True Crime Brewery

Kurt Sonnenfeld has been in the news for nearly 18 years, both for the death of his wife Nancy and for being an outspoken 9/11 “truther.” As a videographer for FEMA, Kurt put together footage of the 9/11 disaster for media outlets around the world. On CNN, he spoke of the heroics of the recovery workers under tragic circumstances. But, back at home, Kurt was a very troubled man.Nancy Sonnenfeld died on January 1, 2002 under suspicious circumstances. When it looked like Kurt might be prosecuted for her murder, he fled the country. Since then, he has remarried and developed a new narrative about his work and Nancy’s death.Join us at the quiet end today for Justice Denied. The death of Nancy Sonnenfeld has been determined, by scientists and investigators, to be a murder. But will her loved ones ever get a chance for justice for Nancy?Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/true-crime-brewery--4126935/support.

It’s been nearly 40 years since young wife and mother Lynette Dawson disappeared from her New South Wales home. Lynette’s last known conversation was with her mother. On the morning of January 8, 1982, her mother called to plan an outing to a local beach. Lynette agreed, but she was nowhere to be found when her mother arrived.Over the years, as Lynette remained missing, suspicions landed on her husband, Chris Dawson. His behavior leading up to and following his wife’s disappearance was improper and offensive. Lynette was not reported missing for six weeks and she was quickly replaced by his teen-aged lover. Still, the investigation did not lead to any arrests. Finally, the case was reopened in 2015. Investigators gathered evidence for a case against Lynette’s husband and a true crime podcast “Teacher’s Pet,” put together the case with witness interviews and well-supported theories. Join us at the quiet end today for A Lovely Drink. This is a cold case, surrounded by years of deception and speculation, that ma

Stacey Castor was a recent widow suspected of two murders when her eldest daughter Ashley was hospitalized following an apparent suicide attempt. While some looked at Stacey with sympathy, others thought she was evil, a woman who was alone responsible for the tragedies in her life.The story of Stacey Castor’s life, her relationships, and her losses is a complex and twisted narrative. After it all played out, she would be exposed as a heartless, calculating killer. Join us at the quiet end today for Her Dark Plans: Stacey Castor. After getting away with one murder, Stacey Castor became comfortable with eliminating anyone who got in the way of what she wanted. Her murderous plots knew no boundaries, not even the lives of the children she claimed to love.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/true-crime-brewery--4126935/support.

Summer Shipp reinvented herself after her divorce, but she always had a big heart and a lively, idealistic personality. When she disappeared in 2004, she was happy with her life. She had a close relationship with her adult daughter, Brandy, and she had a large group of friends. Money was tight, but she was as far from materialistic as one can be.Summer liked her job doing market research. She had autonomy and she loved to meet new people and learn about them. But her company sent her out on her own, going door to door, sometimes in rough neighborhoods. Her friends and family worried, but she had no concerns.Join us at the quiet end for Searching for Summer Shipp. This is a case where many of the questions have been answered, but will her loved ones ever have a true resolution?Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/true-crime-brewery--4126935/support.

Most of our TCB episodes deal with the intricacies of family, friend, or co-worker relationships, where different personalities and vulnerabilities come together in one tragic act of murder. But what about the less common but often more perplexing cases of random killings?American serial killer Israel Keyes was arrested in 2012 in connection with the disappearance of Alaskan woman Samantha Koenig. Samantha was a young woman much like our friends, sisters, and daughters, working as a coffee shop barista and enjoying time with her boyfriend and her friends. Needless to say, her disappearance was alarming and devastating to her community. But after Keyes arrest down in Texas, the alarm and devastation spread to the lower United States as interviews with Keyes revealed a lengthy history of crime, along with an unknown number of victims. Join us at the quiet end today for A Killer on the Road: The Abduction of Samantha Koenig. It was Samantha’s kidnapping which finally led to the capture of a dangerous predator, e

In February, 2010, Joseph McStay, his wife, Summer, and their young sons, Gianni and Joseph Jr., disappeared from their Fallbrook, California home. Days later, their SUV was found abandoned in a parking lot near the Mexican border. A dark and fuzzy surveillance video was released which seemed to show a family matching their descriptions walking across the border into Mexico. The media speculated about reasons why the family would leave everything behind as McStay family and friends swore it was impossible.Then, in 2013, the disappearance became a homicide investigation. But who would be evil enough to kill an entire family, including a 3 and a 4-year old, and what was the motive?Join us at the quiet end today for Betrayed & Buried. We’re taking you back to February 4, 2010, as we follow the McStay family’s story all the way from their mysterious disappearance to the trial of their killer.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/true-crime-brewery--4126935/support.

When handsome, wealthy investment banker Ted Ammon missed a Monday morning business meeting and failed to pick up his children from school, friends were concerned. Ted was nothing if not reliable. He had spent the weekend at his East Hampton home, so his business partner took a helicopter ride to his estate to see what Ted was up to.Ted had really stood out as an athletic guy who loved his kids and his three dogs. But Ted had been going through a lengthy, nasty divorce and child custody battle. His wife was universally believed to be a difficult woman and she was dating a man with a criminal history. Join us at the quiet end today for In His Own Home: The Ted Ammon Story. This story shows us how even the most perfect-looking among us has struggles and unexpected dangers in their lives that may lead to tragic endings.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/true-crime-brewery--4126935/support.

Brandon Michael Reid was in and out of hospitals from infancy. His mother, Tanya, a devoted mother and part-time nurse, seemed to take her son’s illnesses in stride. But when a pattern emerged suggesting Munchausen Syndrome by Proxy, Brandon Michael was put into foster care. Then, an investigation into Tanya’s past revealed a very disturbing history.Join us at the quiet end today for A Mother’s Love as we examine a case of serial child abuse perpetrated in multiple states by an unlikely suspect.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/true-crime-brewery--4126935/support.

On the day after Thanksgiving in 2010, Tanya Zuvers reported her three young sons missing from her home in Morenci, Michigan. Her husband was supposed to bring the boys back to her on Friday morning, but he never did. The couple had been living apart and planned to divorce. Andrew, 9, Alexander, 7, and Tanner, just 5-years old, had spent Thanksgiving Day with their father, John Skelton. When Tanya tried to get them back the next morning, John told her that they were with a friend of his. John turned up at a hospital following an apparent suicide attempt.In the years since, family and authorities have searched for the Skelton boys without success. John Skelton has refused to disclose their whereabouts. As time passes, the chances that the boys will be found alive continue to dwindle.Today at the quiet end, we’re discussing the details of the Skelton case and the possibilities of what happened to these three young boys. In Stolen Lives: The Skelton Brothers, we will go over the family history and the timeline o

Mom and skilled pilot Kelsey Berreth was last seen on Thanksgiving Day, 2018. After not hearing from her daughter for over a week, her mother Cheryl Berreth reported Kelsey missing. Authorities contacted Kelsey’s fiancé, Patrick Frazee, but he said he hadn’t seen Kelsey either and that the two had recently broken up.As the search for Kelsey began, police investigated Frazee and learned about another woman in his life, Krystal Lee Kenney. The story eventually told by Kenney exposed a months-long plot leading up to a horrific crime.Join us at the quiet end today for a closer look into the disappearance of 29-year old Kelsey Berreth. The details of this crime, along with its planning and cover up, has left her family heartbroken and many people wondering if there is any true justice for Kelsey.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/true-crime-brewery--4126935/support.

Susan McFarland, a hard-working mother of three, disappeared just before Thanksgiving in 2002. Three days later, her car was found in an abandoned parking lot with the keys still in the ignition. Her friends and family hoped that Sue had just gone off to have some time alone. But investigators became suspicious of foul play based on her husband’s unusual behavior both before and after Sue’s disappearance.Join us at the quiet end today for Gone From Home: The Disappearance of Susan McFarland. There is an interesting story here about the lives of a family under emotional and financial distress and three young children who lost the only stable parent they had.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/true-crime-brewery--4126935/support.

Today’s crime has been compared to the 1987 film “Fatal Attraction” starring Glenn Close and Michael Douglas. Calling the murder of Betty Jeanne Solomon “The Fatal Attraction Murder” was good for headlines, but if you were to ask Carolyn Warmus, she would probably tell you there were no similarities at all.Carolyn was a young, attractive elementary school teacher living in New York City when she became involved with the older, married Paul Solomon. Paul would say that Carolyn stalked him and threatened her own life when he tried to break things off. The murder of Paul’s wife in the Solomon home was both brutal and shocking. Paul was the prime suspect, but as the facts came to light, the focus turned to Carolyn.Join us at the quiet end today for Fatal Attraction, a gripping story of lust, obsession, and murder.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/true-crime-brewery--4126935/support.

There is no one more innocent than a 14 month old child, the age Jaidyn Leskie was when he disappeared. Jaidyn was born in and lived his life in poverty and ignorance. Some would say that his mother loved him and tried her best. Others would say she was a careless and neglectful drunk. Either way, the outcome is the same.Most of us love our kids. We do our best to keep them well cared for and safe, regardless of our socioeconomic status or the stress life sends our way. Maybe this is why we feel justified in judging parents like Jaidyn's mother, Bilynda. Not because she was young, unmarried, poor, or a heavy drinker, but because she failed to keep Jaidyn safe.Join us at the quiet end today for Broken Boy: The Jaidyn Leskie Story. It's a hard story to tell and a hard one to hear, but we're coming to this story with empathy and an effort to understand a dark side of the human condition.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/true-crime-brewery--4126935/support.

Kelly Ann Tinyes was just two days shy of her 14th birthday when she disappeared in her own neighborhood in 1989. In the days that followed, children stopped playing outside. Terrified neighbors began a harassment campaign of the Golubs, a family whose two sons were suspects.The Golub home appeared like any other well-maintained suburban home on the outside, but what police found inside was shocking. This story shows us how we don’t know our neighbors as well as we think we do and how the secrets inside of a family can fester and proliferate, infecting others.Join us at the quiet end today for What Happened on Horton Road, a troubling and morbid case of two families, one suburban neighborhood, and one unforgettable crime.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/true-crime-brewery--4126935/support.

In a rundown two-story house in Findley, Ohio, 24-year old Vera Jo Reigle was a prisoner and a slave. The story behind how Vera ended up in such a terrible circumstance is complicated and disturbing. At the heart of the story is the Brooks family, a family engaged in generational abuse and criminal activity.Join us at the quiet end for The Girl on the Train Tracks. The tragedy of this story is how many people turned a blind eye to torture and abuse, allowing unspeakable crimes to occur unchecked.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/true-crime-brewery--4126935/support.

Long before there was a Susan Smith or a Casey Anthony, there was Alice Crimmins. When the New York housewife called the police to report her two young children missing in the summer of 1965, the focus was on her custody battle with her estranged husband and the children’s father, Edmund Crimmins.When it came out that Alice had been having sex with multiple men and that she was less than ideal as a mother, the case became a media circus. With two trials filled with bombshell testimony and courtroom theatrics, Alice got years of attention and seemed to dodge punishment. In all of the craziness, the lives of little Missy and Eddie Crimmins seemed to take a backseat. But it is the memories of the two children which will stay with us and all of those who followed the case, because what happened to them is, truly, unthinkable.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/true-crime-brewery--4126935/support.

The shocking story of arson investigator John Leonard Orr began in 1984. A fire in a Pasadena, California, hardware store killed four people, including a 2-year-old child. Arson investigators examined the ruins and determined that the fire was caused by an electrical malfunction. All except John Orr. He was convinced that the cause was arson.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/true-crime-brewery--4126935/support.

22-year old Taylor Samson left his fraternity on the night of August 15, 2015. He had only his cell phone and a large black duffel bag as he walked out the door, telling his girlfriend he would be back soon. She knew that he had been dealing drugs, but Taylor tried to keep his life with her separate from his life as a drug dealer. He was in college, studying physics, and selling drugs was supposed to be a temporary way to pay the bills until graduation.Justin Blades and Pookiel McCabe, two other college students, were hanging out in McCabe’s apartment when they heard a gunshot. 23-year old neighbor William Sandeson came to their door in a panic. Money, drugs, and blood were on his apartment floor.Taylor Samson has never been found. Join us at the quiet end today for Blood Money. Why were two bright and promising students so deeply involved in the drug trade and what happened to Taylor Samson?Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/true-crime-brewery--4126935/support.

Michele Wallace was a freelance photographer who disappeared hiking in Colorado in 1974. She was a free spirit, a pretty and adventurous 25-year old woman with long dark hair she wore in two thick braids.It was late August when Michele told her parents she was going on a backpacking trip with her dog in the Rocky Mountains. Many parents would have been worried, but Michele was an experienced traveler. Her parents trusted her to be safe.But smooth-talking deviant Roy Melanson was unlike any predator Michele had ever encountered before. When she found herself alone in her car with him, her fate was sealed. Melanson had a history of abducting and raping women. And Michele would not be the first woman he murdered.It took nearly 20-years for investigators to get justice for Michele after a new detective and new evidence came into the picture. When Melanson was captured for Michele’s cold case, his DNA was entered into CODIS, helping to solve other murders across the country.Join us at the quiet end today as we