Dark Downeast

Fifty years after James Cassidy’s death, there is still no simple explanation for his brutal murder. The evidence left behind in the Maine woods raised questions investigators have never fully answered. And the deeper the investigation went, the more complicated the picture became.

A respected bank executive had vanished, federal authorities were preparing to arrest him, and a burned car was found far from home on a deserted logging road. But the paper trail and the witness accounts pointed in several directions at once – toward financial crimes, toward organized crime figures operating in New England, and toward the surprisingly valuable world of rare stamps.

Somewhere among those threads may lie the explanation for what really happened all those years ago in April of 1976.

If you have any information about this case, please contact the Maine State Police, Major Crimes Unit – North at (207) 973-3750, or use their toll-free line at 1-800-432-7381. You can also submit information anonymously by using the tip form.

View source material and photos for this episode at: darkdowneast.com/jamescassidy-part2

 

Dark Downeast is an Audiochuck and Kylie Media production hosted by Kylie Low.

Follow @darkdowneast on Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok

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In April of 1976, an anonymous call to a sheriff’s department in Maine alerted investigators to something almost impossible to imagine: a burning station wagon hidden off a remote road, and what looked like a body inside. What they found would open a case filled with contradictions.

The victim was James Cassidy, a Massachusetts bank vice president, father of three, churchgoing family man, and by all accounts someone living a quiet, ordinary life. But in the days before his death, Jim had vanished across state lines, federal authorities were preparing to arrest him on embezzlement charges, and whispers of missing money, valuable stamps, and possible organized crime connections began to surface.

Nearly fifty years later, his death remains unsolved.

If you have any information about this case, please contact the Maine State Police, Major Crimes Unit – North at (207) 973-3750, or use their toll-free line at 1-800-432-7381. You can also submit information anonymously by using the tip form.

View source material and photos for this episode at: darkdowneast.com/jamescassidy-part1

 

Dark Downeast is an Audiochuck and Kylie Media production hosted by Kylie Low.

Follow @darkdowneast on Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok

To suggest a case visit darkdowneast.com/submit-case

Did you know you can listen to Dark Downeast ad-free? Join the Crime Junkie Fan Club! Visit https://crimejunkiepodcast.com/fanclub/ to view the current membership options and policies.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

On a fall morning in 1988, police in Nashua, New Hampshire walked into an apartment and found two women murdered in their bed. What followed seemed, at first, like a case that would never truly reach an ending. 

There were suspects, confessions, trials, and years of legal battles but no final resolution. For decades, the killings of Charlene Ranstrom and Brenda Warner lingered in the background, a file sitting quietly among other unsolved cases. But some investigations refuse to stay buried.

Years later, new detectives took another look. With fresh eyes, new witnesses, and forensic technology that hadn’t existed when the crime was first investigated, the story began to change.

View source material and photos for this episode at: darkdowneast.com/brendawarner-charleneranstrom

 

Dark Downeast is an Audiochuck and Kylie Media production hosted by Kylie Low.

Follow @darkdowneast on Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok

To suggest a case visit darkdowneast.com/submit-case

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On a rainy night in late May 1989, a fire was spotted in a Westport, Connecticut parking lot. Within minutes, first responders realized the impossible: a body was burning in the open. Not long after and just a few miles away, a husband called police to report his wife missing.

Her name was Joan Wertkin. From the outside, she was living an enviable life in one of Connecticut’s most idyllic towns. But as investigators traced her final hours, the case turned into something far more complicated – a tight timeline, a fraying relationship, a car left where it shouldn’t have been, and questions that still echo for her family.

If you have information about Joan Wertkin’s case, please contact the Westport Police Department Cold Case Unit at (203) 520-3831. You can also email tips to [email protected].

View source material and photos for this episode at: darkdowneast.com/joanwertkin

Dark Downeast is an Audiochuck and Kylie Media production hosted by Kylie Low.

Follow @darkdowneast on Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok

To suggest a case visit darkdowneast.com/submit-case

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On an August evening in 1982, children playing in Boston’s Franklin Park stumbled onto a scene that would quietly become one of the city’s most troubling unsolved cases. 

The victim was a 16-year-old girl who had already endured instability, displacement, and independence far beyond her years. Her murder received little attention at the time, but within months, rumors began to swirl: allegations of sexual assault inside a private police club, whispers of a cover-up, and a detective who refused to back down.

If you have any information that could help bring answers in Lucia Kai Roberts’ case, please contact the Boston Police Department at (617) 343-4470 or submit a tip through the online form.

View source material and photos for this episode at: darkdowneast.com/luciakairoberts

 

Dark Downeast is an Audiochuck and Kylie Media production hosted by Kylie Low.

Follow @darkdowneast on Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok

To suggest a case visit darkdowneast.com/submit-case

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.