Popular YouTuber Used Livestream as Alibi to Murder Pregnant Girlfriend | Stephen McCullagh Case

Now part of the Darkcast Network. Welcome to Indie Podcasts with a Dark side. This episode starts with a quote. Please come as soon as you can. She’s pregnant, she’s cold. That’s what Stephen McCullough told a 999 operator on the night of December 19, 2022. During the 10 minute call, he sounded frantic as he told the dispatcher there was, quote, blood everywhere inside the home in Silverwood Green in Northern Ireland. When operator asked if Natalie McNally was breathing, Stephen responded, no, she’s gone. When police and paramedics arrived at the house around 10pm they found 32 year old Natalie lying in a pool of blood in the living room while Stephen appeared to be performing CPR on her. Natalie, who was 15 weeks pregnant at the time with a baby boy, had been the victim of what investigators would soon describe as a prolonged assault involving three stab wounds to the neck, heavy blows to the head and manual strangulation. Welcome lambs. Welcome to Love and Heartbreak to Homicide, your weekly true crime podcast where your host Me Ky tells you cases of relationships that turn to murder. In today’s episode, we’re going up to Northern Ireland where a woman who is excited about the future, a baby on the way, and the relationship that seemed to be moving forward was murdered. As investigators worked to figure out who killed Natalie, the one person they would suspect first because its protocol had an airtight alibi. But as police dug deeper, they discovered that sometimes the evidence people use to clear themselves can end up doing the exact opposite. Before we get into this case, don’t forget to subscribe to Love and Murder on whatever platform you’re listening on. Doing this helps you not miss any more cases and we have a busy week this week and I do have planned for next week. We have a busy week as well so you don’t want to miss any of the cases going out. 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Now, without further ado, let’s get back into this case of Stephen McCullough Natalie McNally was a woman described by her family as an inspirational person and a quote, effervescent ray of sunshine with a heart of gold. She had lived with type 1 diabetes since the age of 3, but led a full life working in marketing for the public transport provider Translink. She was very close to her parents, Noelle and Bernadette, known as Bernie, and her three brothers Niall, Declan and Brendan. Bernie described Natalie as her best friend and her father remembered her being, quote, so happy and so content with life. Her brothers Niall and Declan remembered her as being happy when it came to her pregnancy, which she said all felt so natural. Her brother Niall remembered her as the best sister ever. Stephen McCullough was a 36 year old man living in Woodland Gardens in Lisbon, County Antrim. Professionally, he worked as a part time audience editor for the Belfast Telegraph, but outside of his traditional career he had a significant digital footprint as a content creator and YouTuber. Known to his roughly 37 subscribers by the handle of votesaxin07 on his channel, which included oatsaccent07 reviews Stephen was often seen as an exuberant person who reviewed robot toys, merchandise and sci fi collectibles. Stephen had met Natalie on the dating App Bumble on August 7, 2022 and before this she had an on and off again relationship with another man she had met on Tinder in 2019. Stephen and Natalie’s relationship began with a message from Stephen saying, quote, hey Nat, it’s the robot weirdo from Bumble. Over the next several months, the couple exchanged hundreds of messages and engaged in typical dating activities like going bowling and playing crazy golf. By October in that same year, Stephen had met Natalie’s family and in November. So that’s what, three months from their first message, the couple told Natalie’s family that they were expecting a child. That was fast. To everyone around them, Stephen looked like an excited, soon to be father and they had already started referring to the unborn baby as little squish. On December 18, the day Natalie was killed, she spent part of the afternoon watching the World cup final with her parents before heading back home around 7pm earlier that same day, Stephen advertised his upcoming Live game streaming online at 5:57pm, he texts Natalie, quote, right, I’m away to stream the night away. Wish me luck. And Natalie responded with, quote, good luck. I might have a peek at your live stream later. Now, in my head, that was said with an Irish accent. I cannot copy the Irish accent. I wish I could because I love, love, like, that is my favorite accent in the entire world is the Irish accent. Don’t ask me why everybody thinks I’m crazy, which I think they’re crazy, that they think I’m crazy. But Ireland, I love your accent. I just wanted to let you know that. At exactly 6pm the stream started broadcasting on Stephen’s YouTube channel. Sitting in front of the camera, wearing a hat, drinking Guinness and Bailey’s, Stephen told viewers that technical issues prevented him from interacting with the live chat. He encouraged subscribers to, quote, chat amongst themselves and repeatedly referenced the current time throughout the stream. At one point, he joked about, quote, drinking and driving before quickly adding, quote, in the game, by the way, I’m not leaving the house tonight. Meanwhile, Natalie logged into YouTube at 8:24 and watched the livestream. While police were investigating the murder, they saw that at 8:51pm that night, CCTV’s footage showed, uh, a disguised figure entering Silverwood Green and going inside Natalee’s home at around 9pm neighbors Emlis Solsons and I may be saying these names completely wrong because I know sometimes Irish names are not written as they’re said. So please forgive me. And Aisling’s Henry heard a woman, uh, screaming from inside the home. Aisling said that she saw a, quote, large shadow moving behind the patio blinds. Around 9:31pm that same CCTV captured the disguised figure leaving Natalee’s home. So they were there around, what, 40 minutes? A postmortem examination later found that Natalie had suffered multiple stab wounds, lacerations to her head, facial fractures, broken bones in her neck and injuries consistent with strangulation. State Pathologist Dr. James Lyness reported that either the stab wounds or the neck compression injuries alone could have killed her. When police questioned Stephen after Natalie’s body was found, he pointed investigators towards the YouTube stream as proof that he had been home the entire night. He was arrested initially, but released the next day. After appearing to have that solid alibi, police even informed Natalie’s family on December 24 that Stephen was no longer considered a suspect. So the McNally family welcomed him in because, you know, he just lost his girl, he just lost his baby. He. He’s going through the same grief as them. So they welcomed him in, they comforted him and allowed him to take time alone with Natalie’s coffin. He attended the wake on December 25 and even showed Natalee’s parents an engagement ring he claimed he had bought for her. At ah, one point, Stephen reportedly became emotional because news coverage about Natalie’s murder was dropping down the most read sections of news websites. Basically what that means is that like, instead of being the top story, it was moving down to like the 10th or something like that. So he felt disrespected by that. According to the family, he complained that it should be an international story. He also repeatedly suggested that Natalee’s ex boyfriend may have been responsible for the killing, telling the family the ex had been harassing her. What nobody realized at the time though, was that investigators were still actually looking into Stephen and they were already starting to tear apart Stephen’s digital alibi, which is interesting because he was live streaming, wasn’t he? Investigators with the PSNI Cybercrime Unit, led by Detective Constable Matthews, started digging into the six hour live gaming stream that Stephen had relied on so heavily after Natalie’s murder. At first glance, it looked pretty convincing. He had spent hours talking to viewers, drinking on camera, referencing the time, and repeatedly explaining why he couldn’t interact with the chat because of technical issues. But once investigators examined his computer, the whole thing started falling apart. Detective Matthews later testified that forensic analysis showed the stream had actually been recorded days earlier on December 14th and and saved in the early hours of December 15th. Investigators also found there was absolutely no interaction with Stephen’s computer between 6pm on December 18 and 12am on December 19. No mouse movement, no keyboard activity, nothing at all. And for someone supposedly livestreaming for six hours straight, that made no sense. The obs software also showed no background activity during pauses in the stream, something investigators said would have been impossible during a genuine live broadcast. So with all of this evidence, police once again went to talk to Stephen. This time he had nothing to fall back on, and finally admitted that the live stream had been pre recorded. Which police were like, yeah, we know, we, we just told you it was. Which probably they didn’t. They probably came up to Stephen and, you know, just asked him for his alibi again. But then instead of telling him that they knew it was prerecorded, they were kind of not allowing him to use that alibi and asking him more pressing questions to where he finally broke and said, okay, okay, okay, the stream was pre recorded. That’s usually how police do it. Sometimes they come out forthright Sometimes they don’t. So he came out. He said it was pre recorded, but he said he had an explanation for everything. He said that he had been drinking heavily at home that night. Buckfast Guinness and Bailey’s, whatever all those are. Before falling asleep. While the prerecorded video played online. He insisted that he was being framed and even claimed that the true killer of Natalee had deliberately created a trail of circumstantial evidence to point police towards him. Officers, listen. There’s an evil James Bond type mastermind out there. He’s got a team together like Leverage Crew, and he’s trying to frame me. I’m telling you, please believe me. That’s just how I pictured it in my head. Like, really. Problem was, investigators already had the CCTV footage tracking the movements of a, uh, disguised man traveling from Dunmary to Lurgan. Witnesses heard screaming inside Natalie’s house, and a taxi driver identified Stephen as a passenger. He drove back to Lisburn that night. He took a taxi. What do we always say, LaMs? Have as much evidence on and around your person as possible. Tell everyone you know and everyone you don’t. And apparently now I, uh, have to add to the list also. Take a taxi. On January 31, 2023, Stephen was rearrested. And two days later, on February 2, he was officially charged with Natalie’s murder. On January 12, 2024, Stephen formally entered a plea of. What do you think he pled? Lambs, shout it out. What do you think he pled? That’s right. Not guilty. On November 3, 2025, the trial was pushed back to allow the defense to review three 30,000 pages of new evidence. Oh, my God. I. I could only imagine what was in those 30,000 pages. But then on, uh, February 16, 2026, the murder trial officially started at Belfast Crown Court and was presided over by Mr. Justice Kinney. Over five weeks, jurors heard testimony from forensic experts, neighbors, police officers, paramedics, family members, Stephen’s former partner, and even Natalie’s ex boyfriend. You know, the same man that Stephen had tried to blame for her murder. The trial also revealed a much darker side to Stephen’s background and character that was hidden from Natalie’s family. Evidence presented during the trial indicated that by December 2022, Natalie was having arguments with Stephen and she had told people that she was thinking about breaking up with him. The prosecution, led by Charles McCreenor, KC argued that the murder was planned, calculated and premeditated. They presented the jury with a digital trail and possible motive. They said that on December 17, Stephen got access to Natalie’s phone pin and read private messages that she had sent to other men. Some of those messages were sexually explicit, while others discussed possibly ending the relationship in the new year. And apparently while all of this was happening behind the scenes, Stephen was already preparing his alibi. They also testified that during his initial interrogation, Stephen’s solicitor had to prompt him to answer when he was asked if he killed Natalie. He eventually replied, no comment more than 80 times to various police questions. So he pulled the Dave Chappelle. I plead the fifth. I plead the fifth. Uh, I plead the fifth. One, two, three, four, fifth. That’s basically what he did when they’re interrogating him about her murder. Prosecutors argued that Stephen had carefully built a digital alibi designed to make investigators believe he never left home. According to investigators, Stephen pre recorded the entire six hour gaming stream of Grand Theft Vice City on December 14 and saved the recording on December 15, four days before the murder. The stream was titled, as he called it, the Violent Night Christmas live gaming stream. The prosecution also highlighted details from the fake stream, such as Stephen choosing to play a mission called Waste the Wife where the player must kill a woman and stage it as an accident. First of all, what the frick kind of game is this? I have played Grand Theft Auto, but I think it’s just becoming worse and worse. Wow. The prosecution also noted that during the stream, Stephen sang, quote, I need to kill this bitch, I need to take her down. And made a cryptic reference to Natalie about 10 minutes later saying, quote, AP so fucking not ally abso fucking Natalie. That’s what he said. Sorry for the cursing, but that’s what he said. At another point in the stream, an image from the James Bond movie, as it’s called no Time to Die, briefly appeared on the screen. Stephen never explained why. Then at one point, Stephen described himself to his audience as a very angry gamer and an angry drunk. Yet in the same breath he claimed, quote, in real life, I’m an absolute sweetheart. I don’t have too many loved ones in my life, but the ones I love, I love with all my heart. So he put this in his live stream and this is something he said while he was actually away murdering his girlfriend who was pregnant with his child. Isn’t that a bit too ironic? A little too ironic. And yeah, I really do think. They also showed the jury what the CCTV footage revealed. It showed a disguised man boarding a bus from Dunmurray to Lurgan at 7:36pm Investigators alleged that the man was Stephen, wearing a Hood, face covering, gloves, and even a black wig underneath a beanie hat. Prosecutors later showed the jury old Instagram photos of Stephen wearing the exact same wig and hat combo. Like I said, as much evidence on and around your person as possible. Take a taxi and also wear the same costume that you’ve been seen in numerous times. And there are pictures to prove it. Dude thought he was so smart. Uh. Meanwhile, Natalie logged into YouTube at 8:24pm to watch the live stream, likely believing Stephen was sitting at home streaming live exactly like he told her. Instead, investigators say he was already on his way to her house. Then, remember, at 8:51pm the disguised figure went into Natalie’s home. According to prosecutors, Stephen had already walked past the house once beforehand to check whether Natalie’s car was there and whether the lights were on. Around 9.31pm, CCTV footage showed the figure, uh, leaving Natalie’s house. Prosecutors alleged that Stephen had changed clothes afterwards before eventually getting into a taxi driven by Jeff McAvoy. GPS records later showed the taxi arriving outside Stephen’s home at Lisburn at 11.11pm and CCTV footage captured him throwing two bags over a hedge when he got home. Dude thought he was so smart. Just, he was. Oh, my God, he’s so stupid. Then after he did all of that, he manually stopped the broadcast and deleted the original video file from his computer to hide the evidence of everything that he just did. Then, on the evening of December 19th, just before discovering the body, remember that at 9:59 that night, Stephen had gone to Natalie’s home and called 91 1, pretending to just find her. Well, anyways, before that, Stephen found time to post a video review of a Star wars lightsaber toy to his YouTube channel. No remorse whatsoever. While Stephen projected the image of a sweetheart and an angry gamer who loved his family during his fake livestream, the prosecution argued that he was actually a man, quote, uh, capable of deception beyond imagination. The McNally family said that Stephen had spent weeks pretending to grieve alongside them. Noelle told the court that Stephen had spent much of the wake telling one long story about supposedly finding Natalie dead inside the home. In addition, they testified that Stephen seemed preoccupied with the media coverage of the murder, which now we know why. Remember when he said that the story was dropping down on news websites? Well, he told the family that if he was still working as an editor, he would have ensured it stayed on top, which I’m sure you would have, Stephen. I’m sure you would have. They also said that on December 19, Stephen had told them that he had gone to her house because he was worried that she might be having a diabetic hypoglycemia episode. He claimed he even bought a bottle of Lucozade on the way. I don’t know if I said that right. I’ve never heard of that. They also found out that on January 26, 2023, Stephen had secretly left his phone recording inside their home for 39 minutes to capture private conversations and see whether they suspected him or not. He later came back to the house saying that he’d simply forgotten his phone, which I call a bunch of bull hockey. Because out of my entire friend group, family acquaintances, people I’ve worked with, everybody that I’ve come in contact with, I can name literally just one person who I would actually believe this lie because this person is actually never on their phone. A, uh, YouTube streamer would not fit that bill because I do podcasting and now I do my Facebook and. And, um, I’m always on my phone because I have to get cases, I have to answer comments, I have to answer emails like. And a YouTube streamer. Yeah. No, please, no. Prosecutors later argued that Stephen was trying to monitor the family while continuing to play the role of the devastated boyfriend. And apparently this wasn’t the first time he had secretly recorded people either. During the trial, one of Stephen’s former girlfriends testified that he had been physically abusive during their seven year relationship. She also revealed that after suffering a stillbirth in early 2022, she attended counseling sessions at Stephen’s home. Sessions police later informed her, had been secretly recorded without her knowledge. That former girlfriend also testified that Stephen had a history of becoming angry and possessive after reading messages on women’s phones. Prosecutors argued that behavior directly mirrored what they believed happened with Natalie shortly before her murder. In fact, Stephen had been arrested before for assaulting an ex partner after reading messages on her phone. The defense, led by John Kearney Casey, argued that the case was entirely circumstantial, which technically it is. There’s no pictures of him murdering her, no CCTV footage of him murdering her. So technically it is. But there’s a lot of damning evidence. They argue that the evidence pointed away from Stephen and towards another person, specifically Natalee’s ex boyfriend, citing troubling, nagging flaws in the prosecution’s timeline. Wait, what evidence are y’ all seeing that I’m not seeing? Is there something in that 30,000 pages that y’ all didn’t include in these reports? Because from the evidence that I’m seeing, everything is pointing directly towards Stephen, not away from him. They said that he had been arrested and admitted to lying to police. The defense highlighted that this individual had swollen hands shortly after the murder, whereas Stephen had no visible marks on his. Now, this man explained his dishonesty by stating that he had factory reset his phone only to hide evidence of a bag of marijuana, fearing a, uh, drug charge. So that was the ex boyfriend’s explanation about, I guess factory set in his phone about why he lied to police. But you know what, just now in reading this back, I realized that he never gave an explanation as to why, why his hands were swollen and what’s going on with that. So. Hmm. Huh. Kind of iffy there. The defense also argued that Stephen had pre recorded the stream simply to boost engagement on his YouTube channel, not to create a murder alibi. According to the defense, the waste a wife mission was just a tragic coincidence. But then my question is if. Well, I guess you said you were drunk, so I was going to say if you were just, uh, if the prerecorded live stream was what was playing, then you could still engage with the chat, literally in the chat, by typing, um, but I guess you said you were drunk, but then how would you know you were going to be drunk? You know what I’m saying? How would you know that you were going to be drunk on that specific night? So you chose that time to re to prerecord your live stream. In my opinion, it’s still too many questions for both parties, the ex and him. So that’s, um. I don’t know. What are your thoughts so far? Tell me. In the comments below, the defense asserted that the true killer had deliberately created a trail of circumstantial evidence, including the taxi trip, specifically to frame Stephen, which totally could be true. It actually, with me thinking about everything, that could totally be true. They could have simply worn a similar disguise that Stephen was already pictured in. They could have taken a taxi right to Stephen’s door. But the taxi driver did point to the person being Stephen, so that’s the only thing. However, you know, witness testimony is not always the best when it comes to recognizing someone, especially if the ex and, uh, Stephen looks similar. Like, you know, similar in terms of brown hair, brown eyes and facial hair. Like, literally, that’s all it takes. Another defense, barrister, Craig Patton, challenged the reliability of the CCTV footage, arguing there was very little evidence to prove that the hooded figure on the bus was actually Stephen. They also noted that the taxi driver’s identification of Stephen only occurred after his image had been widely circulated in the media, potentially tainting the witness’s memory. Like I said, witness memory, witness sighting, witness. Um, you know, pointing to the person that they saw is not always the best. All it takes is a slight resemblance of the other person. Uh, you know, send him a picture. Hey, is this who you saw? Yeah, it was that guy. He had brown hair, just like that. And a beard like that doesn’t mean anything. During the testimony from the McNally family, the defense questioned the accuracy of their recollections. They specifically disputed that Stephen had told them he texted Natalee to come to the window while he was allegedly at her house to discover the body. And that’s a, uh, that’s the only thing. Why would Stephen, like, record the family? You know what I’m saying? Why would Stephen record the family? I don’t believe that he left his phone there accidentally at all. If he didn’t do it, why would he be recording the family? Um, trying to hear what they said behind his back. So these, these are my questions that make it seem like it’s Stephen, you know what I’m saying? If it wasn’t for that, then I’d be like, confused, like, yeah, maybe it wasn’t him, but he’s done so many things himself to make sure that the lens was pointed at him. Shockingly, and that’s with heavy sarcasm, Stephen exercised his right to silence and declined to take the stand to testify or be cross examined. And I wonder why. If you’re innocent and you’re trying to prove your innocence, why wouldn’t you take stand to prove your innocence? If I’m innocent, I’m going to do everything I can unless my lawyer says, don’t do it, and it’ll probably make me look worse for some reason, but I’m going to do everything in my power to know, to make you know or even try and get you to believe that I’m innocent. If I’m innocent. Prosecutors later argued that he stayed silent because he had no answer that could survive scrutiny. Attorney Kearney informed the court that the defense would not be calling any witnesses or making further submissions, relying instead on the argument that the prosecution had failed to prove its case beyond a reasonable doubt. On March 23, 2026, after deliberating for just over two hours, the jury of six men and six women returned with a unanimous guilty verdict. Chairs and applause erupted from the public gallery as the verdict was read and Stephen showed little emotion. Justice Kinney informed him that he would receive the mandatory life sentence required for Mur uh. A later hearing, scheduled for May 15, 2026, would determine the minimum number of years that he must serve before parole could be considered. Now, because of the traumatic and distressing evidence presented during the trial, the judge informed the jurors that they would never have to sit on another jury again. Outside the courtroom, Natalie’s family spoke about the woman they lost and the baby boy she never got the chance to raise. Declan said that having Natalie in their lives was the greatest joy we’ll ever have. He added that she would have been an amazing mother to the son that they named Dean. Noelle reflected on the violence of the attack, saying one of the thoughts that haunted him most was wondering whether Natalie had pled for her life or her baby’s life. Ugh, uh, that’s such a horrifying thought because, you know, she probably did. Following the unanimous verdict, the case spurred a national conversation about gender based violence. Declan said that violence against women was the shame of our society. Justice Minister Naomi Long criticized the fact that Stephens YouTube content remained online for weeks after his arrest, noting that, quote, anyone profiting from being infamous is always a major concern, and compared social media regulation, uh, to the Wild West. What I’ve seen on YouTube is like a lot of people that should be demonetized for a lot of reasons, including not following YouTube’s guidelines, are not demonetized. And people who are following YouTube guidelines, especially in recent months, have been demonetized. I am not monetized on YouTube. I’m not looking to get monetized on YouTube. There are so many problems over on that platform for contenters that I don’t even know if I want to go through that. I mean, can you make a lot of money there? Yeah, but it could also be taken away in like an instant. And then, you know, you don’t get any answers as to why. And your whole livelihood is just down because that’s what you geared it around was YouTube. And you think you’re following their rules, you think you’re doing what you’re supposed to, and then they just decide, nah, we’re going to take down your content. Mind you, they’re still getting paid for the content. They’re getting paid, but they’re not paying you. So this is the stuff that I’m seeing over at, uh, YouTube. So I’m not surprised that after he was re arrested for murder, his content was still up because of course that’s going to drive traffic to his channel and YouTube’s going to be getting paid a Lot of money. So not surprising at all. The family became powerful advocates for ending violence against women and girls in Northern Ireland. Currently, reports said that Stephen was being housed in the hospital wing at Magaberry prison because officials feared that he would become the target of a revenge attack from other inmates. And in the end, the thing Stephen seemed to trust the most, technology became the exact thing that convicted him. Now, before I recorded this episode, I searched for an update, as I usually do for most cases. And on May 21, a sentence in hearing was held. And there were several disturbing and contradictory statements, statements from Stephen that were revealed through a pre sentence probation report. During the hearing, the prosecution argued that Stephen’s behavior continues to be a staged performance, as they called it, characterized by callousness and a lack of genuine insight into his crimes. In statements made to his probation officer, Stephen referred to himself as a monster and described the murder as evil, vicious and horrible. He expressed, uh, regret, stating, quote, I’m sorry for what I did to that poor family, what I did to Natalie. I would take it back if I could. So basically, he just said that he did it. And like I said, there was circumstantial evidence that could get you to question whether it was Stephen or the ex. But the fact that what Stephen was doing in the aftermath was pointing the spotlight directly on him, that’s what I couldn’t get past. And then finally he admitted it. And I’m pretty sure that his defense team could care less. They got their money, that’s all they wanted, and, you know, they bought their pool for their kids and they’re good to go. Despite the evidence, Stephen claimed that he had no memory of the night of the murder, though he, quote, acknowledged he might have left his house. Oh, my God, really? He told the probation officer, quote, I don’t remember feeling the need for her to die. The court heard that Stephen initially insisted he was innocent. But after the jury returned a unanimous, um, guilty verdict in just over two hours, he, quote, only then began to suspect that he might be responsible. That utter bullcrap. Seriously? Seriously. Oh, uh, your honor, I really, really, really thought I was innocent, but when the jury told me that I was guilty, then I was like, you know what? They might be right. What, what, what kind of. Okay. Stephen reportedly stated that he wants to be part of the solution and hopes to act as a mentor for other men. Absolutely. The frick not. He sounds like he’s saying all the right words so that when it comes time to find out how many years until probation, they’ll be like, oh, you know what? He sounds like he’s on the right path. Okay? He only has three years and then he’ll get probation. That’s, uh, what it sounds like he’s doing. Just all the right words, you know what I’m saying? The prosecution, led by Charles McCreenor, KC dismissed these claims as an attempt to manipulate the parole board. Literally. Wasn’t I just saying that? Literally saying that they directly contradict his earlier efforts to frame Natalie McNally’s ex boyfriend. So after all of that, everything was turned over to the probation board. And the probation report assessed Stephen as having a, quote, high likelihood for further offending. Damn. Experts noted that there is, quote, no evidence of any insight into his behavior and that he will require long term risk, uh, management and professional interventions. The prosecution highlighted that among Natalee’s 48 separate injuries was a stab wound to her pelvis area near where her unborn son Dean was developing, which they argued was a specific act by Stephen. Damn. Um. Oh my God, that is so cold blooded. He did that on purpose. Don’t tell me. I don’t remember. Don’t tell me that. It was a frenzy. You did that one on purpose. The prosecution is pushing for a sentence in the region of 27 to 35 years, while the defense, still led by John Kearney, KC argued for a minimum term started between, uh, 15 and 16 years. Well, I guess they didn’t go about their business, like I said, but they’re still doing what the defense is doing. Even though he confirmed that he did it. You’re still arguing for a term between 15 and 16 years? Really, Mr. M. Justice Patrick Keaney is expected to deliver the final sentence tariff which will determine the minimum number of years Stephen must serve before being eligible for parole. And he will do that at a hearing on June 3, 2026, which, once the update comes out, I’ll post it to the podcast Facebook page or if more information comes out, I’ll do an update episode. And that is the case of a guy who really thought he was James Bond 007, pre recording a live stream, passing it off as a live stream, going to kill his girlfriend and intentionally stabbing where he thought the fetus was, and then trying to pass it off as he was just home drunk and gaming. And it had to have been her ex boyfriend who did this. And, and, and, and, and what are your thoughts on this case? As usual, you heard my thoughts throughout the entire case and now I want to hear yours. You can leave it in the comments below or you can go to the website murderinlove.com and leave me a voice chat if you want. Speaking of your comments, Christina Bobo. Hey, girl. Hey. Left a comment for last week’s episode of Remember, uh, the TikTok influe. Gabbie Gonzalez was accused in a murder for hire plot against singer Jack Avery. So Christina says, firstly, I’m so glad to have joined the Patreon to receive all the goodies, because the Lord knows I’d be jumping down the rabbit hole tonight. Second, the most outrageous part of this case was that Kai, no relation, was so willing to help end the ex. Like, what’s up with a new person happily helping to murder the ex? Next I’d be thinking that I’d be next. Which, yeah, I would never. Are you serious? To me now. You’re crazy. And, um, what are you going to do to me? I wasn’t surprised that they were dealing with an undercover, because when the money was sent and it wasn’t instant results, I was thinking that there was a reason for the stall, which, you know, I guess I shouldn’t have been surprised, but I was surprised. She continues. Furthermore, it’s risky sending thousands of dollars to strangers for work because if they take it and don’t complete the job, then you can’t even call the cops. They shouldn’t have received bail. And I feel bad for Jack because now he will live every day wondering if they’ll make good on their desire to end him. Gabi is proof that the ditch you dig for others is for yourself. Sis got everything she planned for him. And what’s worse is that she lost access to her child as a mother, that is death sentence, in my opinion. Thanks for taking the time to put this puzzle together for us. It was great. Listen, now I’ll tune in for the after show. All right, so what she was talking about, um, where she said she was going down the rabbit hole. Look, this is what I think when I put out the cases, especially when it’s a topsy turvy case. I think that I personally would go down a rabbit hole. So if you join the Patreon, you do get, like I said, case extras. So there were a bunch of pictures. I included Gabby’s, um, Instagram so you could see her social media activity while she was planning the murder of Jack. Um, I included pictures. I included pictures of Gabby, uh, Francisco, Jack, uh, Gabby and Lavender, and, you know, a bunch of stuff. I also included video of her being released from jail. And, uh, yeah, and then also as being part of the LaM fam, you do get the after show. So that’s what she’s talking about now. She’ll tune in for the after show. And there wasn’t much information in terms of case extras for the after show. So there was just like one picture that I included of the perp. So Christina left another comment and she said, I also agree 10,000% that the image online is curated to show what people want you to see. Comparison is truly the thief of joy. I love your podcast and I hope you see that you have your own lane. I hope you always get your flowers while you’re living because you have a way of telling stories that that’s unmatched. And then she gave me a digital bouquet of flowers. Thank you so much, Christina. Um, yeah, I mean, you know, some days, most days, I’ll put it this way now, you know, I’m in season six. Most days are better than others. But some days I’m still like, questioning myself, like, ah, ugh. Why do they have more listeners than I do? Why do. Why the. You know, I mean, I’m only human. I’m going to compare. But I do check myself when I do find myself, you know, comparing myself to others because love and murder is me and everybody else has their own podcasts and a lot of people have help. I don’t, you know, so always have to remember that. But thank you again, Christina, for your words and for your digital bouquet. Love it, love it, love it. So like I said, if you want case extras, if you want bonus episodes, if you want to be a voice of the victim and help me continue bringing these cases, then join the LaM Patreon Fam. You could do that starting at only $3 a month and above. And even at the $3 a month, you do get bonus episodes because you have access to the after show. Patreon.com/loveandmurder now what I do wanna end this show by requesting is please head on over to the Facebook page. Like I said, it is newly monetized. So I am getting paid over there on. All that I need is your interaction, your likes, your shares, your comments. Um, subscribe to the page. That’s it. That’s it. That’s all I need from you. And I do get paid for that. And you do, over there, get new episodes. They’re just like one to two minute long videos of cases that, um, that I’ve just seen coming out on my feed that has been sent to me. Whatever, whatever. Uh, uh, you’ll probably hear of some future episodes that I might do because there might be a case that I put out there in a two minute case but that I want to talk about more in depth. So that might become a future episode. But by following the Facebook page you do get more cases, short cases but you do get more cases nonetheless. So head on over to the Facebook page. Just search for love and heartbreak to homicide or or you can go to facebook.com/relationshipcrime that link is in the show notes below and please just support me over there on the Facebook and that is all I have for you today. There is no after show today but if you do want bonus episodes there will be bonuses this week in the Patreon. Those bonus episodes start at the $5tare and above and as I like to remind you at the end of every full episode say it with me now if you all love and no murder y’, all, you do have more cases coming out this week. So if you’re not going to be into Patreon I will see you on Wednesday. Uh bye.

Since you listened to this case, maybe you’d be interested in:

The Black Swan Murder Trial | Love, Abuse, and a Deadly Custody Battle | Ashley Benefield
https://murderandlove.com/the-black-swan-murder-trial-love-abuse-and-a-deadly-custody-battle-ashley-benefield/

Midweek Mini | Woman Murdered Son Over Custody Battle with Her Mom plus a Shocking Update | Janet Garcia
https://murderandlove.com/midweek-mini-woman-murdered-son-over-custody-battle-with-her-mom-plus-a-shocking-update-janet-garcia/

911 Call Reported Suicide, But Investigators Saw Something Else | Heather Hicks Auman Case
https://murderandlove.com/911-call-reported-suicide-but-investigators-saw-something-else-heather-hicks-auman-case/ 

Sources: (what the sources say)

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cvgzrjd4r2yo

https://www.irishmirror.ie/news/irish-news/pregnant-natalie-mcnallys-killer-called-37188220

https://www.belfastlive.co.uk/news/northern-ireland/im-sorry-what-natalie-stephen-33988243

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murder_of_Natalie_McNally

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-northern-ireland-67959383

https://news.sky.com/story/youtuber-accused-of-murdering-pregnant-girlfriend-recorded-livestream-alibi-four-days-earlier-13512680

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c2087v35p34ohttps://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c4g8d8pz0xyo

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c393nz3lx71o

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/natalie-mcnally-murder-stephen-mccullagh-b2943951.html

https://www.dailymail.com/news/article-15614123/YouTuber-Christmas-Day-family-girlfriend-murder-court.html

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-northern-ireland-64867527

https://www.irishtimes.com/crime-law/courts/2026/03/23/stephen-mccullagh-found-guilty-of-the-murder-of-natalie-mcnally/

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026/mar/23/stephen-mccullagh-livestream-lies-natalie-mcnally-murder

https://www.dailymail.com/news/article-15671935/Stephen-McCullagh-guilty-murdering-pregnant-girlfriend.html

https://people.com/youtuber-guilty-murdered-girlfriend-grand-theft-auto-livestream-alibi-11932746

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murder_of_Natalie_McNally