Darkness
42 episodes - English - Latest episode: about 1 month ago - ★★★★★ - 4.5K ratingsOn August 1, 1966, a sniper climbed the steps of the University of Texas at Austin’s 27-story tower. Seventeen people were killed and more than 30 others were injured. Fifty-six years later, mass shootings make headlines nearly every week. And the University of Texas tower looms over campus, a reminder of one of the first mass school shootings in United States history that has long been forgotten.
In season four of “Darkness,” host Sara Kinney walks through the day of the University of Texas Tower shooting and outlines its legacy among the decades-long epidemic of gun violence in schools. Hear from survivors, heroes and family members about their day in 1966, their lives since then and the state of gun control today.
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Episodes
Introducing 'Forsaken'
March 07, 2024 10:00 - 4 minutes - 5.93 MBIntroducing a new series from The Drag: "Forsaken." "Forsaken" is a series that explores the systems that both enhance and oppress the lives of the more than 29 million people living in Texas. Each episode will address issues that Texans face each day – the good and the bad. We’ll explore the criminal justice system, Texas politics, civil rights, social issues and even a little bit of history. Texas is the second-most diverse state in the nation and has equally diverse stories to tell. As ...
Episode 9: 'These people need closure' | The UT Tower Sniper
September 26, 2023 09:00 - 50 minutes - 69.5 MBFifty years after the shooting, survivors, heroes and their families return to Austin. A committee pushes for a better memorial for the victims. Some testify at the Texas Legislature, trying to stop a law allowing guns on campuses.
Bonus: 'Can you feel safe anywhere?' | The UT Tower Sniper
September 21, 2023 09:00 - 59 minutes - 83 MBCollege students discuss their experiences growing up with school shooting drills and the constant fear of a shooter. Host Sara Kinney and a March for Our Lives representative go over the state of gun legislation today.
Episode 8: 'It's a bleak part of our existence' | The UT Tower Sniper
September 19, 2023 09:00 - 1 hour - 95.9 MBForty-four years after the Tower shootings, another shooting occurs on the University of Texas campus. Survivors continue their lives while gun violence grows as a hot-button political issue. The physical wounds begin to heal, but the emotional ones remain.
Episode 7: 'A loss that cannot be measured' | The UT Tower Sniper
September 12, 2023 09:00 - 44 minutes - 63.6 MBThe shooting becomes national news. Students return to classes a few days later. Law enforcement continues its investigation. An autopsy is performed on the sniper. A police officer is laid to rest. Victims start their road to recovery.
Episode 6: 'A state of shock' | The UT Tower Sniper
September 05, 2023 09:00 - 44 minutes - 60.7 MBNinety-six minutes after the shooting began, the sniper is dead. Everyone nearby converges on campus. Law enforcement and journalists work to identify the dead. Hospitals struggle with the influx of patients. Friends and families mourn their loved ones.
Episode 5: 'I had enough' | The UT Tower Sniper
August 29, 2023 09:00 - 32 minutes - 44.2 MBMore law enforcement officers swarm campus and join the efforts to stop the shooter. In the tower, a chaotic situation unfolds as a handful of officers and civilians make their way to the observation deck and exchange fire with the sniper.
Episode 4: 'Time is ticking' | The UT Tower Sniper
August 22, 2023 09:00 - 41 minutes - 57.4 MBA police officer assigned to divert traffic from the campus area decides to head into the action. The bookstore employee heads toward the tower and teams up with law enforcement. Together, they hatch a plan to stop the sniper.
Episode 3: 'It's like a battle scene' | The UT Tower Sniper
August 15, 2023 09:00 - 48 minutes - 66 MBThe shooting continues along The Drag, a nearby street full of shops and restaurants. An employee of the university bookstore helps a wounded boy. More people join the rescue efforts. Students eating lunch and shopping take cover or run to safety. Police officers, students, and others get their guns and begin firing back at the sniper.
Episode 2: 'Like I was being electrocuted' | The UT Tower Sniper
August 08, 2023 09:00 - 49 minutes - 69.3 MBThe sniper opens fire on the University of Texas campus and the surrounding area. He shoots a pregnant woman, leaving her on hot concrete in the middle of the gunfire. A local radio reporter heads to the scene. Students in a Shakespeare class watch out the window as a police officer is shot.
Episode 1: 'A typical summer' | The UT Tower Sniper
August 01, 2023 09:00 - 34 minutes - 47.9 MBIt’s August 1, 1966, a hot summer day in Austin, Texas. Not that many people are on the University of Texas campus, except the students enrolled in summer classes. As Monday morning classes start, a 25-year-old former Marine has just killed his wife and mother. He packs the trunk of his car with seven guns and enough supplies to last him days. Then he drives to campus.
Introducing: Season four of ‘Darkness’
July 25, 2023 09:00 - 3 minutes - 5.42 MBOn August 1, 1966, a sniper climbed the steps of the University of Texas at Austin’s 27-story tower. Seventeen people were killed and more than 30 others were injured. Fifty-six years later, mass shootings make headlines nearly every week. And the University of Texas tower looms over campus, a reminder of one of the first mass school shootings in United States history that has long been forgotten. In season four of “Darkness,” host Sara Kinney walks through the day of the University of Tex...
Episode 4: The Light of the Moon | Devilish Deeds
March 09, 2023 20:27 - 42 minutes - 39.3 MBAs the bloody year of 1885 draws to a close and 1886 begins, the police are no closer to solving the vicious crimes that rattled Austin. Even more than a century later, no one knows for sure who killed these women or why. This episode explores the various theories, from the effects of the moon to the possibility that Jack the Ripper started in Texas.
Episode 3: Thirst For Blood | Devilish Deeds
March 09, 2023 20:23 - 32 minutes - 29.8 MBAustin’s city leaders begin to panic amid the bloodshed and bring in outside detectives to help the city’s underperforming police force. Although six Black women have been killed in less than a year, the city and the nation show much deeper concern when two white women are killed in just one night. The mayor, governor, the media and the Black and white communities desperately search for the killer … or killers.
Episode 2: More Butchery | Devilish Deeds
March 09, 2023 20:17 - 34 minutes - 47.1 MBA few months after the death of the first victim, another Black woman working as a servant in Austin is killed. And then another. With three murder victims and a clear pattern, modern officials would know that a serial killer is likely behind the attacks. With few forensic tools at their disposal, Austin’s small and racist police force rounds up Austin’s Black men. The killings don’t stop.
Episode 1: Wicked Work | Devilish Deeds
March 09, 2023 20:10 - 43 minutes - 59.8 MBAs the capital of Texas celebrates the coming of a new year with exuberance, a dark shadow eclipses the city as an unknown killer stalks the streets. A Black woman working as a servant to a rich white Austinite is murdered, and her boyfriend barely survives. In a city rife with violence, the brutality of the killing shakes up its citizens. And the terror has only just begun.
Episode 5: Amid darkness, a blessing | The Mark Kilroy story
November 15, 2022 11:00 - 47 minutes - 43.9 MBLaw enforcement officers close in on the cult leaders in Mexico City as fear spreads in the communities along the border. As they learn all of the horrible details of the cult’s activities, they turn to their religious faith and to superstition. Thousands gather to celebrate the life of Mark Kilroy, a college student who was so much more than just a headline in a story about a missing person.
Episode 4: Los Narcosatánicos | The Mark Kilroy story
November 08, 2022 11:00 - 45 minutes - 41.8 MBA mysterious young woman taking college courses in South Texas befriends a charismatic Cuban American. The two of them work their way into a drug gang in Mexico. In the aftermath of finding the bodies on a ranch, investigators seek the couple. They are focusing on Aldolfo Constanzo, the Cuban American who they believe is the cult’s leader. He keeps slipping out of their grasp.
Episode 3: Feeling of evil | The Mark Kilroy story
November 01, 2022 10:00 - 47 minutes - 43.5 MBThe bodies unearthed at a Mexican ranch and the people who buried them lead investigators to believe there’s something deeply sinister going on. While tabloids publish screaming headlines feeding into the “satanic panic” and the border communities fear who has been living alongside them, Mark Kilroy’s family offers forgiveness.
Episode 2: America’s Most Wanted | The Mark Kilroy story
October 25, 2022 10:00 - 43 minutes - 39.8 MBAcross the border from Matamoros, community members and law enforcement join Mark Kilroy’s friends and family in a desperate search. The friends go on the popular TV crime show, “America’s Most Wanted,'' and Mark’s father pleads on TV for anyone to come forward with information. Police set up road checkpoints, and a car blows right through it. The driver thinks he has powers that make him invisible to law enforcement. Police follow him to a ranch in Mexico … ending the search.
Episode 1: Spring break in Mexico | The Mark Kilroy story
October 18, 2022 10:00 - 47 minutes - 43.9 MBA group of friends takes a break from the rigors of college by hitting the beaches of South Padre Island during spring break. Just a short ride and a bridge crossing away, the Matamoros, Mexico nightclubs beckon the partying students with cheap alcohol and nonstop dancing. The friends get separated amid a swarm of students. They can’t find Mark, their buddy who goes to the University of Texas. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/darkness-podcast/support
Introducing: Season three of 'Darkness'
October 11, 2022 10:00 - 3 minutes - 3.04 MBIn March 1989, University of Texas student Mark Kilroy had everything going for him. He was preparing to take the MCAT exams and apply to medical school. He’d just turned 21. He was ready to finally take some time off from school and celebrate with his friends at America’s biggest Spring Break party spot…South Padre Island, Texas. In far south Texas, it wasn’t uncommon for students to cross the border into Mexico to continue the party. But after a night of partying in Matamoros, Mark Kilroy ...
Introducing: Season three of 'Darkness' | The Mark Kilroy story
October 11, 2022 10:00 - 3 minutes - 3.08 MBIn March 1989, University of Texas student Mark Kilroy had everything going for him. He was preparing to take the MCAT exams and apply to medical school. He’d just turned 21. He was ready to finally take some time off from school and celebrate with his friends at America’s biggest Spring Break party spot…South Padre Island, Texas. In far south Texas, it wasn’t uncommon for students to cross the border into Mexico to continue the party. But after a night of partying in Matamoros, Mark Kilroy ...
Sneak Peek: Devilish Deeds
May 03, 2022 10:15 - 8 minutes - 3.05 MB"Devilish Deeds" is out now wherever you get your podcasts! About episode one, "Wicked Work": As the capital of Texas celebrates the coming of a new year with exuberance, a dark shadow eclipses the city as an unknown killer stalks the streets. A Black woman working as a servant to a rich white Austinite is murdered, and her boyfriend barely survives. In a city rife with violence, the brutality of the killing shakes up its citizens. And the terror has only just begun. Additional sounds ...
Introducing: Devilish Deeds
March 24, 2022 18:13 - 2 minutes - 948 KBComing soon: A new historical true crime podcast from The Drag In 1885, a few years before Jack the Ripper went on a killing spree in London, an axe-wielding killer stalked the streets of the dusty frontier town of Austin, Texas. The victims, mostly Black women who worked as servants for Austin’s wealthy white residents, were brutally killed in the middle of the night. In a new podcast from the creators of the popular true crime series “Darkness,” host Megan Parker brings you back to the t...
Bonus: The bomber’s confession tape
December 07, 2021 12:00 - 26 minutes - 24.2 MBIn this bonus episode, host Ashley Miznazi and executive producer Katey Psencik Outka interview Paul Watler, a First Amendment lawyer and former journalist. In April 2018, nearly a month after the bombings, Paul wrote an opinion column published in several Texas newspapers urging law enforcement agencies to release the bomber’s confession tape. Go to NordVPN.com/darkness73 to get 73 percent off your NordVPN plan, plus a bonus gift. --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest ...
Bonus: The bomber’s confession tape | Austin Bomber
December 07, 2021 12:00 - 24 minutes - 22.5 MBIn this bonus episode, host Ashley Miznazi and executive producer Katey Psencik Outka interview Paul Watler, a First Amendment lawyer and former journalist. In April 2018, nearly a month after the bombings, Paul wrote an opinion column published in several Texas newspapers urging law enforcement agencies to release the bomber’s confession tape. Go to NordVPN.com/darkness73 to get 73 percent off your NordVPN plan, plus a bonus gift. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/...
Episode 6: 19 days | Austin Bomber
November 16, 2021 11:00 - 45 minutes - 62.4 MBIt has been nearly three weeks since the first bomb killed Stephan House, beginning an unprecedented time of terror in Austin. Law enforcement officials are closing in on the top suspect, and no one knows what will happen as the net closes around him.
Episode 5: Delivering Darkness | Austin Bomber
November 11, 2021 11:00 - 36 minutes - 49.7 MBAt a FedEx distribution center near San Antonio, a package explodes. Law enforcement officials quickly realize that another package that likely has a bomb in it has also been shipped via FedEx, and they race to find it. An FBI agent works to match receipts for equipment bought in the Austin area that could be used to make a bomb with a database of vehicles. She finds a match and officials believe they have identified the bomber.
Episode 4: The Trip Wire | Austin Bomber
November 09, 2021 11:00 - 30 minutes - 42.1 MBIn a residential neighborhood on the other side of the city from where the three bombings had struck, a young man parks his truck and strings a wire across the sidewalk. The wire is connected to an explosive device, and the trap is set for random victims. As Austinites descend into panic, law enforcement officials get their first big break in the case.
Episode 3: Hope | Austin Bomber
November 04, 2021 10:00 - 38 minutes - 52.5 MBOn the day investigators work the scene of the bomb that struck Draylen Mason’s home, 75-year-old Hope Herrera spends the morning caring for her 93-year-old mother. Hope picks up a package from her porch, and it explodes. Six hundred federal agents descend on Austin to work the case and to try to figure out the bomber’s identity, and no one knows where the serial bomber will strike next.
Episode 1: The First Attack | Austin Bomber
November 02, 2021 10:00 - 44 minutes - 60.9 MBOn a quiet suburban street in northeast Austin, 39-year-old father and husband Stephan House prepares to go to work. He spots a package on his porch. The box explodes in his hands. His neighbor runs to his porch and tries to help the bleeding man as he talks to a 911 operator, but there’s nothing he can do. In the aftermath, the Austin police tell the public that the bombing seems to be an isolated incident and that there is no cause for alarm.
Episode 2: Draylen's Story | Austin Bomber
November 02, 2021 10:00 - 38 minutes - 52.3 MBTeenager Draylen Mason dreams of being a neurosurgeon, and he also excels in music, which draws an offer to study the double bass under world-renowned professors at the University of Texas. Ten days after the first bomb exploded in an Austin suburb, Draylen notices a package on the porch and brings it into his family’s home. The package explodes, and it becomes clear that the death of Stephan House, a 39-year-old Black man, was not an isolated incident. Since Draylen is also Black, the commu...
Introducing: Season Two
October 26, 2021 10:00 - 3 minutes - 1.27 MBWhile just seniors in college, Haley Butler and Tinu Thomas started work on The Orange Tree, a seven-episode podcast about the life and tragic death of a young woman who was killed near the University of Texas. So many of you listened to and appreciated the work of The Drag Audio Production House that we decided to make a new season based on a completely different case. In season two, Ashley Miznazi examines a series of crimes that put the city of Austin on edge in the spring of 2018. And we...
Full trailer: 'The Orange Tree'
August 07, 2020 04:00 - 2 minutes - 1.56 MBThe post Full trailer: ‘The Orange Tree’ appeared first on The Drag. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/darkness-podcast/support
Episode 1: The Orange Door | The Orange Tree
August 04, 2020 11:00 - 24 minutes - 33.1 MBSharon Cave knows something is wrong the second she gets a call from her daughter Jennifer’s boss saying Jennifer didn’t show up for her first day at work. When no one can give her an answer as to where Jennifer was the night before, Sharon and her family set out on their own investigation. They find themselves in front of the door of Jennifer’s friend Colton Pitonyak just a few blocks from the University of Texas at Austin. They can’t get in, but what’s behind that orange door changes the...
Episode 2: Jennifer’s Story | The Orange Tree
July 28, 2020 11:00 - 34 minutes - 47.6 MBIn 2005, Jennifer Cave was navigating through the best and worst parts of her early 20s. She moves to Austin after high school in hopes of figuring out what she wants to do with her life and gets caught up in a party lifestyle. One night, right before the start of a promising new job, she goes out with her friend Colton Pitonyak to Austin’s famous Sixth Street … and is never heard from again. In 2005, Jennifer Cave was navigating through the best and worst parts of her early 20s. She moves...
Episode 3: Vacation | The Orange Tree
July 23, 2020 12:00 - 39 minutes - 53.7 MBAustin Police detectives search for a UT student wanted in connection with the death of Jennifer Cave. Colton Pitonyak, a promising business student and Jennifer’s friend, fled the scene of the crime right before her body was discovered at his condo. Since his Toyota Avalon is still parked at the Orange Tree Condos, police have to find out where he’s fled to but also how he’s getting there. They have reason to believe that he’s not alone.
Episode 4: Whodunit | The Orange Tree
July 21, 2020 11:00 - 31 minutes - 42.8 MBIt's January 2007, and Colton Pitonyak has been sitting in a Travis County jail awaiting his trial. His family didn’t post bail, so he has been behind bars since August 2005 when he was arrested after fleeing to Mexico for six days with Laura Hall. The Travis County Courthouse is packed for what everyone expects will be a sensational trial, and Court TV prepares to stream the details across the nation. A legendary Texas lawyer stands by Colton’s side.
Episode 5: Obsession | The Orange Tree
July 16, 2020 12:00 - 49 minutes - 67.7 MBA few days after Colton Pitonyak and Laura Hall were found in Mexico, Laura is called in to pick up her impounded car's keys at the Austin Police headquarters. When she shows up, she's led to a small room to be questioned by the police. Detectives are trying to figure out what her involvement is in the crime. She waives her rights to having an attorney present during an eight-hour interrogation. Her version of what happened the morning Jennifer Cave was killed sets in motion another major ...
Episode 6: Wild Card | The Orange Tree
July 14, 2020 19:00 - 48 minutes - 67.1 MBFellow inmates say Laura Hall has been talking in jail about her role in the Jennifer Cave case. She continues to talk when out on bond, others say. As Colton Pitonyak’s appeals lawyers look for an angle to try to get him a new trial, the lawyers convince several people to swear that Laura had a much larger role than anyone knew. Will it be enough to get Colton a new trial?
Episode 7: Fifteen Years | The Orange Tree
July 14, 2020 11:00 - 30 minutes - 42.5 MBLaura Hall seeks to move on after her release from prison ... and she has a lot to say. Colton Pitonyak remains in a West Texas prison as his parents hold onto hope that he’ll someday return to Arkansas. Sharon and Jim continue to fight on Jennifer Cave’s behalf, and they also fight for strangers who find themselves in tragic and traumatic situations. Fifteen years later, the wounds have not healed.