True Crime Brewery

Rozanne Gailiunas was smart, caring, and a devoted parent. In 1983, her marriage to physician Peter Gailiunas was on the rocks. She was in love with contractor Larry Aylor, a man also in the middle of a contentious divorce. In fact, the two were making plans to spend the rest of their lives together. Then, a little past 6 p.m. on Oct. 4, 1983, police found Rozanne murdered in her suburban home. Sh...

Heart surgeon Dr. Darryl Sutorius thought he had found a second chance at true love when he married attractive divorcee Dante Britteon. But soon after the wedding, Darryl was depressed and disillusioned. Dante wasn’t who she had claimed to be and she worked hard to alienate him from his children. Much of what Dante had told Darryl about herself were lies. Her real name was Della Hall. She was not...

Family life is not always rooted in love. For the blended family of Lieth and Bonnie Von Stein, life was marked by disappointments, resentment, and deep-seated hate. One summer night in 1988, Bonnie and Lieth were viscously attacked in their own bed. Daughter Angela said that she had slept through the attack. Son Christopher was away, living in student housing at North Carolina University. The pri...

When Palo Alto music teacher Kristine Fitzhugh was found in a pool of coagulated blood at the bottom of her basement stairs, her husband Ken blamed her shoes. That's right, her shoes. He had warned her over and over, he said, that those shoes were dangerous. She must have stumbled and fallen in them. But it didn’t take long for investigators to question Ken Fitzhugh’s theory. The position of Krist...

On the remote island of Palmyra, about 970 nautical miles south of Hawaii, a series of crimes occurred against experienced sailing couple Mac and Muff Graham. A handful of other sailors spent time with the Grahams on the island, but the Grahams were eventually left alone with a desperate young couple: Stephanie Stearns and her fugitive boyfriend Lesley “Buck” Walker. Then the Grahams went missing....

In 2006, Jeffrey Deskovic’s indictment charging him with the rape and murder of a high school classmate was dismissed on the grounds of actual innocence. Post conviction DNA testing proved his innocence. It also identified the real killer. When a classmate of 16-year old Jeffrey was found raped and murdered in a local park, he was upset. The police said his behavior seemed odd. They were suspiciou...

For today’s episode, we’re diving back into the murky waters of the Lori Vallow Daybell and Chad Daybell case. Last week, we went over the marriages, families, strange religious beliefs, disappearances, and untimely deaths. This week, we’re delving deeper into everything and talking about what has happened since Lori and Chad’s shocking November 2019 wedding. Join us at the quiet end for Doomsday...

Normally, when we talk about parents who have a missing child, we’re talking about distressed, loving parents who will do anything to find their child. But in the case of missing children Tylee Ryan and J.J. Vallow, we’re delving into new and unimaginable territory. The lives of J.J. and Tylee’s mother, Lori Vallow, and their stepfather, Chad Daybell, have been suffused by drama and multiple death...

Carol Neulander was a mother, a business owner, and the wife of respected Rabbi Fred Neulander. On most Tuesdays, she drove home with the receipts from her popular bakeries, carrying thousands of dollars in her purse. Then came the Tuesday evening when two men showed up at her front door. Join us at the quiet end for The Good Wife: Carol Neulander . While Carol devoted herself to her home, her chi...

Sherri Rasmussen had everything going for her. She was smart, athletic, and beautiful. She graduated high school at age 16, breezed through college, and landed a prestigious job as a hospital director of nursing in her late 20s. In 1985, Sherri married the man of her dreams. Three months later, she was found murdered in her own home. The scene looked like a robbery gone terribly wrong, but after 2...

In November of 2012, Cari Lea Farver just up and left everything behind: her new boyfriend, her job, and even her son. This was not like Cari, who was a responsible worker, a reliable friend, and a devoted mom. Then an alarming string of texts from Cari’s phone set everyone on edge. Cari’s new boyfriend, Dave Kroupa, was surprised by her abrupt change of heart, but he had only known her for two we...

Law enforcement interrogation is a real skill, but much of it has been questioned in recent years with instances of botched police investigations and false confessions. When police have little forensic evidence, as is the case with many cold cases, witness interviews and suspect interrogations can be crucial in solving a case. But how far should detectives go for a confession? The disappearance of...

Heather Elvis was just 20-years old when she disappeared on a Tuesday night just one week before Christmas. Heather was kind and clever. She knew what it was like to work hard and she liked to have fun. She never would have disappeared from her family without explanation. When Heather’s father, Terry, was notified that her car had been abandoned at South Carolina’s picturesque Peachtree Landing, h...

Good friends 13-year old Abby Williams and 14-year-old Libby German had a day off from school on Monday, February 13, 2017. At around noon, they decided to visit a local hiking trail. But when Libby’s father showed up at 3pm to pick up the girls, they weren’t there. By 5:30pm, the police were called and a search began. The next day, the girls’ bodies were found less than a mile away. Despite havin...

Susan Reinert was an English teacher at Upper Merion Area High School in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania, when she began dating fellow English teacher William Bradfield. Bradfield was charismatic. In fact, Susan left her husband to carry on a secret relationship with him. On June 25, 1989, Susan’s naked body was found in her car in a hotel parking lot near Philadelphia's "Main Line” and her two chil...

Oxnard, California is a town like many towns across the United States. Oxnard has its share of institutional racism and gender hate, but no one would have expected one junior high student to murder another in cold blood. Growing up transgender, biracial, and in an abusive home, Leticia King had many challenges in life. At age 15, Leticia was struggling to find herself. She was identifying as a fem...

The story of Tina Fontaine’s life belongs to her and her family, but it parallels many others in Indigenous communities. Her struggle for stability, the promises not kept, and the sexual exploitation she endured meant that Tina experienced more trauma and pain than most people could imagine. Because of situations beyond her control, Tina needed housing, health, and educational services that were n...

The family portrayed on social media by Jennifer Hart seemed perfect. She and her wife, Sarah, were a progressive and loving couple with six adopted black children. Pictures on Facebook showed two moms giving their disadvantaged children a better life. Never mind that the pictures looked posed and the children were rail thin. Real life for the Hart children was far from perfect. A trail of abuse f...

On December 2, 2010, 24-year-old Phoebe Handsjuk was found dead on the floor of her apartment building’s garbage compactor room. Her death was slow and painful as she bled to death, alone and in pain, on the dirty floor. Now, nearly 10 years have passed, and her family is still searching for answers. This was a strange way to die. How and why Phoebe died that day has become a complex narrative of...

Wendi Mae Davidson excelled in school and succeeded in her career, but her personal life was always a mess. Wendi had a habit of either choosing the wrong men or sabotaging her relationships. Unfortunately, her parents enabled her unstable and selfish behavior. After two unplanned pregnancies, Wendi married 24-year old Air Force officer Michael Severance. Mike was a nice guy, less educated than We...

In a small, quiet seaside town in 1991, the bodies of young nurse Lesley Howell and police officer, Trevor Buchanan, were found in a car filled with carbon monoxide. Lesley wore headphones playing her favorite Christian music. She was surrounded by family photos. These deaths stunned the community and broke the hearts of family members. What would cause these devout Baptists and parents of young c...

Maria Cruz was a perfect example of the American dream fulfilled. Growing up in the Philippines, she moved to New York in 1992, received her M.B.A. from Fordham University, and took a job as a senior credit analyst. On Palm Sunday, April 13, 2003, Maria attended mass at St. Malachy’s Church. She stopped by her office that afternoon, excited about an appointment she had later that day for a cosmeti...

Dale Ewell worked hard to give his children all of the advantages he didn’t have as a child. His wife, Glee, provided a loving home, staying home with their daughter Tiffany and son Dana, and showering them with attention as well as possessions. Growing up with every advantage, Dana Ewell didn’t appreciate what he was given. He always wanted more. He didn’t inherit his parents’ strong work ethic,...

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 even warned others not to cross her. Raynella is a grandmother, formall...

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 to Disease” and believed it was their path to true health. Two months after starting treatment,...