Part I — “Devil’s Island”: The Murder of Ivonne Baldelli
When former U.S. Marine Brian Brimager left the Corps after seven years, he and his girlfriend Ivonne Baldelli chased a beach-town dream to the Bocas del Toro islands of Panama. To family back home, Ivonne’s emails painted sunshine: cheap beers, happy hours, swims at dawn, Brian singing for tips at waterfront bars. Locals remembered the couple as regulars. From afar, it looked like paradise.
But the reality was uglier. Friends and bar owners later described heavy drinking, explosive arguments, and bruises Ivonne tried to conceal. In late November 2011, Ivonne learned Brian had a child with another woman, Kristen Workhoven—a revelation that shattered her. Soon after, Ivonne’s messages suddenly slowed… then stopped.
By mid-December, Brian was back in California—alone—and asking Ivonne’s sister Michelle about his pickup truck. When Michelle demanded to know where Ivonne was, Brian claimed Ivonne had left him to run off to Costa Rica with another man. Days later, an email arrived from Ivonne’s account saying she was homesick but would come home in January. Michelle’s instincts screamed: something was wrong.
A tech-savvy cousin traced the email headers. The “Costa Rica” message had the same IP address as Brian’s new location near Dana Point, California. The family took the findings to the FBI. Special Agent Andrew Masters soon knocked on Brian’s door. Inside: a white Sony VAIO laptop that matched Ivonne’s computer.
Digital forensics and witness interviews formed a devastating picture. On Ivonne’s laptop, investigators found her selfie showing a fresh black eye weeks before she vanished, and searches the morning after the suspected killing: how to remove blood from a mattress. ATM cameras in Costa Rica captured Brian using Ivonne’s debit card. Emails to the family—purporting to be from Ivonne—had been sent from California.
Meanwhile, Ivonne’s family, aided by veteran investigator Don Winner, pressed Panamanian authorities and searched the mangrove swamps and shoreline near the couple’s rental. The terrain was unforgiving—snakes, spiders, knee-deep muck—but the family refused to stop.
In June 2013, federal agents arrested Brian in California—not for murder yet, but on 13 counts related to the cover-up. Then, the break everyone had prayed for: on the island of Carenero, a worker clearing brush found a duffel bag containing skeletal remains. DNA confirmed it was Ivonne. An autopsy showed she had been stabbed and dismembered. Investigators also recovered the machete Brian had brought to Panama; when they disassembled the handle, they found Ivonne’s blood hidden beneath.
Faced with the mounting evidence he couldn’t explain away, Brian pleaded guilty to second-degree murder. In open court, he apologized; Ivonne’s family heard only lies. He was sentenced to 26 years in federal prison, with a release date in February 2037. Ivonne’s remains were returned to the sea she loved. Her sister Michelle—whose relentless fight galvanized the case—died of cancer before the sentencing. The family considers her a hero who battled a Marine…and won.
Part II — “Find Yura”: Manhunt on the Dark Web
In Minnesota, 18-year-old Alexis S. (then a high-schooler when it began) was told by police in 2019 that someone had put out a murder contract on her via a dark-web “hitman” site. The requester, using the handle “mastermind365,” submitted her photo, home and work addresses, and paid about $5,000 in Bitcoin—first for a kidnapping, then for assassination.
Alexis suspected her ex, Adrien Fry, a British gamer she’d dated as a minor. After she ended the relationship and disclosed a new boyfriend, his messages turned menacing. The dark-web order’s timing and wording echoed his British phrasing (e.g., “in a week’s time,” “inbox me”) and quirks (“thankyou” as one word). She feared not only the site—but what a furious client might do if the paid hit didn’t happen.
48 Hours had previously investigated dark-web “murder for hire” storefronts, especially those linked to a taunting admin known as “Yura.” Many of these sites, experts say, are elaborate scams—they take money, never deliver violence—but the customers are quite real and sometimes turn to DIY murder when their online contract “stalls.” In one referenced case, a husband who’d paid Yura later killed his wife himself and was convicted.
With a CBS News consultant (“Lisa,” a former intel officer) and outside researchers, the team followed digital breadcrumbs—usernames, passwords, payment trails—and even tracked a supposed marketing contractor in India who had promoted Yura’s sites on the surface web. The reporting helped disrupt his advertising pipeline. Eventually, 48 Hours confronted a U.S. man their analyst believed—at high confidence—was Yura. He denied it and live-streamed the altercation; he later declined an on-camera interview.
As for Alexis, despite her evidence and fear—including a white van tailing her one night—prosecutors ultimately declined charges in her case. She remains outspoken: even if hitman sites are scams, the intent to kill is real, and people caught up in these schemes can still act on their rage. The 48 Hours investigation led to multiple arrests and convictions in other dark-web solicitations—but Yura’s full unmasking remains unresolved.
Part III — “It’s About Danni”: A 1996 Montana Cold Case Solved
On a September evening in 1996, 15-year-old Danni (Danielle) left home after a family spat and drove to a quiet fishing access near Belgrade, Montana. Searchers found her face-down in shallow, muddy water. Within days, authorities publicly suggested an accidental drowning—no foul play indicated.
Her family never believed it. The first deputy on scene felt the same. What the family didn’t know: the autopsy noted mud deep in the airways and stomach, bruising on the back of the neck, and injuries consistent with sexual assault. Over years, tips and re-tests stalled. The case languished.
Decades later, a new sheriff, Dan Springer, vowed transparency. He brought in retired LAPD captain Tom Elfmont, who reopened the file with modern forensics. A partial DNA profile from old evidence wasn’t enough for CODIS, so Elfmont turned to cutting-edge extraction and investigative genetic genealogy. Forensic pioneer CeCe Moore built family trees from a tiny profile recovered from a rootless hair preserved since 1996. The branches led to a man who had moved to Bozeman in the summer of 1996.
Name: Paul Hutchinson—a Marine veteran turned federal fisheries biologist, avid hunter and trapper, widely respected in Montana’s outdoor community. He had no criminal record.
In July 2024, Elfmont and a partner approached Hutchinson at work. In a calm, consensual interview (no cuffs, no Miranda), they showed him photos from similar river cases and from Danni’s scene; he visibly tensed, recalled the exact access road to Cameron Bridge, and denied involvement. Investigators then tailed him for safety.
Twelve hours later, before an arrest could be made, Hutchinson died by suicide in a remote area after calling in a false “officer needs help.” Subsequent testing matched his DNA to the semen on Danni’s underwear at odds of 10.7 trillion to 1. The case—28 years cold—was solved.
At a press conference, Danni’s sister Stephanie thanked the new team and blasted the 1996 handling as a betrayal of grieving parents. The former sheriff denied lying but admitted withholding details at the time. Stephanie later returned to the river to scatter the last of Danni’s ashes and to say what she’d promised for nearly three decades: I got you.
See the next case here:
Leave a Reply