 Natalie McNally was over the moon when she found out that she had a child on the way. Her boyfriend and parents were equally excited. But on a cold December morning in late 2022, this excitement was taken away from her. In the still of the night, a criminal broke into her house and claimed Natalie's life in one of the most disturbing ways imaginable. Detectives have been on the hunt for the suspect responsible for the crime, and while the case remains under investigation, police believe they may have found their man. And he was a lot closer to home than anyone would have expected. Natalie McNally was by every definition a happy and independent young woman. She had grown up in Lurgen, located in Northern Ireland. Alongside her three brothers, Natalie had a fairly typical childhood, growing up in a great community surrounded by family who cared for her. Lurgen may not be a very well-known town, but it's only about 18 miles from Belfast, so pretty much anything you could ever need or want was within driving distance. With a population of around 28,000 people, it would be difficult to describe Lurgen as a small town, but the community was very strong and very close. It's been described by many in the area as a place where no one bothers to lock their doors because crime is never really an issue. It's been the perfect place to raise a family for decades, and this is likely why the population of Lurgen continues to grow every year. Natalie McNally loved it here. She had countless friends that she could always count on, but more importantly, she had family. While she was certainly close with her friends from work and her former years at school, she was closest with her mother. The two did everything together, shopping, crafts, housekeeping, local events, everything. As strange as it may seem to some people, Natalie and her mother were best friends. Even though Natalie was close with her mother, her mom says that Natalie was also fiercely independent. While she always hung out with her mother, she made it clear that she didn't need help or expect anything from anyone. She was her own woman and lived her life on her own terms. According to her friends, Natalie was also an animal lover. She had a house full of cats, but she was closest with her dog, a German shepherd named River. The two of them went everywhere together and Natalie was dedicated to giving River the best life possible. To top all of this off, Natalie had been in a great relationship with her boyfriend, Stephen. The two seemed closer than ever and things had been going smoothly for quite some time. I don't know if the two were engaged or not, but it may be safe to assume that if they weren't, an engagement was likely imminent. The two were deeper in love than anything you could imagine and they were expecting their first child in just a few short months. But unfortunately, before they could begin their family together, tragedy would strike the town of Lurkin. Just days before Christmas on December 18th of 2022, Natalie, now 15 weeks pregnant, went missing. She stopped answering calls or texts and no one was able to get in touch with her. When a friend decided to check her home to check on her, they walked into a crime scene unlike anything you could ever imagine. Traumatic is the only way that I can put this crime scene into words. Desperate and emotional are two other words that come to mind describing this horrific violence that was displayed to her Natalie in her final moments on this earth. Natalie's parents say that in the weeks leading up to her demise, Natalie was the happiest that she'd ever been. She was just 32 years old and knew that she had the world in the palm of her hand. She was over the moon about being a mother's suit and she'd wanted nothing more in her life than to be a mom. But someone took that joy away from her and left behind nothing but a trail of destruction. We don't know which of Natalie's friends stumbled across this crime scene but police were called immediately afterward. Emergency services were called to Natalie's home sometime around 10 PM on the evening of December 19th. As we would learn soon after, the crime had been committed at the previous day but Natalie wasn't found until about 24 hours afterward. Medics were initially hopeful that Natalie could be saved but unfortunately they called off all rescue attempts at the scene. Natalie was gone. When police reviewed CCTV footage from the area that was recorded at the evening of the crime, they noticed a scary looking man who was acting very suspicious. He had walked down Natalie's street at about 8.52 PM. By 9.30 he was seen leaving the street coming from the direction of Natalie's house. The best I can tell there was no footage of Natalie's actual house, only footage of the surrounding areas. But the CCTV footage was more than enough for police to pin down their first suspect. A suspect was tracked down fairly quickly and he was arrested the following day. By all means, police were pursuing the case with a sense of urgency but unfortunately the man had an alibi. The lead suspect was released from police custody on December 20th and detectives officially announced that they were treating Natalie's case as suspicious. The following day investigators revealed more details about the state of the crime scene confirming that they were now classifying the case as a homicide investigation. They revealed that Natalie's body was covered in wounds. She'd been very badly beaten becoming unrecognizable to her family. They found several wounds that were consistent with a knife and countless others that were defensive wounds. It appeared that Natalie had fought back against her attacker and she wasn't going down without a fight. According to one report, Natalie was so badly beaten that she had multiple broken bones in her face. Another report detailed that her neck had also been broken as well but we don't know how all of this played out though I don't think this information would need to be shared publicly anyway. It doesn't change what happened and how callous this criminal acted towards Natalie. By December 22nd, police had arrested another man and revealed that they'd come across another few pieces of CCTV footage. In this footage, a man was seen leaving the area of the crime while carrying a bag of some sort. Unfortunately, this suspect was released as well but he was released on bail. Police didn't reveal his name at this point in the investigation but it appears as though detectives had a significant amount of evidence against him but not quite enough to secure a conviction. The only information that was revealed at this point was that the suspect was 32 years old and this revelation certainly began to turn a few heads. After this, the case stalled for a while but investigators would announce on January 5th, 2023 that they had located the weapon used to claim Natalie's life but here's where things get far worse. They explained that they had reason to believe that Natalie knew her attacker first hand. They explained that there were no signs of forced entry and they had no reason to believe that Natalie didn't let this person into her home willingly but to top this off, police explained that they questioned whether or not this was a targeted attack or if it had been completely random. Because of this, they issued a warning to all of the women in the local area that there was a serious possibility that the suspect may have been a danger to other women as well. Telling the locals to ensure that their doors were locked at all hours of the day and to never be out in public alone. By January 13th, police arrested another man who they believed may have been connected to the crime but he too was released the next day on bail. At this point, the case reached another stand still this time for a period of about two weeks with no further information to go on and no evidence linking anyone to the scene of the crime police appealed to the public for assistance. They revisited the previously released CCTV footage and begged anyone from the public to come forward if they felt as though they may have seen or heard anything on the night of the crime but no one ever stepped up. It wouldn't be until January 31st, over a month after the crime that police would announce that they had the criminal in custody but it wasn't who anyone would have ever expected. Police had arrested their first suspect who we mentioned a moment ago once again. This time they had new evidence against him but we don't know exactly what this evidence was. This time they were pursuing allegations against this man far more aggressively and he was sent to the local police station for a full fledged interrogation. Just two days later, this suspect was officially charged with homicide. A few days after this, the suspect's name was revealed and it came as a shock to everyone, especially Natalie's family. It was someone they all loved and respected and certainly the last person they would have ever expected to be capable of such a thing. After all, it was the man who claimed to love Natalie the most, her own boyfriend, Steven McCullough. Police explained that Steven was brought in for questioning after they'd originally spoken to him on the night of December 19th. If you don't remember, he was the suspect who police initially arrested but they let him go after they found out he had an alibi that was virtually undeniable. And I'll be honest, his alibi for that evening was truly remarkable. Steven has a YouTube channel and it seems that he mostly used the channel for gaming. In particular, he was a big fan of the Grand Theft Auto series and it seems like he played these games quite often on his channel. Steven is also involved in the local media industry so he knows his way around a computer and certainly knows a thing or two about entertainment. On the night of Natalie's demise, Steven said that he was at home playing Grand Theft Auto but not only this, he said that he was live streaming his session to dozens of people. His alibi was as airtight as they come. If dozens of people remember seeing him playing video games that night, then it seems pretty apparent that he was most likely, in fact, playing video games. But this is where Steven got a bit crafty and I've never heard of something like this ever happening before. For those of you that may not know, when you stream to YouTube, TikTok, or even Facebook, most professionals use a program known as OBS Studio to do this. I've used it on this channel several times in the past. But the thing about OBS is that it gives you far more features than your traditional streaming app or streaming software. One of those features is the ability to live stream pre-recorded files. This is why, for example, when you see bands performing on live streams, they sound so much better than you may have expected them to sound live because it's usually all pre-recorded and heavily edited. Well, Steven pulled off this same thing on the evening of the crime. He had pre-recorded himself playing Grand Theft Auto for more than six hours then used this computer software to replay that file live to his viewers. As far as his viewers knew, Steven was sitting behind his desk playing Grand Theft Auto. But in reality, Steven could have been anywhere in the world doing anything. And police have reason to believe that he was at Natalie's house that evening. After all, he perfectly resembles the man that was captured on CCTV that evening. If this isn't already sounding crazy enough, it's about to get even more strange because police say that their team of computer experts analyzed his live stream from that evening and proved that without a doubt, it had been pre-recorded. Steven eventually admitted to this, but he claimed he'd been home drinking all night, though he never gave a believable excuse as to why he had pre-recorded the live stream. But the crazy part is what took place shortly after this. Police say in the weeks after Natalie lost her life, Steven had visited her parents' home multiple times. On one of these visits, Steven left the home but returned about 45 minutes later, claiming he left behind his cell phone by mistake. Well, he did leave his cell phone, but it was no mistake. During that 45-minute window, Steven had been recording audio on his phone to try to determine whether the McNally family suspected him of taking Natalie's life. We don't know if Steven was ever able to find the information he was looking for, but it doesn't seem like he did. On top of this bizarre piece of evidence, police say that they have CCTV footage that follows him to a bus station in Lurgen that evening, as well as additional footage placing him in the proximity of Natalie's home during the time the crime was committed. They even claim to have footage of him returning home later that evening. All in all, investigators have tracked Steven throughout every step of the crime, but this all begs one big question. If Steven and Natalie were as in love as everyone says, and she was carrying his child, why would he want to take her life? Well, sometimes the truth is stranger than fiction. Jealousy is a powerful motivator. For Steven, this was especially true. Bear in mind, this case is currently ongoing and there's only so much information and evidence that we can go on for now. But according to investigators, Steven McCullough was a very jealous man. When he found out that Natalie had been speaking with other men through text messages, he took great offense. According to police, Steven had found out that Natalie had been texting an ex-boyfriend through WhatsApp. In total, officers say that just 33 messages were exchanged between the two. In today's world, and in my opinion, this would lend itself to an off-the-cuff, short conversation, maybe just two people catching up. But for Steven, this meant war. The problem with this story is that we don't know the content of the messages. In Steven's eyes, Natalie had crossed a line and it seems that he was under the assumption that she was cheating on him. In all reality, she may have been, we just don't know. But a total of 33 messages makes this seem like a bit of a stretch. Granted, you can say a lot in just a single text message, but 33 messages still doesn't sound like much of an affair or relationship, but that's purely my opinion. It could be that there truly was a relationship between Natalie and this ex. And maybe Natalie's child didn't even belong to Steven. Who knows? There's a million ways you could look at this situation. But there's only one way to look at it properly. No matter what Natalie did, she didn't deserve what took place that evening. Police say that on the evening of the crime, Natalie's phone had been unlocked nine times between 8.52 and 9.30 PM. Investigators believe that these unlocks were due to Steven scrolling through Natalie's text messages, presumably catching her in the act. Take it from someone who's been on the other end of a situation like this, whatever Steven found in those messages likely broke him in the deepest parts of his soul. He'll never be the same after seeing something like this. To be fair, that's incredibly unfortunate. And for many people, it could lead them down a dark path for the rest of their lives. But one of the biggest things you have to remember in situations like this is that it's never an excuse to take your anger out on someone, certainly not in a physical way, and certainly not to the extent that Steven went. Relationships are complicated. And one of the most dangerous parts of a relationship is admitting that you've taken your emotional well-being and placed it into the hands of someone else. Someone who could tear you apart from the inside out if they felt like it, sometimes just despite you. The scariest part of a relationship is that lack of control, the lack of proof, knowing just how deeply you love another person, but never fully being able to know whether or not they feel the same way. You just have to trust and assume that they do based on their actions and the way that they treat you. But for Steven, it doesn't seem like he was willing to place this amount of control over his life into the hands of someone else. Whatever he found on Natalie's phone that evening was his breaking point. And unfortunately, Natalie suffered for it. Police say in the days leading up to the crime, Steven had searched on his computer most painful ways to die. So it's safe to say that whatever he did to Natalie that evening, she didn't deserve it. No one does. Keep in mind, Steven is still considered innocent until proven guilty, but let's be real, in a case like this with mountains and mountains of evidence, it seems like this case is pretty open and shut. Thankfully for Natalie, her suffering is finally over. But if Steven is found guilty, his suffering has only just begun. Thanks for tuning in to another episode of True Crime Stories. If you liked this video, be sure to hit the like button and consider subscribing so you can stay up to date with all of the future cases I'll be covering. If you wanna support the channel, the best way you can do that is to just leave a comment below, literally about anything. If you wanna help out financially, you can click the blue join button below this video as well. And if you know of any other cases you'd like to see me cover in the future, leave those down in the comments as well. But with that, my name is Ty Knottz and I'll catch you guys in the next video.