Welcome back to Mama Mystery. I am your host, Kelly. And today's episode is going to be a Patreon

exclusive episode. So if you want to hear the full story, you can head over to patreon.com

slash Mama Mystery. There you can access bonus content, including ad-free episodes.

This story that I'm about to tell you is an unsolved murder,

and it is one of the most horrific stories that I've told on this podcast.

Writing it, I was in tears.

I really hope that as I tell this story, I can keep it together.

But it is the story about a young family in southern Illinois. In November of

1987, they vanished from sight for just one day, and when police finally went to check on their

home, what they found inside would haunt the town of Ina, Illinois, forever. Keith and Elaine Dardine

were the kind of couple everyone in their small community

knew and admired. They worked hard. They sang in church and were raising their two-year-old

son, Peter, while preparing to welcome a new baby girl. But behind their front door was a scene

of unimaginable horror, one so brutal that even seasoned investigators

said that it was the worst they had ever witnessed. Elaine and Little Peter were found beaten to

death inside their trailer, tucked into bed as if someone wanted to hide the violence that had taken

place. Elaine, who was seven months pregnant, had actually gone into

labor during the attack, giving birth to a baby girl who lived for only moments before being

killed as well. Keith, the husband and father, was missing along with the family car, and within 24

hours, his body would be discovered in a nearby field shot and mutilated in a way

that defied all understanding a loving family was wiped out for no apparent reason there was no

robbery no known enemies and no clear motive just brutality precision and a killer who vanished without a trace.

...