What is the episode about?

Something About Cari (Dateline NBC) presents in the episode The Circle Expands one of the most complex cases of digital identity theft in American criminal history. The case begins in 2012, when single mother Cari Farver disappears without a trace from Omaha, Nebraska, shortly after she starts dating Dave Kroupa. In this third part of the series, Keith Morrison focuses on the moment when the investigation shifts from a search for a missing person to a dark tale of manipulation. After Cari Farver's disappearance, Dave Kroupa and his ex-girlfriend Shanna Liz Golyar receive thousands of threatening messages that appear to be sent by Cari. The episode highlights how a suspicious fire at Liz Golyar's home becomes the catalyst for renewed police interest in the case's main characters.

The case behind the episode

The case of Cari Farver is unique because the victim was declared dead even though her body was never found in the initial phase of the investigation. For years, Dave Kroupa believed he was being stalked by a jealous ex-girlfriend, but the reality was much darker. It turned out that Shanna Liz Golyar had killed Cari Farver and then assumed her digital identity to terrorize Dave and divert any suspicion from herself. The Circle Expands shows how Golyar attempts to blame another woman, Amy Flora, by staging assaults and arson. Investigators from Douglas County and Pottawattamie County had to use advanced IT forensics to reveal that the thousands of messages all came from devices controlled by Golyar. The case led to the conviction of Shanna Liz Golyar for first-degree murder in 2017, despite the extreme efforts she made to maintain the illusion that Cari Farver was still alive.

About the podcast

Something About Cari is a limited-series podcast produced by Dateline NBC. The series is built around Keith Morrison's distinctive storytelling style, which listeners know from the television program of the same name. This podcast version allows for a deeper dive into the technical evidence and the psychological aspects of Shanna Liz Golyar and her actions. Through interviews with investigators and the involved parties, including Dave Kroupa, a portrait is painted of a perpetrator willing to go to extremes to control the narrative surrounding her own crime.

Listen here

The episode The Circle Expands can be streamed on all major platforms. You can find the series on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and via NBC's official website. For listeners interested in IT investigations and psychological manipulation, this episode is central to understanding how modern technology can be misused to conceal murder.

Related episodes and media

If you are interested in similar cases of digital stalking and identity theft, you can read more about Cari Farver in our extensive archive or listen to the previous episodes of Something About Cari, which cover the initial phases of the disappearance case in Nebraska.

Sources

• NBC News: The twisted case of Cari Farver and Liz Golyar
• Court Records: State of Nebraska v. Shanna Golyar
• KMTV Omaha: The investigation into Cari Farver’s disappearance

Reviews

"Listeners praise Keith Morrison's storytelling and voice, although some note that it is an extended retelling of a previous Dateline episode." — Apple Podcasts (4.6/5)