True Crime Brewery

Beth Lochtefeld was smart and hardworking. By the time she reached her 40s, she had good friends, she had travelled the world, and she was professionally successful. All that was missing was a partner with whom to share her life. Enter Tom Toolan III. At age 37, Manhattanite Tom was well-educated, handsome, and appeared successful in his own right. But he had secrets. His life was spiraling out of...

Robert and Benjamin Moore were best friends and brothers who spent most of their time together. They were smart and good-looking and both were naturally funny. In fact, it was rare to see either of them without a smile on his face. Like most boys their age, they liked to tease their little sister, play video games, and ride their bikes. When Robert and Ben disappeared on the morning of August 30,...

When Joanne Witt was brutally murdered in her own home, she had been working as a civil engineer, supporting her daughter on her own. Being a single mother to a rebellious young teen is not easy, but Joanne was devoted, hardworking, and loving. After all, her daughter Tylar was the center of her world. Join us at the quiet end for Tylar Witt’s Diary. Tylar, at age fourteen, was angry and out of co...

Doug Benton was a welder living in Colbert, Georgia. Considered a friendly and helpful neighbor, he was known for raising and selling exotic birds from his house, lifting weights, and riding a Harley. When Doug met police deputy Tracy Fortson, the two had an instant attraction. They began to spend most of their time together. But Doug disappeared on June 4, 2000. Tracy cooperated with the police....

Robin and Margaret Bain and three of their children were killed on June 20, 1994, in their New Zealand home. This was familicide; a mass murder where one member of the family killed the others. Ever since the oldest son David returned home from his paper delivery route and called the police that morning, there has been debate over who was responsible. David Bain was 22-years-old, a music student a...

On November 18, 2012, 13-year-old Dylan Redwine traveled from his mother Elaine’s house in Colorado Springs to visit his father Mark in Vallecito, Colorado for a court-ordered visit. According to Dylan’s big brother, Cory, Dylan was not looking forward to visiting his father. A while back, Dylan had accidentally come across compromising and disturbing photos of his father. The photos disgusted him...

The rural Oklahoma home of Kathy and Danny Freeman went up in flames in the frigid early morning hours of December 30, 1999. Kathy and Danny’s bodies were found inside, both killed by gunshots to their heads. Their 16-year-old daughter, Ashley, and her best friend, Lauria Bible, who had been there for a sleepover, had disappeared from their beds. Years of searching for the two girls came up empty....

Nelson Hart was charged for the murders of his twin 3-year-old daughters, who died of drowning on August 4, 2002. He claimed that he had taken his girls, Karen and Krista, to the wharf at Little Harbour to play on the swing set. When Krista fell off of the wharf, Nelson got scared and ran for help. He didn’t know how to swim. Nelson drove home for help. His wife Jennifer returned with him to the w...

Penny Scaggs had been married for 35 years when she sat down to play her piano on the evening of March 6, 1996. Her husband, Roger, had just left the house after dinner to return to his office. Normally, Penny would have washed the dishes right after dinner, but, with Roger away, she took advantage of the time alone to enjoy her music. Penny must have been startled when she heard the unexpected so...

When Noura Jackson was a child, her mother’s life revolved around her. Noura’s parents had divorced when she was just a baby and she rarely saw her father, so the mother-daughter relationship was strong. But then Noura became a teenager. Most teenage girls argue with their mothers, but Noura and Jennifer’s situation was more extreme than most. Noura was distant and critical with her mother. She wa...

The image of young married couple April and Justin Barber taking a moonlight walk on a warm Florida beach sounds ideal. They were supposed to be celebrating their third wedding anniversary. But within hours, everything changed. A passing motorist made a call to 911. Justin was found bleeding and slumped behind the wheel of his SUV. He said that he and his wife had been attacked by an unknown gunma...

Among the thousands of vacationers who traveled to Ocean City, Maryland, on Memorial Day weekend, 2002, were two couples whose paths crossed with horrific results. The first couple, Joshua Ward and Geney Crutchley, were good people looking for a relaxing weekend. But the second couple, Erika and Benjamin Sifrit, had much darker plans. Join us at the quiet end for Bad Romance . At first glance, Eri...

Early in the morning of March 1, 2008, two men entered the Caffey family home in rural Alba, Texas. Terry Caffey and his wife Penny had been living a quiet, peaceful life in their modest country home with their three children, Erin, Matthew, and Tyler. A violent break in was the last thing the family could have ever expected. After family members were attacked by armed assailants, their home was s...

Mary Yoder was a beloved wife, mother, and chiropractor, apparently living her best life. In 2015, she and her husband Bill, who ran their own chiropractic practice together, were planning on retiring and finally taking their dream trip to Europe. But on July 20th, Mary didn’t seem like herself. She left work, complaining of an upset stomach and intractable vomiting. By the following morning, she...

It was a beautiful day on the California coastline when 20-year-old Deana Wild agreed to take a day trip to Big Sur with older couple Virginia and Billy Joe McGinnis. This is a popular tourist spot, but the cliffs are dangerous with unstable earth near the edge and the rocky Pacific coast below. Deana didn’t feel well that day but Virginia convinced her to walk along the cliff’s edge and pose for...

When 50-year-old multi-millionaire Bill McLaughlin answered 25-year-old Nanette Johnston’s classified ad back in 1991, he had no idea what he was getting himself into. The ad was directed at “wealthy men only” and Nanette described herself as a “classy, well-educated woman” who “knows how to take care of her man.” Clearly, Nanette was looking for a sugar daddy. Divorced and lonely, it seemed like...

When Jan Roseboro’s husband Michael found her unconscious and bleeding in their new swimming pool, there was no reason to suspect him of anything nefarious. Even though his 911 call was unusual, it wasn’t proof of a crime. But then a motive for murder was discovered: Michael’s lover, Angela Funk. When Angela’s computer and phone records were examined, thousands of romantic and lustful messages wit...

Since Dick and I are away this week, we decided to put out this ad-free TCB Premium episode, from July, 2020, for all of our listeners today! This is just one of dozens of ad-free episodes available with a premium subscription! Here are the show notes: Faith Hedgepeth was just 19-years old when she was violently murdered in her off-campus apartment. Faith was popular and outgoing, with plans to be...

Doctor Josephakis “Joe” Charalambous had a thriving family practice when he became obsessed with 15-year-old Shelley Joel. Shelley, along with other members of her family, was his patient. Shelley’s parents were alarmed when the doctor began buying her gifts and calling her at home. He was obsessed with her, speaking of little else. And they soon came to believe that the doctor brainwashed Shelley...

In the early morning of February 10, 1992, Robin Lee Row’s two-story duplex in Boise, Idaho, was engulfed in flames. Robin wasn’t home that morning. She had spent the night at a friend’s house after a fight with her husband, Randy Row. But at 3am, Robin had a premonition of the fire. She woke her friend at 5:30 am and they drove together to the duplex to check on Robin’s children. Joshua, 10-years...

Police were surprised by Barbara Stager’s lack of emotion when her 40-year-old second husband, Russ Stager, died from an accidental gunshot wound to his head. Within days, Barbara called her insurance company to cash in on Russ’s life insurance policy. She would collect her money and life would go on for her and her children. That’s what she believed. To the untrained eye, Barbara looked like an i...

Tyler Hadley’s parents were trying to get the 17-year-old to make better decisions in his life. Since his early teens, he had been using drugs, stealing, and showing a fascination for violence. His mother Mary Jo loved her son fiercely, never giving up on him and describing him as a sensitive boy. As he sunk into depression and sullenness, she worried that he would hurt himself. But when asked, sh...

Kathleen Folbigg has lived a life filled with tragedy. As a child, her father murdered her mother, leaving her to grow up in foster care. But Kathleen seemed to have overcome her difficult past when she married her husband Craig and they set out to start a family. In 1989, Kathleen’s infant son Caleb died. This death was followed by the deaths of three more of her children in 1991, 1993, and 1999....

Divorce and child custody battles can be brutal, but they rarely end in murder. In February, 2002, Alan Bates and his wife Terra were excited to pick up his two daughters from the home of his ex-wife, Jessica McCord. His relationship with Jessica had been acrimonious since the divorce, but he loved his girls and would not give up on them. The couple was planning to take the girls to his parents’ h...

The Schenecker family home was in a nice neighborhood; the kind of place couples choose to raise a family. Julie, her husband Parker, and their two children, Calyx and Beau, seemed to be living the good life in their spacious home located on a cul-de-sac in a gated community. But on January 28, 2011, the city of Tampa and surrounding communities were reminded that appearances can be deceptive and...