You don’t have time for three hours of doomscrolling, twenty half-baked takes, and some guy online screaming READ THE THREAD. We are Front Page Detectives, this is your morning Drive-By, and here is what is real.
Bryan Kohberger’s family says it wants the “complete and unvarnished truth” told as he claims his attorneys pressured him into falsely confessing to murdering four University of Idaho students.
Bryan Kohberger’s family has publicly backed his extraordinary attempt to withdraw the guilty plea that sent him to prison for murdering Madison Mogen, 21, Kaylee Goncalves, 21, Xana Kernodle, 20, and Ethan Chapin, 20.
Kohberger, 31, pleaded guilty to all four murders in July 2025 under an agreement that spared him the death penalty. He was subsequently sentenced to four consecutive life terms. More than a year later, however, he filed a handwritten petition claiming his attorneys withheld potentially exculpatory evidence, misled him about the consequences of the agreement and pressured him into falsely confessing.
His family now says its support for Kohberger’s post-conviction challenge does not come from “a place of disregard” for the victims or their relatives. “Rather, it comes from our family’s need to see that the complete and unvarnished truth is told,” they said, arguing the questions surrounding the case can only be resolved through “a proper trial, as opposed to an improper plea.” The statement comes despite Kohberger himself saying his parents and two sisters participated in most of the discussions with his attorneys before the deal was accepted.
Kohberger insists his “actual innocence” requires his plea to be withdrawn. Prosecutors have asked Judge Steven Hippler to dismiss his petition, while the first status conference and evidentiary hearing is scheduled for June 2027. Kohberger is separately trying to remove Hippler from the case, with a hearing set for October 15.
Hot Take: Kohberger confessed in court, took death off the table and walked away with his life. Now he says the whole deal was crooked. Fine. Bring evidence. Because in this business, a new story is cheap. Proving the old one was false costs considerably more.
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Investigators found disturbing images, human ashes and a homemade laboratory after an encounter with a man sitting inside an illegally parked BMW.
A routine parking violation has opened the door to something considerably darker in Philadelphia, where investigators say a home connected to a late adult-film producer contained more than a million disturbing images and videos depicting sexual violence against women. Police are now attempting to determine what happened to at least five women shown apparently unconscious or “lifeless” in the material.
The investigation began in June when federal park rangers approached Eugene Horsch, 44, inside an illegally parked BMW at Independence National Historical Park and reportedly heard a woman say something resembling: “You’re going to hurt me!” Authorities subsequently found guns, a cattle prod, a collapsible baton, suspected narcotics and a fake DEA identification card. A search of Horsch’s home uncovered a homemade laboratory, urns containing human ashes and a huge collection of digital material police say was connected to his late father, adult-film producer Raymond “R.C.” Horsch.
Missing women Maribel Fresses, 26, and Gabrielle Amarando, 27, have been identified in material recovered from the property. Two other women have been identified but not publicly named, while investigators are trying to identify a fifth. Police stress they have not found bodies, DNA or other physical evidence proving the women were killed. Eugene Horsch has not been charged with violence and faces federal firearms and false-document charges as well as local drug and weapons allegations.
Hot Take: A bad parking job, a frightened voice and suddenly the cops are staring down a million files and women nobody can find. That’s how the ugly cases sometimes start — not with a smoking gun, but one loose thread somebody was careless enough to leave hanging.
Days after Lindsay Clancy’s trial ended without a verdict, her ex-husband has revealed how he maintains a connection with Cora, Dawson and Callan.
Patrick Clancy says he still talks to his three murdered children more than three years after returning home from an errand to discover the catastrophe that destroyed his family. In a preview of his upcoming 60 Minutes interview, Patrick said he speaks to Cora, 5, Dawson, 3, and Callan, 8 months, telling them simply: “Help me… All the time.”
Asked whether he believes his children answer him, Patrick said: “I like to believe they do,” describing the conversations as a way of remaining connected to them. The interview, alongside his new wife, Dr. Rachel Danis, comes after Lindsay Clancy’s murder trial ended September 4 with jurors deadlocked after approximately 38 hours of deliberations. Eleven jurors reportedly favored finding her not guilty by reason of insanity, while one believed she was criminally responsible.
Patrick also addresses online conspiracy theories suggesting he was somehow involved in the deaths. He has never been charged or identified as a suspect, and both his attorney and Lindsay’s defense lawyer Kevin Reddington have condemned the speculation. Patrick and Danis will give their first full television interview together Sunday.
Hot Take: Three children are dead, their father came home to the nightmare, and internet detectives still found a way to put him under the lamp. There’s investigation, and then there’s shadowboxing with ghosts. Patrick Clancy has buried enough without strangers digging another grave for him.
Martin Weinberg has joined Kevin Reddington as Clancy’s defense team argues the mistrial should end the prosecution permanently.
Lindsay Clancy has brought in Karen Read attorney Martin Weinberg as her defense team attempts to prevent Massachusetts prosecutors from putting her on trial again for killing her three children. Weinberg is joining Kevin Reddington as the lawyers pursue a Rule 25 motion seeking dismissal and raise double-jeopardy arguments following the September 4 mistrial.
The defense is focusing heavily on reports that 11 jurors favored finding Clancy not guilty by reason of insanity while one juror believed she was criminally responsible. During deliberations, Reddington unsuccessfully tried to have the holdout removed after the foreperson alleged the juror was refusing to apply the reasonable-doubt standard. Judge William Sullivan questioned the jurors individually, all said they could follow his instructions, and he refused to remove anyone. The panel remained deadlocked and a mistrial followed.
Weinberg has been down this road before. Karen Read’s lawyers raised a similar double-jeopardy argument after her first trial, claiming jurors had agreed to acquit her on some charges despite never returning formal verdicts. The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court allowed the retrial to proceed because no unanimous verdict had been announced in court. Clancy’s next hearing is scheduled for September 29.
Hot Take: Reddington wanted the lone holdout hauled out because eleven votes weren’t enough. Now he’s brought in Karen Read’s lawyer to turn a hung jury into an acquittal after the fact. The courtroom isn’t a casino. You don’t get to throw out the last card because it wrecked your hand.
Elizabeth “Libby” Gibson disappeared in 2022 and has never been found, but prosecutors now accuse Calhoun of causing her death.
An Oregon man already accused of murdering five women has now been indicted in connection with a sixth death. Jesse Lee Calhoun, 41, faces first-degree manslaughter over the presumed killing of Elizabeth “Libby” Gibson, who disappeared in 2022 and whose body has never been recovered.
Calhoun was already charged with second-degree murder in the deaths of Ashley Real, 22, Kristin Smith, 22, Charity Perry, 24, Bridget Webster, 31, and Joanna Speaks, 32, between 2022 and 2023. He has pleaded not guilty to the existing murder and abuse-of-corpse charges, and prosecutors intend to try the homicide cases together. Authorities believe Gibson was killed on or around November 18, 2022.
Calhoun previously served time for offenses including assaulting a police officer, attempting to strangle a police dog and burglary. He was controversially released early in 2021 after helping fight wildfires through a prison program, before the decision was reversed in 2023 when he came under investigation over the women’s deaths. Gibson’s family welcomed the new indictment, describing her as “kind, creative, and silly.”
Hot Take: Five murder charges were already waiting at the station. Now a sixth woman has joined the case, except this time there’s no body to tell her story. Prosecutors say they can tell it anyway. Soon enough, twelve jurors will decide whether the pieces fit, or whether the darkness between them is still reasonable doubt.
