Lurkers

Frank Battiston • PowerTale Podcasts
  • 5.0 (5)
  • True Crime
  • Updated Biweekly

Lurkers is a narrative true crime podcast about online moments that spiral into real-world danger. Each episode follows a verified case that begins on screens, dating apps, DMs, group chats, and social platforms and traces how it crosses into everyday life. Told scene by scene with immersive sound and human storytelling, Lurkers exposes catfishing, stalking, AI deepfakes, sextortion, and romance-investment scams hiding in plain sight. New cases drop every two weeks. Stay Aware · Stay Present · Stay Safe. — Follow LURKERS: Instagram: @thelurkers_podcast TikTok: @thelurkerspodcast YouTube: @TheLurkersPodcast

  1. 20. Austin Lee Edwards: Cross Country Catfishing Cop

    Jun 3

    20. Austin Lee Edwards: Cross Country Catfishing Cop

    A red Kia Soul runs out of road in the California desert. Patrol units close in. A helicopter circles overhead. Police believe a 15-year-old girl is inside the car—along with an armed driver. Then the name comes over the radio: Austin Lee Edwards. Deputy sheriff. Former Virginia State Police. And suddenly this isn’t just an abduction alert—it’s an authority nightmare. Because the “boy” she thought she knew online wasn’t a boy at all. Investigators say Edwards used a fake teen identity to communicate with her—using the familiar mechanics of grooming and sextortion across platforms like Instagram and Discord: attention, secrecy, pressure, and control. And when the screen stopped being enough… he drove cross-country from Virginia to Riverside, California—turning a digital lie into a real-world emergency, one that began behind a phone and ended with police uncovering what was left behind on Price Court. This episode isn’t only about one predator. It’s about the mechanism: how authority bias can become camouflage… and how a badge can buy a dangerous person time. Content warning: grooming/sextortion themes involving a minor, abduction, violence, and death. Hosted by Frank Battiston. Produced by Daniel Urdanivia. A PowerTale Podcasts production. Stay Aware · Stay Present · Stay Safe. — Follow LURKERS: Instagram: @thelurkers_podcast TikTok: @thelurkerspodcast YouTube: @TheLurkersPodcast Website: www.thelurkerspodcast.com

    27 min
  2. 19. Morata's Triple Murder (Spain): The Spell and the Debt

    May 20

    19. Morata's Triple Murder (Spain): The Spell and the Debt

    Morata de Tajuña sits just outside Madrid, Spain, a small town where routines are a heartbeat. And when that heartbeat stops… everyone feels it. Three elderly siblings, known around town and always moving together, suddenly vanish from daily life. Days turn into weeks. The shutters stay closed. The lights don’t come on. And when authorities finally enter the home, Morata realizes this isn’t just a disappearance… it’s the end of something that had been building quietly for years. This episode follows two forces that collide: The Spell: a long-running Facebook romance scam, messages that feel personal, promises that feel divine, and an “inheritance” that’s always one payment away. The Debt: when the money runs out, belief doesn’t disappear. It gets heavy. It turns local. And it becomes dangerous. Because their debt now has an address. Hosted by Frank Battiston. Produced by Daniel Urdanivia. A PowerTale Podcasts production. Stay Aware · Stay Present · Stay Safe. — Follow LURKERS: Instagram: @thelurkers_podcast TikTok: @thelurkerspodcast YouTube: @TheLurkersPodcast Website: www.thelurkerspodcast.com

    34 min
  3. 18. Ryan Last & Eli Heacock: 45-Minute Sextortion

    May 6

    18. Ryan Last & Eli Heacock: 45-Minute Sextortion

    Two teenagers. Two different states: California and Kentucky. One crime that spreads faster than shame can be spoken out loud: sextortion. It starts with a message that feels private, a quick exchange. Then the screen flips. Suddenly, it’s online blackmail, and the threat comes with a timer: 45 minutes. Pay, or your life gets detonated in front of everyone you know. In this episode, we tell two stories side by side. Ryan Last pulled into a sextortion scam built on urgency and fear. And Elijah “Eli” Heacock, facing a chilling evolution of the same trap... where the leverage can be manufactured, including AI-generated explicit images designed to feel real enough to ruin you. This isn’t about “bad choices.” It’s about a system engineered to isolate victims, rush decisions, and keep them silent. We break down how the scam works, the red flags families miss, and what to do in the first critical minutes... before the countdown wins. Resource: NCMEC Take It Down (free tool): https://takeitdown.ncmec.org/ Hosted by Frank Battiston. Produced by Daniel Urdanivia. A PowerTale Podcasts Production. Stay Aware · Stay Present · Stay Safe. — Follow LURKERS: Instagram: @thelurkers_podcast TikTok: @thelurkerspodcast YouTube: @TheLurkersPodcast Website: www.thelurkerspodcast.com

    24 min
  4. 17. Sydney Loofe: The Tinder Mask

    Apr 22

    17. Sydney Loofe: The Tinder Mask

    Sydney Loofe goes missing in Lincoln, Nebraska after a night connected to Tinder... and within hours, the search isn’t just happening in the streets. It’s happening online. A video appears. A calm voice. A plea that sounds like concern. But in a missing-person case, a public narrative can become a weapon… especially when it’s posted before anyone can verify the timeline. Investigators and friends focus on the first real digital lead: a dating app profile name, “Audrey.” A chat thread. A phone number. And a version of events that starts to bend the more it’s repeated. This episode follows the case as two timelines collide: what people thought they were watching… and what the evidence quietly starts to reveal. Hosted by Frank Battiston. Produced by Daniel Urdanivia. A PowerTale Podcasts production. Stay Aware · Stay Present · Stay Safe. — Follow LURKERS: Instagram: @thelurkers_podcast TikTok: @thelurkerspodcast YouTube: @TheLurkersPodcast Website: www.thelurkerspodcast.com

    28 min
  5. 16. Laura Kowal: The Mysterious Disappearance

    Apr 8

    16. Laura Kowal: The Mysterious Disappearance

    Kelly Gowe gets a voicemail from a federal agent: “I’m calling in regards to your mother, Laura Kowal, who may have been involved in a fraud scam.” She calls her mom. Laura answers. She is alive. But her voice doesn’t sound right. Scattered. Distant. Like she’s already inside something she doesn’t want to explain. Then Laura disappears. What started as online dating becomes something darker: a romance-scam persona, a fake “investment” opportunity, and a slow shift from affection… to instructions… to control. We follow the breadcrumbs—messages, accounts, and a widening trail of movement that takes investigators far from home—leaving Kelly with a timeline full of gaps and a conclusion that doesn’t feel like an answer. The official conclusion raises new questions… and Kelly believes the truth is darker. Hosted by Frank Battiston. Produced by Daniel Urdanivia. A PowerTale Podcasts production. Stay Aware · Stay Present · Stay Safe. — Follow LURKERS: Instagram: @thelurkers_podcast TikTok: @thelurkerspodcast YouTube: @TheLurkersPodcast Website: www.thelurkerspodcast.com

    30 min
  6. 15. Ashley Wadsworth: When Love Turned into a Trap

    Mar 25

    15. Ashley Wadsworth: When Love Turned into a Trap

    She was 19. He was charming from a distance. Ashley Wadsworth meets Jack Sepple online, and what starts as attention quickly becomes a relationship built on messages, calls, and promises that feel bigger when you’re young and hopeful. Before long, Ashley leaves Vernon, British Columbia, and moves to Chelmsford, England. Into his orbit, into his control. But the real story isn’t just “a bad boyfriend.” It’s how fast isolation can happen when love is long-distance… and how quickly the warning signs escalate when the relationship becomes real life. This episode follows the timeline as Ashley’s world narrows—friends growing worried, family kept at a distance, and the tension behind closed doors turning into something she can’t talk her way out of. And it ends with the moment everyone around her feared: when the person she trusted most became the danger. Hosted by Frank Battiston. Produced by Daniel Urdanivia. A PowerTale Podcasts production. Stay Aware · Stay Present · Stay Safe. — Follow LURKERS: Instagram: @thelurkers_podcast TikTok: @thelurkerspodcast YouTube: @TheLurkersPodcast Website: www.thelurkerspodcast.com

    30 min
  7. 14. Voices That Aren’t Real: AI Kidnapping Scams

    Mar 11

    14. Voices That Aren’t Real: AI Kidnapping Scams

    The call comes out of nowhere. Your teenage daughter is sobbing, gasping for air, and begging for you. It sounds surgically real. The same breaks in the voice. The same breath between words. The same panic. And then a man gets on the line. He says she’s been taken. He says you have minutes. He tells you not to hang up and tells you exactly where to go, what to do, and how fast to move. In the car, your GPS is already pointing toward a bank in your city. But there’s one problem. The voice sounds real. But the kidnapping isn’t. In this episode, we reconstruct how an AI voice scam hijacks a parent’s nervous system, how the pressure is built, how the instructions are delivered, and how fear becomes a weapon. We break down the red flags, what investigators say to do in the first critical seconds, and the simple safeguards families can set before a call like this ever hits their phones. Hosted by Frank Battiston. Produced by Daniel Urdanivia. A PowerTale Podcasts production. Stay Aware · Stay Present · Stay Safe. — Follow LURKERS: Instagram: @thelurkers_podcast TikTok: @thelurkerspodcast YouTube: @TheLurkersPodcast Website: www.thelurkerspodcast.com

    29 min
  8. 13. Kacie Woody: The Origin of Grooming

    Feb 25

    13. Kacie Woody: The Origin of Grooming

    It’s late 2002. Dial-up internet. A shared family computer in the living room. And a 13-year-old girl in rural Arkansas who just wants more people to talk to after school. Kacie Woody meets “Scott” and “Dave” online, two names that feel harmless at first. The messages turn constant. The attention turns intimate. And slowly, the boundary between “friend” and “stranger” disappears… without anyone noticing in time. When Kacie vanishes from her home on a cold, rainy night, investigators seize the computer and follow the trail where it leads: chat logs, usernames, travel records, motel stays, a rented vehicle... then a storage unit in Conway. This episode reconstructs the timeline step by step, and shows why Kacie’s case became one of the early warnings of a word we all know now… grooming. Hosted by Frank Battiston. Produced by Daniel Urdanivia. A PowerTale Podcasts production. Stay Aware · Stay Present · Stay Safe. — Follow LURKERS: Instagram: @thelurkers_podcast TikTok: @thelurkerspodcast YouTube: @TheLurkersPodcast Website: www.thelurkerspodcast.com

    36 min
See All (21)

Trailer

5
out of 5
5 Ratings

About

Lurkers is a narrative true crime podcast about online moments that spiral into real-world danger. Each episode follows a verified case that begins on screens, dating apps, DMs, group chats, and social platforms and traces how it crosses into everyday life. Told scene by scene with immersive sound and human storytelling, Lurkers exposes catfishing, stalking, AI deepfakes, sextortion, and romance-investment scams hiding in plain sight. New cases drop every two weeks. Stay Aware · Stay Present · Stay Safe. — Follow LURKERS: Instagram: @thelurkers_podcast TikTok: @thelurkerspodcast YouTube: @TheLurkersPodcast

Information

  • Creator
    Frank Battiston • PowerTale Podcasts
  • Years Active
    2025 - 2026
  • Episodes
    21
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © 2025 PowerTale Podcasts. All rights reserved.
  • Show Website
    Lurkers

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