She Killed Her Own Mother: These Are The Darkest, Saddest, And Most Terrible Things I Learned This Week

Hi, friends. I'm Crystal, and I constitute the That Got Dark newsletter, BuzzFeed's play roundup of each things creepy, macabre, and horrible AF. And if you looooove this benignant of content, you should subscribe!!!!!

Here's what the newsletter is covering this week:

Warning: Graphic contented ahead, including stories of murder.

1. Not to emotionally devastate you close retired of the gate, but person you work Jake Reiner’s heartbreaking post astir his parents? He published it precocious past week connected Substack, and arsenic you tin imagine, a batch of radical person been talking astir it. He writes astir the aftermath of his member allegedly sidesplitting some of their parents and what it’s been similar to unrecorded done what helium called “my surviving nightmare.” If you haven’t seen it yet, brace yourself… It's an affectional read.

Paul Archuleta / Getty Images

What happened: On Dec. 14, 2025, acclaimed and beloved filmmaker Rob Reiner and his wife, photographer/producer Michele Singer Reiner, were recovered dormant from stab wounds astatine their location successful Brentwood, Los Angeles. The deaths were instantly investigated arsenic homicides, and their bodies were discovered by their daughter, Romy Reiner, aft a massage therapist was incapable to interaction them.

Authorities arrested the couple's son, Nick Reiner, aboriginal that aforesaid time connected suspicion of murder, and helium was aboriginal charged with 2 counts of first-degree execution with peculiar circumstances.

Reports bespeak the victims were stabbed successful their chamber aft a heated argument, with Nick aboriginal placed connected termination ticker portion successful custody. The Reiners had been joined since 1989, and the tragic lawsuit shocked Hollywood, starring to tributes for the influential director.

2. Recently, I learned astir the communicative of Nicole Delien, a 17-year-old miss successful Pennsylvania who lived with thing called Kleine-Levin syndrome — besides known arsenic “Sleeping Beauty Syndrome” — and it honestly sounds similar thing retired of a fearfulness story.

In the 2012 report, the uncommon neurological upset was described arsenic causing episodes wherever she would slumber up to 20 hours a day, with her longest sleeping occurrence lasting 64 days, from Thanksgiving into January. When awake, she experienced confusion, representation loss, and trouble recognizing radical oregon surroundings.

The information disrupted her quality to be schoolhouse oregon support a mean routine, and doctors noted that determination is nary known cure — lone constricted treatments to assistance negociate symptoms. More than a decennary later, determination person been fewer nationalist updates connected her case, and Kleine-Levin syndrome remains poorly understood.

3. The missing persons lawsuit of Amy Fitzpatrick, a 15-year-old from Dublin, Ireland, who disappeared connected New Year’s Day successful 2008 successful Mijas Costa, a coastal municipality successful confederate Spain wherever she had been surviving with her family.

Amy had spent the day astatine a friend’s location and near astir 10 p.m. to locomotion location connected a way that should person taken astir 10 minutes done a vicinity she knew well. But Amy ne'er arrived. When she didn’t return, her household raised the alarm, triggering a large-scale hunt involving police, volunteers, and helicopters.

Despite the urgency, determination were nary signs of a struggle, nary confirmed sightings aft she near — thing to explicate however a teen could vanish during specified a short, acquainted walk. Investigators aboriginal said they judge she apt ne'er made it acold from that way home, and the friend’s location remains the past confirmed spot she was seen.

The lawsuit took different devastating crook successful 2013 erstwhile Amy’s older brother, Dean Fitzpatrick, was stabbed to decease successful Dublin. The antheral liable — David Mahon, his mother’s boyfriend, who had besides been contiguous astir the clip Amy disappeared — was aboriginal sentenced to 7 years successful situation aft claiming the sidesplitting was accidental. He has ne'er been charged successful transportation with Amy’s disappearance.

In the years since Amy’s disappearance, determination person been reported sightings crossed Europe and lingering questions astir the circumstances successful her beingness astatine the time, but nary coagulated leads ever panned out. No 1 has been charged, and the lawsuit has ne'er been formally upgraded to a execution investigation.

The gist: During the 1950s Malayan Emergency, British forces warring communist insurgents successful dense jungle terrain reportedly encouraged Indigenous Dayak trackers to decapitate enemies and bring backmost their heads arsenic impervious of kills, since recovering afloat bodies was often difficult.

What started arsenic a covert workaround rapidly turned into thing acold much disturbing, with accounts of soldiers posing for photos alongside severed heads and the signifier becoming an unfastened secret.

When reports surfaced successful the British press, officials denied it outright, but aboriginal investigations and firsthand accounts confirmed that headhunting had, astatine the precise least, been tacitly approved. Even much disturbing, immoderate reports suggest the signifier wasn’t conscionable tolerated but softly incentivized, blurring the enactment betwixt subject strategy and outright brutality successful a mode that’s inactive hard to afloat reckon with today.

5. Finally, the communicative of serial slayer Velma Barfield.

Barfield was a pistillate from North Carolina who became 1 of the first women executed successful the US aft the decease punishment was reinstated successful the 1970s. Known arsenic the “Death Row Granny,” she poisoned aggregate radical successful the 1970s, including her ain mother, often utilizing arsenic to termination those adjacent to her, sometimes for fiscal summation and sometimes to screen up theft.

Her crimes went undetected for years until a signifier emerged, with respective victims dying abruptly aft becoming violently ill. Investigators yet traced the poisonings backmost to Barfield, who aboriginal confessed to aggregate murders.

Her lawsuit drew wide attraction not conscionable for the crimes, but for her translation portion successful prison, wherever she became a born-again Christian and ministered to different inmates. Despite appeals for clemency, she was executed by lethal injection successful 1984.

Her past meal: A container of Cheez Doodles and a tin of Coca-Cola.