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PODCAST

Chasing Shadows

Investigator Sean Lacy

Show Description – Chasing Shadows Predators thrive in the shadows. Parents can’t protect what they don’t see. Chasing Shadows is a podcast hosted by Sean Lacy, a Digital Forensic Examiner and Special Investigator who has spent years uncovering crimes of online child exploitation. Drawing from real cases and frontline experience, Sean pulls back the curtain on how predators operate in digital spaces most parents have never even heard of.

true crime

All Episodes

00:18:12

Episode 8: The Kik Connection

Chasing Shadows ·

2025/11/03

Episode 8: The Kik ConnectionWhere predators hide in plain sight — and parents think it’s just messaging.Kik has been around for more than a decade, but behind the chat bubbles and usernames lies one of the internet’s most dangerous playgrounds. In this episode, Sean Lacy takes you inside the world of Kik Messenger — where anonymity fuels exploitation and predators use everyday tools to trade, groom, and target children.You’ll hear about real investigations: a biker gang member who tested undercover

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00:12:55

Shadow Debrief #3: The Amanda Todd Story

Chasing Shadows ·

2025/10/30

Shadow Debrief #3 – The Amanda Todd Story | The Face of SextortionWhen fifteen-year-old Amanda Todd trusted the wrong person online, she became the victim of one of the most public sextortion cases in history — a case that exposed how digital cruelty and manipulation can destroy lives.Sean Lacy takes a deeper look at Amanda’s story, the predator who targeted her, the investigation that brought him to justice, and the global reforms sparked by her death.More than a decade later, her story remains a

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00:25:53

Episode 7 - Digital Blackmail: Inside the Sextortion...

Chasing Shadows ·

2025/10/27

Episode 7 - Digital Blackmail: Inside the Sextortion EpidemicSextortion has become the most widespread online crime targeting teenagers — and it’s growing fast.In this episode of Chasing Shadows, Investigator Sean Lacy exposes how predators manipulate boys and girls through everyday apps like Snapchat and Instagram, coercing them into sending private photos and then blackmailing them for money or more content.You’ll hear how these crimes start, how global networks like the “764” group industrialize

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00:14:26

Shadow Debrief #2: Cayce Savage- VR + Discord

Chasing Shadows ·

2025/10/23

When the virtual world becomes the next crime scene.Whistleblower Cayce Savage stepped forward with a warning: predators are moving into the worlds parents don’t yet understand — VR spaces, avatars, and private Discord servers.In this episode, we break down what she revealed before Congress, how offenders use cross-platform grooming to target kids, and what parents and investigators can do to stop it.From Meta’s virtual worlds to the backchannels of Discord, this debrief exposes how online

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00:21:06

Episode 6- Discord: When the Conversation Leaves the...

Chasing Shadows ·

2025/10/20

Episode 6 – Discord: When the Conversation Leaves the GameDiscord is one of the fastest-growing platforms in the world — a space where kids hang out, game, study, and connect. But behind the servers and voice chats, predators know how to exploit its features to groom, coerce, and trade illicit material.In this episode of Chasing Shadows, Sean Lacy takes you inside the world of Discord: what it is, how it works, why it’s so attractive to teens, and how offenders use it to target kids. We share a case

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00:14:47

Episode 5- Roblox: Building Worlds, Facing Risks

Chasing Shadows ·

2025/10/13

Episode 5- Roblox: Building Worlds, Facing RisksRoblox is one of the most popular games in the world, with over 70 million daily users—most of them children. Parents see it as creative and safe, but predators see it as an entry point.In this episode of Chasing Shadows, host Sean Lacy unpacks a case involving a 10-year-old girl whose mother thought Roblox’s parental controls would protect her. Instead, predators bypassed those settings by following her into another app. You’ll hear how the situation

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00:10:52

Shadow Debrief #1: The Chatroom Admin

Chasing Shadows ·

2025/10/09

Shadow Debrief #1: The Chatroom AdminIn this Chasing Shadows: Shadow Debrief, Sean Lacy takes listeners inside a North Carolina case that exposes one of the most dangerous positions online — the chatroom administrator.Twenty-four-year-old Nicholas Tyler Banks wasn’t just a participant in an illegal chat group. He was the gatekeeper — approving new members, distributing child sexual abuse material, and controlling the very space where exploitation thrived.In this episode, Sean breaks down how these

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00:18:46

Episode 4 – Paltalk: Behind the Chat Rooms

Chasing Shadows ·

2025/10/06

Episode 4 – Paltalk: Behind the Chat RoomsMost parents have never heard of Paltalk. Predators have.In this episode of Chasing Shadows, Sean Lacy takes you inside one of the internet’s oldest chat platforms — a space where anonymity, video chat, and private messaging create the perfect cover for grooming. Through the cases of Sam Smith, a repeat offender who used Paltalk to target teens, and a high school soccer coach living a double life, you’ll see how quickly conversations can escalate and how

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00:26:00

Episode 3 - The Traveler

Chasing Shadows ·

2025/09/29

Episode 3 – The TravelerDescription:Some offenders don’t just hide behind a keyboard — they show up.Sam Smith was already a convicted sex offender when he entered an online chat room and began talking to who he thought were two 14-year-old girls. Over weeks of conversations, he described what he wanted to do, packed a bag with lingerie and condoms, and drove across state lines to meet them. Instead of children, he found law enforcement waiting.In this episode of Chasing Shadows, host Sean Lacy takes

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00:24:45

Episode 2 – The Peer-to-Peer Predator

Chasing Shadows ·

2025/09/22

Description:Brad Roberts wasn’t caught in a dark alley — he was caught online. A repeat offender, he used a peer-to-peer program called Shareaza to download and trade child sexual abuse material. When his case went to trial, the jury handed him a 75-year sentence. But even that wasn’t the end. Later, Roberts escalated to a hands-on offense, proving what law enforcement already knew: CSAM isn’t a safety valve. It’s fuel for escalation.In this episode, Sean Lacy unpacks Roberts’ case and explains the

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00:23:00

Episode 1- The Major and the Manifesto

Chasing Shadows ·

2025/09/15

Episode 1 – The Major and the Manifesto: Grooming ExposedDescription:When a CyberTip leads investigators to the home of an Air Force major, the discovery isn’t just shocking — it’s a window into how predators think. Buried on one of his devices was a 172-page handbook, a so-called guide to manipulating children. It outlined, step by step, how to gain trust, create secrecy, and escalate to abuse.In this episode of Chasing Shadows, host Sean Lacy breaks down that case and uses it to expose the process

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00:04:30

Episode 0 - Welcome to Chasing Shadows

Chasing Shadows ·

2025/09/11

Episode 0 – Welcome to Chasing ShadowsPredators thrive in the shadows. Parents can’t protect what they don’t see.In this introduction to Chasing Shadows, host Sean Lacy, a Digital Forensic Examiner and investigator, explains why he created this podcast and what you can expect. In 2024, the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children received over 20.5 million CyberTipline reports—each one representing a potential child victim. Those victims aren’t far away; they could be your neighbor, your

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