If you’re a fan of true crime like me, you know that some cases just stick with you, whether that means they keep you up at night or you spend way too much time trying to make sense of it. Here are the top three cases that will always live in my head. All of the videos mentioned will be from Bailey Sarian’s channel on YouTube. She’s easily the most entertaining person I’ve watched on YouTube, and you NEED to be watching her if you don’t already!
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Casey Anthony
If somehow, you’ve never heard of this case, I’ll give you a quick rundown. In 2008, Caylee Marie Anthony passed away mysteriously, and the prime suspect quickly became her mother, 22-year-old Casey. The case soon grabbed national attention thanks to reporters like Nancy Grace, who dubbed Casey as “Tot Mom.” As investigators began looking into the case, Casey’s lying and skirting around led both police and the public to believe that Casey killed her daughter. These allegations were further exacerbated by photos of Casey partying, dated after Caylee was last seen alive.
The explosive trial captivated the nation, including my 12-year-old self and my childhood best friend. For some reason, we both ended up watching the trial and were sitting in her living room when the verdict was read. Shockingly, Casey was found not guilty of her daughter’s murder, and the public was outraged.
For a deep dive into this story, check out Bailey Sarian on YouTube!
2. Jodi Arias
Much like Casey Anthony, Jodi Arias’s case is insane and captured the attention of the nation. Jodi worked for a multi-level marketing company called Prepaid Legal Services (hereafter referred to as PPLS) when she met Travis Alexander at a company conference. The two would quickly begin a romantic relationship in 2007, and an intense one at that. Travis was a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, and premarital sex was seriously frowned upon.
Once Jodi’s relationship with Travis became more serious, she relocated to Mesa, AZ to be closer to him. After the move, however, Jodi’s behavior got stranger and stranger. Wherever Travis went, Jodi was there as well, even going to the bathroom. Travis’s friends were worried because it seemed like Jodi had so much control over his life, and she quite literally never left. The two were set to go on a trip with PPLS in 2008, but during one of their many breakups, Travis asked to have Jodi’s ticket switched to another female friend of his.
Travis was brutally murdered on June 4, 2008 (wow, a cursed year). Immediately, Travis’s friends knew that Jodi had a hand in it, if not the sole culprit. Jodi had been stalking Travis and his new girlfriend for weeks, even going so far as to break into his house when he wasn’t home. In the days leading up to his murder, Travis and Jodi had engaged in some seriously kinky sex, taking photos and videos of the acts.
Jodi’s interrogation by police is one of the strangest parts of this case. During her interrogation at the police station, she was left alone for a bit. She can be seen doing headstands and generally being weird in a CCTV video captured by security cameras. Jodi also falsely accused Travis of being domestically and sexually abusive, even bringing a shirt she made that read “I am a Survivor” to her trial.
Watch Bailey Sarian’s recap of this case here!
3. The Jonestown Massacre and Jim Jones
This case is pretty intense and involves a lot of sexual assault/abuse, manipulation, and cult behavior, so be warned if you are sensitive to these topics.
Jim Jones was the Jonestown compound leader (full name: The People’s Temple Agricultural Project) and was involved in religion from a very young age. After being inspired by a faith-healing service at a Baptist church in 1952, he realized that not only could church involvement bring him social clout, but it could potentially make him very wealthy. He was socially liberal for his time, advocating for racial integration in his church. His efforts were so successful that he even earned a Martin Luther King, Jr. Humanitarian Award in 1977.
On the inside, however, Jim was motivated by much more sinister things. As previously mentioned, he understood the things that being a church leader could bring him. Jim was known as a miracle worker in his church, commanding stuff like headaches, coughs, etc., to go away, claiming that God gave him this power.
One important thing to note about our pal Jim is that he studied dictators such as Adolf Hitler frequently after the establishment of the Jonestown compound in Guyana. His goal was to manipulate the community members into doing his bidding, which eventually led to a group suicide in 1978. After years of manipulation at the hands of Jim Jones, over 900 people died after drinking a cyanide-laced cup of Flavor Aid (similar to Kool-Aid), leading to the expression “drinking the Kool-Aid.” Before this happened, Jim decided to give the members of Jonestown a test. He gave them a cup of Flavor Aid and told them that within 45 minutes, they would all be dead. Because members of the compound had been so brainwashed, they complied with little to no resistance. Forty-five minutes later, members of the compound realized that nothing happened. Jim Jones got up on a pulpit and told his followers that they had just been put through a loyalty test.
This case is so long, I just have to pass it over to Bailey Sarian to finish it up.
If you love true crime, there’s a ton of other places to get your fix. If you like podcasts, I recommend Crime Junkie and the Chilluminati podcast. They’re two different vibes, but I enjoy both of them in their own right. Check out the Casey Anthony documentary on Hulu as well as the many deep-dive videos about all of the cases I mentioned on YouTube. Be safe out there!