True Crime Brewery

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 […] The post Until Death: The Crimes of Raynella Leath appeare...

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 of Disease” and believed it was their path to […] The post Hunger: The Starvation Heights...

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 […] The post The Girl Who Loved to Dance appeared first on Tiegrabber .

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 […] The post Finding Amy St. Laurent appeared first on Tiegrabber .

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.  As we discuss Brandon’s story, we can see how his life spiraled out of control as he […] The post Boys Do Cry: The Brandon Teena Story appeared first on Tiegrabber...

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 […] The post Justice Denied: The Death of Nancy Sonnenfeld appeared first on Tiegrabber .

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 […] The post A Lovely Drink: The Disappearance of Lynette Dawson appeared first on Ti...

Stacey Castor was a recent widow, suspected of two murders, when her eldest daughter Ashley was hospitalized following an apparent suicide attempt.  While some people 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, […] The post Her Dark Plans: Stacey Castor appe...

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 […] The post Searching for Summer Shipp appeared first on Tiegrabber .

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 […] The post A Killer on the Road: The...

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 […] The post Betrayed & Buried: The McSt...

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 […] The post In His Own Home: The Ted Ammon Story appeared first on Tie...

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 […] The post A Mother’s Love: The Death o...

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, […] The post Stolen Lives: The Skelton Brothers appeared first on Tiegrabber .

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 […] The post Vanished: Kelsey Berreth appeared first on Tie...

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 […] The post Gone From Home: The Disappearance of Susan McFarland...

Today’s crime has been compared to the 1987 film “Fatal Attraction” starring Glenn Close and Michael Douglas.  Calling the murder of Betty Jeanne Solomon “The Fatal Attraction Murder” was good for headlines, but if you were to ask Carolyn Warmus, she would probably tell you there were no similarities at all. Carolyn was a young, […] The post Fatal Attraction: The Murder of Betty Jeanne Solom...

There is no one more innocent than a 14 month old child, the age Jaidyn Leskie was when he disappeared.  Jaidyn was born in and lived his life in poverty and ignorance.  Some would say that his mother loved him and tried her best. Others would say she was a careless and neglectful drunk. Either […] The post Broken Boy: The Jaidyn Leskie Story appeared first on Tiegrabber .

Kelly Ann Tinyes was just two days shy of her 14th birthday when she disappeared in her own neighborhood in 1989.  In the days that followed, children stopped playing outside. Terrified neighbors began a harassment campaign of the Golubs, a family whose two sons were suspects. The Golub home appeared like any other well-maintained suburban […] The post What Happened on Horton Road? The Kelly...

Barbara Daly was once one of New York City’s ten most beautiful girls.  She was a model who attended high society parties and married a wealthy man, Brooks Baekeland.  The couple had a luxury apartment in the Upper East Side of New York, but they traveled extensively, staying in houses and villas in Paris, London, […] The post The Good Son: The Murder of Barbara Daly Baekeland appeared...

In a rundown two-story house in Findley, Ohio, 24-year old Vera Jo Reigle was a prisoner and a slave.  The story behind how Vera ended up in such a terrible circumstance is complicated and disturbing.  At the heart of the story is the Brooks family, a family engaged in generational abuse and criminal activity. Join […] The post The Girl on the Train Tracks appeared first on Tiegrabber .

Long before there was a Susan Smith or a Casey Anthony, there was Alice Crimmins.  When the New York housewife called the police to report her two young children missing in the summer of 1965, the focus was on her custody battle with her estranged husband and the children’s father, Edmund Crimmins. When it came […] The post Unthinkable: The Trials of Alice Crimmons appeared first on Tiegrabb...

The shocking story of arson investigator John Leonard Orr began in 1984.  A fire in a Pasadena, California, hardware store killed four people, including a 2-year-old child.  Arson investigators examined the ruins and determined that the fire was caused by an electrical malfunction.  All except John Orr. He was convinced that the cause was arson. […] The post Fire Starter: John Leonard Orr ap...

22-year old Taylor Samson left his fraternity on the night of August 15, 2015.  He had only his cell phone and a large black duffel bag as he walked out the door, telling his girlfriend he would be back soon.  She knew that he had been dealing drugs, but Taylor tried to keep his life […] The post Blood Money: The Murder of Taylor Samson appeared first on Tiegrabber .

Michele Wallace was a freelance photographer who disappeared hiking in Colorado in 1974.  She was a free spirit, a pretty and adventurous 25-year old woman with long dark hair she wore in two thick braids. It was late August when Michele told her parents she was going on a backpacking trip with her dog in […] The post Those They Left Behind: The Victims of Roy Melanson appeared first on Tieg...