The Digital Ghost: A Review of 20/20’s Tangled Web
The Tangled Web installment of the 20/20 series Bad Romance is the kind of true crime story that makes you want to change your phone number and delete your email accounts immediately. It is a haunting exploration of how digital tools can be weaponized to create a persistent, years-long nightmare. What begins as a standard modern dating story in Omaha quickly spirals into a case involving arson, a shooting, and a level of dedication to a lie that is truly difficult to comprehend.
The Disappearance that Wasn't
When Dave Krupa, a local mechanic, started dating Carrie Farver, things seemed typical for a new relationship. After only two weeks, Carrie seemingly vanished into thin air, leaving behind a trail of vitriolic text messages claiming she was moving to Kansas and never wanted to see Dave again. For the next three years, Dave and his other romantic interest, Liz Gollier, were subjected to a relentless barrage of digital harassment.
With over 15,000 emails and texts sent from Carrie’s accounts, the podcast paints a vivid picture of a woman who appeared to have transformed from a successful computer programmer into a professional stalker. The genius of this episode lies in how it illustrates the psychological toll on Dave, who lived in a constant state of fear, never knowing if the woman sending these threats was watching him from the shadows.
A Masterclass in Digital Gaslighting
What makes this story stand out is the pivot from a missing person case to a murder investigation. Detectives Ryan Avis and Jim Doty deserve the spotlight here for their refusal to accept the surface-level narrative. While most of the world believed Carrie Farver was simply a woman who had gone off her meds and gone rogue, these investigators noticed the small things: the lack of activity on her bank accounts, the uncharacteristic grammatical errors in her messages, and the fact that she never missed a milestone for her son until she disappeared.
The digital forensic work by Tony Cava is the backbone of this episode. It reveals a terrifying reality where the victim of the stalking, Liz Gollier, was actually the architect of the entire scheme. Liz didn't just kill Carrie; she stole her identity to torment Dave, even going as far as to set her own house on fire and shoot herself in the leg to frame others. The level of commitment to the ruse is staggering, including using apps to schedule text messages to arrive while she was sitting right next to Dave, providing her with the ultimate alibi.
The Evidence in the Metadata
Every true crime fan looks for that one piece of evidence that breaks a case wide open. In this episode, it is a discarded tablet found in a storage unit. Years after Carrie vanished, a micro SD card revealed the final, gruesome truth: a deleted photo of a decomposing foot with a distinct tattoo. This single digital footprint, combined with a fingerprint on a mint tin found in Carrie's abandoned car, finally brought the three-year charade to an end.
The Golden Nugget
"It’s almost like murdering the victim twice. Because first she actually murders her as a human being, and then she’s murdering her reputation and her memory."
Final Thoughts
This revisited episode of Bad Romance is a sobering reminder of the permanence of a digital footprint and the lengths to which obsession can drive a person. It is a well-paced, expertly narrated deep dive into a case where the signal was buried under years of digital noise. For anyone interested in the intersection of technology and criminal psychology, this is an essential listen that proves the truth is often far more twisted than the lies we are told.