MAINE, 1987: On the night of June 8, 1987, David Nixon had just hung up the phone with his father. He called back home to let his folks know that he was staying over at their family beach house in Kennebunkport, Maine for one more night. That phone call was the last contact David ever had with his family. Sometime after he put the phone back on the hook, David was killed just steps from the house on Goose Rocks Beach.

The Murders of David Nixon & Steven Ray Johnson (Maine)

Dark Downeast: Maine and New England's True Crime Podcast digs into the decades-old and modern day cases that prickle the history of Vacationland and beyond – the unsolved homicides, undetermined deaths, unexplained disappearances and other dark stories of New England.

Investigative journalist and storyteller Kylie Low gets straight to the story with a mix of narrated episodes and documentary style production featuring interviews with surviving family and friends and insight on the investigations from detectives and sources who know these cases best.

This is heart-centered, ethical true crime, bringing light to stories you’re not hearing on other podcasts. It is Dark Downeast's mission to honor the legacy of the humans at the heart of each story and bring new attention to the cases still awaiting justice.

Society & Culture

Personal Journals

History

Philosophy

Places & Travel

Documentary

True crime

When Shari Lynn Roth left her apartment in North Conway, New Hampshire for a short afternoon hike to one of her favorite spots among the White Mountain National Forest, what should’ve been a peaceful retreat turned into a fateful encounter with a still unknown predator. 

Several theories have been floated since that August afternoon in 1977, but none have proven to be the truth about what happened more than four decades ago.

The Murder of Shari Lynn Roth (New Hampshire)

Sarah Hunter was only 15 minutes late for work when her coworker called police to report her missing, but despite his swift action, Sarah’s case would go cold and stay that way for years. 

Decades later, an individual known to the case from the earliest days of the investigation became a prime suspect and advanced DNA testing even led to an arrest. Yet Sarah’s murder still awaits a conclusion to this day after almost 40 years.

The Murder of Sarah Hunter (Vermont)

When a 15-year-old girl snuck out of her bedroom window one night in May of 1996, it was like she vanished right into thin air with no leads. Years later unsealed court documents revealed that police had a theory and a suspect from the earliest days of the case, but it would take over a decade to build a case strong enough for an arrest.

The Disappearance of April Dawn Pennington (Connecticut)

In a one month span during the winter of 1969, the city of Cambridge, Massachusetts was set on edge after two violent attacks on women while they slept in their beds challenged the very sense of safety residents thought they had in their own homes. 

Nearly 50 years later, one of those cases was finally solved, but the second, very similar homicide is still waiting for answers. The case file for the homicide of Ada Bean shows that the investigation uncovered numerous leads and tons of evidence at the time, but none of it led to an arrest. After more than five decades, this story is long overdue for an ending.

The Murder of Ada Bean (Massachusetts)

Thirty-three years after Douglas Wagg, Jr. turned up on a lone stretch of railroad tracks in the middle of the night in rural Martin County and over a year since Delia took on the case the scope of what was really going on in the area during the 1990's has come into view. Who was Doug? How did he end up so far from home? Who was he last seen with? Was the train really what killed him? Why was his case never investigated?

The Murders of David Nixon & Steven Ray Johnson (Maine)

Download our free app to listen on your phone