Stranger Danger: A True Crime Podcast

On December 25th 2016, Tricia McCauley had baked a pie and prepared her signature dish of Brussel sprouts. She was headed out for a night of festivities with her friends and colleagues from the theatre scene from Washington D.C. but she never made it.  

It wouldn't be long before it was discovered why she didn't make it to the party. 

"T'was the night before Christmas

and amongst all the fun

the Ortega's never imagined

that Santa would arrive with a gun" 

- Brii 

 

The Ortega family gathered in their Covina, CA home to celebrate Christmas and were ambushed by Bruce Pardo aka Santa on December 24th 2008. 

Steven and Alyssa met through the internet in the late 90's and  eventually met up in person. Soon after meeting they would have a baby named Denise that they would be giving for adoption.  

18 years later, Denise, now named Katie would be back in their lives. Katie and Steven wasted no time making up for lost time. 

After over a decade of wondering what happened to Brittanee during her spring break trip down to Myrtle Beach, we have answers.  

Brittanee Drexel was in her third year of hight school when she decided to join her older friends on their spring break trip in 2009. Unbeknownst to her mother Brittanee was not where she told her she would be for the week. 

Brittanee's boyfriend then realized something was wrong when Brittanee suddenly stopped texting. 

 

If you are a Patreon, you will have access to part 2 a week before it is published on here. 

 

On this episode we dive into what happened during trial of Casey Anthony.  

What the jury hears is very important and in this case, what they didn't hear proved to be even more important. 

Caylee Anthony was last seen alive on June 16th 2008 by her grandparents. 
When the police were finally involved in her disappearance on July 15th, 2008 , 31 days had passed since anyone else had seen Caylee.  

Immediately Casey Anthony began to spin a web of lies about Caylee's whereabouts.  

 

Chandler Halderson ,23 was living at home with his parents. Chandler had everything going well for him. He was enrolled in school, full time job, successful relationship and the job offer lined up to work in the SpaceX program in Florida. 

His parents Bart and Krista may have been on to him and his exaggerated stories of success.    

In July 2021, Chandler hacked up a plan to get rid of them. 

Doreen Erbert , who was 8 months pregnant had just gotten home from trick or treating with her then 4 year old daughter Deanna. Suddenly there was an unexpected knock on the door and that is when all hell broke loose.  

This brutal murder took place on Halloween night and the detectives were quick to piece together who the perpetrator was. 

William Michael Dennis was Doreen's ex husband and used the cover of Halloween to disguise himself. 

Phillip Taylor was finally on the right track and was looking forward to spending more time with his kids.

At first, the scene was made to look like a robbery gone wrong, but you can't get too far when you live in a small town without someone knowing your every move.