In post-Soviet Siberia, women were disappearing from the streets of Angarsk. Their bodies turned up in forests and industrial wastelands, mutilated beyond recognition. The weapons changed every time, but the tire tracks at the scenes were always from the same vehicle: a Lada Niva, the standard-issue Soviet police truck.

The man driving it was Mikhail Popkov: junior police lieutenant, champion biathlete, beloved neighbor, husband and father. His wife Elena, a fellow officer in the same department, called him a 'perfect husband and father.' His colleagues said he was the soul of every party. When women were attacked on his city's streets, he was often first on scene.

Because he was the one who had attacked them.

Popkov used his badge, his uniform, and the trust people place in law enforcement to lure women into his patrol vehicle on freezing Siberian nights. He killed them with weapons stolen from his own department's evidence room, varying the method each time to prevent investigators from finding a pattern. He then returned to work, attended briefings on his own murders, and offered his observations to his colleagues.

When a 15-year-old survivor picked him out of a photo lineup, his wife gave him an alibi. When biological evidence linked him to a victim, his wife gave him an alibi again. Investigators shelved the case. Popkov kept killing.

By the time a 3,500-officer DNA sweep finally caught him in 2012, Popkov had confessed to 87 murders, making him the most prolific serial killer in Russian recorded history. Some investigators believe the true number may be closer to 200. When a judge asked how many total murders he had committed, Popkov shrugged and said: 'I can't say exactly. I didn't write them down.'

Ed walks through the full story for the Who the Bleep Did I Marry block: the victims, the system failures, the jaw-dropping confession, and the impossible question Popkov's own daughter asked aloud while pregnant: would her child grow up to be a monster like him? She said she still didn't fully understand what her father was. And that she still loved him.

Researched & written by Sue Grice | Hosted by Ed Hydock | A Darkcast Network Production

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murderunscriptedpod@gmail.com | @murderunscripted

His 13-year-old son found a skull in the backyard. Herb Baumeister said it was from his father's medical collection. His wife believed him.

Over ten thousand human bone fragments were eventually recovered from Fox Hollow Farm — the 18-acre Indiana estate where Herb hosted family pool parties, ran a thrift store empire, and murdered at least eleven men, possibly twenty-five, while his wife and kids had no idea.

Melissa walks through one of the most disturbing cases in our "Who the Bleep Did I Marry?" block cases MU has ever covered — including the I-70 Strangler theory, the missing tapes, and the DNA work that is still identifying victims in 2026.

⚠️ Content warning: domestic violence, child abandonment, shooting.

She was abandoned by both parents before she was 17. She spent her life searching for a man who would finally take care of her. She found a 73-year-old millionaire who led her on for seven years — and then tried to walk away with a restraining order.

He didn't make it out of the parking lot.

Episode 101 is the finale of MU's "Rules of Murder" block — and one of the most psychologically complex cases Melissa has ever covered. Based on Ann Rule's "Old Man's Darling" from Crime Files Vol. 10: "Worth More Dead."

Ep. 101 | Rules of Murder Block Finale | Murder Unscripted | April 2026

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/murder-unscripted/id1750146409

https://open.spotify.com/show/2AUGh12ei1wk8x7CvcX9qH

At age 14, her mother introduced her to Ted Bundy, and by 17, she was photographing killers in courtrooms.

For our special 100th episode, Murder Unscripted welcomes the incredible Leslie Rule - author, paranormal investigator, and daughter of true crime legend, Ann Rule! In a wide-ranging conversation, Leslie takes us inside her extraordinary childhood living in a haunted house, her decades of ghost hunting, and what she thought of America's most notorious serial killer. We talk about what it was like to grow up in Ann Rule's shadow, and how Leslie has carried the torch with her book: A Tangled Web, which details the murder of Nebraska mother Cari Farver.

Milestone episode. Legendary guest. Don't miss it!

🎧 Listen on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/murder-unscripted/id1750146409

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#MurderUnscripted #LeslieRule #AnnRule

⚠️ Content warning: domestic violence, murder, child endangerment.

If you haven't listened to Part 1 (Ep. 98) yet — start there. This is the conclusion of one of the most devastating cases MU has ever covered.

Sheila Bellush had done everything right. She got out of the marriage, fled across the country in the middle of the night, and built a new life in Sarasota, Florida with her husband Jamie and six children - including the quadruplets who made her a local celebrity known as "The Quad Mom." She was safe,,..or so she thought.

Allen Blackthorne had spent years manipulating a golf buddy named Danny Rocha.... feeding him lies about Sheila being an abusive mother, escalating his rage, and eventually putting a $50,000 contract on her life. The man who took the job, Joey Del Torro, drove from Texas to Florida and hid inside Sheila's home while she played with her babies and did laundry, completely unaware.

In Part 2, Ed walks through the murder, the investigation that unraveled the conspiracy piece by piece, and the trial that finally brought Allen Blackthorne to justice — two life sentences without the possibility of parole. And the aftermath: what happened to Jamie, to Stevie, to Daryl, to the quads, and to Sheila's heartbroken mother Jean, who lost her third child in the month of November.

Based on Ann Rule's "Every Breath You Take" (2001) | Researched & written by Sue Grice | Hosted by Ed Hydock | A Money Beet Media Production, in association with The Darkcast Network

🎧 Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/murder-unscripted/id1750146409

🎧 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2AUGh12ei1wk8x7CvcX9qH

💛 Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/c/MurderUnscriptedPod/membership

📬 murderunscriptedpod@gmail.com | @murderunscripted

⚠️ Content warning: domestic violence, sexual assault, animal abuse

On November 7th, 1997, Sheila Bellush was murdered inside her own home in Sarasota, Florida. It was a murder-for-hire... planned at a distance, carried out by strangers. And it would never have happened if the man she'd married had faced even one consequence for any of the things he had done before.

This is Part 1 of MU's two-part deep dive into one of Ann Rule's most chilling books — "Every Breath You Take." But before we get to the crime, Ed takes us inside the mind and the history of the man behind it: Allen Blackthorne.

Allen was a liar, a manipulator, a predator, and a con artist from childhood. He destroyed two marriages before Sheila, drove his in-laws into bankruptcy, killed two people on a highway and walked free, and told his sister-in-law, point blank, that if Sheila ever left him, he would kill her.

Part 1 is the origin story. The red flags nobody acted on. The system that failed at every turn. And the moment the crow should have been cued...long before it was.

Part 2 drops next week. Subscribe and don't miss it.

Based on Ann Rule's "Every Breath You Take" (2001) | Researched & written by Sue Grice | Hosted by Ed Hydock | A Money Beet Media Production in association with the Darkcast Network

Crime scene cleaner Anthony Vogel has walked into homicides, suicides, and unattended deaths. He's found things nobody expected and carried the weight of other people's worst days home with him.

In the finale of our 2026 Spring Cleaning block, Ed and Melissa sit down with Anthony for one of the most fascinating conversations we've ever had — covering the training, the tools, the humor, the haunting scenes, and what crime TV gets completely wrong about his job.

This is the side of true crime nobody talks about.

The night before Irene Izak left Cleveland, she woke up screaming. She had dreamed of a faceless figure beating her over the head with rocks. Her family calmed her down. It was just a dream.

Two nights later, on June 10th, 1968, Irene's body was found at the bottom of a wooded ravine on Wellesley Island, New York — just one mile from the Canadian border. She had been bludgeoned with rocks. Killed exactly as she had dreamed.

Irene Juliana Izak was 25 years old. A child of Ukrainian war refugees, she had survived bombings, displacement, and poverty to become a beloved French teacher fluent in six languages — a woman who radiated warmth, chased adventure, and trusted the goodness in people. She was on her way to a job interview in Quebec City but never made it.

The only real suspect was the state trooper who pulled her over that night — and then, just 30 minutes later, found her body. He had blood on his uniform. He gave three different stories for how it got there. He refused to meet with Irene's heartbroken father. He lawyered up mid-interview and was never questioned again. He died in 2009, taking any secrets to his grave.

No one has ever been arrested. No one has ever been charged.

Ed and Melissa bring you this episode with a heavy heart, and with personal connection. This case is dedicated MU listener and longtime friend of the pod, Cassandra, whose family has spent decades seeking justice for her great-aunt Irene. Cassandra's mother, Lisa, shares her family's story in her own words throughout this episode.

If you have any information about the murder of Irene Izak, please contact the New York State Police Cold Case Unit. This case remains open.

This one is for Irene. 🖤