Our True Crime Podcast · Our True Crime Podcast

343. Dardeen Family Massacre

·56 min·1 clip
Elaine had been bound and gagged with duct tape and went into labor during the assault. Her newborn baby, a girl named Casey, had been delivered and immediately killed.
This true crime deep investigation examines the unsolved 1987 Dardeen family massacre in Ina, Illinois—Russell, Elaine, three-year-old Peter, and newborn Casey killed in their mobile home on November 18. The episode reconstructs the family's lives in a region experiencing unprecedented violence, Keith's increasing protectiveness after a child murder, and the horrific crime scene discovery showing post-mortem staging suggesting intimate killer knowledge. Investigators faced 30 detectives, 100+ witnesses, and 150+ evidence pieces yet found no usable DNA, fingerprints, or forced entry. The narrative pivots to the 1999 arrest of serial killer Tommy Lynn Sales who confessed with accurate details but inconsistent versions and problematic psychological profile for the body-washing aspect.

As heard by us

A grim unsolved murder case, told with skepticism and enough doubt to keep every claim under pressure.

The episode frames the family murders as a grim case of violence, doubt, and dead ends. It lingers on the parts that matter: Keith's caution around strangers, Sell's shaky confession, and the way the search for a suspect kept slipping away.

Read the full review in PlayNext →

Why you'd press play

Want a hard, skeptical look at a family killing with no clean answer at the end?

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →
Listen to the show on