On the morning of August 28, 1993, the quiet shores of Nags Head, North Carolina, were shattered when 35-year-old visitor Janet Siclari was found raped and fatally stabbed behind the Carolinian hotel. What followed was a decades-long pursuit of justice marked by false leads, courtroom drama, and groundbreaking DNA technology.

In this episode, we talk with investigative author John Railey, whose new bookThe Carolinian Murder at Nags Head: The Janet Siclari Story tells the full story of this brutal crime for the first time. Drawing on exclusive interviews with insiders, John unravels the twists and turns that led to a conviction—and the lingering questions about who else might have been involved.

We also explore John’s deep ties to the Outer Banks, his career as a journalist, and how his body of work has consistently sought truth and justice in some of North Carolina’s darkest stories.