Libby Day learns her donation fund is nearly exhausted and she has no income, career, or future plan.

The Kill Club interrogates Libby at their convention, claiming her childhood testimony was coached and Ben is innocent.

Reporter Barb Eichel apologizes to Libby for her sensationalized book and says she now believes Ben is innocent.

Libby visits her brother Ben in prison for the first time since the murders; he absolves her of blame.

Libby and Lyle track down Krissi Cates near St. Louis, where she repeats her accusations of molestation against Ben.

Libby and Lyle attend Magda's Free Day Society meeting; Runner's ex-girlfriend Peggy admits she lied about his alibi.

Krissi Cates arrives at Libby's home and confesses she fabricated the molestation accusations against Ben.

Libby confronts Runner at a toxic encampment in Oklahoma; he reveals Ben had gotten a girl named Diondra pregnant.

Libby and Lyle visit Trey, who tells them Diondra used the fake name Polly Palm when she ran away.

Libby drives to Diondra's remote house and meets Diondra's daughter Crystal, who is Ben's unknown child.

Diondra strangles Michelle in her bedroom after Michelle walks in and discovers Diondra and Ben's plan to flee.

Crystal knocks Libby unconscious with a clothes iron after Libby begins to suspect Diondra of the murders.

Libby escapes from Diondra's locked basement and flees barefoot through the woods until she reaches a gas station.

Lyle tells Libby that Calvin Diehl, the Angel of Debt, has been caught and confessed to killing Patty and Debby.

Libby's stolen items from Diondra match DNA on Michelle's bedsheets; Diondra is arrested and Ben can finally go free.

Libby Day, broke and directionless, is recruited by true-crime enthusiast Lyle Wirth to investigate her family's 1985 massacre after her donation fund runs dry. She revisits key figures from the case — reporter Barb Eichel, imprisoned brother Ben, accuser Krissi Cates, and her reckless father Runner — each of whom chips away at her certainty that Ben is guilty. A trail of aliases and a secret pregnancy lead Libby to Diondra Wertzner, hiding in rural Missouri under a false name with Ben's unknown daughter Crystal. When Diondra's household turns violent, Libby is knocked unconscious and must fight her way to safety, triggering the final unraveling of the truth. The simultaneous arrest of Calvin Diehl — who killed Patty and Debby under a contract Patty herself arranged — and the DNA evidence Libby unknowingly collected from Diondra together expose the real killers. With Diondra arrested for Michelle's murder and Calvin's confession on record, Ben is finally positioned to leave prison and Libby is freed from decades of guilt.

The core investigation that uncovers who really killed the Day family.

Patty discovers Ben dyed his hair black overnight; he storms out without eating breakfast after a tense family scene.

Loan officer Len Werner arrives to tell Patty the bank will foreclose on the family farm with no options left.

Ben's wrestling coach catches him in the athlete's locker room and forces him to say aloud that he is not welcome there.

Ben lies to older men at Trey's warehouse about participating in Satanic blood sacrifices to seem dangerous and tough.

Trey arrives at the warehouse and drives Ben to Diondra's house, telling him tonight he must become a man.

Patty and Diane visit the Muehler farm and learn Ben has been spending time with Trey's dangerous Devil crowd.

Diondra tells Ben her pregnancy is visibly showing and insists they must leave town before her parents find out.

Patty and Diane confront the gathered families at the Cates home and are forcibly thrown out by Lou Cates.

Detective Collins questions Patty at a doughnut shop, implying her parenting is to blame for Ben's alleged Satanism.

Runner arrives drunk at the Day house, demands money from Patty, and makes a threatening remark before storming out.

Patty uses bolt cutters to break into Ben's locked bedroom and finds disturbing notebooks and a bag of children's clothing.

Ben, Diondra, and Trey carry out a Satanic ritual on a farm outside town, killing a bull with axes.

Ben and Diondra burn the clothes they wore during the bull ritual before driving to the Day house for money.

After the murders, Ben goes to the pond and shines a flashlight near Libby's hiding spot before turning back.

Libby reconciles with Diane and visits the Day family farm, finding she can look at it without being overwhelmed.

The Day family's final day unfolds through a relentless series of crises — a farm foreclosure, spreading molestation rumors, a drunken father demanding money, and a teenage boy pulled deeper into dangerous company. Ben drifts further into Diondra and Trey's world while Patty desperately tries to locate him and protect her children from the fallout of his alleged crimes. A humiliating confrontation at the Cates home and a chilling conversation with Detective Collins leave Patty isolated and afraid, and her discovery of disturbing items in Ben's locked bedroom deepens her worst fears about her son. Ben and Diondra's Satanic ritual that night sets the violence in motion, leading them to the Day house with terrible consequences. After the murders, Ben protects Libby at the pond before slipping away, and the novel closes with Libby finally achieving a fragile peace by reconciling with Diane and facing the family farm without being overwhelmed.

The desperate day in 1985 that set the massacre in motion.

Libby admits to herself after the Kill Convention that she was hiding in a closet and heard but never saw the murders.

Libby reads Ben's trial transcripts and recognizes that her childhood testimony contains adult language she was clearly coached to use.

Diane arrives at the Day farm with food and tells Patty that the Cates family is spreading molestation rumors about Ben.

Ben leaves a romantic note in Krissi Cates's school bin and is caught in an embarrassing misunderstanding by a teacher.

Libby discovers a sexually explicit note from Diondra hidden inside Michelle's old diaries, revealing Ben had a secret girlfriend.

Libby visits Ben in prison a second time and presses him about Diondra; he angrily denies ever knowing her.

Ben tells Runner at a bar that Diondra is pregnant with his child, hoping for approval; Runner dismisses the claim.

Patty secretly meets a stranger at a rural park who offers to help her secure life insurance money for her children.

Lyle confesses to Libby that he accidentally started a massive wildfire as a child, explaining why he identifies with her situation.

Lyle recognizes the name Polly from a tattoo on Ben's arm and realizes it matches the alias Trey mentioned.

Crystal accidentally reveals she has read Michelle's missing Christmas diary by correctly naming a specific boy from its entries.

Diondra mutilates Patty and Debby's bodies with an axe after the murders while Ben watches without intervening.

Calvin Diehl drives away from the Day farmhouse furious that the job went wrong and an innocent child was killed.

Ben tells Libby he has always felt guilty for standing by and letting the murders happen without trying to stop them.

Ben reflects in prison that he chose decades of silence to protect Diondra and their unborn child from prosecution.

Dark Places is built on misunderstandings, half-truths, and secrets that compound until they become catastrophic, and this pool traces the precise moments when those truths begin to surface. Libby's private admission that she never saw the murders, and her recognition of coached language in her own trial testimony, mark the beginning of her journey toward accepting what really happened. In 1985, small moments — a teacher's misreading of Ben's behavior, Patty's secret meeting with a stranger in a park, and Ben's ill-fated attempt to impress Runner — quietly set irreversible events in motion. In the present, Lyle's identification of a name tattooed on Ben's arm and Crystal's accidental slip about Michelle's diary crack open Diondra's carefully maintained alibi. Calvin Diehl's furious drive away from the farmhouse and Ben's long-withheld confessions in prison finally complete the picture, revealing that the Day murders were caused not by Satanism or a violent brother, but by desperation, silence, and a chain of decisions no one could take back.