Generation Why: True Crime

May 20-21, 2016. Green Bay, Wisconsin. 31 year old Nicole "Nikki" VanderHeyden went out for an evening with her boyfriend, Doug, and some other friends. But after Nicole's battered nude body was discovered in a field the following afternoon, detectives were very interested in Doug Detrie in connection with the murder. As interviews were conducted, it became apparent that the couple had not been ge...

February 20, 2009. Wampum, Pennsylvania. Kenzie Houk, a pregnant mother of two, was asleep in her bed when someone shot her in the back of the head. Both Kenzie and her unborn son died. At the time, she was engaged to Chris Brown, who had a son named Jordan. When detectives investigated the home they could only come to one conclusion. That Jordan Brown was responsible for the crime. Their theory w...

September 7th, 1988. Long Island, New York. A high school senior woke up one morning to discover that his parents, Seymour and Arlene Tankleff, had been brutally attacked in their home. His mother was dead and his father was just clinging to life. While that is Martin's account, the detectives who began an investigation saw things very differently. The Tankleffs were very wealthy and might their t...

August 25th, 2008. Springfield, Georgia. A 911 operator had difficulty understanding a woman who called for help. After a number of minutes, police and emergency personnel are dispatched to the home of the respected Heidt family. The details were disturbing. Someone had entered the home while Philip, Linda, and their adult son, Carey, would be asleep. Linda was actually awake, though, and was dist...

July 22-23, 2015. Broken Arrow, Oklahoma. Wednesday, July 22nd, 2015 at 11:30 pm a call came in to 911. The caller was twelve year old David Bever who reported that his brother was killing his family. This disturbing call from a nice suburb prompted an immediate response to the Bever home. Police found the home locked and blood was on the porch. By the next morning, five family members were confir...

November 14th, 2011. Lapeer County, Michigan. A young woman and her boyfriend, along with a friend of his, had been staying over at her Aunt's place over several days. Andrea had been house sitting while her relatives were away. On November 14th, she texted KC, her boyfriend, to have him meet her at the house. According to him, he arrived but the house was dark and he didn't see Andrea. Upset, he...

April 19, 1995. Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. A Ryder truck was parked outside of the Alfred P. Murrah building in Oklahoma City before 9am on that Wednesday morning. Inside the truck was a homemade bomb that, after detonation, destroyed the building and ended the lives of 168 people, including nineteen children. More than 600 people were injured. What motivated the bombers to target this federal build...

December 8, 1986. Gaylord, Michigan. A police officer stopped to check out a truck parked on the side of a road and discovered a body in the bed of the truck. The man was oilfield worker Jerry Tobias. He was bloody, bruised and his hands appeared to have been bound with jumper cables. Also in the truck was a clue; packages of meat from a local butcher shop. The investigation into the case first fo...

The Night Stalker Part 1. April, 1984. Los Angeles, California. A home intruder is raping, robbing, and killing residents in the Los Angeles area. A 79 year-old woman who lived in a Glassel Park apartment was raped and stabbed to death after her killer entered through a window. Her place was ransacked. There would be many more victims. Determined detectives would gather clues such as fingerprints...

Kansas City Firefighters Case Part 1. We revisit one of our first cases by conducting interviews and discussing the various aspects of the case. The 1988 arson fires and subsequent explosions cost the lives of six Kansas City firefighters. Five people were eventually charged and convicted. While some believe this is an open and shut case, others see many outstanding questions regarding the guilt o...

Trayvon Martin. When a self-appointed neighborhood watchman pursues a suspicious young man no one could have predicted that it would end with a death, a trial, and a national debate on race & profiling. The finding of the jury is well known, but was it correct? Was the shooting justified? Is this case just a […] The post Trayvon Martin – 119 – Generation Why appeared first on The Generation Why Po...

The Zodiac Killer. His attacks were accompanied by phone calls & letters that taunted police and threatened harm on others. Just what do we really know about these killings? What evidence have investigators collected over the years? Does anyone truly know the identity of the killer as some authors have recently suggested? Is this case […] The post The Zodiac Killer – 118 – Generation Why appeared...

Madeleine McCann. In May of 2007, a young English girl, on holiday with her parents in Portugal, would go missing. There were no witnesses as she and her younger twin siblings had been left alone in the apartment that evening while her parents dined with friends at a restaurant nearby. A search was conducted, but […] The post Madeleine McCann – 113 – Generation Why appeared first on The Generation...

D.B. Cooper: A Skydiver’s Analysis. David Robinson, a USPA licensed skydiver, joins the podcast to analyze D.B. Cooper’s jump and assess whether he could have survived. We discuss the parachutes, the weather, and the choices the hijacker made. If this case fascinates you then you’ll want to hear this follow-up to our recent episode on […] The post D.B. Cooper: A Skydiver’s Analysis – 111 – Generat...

Dixie Shanahan. Author, and investigative journalist, John Ferak, joins the podcast to discuss the murder of Scott Shanahan by his wife, Dixie. The Iowan wife and mother had suffered domestic abuse for years before finally taking the law into her own hands. Once she was arrested, the question was whether or not she was justified […] The post Dixie Shanahan – 110 – Generation Why appeared first on...

D.B. Cooper. Thanksgiving Eve, 1971. An average looking man in a suit, a tie, and an overcoat pays for a one-way ticket at the Northwest Orient counter for flight 305 out of Portland, Oregon. The flight was scheduled to depart at 2:50pm PST for Seattle. The man boarded the plane and sat down in his […] The post D.B. Cooper – 109 – Generation Why appeared first on The Generation Why Podcast. See Pr...

Marjorie Caldwell. A wealthy heiress decides to adopt a young girl named Marjorie in 1934 and moves her into her mansion in the hopes of giving her a good life. Unbeknownst to her the young girl is troubled and may be a danger to all who are around her. In the summer of 1977, the […] The post Marjorie Caldwell – 108 – Generation Why appeared first on The Generation Why Podcast. See Privacy Policy...

Oak Island Money Pit. What began in 1795 as a simple discovery of a circular depression in the ground has led, over the years, to many excavations made of the money pit on Oak Island in Nova Scotia, Canada. Coins, chests, a body, & other items of interests have been claimed to have been discovered […] The post Oak Island Money Pit – 105 – Generation Why appeared first on The Generation Why Podcast...

Nikola Tesla. We discuss Tesla, his achievements, his rivals, & the many myths that surround him. Does he deserve greater credit than history has bestowed upon him thus far? Or was he just another inventor at the time? Did he lose out to Thomas Edison? Did he invent radio? Did his ‘death beam’ ever come […] The post Nikola Tesla – 104 – Generation Why appeared first on The Generation Why Podcast....

The Elkhart 4. In October of 2012, three teenagers and an adult decided to rob a house. Another teenager in the group stayed across the street. Either as a lookout or because he lost his nerve. Finding one that appeared vacant they knocked and rang the doorbell to make sure that the house was indeed […] The post The Elkhart 4 – 102 – Generation Why appeared first on The Generation Why Podcast. See...

In Broad Daylight. Author Harry MacLean joins the podcast to talk about Skidmore, Missouri and the man who terrorized its citizens for years unabated. At least until the town had enough of the rapes, assaults, thefts, and harassment. What happened in 1981 was like a story from the wild west. Did the town do the […] The post In Broad Daylight – 101 – Generation Why appeared first on The Generation...

Death of Princess Diana. On August 31, 1997, Diana, Princess of Wales, suffered traumatic injuries and later died after the Mercedes-Benz she and her entourage were traveling in struck a concrete pillar. Her boyfriend, Dodi Fayed, as well as the driver of the car, Henri Paul, died instantly. Fayed’s bodyguard Trevor Rees-Jones was the lone […] The post Death of Princess Diana – 98 – Generation Why...

Lori Erica Ruff. In 2010, a woman in Texas named Lori Ruff parked her Tahoe in the driveway of the house where her estranged husband Blake had been living since he had walked out on her after their relationship had soured. The house belonged to his parents and it was his father who discovered her […] The post Lori Erica Ruff – 93 – Generation Why appeared first on The Generation Why Podcast. See P...