Drop Dead Serious With Ashleigh Banfield

From beauty pageants and college cheerleading to a ten-year prison sentence for killing her newborn son, Laken Snelling is facing a VERY different future. The former University of Kentucky cheerleader pleaded guilty to first-degree manslaughter after her baby, McCoy Cade Hall, was found dead inside a trash bag in her bedroom closet. In this episode of Drop Dead Serious, Holli Coulman of Pink Lady Prison Consultants joins Ashleigh to explain what life behind bars could look like for a 22-year-old with no prior criminal record. 

Previous Episodes:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLxEAbh-aNbMImS1SzzUl8aZo3V...

A married Massachusetts police detective is accused of killing 23-year-old Sandra Birchmore and her unborn baby to conceal a secret that stretched back to when she was fifteen. Matthew Farwell allegedly told Sandra Birchmore she was “the worst person on the face of the earth” after she announced her pregnancy, and now a federal jury is reading the messages he wanted deleted. But his vile texts are only part of what makes this trial so outrageous, because jurors are also hearing how police handled her death before the FBI stepped in. In this episode of Drop Dead Serious, Ashleigh Banfield brea...

Disturbing new details in the case of a mother accused of cutting her own daughter’s baby from her womb: Rebecca Park’s fiancé testified that before he dated Rebecca, he was sleeping with her biological mother. Rebecca was just 22 and nearly full-term when she disappeared in Michigan. She was later found dead in the woods, and her baby was missing. Her biological mother, Cortney Bartholomew, and Cortney’s husband, Bradly Bartholomew, are charged with murder, torture, and a slew of other crimes.

Do Jane Doe’s own words undermine her allegations—or should investigators have dug deeper before closing the door? In this episode of Drop Dead Serious, Ashleigh Banfield is joined by former Manhattan Supreme Court Judge Jill Konviser for a fiery debate over the Cornell 7 rape allegations, Jane Doe’s conflicting accounts, and the district attorney’s decision that no crime occurred. Judge Konviser calls his handling of the case a “dereliction” of his duties, and explains why she believes the investigation fell short. 

Previous Episodes:
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Florida mother Nathalie Belizaire is accused of leaving FOUR children home alone while she took a tropical getaway. Police found the siblings hiding together in a bathroom, and when their mother got off the ship, authorities were waiting. In this episode of Drop Dead Serious, Ashleigh Banfield breaks down the shocking bodycam footage and Judge Mindy Glazer’s blistering reaction. The mother denies the child neglect allegations and claims the baby’s father set her up.

Lynette Hooker is still missing. Her husband Brian Hooker is making weed runs in California and hanging out in his mom’s garage. In this episode of Drop Dead Serious, Ashleigh Banfield and former federal prosecutor Neama Rahmani examine Brian Hooker’s pot-store outing, his behavior amid the federal investigation, and the potential legal consequences if investigators can disprove his story. Could evidence aboard Soulmate become the key to the Lynette Hooker case? Brian has not been charged in connection with his wife’s disappearance.

Previous Videos: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLxEAbh-aNbMJM9aXDZC-jSEPRZCcbEALS

New text messages and Jane Doe’s full six-page police statement are fueling a fresh firestorm over the Cornell University fraternity allegations, with disturbing details and messages that demand a closer look. From her account of sex and ketamine use inside the Chi Phi fraternity house to the revealing texts she sent afterward, it’s fueling a question a lot of people are asking: if the media had these full text exchanges from the beginning, why are we only seeing them now? In this episode of Drop Dead Serious, Ashleigh Banfield examines Jane Doe’s text exchanges with two of the fr...

Could the missing women’s bodies have been dissolved and washed down the pipes? The FBI is searching floors, walls, and basement plumbing at Philadelphia’s “House of Horrors” as investigators examine whether chemicals were used to dispose of human remains through “wet cremation.” At least seven missing women have been linked to the home of filmmaker and suspected serial killer Raymond “R.C.” Horsch, where authorities recovered more than a million digital files. No bodies have been recovered. In this episode of Drop Dead Serious, Ashleigh Banfield breaks down the new forensic search, the wet cremation investigation, and a family’s account...

Christa Pike kept a piece of her teenage victim’s skull as a trophy, but after surviving Tennessee’s botched execution, her lawyers are demanding mercy. Convicted of torturing and murdering 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer in 1995, Christa Pike survived two doses of lethal injection drugs and has now regained consciousness. But can Tennessee take her back to the death chamber? In this episode of Drop Dead Serious, Ashleigh Banfield is joined by criminal defense attorney and former homicide prosecutor Paul Callan, who helped prosecute “Son of Sam” killer David Berkowitz, to break down the latest updates on Pike’s condition, whether sh...

One of the men accused in the Cornell rape case says Jane Doe sexually assaulted HIM while he was incapacitated, and that Cornell University failed to tell him about his rights as a sexual assault survivor. In this episode of Drop Dead Serious, Megyn Kelly joins Ashleigh to challenge the discrepancies between Jane Doe’s original police statement and her civil lawsuit, question the media’s coverage, and discuss whether the accuser should remain anonymous while the accused men are publicly named.

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Jane Doe texted “none of the sexual stuff was illegal" and "i love u king” to a man she later accused of rape, and now her private messages and secretly recorded calls are fueling explosive questions about the Cornell fraternity case. In this episode of Drop Dead Serious, Ashleigh Banfield is joined by Dan Abrams to examine Jane Doe’s texts, the recorded conversations, and the allegations in her civil lawsuit. They discuss the renewed investigation led by New York Attorney General Letitia James, Governor Kathy Hochul’s intervention, and the questions facing Cornell and the district attorney. The accused men deny...

Crybaby pastor Caleb Flynn had the nerve to quote scripture and deny murdering his wife while his own daughters tore into him for taking their mother’s life and destroying the family he claimed to love. At his sentencing for Ashley Flynn’s murder, the former American Idol contestant wept as his parents pleaded for mercy and insisted he was remorseful, even as he refused to admit what a jury had convicted him of doing. One daughter asked him to finally confess and made clear she had no plans to visit him in prison, where he will spend the rest...

Apparently, nine guilty verdicts still aren’t enough for Caleb Flynn’s mom, who insists her son is innocent and blames the media. The “worship pastor” and American Idol reject was convicted on all nine counts, including aggravated murder, for killing his wife, Ashley Flynn. So why is the murder weapon still missing, and could someone else know where it went? In this episode of Drop Dead Serious, Ashleigh Banfield sits down with Law&Crime’s Angenette Levy, host of Crime Fix, who was inside the courtroom, to unpack the mother’s finger-pointing, the lingering questions about mistress Alleigha Botner, inve...

Lindsay Clancy’s lawyer wants her acquitted of killing her three children, claiming prosecutors never proved she did it. After the first murder trial ended in a mistrial, Kevin Reddington trashed the police investigation and demanded a not guilty ruling. Prosecutors fired back, calling his argument “laughable.” 

In this episode of Drop Dead Serious, Ashleigh Banfield breaks down the courtroom clash and holdout juror Michael Desronvil’s statement after conflicting accounts of what happened inside the jury room. With prosecutors pushing for a gag order and the defense fighting to dismiss the case, will Lindsay Clancy face another t...

All those tears, and Caleb Flynn still couldn’t sell the jury his sob story. The Ohio worship pastor and American Idol reject was found guilty on all counts in his wife Ashley Flynn’s murder after his defense tried to point the finger at his mistress. In this episode of Drop Dead Serious, Ashleigh Banfield breaks down the verdict, the scorched-earth closing arguments, and the attempt to throw his mistress, Alleigha Botner, under the bus. 

Caleb Flynn cried in court while watching himself cry during a police interrogation about his wife’s murder. But as detectives pressed the former American Idol contestant and worship pastor about his missing gun, his marriage, and the intruder he claimed killed Ashley Flynn, the questions got a lot harder. In this episode of Drop Dead Serious, Ashleigh Banfield breaks down Caleb’s recorded police interviews, the explosive messages with his mistress, Alleigha Botner, and the digital evidence presented at his Ohio murder trial. 

A Cornell student says seven fraternity brothers sexually assaulted her after one allegedly posted a Snapchat message inviting other men upstairs, but the district attorney says the statement she signed for police tells a very different story. Her lawsuit has sparked fury over why no one was criminally charged, and now the DA has released excerpts describing what Jane Doe told investigators in 2024. 

In this episode of Drop Dead Serious, Ashleigh Banfield goes through the Cornell Chi Phi lawsuit and the DA’s statement side by side, zeroing in on the accounts of ketamine use, consent, and wha...

American Idol reject and “worship pastor” Caleb Flynn is on trial in Ohio, accused of shooting his wife, Ashley Flynn, twice in the back of the head as she slept in their bed, then staging the scene to look like a home invasion. In this episode of Drop Dead Serious, Ashleigh Banfield breaks down Caleb’s mistress, Alleigha Botner's stunning admissions about her jealousy toward Ashley, her repeated ultimatums, the message saying she wanted to kill Ashley, her missing electronic devices, her searches for unsolved wife murders, and why she initially lied to the FBI. Caleb Flynn has pleaded not guilty

"Kill douche": Former American Idol contestant and worship pastor Caleb Flynn is on trial for allegedly shooting his wife, Ashley Flynn, inside their Tipp City, Ohio, home while their two daughters slept nearby, then staging the scene to look like a break-in. Caleb Flynn has pleaded not guilty, but prosecutors say more than 100,000 messages exchanged during an alleged year-long affair reveal his hatred for Ashley, his desire to escape the marriage, and chilling discussions about killing her without going to prison. In this episode of Drop Dead Serious, Ashleigh Banfield breaks down the case against Caleb Flynn and the explosive...

In this episode of Drop Dead Serious, Ashleigh Banfield speaks with Lynette Hooker’s father and stepmother, Dan and Kathy Shepherd, after Brian Hooker claimed he wanted to be left alone to “grieve with his family.” They reveal that Brian has not contacted Lynette’s family and explain why his words left them furious. Ashleigh also breaks down the unanswered questions surrounding Lynette’s disappearance in the Bahamas and Brian’s return to California. Brian Hooker has not been charged with any crime and is presumed innocent.

Patrick Clancy breaks his silence after Lindsay Clancy’s mistrial, opening up about losing Cora, Dawson, and Callan, forgiving Lindsay, and rebuilding his life with his new wife, Dr. Rachel Danis, who is now pregnant with their first child. In this episode of Drop Dead Serious, Ashleigh Banfield breaks down Patrick's appearance on 60 Minutes, and also examines the lone holdout juror’s explosive new claims, the alleged death threats against him, and Kevin Reddington’s push to obtain his cell phone records.

Real Housewives of Atlanta star Kim Zolciak Biermann and Kroy Biermann’s 15-year-old son, KJ, is facing seven felony charges as an adult for the alleged sexual assault of a teenage girl inside an Alpharetta gym. KJ denies the allegations and intends to plead not guilty. In this episode of Drop Dead Serious, Ashleigh Banfield breaks down the case, the evidence, and the decades KJ could face in prison. She also examines the bombshell bond hearing, where prosecutors revealed another sexual-battery case involving KJ that had never been made public.

A sprawling investigation into a Philadelphia “house of horrors” has uncovered more than one million digital files, five women who appear to be dead on camera, 17 people who remain unaccounted for, a homemade laboratory filled with chemicals, and five urns containing suspected human remains. The evidence was recovered from the Chew Avenue home shared by Eugene Horsch and his late father, Raymond “R.C.” Horsch, an infamous pornographer who reportedly targeted vulnerable women in Philadelphia’s Kensington neighborhood and openly wrote about serial killers and disposing of bodies.

Brian Hooker won’t answer police questions about his missing wife, but when our reporter started asking them, suddenly Brian couldn’t call the cops fast enough. In this episode of Drop Dead Serious, Ashleigh talks to freelance photographer Kevin Perkins about his explosive confrontation with Brian and the questions he tried to ask about Lynette Hooker’s disappearance. 

Lynette Hooker disappeared in the Bahamas on April 4, 2026, after her husband, Brian Hooker, claimed she fell from their dinghy as they headed back to their sailboat, Soulmate. GPS data and other evidence have raised serious questions about that account...

18-year-old Karoline Heintz was stabbed in the chest, stuffed into the back of her own Jeep and abandoned near her college campus. Police say her boyfriend, Royce Moser, blamed a “demon” for the killing, then turned to his mother, Rachel Moser, who allegedly brought out the gloves, disinfectant spray, and garbage bags and helped her son cover it all up. But Karoline’s family was already tracking her, and an AirTag hidden inside her Jeep led police straight to her body. In this episode of Drop Dead Serious, Ashleigh breaks down the horrifying Karoline Heintz murder case, the evidence now piling...

Just when you thought the Lindsay Clancy case could not get any more disturbing, an Illinois mom, Corie Walsh, is accused of killing her two-year-old son, Barrett, after reportedly spending hours obsessing over Lindsay’s trial. And for the first time, several Lindsay Clancy jurors are spilling what really happened inside that jury room. In this episode of Drop Dead Serious, Criminal defense attorney Sara Azari joins Ashleigh Banfield to unpack the stunning 11–1 split, Kevin Reddington’s real strategy, whether Lindsay will face another trial, and the eerie connection to the Corie Walsh case.

She gave birth alone, ended her newborn son’s life, hid him in a trash bag, and went to McDonald’s. Now, former University of Kentucky cheerleader Laken Snelling has admitted it all in open court. In this episode of Drop Dead Serious, Ashleigh Banfield breaks down Laken Snelling’s chilling courtroom admission, the major contradictions in her original story and the evidence prosecutors say proved she concealed her pregnancy and attempted to cover up the birth. Why did prosecutors agree to a plea deal, and could Snelling serve just 10 years after admitting she deliberately deprived her baby of oxygen?

One holdout juror, one accusation of lying under oath, and one murder trial that went completely off the rails...? After seven days and roughly 36 hours of deliberations, the Lindsay Clancy trial has ended in a mistrial, but not before defense attorney Kevin Reddington argued that the jury was effectively split 11–1 in favor of acquittal. Was one juror refusing to follow the law on reasonable doubt, or was this simply a jury that could not agree? 

In this episode of Drop Dead Serious, Ashleigh Banfield is joined by Karen Read's defense attorney, David Yannetti, who knows firsthand what it...

After nearly 36 hours of deliberations, a THIRD note from the jurors in the Lindsay Clancy case prompted Judge Peter Sullivan to call an emergency sidebar over an apparent problem inside the jury room. In this episode of Drop Dead Serious, Ashleigh Banfield is joined by Criminal defense attorney Sara Azari to break down the extraordinary jury drama, whether one 'rogue' juror could derail the entire case, and what this means for the possibility of a verdict or a mistrial in the Lindsay Clancy murder trial.

After five days of deliberations and a second note saying jurors still cannot reach a unanimous verdict, Judge William Sullivan issued a rare Tuey-Rodriguez instruction, also known as a “dynamite charge,” urging them to return to the jury room and make one final push. With the trial now teetering on the possibility of a hung jury and mistrial, Ashleigh Banfield breaks down what this latest development means. In this episode of Drop Dead Serious, former homicide prosecutor Matt Murphy joins Ashleigh to explain what may be happening inside the jury room, and how long deliberations could continue. 

After nearly six weeks of testimony, 80 witnesses and more than 300 exhibits, the jury deciding Lindsay Clancy’s fate says it cannot reach a unanimous verdict. But the deadlock does not mean the trial is over. The jurors have been sent back to continue deliberating, leaving one enormous unanswered question: what is dividing them? In this episode of Drop Dead Serious, Ashleigh Banfield is joined by Judge Ashley Willcott to break down what happens next, how far the judge can push a deadlocked jury and when those instructions risk becoming coercive. They also examine the possibility of a mistrial, whether prosecutors wo...

After weeks of intense scrutiny and growing frustration from Brooke Hanlon’s family and neighbors, Conor Hanlon, the man who says he found his wife bleeding and unconscious in their upstairs bedroom on June 6, has finally broken his silence and directly addressed rumors that he may have had something to do with her murder. 

Prosecutors argued that Lindsay deliberately killed her three children and left them “like broken toys,” while the defense blamed powerful medications, failed psychiatric care, and a psychotic break that left her unable to understand or control what she was doing.

In this episode of Drop Dead Serious, Ashleigh Banfield is joined by Boston 25 investigative reporter Bob Ward, who has been inside the courtroom throughout the trial, and trial lawyer Sara Azari to break down the closing arguments, the strongest and weakest moments from each side, and the verdict options now facing the jury. Was this first-degree murder, mans...

The Lindsay Clancy murder trial is nearing its final and most consequential stage after explosive rebuttal testimony, conflicting mental health diagnoses and a dramatic defense demand for a mistrial. Prosecutors argue that Clancy was severely depressed and suicidal, but not psychotic, when she strangled her three children, Cora, Dawson and Callan. Her defense maintains that postpartum psychosis left her unable to understand or control her actions. In this episode of Drop Dead Serious, Ashleigh Banfield breaks down the prosecution’s final push against Lindsay Clancy’s insanity defense, the questions surrounding her alleged command hallucination, the inconsistencies raised in cour...

A child sex abuse investigation in Vinton County, Ohio, has uncovered an alleged house of horrors involving 16 children, six defendants and 106 criminal charges. Gary Siders Jr., Elizabeth Siders, Gary Siders Sr. and Christina Siders have now been formally indicted on dozens of child endangerment charges after authorities allegedly found the children living in horrific conditions inside the family’s Hamden home. Gary and Elizabeth Siders now face additional sexual battery and unlawful sexual conduct charges involving another minor, while two newly named defendants, Josh Saunders and Brandon Henderson Sr., face charges including rape, gross sexual imposition and sexual battery. In th...

The Lindsay Clancy murder trial is approaching a verdict after dueling forensic psychiatrists offered the jury two radically different explanations for the deaths of her three children, Cora, Dawson and Callan. Was Lindsay Clancy suffering from postpartum psychosis and unable to control her actions, or was she depressed but still capable of understanding right from wrong? As closing arguments begin, the jury must decide whether she is guilty of murder or not guilty by reason of insanity. In this episode of Drop Dead Serious, Ashleigh Banfield is joined by former homicide prosecutor Matt Murphy, who makes a stunning prediction about...

The Lindsay Clancy trial has ignited a bitter national debate over murder, motherhood and mental illness. Clancy is accused of killing her three young children, Cora, Dawson and Callan, inside their Duxbury, Massachusetts, home in January 2023. Her defense argues she was suffering from postpartum psychosis and was not criminally responsible, while prosecutors say the evidence points to a deliberate and calculated plan. Now, as supporters rally outside the courthouse and the battle of the mental health experts intensifies, the question facing the jury is as difficult as it is devastating: Was Lindsay Clancy legally insane when she killed her children?

Luigi Mangione has pleaded guilty to two federal stalking charges resulting in the death of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, admitting under oath that he traveled to New York intending to shoot Brian Thompson and then carried out the killing on a Manhattan sidewalk. In a stunning courtroom statement, Luigi Mangione described his grievances with the healthcare industry but offered no apology to Brian Thompson’s family, who watched from the front row.  But Luigi Mangione’s guilty plea could also become his most powerful weapon against the separate New York state murder case. His attorneys immediately moved to dismiss the state...

Six months after Nancy Guthrie vanished from her Tucson-area home, investigators still have not identified the masked person captured on her doorbell camera, determined who sent the alleged ransom notes or revealed what happened to the mother of TODAY show host Savannah Guthrie. Now, FBI agents have returned to the area behind Nancy’s home as a stunning mistake by the Pima County Sheriff’s Department exposes a previously secret message apparently sent through the ransom note’s Bitcoin address: “We are ready to pay. Contact us.” In this episode of Drop Dead Serious, Ashleigh Banfield speaks with former Pima Count...

After weeks of testimony about Lindsay Clancy's mental health treatment, 13 psychiatric medications, conflicting medical records, and disturbing internet searches, did prosecutors prove Lindsay was criminally responsible, or did their own witnesses leave the jury with reasonable doubt? In this episode of Drop Dead Serious, Ashleigh Banfield is joined by veteran Boston 25 investigative reporter Bob Ward, who has been inside the courtroom throughout the Lindsay Clancy murder trial. He reveals what jurors are seeing, how they reacted to the graphic autopsy testimony and Patrick Clancy’s devastating 911 call, and what happened when Lindsay sobbed uncontrollably and cried out during court.