EP. 176 : NEW HAMPSHIRE - The STALKING Murder Of AMY BOYER
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Only on Netflix. Rated R.

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Warning. The following podcast is not suitable for all audiences. We go into great detail with every case that we cover and do our best to bring viewers even deeper into the stories by utilizing disturbing audio and sound effects. Trigger warnings from the stories we cover may include violence, rape, murder, and offenses against children. This podcast is not for everyone. You have been warned.

The Nashua, New Hampshire police didn't know what to expect when they creaked open the bedroom door of 21-year-old Liam Yowens. Just hours earlier, on October 15th, 1999, they discovered Liam dead in the front seat of his Nissan Sentra. Blood spattered through the car from a single gunshot wound he had fired through his own skull.

But it wasn't the suicide that puzzled police. It was the fact that Liam wasn't the only body at the scene. In a car beside him, 20-year-old Amy Boyer had been murdered by Liam. Immediately, the police knew it was a murder-suicide. But there was something puzzling them. Amy and Liam had no known connection. They weren't friends. They weren't ex-lovers. They had never gone on a date.

and they had never even had a full conversation. According to Amy's friends and family, she wouldn't have been able to pick Liam out of a lineup and she didn't even know his name. So today, the Nashua police are going through his bedroom and they start by booting up Liam's computer. When they do,

They realized that Amy might not have known Liam, but Liam did know Amy. He may not have known the depth of her vibrant personality,

her kindness, or her relationship with her family. But he did know what he deemed to be the important things. He knew her schedule, her address, her height and blood type, even her past boyfriends and her social security number, all of which was listed on a website he ran called amyboyer.com. The police were stunned at the first page of the website.

Below pictures of Amy smiling brightly, read the text, quote, So you wish to enter Liam Yowen's mind? Be my guest. The Nashua police clicked enter, and with that single click, they cracked open the twisted mind of a boy who not just fell through the cracks of society, but turned those cracks into chasms. I just can't believe no one noticed. Not mom, not sisters, not...

Website companies. No one noticed. This young man was headed for trouble. And so was Amy. This is the story of Amy Boyer, the crusade her family embarked on for justice, and the crisis of mental health care and resources in America. I'm Courtney Browen. And I'm Colin Browen. And you're listening to Murder in America. ♪♪

In 1999, the World Wide Web was a wildly different place than it is today. With the release of Windows 98 the previous year, the Internet was entering many homes for the very first time. It was the Wild West of global connection. Generally unmonitored, misunderstood, and at the same time, exciting beyond people's wildest dreams.

Information that would have taken hours or even days to uncover was now available at the touch of a button, and 20-year-old Amy Boyer was using that to its highest potential. Towards the end of the summer of 1999, Amy sat at her computer in Nashua, New Hampshire, daydreaming about her goals for the future. Her mother, Helen, who was her best friend, sat beside her as Amy excitedly scrolled through vacation booking websites. Amy had earned every bit of her excitement.

She was a hardworking girl who had already established herself in life. She was mere months away from graduating with honors and earning her certificate in dental hygiene. She worked at an orthodontist's office, and on top of that, she managed a local dairy queen. - At 20, a lot of people have no idea what they wanna do with their life, and there's nothing wrong with that.

But Amy was a girl who knew what she wanted and would work as hard as she needed to get it. On that afternoon in the late summer, Amy was eager to book a ski trip to Colorado for that upcoming winter. She scrolled through endless flights and budget hotels to find just the right place to experience the snow-swept Rockies for the very first time. Growing up south of the White Mountains, Amy was an avid skier.

But seeing the West Coast was going to be a totally different experience that she was excited for. Tragically, Amy never got the opportunity to feel the snow of the magnificent Rockies or to breathe the Colorado winter air. Because just down the road, unbeknownst to her, her future killer was using the internet to plan her murder.

I drove down the street and took pictures of all the houses. When I saw that house and realized Amy was asleep in there, endorphins flew. I've never felt that kind of rush in my life. I'm going to kill Amy Boyer. My obsession with her will never die. But she will. She will die.

These are the types of things that Liam was writing on his website, amyboyer.com, while Amy sat miles away, happily planning for her future. Meanwhile, the only thing Liam was planning for his future was murdering Amy. Liam was a recluse. According to his mother, he hardly ever left the room in his house that he shared with her and occasionally his five older siblings, who would move in and out at random.

Liam's family claimed that he survived off soda and frozen pizza, which he would retrieve from the kitchen and take to his room, isolated from the rest of his family.

At almost all times, he kept the room to his door bolted shut. And that's likely because he was keeping a big secret. It wasn't just his internet history that he wanted to keep hidden from the world, but we'll get into that later. Liam's former classmates described him as a ghost. And thanks to this 2020 interview with Nashua Police Sergeant Donald Campbell, it's easy to see why.

As far as you can determine, did he have any close friends? None. Was he involved in any kind of extracurricular activities at school? None. Ate lunch by himself? By himself, standing in the corner. Every day? Every day. And that's what we know through talking to people that had contact with Liam. His own family members indicated to us that they were not very close to Liam, that Liam was a very solitary person and they left him to himself.

Both Amy and Liam were raised in the same town at the same time, but the outcomes of their lives were wildly different. Nashua, New Hampshire is the epitome of a cozy New England city. It has a storybook quality like it belongs in a Robert Frost poem, which makes sense considering the farmhouse where Frost wrote many of his poems is just a few miles north of the city.

It's the kind of place where a lot of people dream of raising a family. Skiing in the winter, apple picking in autumn, and swimming in the local lakes in summer. It's hard to imagine anyone from this idyllic place sequestered to their room, writing death threats against a woman they hardly knew.

It's even harder to believe that this twisted mix of hatred and infatuation began in the eighth grade In 1993, Amy and Liam both attended a youth group at the Church of Good Shepherd in downtown Nashua An Episcopal church with a fairly large following It was here that they encountered each other for the very first time Six years after that meeting, just a half mile down the road The obsession that began in the church walls would claim both of their lives

In the 1990s, Nashua had a rather unusual way of organizing their students. Grade six through nine attended one of three local middle schools and high school began in grade 10 at Nashua High School, the only high school in the city. It's unknown if Liam and Amy attended the same middle school,

but it seems unlikely based on the fact that, according to Liam, he didn't know Amy's name during their encounter at youth group. On his website in 1997, Liam penned a timeline of his life, all of which centered around his interactions with Amy. Describing his time in youth group, he wrote, "You should know that in eighth grade, I attended a youth group for about seven months. I quit because of that thing you do at the end. Fuck, fuck, fuck.

See, I'm already feeling a little tense at this point. Smiley face. We are going to explore a lot of Liam's writings on his website.

As you've probably taken from what we just read, Liam rambles at times, in incoherent styles. He writes almost like he's writing in a diary, expecting anyone who reads it to know exactly what he means, as if the things he's writing about are common knowledge and "normal." It's likely that the quote "thing that you do at the end" is what the church calls confirmation.

where youth group members stand before assembly and reaffirm their dedication to the Church. On the Episcopal Church Organization website, it states: "Those who were baptized at an early age and those baptized as adults without laying on of hands by a bishop are expected to make a mature public affirmation of their faith, recommit themselves to the responsibilities of their baptism, and receive laying on of hands by a bishop."

Liam's later writing on his website indicates that he likely suffered from some sort of social anxiety, which may be why he didn't want to do his confirmation. Then there's the "fuck fuck fuck" that Liam writes. Since he wrote this in retrospect,

It seems like this was likely because Amy was in his youth group and dropping out meant he lost time where he could have forged a connection with her. According to Liam's account of his relationship with Amy, two years passed before he encountered her again and learned her name. At the time, the two were in 10th grade.

Amy was busy skiing, hanging out with friends, working, and even tutoring her fellow classmates. Amy's best friend, Bethany Walters, told ABC in 2000 the following. She was pretty. She was good looking. She was so smart. She had so much going for her.

And Liam noticed all of these things about Amy that drew others to her. On his website, Liam wrote about how he learned Amy's name for the very first time in their 10th grade algebra class.

when she answered a question on the board and the teacher referred to her by name. In February of 1995, Liam claimed to have fallen in love with Amy, but at the same time, it seems like he absolutely hated her for representing everything that he felt he wasn't. Liam wrote,

Then in February, Amy is seated on the bus backwards in front. Jared English is seated in back. He's making strange noises. Your guess is as good as mine. Amy yells in a not so serious tone. "Jared, shut up!" "Big mistake, Amy." Smiley face. I turn my head slightly and "Whoops. God, I love her." In another entry, he wrote: "Oh great, now I'm really depressed. Looks like it's suicide for me. Car accident? Risks? A few days later, I think. Hey, why don't I kill her too?"

Liam's plans to kill himself and then murder Amy began in 1995, four years before he went through with his horrible plan. In his writing, it even seems like he blames Amy, saying, quote, big mistake, because in his eyes, she forced him to fall in love with her. Now,

Now, I don't know about you, but to me, Liam's writing sounds like a teenage boy pretending he is a supervillain. It's like reading the diary of someone trying to be the Joker. Only in this case, Liam became what he was pretending to be all along. And it seems like no one taught him how to do anything different. No one noticed the path he was heading down. Yet people should have noticed. Amy's dad, Tim, told ABC the following.

I just can't believe no one noticed. Not mom, not sisters, not website companies. No one noticed this young man was headed for trouble. And so was Amy. But throughout his life, Liam wasn't just putting out warning signs. He was practically illuminating the city with them. In November of 1996, when he was just 17 years old, he had his first encounter with police.

Liam was incredibly insecure about his appearance, so much so that he wouldn't allow anyone to take photos of him. According to some reports, he suffered from sunken chest disorder, also known as chest wall disorder. People with this condition essentially have an indentation between their rib cage because of inward growth of the ribs and breastbone. The concave appearance was the opposite of what was considered the male ideal at the time, muscular with a broad chest and defined muscles.

Liam was so bothered by his sunken chest that he approached his mother and told her that he wanted plastic surgery. His mother reportedly brushed off his concerns, telling him not to be silly and that if he wanted to, he should wait until after graduation. And with that, Liam became enraged.

Now, when you look at the situation Liam was in, it's hard not to pity him a little. Because of societal standards, men often struggle expressing their insecurities, concerns or emotions. In the 1990s, this was much worse than it is now. When men did get the courage to tell someone how they were feeling, a rejection could have been utterly devastating. That being said, it obviously doesn't warrant how Liam acted next.

Liam grew explosive when he thought his mother was dismissing his confession. He reportedly threw a china cabinet down the stairs at her and threatened to "blow her head off." Frightened, she called the police, who arrived at the house and arrested Liam for criminal threatening and mischief. When Liam was arrested, he told his mother and law enforcement that he wanted to end his own life. According to him, his mom brushed off this statement

telling police that he wasn't serious. And on his website, Liam wrote about this incident. For the record, when she told me to wait until graduation to do anything, I said, "Why don't I just buy a gun?" Which any rational human being would see as a suicide threat. Good one, bitch. Burn in hell. Well, needless to say, it doesn't work out. Turns out I'm too old. Oh, my health is at risk. Hmm. Now that's ironic.

By Liam's account, it seems that after graduation, he consulted with a doctor to get surgery to fix his chest, but he was told that he was too old to get the surgery, which makes sense. Surgery to fix a sunken chest at the time was highly invasive.

and it was generally performed on teenagers as they were going through puberty, not adults post-puberty. As you reach adulthood, there were higher risks for complications. At the time, surgery to correct sunken chest syndrome was generally only performed if someone's lungs or heart function was affected by their condition, which wasn't the case for Liam. It

It's also pretty clear from Liam's writings that he had hatred towards his mother and public records do show a rather complicated history between all of Liam's family members, which may have contributed to his mental state.

Liam had five siblings, four sisters and one brother. As the youngest of the family, he watched on as his older siblings failed, learned and grew. However, it seems like there was a lot of turmoil in Liam's family. And with that, it's hard to imagine that he wasn't overlooked at times. One of Liam's older siblings was arrested on drug charges in the 1990s when he would have been in high school or freshly graduated.

She was also in a custody battle for her young child, where there were several paternity and custody suits, including one that Liam's mother filed against her for custody.

In addition, Liam's mother filed a restraining order against one of his sisters, which was granted. Now, this restraining order suit happened in 2004, well after Liam was gone, but it's likely that the issues that led to this suit were present when Liam was growing up. On top of that, yet another sister was arrested for assault, and another filed for bankruptcy in 1999.

This isn't at all to attack Liam's family. As we've said in a previous episode, the background of people doesn't excuse their behavior, but it does inform it. Raising six children as a single mother in the 1990s would have been a challenge, and it's unfortunately not uncommon for people who are overwhelmed and without help to struggle with things like addiction and poverty. Liam's father, who he was estranged from, worked at MIT in the Star Wars missile program throughout Liam's youth. Yet, in

it seems like he had little interaction with his kids. It's understandable that this would have led to some resentment.

By Liam's senior year, things were rapidly escalating. On his website, he chronicled his senior year. And in those ramblings, it becomes clear that he was suffering from paranoia and delusions. During his senior year, Liam picked all of his classes in an attempt to have a class with Amy, who was a year below him in school. Though he hadn't talked to Amy in years, he was convinced that she was aware of all of his actions.

Hi!

I was so fucked up in the head it didn't even register to respond. She must have thought I was a nut. Now that I think about it, I must have been.

This is just the beginning of Liam's odd paranoia surrounding his obsession with Amy Boyer. He seems to believe throughout all his years of writing that Amy was aware of his feelings and his actions and was at times even taunting him. According to Amy's friends and family, that couldn't have been further from the truth. Amy's dad stated this in his ABC interview.

You had never heard the name Liam Yowens before? Never. Never heard the name before in my life. But is it possible that she could have known him and didn't tell you? Absolutely not. And Amy's best friend Bethany, who Liam even referenced, said this. He was the kind of boy that we would have maybe seen on the street together. Oh yeah, what's his name?

Yet in Liam's mind, Amy was thinking about him as often as he was thinking about her. He even claimed on his website that Amy embarrassed him by talking about his crush on her in front of classmates, including a boy named Owen, who also became a target of Liam's. He wrote,

Weird.

Right after she told him I saw Owen down the hall and he was staring at me with a glazed look on his face and a huge smile. I'm starting to remember why I wanted to kill him.

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Anyone reading this should be able to tell that Liam is deeply unwell. By all accounts, this conversation never took place. And Amy wasn't even aware of Liam's obsession with her. None of her high school friends recall her ever mentioning Liam. And when Owen was later questioned by police,

he stated that he never spoke to Liam and had absolutely no idea that Liam wanted to kill him. And this is perhaps the most terrifying thing about stalkers. Often, stalkers create their own fantasy worlds full of perceived slights

imagined connections, and completely fabricated feelings. They create parasocial relationships, exactly like the one Liam perceived himself having with Amy. But things would escalate even further when Amy got a boyfriend around Valentine's Day of her junior year, when Liam spotted her with a rose.

he was heartbroken. He watched Amy in the lunchroom and stated that he stared right at her. Liam said that she purposefully turned her head three times in his direction. Now, obviously, this wasn't purposeful, but to a stalker like Liam, it meant everything. To him, Amy turning her head towards him meant that she was taunting him. Amy was trapped and she didn't even know it.

Every action she did was monitored, weighed, and determined to mean something in Liam's twisted brain. Now even though Liam graduated and moved to the Rochester Institute of Technology six hours away from Amy, she still wasn't safe. Whenever Liam returned on breaks, he would stalk Amy. At one point, he even drove to her house after watching her get off the school bus, and he took pictures of her house, yard, and

According to Liam, the CVS where he had the photos developed burned the pictures and the police showed up to his house accusing him of wanting to attack someone. But Liam was delighted by this. In his mind, it wasn't the clerk who called the police. It was Amy. He wrote the following. - The clerk was real nervous. They destroyed my pictures and the cop said, "You're welcome," in a sarcastic tone as I was leaving. When I drove home, I thought, "Man,

Now I have a lot of questions about this whole law enforcement and CVS debacle. Because if they believe that Liam had intentions of stalking or harming the person who owned the home Liam took photos of, why was Amy not informed of what happened?

Why did law enforcement not keep an eye on Liam? Why did Sergeant Smith, who Liam mentions in his writing multiple times, not get any kind of protection for Amy? Was he simply brushed off as a worked-up teenager who had a crush on a girl?

This is just one of the dozens of moments the world had to stop and analyze what Liam was doing. But no one took that chance. Right around that same time, Liam's behavior should have caught several people's attention. During one school break, Liam drove to Amy's house at 2:30 in the morning. 20 minutes later, Amy showed up at her house, to which Liam wrote, "Apparently, she was scared to be in her own home. Smiley face.

Yes, I like that. So sue me.

When Liam attempted to leave so he wouldn't get caught, he couldn't get his car to start. He claims that Beau, a former classmate who went to their youth group, noticed Liam walking down the sidewalk to find a phone and offered him a ride to call a tow truck. So that's what they did. After Liam called the tow truck, he realized that he was so scared when Amy came that he forgot to put the car in park to start it.

Later, when he tried to stalk Amy again, there were no cars on the street.

During the next school break, obviously Bo told Amy what happened and now the cars were off the street so I couldn't do that again. I did the same thing anyways because I didn't put two and two together. I told my sister about my obsession with Amy. When we went to the store, I also drove by Amy's house around 11pm to show her. I slowed down and said, "Look, look, there's her street." Someone saw me. When we went around for a second pass, Amy's car was there. Like I wouldn't notice. Please.

So, Amy, the neighborhood and the police set up a stalking trap by putting the cars back on the street, so I would come back, not bloody likely. After a while, cars were off the street again and the trap was off. To this day, they still do not park their cars on the street. These people should do themselves a favor and relax, I'm not going back there. The people on Woodbury Drive are "protecting" Amy, and say "we make Amy safe from Liam". Ooh, you put the cars on the street, that's so scary.

There's a lot to break down here. Firstly, Liam claims that the cars were off the street one night, so he couldn't stalk Amy. But in reality, if there were no cars on the road and it was winter break, it was likely due to either street sweeping or plowing, especially when he claims that when he returned a few days later, the cars had returned.

In Liam's mind, this was a trap by Amy and the police to catch him stalking. But at that point, the only person who knew he was stalking was one of Liam's sisters, anyone who read his website, and even potentially law enforcement.

Which brings us to Liam's sister. Liam disclosed to his sister that he was obsessed with Amy, and yet, it doesn't seem to have raised any red flags for her. Sometime around this period, when his physical stalking of Amy began, Liam dropped out of RIT. He claimed that he hated dorm life, and that every time he left to return to school, he would start sobbing uncontrollably on the bus. This in itself points to Liam struggling with a severe level of depression and anxiety, something he never got help for.

When Liam returned, his aunt claimed in a police interview that the family was afraid of him. He had frequent outbursts and was acting strangely. It's around this time when he began working at a 7-Eleven, which he claimed was just to earn the money he needed to create an arsenal of weapons.

Online, he explained that the only reason he got the stupid job was to "spend every cent I earned getting powerful assault weapons to execute my vengeance." And sadly, that's exactly what Liam did. He ordered his first shotgun and the bullets, but was highly paranoid. Because of his assault on his mother when he was 17, he wasn't legally allowed to possess a firearm.

He stated that the day he went to pick up his gun, the police were waiting for him, but his quote, mommy dearest didn't arrive home with the car until after the shop was closed. Regardless, he tried to go get his gun, writing quote,

I got in the car and said, "I will either have the means to kill Amy or die tonight by committing suicide with the gun before the police grab me." But silly me forgot to bring the shells to load the gun. By the time I got there it was closed and the police had left, but the owner was still there. He said, "Your gun's late and will be shipped Monday 4 o'clock sharp." His voice was a little too confident.

It was then that I knew it was a trap. "Fuck, fuck, am I going to jail?" I said to myself as I tried to build up the courage to hit a tree with my car. I couldn't do it and went to the police station to tell them I had attempted to buy a shotgun to kill myself. And you know what the police officer said? "Go home and sleep it off." Now that's just illegal! But they missed their chance to report my statement and institutionalize me. Oh well.

That exchange, if true, is infuriating and stomach-churning. Liam's paranoia was obviously increasing, so much so that he believed law enforcement was staking him out for buying a shotgun.

When in reality, they didn't care at all. And they probably should have. If Liam really did go to the police to report that he was illegally trying to buy a gun to kill himself, the police probably should have given him an involuntary emergency admission. New Hampshire's version of a Baker Act.

which is essentially a service for individuals with mental illness. But with that being said, there are no public records of this incident available. So all we have is Liam's word.

In addition, if this really did happen, Liam purchasing guns should have been even more monitored or flagged in some kind of way. Yet despite this, over the next two years, Liam was able to purchase six firearms. In two different scenarios, he drove over the state line into Maine to purchase them, and then once...

he drove into New Hampshire. The other three times he purchased the guns locally in New Hampshire, either from stores or from newspaper ads. And it wasn't just Amy that Liam planned to use the guns on. In 1998 and into early 1999, Liam wrote repeatedly about his desire to kill Owen. To this day, no one has any idea why Liam specifically targeted Owen.

Liam claims to have repeatedly driven to the University of New Hampshire, about an hour north of Nashua, to look for Owen, and if the opportunity arose, to kill him. Liam wrote that he repeatedly lost his nerve to kill Owen,

Though on one occasion, he brought a gun to work at the 7-11, just in case Owen came in during school break. Liam wrote: "At 7-11, some of Owen's friends saw me working there. On the very first day he was off from UNH, he came in just to see me. He looked down and pretended not to notice me, but I instantly recognized him and the very next day, he brought my gun in to work. If he came back, I'd blow his brains out, but he never came again."

Owen was so close to death. - It's likely that Owen didn't even notice Liam, not because he was pretending not to, but because he actually didn't. When Owen was questioned by the police regarding Liam, he didn't even recognize his name.

This podcast is sponsored by Talkspace. Maybe you've been thinking about therapy. You realize a therapist could help you work things out, but... I can't afford it. Therapy is expensive. Talkspace is different. Talkspace is one of only a few online mental health providers that takes insurance.

Average co-pays are only $15. I can afford $15. And most insured members pay nothing. Nothing? No co-pays at all? With insurance, I could see a therapist and I might not have to pay anything out of pocket. That's right. Nothing should stand in your way of getting support from a caring, licensed therapist.

And if you don't have insurance, no problem. You can pay out of pocket for a lower cost than in-person therapy. And because you meet your therapist online, you can schedule appointments for whenever and wherever it's most comfortable for you. Wow, I'm feeling better already. You can pay for Talkspace with insurance or get $80 off your first month with promo code SPACE80 when you go to Talkspace.com. Match with a licensed therapist today at Talkspace.com. Save $80 with code SPACE80 at Talkspace.com.

It's important to note that in the 1990s, there was only one high school in Nashua, and it had such a high population that the schools were divided to just have 10th through 12th grade as their high school. Now that there are two high schools in 2024, the 9th to 12th grade student population is well over 3,000 people. In a high school that large, it's not unlikely that two students could go their entire high school experience never knowing each other. But Liam wasn't operating on that kind of logic.

As summer of 1999 rolled around, Liam's depression and obsession completely took over. He continued stalking Amy at her family home, where she spent long nights curled up watching movies with her mom on the couch and laughing, and where she was doted on by her father, who has described her as "the biggest blessing in his life."

At the time, Amy was close to graduating from dental school. She had money saved, she had a wealth of friends, and her job at the orthopedic office was one she loved deeply. When she was going to have to stop working there to attend classes,

Her boss even went as far as changing the office hours so she could keep working with him. It seemed that once she graduated, she was going to be set for life. But Amy had no idea that several nights of the week, as she relaxed with her loving family and looked forward to her future, Liam was sitting outside of her house, watching.

On his website, he posted that he was getting close to making his final move. And he even asked the internet the following. Should I go forward with plan Amy or plan Owen? Or should I storm into the high school and kill as many students as possible, Columbine style? By July of 1999, he had made up his mind. Amy was going to be his target.

he just had to figure out where she worked so he could target her there. Now Liam could only stalk Amy when his mother was home from work because he didn't own his own car. So mostly that meant afternoons and late nights, which made it impossible for him to follow Amy from her home in the morning to her job. To find out where she worked, he reached out to two websites, Infoseekers and DocuSearch.

Now these two sites eventually came under fire from the media and from Amy's family, and you're about to see why. At the top of DocuSearch's website,

and big bold letters read, quote, "Happy hunting." And that's exactly what Liam was using it for. But first, he reached out to info seekers, asking for Amy's social security number and work address. One of the investigators responded to him, writing in an email the following. - I couldn't find much on Amy. I guess she's relatively young. She may not have a very long paper trail yet. Good luck.

Amy was young, with her entire life ahead of her, and yet, when Liam emailed DocuSearch, a site that promised to, quote, track down debtors and deadbeats, they were eager to help him get her information, information that he would ultimately use to end her life.

Liam paid $45 in exchange for Amy's social security number. Then using that number, he paid DocuSearch $109

to hunt down Amy's workplace. To do this, DocuSearch hired a subcontractor to place a call to Amy in order to manipulate that information out of her. The subcontractor, Michelle Gambino, called Amy and claimed to be affiliated with her insurance company. Michelle basically told Amy that they needed to give her an overpayment refund. So she asked Amy to verify her work address

so she could have the payment sent there. And Amy happily gave it over.

Fifth Main Street. She was completely unaware that she was being scammed and that it would cost her life. This ploy called pretexting was outlawed when being used to obtain financial information in 2000. Though even today, it is still being used. Now moments after Michelle got her work address, she passed it over to Liam and on his website, he wrote, It's actually obscene.

obscene, where you can find out about a person on the internet. 25 years later, it's even more insane, but most of us are aware of it.

At the time, the internet was in its infancy and few people even realized their information was online. It was sometime in late September when Liam paid DocuSearch for this information and what he did with it changed the city of Nashua and how we look at internet safety. Which brings us to September 30th, 1999. That morning, Amy went into work like it was any other day. At the very end of September,

is when it starts to feel like autumn in New England. It's when the leaves start to blaze orange, yellow, and red, and people begin to look forward to the holidays and cozy nights with their family. And there's something so gut-wrenching about Amy spending her final fall in the place where she grew up, the place she loved, having no idea that she wouldn't live to see another snowfall. Because that day, Amy was just going to work,

She chatted and laughed with her coworkers and friends. She did absolutely everything she was supposed to be doing as a 20-year-old woman. But that day was the first day that Liam sat outside of her job with a gun in hand, and he published on the internet for all to see. - On Thursday, September 30th, 1999 at 4:00 PM, she was there.

Plate number redacted. It was such a rush zero fear, but I had my gun and still didn't go in. I pray to God that I won't have any fear when I go there. Tick, tock. She might not be there. She must. I wish I could have killed her in her high school. So easy.

By October 7th, Liam had driven to Amy's workplace several times, but he had yet to attack her. He detailed online the following: "On Thursday, October 7th, I was making excuses because I was scared. I still feel uncomfortable about sitting in the parking lot. I pray to God that she parks on the street like last Friday, but I doubt it. My mother's going on vacation, so I'd be able to use her car.

that may make me bold enough to park in the lot at 4:30. Since I wasn't going to kill her today, I wanted to get the exact time she leaves, so I can minimize the time I would have to park there. I went around and around doing my best not to get noticed." He then writes: "I saw her. At 4:47 pm Thursday, she was at a red light near the office and I came in from the side. She didn't notice me I don't think. She looked wonderful. Like seeing God herself."

I think I might have seen her before on a bike and felt nothing because I wasn't sure if it was her. I may be mistaking these feelings of euphoria for love, but who knows? It may be that because I only see her in my dreams. When I see her in real life, I feel like my dreams mix with reality. Why didn't I do anything? It was really fast. I didn't have time to process what was happening. Also, I can't just hang around. She must never see me there.

On October 12th, 1999, Liam drove to Amy's place of work, but he claimed that he couldn't find a good spot to shoot from. Three days later, at 3:49 PM, he updated his site for the very last time, writing the following. - Why am I killing her?

I don't love her anymore. I wish I did, but I don't. I wish I could have killed her in high school. I need to kill her so I can transport myself back into high school. I need to stop her from having a life. But why her and not someone else? If I had a life myself, I really wouldn't even care if I was in love with her. Is it the reaction of other people and their attempts to punish me? Where I say, "Poor baby, I've suffered ten times as much at the hands of others too." That would be the main reason. But I don't really care, per se.

Is it the sense of beating the cops in Woodbury Drive, Dr. Ress, even her family too? And to know I succeeded when they failed?

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And now let's get back to our story. At the top of his page, he wrote, quote, Peter, click to see if I did it, end quote. The words hyperlinked to Liam's local New Hampshire news station, which raises the question, who the heck is Peter? We'll get into that a little later.

because ultimately it's something that took the police quite some time to uncover. But at 4:30 p.m., Amy left her place of work on Main Street in Nashua. Two coworkers exited the building with her, Heidi Holden, Amy's friend and colleague,

watched as Amy said goodnight to her, wished her a good weekend, and got into the driver's seat of her Honda Accord, which was parked on the side of the historic city street. And then suddenly there was a screech of tires. Confused, Heidi looked up from getting into her car, and there up ahead was a Nissan Sentra tearing down the road.

Before she knew it, the car slammed on its brakes, stopping driver's side to driver's side with Amy's car. Liam then reached his arm out the driver's side window. He yelled Amy's name, causing her to look up. Then, after weeks of hesitation and years of planning, he unloaded 11 shots. Both of Amy's arms were broken. Six hollow point bullets riddled her head.

And in an instant, Amy was dead. After seeing her drop to the ground, Liam put his gun in his mouth, pointed the barrel towards the roof of his mouth, and pulled the trigger. - Amy and Liam were both rushed to separate hospitals. They were declared dead about 30 minutes after the shooting.

Dr. Bednar, who had essentially seen Amy grow up and who cherished her, called her parents and urged them to rush to the hospital. All he told them was that there had been an incident and that it was now a criminal investigation, Amy's stepfather told the Boston Phoenix.

I thought she was in an accident, you know, so I'm not driving real fast on the way. Then the further I go, the faster I start driving because... A criminal investigation? Does that mean she was just getting in her car and a drunk driver swung into the lot in a big old Caddy and just wiped her out? The more I thought about it, the faster I drove. Until next thing you know, I'm going like a nut through downtown Nashua. Then an ambulance whipped by Tim, sirens blaring, and driving even faster than he was. He told the newspaper that it was right then that he knew.

At the hospital, Tim and Helen weren't allowed to see Amy Her body had been so damaged that she was unrecognizable As Tim and Helen held each other in the hospital, praying for their daughter, Nashville police were across town, descending on Liam's home Sergeant Donald Campbell recalled the experience in an interview with ABC

The very day that Amy was murdered was the day that Nashua PD uncovered Liam's website. But he didn't just have one.

the one we have read excerpts from amyboyer.com was operated by liam for two and a half years leading up to amy's death however liam had at least one additional site dedicated to his ramblings and murderous tendencies a copy of this site is unavailable the only reason we have access to the amy boyer site is because amy's parents bravely made a copy of it in order to warn other people of what to look out for on the internet

In addition to Liam's sites about Amy, his computer was filled with violent pornography, several video games, and pages of poetry about his life.

Police were able to see that Liam had posted on dozens of websites, including sites about suicide, serial killers, and surprisingly, the Nashua alumni student page. On the alumni page, he created a profile for himself. He listed his occupation as "obsessed stalker/murderer" and his location as "the seventh circle of hell." The police were shocked and disgusted. There was nothing about Liam that had been subtle.

He had been screaming into the internet about his stalking, his murderous tendencies, and his dangerous mental state, but no one listened.

not even Peter. Now, Peter was a 19-year-old Greek man who Liam had been in contact with online. They met each other on the site called The Wacky World of Murder, where Liam was going by Amy Boyer's name. Peter had struck up a conversation, assuming Liam was a girl at first, only for Liam to reveal the truth. The two stayed in contact, but according to Peter, they weren't incredibly close.

Peter told the Concord Monitor, I have no idea how I could have prevented it. I didn't know his name, and even if I did, then what state was he in? I suppose I did know Amy's name all along, but, well, how can you warn them? If only I had read his entire page, I could have phoned her or something. But I only looked at the things very briefly. I can imagine the Boyers must be furious with me.

But it wasn't Peter that Amy's family was furious with. In the morning hours of October 16th, less than 24 hours after Amy was brutally murdered, Tripod, the hosting site for Liam's website, took down amyboyer.com. The truth of Liam's online life stayed hidden for several weeks as the families grieved their losses.

Amy's funeral on October 19th, 1999 was attended by a large crowd of loved ones mourning her death. The next day, at the same church Liam first saw Amy at, Liam's funeral was held. His immediate family were the only people in attendance. Amy was buried under a headstone that reads, "We gave each other 20 years of love. Now our love will be eternal."

Amy had so much love to give in her short 20 years, and all the future good she was going to do in the world, all of the connections she was going to make. They were snatched from her for no reason whatsoever. On November 19th, 1999, her dad, Tim, was given the police report on Amy's murder. At over 500 pages, it was a lengthy read.

But Tim sat up into the early morning hours, reading every single page and sobbing as he went. The report detailed Liam's haunting online life, his stalking, and all of the chances people had to stop him. As Tim read through the pages, he was furious and shattered. He urged the police to publicly release the material

because he fully intended on using it as a civil suit against the companies who allowed Liam's dangerous websites to flourish. By March of 2000, he came to the realization that suing the internet service providers would likely be unsuccessful. He believed that the law was tipped too far in their favor. So instead, he turned to addressing a bigger issue, DocuSearch and the release of private information for pay.

It's not fair. This young lady was one of the most beautiful people that I have ever met in my life. And to be fortunate enough to be her father was an honor. I just know that I have to do something. It's not going to bring Amy back. Nothing is going to bring Amy back. So I can either go crawl in a hole and die or fight for everyone else out there.

And fight Tim and Helen Remsburg did. The two worked with New Hampshire Senator Judd Gregg to propose the Amy Boyer Law, a law that would make it illegal for companies to display an individual's social security number without their expressed consent.

It seems like a simple bill and a simple law that would provide a lot of good and honor Amy's memory. Unfortunately, in politics, things are rarely, if ever, that simple. The Clinton administration stated that the bill tried to protect individuals but failed to do so effectively. Others claimed that the bill had too many loopholes, rendering it unhelpful.

Then there were some that believed the root of the bill's rejection came from statements like this, made by Norm Magnuson, a spokesman for the Associated Credit Bureaus: "What we're saying is look at the total picture, not just in a vacuum on the basis of anecdotal stories. It's a constant balancing act in what you give up in privacy in order to gain in the marketplace."

Many called out Magnusson for implying that financial gain is more important than our ethical responsibility as a community to protect each other. Yet, some saw his point. If social security numbers had to go through the same steps of confirmation from the owners, it would make it harder for banks and other financial institutions to do their work quickly and effectively. Ultimately, the bill was struck down.

But Amy's family wasn't done. Next, the two went on a crusade against DocuSearch and other websites that provide individuals private information without their consent. A spokeswoman for one online agency gave an argument that was repeated again and again by these online investigation companies. Be warned, it's pretty infuriating. "The information that we're providing is public information, and it's accessible through other means. The only thing we're doing is saving people time."

Throughout the wrongful death lawsuit that Amy's family filed, DocuSearch repeatedly stated that the information they're providing is publicly available. But this isn't entirely true.

They were paid to trick Amy into giving her work address, and not once in the process did they ask what Liam needed it for. Amy was never notified that someone was requesting her information. If she had been notified, she could have taken actions against Liam. But when Tim brought up this concern to a representative at DocuSearch, this is allegedly what he was told.

He said to me, "Sir, we are basically a private investigating firm. Why would we ever call the person that we're investigating and say to them, 'Hey, got a guy looking for your social security number.' You know, should we give it to him?"

The thing is, the representative is saying this as if it would be absurd to tell someone that there was a person trying to steal their social security number. In reality, it's the only ethical choice and the only way to actually ensure that the company isn't assisting in the identity theft, stalking, or murder of individuals.

In late 2000, DocuSearch announced that they had stopped selling social security numbers. Yet, as of 2024, finding a social security number for any legal purpose is still listed on their website. Anyone seeking a social security number must have an interview with a compliance officer. It costs $55 per search and expressly states in the FAQ, Our system is secure and the subject of the search will never know that their social is being requested."

After years of fighting, Tim and Helen Remsburg settled out of court with DocuSearch in their wrongful death lawsuit. DocuSearch repeatedly claimed that this was a money grab by the family, but Tim told the media that it wasn't at all about the money. It was about the principal.

In the years after Amy's murder, her family gathered on Main Street, near where she was killed every other Friday night, to celebrate her life. Her mother planted a garden of love in honor of her, and to this day, the family posts fond messages about Amy on her birthday. They talk about her contagious laugh, her warm smile, and her passion for life.

Amy did amazing things in her short 20 years, but she could have done so much more if her life had not been taken from her. Amy's brother, Brian, spoke to the media from a place of grief balanced with sympathy. He stated, "We can't understand, and no one can understand why he did this awful thing. He was clearly obsessed with her. We as a community need to reach out to people who are struggling with thoughts like this.

and try and figure out how to help them." Brian eventually became a social worker, specifically with the goal of helping young men. He would later say, "My concern is with kids that are isolated and alienated. The kid that killed my sister was both alienated and isolated. For me, that sends a flag that tells me that something was wrong. I'd like to reach out to kids like him."

What Liam did is truly evil and inexcusable, but in order to stop things like this from happening in our society, we need to create a space where everyone feels understood and can be treated for any mental illness they're struggling with. Liam was never treated for any mental illness, yet it's painfully clear that he was struggling and lacking in affection at home. Amy's little sister also recognized this.

In a letter to Liam's parents, she penned, "I'm not blaming you, but how come you never asked him how was your day? Why didn't you play games with him?"

According to the Anxiety and Depression Association of America, one in ten men experience depression and anxiety, but only half of them will receive treatment for their condition due to social stigmas. Men are frequently told to "tough it out" and "man up," which creates a society of bottled-up emotions. Mental health disorders in men often show up differently than in women. They may turn to escapist behaviors, spending all their time playing games, sports, or at work.

They may show physical symptoms like digestive problems or frequent headaches. Often they will display inappropriate anger or irritability. Liam certainly did several of these. Concurrently, one in three women are stalked in their lifetime. I want you guys to stop and take in that statistic. One in three women are stalked in their lifetime.

The case of Amy Boyer serves as a look in the mirror for all of us, and we hope that you've taken something away from it. We will be making a donation to the organization called SPARK, the Stalking Prevention Awareness and Resource Center, at stalkingawareness.org. A lot of our information on the psychology of stalkers came directly from their website, and their goal is to support education and resources for stalking victims.

Hey, everybody. Thank you so much for listening to this week's episode of Murder in America. What a crazy story. What a disturbing story. I hate having to read that stuff out loud when it comes to my parts, but a very important issue that we still need to continue talking about in society because stalking isn't going away. In my opinion, people definitely don't get long enough sentences for stalking. And you just see these stories time and time again of

oh, the stalker snapped and killed somebody. Oh, we never would have expected they would have done that. But it's like very clear when you actually look at the stories and the evidence and see what was happening. It's clear that this person was going to end up killing someone. It's just a matter of when are we going to call these people out? When are we going to actually

prevent stuff like this from happening, pass laws. But yeah, what can we really do? We're just a podcast. If you guys enjoy our show and you don't like the ads, you can sign up for our Patreon where you can get access to every single episode of the show ad free. You can even go listen to all of our old episodes ad free. Those episodes are also posted early for you guys to enjoy and there's bonus content. So if you like the show and you want to get additional full length episodes of the show with both Courtney and I,

We post two episodes a month on there. Definitely consider signing up for our Patreon. Don't forget to follow us on Instagram at Murder in America to see photos from every single case that we cover. We love you guys so much. Thank you for tuning in every single week to support this show. We have some insanely shocking episodes coming next week. Just be prepared. Next week is a really big case. Thanks for listening, and I'll catch y'all on the next one.

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