Beers with Queers: A True Crime Podcast

He was a respected public servant. Then he slaughtered his wife’s family to erase a truth he couldn’t face. In 2009, Kansas resident Kraig Kahler executed a brutal plan: he gunned down his wife, her grandmother, and their two daughters in cold blood. The motive? His rage over his wife leaving him—for another woman. At the heart of this case is a chilling portrait of control, religious repression,...

He thought it was a date. Instead, he was tortured and killed for being himself. In 1988, 28-year-old Gordon Church, an openly gay college student, met two young men after a night out in Utah. What followed was one of the most horrific anti-gay hate crimes in U.S. history. Gordon was kidnapped, beaten, raped, and murdered—his body discarded in a remote area as if his life meant nothing. The case s...

Hollywood royalty. A mobster boyfriend. And a deadly confrontation behind closed doors. In 1958, screen icon Lana Turner was at the height of her fame—and entangled in a violent relationship with gangster John Stompanato. But when he threatened her during a heated argument, it wasn’t Lana who fought back—it was her teenage daughter, Cheryl Crane, who plunged the knife. The case became one of Tinse...

He flashed a badge, promised safety—and delivered a nightmare. In 1975, a string of terrifying encounters unfolded in Florida motels, where young men were lured by a man claiming to be an undercover officer. His victims were handcuffed, assaulted, and humiliated in one of the strangest and most disturbing gay panic cases in U.S. legal history. Robert Lee Bennett carried a badge, a bag full of rest...

He walked into a Brooklyn bank with a shotgun—and a plan to pay for his lover’s gender-affirming surgery. John Wojtowicz didn’t mean to become a folk hero. But when his 1972 bank robbery turned into a media spectacle and hostage standoff, the story captivated the nation. Later immortalized in the film Dog Day Afternoon, the real-life events were even stranger—and queerer—than the movie suggested....

They were lovers. They were nurses. And together, they left a trail of death behind them. In the 1980s, Gwen Graham and Cathy Wood worked at a Michigan nursing home where patients began dying under mysterious circumstances. The women claimed it was mercy. The authorities called it murder. As their twisted relationship unraveled under interrogation, so did the details of a killing spree that left a...

It looked like a home invasion. But what it really exposed was the lethal power of hate. In 1991, longtime partners Tom Whitney and Larry Wong were found murdered in their San Diego home. They had been bound, beaten, and executed in what initially seemed like a robbery. But it quickly became clear that something darker was at play. As the investigation unfolded, the couple’s sexuality—and the poss...

He left his house with a German Luger and a list of names. Ten minutes later, 13 people were dead. In 1949, Howard Unruh shocked the nation with what many consider the first modern mass shooting in America. Dubbed “The Walk of Death,” the rampage was chilling in its precision—and even more complex in its aftermath. Behind the headlines was a man struggling with PTSD, rage, and deeply repressed sex...

He walked into gay bars, waited for someone to trust him—and then turned that trust into terror. In the early 1990s, Colin Ireland committed a series of brutal murders targeting gay men in London. Calling himself “The Gay Slayer,” he kept meticulous notes on each killing and confessed that he chose his victims because he believed their deaths wouldn’t be taken seriously. He was right—for a while....

The home was beautiful, opulent—and soaked in blood. When local gay businessman Bill List was found murdered in his Todville Road mansion in Texas, the scene shocked investigators: the body mutilated, the motive unclear. But whispers began to circulate about drugs, sex, blackmail, and secrets behind the mansion’s glittering facade. Was this just a robbery gone wrong—or a warning from someone he tr...

A quiet Southern bookstore. Two employees dead. And a robbery that felt too clean to be random. In 1986, a double murder inside a small-town bookstore in Shelby, North Carolina left the local LGBTQ+ community reeling. At first, it seemed like a botched theft. But as details surfaced about who the victims were—and who frequented the store—many began to suspect something more sinister. This episode...

He was out, proud, and deeply loved. But when he was found shot in the head, everyone had questions—especially about who had a key to his home. In 2017, Brad McGarry was discovered murdered in his basement in Bellaire, Ohio. The crime scene suggested a burglary, but something didn’t add up. Friends and family described Brad as kind and generous—someone who didn’t have enemies. But as police dug de...

A night out with friends. A walk home alone. And then—nothing. In 1999, Wil Hendrick vanished after leaving a house party in Moscow, Idaho. Despite extensive searches, public pleas, and local rumors, the case quickly went cold. It would take nearly two decades—and DNA—to uncover what really happened to Wil. But even with answers, questions remain: Why did it take so long? And why did so many peopl...

Flames swallowed the building. Dozens were trapped inside. And the city turned its back. In 1973, an arson attack on the UpStairs Lounge in New Orleans killed 32 people—making it the deadliest assault on LGBTQ+ lives in American history until the Pulse nightclub shooting. The fire was horrifying, but what followed was even worse: silence. Politicians ignored it. Churches refused to host funerals....

Today we're talking about the horrific and brutal unsolved murder of a man who just wanted to start a new life. Find Us- Instagram-@beerswithqueerspod Facebook-Beers with Queers:A True Crime Podcast Sources https://www.eastvalleytribune.com/news/unsolved-slayings-still-haunt-scottsdale/article_b1723a84-b771-511f-89b5-f903ca77a254.html https://medium.com/@mromysteries/the-forgotten-scottsdale-m...

Activist. Icon. Found dead in the Hudson River. In 1992, Marsha P. Johnson—drag queen, sex worker, and legendary figure of the Stonewall uprising—was discovered floating in the water just days after Pride. Police called it a suicide. But her friends knew better. They suspected foul play, and demanded answers in a world that too often failed to protect Black queer and trans lives. This episode dive...

She was fierce, magnetic, and unapologetically herself. Then she was murdered—and nearly forgotten. Rita Hester, a beloved Black trans woman and performer, was found stabbed to death in her Boston apartment in 1998. Her killing sparked grief, rage, and activism, especially within the trans community. But despite the outcry, the case remains unsolved—and media coverage at the time was riddled with...

One night. One uprising. One spark that lit a revolution. In June 1969, the Stonewall Inn was just another gay bar in Greenwich Village—until police raided it one too many times. What followed was a spontaneous act of resistance that exploded into days of riots and a movement that reshaped queer history. But who were the people behind it? What really happened that night? And why is Stonewall still...

He was the first openly gay man elected to public office in California—and he paid for it with his life. In 1978, Harvey Milk shattered barriers when he won a seat on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, becoming a beacon of hope for queer people across the country. But just 11 months into his term, Milk and Mayor George Moscone were gunned down inside City Hall. The killer? A fellow supervisor...

A hike in the woods. Two women in love. And a gunman lying in wait. In 1988, Claudia Brenner and Rebecca Wight set out on a romantic getaway through Pennsylvania’s Appalachian Trail. But they were being watched. A homophobic drifter, hiding in the trees, saw them as targets. What followed was a hate-driven ambush that left Rebecca dead and Claudia clinging to life. This is more than a story of los...

A young man was murdered. The city stayed quiet. But the queer community refused to be silent. In 1991, 27-year-old Paul Broussard was brutally beaten to death in Houston’s Montrose neighborhood after leaving a gay nightclub. His killers—ten teenagers from the suburbs—were caught, but justice moved slowly, if at all. Local authorities downplayed the attack, media coverage was scarce, and the city...

She stumbled out of the woods, barefoot and bloodied. What she claimed happened didn’t match the evidence. Ezra McCandless was a young artist with a shifting sense of self and a complicated love life. In 2018, she became the center of a bizarre murder case after the body of Alex Woodworth—her former lover—was found stabbed to death in the woods of Wisconsin. Ezra told police she acted in self-defe...

She was bold, beautiful, and proud of who she was. Then someone decided that was reason enough to kill her. In 2019, 17-year-old trans teen Nikki Kuhnhausen went missing after a night out in Vancouver, Washington. Her remains were found six months later, hidden in the woods. As police investigated, a horrifying motive emerged: a man lured her in, then killed her after learning she was transgender....

A diplomat’s son vanished in Vienna without a trace. Authorities shrugged. A mother refused to let his memory fade. In 2007, Aeryn Gillern—a U.S. citizen working for the United Nations—disappeared after leaving a gay sauna in Austria’s capital. Despite his prominent position and international ties, local police dismissed his case almost immediately. Rumors of anti-gay bias, institutional indiffere...

The deeper investigators dug, the darker it got. In Part 2, we pick up where the horrors left off—exploring the full scope of Herb Baumeister’s crimes, the men who vanished, and the unanswered questions that still linger today. Was he the I-70 Strangler? Or was someone else responsible for those earlier killings? Despite the mounting evidence, no one has ever been officially charged for the I-70 m...