The Abduction of Daniel Handley
True Crime with Elli Mac
11/29/22
•47m
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It was a cold and gloomy Sunday afternoon in Beckton, East London, on the 2nd of October, 1994. Daniel Handley, a helpful nine-year-old, had returned home after earning a few coins at the local supermarket, where he often helped out customers to load their cars with their shopping.
As he always did in his free time, he had then asked his mother, Maxine, if he was allowed to go to play at Alan's house, his best friend. Unknown to the dangers lurking around, Maxine had agreed to his request with strict instructions to be back at 6 o'clock.
However, by the time 6 o'clock had rolled around, Daniel still needed to come home. Four hours more passed and there was still no sign of him.
Maxine Handley, immediately knew something was wrong and started looking for him. She went door to door, searching, going to all the neighbours with whom she knew to be Daniel's playmates, yet, there was no sign of her son anywhere.
Soon hours turned into days, and then weeks, and there was still no Daniel. Witnesses would come forward saying they had seen him riding his silver saddle-less bike that night, but all the conflicting information and signs of Daniel did not help find him.
Where was Daniel Handley? Had he run away? Had he been hurt by his mother’s boyfriend?? Or worse, has he been abducted? Law enforcement would look into every possible scenario, each leading to a dead end.
Previous Episode
Ellie Nesler: Vigilante or Murderer?
November 12, 2022
•14m
On April 2nd 1993, Ellie Nesler took the law into her own hands in a Northern California courtroom, by shooting to death Daniel Driver in the head and neck 5 times.
35-year-old Daniel Driver was a Christian camp employee who in the summer of 1988 allegedly abused the then 6-year-old son of Ellie Nesler, Willie Nesler.
Ellie Nesler was praised by some as a protective mother, driven to act by the prospect of having her traumatised son testify against Driver in open court.
Others criticised her for brushing aside the legal system and taking the law into her own hands, which would then spark a national debate about Vigilantism.
The sympathetic portrait of Ellie Nesler painted by her defence team began to disappear however within weeks of the crime when tests found Ellie to have been high on methamphetamine at the time of the shooting. It had also come to light that Ellie had a criminal record with a conviction at 18 for auto theft and had served several months in a California Youth Authority facility.
Had Ellie Nesler gone too far, or was she simply protecting her son and the world from a very dangerous man?
Next Episode
Why Did Stephen Searle Murder His Wife?
December 24, 2022
•23m
Just five days after Christmas in 2017, at 10:19pm, Suffolk police received what they later described as one of the most bizarre 999 calls they had ever received.
Stephen Searle calmly explained to police that he had killed his wife in their suburban house in the sleepy Suffolk town of Stowmarket.
When paramedics arrived, 62 year old Anne Searle was found unresponsive and despite their best efforts, she was pronounced dead at the scene.
Anne had been strangled by her husband of 45 years, before suffering from a fatal cardiac arrest.
When police arrived, he joked that he had ‘been a very naughty boy’, and ‘sometimes you’ve just had enough’. Stephen claimed it to be self-defence, and that Anne had come at him with a steak knife.
But how could someone who had accidentally killed their wife of 45 years, and the mother of their children, joke so casually after her traffic death?
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