need a break from the heavy stuff — and that’s where Shadow Chat Sessions comes in.
In this episode, John and Angela dive headfirst into a chaotic mix of strange headlines, conspiracy nonsense, Reddit rabbit holes, dumb criminal behavior, and truly weird shit that absolutely does not matter… but is way too entertaining to ignore.
You’ll hear the unbelievable true story of a babysitter who checked under a child’s bed for monsters and found a real man hiding there, why some people are convinced King Charles is secretly a vampire, and the deeply unsettling mystery of a stranger who appears in decades of childhood photos without ever aging.
The Dipshit Diaries deliver peak criminal incompetence — including a robber who left his phone number at the crime scene, a nail salon robbery defeated by total indifference, and a car thief who managed to trap himself inside the vehicle he was trying to steal.
Then things get even stranger with man-eating spider legends from the Congo, haunted wedding venues built on battlefields, moon unicorns that fooled 19th-century America, a beer-drinking bear who became an enlisted WWII soldier, and the infamous severed-leg-in-a-grill case that somehow ended up on Judge Mathis.
It’s weird. It’s absurd. It’s darkly funny.And for once — none of it actually matters.
That’s the therapy.
Support the Show & Stay Connected
If you enjoy the chaos and want to support what we do:
• Visit DarkDialogue.com to explore all shows on the Dark Dialogue Podcast Network• Support us on Patreon, Ko-fi, or Substack for behind-the-scenes content and updates• Subscribe, follow, rate, and review — it helps more than you think• Send your weird stories, dumb criminals, rabbit holes, or feedback to info@darkdialogue.com
New episodes drop regularly.Laugh responsibly.

Dark Dialogue: Unraveled Truths - Making a Murderer (Episodes 1–3) — Narrative Framing, Omission, and Bias

Dark Dialogue: Unraveled Truths returns with a deep, unscripted examination of Making a Murderer, starting at the beginning.
In this episode, John and Angela break down Episodes 1–3, not to recap them—but to interrogate them. We examine how narrative framing, selective editing, and strategic omissions shape public opinion long before juries ever hear the evidence. From Steven Avery’s exoneration to the early construction of conspiracy, this episode explores what the documentary emphasizes, what it minimizes, and what it leaves out entirely.
This is not a verdict.This is not a defense.It’s an examination of how true-crime storytelling influences belief.
If you’ve ever felt pulled toward certainty by a documentary, this episode is your reminder: don’t take it at face value
Unraveled Truths Making a Murde…
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🔴 LIVE SHOW — New Year’s Night
We’re ringing in the New Year LIVE with a Dark Dialogue livestream—no edits, no polish, just real conversation.
🕛 New Year’s Night🎙️ Live discussion of cases, documentaries, and what’s coming next for the Dark Dialogue Podcast Network🔗 Join us live: https://darkdialogue.com/live
Set a reminder, bookmark the page, and jump in with us in real time
Unraveled Truths Making a Murde…
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If you enjoy this kind of deep-dive documentary analysis:
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From all of us here—thank you for listening, thank you for supporting independent true-crime analysis, and keep the dialogue alive
Unraveled Truths Making a Murde…
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Dark Dialogue Gallows & Gunfights: Billy the Kid — Part 7: The Siege Holds (Day 2 of the Lincoln Battle)

On the second day of a siege, the gunfire matters less than the waiting.
Day Two of the Battle of Lincoln (July 16, 1878) does not erupt—it calcifies.The town seals itself shut. Civilians barricade behind adobe walls. Gunmen hold positions they cannot abandon. And law enforcement, unable to compel surrender, begins looking upward for force it cannot legally command.
In this episode of Gallows & Gunfights, we examine Day Two of the Lincoln siege not as a shootout, but as a stress test applied to authority itself.
Inside the McSween house, Billy the Kid and the Regulators hold their ground under sustained but calculated fire. Outside, Sheriff George Peppin and the Murphy–Dolan faction confront an uncomfortable reality: numbers and badges are no longer enough.
This episode covers:
The full tactical stalemate of Day Two
Civilian confinement and the transformation of homes into firing positions
Billy the Kid’s role as a fixed defensive force
The request for federal artillery—and its legal denial
The firing upon a U.S. Army courier
How accusation, not evidence, reshaped the narrative
Why restraint—not bloodshed—became the hinge point of the siege
By nightfall, no ground has changed hands.But the conflict no longer belongs solely to Lincoln.
This is not myth.This is record.
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Dark Dialogue Distilled: The Woman Who Cleaned a Murder — The Kelsey Berreth Case Through Krystal Lee’s Eyes

On Thanksgiving 2018, Colorado mother Kelsey Berreth vanished without a trace.Her fiancé, Patrick Frazee, was later convicted of beating her to death and burning her remains.But this Distilled episode isn’t just about the murder — it’s about the woman who helped him cover it up.
This is the story of Krystal Lee Kenney.A rodeo queen.A nurse.A mother.And the only witness who knew every step of Frazee’s plan.
In this episode, we break down:
The three failed “murder assignments” Frazee gave her
The psychological grooming that kept her under his control
The four-hour crime scene cleanup she performed alone
The burning of Kelsey's remains that she stood by and watched
Her deeply controversial plea deal and early release
Why prosecutors called it “a deal with the devil”
How her testimony secured Frazee’s life sentence
The moral question: coerced… or complicit?
You’ll hear a long-form tribute to Kelsey — not as a victim, but as a mother, daughter, pilot, and woman who deserved a lifetime of moments she never got to live.
If you value the work:Follow, rate, review, and hit the bell — it truly helps the show reach more people.Support deeper investigations on Patreon, Ko-fi, and Substack, or send case suggestions to info@darkdialogue.com.
This is Dark Dialogue: Distilled.Stay curious. Stay relentless… and don’t let the truth go silent.

Dark Dialogue: Unraveled Truths - West Memphis Three — Unraveled Truths, Episode 1 | Satanic Panic, False Confessions & the Case That Won’t Die

In May 1993, three eight-year-old boys were found murdered in a drainage ditch in West Memphis, Arkansas. What followed became one of the most controversial criminal cases in American history — driven by fear, moral panic, and a justice system desperate for answers.
This is not a traditional deep dive.
In the debut episode of Dark Dialogue: Unraveled Truths, John McColl sits down with Angela for an unfiltered, unscripted conversation about the West Memphis Three — a case so embedded in true crime culture that even decades later, it still ignites anger, disbelief, and unanswered questions. No polished timeline. No scripted forensic walkthrough. Just lived research, firsthand reactions, and the uncomfortable realities that refuse to stay buried.
Together, they examine the Paradise Lost documentaries, the role of Satanic Panic in 1990s policing, the deeply flawed confession that anchored the prosecutions, and the cascade of investigative failures that shaped the outcome from the very beginning. From the unexplained “Bojangles” incident to mishandled evidence and ignored leads, this episode challenges how narrative replaced proof — and how three teenagers became casualties of institutional failure.
This conversation arrives at a critical moment. In late 2025, after years of legal battles and public pressure, a judge finally approved advanced DNA testing on key evidence, including the shoelaces used to bind the victims. For the first time in decades, modern forensic science may finally answer the question that has haunted this case for over thirty years:
If it wasn’t them… who was it?
Dark Dialogue: Unraveled Truths exists to revisit infamous cases without reverence for broken systems or comfort in familiar conclusions. Some stories don’t end with a verdict. Some truths remain buried because digging is inconvenient. This series is about pulling those cases apart — carefully, critically, and without fear of where the answers lead.
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Your support helps keep these stories alive — and ensures they’re told with the care they deserve.