One of North Carolina’s oldest missing persons cases involves a 36-year-old mother and her 4-year-old daughter who disappeared from Carolina Beach, and their extended family has been searching for answers for years. They thought the mystery might have been solved in 2008, but unfortunately, that also turned out to be a dead end. Leila Lewis was working as a nurse in Wilmington when she met a man named Edis Bryan, also known as E.C., who had...
Thirty-year-old Norsaadah Husain, a graduate student from Malaysia, was working on a doctorate degree in food technology from Clemson University. She lived alone in a small mobile home not far from the campus. She was scheduled to finish her degree in May 1993 and planned to return home to Malaysia to teach at a local university there. Norsaadah had been planning to speak at a national meeting of food scientists about her process for removing...
On March 18, 2012, a man named Robert McCaffrey, who went by Bob, called police from his West Ashley home near Charleston, South Carolina, to report his wife missing around 5 p.m. He said the two had gone out to dinner the day before around 2:30 p.m. When they returned home, they got into an argument. When Gayle refused to speak with him, he got into his truck and drove four hours away to Easley, South Carolina. He drove back in the early...
In Episode 149, I shared the story of Phonesia Machado-Fore, who was a 52-year-old mother and grandmother from Pee Dee, South Carolina when she went missing in March of 2024. She had worked as a paramedic for Florence County EMS since 2017, and her EMS director described as being very happy-go-lucky. He said that “She was always around, always had a smile, and just loved her job and loved people.” Phonesia had recently accepted a job in...
In March of 1987, 29-year-old Jimmy Dale Whitfield disappeared from Seneca, South Carolina. At the time, he was living with his wife Wanda and their two children off Route 3, which is now Whitfield Lane. Here’s a little more about Jimmy. He was born on March 28, 1957, to Selena and Fred Whitfield. Fred passed away in 1977. Jimmy was a smoker, had no criminal record, and considered himself a man of faith. He married Wanda Gail George in the...
I first shared the heartbreaking story of Mica Miller’s death in Episode 112. At the time of her death, many suspected her estranged husband John-Paul Miller of being involved. While he was able to physically prove he was not with Mica when she took her life at a North Carolina state park, her friends and family knew he had waged a campaign of emotional abuse and stalking against her that led to her fragile state of mind. There has recently...
Margaret “Peg” Cuttino was born and raised in Sumter County, South Carolina. She was the daughter of South Carolina state senator James Cuttino, a democrat. Peg was 13 years old and an eighth grader at Alice Drive Junior High School. She played on the school’s varsity basketball team. Peg had grown up campaigning for her father and sang in her church’s youth choir. On December 18, 1970, she left her home to walk to the nearby...
If the name Dick Harpootlian sounds familiar to you, it's probably because he was involved in one of the most high-profile murder cases in the past 20 years. He was one of Alex Murdaugh's defense attorneys in South Carolina, and represented Alex during his trial in 2023. One of the most notorious criminals Harpootlian ever crossed paths with was a man named Pee Wee Gaskins, a South Carolina man who was known to have murdered over a dozen...
51-year-old Dr. Joe Smith was a fixture around the Lancaster, South Carolina community for many years. He had a practice as a general practitioner, worked as the jail physician for Chester County and the city, and the assistant coroner for Lancaster County. He’d grown up in Anderson, where his father was employed by Swift and Company. After graduating from high school, he joined the military. After a tour of duty, he entered medical school....
Renee discusses origin stories from Carolina folklore, whether or not places can hold onto spiritual energy, and why so many universities seem to be haunted. Episodes Mentioned: Ep. 16-Ghostly Tales from the Carolinas Ep. 22-Two True Tales from the Carolinas Ep. 31-Where Are the Children?
