Evidence Locker True Crime

On a quiet September night in 2013, a routine traffic stop on the outskirts of Aksai unraveled a mystery that had haunted southern Russia for years. A violent shootout led police to a forest campsite, and what they uncovered was more than just weapons.
The suspects were not professional hitmen or members of a paramilitary group. They were a family. A mother, her daughters, and her husband. Their crimes spanned nearly a decade: home invasions, execution-style killings, ambushes on police officers. Dozens of stolen items linked them to victims across Rostov Oblast and beyond.
They would become known in the media as the Gang of Amazons.
In this episode, we examine the investigation that connected seemingly random crimes to a single group, delve into the backgrounds of the perpetrators, and follow the trial that brought their reign of terror to an end.

Books: Read collections of The Evidence Locker Files, available in print and digital editions.
Follow us on: YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, X, TikTok
For more information, visit: Evidence Locker Website
Listen ad-free: Visit our page at Patreon
50% of Evidence Locker Patreon proceeds are donated to support the Doe Network, solving international cold cases. To learn more, visit: https://www.doenetwork.org/

Resources
Web
Wikipedia
History and Other Things 
Medium - Serial Killers: Gang of Amazons 
Articles
Russia's Rostov court sentences 'Amazon gang' to lengthy jail terms for numerous killings
Near Rostov the members of the gang announced the verdict for robbery and murder
Russian nursery teacher killed ten people with help gang 
A family of murderers in Rostov. Adventures of 'bloody Inessa' (Tarverdiyeva's case in Rostoblsud) 
Twenty years for the Amazons. Why women are not given a life sentence? 

Created & Produced by Sonya Lowe
Narrated by Noel Vinson
Music: "Nordic Medieval" by Marcus Bressler
Background track: Doblado Studios: https://www.youtube.com/c/DobladoStudios

This True Crime Podcast was researched using open-source or archival materials.

In 2017, 21-year-old French au pair Sophie Lionnet was found burned in a garden in Southfields, London. What began as a dream opportunity became a nightmare of abuse, torture, and ultimately murder at the hands of her employers.

Books: Read collections of The Evidence Locker Files, available in print and digital editions.
Follow us on: YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, X, TikTok
For more information, visit: Evidence Locker Website
Listen ad-free: Visit our page at Patreon
50% of Evidence Locker Patreon proceeds are donated to support the Doe Network, solving international cold cases. To learn more, visit: https://www.doenetwork.org/

Resources
Podcast
An Au Pair In London - UK True Crime 
News Articles
Au pair murder: Couple found guilty 
Couple jailed for life over French nanny Sophie Lionnet's torture 
U.K. couple guilty of murder, burning nanny Sophie Lionnet's body 
Couple guilty of murder after nanny Sophie Lionnet's burned remains found in the garden 
London couple 'murdered French nanny Sophie Lionnet then burned her body' 
Couple who killed French nanny should be 'burned at the stake' – victim's mother 
Pretty 21-Year-Old Sophie Lionnet Was Murdered and Her Body Burned. But Why?

Created & Produced by Sonya Lowe
Narrated by Noel Vinson
Music: "Nordic Medieval" by Marcus Bressler
Background track: Doblado Studios: https://www.youtube.com/c/DobladoStudios

This True Crime Podcast was researched using open-source or archival materials.

Between September 2003 and April 2006, Wisconsin prosecutors built one of the most challenging murder cases in the state's history: proving a family annihilation without bodies, a crime scene, or eyewitnesses. 
In July 1998, Allen Krnak, his wife Donna, their son Thomas, and the family dog vanished without a trace after leaving for a Fourth of July weekend at their cabin. When their truck was found wiped clean with thousands of unexplained miles, investigators knew this was no ordinary disappearance. 
The discovery of Allen's remains 800 miles away in North Carolina would reveal a horrifying truth about betrayal and greed. But Donna and Thomas remain missing to this day, their bodies never recovered from the mountains where they were likely disposed of.

Books: Read collections of The Evidence Locker Files, available in print and digital editions.
Follow us on: YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, X, TikTok
For more information, visit: Evidence Locker Website
Listen ad-free: Visit our page at Patreon
25% of Evidence Locker Patreon proceeds are donated to support the Doe Network, solving international cold cases. To learn more, visit: https://www.doenetwork.org/

Resources
Web 
Wisconsin Missing Persons - Donna Kay Krnak
The Charley Project - Thomas John Krnak
The Charley Project - Donna Kay Krnak
The Doe Network - Donna Krnak (2333DFWI)
The Doe Network - Thomas Krnak (3418DMWI)
Wisconsin Supreme Court - State v. Anderson (2005)
Wisconsin Supreme Court - State v. Derek Anderson
Wisconsin Court of Appeals - Derek Anderson v. Leverett Baldwin
Articles
Wisconsin State Journal - Anderson Convicted of Murder (April 8, 2006)
Racine Journal Times - FBI Agent Investigating Different Case Finds Lead (August 15, 2024)
WFMY News 2 - Man Found Guilty in Missing Family Murder Trial
WRN - Killer's Appeal Rejected (December 30, 2009)
The Sylva Herald - Wisconsin Jury Finds Former WCU Student Guilty of Murder (April 13, 2006)
Tulsa World - Family's Disappearance Grips Rural Town (February 26, 2019)
La Crosse Tribune - Wisconsin Briefs (March 30, 2006)

Created & Produced by Sonya Lowe
Narrated by Noel Vinson
Music: "Nordic Medieval" by Marcus Bressler
Background track: Doblado Studios: https://www.youtube.com/c/DobladoStudios

This True Crime Podcast was researched using open-source or archival materials.

On a windy January day in 1965, two fifteen-year-old best friends walked into the sand dunes at Wanda Beach near Sydney. They never came home. What followed was one of the largest investigations in Australian history, yet the killer vanished without a trace. Sixty years later, three suspects have emerged, but no one has ever been charged. Was it a teenage surfer, a serial killer, or someone far more sinister?

Books: Read collections of The Evidence Locker Files, available in print and digital editions.
Follow us on: YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, X, TikTok
For more information, visit: Evidence Locker Website
Listen ad-free: Visit our page at Patreon
50% of Evidence Locker Patreon proceeds are donated to support the Doe Network, solving international cold cases. To learn more, visit: https://www.doenetwork.org/

Resources
Books
Alan J. Whiticker - "WANDA: The Untold Story of the Wanda Beach Murders" (New Holland Publishers, 2003)
Documentaries
Crime Investigation Australia - "The Wanda Beach Murders"
Christopher Wilder: The Beauty Queen Killer
Web
Wikipedia - Wanda Beach Murders
Wikipedia - Derek Percy
Wikipedia - Christopher Wilder
National Film and Sound Archive - Nine News: the Wanda Beach Murders
Australian Missing Persons Register - Christine Sharrock and Marianne Schmidt
News Articles
Australian serial killer Christopher Wilder linked to the Wanda Beach murders 
Loved ones of the two girls murdered at Sydney's Wanda Beach...
Ivan Milat's Family Reacts After Chris Minns Considers Inquiry Into More Unsolved Murders
Podcast
The Backpacker Murders

Created & Produced by Sonya Lowe
Narrated by Noel Vinson
Music: "Nordic Medieval" by Marcus Bressler
Background track: Doblado Studios: https://www.youtube.com/c/DobladoStudios

This True Crime Podcast was researched using open-source or archival materials.

Between 1959 and 1987, a series of brutal attacks in the forests and lakesides of Finland and Sweden left multiple victims dead – and investigators haunted by their similarities. From Tulilahti and Lake Bodom to Appojaure and the deck of the Viking Sally, the victims were ordinary people, asleep and vulnerable, when violence struck without warning. Some cases were solved. Most weren’t. 
What links these murders? Could they be the work of the same person, or do they reveal something darker about the illusion of safety in the wild?
This is a special episode that brings together cases previously featured on Evidence Locker, uncovering the patterns, suspects, and unanswered questions that continue to grip true crime researchers to this day.

Books: Read collections of The Evidence Locker Files, available in print and digital editions.
Follow us on: YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, X, TikTok
For more information, visit: Evidence Locker Website
Listen ad-free: Visit our page at Patreon
50% of Evidence Locker Patreon proceeds are donated to support the Doe Network, solving international cold cases. To learn more, visit: https://www.doenetwork.org/

Resources
Documentaries
The Confessions of Thomas Quick 
Murhan DNA: Bodominjärvin murhat
Web
Wikipedia: Appojaure Murders
Wikipedia: Kytäjä
Wikipedia: Lake Bodom Murders
Kyllikki Saari Murder (1953)
Wikipedia: Tulilahden kaksoismurha
Articles
Serial Killer has second thoughts - The Confessions of Thomas Quick
The Lake Bodom Murders
Campsite Killer: The Unsolved Mystery of the Lake Bodom Murders
ForenSeek: The Tulilahti Double Murder

Created & Produced by Sonya Lowe
Narrated by Noel Vinson
Music: "Nordic Medieval" by Marcus Bressler
Background track: Doblado Studios: https://www.youtube.com/c/DobladoStudios

This True Crime Podcast was researched using open-source or archive materials.