The Deck

In September 1980, a Holiday Inn hotel in rural Iowa became the scene of a shocking double murder: a couple was found dead in their hotel bed, covered in lacerations. And the scene around them is one of the strangest and most puzzling I’ve ever come across in all my work. It’s one of the reasons this case has gained notoriety over time: I mean, to this day, the hotel where the couple lost their lives is still visited by true crime fanatics. Despite multiple suspects – and three agencies contributing to the investigation – no one has ever been arrested or charged in connection with Rose and Roger’s deaths. But… we have an exclusive update – something is about to happen in the Rose and Roger case that just might solve this nearly 50-year-old mystery.

When a young woman was found brutally murdered in an Aurora, Colorado alleyway in October 1996, one eagle-eyed detective zeroed in on forensic evidence he hoped would lead him to her killer. But one by one, that evidence ruled out every person they thought may have killed 25-year-old Tangie Sims and eventually her case went cold. And it stayed cold until new detectives revisited old evidence with new technology, took a look at one particular family tree and finally found who they’d been looking for.

Nothing causes the true crime community to stir more than a case with the open-ended question of did he? Or didn’t he? Well, except that is, when the question is did SHE? For longer than 32-year-old Thomas Mather was alive, a rural town in Iowa has been haunted by their only unsolved homicide. The former Sheriff told us it’s the only who dun it they have left. Does no foreign DNA evidence and strange behavior mean that Dawn Mather had to have been involved in killing her husband? Or does an unidentified fingerprint and tire tracks prove she didn’t?

A late-night fire in a Rhode Island cemetery led to the discovery of the body of Shad Gandy Kaydea, a young father and aspiring rapper who was strangled, then set on fire. As detectives peeled back the layers of Shad’s life, they uncovered volatile family tensions, a suspicious life insurance policy, and a man whose story kept changing. More than a decade later, his killer still walks free… but someone out there knows the truth.

It was Memorial Day, 1985, when fifteen-year-old Tyra Garcia slipped out the front door to a neighbors house, saying she’d be gone for only a few minutes. No one expected those minutes to stretch into hours… and then days. And no one could have imagined that 40 years later, the case would still be unsolved. Especially when the answers seem to be right in front of us. Because there are two very compelling suspects that were barely investigated by law enforcement back then. Despite the fact that one matched a suspect composite sketch. And drove the same kind of car she was last seen getting into. And even when it’s found out that the bedspread her body was wrapped in was similar to one missing from their hotel room, little was done to find out what happened. Is it too late for answers? The current investigator would say no way. And he, along with a forensic scientist, are on a mission to find out what happened to Tyra and who is responsible.

When 73-year-old Margaret Reimann was murdered in her garage while getting ready to leave for church in 1986, everyone immediately started pointing fingers at one particular relative. And in the investigation that followed, detectives uncovered a decades-long family feud, grudges that had been festering for years, and questions about just how far someone might go when there’s money on the line. But almost four decades later, new DNA testing pointed them in a completely different direction. And now, the case is hotter than it’s ever been.

Today we are bringing you stories from a slightly different side of true crime: stories about people who live by deception. Individuals who don't just tell lies but become someone else entirely. From Audiochuck and Campside Media, this is Chameleon. Each week, host and journalist Josh Dean unravels a new case that pushes the limits of human deception. Stories of imposters, shapeshifters, and master con artists who have turned illusion into a way of life. The first episode dives into the unbelievable story of Rafaello Follieri, the charming con artist who fooled everyone from Hollywood to high society. He swept a famous actress off her feet, claimed ties to powerful politicians, and convinced investors he was on a mission to save the Catholic Church’s finances.

In 1975, 27-year-old Norris Evans was found brutally murdered in her Rochester home while her children were upstairs. The crime was shocking, but the decades of silence that followed may be even more haunting. Now, her children are breaking that silence in search of the truth.

In the Summer of 2004, Shelby Wright, along with his computer, disappeared, never to be seen again. Over two decades later, Shelby’s grandparents and the Snohomish County Sheriff’s office are still looking for answers.

During the Yakima Police Department’s annual Christmas party, the news of 62-year-old Jerene’s murder shocked every officer and their plus ones. Jerene’s house was known for its security cameras – there were so many that you basically couldn’t enter the property without being filmed.

Twenty-two-year-old Ron Harnish was murdered on the streets of San Diego in December 2006. Almost 19 years later, the police and Ron’s own mother believe they know who’s responsible. But proving it has been a challenge, and the people they are after are as violent as it gets.