{"podcast":{"title":"Obscura: A True Crime Podcast","slug":"obscura-a-true-crime-podcast-67089","podcast_index_feed_id":67089,"rss_url":"https://feeds.redcircle.com/8136b701-6bed-4cc9-bfb2-0013a2822e00","website_url":"https://redcircle.com/shows/obscura-a-true-crime-podcast","image_url":"https://media.redcircle.com/images/2025/11/4/4/30501d40-3215-4a2b-b98f-6cb1b90ca6a6_ob_logo.jpg","author":"Justin Drown","episode_count":247,"summary":"The darkest true crime cases are the ones you've never heard of. Obscura investigates murders written off as accidents, disappearances dismissed as runaways, and obscure cases buried in forgotten files. Host Justin Drown delivers unflinching investigations through real archival audio, court records, and graphic forensic detail. No comedy. No sanitized narratives. Only the complete truth. New episodes every Tuesday.","last_synced_at":"2026-07-07T20:17:47.172943+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/obscura-a-true-crime-podcast-67089"},"episode":{"title":"Neglect: The Streamer and the Silent Crib","slug":"neglect-the-streamer-and-the-silent-crib","published_at":"2026-04-14T09:00:05+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/obscura-a-true-crime-podcast-67089/neglect-the-streamer-and-the-silent-crib","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/obscura-a-true-crime-podcast-67089","url":"https://www.mythsandmalice.com/show/obscura/","audio_url":"https://audio3.redcircle.com/episodes/42edd0b9-8c6d-4898-91d5-da3293e9ed28/stream.mp3","summary":"A two-year-old boy was found dead in his crib in Clinton Township, Michigan, starved to death while his mother streamed on Twitch. Featuring real court audio from the sentencing, Obscura examines the 2023 case of Sierra Pearl Zaitona and Jonathon Matthew Cheek, two parents who let their child waste away in silence. The boy had been in foster care before being returned to his biological parents, Sierra Pearl Zaitona and Jonathon Matthew Cheek, both of Clinton Township. According to court records, the child was healthy and thriving under state care. The decision to reunify the family would prove fatal. What happened after his return would become one of Macomb County's most disturbing neglect cases in recent memory. On Thursday, March 16, 2023, Zaitona discovered her son dead in his crib and called 911. Cheek was not home at the time, instead visiting his own mother's residence. When first responders arrived at the Clinton Township home, they found the toddler beyond saving and living conditions that told a story of prolonged neglect. The Macomb County Medical Examiner conducted an autopsy and determined the cause of death was fatal starvation. A child who had once been healthy had slowly wasted away, unfed and unnoticed, while ordinary life carried on around him. Zaitona had established a presence on Twitch as a livestreamer. While the Macomb County Prosecutor's Office did not draw a direct line between her streaming activity and the neglect, the case drew national attention on social media. The contrast between a screen glowing with followers and a crib growing silent became the defining image of this tragedy. Both parents were arrested and charged with second-degree murder, a life felony, and second-degree child abuse, a ten-year felony. Bond was set at one million dol…","meta_description":"A two-year-old boy was found dead in his crib in Clinton Township, Michigan, starved to death while his mother streamed on Twitch. Featuring real court au…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":1820,"processing_state":"not_requested","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/obscura-a-true-crime-podcast-67089/episodes/neglect-the-streamer-and-the-silent-crib/transcription-requests","description":"Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode."},{"name":"read_markdown","method":"GET","url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/obscura-a-true-crime-podcast-67089/neglect-the-streamer-and-the-silent-crib.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}