In May 2016, Lana Clayton walked into the York County Sheriff's Office and told deputies she'd accidentally shot her husband in the head with a crossbow while he slept. Steven Clayton backed up her story. Accident. No charges were filed. They moved on.

Two years later, Steve was dead — found at the bottom of the staircase in the South Carolina mansion he'd built as an exact replica of George Washington's Mount Vernon. The first theory was a fall, maybe a heart attack. It took his family's insistence on an autopsy, and a coroner who'd never even heard of the chemical she was looking at, to uncover what had actually happened.

This week, we're digging into the marriage behind the headlines — the six-time-married millionaire and the quiet VA nurse, a crossbow story that changed three separate times over the years, a judge who called it "the strangest case" of his career, and a family that waited a full year to bury their own brother so they could do it without the woman accused of killing him in the room.

And we're not done with this method yet. Because Lana Clayton's case didn't stay contained to South Carolina — and next week, we're following the thread to a second case that investigators believe was directly inspired by this one.

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For over a decade, Sheriff Howard Sills has carried the unsolved murders of Russell and Shirley Dermond with him — a case that's outlasted every other investigation of his forty-year career. In this episode, we go deep into the man behind the badge, the staggering range of theories the public threw at this case — mafia, cult, extremism, even an alligator — and the family who's spent twelve years asking not for revenge, but simply for an answer.

We also trace the forensic breakthroughs that have quietly reshaped this case in recent years: cellphone geolocation data, a touch-DNA discovery on Russell's own clothing, and a 2026 update suggesting these threads are finally converging. Somebody out there knows what happened at that lake house. This episode asks how much longer they can stay quiet

This case is still open. If you have any information about the murders of Russell and Shirley Dermond, contact the Putnam County Sheriff's Office at 706-485-8557 or the FBI at 404-679-9000. A reward is still active.

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Russell and Shirley Dermond had been married for over 60 years. Retired, well-liked, and settled into a quiet gated community on Lake Oconee, Georgia, they were the kind of couple who never missed a neighborhood gathering — until the weekend of the 2014 Kentucky Derby, when they simply didn't show up.

Days later, concerned friends walk into their unlocked home and find a horrifying scene.

No forced entry. Nothing stolen. No known enemies.

In this episode, we walk through the disappearance, the discovery, and the earliest theories in a case that would go on to baffle investigators, the community, and their loved ones.

This case is still open. If you have any information about the murders of Russell and Shirley Dermond, contact the Putnam County Sheriff's Office at 706-485-8557 or the FBI at 404-679-9000. A reward is still active.

If this episode kept you up thinking about it, follow Crime Clueless so you don't miss what we cover next — and leave us a rating or review, it genuinely helps other listeners find these cases.

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This is part two of two. If you haven't listened to part one, do that first, then join us for part two.

The Gary Triano case had been cold for nearly nine years when a tip to America's Most Wanted led investigators to a storage unit in Yorba Linda, California.

Inside: microcassette recordings, thousands of emails, financial documents, a map of Tucson, a Ramada Inn receipt dated four months before the bombing — and Gary Triano's divorce papers.

What investigators found in that storage unit, was a story told in spreadsheets, amortization tables, Federal Express tracking numbers, and the voices of two people who thought no one was listening.

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On the evening of November 1st, 1996, more than 100 people were waiting at Gary Triano's Sabino Canyon home to surprise him for his upcoming 53rd birthday. He never arrived.

Gary Lee Triano was a larger-than-life figure who served on hospital boards, and earned a Medal of Merit from the Ronald Reagan Presidential Task Force. He was also a man whose financial life had left a trail of lawsuits, failed casino deals, and angry creditors stretching from Tucson to Las Vegas to Hong Kong.

At approximately 5:30 p.m. that Friday evening, as Triano got into a borrowed Lincoln Town Car, a pipe bomb detonated. It was the first fatal vehicle explosion in the city of Tucson's history. Sheriff Clarence Dupnik called it an assassination at the scene.

What followed was one of the most complex investigations in Tucson history. And no clear answers. Sheriff Dupnik said it best: it was like a game of Clue.

The case would go cold. The task force would disband. And for nearly a decade, whoever killed Gary Triano would go about their life while his family waited for answers.

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On the night of September 12th, 1985, 23-year-old CJ DeLuca was working an overnight shift at a Connecticut gas station he wasn't even supposed to be covering. By morning, he was dead — and three hours later, a second gas station attendant had been shot with the same gun.

This wasn't a random act of violence. It was a spree.

Forty years later, investigators believe they know who did it. They just need someone to finally come forward and say so.

If you have any information about the murder of Carmen "CJ" DeLuca, please contact the Connecticut Cold Case Unit at 1-866-623-8058 or email cold.case@ct.gov.

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On the morning of June 27th, 2000, sixteen-year-old Molly Bish was dropped off for her second day as a lifeguard at Comins Pond in Warren, Massachusetts. She walked toward the water with her things, her mom watched her go, and drove away. Less than fifteen minutes later, the chair was empty. Molly's flip-flops, her first aid kit, her lunch and her towel were sitting at the water's edge — but Molly wasn't there.

What followed was the largest missing person search in Massachusetts history. Three years later, only twenty-six bones were found in the deep woods of Palmer, five miles from the pond. And nearly twenty-six years later, no one has ever been charged.

The Bish family has never stopped fighting. But the lifeguard chair at Comins Pond has been empty for twenty-five years. And somebody out there knows why.

If you have information about the murder of Molly Bish, contact the Massachusetts State Police tip line at 508-453-7575 or email WorcesterDAunresolved@mass.gov. Tips can be anonymous.

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This is episode two of two. Please listen to episode one first, this story has too many details to be one part.

When a former employee named Steven Durst was caught collecting ransom money for the missing couple, the investigation took a dark turn. Durst failed a polygraph and had been telling people the Markleys owed him exactly $1,000 — the same amount withdrawn at the bank.

He was convicted and sentenced to 10 years in prison, but has steadfastly maintained his innocence when it comes to the disappearance.

Twenty-five years later, a shooting in the same small township led to a massive property search with excavators and state investigators — and a sheriff referencing a cold case "dating back historically twenty years."

If you have any information about the disappearance of John and Shelly Markley, contact the Trumbull County Sheriff's Office at 330-675-2540.

You can also reach Detective Rick Tackett directly at 330-675-2508.

If you don't want to call law enforcement, you can message the family's Facebook page — it's called Missing Persons: John and Shelly Markley. They're still there. They're still checking it. They haven't given up.

To see more about this case, as well as the sources used to create this episode, visit our Blog Here.

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