True Crime Brewery

Susan Reinert was an English teacher at Upper Merion Area High School in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania, when she began dating fellow English teacher William Bradfield. Bradfield was charismatic. In fact, Susan left her husband to carry on a secret relationship with him. On June 25, 1989, Susan’s naked body was found in her car in a hotel parking lot near Philadelphia's "Main Line” and her two chil...

Oxnard, California is a town like many towns across the United States. Oxnard has its share of institutional racism and gender hate, but no one would have expected one junior high student to murder another in cold blood. Growing up transgender, biracial, and in an abusive home, Leticia King had many challenges in life. At age 15, Leticia was struggling to find herself. She was identifying as a fem...

The story of Tina Fontaine’s life belongs to her and her family, but it parallels many others in Indigenous communities. Her struggle for stability, the promises not kept, and the sexual exploitation she endured meant that Tina experienced more trauma and pain than most people could imagine. Because of situations beyond her control, Tina needed housing, health, and educational services that were n...

The family portrayed on social media by Jennifer Hart seemed perfect. She and her wife, Sarah, were a progressive and loving couple with six adopted black children. Pictures on Facebook showed two moms giving their disadvantaged children a better life. Never mind that the pictures looked posed and the children were rail thin. Real life for the Hart children was far from perfect. A trail of abuse f...

On December 2, 2010, 24-year-old Phoebe Handsjuk was found dead on the floor of her apartment building’s garbage compactor room. Her death was slow and painful as she bled to death, alone and in pain, on the dirty floor. Now, nearly 10 years have passed, and her family is still searching for answers. This was a strange way to die. How and why Phoebe died that day has become a complex narrative of...

Wendi Mae Davidson excelled in school and succeeded in her career, but her personal life was always a mess. Wendi had a habit of either choosing the wrong men or sabotaging her relationships. Unfortunately, her parents enabled her unstable and selfish behavior. After two unplanned pregnancies, Wendi married 24-year old Air Force officer Michael Severance. Mike was a nice guy, less educated than We...

In a small, quiet seaside town in 1991, the bodies of young nurse Lesley Howell and police officer, Trevor Buchanan, were found in a car filled with carbon monoxide. Lesley wore headphones playing her favorite Christian music. She was surrounded by family photos. These deaths stunned the community and broke the hearts of family members. What would cause these devout Baptists and parents of young c...

Maria Cruz was a perfect example of the American dream fulfilled. Growing up in the Philippines, she moved to New York in 1992, received her M.B.A. from Fordham University, and took a job as a senior credit analyst. On Palm Sunday, April 13, 2003, Maria attended mass at St. Malachy’s Church. She stopped by her office that afternoon, excited about an appointment she had later that day for a cosmeti...

Dale Ewell worked hard to give his children all of the advantages he didn’t have as a child. His wife, Glee, provided a loving home, staying home with their daughter Tiffany and son Dana, and showering them with attention as well as possessions. Growing up with every advantage, Dana Ewell didn’t appreciate what he was given. He always wanted more. He didn’t inherit his parents’ strong work ethic,...

When things didn’t go the way Raynella Leath wanted, she could be calculating and vicious. But she could also be quite charming. After attempting to kill a man who considered her a friend, and after two husbands died suspicious deaths, the people where she lived in Solway, Tennessee wondered about Raynella. Many feared her and even warned others not to cross her. Raynella is a grandmother, formall...

With little medical training and no scientific basis for her treatments, Dr. Linda Hazzard was able to attract many wealthy clients to her Institute of Natural Therapeutics in Olalla, Washington. Dorothea and Claire Williamson, wealthy sisters from England, read Dr. Hazzard’s book “Fasting for the Cure to Disease” and believed it was their path to true health. Two months after starting treatment,...

Kim Barry loved to dance and she had plans to train as a nurse. Living with her parents in a suburb of Wollongong in New South Wales, Australia, she cared for disabled children in preparation for her future career. On Friday night, February 6, 1981, Kim’s parents left town overnight, leaving her in charge of her little brother. Kim was usually very responsible, but she also wanted to enjoy her fre...

Amy St. Laurent went out on a Saturday night and seemed to vanish into thin air. As parents, this is our worst nightmare. Amy was a sensible, smart young woman who knew how to take care of herself, but one bad choice put her into the path of a violent predator. In the search for Amy, detectives had to deal with uncooperative witnesses, inaccurate stories, and a suspect who wove a complex web of li...

Brandon Teena was a female to male transgender person born into a homophobic culture. As we discuss Brandon’s life growing up in rural Nebraska in the 1970s and 80s, it’s difficult to conceive of the difficulties he faced. Looking back, you can see how his life spiraled out of control as he attempted to navigate relationships and endured abuse, judgment and disapproval. Join us at the quiet end to...

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 d...

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 h...

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...

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...

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...

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 a...

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 a...

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 L...

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...

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 anot...

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 disapp...