The Brighter Side of Blue Podcast

In our featured interview, we sit down with retired SLMPD Lt. Col. Ray Lauer and his sons, retired Lt. Mike Lauer and retired Lt. Paul Lauer, to talk about one of the most remarkable law-enforcement legacies in St. Louis history. With roughly 170 years of combined service in one immediate family, the Lauer name represents generations of dedication to the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department. R...

Episode 1 of DTF St. Louis is in the books…so we’re doing what we do best: breaking it down from a law enforcement lens, with plenty of laughs along the way. Maggie joins Danny and Tommy at Colombo’s Café in Dogtown to set the table on all the key characters, the crime scene, and the big clues HBO clearly wants us to notice…from the “sunshine” theme, to the weird bike, to cornhole, blurred-out fam...

(31:08) In our featured interview, Maggie Hagen breaks down real cases where dating, online connections, and hidden relationships spiraled into shocking violence. From dating apps lowering barriers to risky behavior…to double lives, secret affairs, and friendships that turned into betrayal…we examine how seemingly normal situations escalated into murder. With Maggie bringing a younger perspective...

Retired SLMPD Bomb & Arson legend Det. Sgt. Steve Sorocko and retired FBI Bomb Technician Frank Brostrom join us for a deep dive into the story of Richard Beck and the era of bombings that once gripped St. Louis.⏱️ Featured Interview Starts (37:14)Inside the Richard Beck investigation:• How the case came to the show through Frank Brostrom• Steve Sorocko’s Bomb & Arson background• First con...

New Haven Police Chief Chris Neace joins us to walk through the Mason Griffith case —from the night of March 12, 2023 at the Casey’s in Hermann, to the evidence presented in court, the first-degree murder conviction , and the jury’s death penalty recommendation . Chief Neace attended every day of the trial and shares what hit him hardest: details that never made the news, the body-cam footage, the...

In the episode, we sit down with Kyle Reyes , the owner of Law Enforcement Today and Blue Lives Matter — two of the largest pro-law-enforcement platforms in the country. Kyle shared how and why he got into supporting law enforcement, along with powerful stories from traveling around the country, meeting officers, departments, and families, and seeing firsthand what the men and women behind the bad...

On this episode of The Brighter Side of Blue, we sit down with Colin Ledbetter, a former St. Louis Metropolitan Police officer whose story defies the odds. In January 2022, Colin was shot multiple times in the line of duty, suffered catastrophic blood loss, and was clinically dead before doctors were able to bring him back to life. What followed was a brutal fight for survival, countless surgeries...

In 2014, the fatal shooting of Michael Brown by a Ferguson police officer ignited national protests, political pressure, and a media firestorm that reshaped conversations around policing and justice in America. In this episode of The Brighter Side of Blue, we sit down with former St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney Bob McCulloch for a rare, uninterrupted, step-by-step explanation of how the Mich...

Earlier this week, we released our feature interview with John Hessel on the Kirkwood City Hall shooting. This episode is the full opening that was recorded for that night — released separately because the interview deserved to stand on its own. The crew moves fast from the jump. We celebrate JJ’s birthday with a Marilyn Monroe–style serenade, highlight a major Joyner family milestone with Michael...

On February 7, 2008, Kirkwood City Hall became the scene of a tragedy that shook St. Louis and the nation. Cookie Thornton opened fire during a city council meeting, killing six people before being shot and killed by responding police officers. In this powerful episode, we sit down with John Hessel, Kirkwood’s longtime City Attorney, who was inside the council chambers when the shooting began. Joh...

The boys kick things off from our Florida studio with a full house and a few familiar faces, easing into some classic banter and a recap of a few vacation mishaps that prove you probably shouldn’t let retired cops near plumbing, shower knobs, or grocery stores. From there, we react to a recent article ranking the Top 10 police departments to work for in the St. Louis area, breaking it down the onl...

It’s New Year’s in St. Louis and the guys open with cashew chicken, car theft, and “fun without guns” before turning to one of the city’s most haunting cases. Retired SLMPD Homicide Detective Tommy Carroll joins us to walk through his first big case: the 1996 school-bus murder of 15-year-old Beaumont student Kyunia Taylor, six months pregnant with her daughter Diamond. Tommy takes us inside the ch...

St. Louis’ top defense attorney Scott Rosenblum returns to The Brighter Side of Blue to talk about what it’s really like defending people accused of absolutely horrific crimes. Scott breaks down why he says he doesn’t defend people, he defends sets of facts , how he handles cases that shock the public, how body cams and RTCC cameras have changed the game, and what young officers should and shouldn...

First, we’re joined by St. Louis Post-Dispatch legend Bill McClellan , a columnist who’s been telling the real story of St. Louis for decades. Bill sits down with the guys to talk about his work, the responsibility that comes with writing about people’s lives, and why certain stories—like Paige Spears’—stay with you. Bill wrote multiple columns about Paige while he was still incarcerated , helping...

A brutal murder-for-hire plot, a wealthy businessman, a hitman, and a case that still echoes through St. Louis homicide history. In this episode of The Brighter Side of Blue, (47:23) we sit down with retired SLMPD Homicide Detective Jeff Stone, the lead investigator in the chilling Guy Westmoreland & Richard Abeln case — a murder-for-hire that grew out of greed, drugs, and betrayal. Jeff takes...

St. Louis Sheriff Alfred Montgomery is sleeping in a federal lockup while fighting to keep his elected job—and St. Louis Post-Dispatch crime reporter Katie Kull was in court every single day of his state removal trial. In this episode of The Brighter Side of Blue, Katie joins us to break down the state civil removal trial, how it ties into the federal criminal case, and what she saw inside the cou...

The viral Raphael Jackson confession has been viewed millions of times — and now we’re breaking it down with one of the top criminal profilers in the country. At 29:00 , retired ATF Supervisory Special Agent Ron Tunkel — who spent nearly two decades assigned to the FBI Behavioral Analysis Unit at Quantico — joins The Brighter Side of Blue to analyze Jackson’s mindset, motives, and what the confess...

In this special episode of The Brighter Side of Blue, we dive deep into the history and heart behind Guns ’N Hoses, St. Louis’ legendary Thanksgiving Eve tradition that brings police and fire together inside the boxing ring for a cause bigger than all of us. 33:30 We sit down with Retired Lt. Col. Jerry Leyshock, who not only fought in the very first Guns ’N Hoses event back in 1987, but continues...

On March 17, 1997, Dogtown’s St. Patrick’s Day parade collided with chaos when two gunmen stormed Lindell Bank at McCausland and 40, gunned down the security guard, sprayed the lobby with gunfire, and torched a stolen getaway van in Forest Park. We sit down with retired homicide detective Tommy Carroll—who handled the case—and Greg Colombo, owner of Colombo’s Café and a long-time Lindell Bank cust...

⚠️ Viewer Discretion Advised — Contains Graphic ContentIn this unedited, full-length confession, Raphael Jackson — one of St. Louis’ most dangerous and remorseless killers — describes, in his own words, why he murdered, how he chose his victims, and why he laughed afterward. His words are chilling, his demeanor calm — a window into true evil.🎙️ In our previous episode, “Inside the Mind of a Killer...

It’s our 2-year anniversary at Colombo’s Café in Dogtown, and we’re celebrating with a heavy hitter. After some bar-banter and dispatch center stories, we sit down with veteran homicide detectives Tommy Carroll and Jeff Stone to unpack the most chilling case of their careers: Rafael Jackson—a stone-cold killer whose on-camera confession has been used as a training tool for years.🎙️ Interview with...

From the basement studio at  Colombo’s Café & Tavern  in Dogtown, we kick off with a powerful true story from JJ—about spotting a familiar face from his childhood,  Tim Osborne , living under a downtown overpass… and how a bunch of Melville grads, a good Samaritan named  Ken Stevenson , and a whole lot of hustle got Tim off the street and back on his feet. It’s the Brighter Side of Blue in act...

They worked the streets. They built the cases. In this episode of The Brighter Side of Blue , retired narcotics legends Tommy Murphy and Det. Leo Rice join the crew to reveal their picks for the top dope men in St. Louis of an era — names that dominated the streets, headlines, and federal dockets from the 1990s through the 2010s. From wiretaps to Winnebagos , car chases to courtrooms , and murders...

The Brighter Side of Blue crew— Danny, Tommy, JJ, and Producer John —teed up a phenomenal sit-down with retired STL legends Tom Carroll and Jeff Stone . Partners for ~18 years (with at least 16 in Homicide), they take us back to the now-defunct 7th District —the West Side beat where they cut their teeth in uniform, sharpened their instincts in the bureau, and lived the stories that shaped a genera...

Retired SLMPD Sgt. Tom Lake and Detective Jeff Stege walk us through the chaotic 24 hours that began with a South City carjacking, a murdered locksmith, and a suspect named George Bush —and ended with Sgt. Lake being ambushed at a red light and a city-wide hunt to stop a violent spree killer. Lake recounts the shooting, the scramble for help, and the aftermath; Stege lays out the investigative bre...