The tragic deaths of Kadie, River and Aadon Major

REDRUM true crime

redrumpodcast

History, True Crime

4.6 • 532 Ratings

🗓️ 30 April 2026

⏱️ 42 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In January 2008, 26 year old Kadie Major and her 10 month old daughter, River Lynn, were found dead near train tracks off Oakley Road in Berkeley County, South Carolina. Authorities quickly ruled it a murder-suicide.

Investigators claimed Kadie had been struggling with postpartum depression, that she had killed her daughter before stepping in front of a train, and within days, that explanation became official... before toxicology results were returned, before the autopsy report was finalised, and before key questions had been fully explored.

But from the very beginning, Kadie’s family didn’t believe it. In the hours before she disappeared, Kadie had been making plans, sharing the news she was expecting a baby boy, and speaking with loved ones. That same night, her husband reported that she had run from the house in fear, convinced someone was coming to kill her... but discouraged the family from calling police.

By the next morning, the search ended in tragedy.

As the investigation unfolded, details began to surface that didn’t sit right. Her truck was found abandoned but completely undamaged, her wedding rings had been removed and placed in her pocket, there was a handwritten note filled with fragmented religious and apocalyptic phrases, and a timeline that raised more questions than answers.

Years later, with a PI on the case and following national attention from CBS’s 48 Hours, the case was reopened.

Investigators publicly stated they no longer believed Kadie’s death was a suicide... and named her husband as the sole suspect.

So what really happened to Kadie Major and River that night? And how did a case closed in just days… unravel into something far more complicated?

GOFUNDME for Kadie's family investigation: https://www.gofundme.com/f/1v5wj2876o

If you want to read more about the case, you can read blog posts and more on Vicky's website: https://kadieandherbabies.com/news/

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Transcript

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0:00.0	On a cold morning in January 2008, just outside Monk's Corner, a young pregnant woman
0:08.0	called Katie Major was found dead. She was next to a stretch of train tracks, and in a pond nearby
0:15.6	was her 10-month-old daughter River, she was also dead, both gone in circumstances that at first glance seemed to
0:25.3	offer a fairly simple explanation. And within hours, investigators began to shape a narrative that
0:32.2	suggested Katie had been struggling, that she was overwhelmed and in a moment of crisis she had taken
0:40.3	her daughter with her and stepped in front of a passing train. This conclusion was shared
0:45.6	with her family almost immediately and then formalised within days. But this was before many
0:52.0	of the key pieces of evidence had even fully been processed.
0:56.5	And from the very beginning, Katie's mother, Vicky, she just couldn't reconcile that version
1:01.9	of events with the daughter that she knew. And as that initial shock wore off, it gave way
1:08.5	to questions, a lot of questions. And eventually, many years later,
1:15.3	those questioned forced new investigators to take a second look at the case once dismissed as a
1:22.4	suicide. The focus then very quickly moved away from KatieD and towards someone else, her husband,
1:30.3	Aaron Major.
1:32.3	This is Red Rum, stories about the true victims of crime.
1:36.3	Make sure you're subscribed so you catch the two episodes I do every single week on Mondays and Thursdays.
1:50.0	Katie was attending Northwood Academy in Somerville. This is in her teenage years, it's in South Carolina.
1:53.0	And it was there that she met Aaron, who was two years younger than her.
1:57.0	The pair started dating and things got serious quickly. The high school sweetheart
2:03.4	finished up school, they settled down and they started talking about their future. They
2:09.3	wanted the same kinds of things, a house, a family of their own and so they got to work on
2:14.9	building that for themselves. Aaron got a job working for Katie's father, Jeff, who had this very successful house painting business.
	...

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