True Crime Brewery

Life in the Aftermath of  Serial Killer Ted Bundy Ted Bundy moved from Seattle, Washington to the University of Utah in 1974 after committing a series of brutal murders of young women.  Police weren’t yet aware that he was a serial killer.  To those who knew him, he was a polite, handsome and well-educated young […]

A Discussion of  Felony Murder Rule Cases Blake Layman made a very bad decision when he was 16.  That decision set off a series of circumstances that culminated with his arrest and conviction for felony murder.  But Blake didn’t kill anyone.  He broke into a house unarmed.  The homeowner, who was armed, shot him and […]

On a high, jagged cliff overlooking the Flaming Gorge Reservoir in Green River, Wyoming, a young mother and her 5 year-old son plunged to their deaths, their bodies crashing from rock to rock until they landed splayed and bleeding in the dust. Bob Duke’s accounting of his family’s death was heartbreaking. He described a sudden […]

In the middle of the night, as thunderstorms engulfed the remote tents of Camp Scott in Locust Grove, Oklahoma, 3 girl scouts were snatched from their sleeping bags. Their ravaged young bodies wouldn’t be found until morning. The discovery was shocking, but there had been warnings: Warnings that were ignored by camp counselors and not […]

Young and eager nurse Beverly Allitt was trusted by the parents of her young patients. But after a series of unexplained deaths on the children’s ward at Grantham Hospital, all eyes turned to her. Investigators wondered why Beverly was always the one at the bedside when a child took seriously ill. Could she be behind […]

Young couple Frances and Darren Jenkinson of Glasgow, Scotland, were happy and attentive parents of 8 week-week old baby boy Aaron when tragedy struck. After 3 bouts of difficulty breathing, their baby boy had irreversible brain damage and was taken off life support. This loss was especially difficult for Frances who was only 18 years […]

Hann and Bich Ha Pan had high expectations for their daughter Jennifer. She lived a sheltered life filled with piano lessons, figure-skating competitions, and several hours of studying each day. This type of parenting is commonly called “tiger parenting.” But as Jennifer approached adulthood, she began a life of deceit. Forging report cards and college […]

On October 5th, 2012, Sarah Ridgeway called 911 to report her 10 year-old daughter, Jessica, missing. Jessica had left her home at 8:25am that morning to walk to school. At 10:11am, the school left a message on Sarah Ridgeway’s cell phone to tell her that Jessica never arrived. But Sarah, who worked the overnight shift, […]

In the 1980s and 1990s, at least 70 women were killed in the Seattle and Tacoma Washington area by the Green River Killer. The victims were mainly prostitutes and runaways who were picked up along the Pacific Highway South. The women were strangled and most of their bodies dumped into wooded areas around the Green […]

This is the first True Crime Brewery commissioned podcast! Thank you to Todd Feitl—a listener so fascinated by true crime (and beer!) that he paid us to do a TCB episode on the Son of Sam murders. The Son of Sam shootings back in the 1970s terrorized the citizens of New York and its Burroughs.  […]

To Dr. Bart Corbin, til death do us part meant murder. In 2004, Jenn Corbin’s 7 year-old son found her murdered in her bed. He knew his father was responsible. In fact, he told anyone who would listen that his Daddy killed his Mommy. After hearing of Jenn’s death, the family of Dolly Hearn came […]

29 year old Reeva Steenkamp was shot dead by her boyfriend Oscar Pistorius on Valentine’s Day 2013. He would claim that he thought there was an intruder locked in his bathroom and he shot through the door 4 times out of fear. Prosecutors in South Africa didn’t find his story believable. There was evidence that […]

Andrea Yates confessed to drowning her five children in their bathtub at home on June 20, 2001. She had been suffering for some time with postpartum depression and postpartum psychosis.   In her 2002 trial, the district attorney in asked for the death penalty. She was ultimately found competent to stand trial and convicted of capital […]

Mother of two Sara Tokars was just learning about her husband’s shady business dealings when she was killed: executed with a gunshot to the head in front of her young children. When the truth came out, everyone who knew the couple was shocked and devastated. Sara’s life was over and her children were left motherless. […]

27 year-old Laura Ackerson was last seen on July 13, 2011, after stopping by the home of her ex-partner Grant Hayes and his wife Amanda Hayes.  She was reported missing two days later when she failed to show up for work. On July 20, Ackerson’s Ford Focus was found abandoned near the 5400 block of Summer Manor […]

On the evening of October 25th, 1994, a 23 year old woman frantically knocked on the door of the McCloud family in the small town of Union, South Carolina. Hysterically, she told a tale of a lone gunman who stole her car and sped off with her two children in the back seat. The people […]

A young mother who was well liked in her small Irish community, Rachel O’Reilly loved life.  She loved her children, her home, her friends, and her husband Joe.  As her marriage began to deteriorate, Rachel was determined to make it work.  Joe not so much.  Joe had fallen in love with another.  Would he go so far as […]

Baby Gabriel Johnson has not been seen since 2009. And the only person who knows what happened to him isn’t talking: His mother. Elizabeth Johnson took Gabriel out of state and away from his father when he was only 7 months old. She has confessed to killing him but has retracted her confessions and told […]

On Thanksgiving day 2012, two teens were shot to death while in the act of burglarizing a home in Little Falls, Minnesota.  Initially believed to be a case of justified homicides, circumstances in this case brought that into question.  Was this cold-blooded murder? Was the homeowner lying in wait?  Join us at the quiet end […]

The story of murdered toddler Caylee Anthony gained an enormous amount of attention in 2008 when her mother Casey didn’t report her missing for 31 days. When questioned about her daughters whereabouts, Casey told police that Caylee had been kidnapped by a babysitter. As the investigation progressed, everything Casey told her family, friends, and authorities […]