Holly Boyd
PODCASTS
Researcher & Writer
2020 - 2024
It was an honor to be part of the
Casefile: True Crime Podcast team.
Check out my episodes!
Coming in 2025... Case 315
For years after the 2002 murder of their 10-year-old daughter, a Russian young couple are tormented by a different kind of monster.
Case 292: Monster of the Andes
Young girls were vanishing in the 1970s and 1980s along Ecuador's Andes Mountain range. Authorities feared it was the work of international child traffickers, but the truth was even more unimaginable.
Consumed by anger and jealousy, Mark's ex-girlfriend refused to let him go. In 2015, her malicious actions led to unfathomable consequences and a British legal system first.
In 1984, increasing harassment of British farmer Graham Backhouse culminated in a chilling attack on his wife, Margaret. Suspicion fell on their neighbor, Colyn Beadle-Taylor—but the truth was far more shocking than anyone could have imagined.
In 2016, Samia Shahid, a young British-Pakistani woman, was forced to make a difficult choice: remain faithful to her Pakistani heritage and her parents' wishes or pursue her own happiness. The consequences of her choice were devastating.
In 2012, Dutch teenager Winsie Hau was murdered by a 14-year-old boy she barely knew. After confessing to the crime, the boy revealed that he was a hired hitman, leading police to uncover the true motive behind the killing.
In the summer of 1980, disturbing packages arrived at Theodosius Glukharev’s home in Kishinev, Soviet Moldova, exposing the murders of three women: Nina Puganova, Irina Trasyn, and Anastasia Mikhailova. An extortion attempt brought investigators closer to identifying the culprit, but the hunt for the ruthless killer continued— until a fourth victim escaped.
On April 5, 2008, 10-year-old Engla Höglund vanished while cycling home in Stjärnsund, Sweden. A witness’s photograph taken moments before her disappearance provided a crucial clue, linking her abductor to the unsolved murder of 31-year-old Pernilla Hellgren eight years earlier in Falun.
In 1963, on the Italian island of Sicily, Filippo Melodia pursued teenage Franca Viola with the intention of a fuitina. Franca's harrowing ordeal thrust her and the centuries-old tradition into the spotlight. Franca's quiet strength and defiance would forever change her fate—and Sicily’s future.
When 16-year-old Rubí Frayre vanished in Juarez, Mexico, in 2008, police dismissed the case. Determined to find her daughter, Marisela Escobedo eventually uncovered the truth. Her subsequent 2-year crusade for justice exposed cartel power, government corruption, and a broken judiciary—but it came at a high price.
In 2003, Mexico City was gripped by fear as 12 elderly women were strangled and robbed in their homes. Dubbed ‘El Mataviejitas’ (The Little Old Lady Killer), the murders forced police to confront the grim reality of a serial killer on the loose.
In May 2007, Czech man Eduard Trdý accidentally intercepted his neighbor Klara Mauerova’s security camera feed and, alarmed by what he saw, called the police. Officers uncovered a horrifying truth involving Klara’s two young sons, her adopted teenage daughter, and a tangled web of deceit connecting a group of perpetrators.
As a child in Romania's Chișinău Ghetto, Eliahu Itzkovitz endured unimaginable horrors, including the brutal murder of his family by a sadistic guard. Driven by a vow of revenge, Eliahu spent 13 years on a relentless pursuit that led him across continents to a confrontation in the jungles of Vietnam with the man he remembered as Stănescu.
On December 21, 1924, beggar Vincenz Olivier knocked on the door of Münsterberg’s Father Denke, who invited him inside to help write a letter. Two days later, police uncovered a horrifying scene in Denke’s home, shocking the entire community.
On June 4, 1960, four Finnish teenagers set out for a camping trip at Lake Bodom, hoping for a carefree summer adventure. By morning, their bloodied bodies were found near their slashed tent, sparking Finland’s most infamous murder case—a mystery that has gripped the nation for over half a century.