TRUE CRIME with Bratterstein

As always, thank you for hanging out and remembering Barbara Olson with me today. In 2014, a quiet neighborhood in El Cajon, California, was shaken when 12-year-old Raven Juarez and her 13-year-old friend Monique Trevino ambushed Raven’s grandmother, Barbara Olsen, inside her home. The girls had planned the attack days in advance, convinced that killing Barbara would allow them to run away togethe...

As always, thank you for hanging out talking about John Hinckley Jr. with me today. On March 30, 1981, outside the Washington Hilton Hotel, 25-year-old John Hinckley Jr. opened fire on U.S. President Ronald Reagan. Hinckley’s bullets struck four people, including Reagan himself, who was hit in the chest but survived. Investigators soon uncovered a disturbing motive: Hinckley had become obsessed wi...

As always, thank you for hanging out and remembering Maria Eugenia Munoz with me today. On September 22, 2020, 31-year-old Maria Muñoz, a stay-at-home mother in Laredo, Texas, was found unresponsive after her husband called 911 claiming she had overdosed. What seemed like a tragic accident soon revealed dark secrets. Toxicology results uncovered seven powerful anesthetic drugs, including one typic...

As always, thank you for hanging out and remembering Robert Whitwell with me today. In August 2016, 19-year-old Brittney Jade Dwyer traveled from Queensland to Adelaide with her friend, Bernadette Hoang, to visit her grandfather, 81-year-old Robert Whitwell. But the visit wasn’t out of love, it was part of a plan. Brittney wanted the $100,000 inheritance she believed she was entitled to, and she w...

As always, thank you for hanging out and remembering Channon Christian and Chris Newsom with me today.

As always, thank you for hanging out and remembering Cherica Adams with me today. In November 1999, 24-year-old Cherica Adams, who was eight months pregnant, was shot four times while driving through Charlotte, North Carolina. Before she lost consciousness, Cherica was able to call 911 and name the man responsible for setting her up, her boyfriend, former NFL player Rae Carruth. Investigators lear...

As always, thank you for hanging out and remembering Michelle Camile DeMarzo with me today. In June 1978, 18-year-old Michelle DeMarzo was found brutally murdered at a conservation center in Cranford, New Jersey, nude, bludgeoned, and surrounded by signs of extreme violence. Her former boyfriend, Neil Costanzo, who had known Michelle for years and from whom she had broken up a while earlier, was a...

As always, thank you for hanging out and remembering the Broaddus family with me today. In June 2014, Derek and Maria Broaddus purchased a $1.35 million home at 657 Boulevard in Westfield, New Jersey. Just days after closing, but before they even moved in, they received the first of several anonymous letters addressed to “The New Owner” from someone calling themselves “The Watcher.” The letters cl...

As always, thank you for hanging out and remembering Holly Lynn Bobo with me today. In April 2011, 20-year-old nursing student Holly Lynn Bobo disappeared from her family home in rural Darden, Tennessee, after being led into the woods by a man wearing camouflage. Nearly three years later, partial remains were discovered in a remote area of Decatur County. The autopsy confirmed she died of a gunsho...

As always, thank you for hanging out and remembering Georgia Williams with me today. In May 2013, 17-year-old Georgia Williams disappeared after visiting the home of her friend, 23-year-old Jamie Reynolds, in Shropshire, England. What seemed like an innocent visit quickly turned into a premeditated murder. Reynolds, obsessed with violent sexual fantasies, lured Georgia to his house under false pre...

In January 2010, 45-year-old Fiona Donnison walked into a police station in Heathfield, East Sussex, and told officers she had killed her children. Hours earlier, she had smothered her two young children, 3-year-old Harry and 2-year-old Elise, then packed their bodies into holdalls and locked them in the boot of her car. Investigators revealed the murders were part of a calculated plan to inflict...

In May 2001, 30-year-old U.S. Army Captain Lynn Armstrong Reister, six months pregnant and stationed at Fort Bliss in El Paso, Texas, was found brutally murdered in her home: her throat deeply slashed, and her unborn child lost with her. Investigators uncovered a chilling conspiracy: her husband Roger Reister and his brother Rodney Reister allegedly planned her killing so that Roger could avoid di...

As always, thank you for hanging out and remembering Marilynn Lee McClenahen with me today. On April 15, 1990, 48-year-old Marilynn Lee McClenahen, also known as Marilynn DePue, disappeared from her home in Coldwater, Michigan, after a heated argument with her ex-husband, Dennis DePue. That afternoon, Dennis came to pick up their children, but when they refused to go with him, the situation escala...

As always, thank you for hanging out and remembering Lauren Hugelmaier with me today. In September 2017, 29-year-old Lauren Hugelmaier Phelps was found brutally murdered in her Raleigh, North Carolina home. Her husband, Matthew Phelps, called 911 claiming he “had a dream” and found her dead, with blood all over him and a knife on the bed. The autopsy revealed Lauren had been stabbed 123 times, her...

As always, thank you for hanging out and remembering Shanda Renee Sharer with me today. In January 1992, 12-year-old Shanda Renee Sharer was brutally abducted, tortured, and murdered by four teenage girls in Madison, Indiana. The crime was fueled by jealousy and rivalry, one girl believed Shanda was encroaching on her romantic relationship. Shanda was lured under false pretenses, restrained, beate...

In 2008 in McKeesport, Pennsylvania, 18-year-old Kia Johnson, who was 36 weeks pregnant, disappeared. She was later found murdered, and her unborn child was stolen from her womb. The perpetrator, Andrea Curry-Demus, had lured Kia to her apartment under false pretenses, then performed the horrific act before attempting to pass the baby off as her own. Kia’s body was discovered in Curry-Demus’s apar...

As always, thank you for hanging out and remembering Steven Robards with me today. Dorothy Marie Robards was just 16 years old when she secretly laced her father’s dinner with barium acetate, a toxic chemical she stole from her high school chemistry lab. What seemed like a sudden heart attack in 1993 turned out to be a carefully planned murder, committed by an honor roll student who wanted only on...

As always, thank you for hanging out and remembering Dawn and Richard Heikkila with me today. On January 30, 1991, Dawn and Richard Heikkila were discovered murdered after a welfare check was requested by Dawn's coworkers. Their son, Matthew Heikkila, initially told coworkers his parents had left due to a family emergency involving his brother at Dartmouth, but immediately, they were not buyin...

As always, thank you for hanging out and remembering Adrianne Jones with me today. In December 1995, the brutal murder of 16-year-old Adrianne Jones shocked the quiet town of Mansfield, Texas. Adrianne was a bright high school student whose life was tragically cut short when her body was discovered near Joe Pool Lake. Investigators learned she had been lured out of her home under false pretenses,...

As always, thank you for hanging out and remembering Lauren Landavazo with me today. In September 2016, 13-year-old Lauren Landavazo was walking home from school in Wichita Falls, Texas, with her best friend when she was ambushed and shot multiple times. Her friend, Makayla Smith, survived the attack. The perpetrator, 20-year-old Kody Lott, later confessed that his crime was driven by jealousy, he...

As always, thank you for hanging out and remembering Felicia Marie Johnson with me today. GOFUNDME for Felicia's Family: https://www.gofundme.com/f/x7jqsf-family-in-need In April 2022, 24-year-old Felicia Johnson flew from San Diego to Houston to celebrate her birthday and look for work. After arranging a meeting via Snapchat, she vanished. Her phone and purse were later found, abandoned and b...

In February 2008, 36-year-old father Ben Oxley was brutally murdered in his own home in Minden, Nevada. While he slept in bed next to his wife Melissa Oxley, an intruder entered the bedroom and shot him point-blank in the head with a shotgun. What made this case even more chilling was that his young daughter was also in the house that night. Melissa woke up covered in blood, but with no idea what...

As always, thank you for hanging out and remembering Kaysi McLeod, LeAnn Emry, Jennifer Marcum, and Terry Kimball with me today. Scott Kimball is a police informant turned murdered who preyed on vulnerable human beings and was responsible for the tragic deaths of Kaysi McLeod, Jennifer Marcum, LeAnn Emry, and Terry Kimball. Initially, he got a pretty lenient plea deal from the authorities, but whe...

As always, thank you for hanging out and remembering Andrew Bagby and Zachary Turner with me today. In one of the most heartbreaking true crime cases Canada has ever seen, 13-month-old Baby Zachary Turner was murdered by his own mother, Shirley Turner, in 2003. Just two years earlier, Shirley had been accused of killing her ex-boyfriend, Dr. Andrew Bagby, after he ended their relationship. While s...

In March 1982, 38-year-old Leslie DeVeau committed a crime that stunned Washington D.C. She shot and killed her 10-year-old daughter, Erin, as the child slept, before attempting to take her own life. Leslie survived, losing an arm from the injury, and was later found not guilty by reason of insanity. Confined to St. Elizabeths Hospital, her story took another strange turn when she began a relation...