If shows like The Jinx and Making A Murderer have taught us anything, it’s that the world is full of internet sleuths eager to try and uncover details that might crack unsolved or contentious cases.

That’s why the case of missing person Kayla Berg and a video uploaded back in 2009 (two months after Kayla went missing) are garnering so much attention, and there’s a few things you need to know.

Seven years ago a video titled “Hi Walter! I got a new gf today!” hit the interwebs, and it doesn’t make for easy viewing.

It was removed for “violating YouTube’s policy on violent or graphic content”, but has been reposted in the wake of recent interest.

I’m going to warn you in advance here that things take a real turn for the worse around the 40-second mark, a woman who seems to be in extreme peril screaming out for help.

Like I said, it is pretty torrid viewing:

If you skipped it over here’s Gizmodo describing the video:

…a man with glasses faces the camera and talks about meeting a girl at the mall. In the video’s last few seconds, the man promises to introduce the girl. The shot then switches, and he appears in a dark room, where he opens a door to reveal a young woman—bound and screaming on the floor.

Now it turns out the video has finally caught the attention of the Antigo Police Department in Wisconsin, who had this to say:

In addition to their interest Kayla Berg’s mother, Hope Sprenger, went on the record:

“[It] sounded like her, looked like her, it gave me chills,” Sprenger [said]. “Disturbing. It made me sick to my stomach.”

And here’s a picture of Kayla from before she went missing:

Of course there’s much scepticism around the authenticity of the video, debates raging on the likes of Reddit and Imgur, but for now no one seems to have written it all off as an elaborate hoax.

The internet sleuths in action:

While it may appear as though the Imgur thread alone prompted the police investigation, TheGeminiTIGER said this wasn’t the case. “It wasn’t just me that tipped them off,” reads a post from TheGeminiTIGER today. “An Antigo detective that I spoke to said their phone had been ringing off the hook!”

There’s a chance, of course, that the video and its popularity are a complete hoax, and that the whole incident was staged. But for now, a number of questions—including the identities of “Walter” and “Patrick,” and the exact timeline of the video’s dissemination—are still unanswered.

According to the Daily Beast, here’s what Kayla’s brother had to say:

“Ok…for everyone messaging me…yes I’ve seen the video…and to be honest, I almost had a panic attack at work..shut down my machines and had to go sit outside,” he wrote.

“If your wanting my opinion let’s just say this…we’ve contacted the FBI because our local PD doesn’t have the experience needed for this,” the brother continued. “Hope that answers your questions. Now please stop blowing up my phone.”

[sources:gizmodo&dailybeast]