Warning. The following podcast is not suitable for all audiences.

We go into great detail with every case that we cover and do our best to bring viewers even deeper into the stories by utilizing disturbing audio and sound effects.

Trigger warnings from the stories we cover may include violence, rape,

murder, and offenses against children.

This podcast is not for everyone.

You have been warned.

Your neighborhood is supposed to be a place where you feel safe, especially as a child.

It's supposed to be a place where you can hang out with other children, explore, run through the streets,

and be a little kid, where you don't have to look over your shoulder or question people's intentions.

After all, it's your home, and the people's intentions. After all, it's your home and the people around you are familiar to you.

But as we've seen throughout our stories, danger can often creep very close to home. And that's exactly what happened in our story today.

In 1998, 8-year-old Maddie Clifton was playing in her neighborhood in Jacksonville, Florida,

when all of a sudden she vanishes into thin air, a mother's worst

nightmare.

For hours, the people of her neighborhood searched for Maddie, no one could find her and she would never

be seen alive again. For her parents I'm sure there were a million scenarios running

through their head as to who could have taken their little girl.

But the real culprit behind Maddie's disappearance was a lot closer than anyone

would have imagined and her body would be found in the most unlikely of

places. This is the story of Maddie Clifton. I'm Courtney Browen and you're listening to Murder in America. Oh, yeah. Oh, Oh, Our story starts in 1998 in a neighborhood on the south side of Jacksonville, Florida called Lakewood.

Lakewood is considered to be a good area.

There's a big sense of community, little crime, and friendly neighbors.

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