Online dating is already a minefield. You swipe, you chat, you meet for coffee, and usually, the worst thing that happens is a boring conversation or a ghosting. But for Dave Kroupa, a simple connection on Plenty of Fish turned into a decade-long nightmare that nobody could have scripted. Honestly, if you watched the Netflix documentary Lover, Stalker, Killer or the Lifetime movie The Disappearance of Cari Farver, you’ve probably spent some time Googling the names. You want to know who the real people are versus the actors playing them. It's a natural reaction to a story this bizarre.
The disappearance of Cari Farver cast isn't just a list of actors; it's a mix of real-life survivors, relentless investigators, and the performers who tried to capture the sheer terror of being stalked by a ghost.
The Face of the Mystery: Who Played Cari Farver?
Cari Farver was a single mom and a talented programmer from Iowa. She vanished in November 2012, but her digital footprint stayed alive for years. Her "ghost" sent thousands of emails and texts, but the real Cari was never seen again.
In the 2022 Lifetime film The Disappearance of Cari Farver, the role of Cari was taken on by Rebecca Amzallag. She had the difficult task of portraying a woman who is mostly "missing" for the duration of the film. Amzallag captures that early spark Cari had—the independence and the work ethic—before the story takes its dark turn.
In the 2024 Netflix documentary Lover, Stalker, Killer, the approach is a bit different. While the documentary features real interviews with the people involved, it uses high-end cinematic reenactments. In these scenes, Katie Otten portrays Cari. It’s a haunting performance because, in the documentary's context, you’re watching a woman whose life was stolen, yet her digital identity was being used to torment everyone she loved.
Dave Kroupa: The Man in the Middle
Dave Kroupa just wanted to date around after a long-term relationship. He didn't want anything serious. That honesty is exactly what triggered the tragedy.
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In the Lifetime movie, Dave is played by Zach Gilford. You might know him from Friday Night Lights or Midnight Mass. Gilford plays Dave with a sort of weary confusion that feels very grounded. You see him go from a guy enjoying his single life to a man living in a state of constant, low-grade terror.
The Netflix documentary is unique because the real Dave Kroupa actually appears as himself. He’s the primary narrator, sitting in that chair, looking into the camera, and recounting the years of harassment. However, for the reenactments where a younger Dave is needed, actor Chris Maher steps in.
Seeing the real Dave talk about the moment he realized the "Cari" he was texting wasn't Cari at all is gut-wrenching. He lived with a level of guilt that most of us can't even fathom. He thought he was being harassed by a woman he’d casually dated, only to find out she had been murdered the day she supposedly started "stalking" him.
The Villain in Plain Sight: Shanna "Liz" Golyar
Liz Golyar is one of the most chilling figures in modern true crime. She didn't just kill her romantic rival; she inhabited her soul for four years. She sent himself threatening texts. She burned down her own house—killing her own pets—just to make the lie more believable.
The disappearance of Cari Farver cast would be incomplete without discussing the women who played Liz.
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- Alicia Witt (Lifetime): Witt is a veteran actress (The Walking Dead, Friday Night Lights), and she plays Liz with a terrifying "girl next door" energy. She’s helpful, she’s supportive, and she’s secretly the one pulling every single string.
- Jessica N. Johnson (Netflix): In the reenactments for Lover, Stalker, Killer, Johnson has to play Liz as the "victim" who is also secretly the aggressor.
Watching these performances, you realize how Liz stayed under the radar. She played the part of the fellow victim so well that Dave actually leaned on her for support while she was the one ruining his life.
The "Nerd" Who Cracked the Case
If there is a hero in this story, it's the digital forensics. Specifically, Anthony Kava.
Kava, often referred to as the "nerd investigator" in the Netflix doc, is the one who spent thousands of hours digging through IP addresses and metadata. In Lover, Stalker, Killer, the real Anthony Kava is interviewed. He’s incredibly articulate about how they finally caught Liz. It wasn't a "smoking gun" in the traditional sense; it was a digital trail that eventually led to a deleted photo on a memory card.
That photo was the "holy grail"—a picture of Cari Farver’s dead body.
Why the Cast Matters for the Truth
True crime dramatizations often get a bad rap for being exploitative. But with the Cari Farver case, the cast members in both the movie and the documentary serve a specific purpose: they remind us that this wasn't just a "crazy story."
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Cari's mother, Nancy Raney, also appears as herself in the Netflix documentary. No actor could ever replicate the look in her eyes when she talks about waiting years for a daughter who was never coming home. Nancy kept the pressure on the police. She knew her daughter wouldn't just abandon her son, Max.
The cast of investigators includes:
- Jim Doty: The Pottawattamie County Sheriff’s Office Sergeant who took a fresh look at the case in 2015.
- Ryan Avis: The investigator who worked alongside Doty to piece together the timeline.
- Brenda Beadle: The Douglas County Attorney who had to figure out how to prosecute a murder case without a body.
What We Can Learn From the Farver Case
This story is a brutal reminder of how easily our digital lives can be hijacked. Liz Golyar used over 20 email accounts and dozens of phone numbers. She used apps to schedule texts so they would arrive while she was sitting right next to Dave.
Basically, she used technology as a weapon of psychological warfare.
If you're following this case or watching the adaptations, there are a few things to keep in mind:
- Trust the "Vibe": Dave and Cari's family knew something was off immediately. The texts didn't sound like her. The grammar was wrong. If someone's digital "voice" changes overnight, pay attention.
- Digital Forensics are Key: In modern crime, your phone is the crime scene. The investigators in this case didn't find Cari's blood until years later; they found the killer through IP addresses first.
- The Victim is Often Blamed: For years, Cari Farver was seen as the villain. People thought she was a "stalker." It’s a reminder to look deeper before judging the person being accused in the media.
If you're interested in diving deeper into the technical side of how they caught Liz, you should definitely check out the book A Tangled Web by Leslie Rule. She’s the daughter of Ann Rule (who wrote the definitive book on Ted Bundy), and she goes into insane detail about the trial and the evidence that the movies sometimes have to gloss over for time.
You can also look into the Cari Farver Memorial Scholarship Fund, which was set up to honor her memory and support students in the fields she loved. It's a way to ensure that the final word on Cari isn't about her disappearance, but about the life she actually lived.