MrBallen Podcast: Strange, Dark & Mysterious Stories
Sep 14, 2026 · 37 min · 18 segments
One morning in March of 1999, a detective in Norcross, Georgia leaned in closely to his computer screen. He was reviewing video footage his team had recorded at a murder scene – and finally, he…
She was nervous because in just a few minutes, she had a meeting to discuss a sexual harassment complaint that she had recently filed against one of her coworkers, a guy named Jeff Copeland.
Now, Danielle had hoped that her human resources department would handle this complaint quietly, discreetly.
Ultimately, they wanted them all to sit down face-to-face to, to talk this problem through.
However, even though this was like the last way Danielle wanted to handle this, she had ultimately agreed to, to do this meeting because really, she needed this job, and she was worried if she didn't take this meeting, it could jeopardize her role here.
And so just then, she looked over and she saw the head of HR walk into her boss's office, followed closely by Jeff.
So at this point, Danielle, she took a deep breath, stood up from her desk, she straightened her clothes, and then headed into the meeting.
An hour later, Danielle walked back out of her boss's office and her hands were shaking because the HR meeting had basically gone exactly how she'd been afraid it would go.
Jeff had completely downplayed the whole thing as like this big misunderstanding, and even though her boss had talked a lot about, you know, repercussions for Jeff, Danielle had gotten the feeling that nothing was actually going to be done here.
And so this whole experience had been really embarrassing and also just overwhelming, and now Danielle really just wanted some distance, not just from, from Jeff and her boss in HR, but from, from everyone.
So she decided she would use her lunch break to just go home for a bit and try to recover.
So she grabbed her purse and her jacket, and then she also told a coworker that she was stepping out for a bit, and then she made her way to the exit.
She parked her car, she got out, and then she started walking through the sprawling complex toward where she actually lived.
As she neared her building, Danielle noticed that a light fixture under the awning that, you know, led into her building was flickering again.
Things were always breaking, and it always seemed to take the management company months to send someone around to repair anything if they even sent anybody at all.
And also, beyond just being sort of a rundown place, the apartment complex objectively was just not safe.
Domestic violence disputes were very common, and lately, there had been a rash of break-ins that had Danielle and a lot of people who lived here on edge.
And so Danielle, she really wished she could be raising her three-year-old son, Tristan, somewhere nicer, somewhere safer.
Now, Danielle walked under the awning and she unlocked the door and she went inside.
She was nervous because in just a few minutes, she had a meeting to discuss a sexual harassment complaint that she had recently filed against one of her coworkers, a guy named Jeff Copeland.
Now, Danielle had hoped that her human resources department would handle this complaint quietly, discreetly.
Ultimately, they wanted them all to sit down face-to-face to, to talk this problem through.
However, even though this was like the last way Danielle wanted to handle this, she had ultimately agreed to, to do this meeting because really, she needed this job, and she was worried if she didn't take this meeting, it could jeopardize her role here.
And so just then, she looked over and she saw the head of HR walk into her boss's office, followed closely by Jeff.
So at this point, Danielle, she took a deep breath, stood up from her desk, she straightened her clothes, and then headed into the meeting.
An hour later, Danielle walked back out of her boss's office and her hands were shaking because the HR meeting had basically gone exactly how she'd been afraid it would go.
Jeff had completely downplayed the whole thing as like this big misunderstanding, and even though her boss had talked a lot about, you know, repercussions for Jeff, Danielle had gotten the feeling that nothing was actually going to be done here.
And so this whole experience had been really embarrassing and also just overwhelming, and now Danielle really just wanted some distance, not just from, from Jeff and her boss in HR, but from, from everyone.
So she decided she would use her lunch break to just go home for a bit and try to recover.
So she grabbed her purse and her jacket, and then she also told a coworker that she was stepping out for a bit, and then she made her way to the exit.
She parked her car, she got out, and then she started walking through the sprawling complex toward where she actually lived.
As she neared her building, Danielle noticed that a light fixture under the awning that, you know, led into her building was flickering again.
Things were always breaking, and it always seemed to take the management company months to send someone around to repair anything if they even sent anybody at all.
And also, beyond just being sort of a rundown place, the apartment complex objectively was just not safe.
Domestic violence disputes were very common, and lately, there had been a rash of break-ins that had Danielle and a lot of people who lived here on edge.
And so Danielle, she really wished she could be raising her three-year-old son, Tristan, somewhere nicer, somewhere safer.
Now, Danielle walked under the awning and she unlocked the door and she went inside.
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