CrimeCon has always been about exploring crime from every angle — the investigators who chase the truth, the survivors who refuse to be silenced, and the creators and experts helping audiences better understand the stories behind the headlines.
Today’s announcement brings another powerful group of voices to the CC26 stage and Creator Row, adding even more perspectives, experiences, and insight.
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Legendary cold case investigator Paul Holes will return to the CrimeCon stage. Best known for helping crack the Golden State Killer case using investigative genetic genealogy, Holes has spent decades advancing how law enforcement approaches complex cases.
Joining him will be Nicole Earnest-Payte, survivor, advocate, and the first known victim of the convicted NorCal Rapist. After being attacked in her home at 21, Nicole spent years pushing for her case to be taken seriously — ultimately helping uncover a disturbing pattern of similar attacks across Northern California.
Their story is the subject of the podcast Hunting the Bogeyman, from Sony Music's The Binge, which follows Nicole’s pursuit of answers and the investigation that revealed a serial predator operating for decades. Together, Holes and Earnest-Payte will take the CrimeCon stage to explore the case, the investigation that finally identified the attacker, and one survivor’s remarkable fight to be heard.
On October 1, 2017, 60 people were killed and hundreds more wounded when a gunman opened fire from the 32nd floor of Mandalay Bay onto the crowd at the Route 91 Harvest Festival — the deadliest mass shooting in modern American history.
Kenneth Mead, Levi Hancock, and Ashton Packe of the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department were there that night. At CrimeCon 2026, they’ll tell the story themselves.
They’ll walk attendees through the night in extraordinary detail — the chaos on the ground, the tactical deployment, the silence in the hallway outside Room 32-135, and the breach that followed. Then into the aftermath: the investigation, the crime scene reconstruction, and the interviews that attempted to answer the question no one could fully resolve — why.
Nate Eaton, East Idaho News Director and one of CrimeCon’s most beloved returning voices, will be back on the CC26 stage to moderate a gripping conversation with Owen Hanson — the subject of Prime Video’s Cocaine Quarterback.
The former USC football player’s life spiraled from championship locker rooms into a world of high-stakes sports betting, drug trafficking, money laundering, and cartel ties. After serving nearly a decade behind bars, Hanson will join Eaton for a raw conversation about the choices that can unravel a life, accountability, and what rebuilding actually looks like.
The Behavior Panel will be back at CrimeCon 2026! Scott Rouse, Mark Bowden, Chase Hughes, and Greg Hartley — four of the world’s leading experts in body language, behavioral analysis, and deception detection — will bring their expertise to Las Vegas.
Together, they’ll offer attendees a fascinating look at how to read between the lines and have you questioning everything you thought you knew about human behavior.
Reminder: Guest and creator announcements will continue regularly, and the official CC26 schedule will be released approximately 30 days before we get to Las Vegas.
