Lies, Crimes & Video

22 Seconds

This installment details a daylight kidnapping. Carlie Jane Brucia (March 16, 1992 - February 1, 2004) was sexually battered and murdered by career criminal Joseph P. Smith (March 17, 1966 - July 26, 2021) after being kidnapped from a car wash near her home in Sarasota, Florida on February 1, 2004, while walking home from a friend's house. The 11-year-old girl (who would turn age 12 in 44 days) was reported missing by her parents within half an hour of her abduction. The kidnapping case became famous after a surveillance video showing the girl surfaced. The video, taken from a security camera located behind a car wash, shows Brucia being confronted by a man, later identified as Smith, who then grabbed her arm and led her away toward a car that was spotted on another camera. The video was shown nationwide and spurred a massive manhunt for the abductor. Smith was apprehended, convicted of murder and sentenced to life in prison.

Kidnapped in Broad Daylight

This installment details the 2017 kidnapping and murder of Yingying Zhang (December 21, 1990 - June 9, 2017) in Urbana, Illinois. Zhang was a visiting Chinese scholar at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. She was abducted by Brendt Allen Christensen (born June 30, 1989) a Champaign resident and former physics graduate student at the university. Christensen lured Zhang into his car at a bus stop on campus. He took her to his apartment where he raped and murdered her while his wife was out of town for the weekend. Christensen was arrested and convicted of her murder. In 2019, he was sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole.

Panty Theft Strangler

This installment details the many crimes of David Russell Williams. He is a Canadian serial rapist, murderer and former colonel in the Royal Canadian Air Force. He was convicted of the November 2009 murder of Marie-France Comeau and the January 2010 murder of Jessica Lloyd. He was sentenced to "life in prison" in 2010, but will be eligible for parole after serving 25 years in prison.

Horror at Home

A teenager calls 9-1-1 and reports that his home has been trashed and his Mother is missing. The further investigation is detailed here.

Secrets in a Barrel

Newlywed Murder