19 Disturbing Stories I Learned Last Month

Here are all the terrifying, shocking, and extremely disturbing things I learned about recently. Some are stories from just last month, and some are stories from many years ago.

Warning: Graphic content ahead, including stories of murder.

1. In July 1981, 6-year-old Adam Walsh [1] disappeared from a Sears store in Hollywood, Florida, after his mother briefly left him playing video games with a group of older boys. When she returned, he was gone.
A massive search followed, but two weeks later a fisherman discovered Adam's severed head in a canal more than 100 miles away. The rest of his body was never recovered.

Man holding photo of a young boy in baseball attire with the text "Justice for Adam" on it

Miami Herald / Tribune News Service via Getty Images

For years, investigators suspected serial killer Ottis Toole, who repeatedly confessed to killing Adam before later recanting. However, the investigation was plagued by mistakes.
Authorities lost bloodstained carpeting that had been removed from Toole's vehicle, preventing future DNA testing, and the vehicle itself was eventually lost as well.

I don’t know who this person is, but it's a black and white portrait of a middle-aged man with short hair, wearing a collared shirt

Archive PL / Alamy

In 2008, after a 27-year investigation, the Hollywood Police Department officially announced that it believed Toole was responsible for Adam's murder. But, by then, Toole had already been dead for 12 years. Adam's case later helped inspire major changes in how missing children cases are investigated in the United States.

Three people in suits sit around a table, engaged in a formal discussion or interview setting

Susan Biddle / Denver Post via Getty Images

2. In February 2023, 44-year-old Nancy Howery, a mother of two from Indian Harbour Beach, Florida, was reported missing after she failed to pick up her children from school.
Her minivan was found abandoned the next day, and investigators soon began looking into Daniel Stearns [2], a man she had been dating.

Woman on the beach in sunglasses and a black top. Text reads: "That's all we want. We want justice for Nancy." Fox 35 news banner visible

#_R_k5n58qoqk5slubsnqq5bH1_ { display: none; }@media screen and (max-width: 767.95px) { #_R_k5n58qoqk5slubsnqq5bH1_ { display: flex; } iframe { max-width: 100vw; } }

Advertisement Advertisement

#_R_145n58qoqk5slubsnqq5bH1_ { display: none; }@media screen and (min-width: 768px) { #_R_145n58qoqk5slubsnqq5bH1_ { display: flex; } iframe { max-width: 100vw; } }

According to prosecutors, Stearns became angry because Howery did not want an exclusive relationship. Investigators determined that he shot her, dismembered her body, burned the remains, and buried them throughout a remote undeveloped area of Palm Bay known as The Compound.
Within days of her disappearance, authorities began surveilling Stearns's nighttime trips to the area and eventually detained him while he was dumping "something from a bucket" along a nearby canal. Authorities later recovered Howery's remains from multiple locations throughout The Compound.

News broadcast: Brevard County man sentenced to life in prison for murdering girlfriend. Includes images of the victim and a booking photo of the suspect

In 2025, a Brevard County jury found Stearns guilty of second-degree murder, abuse of a dead human body, and tampering with evidence.
He was later sentenced to life in prison. You can see some of the actual case footage here [3].

19 Disturbing Stories I Learned Last Month

Here are all the terrifying, shocking, and extremely disturbing things I learned about recently. Some are stories from just last month, and some are stories from many years ago.

In 2025, a Brevard County jury found Stearns guilty of second-degree murder, abuse of a dead human body, and tampering with evidence.He was later sentenced to life in prison. You can see some of the actual case footage here[3].

In 2025, a Brevard County jury found Stearns guilty of second-degree murder, abuse of a dead human body, and tampering with evidence.
He was later sentenced to life in prison. You can see some of the actual case footage here [3].