All The Dark, Terrible, And Upsetting Things I Learned This Week

Key Points:

• Filmmaker Rob Reiner and his wife Michele were found stabbed to death in their Los Angeles home in 2025, with their son Nick Reiner arrested and charged with their murders following a heated argument.
• Nicole Delien, a Pennsylvania teenager with the rare neurological disorder Kleine-Levin syndrome, experienced extreme sleep episodes lasting up to 64 days, severely disrupting her life; the condition remains poorly understood with no known cure.
• Amy Fitzpatrick, a 15-year-old from Dublin, vanished during a short walk home in Spain in 2008; despite extensive searches and investigations, no leads have emerged, and her case remains unsolved.
• During the 1950s Malayan Emergency, British forces allegedly encouraged Indigenous trackers to decapitate enemies as proof of kills, a practice later confirmed by investigations despite initial denials and raising ethical concerns.
• Velma Barfield, known as the “Death Row Granny,” was executed in 1984 for poisoning multiple victims with arsenic; her case gained attention due to her crimes, religious transformation in prison, and her final meal of Cheez Doodles and Coca-Cola.