Behind the Casefiles: “Mark and John”

Posted: February 2, 2019 in Casefile, Internet Scams, Stalking
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Note: although it is a simple matter to discover the true identity of “John”, the internet being what it is, I’m not going to blatantly do so here, as there is an indefinite court order prohibiting naming either of the boys.

This is another entry into my series of a behind-the-scenes look at the episodes I write for the podcast Casefile. These posts will explain how and why I choose each case and the research that goes into writing the stories.

A still from Channel 4 doco “Psycho: Kill me if you can”

 

This one is about Case 104: Mark and John. Note there are spoilers below.

I have a penchant for internet-related cases, so when I first read about the Mark and John case, it was a no-brainer that I was going to do it.

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The recently arrested “redandwhite”: one of Silk Road’s greatest nemeses

Posted: November 22, 2018 in Dark Web, Silk Road
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I was blown away today to read the news that one of the Silk Road arrests, James Ellingson, aka “MarijuanaIsMyMuse” is apparently also the Silk Road user known as “redandwhite”. If my theory is right, redandwhite is one of the greatest scammers Silk Road ever encountered.

MarijuanaIsMyMuse tickled my fancy back in the SR days because of his reputation of slipping a piece of paper in each order he fulfilled which said: ‘If you are the intended recipient, please use responsibly. If you are law enforcement, go fuck yourself.’ He was a popular vendor. I never in a million years would have picked him as one of DPR’s greatest nemeses.

In late March 2013, a user going by the name FriendlyChemist contacted Dread Pirate Roberts (DPR) to tell him he was in deep shit with the Hells Angels. FriendlyChemist claimed he had been fronted $700,000 worth of LSD from the motorcycle club. He gave it to popular vendor Lucydrop to sell on Silk Road. Lucydrop took off with the proceeds and failed to supply the product, never to be seen on Silk Road again. Now the Hells Angels wanted their profits and they were coming for FriendlyChemist.

FriendlyChemist decided blackmailing the owner of Silk Road was his best course of action. He had a long list of real names and addresses of Silk Road vendors and customers that he would publish unless DPR gave him $500‚000 to pay off his suppliers. He provided a sample to DPR as proof.

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Behind the Casefiles – Stephen Hilder

Posted: October 22, 2018 in Casefile, Uncategorized
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Blue Skies, Black Death

This is another entry into my series of a behind-the-scenes look at the episodes I write for the podcast Casefile. These posts will explain how and why I choose each case and the research that goes into writing the stories.

This post is about Episode 88 – Stephen Hilder.

Best to listen to it before reading on, as there will be spoilers below.

Long before I became a writer, I was a skydiver. For many years I was obsessed with the sport, even taking a year off in 2002 to travel and skydive in the USA full time.

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Behind the Casefiles – Dnepropetrovsk Maniacs

Posted: October 5, 2018 in Uncategorized
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The 8-minute video “3 Guys, 1 Hammer” is infamous. I wanted to discover the story behind it.

This is another entry into my series of a behind-the-scenes look at the episodes I write for the podcast Casefile. These posts will explain how and why I choose each case and the research that goes into writing the stories.

This post is about Episode 92 – Dnepropetrovsk Maniacs. Best to listen to it before reading on, as there will be spoilers below.

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Behind the scenes of a CBS 48 Hours story on dark web hitmen

Posted: October 4, 2018 in Dark Web, Darknet, Hacking, Hitmen, Uncategorized
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How I became a dark web consultant to a TV show, and my somewhat complicated relationship with the owner of the most profitable online murder-for-hire service in history

Screen Shot 2018-10-05 at 8.20.40 am

I recently worked as a consultant to CBS for their season premiere of 48 Hours: “Click for a Killer” after I met a CBS producer at the trial of Stephen Allwine for the murder of his wife, Amy. The episode was originally going to be a straightforward telling of that crime, but as they learned about the extent of the Besa Mafia dark web murder-for-hire operation, as well as my own somewhat complicated and ongoing relationship with its owner, Yura, it turned into something quite different.

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Behind the Casefiles – Ella Tundra

Posted: September 25, 2018 in Casefile, Stalking
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This is another entry into my series of a behind-the-scenes look at the episodes I write for the podcast Casefile. These posts will explain how and why I choose each case and the research that goes into writing the stories.

 

This post is about Episode 89 – Ella Tundra.

Best to listen to it before reading on, as there will be spoilers below.

As an author, I will always be drawn to click on any stories that have titles like “Authors behaving badly” or “Why you should never read your reviews” and a few years ago, those clicks revealed a doozy of a story.

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Behind the Casefiles: Amy Allwine

Posted: September 19, 2018 in Contract killing, Dark Web, Darknet, Hitmen, Uncategorized
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I have been writing episodes of the excellent true-crime podcast Casefile and as I’ve been rather slack in updating this blog lately, I thought I would write up a little about each case I contribute to the show. These posts will explain how and why I choose each case and the research that goes into writing the stories.

The first one I wrote was Case 86 – the murder of Amy Allwine

Best to listen to it before reading on, as there will be spoilers below and it may not make much sense if you don’t know the story.

I first heard of Amy Allwine before she was murdered. Her name came up as one of the targets in the original hack of the Besa Mafia dark web murder-for-hire site. I wrote briefly about the hit ordered on Amy in my first blog about Besa Mafia on 14 May 2016:

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