Warning: This episode contains descriptions of violent crimes, including graphic murder scenes and disturbing circumstances around a missing person. Listener discretion is strongly advised.
In this episode of Tales From the Underworld, we explore two cases—separated by nearly a century—that both leave behind a trail of chilling questions and unanswered grief.
First, we investigate the story of Henry Lee Moore, a Missouri man convicted in 1913 of murdering his mother and grandmother with an axe. But Moore’s name didn’t end with that double homicide. Authorities began to suspect he might be connected to a string of eerily similar family axe murders across the Midwest—echoing the brutal patterns of the Villisca Axe Murders and others. Was Moore a one-time family killer, or could he have been one of America’s first serial killers, his crimes lost in the shadows of early forensic history?
Then we fast-forward to 2004, and the unsolved disappearance of Brianna Maitland, a 17-year-old Vermont girl who vanished without a trace after her shift at the Black Lantern Inn. Her car was found abandoned against a crumbling farmhouse—her belongings still inside. Over the past two decades, theories have ranged from abduction to murder to sex trafficking, but no answers have emerged. Brianna’s case remains open, and her parents are still searching.
These two stories, though separated by time, both expose the limits of justice, the horror of the unknown, and the haunting weight left behind by those who disappear—either into legend or into the dark.
In This Episode
The timeline and trial of Henry Lee Moore, and why some believe he committed multiple axe murders
How his M.O. compares to other unsolved crimes of the early 1900s
The details surrounding Brianna Maitland’s disappearance, including the eerie crime scene and false leads
The role of rumors, media, and police missteps in keeping cold cases alive
Why these crimes still echo in public memory—and what remains unanswered
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