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American Nightmares

Every headline hides a deeper story. American Nightmares pulls you into the most unsettling true crime cases—one season, one case at a time. These are the crimes that kept detectives awake, shattered families, and left entire communities on edge. Told through raw interviews, gripping investigative detail, and cinematic storytelling, each season reveals how these nightmares unfolded—and the long road to uncovering the truth. You may think you know the story. You don’t.

Latest Episodes

S4 E4 – The Pizza Crust: A Second Look
S4 E4 – The Pizza Crust: A Second Look
This is 22 Hours: A Second Look, where we revisit our original season with host Megan Cloherty. In this episode, we share more of Megan's interview with Abbigail Savopoulos, including memories of her mom and dad, and whose decision it was to ...
S4 E3 – The Money Drop: A Second Look
S4 E3 – The Money Drop: A Second Look
This is 22 Hours: A Second Look, where we revisit our original season with original host Megan Cloherty. In this episode, Megan talks with Jordan Wallace, the man who initially fell under suspicion and was later cleared of the crime. Jordan was ...
S4 E2 – Taken Captive: A Second Look
S4 E2 – Taken Captive: A Second Look
This is 22 Hours: A Second Look, where we revisit our original season with original host Megan Cloherty. In this episode, Megan explores what happened to the Savopoulos' mansion. She talks to the private buyer that bought the land and steps foot ...
S4 E1 – The Fire: A Second Look
S4 E1 – The Fire: A Second Look
Welcome to 22 Hours: A Second Look, where we revisit our original season with original host Megan Cloherty. In this episode, Megan shares why we're revisiting the case of the Savopoulos family and their housekeeper and she shares part 1 of her ...
Returning Sept. 2nd – 22 Hours: A Second Look
Returning Sept. 2nd – 22 Hours: A Second Look
Host Megan Cloherty returns for a new season of American Nightmares. In the upcoming season, we revisit the story that launched the series: a D.C. power couple, their 10-year-old son, and their housekeeper—held hostage for nearly 24 hours before being murdered ...
S1 E14 – Appeal Denied
S1 E14 – Appeal Denied
The D.C. Court of Appeals has denied Daron Wint a retrial in his quadruple murder conviction. Hosts Megan Cloherty and Jack Moore sit down to talk about the three-judge panel's decision.
S3 E9 – Final Chapter
S3 E9 – Final Chapter
31 years after the Potomac River Rapist attacked his first victim, the detectives who solved the case are telling their story exclusively to WTOP American Nightmare Series Host Paul Wagner.
S3 E7 – Consciousness of Guilt
S3 E7 – Consciousness of Guilt
When Giles Warrick is questioned by police in the hours after his arrest, the 60-year-old tells them he doesn't know how his DNA turned up at 10 different crime scenes in DC and Maryland. But, what will police find when they search ...
S3 E6 – Unmasked
S3 E6 – Unmasked
In November 2019, detectives from Montgomery County, Maryland, and Washington, D.C., make their way to Conway, South Carolina, where investigators are certain they will find their "unknown subject." They head to a ranch house on a rural country road ...
S3 E5 – Going Down the Rabbit Hole
S3 E5 – Going Down the Rabbit Hole
By 2018, investigators had tired of waiting for another DNA cold hit and decided to hand the case to a cop named 'Smugs.' A young Montgomery County police officer who had already used genealogy to solve several high profile rape and ...

It looked like a quiet small-town neighborhood, defined by manicured lawns and flower gardens. But behind the façade, more than a hundred residents were part of the Zion Society, a secretive cult that hoarded weapons and groomed children for sexual abuse under the control of an unassuming, soft-spoken leader. When a young woman escaped and went to authorities, the truth finally began to unravel.

Host Megan Cloherty returns for a new season of American Nightmares. In the upcoming season, we revisit the story that launched the series: a D.C. power couple, their 10-year-old son, and their housekeeper—held hostage for nearly 24 hours before being murdered inside their own home. Now, 10 years after the crime and 6 years since we first told the story, Season 1 returns with all-new content, fresh interviews, and exclusive updates that shed new light on a case that still resonates today.

For nearly a decade, he crept in the shadows, attacking women in the middle of the night — and then vanished. The 1998 murder of a brilliant scientist near Georgetown University marked a terrifying escalation. Investigators had DNA linking him to multiple crimes, but for years, he had no name — only the label “Unknown Subject.” This season uncovers the chilling case of the Potomac River Rapist, and the patrol cop who finally cracked it.

In a quiet hospital just outside Washington, D.C., a 50-year-old nurse named Sherry Crandell was raped and murdered inside her workplace — a place that was supposed to be safe. With DNA, fingerprints, and even a witness to the crime, police had evidence — but no suspect. This season revisits the cold case that continues to baffle investigators and devastate a family, more than two decades later.

One of the most shocking crimes in modern American history: a prominent couple, their 10-year-old son, and their housekeeper taken hostage and brutally murdered in their Washington, D.C. home. Over the course of 22 horrifying hours, they endured torture and terror before their killers tried to burn the evidence. This award-winning debut season revisits the infamous Mansion Murders, exposing new details and the twisted logic behind a senseless act of violence.