276: What if you left your kids held hostage?

After surviving a childhood where love meant saving his mother from the ravages of schizophrenia, a man spends decades trying to outrun the self he lost, until one final visit forces him to face what was never his to fix. Today’s episode featured Johnathan Koller. Johnathan has w ...  Show more

After building the loving family she always wanted, a woman loses her youngest son to an unsecured gun, and turns her grief into a fight to protect other children. Today’s episode featured Kristin Song. Kristin Miller Song is a writer and speaker whose work examines what it means ...  Show more

After Laura Ackerson lost full custody of her sons, she was heartbroken, but she sprang into action. Within 2 weeks, she got another hearing but she still only got weekends. She had to completely overhaul her life. Within a year, Laura found a great apartment and opened her own a ...  Show more

It was Christmastime 2009 and eleven year old Sarah Haley Foxwell was getting ready to celebrate with her family. She and her little sister skipped off to bed together, but that would be the last time Sarah’s family got to see her. Sarah was kidnapped, assaulted and brutally m ...

This week we will hear Ashley Hall’s story -- told by her Mother Lucia, and her sister Jessa. Please note, due to the public nature of this story, real names will be used for this episode. *Content warning: This episode contains descriptions of psychological and physical violence ...  Show more

The story of the Purrington murders is so horrific it sounds like something out of a movie. James Purrington seemed to have plans of killing himself after suffering from what was likely undiagnosed mental illness. When one of his children brought this to the attention of their ...