Casefile True Crime - Case 211: Cari Farver

Episode Date: May 14, 2022

When Omaha mechanic Dave Kroupa met Cari Farver in late 2012, he thought he’d found the perfect woman. Unfortunately, their relationship soon turned sour and when Dave ended things, Cari began to obsessively stalk him, turning his life into a living nightmare... --- Narration – Anonymous Host Research & writing – Erin Munro Creative direction – Milly Raso Production and music – Mike Migas Music – Andrew D.B. Joslyn This episode's sponsors: Peloton – Learn more about Peloton Article – Get $50 off your first order of $100 or more SimpliSafe – Get 40% off the entire security system The Jordan Harbinger Show – Learn the stories, secrets, and skills of the world’s most brilliant and interesting people Calm – Get 40% off the Calm Premium subscription For all credits and sources please visit casefilepodcast.com/case-211-cari-farver

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For suggested phone numbers for confidential support, please see the show notes for this episode on your app or on our website. The Station 61 crew of the Omaha Fire Department were just over an hour into their shift on Saturday, August 17, 2013, when they were called out to a house fire two miles south. Within a matter of seconds, the firefighters had pulled on their safety equipment, raced to their truck, and left the station. They reached the address five minutes later, arriving at 8.20am. The split-level home sat on a quiet street with a small front yard.

The fire inside was already extinguished, having burnt itself out naturally. Inside, the house was smoldering and the air was thick with smoke. The walls had turned black with soot, and its furnishings were charred beyond repair. But, there were no embers or flames remaining, and all of the surfaces were cooled to the touch. It had been some time since the house was ablaze. As the firefighters conducted a thorough search of the property, they discovered something else.

There had been several fatalities. Meanwhile, an email sat unopened in the inbox of 36-year-old Dave Krupa. It had been sent more than eight hours earlier at 11.57pm on Friday, August 16. If Dave had clicked on the email, he would have been met with a disturbing claim. I am not lying, I set that nasty whore's house on fire, the message read. I hope the whore and her kids die in it. Dave Krupa had been out of the dating scene for more than a decade when he suddenly found himself single again.

After 12 years together, he and Amy Flora, the mother of his two children, had decided to split when they realised that they wanted different things. Dave was eager to get out there and start seeing new people, but he wasn't ready for anything serious. He'd spent most of his adult life in a committed relationship, and here was a chance to have a bit of fun. One day in October of 2012, Dave was working behind the counter of the auto repair shop where he was an assistant manager when a woman walked in and immediately caught his eye.

She was 37-year-old Carrie Fava and had brought in her black Ford Explorer for a minor repair. Dave felt a mutual spark of attraction but was reluctant to do anything about it. Being a customer out didn't seem professional. A few days later, he was scrolling through profiles on a dating website when Carrie's photo suddenly popped up. Now he knew for sure she was single and looking to meet someone. Dave typed a brief message to Carrie that read, Hi, I know you. Then he hit send.

Carrie sent a polite reply back and a couple of weeks later she returned to Dave's work to have something else fixed with her car. This time, Dave made his move. The pair exchanged phone numbers and made plans to see each other soon. Dave and Carrie's first date was on October 29 at an Applebee's restaurant. They hit it off right away while both agreeing that they weren't looking for anything committed or serious. They went home together that night and soon they were spending more and more time together.

After a couple of weeks, things were comfortable enough for Dave to make an unconventional offer. Dave lived on his own in an apartment in Omaha, Nebraska. He'd moved to the city to be closer to his children who lived just across the Iowa State border in his ex-partner's hometown of Council Bluffs. Carrie lived in Iowa as well, but her small town of Macedonia was an hours' drive from the IT company in Omaha where she worked as a computer programmer. From Monday, November 12, Carrie was required to work late hours on a week-long project,

so Dave suggested that she stay with him until she'd met her deadline. That way, she wouldn't have to worry about a long commute to and from work. Carrie was happy with this plan and packed her bags to stay with Dave from that Monday on. It was mid-morning on Tuesday, November 13 when Dave heard his phone ding. It was a text message from Carrie that read, let's move in together. Dave was taken aback. They'd only been dating for two weeks and he'd been clear that he wasn't looking for

a commitment. Perhaps inviting Carrie to stay with him for a whole week had given her the wrong message. He tapped out a reply explaining to Carrie that he wasn't interested in her suggestion. Within seconds, Dave's phone dinged again. Carrie responded, Fine, fuck you, I'm seeing somebody else, don't contact me again, I hate you, go away. Repulsed and annoyed, Dave put his phone away. He'd thought Carrie was better than that.

Later on, he ventured about the situation to some of his colleagues who were empathetic and shared their own bad dating stories. When Dave returned home that night, Carrie had already packed up her things and left. He told himself now that she'd shown her true colours, he'd definitely dodged a bullet. A couple of days passed and Dave moved on, focusing on work instead. It appeared that Carrie had moved on as well. Then, all of a sudden, he was hit by a barrage of angry text messages from her. One after another, they lit up on his phone.

Carrie told Dave she was furious and started insulting and abusing him. Occasionally, she tried calling, but Dave refused to pick up. Day after day, the abuse continued. Dave struggled to go about his normal life as the constant notifications on his phone interrupted his shifts at work and his social activities afterwards. Dave's email inbox was also flooded with a series of aggressive messages which seemed to grow increasingly hostile and nonsensical. Some were downright disturbing.

One featured the subject line watching. Carrie claimed to be observing Dave's movements and she sometimes attached photos she'd taken of his home and car. One day, Carrie started calling Dave's work and hanging up each time someone answered. For an entire day, the auto repair shop's phone was tied up with hundreds of these prank calls, preventing customers from getting through, interrupting everyone's workday and infuriating Dave's boss and co-workers. Dave almost lost his job over the incident.

Dave was stunned. He had never experienced anything like this. Finding himself the target of a non-stop harassment campaign was incredibly distressing. But to Dave's horror, he wasn't the only one that Carrie had set her sights on. Carrie's rage at being rejected by Dave prompted her to go after others in his life, specifically other women who he'd been romantically involved with. Carrie's ex Amy Flora, who'd been Dave's partner for more than a decade, was on the receiving end of Carrie's anger.

Carrie also targeted another woman named Liz Golia, who Dave had been seeing casually. Carrie was aware of Liz after bumping into her one night at Dave's apartment. In text to Dave, Carrie called Liz, quote, a fat ugly whore. One day, not long after the harassment began, Dave received a call from Liz who sounded upset and confused. She told him Carrie had started texting and emailing her, and Liz wanted to know how Carrie had gotten her contact details. Things became even scarier when Liz returned home one day to find that the garage of her

split-level rental house had been broken into. The thief had stolen some checks Liz kept in there. Then, on November 23, Liz entered her garage to see a nasty message scrawled on the wall in spray paint. It read, Hore from Dave. Both Liz and Dave subsequently received an email from Carrie in which she bragged about having committed the vandalism.

And that Carrie now knew where she lived, Liz filed a report with the Omaha Police Department. Police officers weren't able to track Carrie down as she quit her job for a new role in Kansas, but some digging into her background revealed that she'd been diagnosed with bipolar disorder some years earlier. According to Carrie's mother, she had previously ceased taking her medication on at least one occasion as she disliked the way it made her feel. The police officers were familiar with this scenario. It wasn't uncommon for them to see erratic behavior from individuals with untreated mental

illness or disorders. They suspected that Carrie was experiencing some kind of mental health crisis and was stalking her ex as a result. Until they could find her and question her about it, there was little they could do to stop it. Meanwhile, Dave Krupper continued to be tormented by Carrie. By the end of 2012, he was receiving up to 60 emails and text messages from her a day. It didn't matter if Dave changed his phone number, she always managed to find him again.

He also tried blocking Carrie's number, but this didn't stop the abuse either. More messages simply came through from new untraceable numbers. Dave saved each one so he could keep track of them all, naming every phone number after Carrie. Eventually, he had 18 different carries saved in his phone. Carrie also used a wide variety of email addresses to harass Dave. Some of them featured handles that incorporated Dave's name, such as Krupper Carrie 76 and Dave's girl Carrie.

Carrie made lots of threats and outrageous claims. She insisted that she was pregnant with Dave's child and that she'd moved into his apartment complex. One evening, Dave was watching television at home when his phone dinged with a notification. He glanced down to see a message from Carrie, I see you in the chair with your feet propped up, you're wearing your blue t-shirt. Dave was horrified. Carrie had described his posture and outfit accurately.

She must have been lurking outside his window. He dashed outside to look for her. His apartment was in a large complex of a dozen brick buildings each three stories high. Grassy lawns and large leafy trees were dotted between the buildings which lent the space a woodland feel. There were plenty of spots where someone could lurk unseen. Dave peered through the dark but saw no sign of Carrie. From then on, he started to close his blinds at night.

His incidents didn't just occur when Dave was alone. He and his ex Liz began to seek solace in one another as the stalking escalated and their rekindled romance only seemed to spur Carrie on. Sometimes the pair would be at Dave's apartment chatting on the couch or watching a movie when their cell phones would ring out with simultaneous notifications. They checked their respective devices and see Carrie had messaged them both at the same time, telling Liz she was a whore while insisting she would never leave Dave alone. The tormented couple ventured their frustrations to one another and even coined a nickname

for their stalker, Crazy Carrie. At 12.30 am on Sunday, January 6, 2013, Dave Krupa received a disturbing email from Carrie Farver. It contained an attachment. A photograph of a woman with dark hair called up in the boot of a car with her hands bound and duct tape over her mouth. Her face was turned slightly away, making it difficult to see her features. The accompanying message warned, You will do exactly as I say, and then I will let her

go. Carrie told Dave that she'd abducted Liz and was holding her hostage. Dave was to call Liz's phone and dump her via voicemail. Liz would then play the message out loud to Carrie to confirm it had been received. Then Dave had to get back together with Carrie. If this was done, Carrie would let Liz go. If you don't agree, she will stay in my trunk, the message concluded. This was a serious escalation in behaviour, but Dave wasn't sure if the threat was genuine.

The photograph of the woman almost looked like a stock image. He texted Liz right away, but there was no reply. Dave tried not to get nervous. It was late at night, so Liz was most likely sleeping. He heard back from Liz the next morning. Relieved that she was okay and the whole thing had been nothing more than a sick joke, Dave replied to her. Psycho was playing games.

Several days later on January 10, Dave was driving home from work when he saw a familiar vehicle parked outside one of the buildings in his apartment complex. It was a black Ford Explorer covered in snow from a recent storm. Dave immediately recognised it as Carrie's car, the same one that he'd worked on when she'd brought it into the auto repair shop two months earlier. She phoned the police to report the vehicle, and it was towed to the Omaha Police Department and impounded. Dave showed an officer the message from Carrie that said she had moved into the same complex

as him, but the address she provided didn't correlate to any of the apartments. It seemed to be a fake number. Police dismissed her claim as another empty threat, but asked if they could download the contents of Dave's and Liz's phones to aid in the investigation of their stalker. Both were happy to oblige. Throughout the first half of 2013, Carrie Farver continued to make life a living hell for Dave Krupper. One evening he was out visiting his children at their mother's home when he received an

email that read, I told you I was coming to see you tonight. You weren't there. I took out a window. When Dave returned home, he saw that a brick had been thrown through one of his bedroom windows. Another time, he went outside to find his car scratched with the words, Dave loves fat horse.

Carrie also maintained her harassment of Liz Golia, Dave's ex Sammy Flora, and any other women who Dave took an interest in. As well as threatening the women themselves, she would make threats against any children they had and sometimes send disturbing images that indicated she'd been lurking outside their homes. Occasionally, she took out her anger on the women's property. Liz Golia's car was keyed with the demand. Oh, stop seeing Dave.

Carrie hadn't physically harmed anyone yet, but she constantly threatened to. In the summer of 2013, she sent Dave a particularly menacing email about Liz. I'll kill her. She stole my heart. She broke my dreams. She stole my future when she took you away from me. That whore will die. At 8.14am on Saturday, August 17, a call came through to the Omaha Fire Department about

a possible house fire nearby. After racing to the scene, firefighters found the remnants of a devastating blaze that had severely damaged the small split-level house. The property was home to Liz Golia and her two children. Although the fire had been extinguished, thick smoke still hung in the air, black soot covered the surfaces and the home's contents were badly charred. Even worse, several deceased bodies were found throughout, but they weren't human. Sadly, the family's four pets, two dogs, a cat and a snake, had all perished from smoke

inhalation. Liz and her children had survived through a lucky twist of fate. They were in the process of moving and had been staying at their new home when the blaze struck. When Liz had arrived at the house earlier that morning to collect some things, she opened the front door and smoke billowed out. She had immediately called 911. As the firefighters examined the house, a couple of things caught their attention.

A gas can sat on the living room floor and a bottle of lighter fluid was found on a kitchen bench. There also appeared to be multiple points of origin. The only reason the flames hadn't engulfed the entire house was because all of its windows were shut, which prevented oxygen from sustaining the flames. Liz identified the gas can and the lighter fluid as belonging to her, but they had been moved from their usual spots in the backyard. She had also made a disturbing discovery.

At 12.56am that morning, well before the fire was discovered, she had received an email from Carrie Farver. Nasty whore. Dave doesn't want you talking to him anymore. He wants to be with me. We are trying a new relationship. We have had sex recently. He loves me and always will.

He doesn't want you back you nasty fat whore Liz. Hope you and your kids burn to death. Dave had received a similar email gloating over the fire and the presumed death of Liz and her children. He felt terrible that Liz had lost her pets and many of her belongings because of him. She refused to give Dave her new address in case Carrie found it, and Dave completely understood her fear. Carrie's behavior was escalating and she'd proved that she had no qualms about killing.

Although Dave kept waiting for her to move on and to leave him alone, weeks turned into months and then years, but the torment continued. Finally, Dave decided to take extra measures to protect himself. His father gave him a 9mm Smith & Wesson pistol and Dave kept it in a box on a closet shelf, far enough out of reach so his children wouldn't find it, but easily accessible for him. Although Carrie continued to send him abusive texts and emails daily, she showed no further signs of acting on any of her threats. Nevertheless, the stalking was taking a toll on Dave both mentally and physically.

He began drinking at his local bar every night and eventually gained 30 pounds. His work suffered from the constant interruptions and Carrie even once vandalized the auto repair shop, spray painting the words, Dave beats women on its front windows. One night in 2014, Dave had a female friend staying with him when someone tried to break into his apartment by jiggling the front door handle. Then a brick was thrown through his bedroom window. Dave became increasingly worried about the safety of those close to him, particularly his two children.

In February 2015, Dave moved from his apartment in Omaha to a new home across the border in Council Bluffs, Iowa. He hoped that the change of address would prevent Carrie from stalking him in person, but the incidents continued. After more than two years, it seemed like the harassment would never stop. One afternoon in late November 2015, Dave returned home after a day out and went into his bedroom to get something from his closet. He immediately noticed that the box he kept his gun in was sticking out over the ledge

of the shelf. Dave normally kept it pushed back to ensure it was out of reach. He snatched the box and quickly opened it up. The gun was missing. A week later on Saturday, December 5, Liz Gollia decided to go for an evening stroll in Big Lake Park, a sprawling 190-acre park right near the Nebraska-Iowa border. Even though it was only around 6.30pm, it was already dark, but Liz felt safe as she wound her way along one of the walking paths.

Spotting a bench up ahead, she decided to sit and rest for a minute. She hadn't stopped for long when she saw the silhouette of a person cast over her and heard a woman's voice tell her to get down on the ground. Liz did as she was told. As she lay face down on the cold ground, the woman asked, So, you like fucking Dave? A couple of loud bangs rang out, then Liz felt a burning sensation in her left thigh. She had been shot.

Liz managed to scramble to her feet and ran away as fast as her injury permitted. She stumbled back to her car where she'd left her cell phone and dialed 911. Sounding scared and distraught, she told the operator, I've been shot in the leg. My pant leg is soaked with blood. An officer from the Council Bluffs Police Department was dispatched to the scene and found Liz sitting on the ground next to her car, still on the phone to 911. Her leg was bleeding and she was obviously in pain.

Liz began telling the officer what had happened to her and revealed that she knew who had shot her. But, the shooter hadn't been Carrie Farver. It was Amy Flora. Amy Flora shot me. Three years earlier on Tuesday, November 13, 2012, Nancy Rainey had received a strange text message from her 37-year-old daughter, Carrie Farver. Carrie was staying in Omaha for the week with her new boyfriend Dave while she completed

a big work project. Therefore, Nancy was looking after Carrie's 14-year-old son, Max. Nancy was expecting Carrie back in a few days, but Carrie's text said she'd been offered a new job in Kansas and planned to take it. Nancy was baffled. She was very close to her daughter and they spoke on the phone daily. As far as Nancy was aware, Carrie loved her job. It seemed odd that she'd abruptly quit.

Carrie also owned her own house in her hometown of Macedonia, so an interstate move made no sense from that perspective either. Nancy asked Max if he knew anything about a job in Kansas. He said his mother had previously mentioned looking at a position there, which made Nancy feel somewhat reassured, but she was still unsettled. The tone of Carrie's messages seemed wrong and it didn't make sense that she wouldn't call Nancy to chat like she usually did. Carrie's half-brother was due to get married in several days' time.

Nancy figured she would see her daughter then and figure out what was going on. But the wedding came and went with no sign of Carrie. Despite that something was seriously wrong, Nancy decided to call the police. The officer who spoke with her didn't seem overly concerned. Carrie was a grown woman and was entitled to take some time to herself if she wanted to. Besides, she was still in contact via text messages and social media. On November 21, she announced on her Facebook page, moving to Kansas for a great job, will

miss family and great friends. Nancy mentioned that Carrie had always been a happy, vivacious and fun-loving person, but she'd experienced a difficult period roughly a decade earlier and was eventually diagnosed as having bipolar disorder. The officers latched on to Carrie's bipolar diagnosis as a likely explanation for her sudden erratic behavior and wondered if she'd stop taking her medication. They'd seen similar things happen before. The officers processed the report and Carrie was officially listed as a missing person,

but the case wasn't a priority. A couple of weeks after Carrie vanished, Nancy received a message from her daughter saying that her Black Ford Explorer was missing. The vehicle was registered in Nancy's name, so she reported it stolen. About a month later, the Explorer was discovered by Dave Krupa in the parking lot of his apartment complex. After towing the car, police searched inside and found it was clean except for a stain from a spilled drink on one of the seats.

There were few personal belongings inside and no driver's manual or registration in the glove compartment. Tucked into one of the drink holders was an empty mint container. Once the vehicle was processed, it was returned to Nancy. Those close to Carrie were growing increasingly concerned. As well as missing her brother's wedding, she hadn't shown up at any of her son's sporting events. This was completely out of character as she always made sure to support Max in his extracurricular

activities. Carrie's father, Denny, had also been sick with cancer for a long time and she regularly visited him in hospital. However, the visit stopped and when Denny died a month after Carrie disappeared, she didn't show up for his funeral. Yet, the text messages kept coming. Carrie had always been meticulous with her spelling and grammar, but now she was sending garbled texts riddled with spelling, punctuation, and grammar mistakes.

Shortly after Carrie vanished, she messaged Nancy explaining that she'd sold her bedroom furniture online. She asked if Nancy could let the buyer into her house to collect it. As proof of the purchase, Carrie sent a photo of a cheque made out to her for $5,000. Nancy was dubious. Carrie's bedroom dresser was an antique that had belonged to her great-grandmother. It seemed impossible that Carrie would want to part with it. Nancy tapped out a reply.

I need to hear your voice first so I know it's really you. An aggressive response from Carrie's number soon came through, accusing Nancy of being controlling and a bad mother. A couple of months later, Nancy was scrolling through Facebook when she came across a new profile under the name Carrie Father. The profile picture was a photograph of Carrie with her late father. Examining the profile, Nancy saw a post that mentioned Dave Krupa, the man Carrie had been dating at the time of her disappearance.

Nancy sometimes wondered if Dave was responsible for whatever had happened to Carrie, but she had no way of contacting him. According to the police handling Carrie's missing persons file, Dave was the one being harassed by her. The Facebook post said that Dave and Carrie had recently gotten engaged and showed a photograph of a stubby hand wearing a diamond ring. It looked nothing like Carrie's hand, which had very long fingers. Nancy was now certain that somebody else was actively pretending to be her daughter.

Carrie's son agreed. Like Nancy, he couldn't believe Carrie would ever abandon him, let alone take off without any proper explanation. One day, Max received a message from the new Facebook account using his mother's name. He opened it and read the words, Hey little man, how are you? His mother had never called him little man before, and Max was unsettled by the message. He didn't reply, but then a couple of weeks later, he had an idea. He went onto Facebook and typed a response.

What was the name of our first boxer? Who was my best friend when I was growing up? These were questions only his mother could answer. Max waited and waited, but a reply never arrived. Carrie's family was certain she had fallen victim to foul play, but had no way of proving it, and investigators seemed unwilling to listen. One night, her mother Nancy had an incredibly vivid dream in which Carrie's father, Denny, appeared before her.

As he looked into Nancy's eyes, he said in a soft voice, Nancy, she's with me. The dream felt so real that Nancy immediately woke up. She was comforted by the thought that Carrie was safe in the care of her beloved father, while also struck with grief at the certain knowledge that her daughter was dead. When Liz Golia was shot in Big Lake Park in December of 2015, more than three years had passed since Nancy first reported Carrie is missing. During those three years, Liz had received thousands of abusive emails and text messages from someone using Carrie's identity.

The home had been vandalized, then burnt down with her four pets inside, and now she had been shot in the leg while out on a walk. As she told the police, it didn't make sense that Carrie would develop such an obsession with her, given that Carrie had only dated Dave Krupa for two weeks. Liz had theorized that Dave's ex, Amy Flora, had been behind the harassment all along. Amy had recently started sending Liz some nasty messages via Facebook, prompting Liz to wonder if Amy had been framing Carrie for stalking. As the mother of Dave's two children, Amy had far more reason to be possessive of him

than Carrie did. Liz and Dave were no longer seeing each other at this point, but that didn't seem to matter to Amy. Liz also knew that Amy had a spare key to Dave's apartment, and his gun had recently disappeared from there. Detectives were intrigued by Liz's theory. They hadn't been able to track down Liz's shooter despite dispatching a helicopter team and search party to scour the park.

However, they had recently found some unidentified human remains, and were starting to wonder if perhaps they belonged to Carrie Farver. As detailed by author Leslie Ruhl in her book A Tangled Web, one of the detectives told Liz, I'm thinking if Amy was bold enough to go and shoot you, she could have easily been bold enough to have done something to Carrie. They asked Liz to forward on any further messages Amy sent her, and downloaded the contents of her phone so they could examine everything she'd already received for themselves.

On December 20, five days after Liz Gollia was shot, an email landed in her inbox which she immediately forwarded to investigators. Detective Jim Doty, who worked for the Pottawatomie County Sheriff's Office in Iowa, scanned his eyes over the long message which had been sent to Liz from Amy Flora. It read in part, When I met crazy Carrie, she would not stop talking about Dave and him being her husband. She tried to attack me, but I attacked her with a knife. I stabbed her three to four times in the stomach area.

I then took her out and burned her. I stuffed her body in a garbage can with crap. She was carried out to the dumpster, probably when Dave took my garbage out for me. So be glad I did not do you that way, Liz. This confession was beyond disturbing, but with no evidence and no body, it was just words on a screen. Sheriff's reassure to Liz that they were monitoring the situation and keeping a close eye on Amy Flora.

All they needed was some specific details that only the killer could know and they would be able to make an arrest. In subsequent messages over the following months, Amy provided slightly different versions of Carrie's father's murder, but all involved her stabbing Carrie in Carrie's car, wrapping her in a tarp, then burning and dumping her body. In one telling, Amy claimed she stabbed Carrie, then drove her out into the woods. Carrie was still alive and begged for her life, but Amy simply looked on, watching the life drain from her body.

To prove she wasn't, quote, lying about offing that crazy bitch, Amy described a yin yang tattoo that was on Carrie's thigh, a detail that hadn't been mentioned in the media. Amy described how after killing Carrie, she had cleaned her car, driven to her home and gathered up some of Carrie's personal belongings to make it look as though she'd decided to leave of her own accord. Amy accurately described the layout and look of Carrie's house. She said she'd contacted Carrie's mother Nancy, posing as Carrie, to cover up her crime. She also parked Carrie's car at Dave Krupper's apartment complex so it would look like she

was stalking him. When the police had initially searched Carrie's father's car, they had no idea it was a possible crime scene and had only processed it as a stolen vehicle. However, the original search had uncovered one clue. The vehicle was exceptionally clean with no fingerprints anywhere, except for one recovered from an empty mint container in one of the car's cup holders. This fingerprint hadn't belonged to Carrie Farver or anyone in the police database. On February 18, 2016, detectives obtained the vehicle from its new owner and conducted

a second search. Amy claimed she'd stabbed Carrie while she was seated in her car, so the detectives removed the fabric upholstery from the driver's seat and sprayed it with luminol, looking for any sign of blood. There was nothing there. On the front passenger seat was a faint red stain. During the original search, this had been determined to be the result of a spilled drink. Tearing off the seat cover to expose the foam beneath, the detectives realized the red stain

was roughly the size of an adult hand with several smaller spots surrounding it. This time, the luminol reacted. DNA testing confirmed that the blood belonged to Carrie Farver. A week later, on February 25, 2016, detectives were ready to make an arrest. In spring of 2015, detectives Jim Doty and Ryan Avis overheard some chat around the Potta Whatamie County Sheriff's Department about a woman named Carrie Farver who had gone missing. Intrigued by what they heard, they requested the case be reassigned to them. So far, Carrie's disappearance had been treated as an adult leaving of her own accord.

When a sheriff's deputy tried to track Carrie down after her mother first reported her missing, he received a number of text messages from Carrie's phone, including one that read, I don't care about this missing person report, but I would really appreciate it if you leave Dave Krupa out of it. I will be leaving the state. My mother overreacted. I have been to my house a few times. In the two and a half years that followed, Carrie remained elusive, but her harassment of Dave Krupa continued. Multiple Facebook accounts under her name featured a long rant about Dave,

which was totally out of character for Carrie, who had never previously made any angry social media posts. A YouTube user with the name Carrie Farver posted a video titled, My Husband's Cheating Place. It had been filmed outside of Dave's apartment complex. It seemed as though Carrie was all over the internet, even though no one had seen her in real life. When her missing persons file was handed over to detectives Doty and Avis, they decided to investigate differently. Detective Avis would look into Carrie's disappearance as though she was still alive, while Detective Doty would investigate it as though she were deceased.

By considering both possibilities, they hoped to discover the truth. It soon struck the detectives how there was no real trace of Carrie after November 13, 2012, aside from some out-of-character electronic communications. The last time her money had been touched was on November 16, 2012, three days after she was last seen. Somebody had used Carrie's debit card to make two separate purchases at two different discount stores in Omaha. Other than that, her bank accounts had been left alone. Everything seemed to suggest that Detective Doty's angle was the correct one, that Carrie Farver was deceased. In early 2013, Dave Krupa and Liz Golia had allowed their phones to be downloaded as part of the investigation into Carrie's stalking.

Detectives Avis and Doty combed through the pages and pages of data and noticed some interesting things. On November 6 and November 7, 2012, roughly a week before Carrie went missing, Liz Golia had made six separate calls to the same landline, Carrie Farver's home phone. All of the calls were brief, with the longest lasting 33 seconds. Why had Liz been calling Carrie in early November when the two didn't even know each other? There was also a series of photographs that Liz's phone had captured on December 24, 2012, more than a month after Carrie's disappearance. They showed Carrie's Black Ford Explorer and were taken weeks before Dave Krupa reported finding it parked near his apartment.

The police had prints on file for Liz, whose full name was Shana Elizabeth Golia. When Detective Doty compared these to the one recovered from the mint container in Carrie's car, he found it was a perfect match. Dave Krupa had met Liz Golia in the summer of 2012 via the dating website Plenty of Fish. She was one of the first women he started seeing after breaking up with his longtime partner Amy Flora. Dave was physically attracted to Liz but didn't feel a strong connection to her. Their conversations were never particularly deep and Liz took no interest in reading or current events like Dave did. They dated casually, with Dave making it clear that he wasn't interested in a committed relationship.

At the same time, he kept seeing other women. Liz frequently pressured Dave for something more exclusive but he wouldn't change his mind. A few months later in October, when Dave met Carrie's father at his work, their connection was instant. As well as finding Carrie extremely pretty, Dave was blown away by how incredibly intelligent, kind and fun she was. The attraction was mutual, with Carrie later telling a friend that although Dave wasn't her usual type, she was inexplicably drawn to him. At their first date, the conversation flowed and Carrie laughed more than she had in a long time. When Dave invited her back to his place, she took him up on the offer.

But she had to make one thing clear, she wasn't looking for anything serious and didn't want a boyfriend. Dave later reported feeling like he'd hit the jackpot at this moment. He'd found an amazing woman who wanted the exact same thing as him. There was just one problem. During Dave's first date with Carrie, his phone started blowing up with calls and messages from Liz. Dave ignored his phone for as long as possible but eventually excused himself so he could call Liz back. She said she needed to collect some things she'd left at his apartment. Dave responded that he was on a date and it wasn't a good time.

When Dave and Carrie got back to his place, they'd barely walked through the front door when Dave's phone started ringing again, along with his apartment security buzzer. Liz had shown up in person, determined to pick up her belongings. Dave explained the situation to Carrie who laughed it off and said she'd leave so he could sort everything out. She briefly passed Liz as she exited the apartment but gave no indication she was bothered by Liz's presence. Liz rushed into Dave's home upset and eager to speak with him. However, Dave was irritated by the interruption and asked her to leave as soon as she gathered up her possessions. Once Liz was out of the apartment, Dave called Carrie and she invited him over to her place. That was the beginning of their two week relationship.

The last time Dave Krupa ever saw Carrie father was at around 6.30 am on Tuesday November 13, 2012. Carrie had been sitting on his couch using her laptop and Dave had kissed her goodbye before leaving for work. A few hours later at 9.54, Carrie's phone was used to log into her Facebook account and whoever did so unfriended Dave Krupa. Shortly after, Dave received a strange text from Carrie asking if they should move in together, a question completely at odds with her prior approach to their relationship. When he said no, a torrent of abuse began that would continue for years. Two days later, one of Carrie's supervisors at work received a text from her phone that read, I won't be coming back. I'm taking a job in Kansas. Sorry for the short notice.

I am sending someone out to you to fill the position. Her name is Shana Golia. A few hours later, Shana Liz Golia filled out an application for a role at the same company where Carrie had worked. As she had no experience in coding or computer programming, her application was unsuccessful. When examining Liz's phone contents, detectives Dodie and Avis found a photo of a woman bound and duct taped in the trunk of a car, the same one that Carrie had emailed to Dave as a threat against Liz. The photo had been snapped on Liz's phone, prompting the detectives to suspect she had taken it of herself. They also found out that the video of Dave's apartment building posted

to YouTube in Carrie's name had actually been uploaded from an IP address registered to Liz's home. Detectives Dodie and Avis informed Carrie's mother Nancy that they suspected Carrie had met with foul play. Relieved that her daughter's case was finally being investigated seriously, Nancy willingly surrendered her cell phone so its contents could be studied as well. Amongst the numerous texts supposedly sent by Carrie was one explaining that she had sold her bedroom furniture and asking Nancy to let the buyer into her home to collect it. A photo of a check for $5,000 was attached. It was signed by Liz Golia. By late 2015, the detectives had accumulated a lot of circumstantial evidence but no definitive

answers. Then on December 4, they got a surprise when Liz Golia suddenly walked into the Potawatomi County Sheriff's Department. Liz was there to file a harassment report against Amy Flora, the ex-partner of her former boyfriend Dave Krupa. According to Liz, Amy had been stalking her via Facebook and she now suspected Amy was also responsible for the attacks made in Carrie's father's name. Liz was particularly worried because a pistol that Dave Krupa had acquired for self-defense had suddenly gone missing from his home and she knew that Amy had a key to his property. The detectives requested permission to download Liz's phone once again and encouraged her to contact them if she had any further concerns. A little over 24 hours later, Liz was shot in

the leg while walking in Big Lake Park and pointed to Amy Flora as her attacker. A thorough search of the park turned up no sign of the assailant, while investigators quickly established that Amy Flora had been at home with her children at the time. As bizarre as it seemed, the detectives began to suspect that the shooting had been committed by none other than Liz Golia herself. Back in 2013 when investigators had downloaded Liz's phone contents for the first time, it was assumed she was a victim. For that reason, the police had performed a logical download, only acquiring the data that still remained on the device. Now that they were looking at Liz as a possible suspect, they performed a physical download,

which would also give them access to content that had been deleted. As an IT expert trawled through the recovered data, puzzle pieces began to click into place. An app called Texty had been installed by Liz some time ago, then subsequently deleted. It had allowed her to send messages and emails from numerous fake accounts set up under Carrie Father's name. It also enabled Liz to schedule what time she wanted the messages sent, which explained how Dave and Liz had sometimes received texts from Carrie simultaneously, while sitting side by side. Liz had also used a virtual private networks, known as VPNs, to disguise the IP address that her emails were sent from.

She had sent tens of thousands of texts and emails to herself, Dave, and any other women whom Dave took an interest in. The IT expert calculated that Liz must have spent between 40 to 50 hours each week impersonating Carrie Father. The investigators decided to put Liz's penchant for sending emails to good use. On December 14, 2015, nine days after the shooting in Big Lake Park, they asked Liz to come in for an interview. Sitting her down in his office, Detective Doty explained that he needed her help. Some human remains had recently been found and they were believed to belong to Carrie Father, but they were still waiting for DNA to confirm the match.

Liz listened keenly, as Detective Doty explained that all he needed was some evidence to put his case together, perhaps some evidence that Amy had harmed Carrie. A few days later, emails started trickling into the detective's inbox. Liz was forwarding messages that appeared to have come from Amy Flora, first confessing to shooting Liz, then describing in graphic detail how she had attacked, killed, and disposed of Carrie. As they collated these confessions over the next couple of months, waiting for evidence they could use, the detectives contacted Dave Krupa to share their suspicions with him. Concerned that Liz might decide to attack Amy while they were

still putting their case together, the detectives told Dave that he should move back in with Amy and their two children for protection. But they also had an ulterior motive in making this suggestion. They hoped that seeing Dave with Amy would push Liz to breaking point. Sure enough, when Liz found out that Dave was staying with his ex, she called Detective Doty demanding to know why Amy hadn't been arrested yet. The detective apologised, explaining that they just didn't have enough evidence tying Amy to Carrie. A few hours later, some emails arrived that contained information only someone who'd been close to Carrie could know. They described a yin-yang tattoo on Carrie's thigh,

as well as the layout and furnishings of her home. They also specified that Carrie had been attacked in her own Ford Explorer. On February 25, 2016, after identifying Carrie's blood inside her car, the detectives executed a search warrant for Liz Golly's apartment while she was at work. Meanwhile, officers were sent to her workplace to arrest her under the guise of some traffic violations. Because it seemed that Carrie had been attacked at Dave Krupper's home in Nebraska, not Pottawatomie County in Iowa, where she was reported missing, a detective from the Omaha Police Department was brought in to interview Liz. She denied any knowledge of Carrie's whereabouts or involvement in her disappearance and promptly hired a lawyer. At Liz's apartment,

police found a black and white shower curtain with a distinctive floral pattern. It matched one that had been bought at a discount store using Carrie's father's debit card several days after she was last seen. They also found a digital camera and a red Sony camcorder that had gone missing from Carrie's home. On the camera was a brief clip that had been filmed on Sunday November 11, 2012, two days before Carrie went missing. The footage showed Carrie filming herself in her house and saying, So, Thursday night, apparently somebody here in the whopping metropolis of Macedonia, Iowa, decided Max's explorer was not the right color. Carrie then took the camera outside and aimed it at her black Ford explorer,

which she was planning on giving to her son Max. Someone had vandalized the bonnet with white spray paint. Detectives suspected that Liz Golia was responsible for the attack. That wasn't the only evidence that she'd been stalking Carrie in the days before her disappearance. As well as the phone records revealing Liz had called Carrie's home number, two fake Facebook accounts had attempted to add Carrie as a friend right before she went missing. Both claimed to be from Macedonia, the same town as Carrie, but misspelled the town's name in the same distinctive way. Despite the fact that Liz Golia was obsessed with being the only woman in Dave Cooper's life, detectives discovered that she hadn't even been single when they met.

In 2010, Liz started dating a man named Eric, not his real name. Eric was under the impression that the two were exclusive and was a supportive partner to Liz. He helped her out financially, assisted with looking after her two children, and invited them all to move in with him when Liz was evicted from her house in 2013. When Liz's home burnt down in August of that year, it coincided with a period when she and Dave Cooper weren't seeing each other. Every time Dave's attention drifted from Liz, an increase in Carrie's stalking activity or an attack against Liz would follow. She and the children were already living with Eric when her house was set on fire.

Nothing of value was lost in the blaze with the exception of Liz's four pets, which included two small dogs that Eric had paid for. A couple of months after Carrie's father disappeared, Eric had started receiving text messages and emails from someone named Carrie, who claimed to know Liz. When he asked Liz about the matter, she confirmed that Carrie was her friend. Eric eventually grew tired of Liz, who was cruel and made fun of him behind his back. He ended their relationship and she moved out of his house at the end of 2015, around the same time that she was shot. While Liz was living under Eric's roof,

she used his Wi-Fi and some of his electronic devices. As it happened, Eric was employed by Pottawatomie County's IT department and reported to the same expert who had investigated Liz's phone data. This meant his computer system was linked to the county's network and law enforcement could access long-term records of his household's internet activity. Detectives were able to strengthen their case against Liz by tracing exactly what she had done online while connected to Eric's Wi-Fi. Liz Golia was charged with first-degree murder on Tuesday, December 27, 2016. Another charge of second-degree arson was added for the crime of burning down her own home.

Her lawyer publicly defended Liz in the press, explaining that without Carrie Farve's body, investigators really had no proof that she wasn't still alive somewhere. Investigators had repeatedly asked Dave Krupper if he had any additional electronic devices that they could look at for evidence, but he couldn't think of any. Then, in early 2017, he suddenly remembered that he had a tablet computer stashed away in storage which Liz had sometimes used while the two were dating. Dave retrieved the tablet and police found a micro-SD memory card inside, which had also been used in Liz's cell phone. The card had been wiped, but through meticulous work, the department's IT expert was able to recover thousands of deleted

photographs that had once been stored there. He scrolled through photo after photo of Liz. Among the selfies and pictures of her children, he reached some images that were completely different in tone. Several showed a blue and gray tarp spread out over an unseen object. Another showed what looked like skin with a yin-yang symbol on it. Then, there was a picture of some Chinese characters inked onto what looked like reddish-colored flesh. A forensic expert confirmed that the photograph was of a human foot in the process of decomposition. When investigators checked with Carrie Farve's mother, she told them that Carrie had the Chinese word for mother tattooed on her left foot. It was a perfect match to the characters shown in the photo.

Detectives later told the ABC television program 2020 how disturbing they'd found the image. To them, it seemed like a trophy. It was also the crucial piece of evidence that they needed to prove their case. When the defense found out about the evidence, Liz Golia waved her right to a jury trial, instead opting for a bench trial in which a judge would decide her fate. Her lawyer presented no evidence, and Liz Golia did not testify. Meanwhile, the prosecution's case was extensive, relying on numerous witnesses and mountains of evidence, much of it relating to Liz's online activities. On Wednesday, May 24, 2017, Shana Elizabeth Golia was found guilty on both counts. She was sentenced to life imprisonment for Carrie's murder and 18 to 20 years for the arson,

with the sentences to run consecutively. While Carrie's loved ones celebrated upon hearing the verdict, Liz Golia turned red and closed her eyes as she was escorted from the courtroom. In 2020, author Leslie Rule, the daughter of famed true crime writer Anne Rule, published a book about the case titled A Tangled Web. In researching Liz Golia's background and early life, Rule made some troubling discoveries. After losing her entire family at a very young age and experiencing a difficult upbringing in the foster care system, Liz married and was divorced by age 22. At 23, she gave birth to her first child, a boy she named Cody Golia. Cody cried a lot, and members of his extended family thought he seemed like an extremely

unhappy baby. But Liz said he was just colicky. One morning, Liz's 21-year-old boyfriend Neil Munson, who wasn't Cody's father, was looking after a five-month-old Cody while Liz was at work. Neil's mother, Golia, was helping him and noticed how strangely quiet Cody was. He remained that way for the entire day. At around 5pm, Golia went to check on Cody and was horrified to discover he wasn't breathing. An ambulance was called and Cody was rushed to hospital, but he was pronounced dead shortly after. The cause of death was found to be a serious brain injury caused by Cody being forcefully shaken. Neil Munson, who had an intellectual disability, was grilled by investigators for hours. While he admitted to sometimes playfully

throwing Cody in the air, he said that the baby had always laughed and enjoyed the game. As the officers continued to press him, Neil acknowledged that he might have thrown Cody higher than usual that day. Neil Munson was eventually charged with killing Cody. But not everyone was convinced that Neil was responsible. When Neil's mother, Golia, realized how sick Cody was, she asked Neil if anything strange had happened recently. He'd mentioned that Liz had called him at work the previous night and told him to hurry home because she dropped the baby. Multiple people in Liz's life, including Cody's father, suspected that she had something to do with the infant's death. She seemed unusually

cheerful in the days after Cody died. At Neil's trial, he pleaded guilty after a series of incriminating letters emerged that he had supposedly sent to Liz from prison. Dramatic with overwritten, flowery prose, the letters declared Neil's undying love for Liz and asked her to say she'd dropped Cody in order to, quote, set me free. Neil never denied writing the letters, but those close to him believed they were far beyond his capabilities as a writer. Author Leslie Rule has attempted to track down the original letters to study their handwriting, pointing out that Liz Golia is now on the record as someone known to forge confessions in another person's name.

So far, Rule has been unable to find them. Neil Munson was paroled after eight and a half years. He is now a father of two and father of two, and his family staunchly believes in his innocence. For years, Dave Krupper believed he was being stalked by Carrie Farver, a woman who he'd felt connected to from the moment they met. His initial affection for Carrie had turned to hatred before he finally learnt the truth. Upon realising Liz was behind it all, some things finally started to make sense. Dave recalled one evening he'd returned home late from a local bar and spotted Liz in the dark, army crawling on the ground away from his apartment.

He called out to her, but she ignored him as she slithered away into the night. As soon as he entered his home, he received a flurry of text from Liz, apologising and explaining that she was drunk and had no idea what she was doing. The thought that Carrie lost her life because she met him has been too painful for Dave Krupper to process and has left him wracked with guilt. Dave has given numerous interviews about his experiences with Liz, explaining to author Leslie Rule that he plans on appearing in every television program that Nancy Rainey does so he can help her share Carrie's story. Nancy has said Dave is a victim who, just like her daughter, was in the wrong place at the wrong

time. She knows that Carrie would want Dave to forgive himself. Carrie's son Max is now at university and is following her example by studying computer science. A scholarship in Carrie's name has also been established at Iowa Western Community College, her former school, as a way of keeping Carrie's legacy of kindness alive. The years Carrie's loved ones were tormented by the knowledge that something terrible had happened to her and whoever was responsible was taunting them. Although they doubted Carrie could still be alive, Liz Gollia's messages sometimes made it impossible to give up hope. One time, Nancy was told Carrie was waiting for her at a homeless shelter in Omaha.

Nancy had rushed to the shelter, overjoyed at the thought of seeing her daughter again, but when she arrived, she was told no one there had seen Carrie. In an interview with the Omaha World Herald newspaper, Nancy shared Carrie's hopes for how her life would be celebrated after her passing. She wanted to be cremated and thrown to the wind. Unfortunately, Nancy may never be able to do this for her daughter. While pretending to be Amy, Liz Gollia claimed she burned Carrie's remains then threw them in the garbage. If this is true, it would be impossible for authorities to recover them. Although Nancy was upset that she couldn't fulfill Carrie's wish,

she was thinking of holding a celebration in her honor, stating, she would have wanted a party and a big gathering. She loved life. I just wish she could have had more of it.