True Crime Brewery

Just nine days before Christmas 1998, thirty-three-year-old Ronda Reynolds was getting ready to visit her mother for the holidays. Ronda’s second marriage was falling apart after less than a year and her career as a Washington State Trooper had ended badly, but her friends and family would insist that Ronda had still been optimistic about her future. Barb Thompson, Ronda’s mother, was just happy t...

In June of 1959, just two months before her thirteenth birthday, Lynne Harper was found dead in a wooded grove near a Clinton, Ontario, Air Force base. Lynne was small for her age, the middle child between two brothers. She was described as bossy and a “live wire.” She had her whole life ahead of her. Join us at the quiet end for Two Innocents. The last person seen with Lynne on the day she disapp...

Jayne Leebrick met David Miller on January 1, 1991 on a cross country flight from Florida to Los Angeles. He was in the seat next to her and seemed like the perfect man. Handsome, wealthy, and a brave cancer survivor, David won her over. If David seemed too good to be true, that’s because he was. Join us at the quiet end for Love Bomber: The Seduction and Murder of Jayne Miller. David swept Jayne...

On the morning of January 21, 1998, 12-year-old Stephanie Ann Crowe was found dead on her bedroom floor. She had been brutally stabbed to death as her family slept soundly in their bedrooms down the hall. Stephanie’s parents desperately called 911 for help. After police officers arrived at the scene, a cursory search of the Crowe home found no signs of forced entry. There was an unlocked sliding g...

“Disney” Dad Anthony Todt and his wife Megan seemed to be living an ideal, enviable life together. High school sweethearts, they married, had three children, and owned a busy Physical Therapy practice in Connecticut. But that life blew up in December of 2019. Join us at the quiet end for Destroyer of Worlds. How did Anthony Todt end up in a rented Celebration, Florida, home, living alongside the d...

Perhaps no case more than that of 22-year-old Gabby Petito demonstrates that the images we see on social media do not accurately show us the reality of a person's life. On July 2, 2021, Gabby enthusiastically set out on a "van life" journey with her fiancé Brian Laundrie. The two had quit their jobs and renovated a van, planning a four-month trip across the country. Along the way, Gabby documented...

Confident and carefree, Icelandic woman Birna Brjánsdóttir was just 20-years-old when she disappeared in 2017. Birna grew up in the nearby suburbs, but she was very comfortable in the city of Reykjavik. It’s known as a safe place to be, even for a young woman in the dark of night. The main street was busy and well-lit, with bright storefront windows and lampposts on every corner. Join us at the qu...

Rachel Hatfield was in a 14-year relationship with a struggling artist named Tim when she met her future husband, Todd Winkler. Todd couldn’t be much more different than Tim. He was a former F-16 fighter pilot with a big corporate job, a house, and even his own plane. When Tim heard about Todd, he hurried to propose to Rachel. But it was too late. Rachel had made up her mind to marry Todd within w...

29-year-old attorney Anna-Jane Cheney was looking forward to her wedding in March of 1994. But just a few weeks before she was to walk down the aisle, she was found dead in her Adelaide home. Join us at the quiet end for 4 Bruises . At around 7:30pm on March 18, Anna went to the home of her best friend and sister-in-law, Susan, to walk their dogs together. Although she had been drinking earlier th...

Jeff Wright was always looking for a good time. When he met his future wife, Susan, he thought she would be a good time. But then things between the two became something more than just fun. Susan became pregnant, they married, and they moved into a house in the suburbs of Houston. But it was not happily ever after—not even close. Join us at the quiet end for The Last Seduction . After stabbing her...

27-year-old music teacher Stephanie Kupchynsky disappeared from a Rochester, New York, suburb in 1991. Stephanie grew up in New Jersey and had taught on Martha's Vineyard. She was scheduled to attend a music conference in New Jersey that was organized by her father, also a music teacher, when she disappeared. Soon afterwards, her car was found abandoned at the airport. Join us at the quiet end for...

After Jimmy Don Beets’ fishing boat was found abandoned in Lake Athens, Texas, the locals speculated that he had accidentally drowned. But two years later, his body was found buried in a wishing well on his own property. And, shockingly, another missing man was discovered entombed on the same property. These two men had one thing in common---Betty Lou Beets. Join us at the quiet end for Down the W...

In its immediate aftermath, the 1984 murder of Brenda Lafferty and her baby daughter had their community asking “why?” But once the investigation was under way, law enforcement began to look closely at the family Brenda Lafferty had married into. Brenda was a devout Mormon, but she disagreed with the extreme religious beliefs of her brothers-in-law, Ron and Dan Lafferty, who had embraced fundament...

The ostensibly charmed marriage of Kelley and Jim Cannon became something like a bad lifetime movie after years of drug addiction and domestic disturbances. Judging from outward appearances, the two were a successful and happy couple raising a young family. Jim was a law school graduate and a well-liked businessman. Kelley was a housewife and mother of three, remembered by her old classmates as a...

Vicki Durian and Nancy Santomero were hitchhiking on their way to the Rainbow Family Gathering in June, 1980, when they disappeared. This was an annual gathering of hippies and free-thinking people where they would celebrate harmony, peace, and freedom at Monongahela National Forest. But after the two young women accepted a ride from a quiet young man driving a Chevy Nova, they were never seen ali...

Neurosurgeon Christopher Duntsch had little in his background to predict the trail of surgical atrocities he would commit in his short-lived career. Before he was finally stopped, Duntsch had caused serious neurological injuries to most of his patients and killed two of them. In fact, of the 38 surgeries he performed, 33 were catastrophic. Join us at the quiet end for Dissecting Dr. Death . After...

After a 911 call came in late at night on August 2, 2006, paramedics were dispatched to a high-end Washington D.C. townhouse. Inside, the home was very neat with expensive electronics and other valuables in plain sight. On the second floor, 32-year-old attorney Robert Wone was found lying flat on his back in a t-shirt and gym shorts. He had three stab wounds to his torso. Mr. Wone was a houseguest...

As far back as Brian Stidham could remember, he wanted to be a doctor and work with children. As an exceptional student, he graduated from Harvard Medical School. Then he began his residency in pediatric ophthalmology. Eventually, Brian married, had two children, and moved to Tucson, Arizona. As one of very few specialists in the area, he was in high demand. But as Brian’s star was rising, his lif...

The Murder of Diane Pikul Diane Whitmore grew up in the Midwest. She was a smart girl and, as she matured, she was looking forward to an exciting life as an independent, sophisticated woman. But when it came to men, Diane had a bad picker. Diane married Joe Pikul after meeting him at an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting. He was exciting to her: wealthy and outgoing but emotionally unstable with a terri...

The Murder-for-Hire of Dan Markel On July 18, 2014, 41-year-old law professor Dan Markel dropped off his two young sons at preschool, worked out at the gym, and returned home to his quiet Tallahassee, Florida home. It was a Friday and Dan was looking forward to a relaxing weekend. But as soon as he pulled into his garage, someone shot him at point-blank range. Join us at the quiet end for Conspira...

Jana and Bruce Koklich were the ideal couple in many ways. Jana was a smart and attractive woman whose father had been an influential California state senator. Bruce was her dedicated, hard-working, and charming husband. Together, they ran a successful California real estate business and owned several valuable properties. But after going to an Eric Clapton concert with a friend in August of 2001,...

Back on July 2, 1970, tourists visiting Loch Ard Gorge, Australia, found a crashed car teetering on the edge of an oceanside cliff. It looked like the car could plunge into the water at any moment. After investigators were called to the scene, the mystery grew deeper. The car’s license plate was traced to a family living over 100 miles away. Once the car was towed from the cliff’s edge, the inside...

After 18-year-old Kaitlyn Arquette was murdered in 1989, the Albuquerque police department believed it was a random act of violence. But as details were released, possible motives for her murder came to light. Join us at the quiet end for Who Killed Kaitlyn? Kaitlyn had argued with her boyfriend on the night she was killed. She also had knowledge of a gang-related insurance scheme. But despite her...

Registered Nurse Julie Keown had goals for her life: start a family, purchase a home, advance in her career. She just needed to stay the course while her husband completed his MBA at Harvard and they would be all set. But sadly, Julie’s life was cruelly cut short and she didn’t live to see the future which she had worked and planned for all her life. Join us at the quiet end for Sweet Talker. Juli...

McKay Everett was the adored only child of Paulette and Carl Everett. The tight-knit family of three lived a comfortable life in an upscale subdivision in Conroe, Texas, a town just a few miles north of Houston. Crime was uncommon in the Everett’s neighborhood, but they still took precautions, including the installation of a home security system. Join us at the quiet end for A Killer at the Door:...