Coffee, Murder, & Mystery · Dark and Ominous Entertainment

Halloween Nightmare: The Murder of Chelsea Bruck

·1 hr 5 min·4 clips

Witnesses place Chelsea near the parking lot with an unidentified man, while other accounts say she was alone.

1. Coffee, Murder, & Mystery covers Chelsea Ellen Brock’s disappearance after Big Mike’s annual Halloween party in Newport, Michigan. 2. Melissa, Mandy, and Kelly host the episode, and they frame Chelsea’s case as a community search for a missing 22-year-old from Mabee. 3. The episode asks what happened after Chelsea left a 600-to-800-person Halloween party and why the search became so difficult. 4. Chelsea Brock was born on January 28, 1992, in Trenton, Michigan, to Matthew and Leanda Brock, and she was the youngest of five siblings. 5. She lived in Mabee, worked as a hostess at Olga’s for four years, and planned to attend Monroe County Community College for culinary arts. 6. Chelsea and her co-worker Becky Brinson planned to attend Big Mike’s Halloween bash, which was held on Mike Williams’s mother’s property on Post Road. 7. Chelsea spent three weeks making a Poison Ivy costume with a green leotard, fake leaves, black tights, a red-and-purple wig, and a wine jug relabeled “poison.” 8. The party featured two large tents, eight heavy metal bands, and a bonfire, and the hosts say people came from as far as three states away. 9. Big Mike hired security and parking coordinators, but traffic backed up so badly that guests were turned away from the road. 10. Chelsea arrived around 10 p.m. with Becky and later with friend Penny Watkins, and the group spent the night walking around the property. 11. Around midnight, Chelsea hit her nose on a tent pole, got upset, and wanted to go home before her friends convinced her to stay. 12. By about 1 a.m., Chelsea had lost sight of Penny, and Becky ended up leaving with Chelsea’s phone because Chelsea’s costume had no pockets. 13. Becky called Leanda Brock the next morning to say she had Chelsea’s phone, and Chelsea’s family started calling friends when Chelsea did not come home. 14. Big Mike searched his fields and woods with his dog, but the dog stepped into a fox trap and had to be carried home. 15. The police and the family set up searches on the property, and by Monday evening Leanda Brock accused Big Mike of having something to do with Chelsea’s disappearance. 16. Detectives Brian Stroka and Mike Predmore conducted 840 interviews and reviewed 1,000 tips, while helicopters, ATVs, and door-to-door searches covered the area. 17. Witnesses gave conflicting accounts about whether Chelsea was walking toward the parking area with an unidentified man or standing alone in the lot. 18. Investigators also checked men Chelsea had been interested in, collected clothing and DNA, and confirmed that none of them had attended the party. 19. The episode keeps the tone procedural and documentary, with the hosts explaining timelines, tips, and search efforts rather than using a dramatized format. 20. Listeners who follow true-crime timelines, witness contradictions, and small-town searches will get the most from this episode. 21. Listeners who want a short, light Halloween story probably will not.

As heard by us

A small-town disappearance told with patience, grief, and a community trying to find answers.

Chelsea Brock's case stays rooted in the people around her, which gives the episode its best shape. The hosts move through her background, the missing-person response, and Mabee's reaction: flyers, purple ribbons, donations, a candlelight vigil, and a search headquarters in a…

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Why you'd press play

When you want Chelsea Brock's case told like a small-town conversation, this one stays close.

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