Episode 4: Off Campus

Summary

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Podcast Summary: The Peacemaker

Episode 4: Off Campus

Hosts: Ben Westhoff & Ryan Krull
Date: November 4, 2025
Production: iHeart Podcasts and Coolfire Studios
Theme: Investigating the Kirksville/Truman State suicide cluster, focusing on the unexpected death of Alex Vogt and the roles/community ties of landlord Dan Vogt and Brandon Grossheim.

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Episode Overview

This episode examines the suicide of Alex Vogt—a student from Moberly Area Community College—and his connection to the suicide cluster surrounding Truman State’s Alpha Kappa Lambda fraternity. The hosts retrace Vogt’s background, his relationships, and the environment in which multiple deaths occurred, bringing into sharper focus the presence of Brandon Grossheim at the center of these tragedies. The episode also explores key figures in the Kirksville community, particularly Dan Vogt, and how the physical and social landscape of a small college town contributed to these events.

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Major Discussion Points and Insights

1. The Unfolding of a Hidden Death

[03:05–07:09]

• About eight months after her son’s death, Melissa Bottorff Aery meets with police and learns of a fourth suicide: Alex Vogt. Until then, only three (all AKL members) were publicly linked.
• Alex Vogt was not a Truman State student nor formally part of the fraternity, but “incredibly, he killed himself shortly after Brandon moved in across the hall.”
• The hosts point out: “So that made four suicides under similar circumstances with Brandon at the center. It boggled the mind.”

2. Who Was Alex Vogt?

[07:09–10:20]

• Vogt, a 21-year-old Moberly Area Community College student, was remembered as kind and supportive by friends, but also as depressed by acquaintances.
  • Dalton McVeigh: “I always got the vibe that he was a very unhappy individual… you just kind of, like, you see it, you know.” ([06:53])
• He had a history of severe depression, psychiatric treatment, personal and legal struggles, estrangement from his child, and heavy medication.
• Tensions peaked in fall 2016: a breakup attempt by his girlfriend led to a suicide attempt, which she intervened and stopped.

3. Enter Brandon Grossheim

[10:20–13:00]

• Brandon Grossheim, recently kicked out of AKL and Truman State, moves into Vogt’s building (owned by Dan Vogt, Alex’s father).
• Both work at the Wooden Nickel, a central Kirksville bar/restaurant; they bond through LSD use and socializing.
• Known pattern: Brandon often befriended people struggling with mental health before their deaths.

4. The Night of Vogt’s Death

[13:00–15:00]

• Alex and his girlfriend reconcile temporarily and spend time together at the Wooden Nickel on the night of his suicide.
• She wakes up in the morning to find Alex dead, hanging from a water pipe next to their bed.
• When police arrive, Brandon lets them in, shares his account (brief hallway interaction) but then makes an odd request to see Vogt’s body.
• Police note the strangeness, referencing Brandon’s similar behavior with his grandmother’s body years earlier.
  • Host Ben Westhoff: “Brandon seemed fascinated by people who had just died in a way that I believe goes beyond normal curiosity.” ([14:19])

5. Theories & Community Perceptions

[15:00–15:28]

• Brandon refuses police efforts to contact his family after Vogt’s death.
• No “smoking gun” evidence linking Brandon to encouraging or abetting Vogt’s suicide.
• Post-Vogt, Brandon is quoted as telling acquaintances:
  • Gentry Meininger recalls: “[Brandon] went into a spout about how suicide was your own free will… no one should try to stop you… only try to understand and accept it.” ([14:49])

6. The Wooden Nickel – Local Hub of Grief and Drama

[19:09–23:04]

• Many central figures, including Brandon, Alex, and several AKL members, worked or hung out at the Wooden Nickel, making it “the backdrop during a time when many young people’s lives began to unravel.”
• Hosts visit the bar to gain contextual understanding of its place in this saga, noting its unique local culture and ownership.

7. Dan Vogt: The Landlord, Boss, and Father

[23:09–28:27]

• Dan Vogt (Alex’s father) owned both the Journal Building and, formerly, the Wooden Nickel. He was both landlord and employer to many young people involved, including Brandon.
• Notably, Dan is not suing Brandon (unlike other parents).
• “Dan Vogt had some pretty weird run-ins with Brandon when Brandon was his tenant”—including a dispute over Brandon siphoning electricity via extension cord.
  • Brandon (to police): “At one point, Dan cut the extension cord… he didn’t like me using electricity from Cody’s apartment.” ([28:17])
• Community members describe Dan variously as passionate, tough, and sometimes hard to work for; rumblings about his relationship with Alex possibly contributing mental strain.
  • Dalton McVeigh: “Their relationship… probably put some mental strain on him and contributed to, you know, eventually reaching that breaking point. But I don’t think it would be justified to call it the sole factor.” ([27:01])

8. On-the-Ground Reporting and Local Color

[28:48–38:00]

• Hosts attempt to interview Dan Vogt, who refuses further comment on the tragedy: “‘I’m not interested in speaking about that at all or my family. Goodbye.’ And then he hung up.” ([33:15])
• The hosts witness an argument at the Wooden Nickel involving Dan’s daughter, Jen Ray (current owner), and observe tense family and community dynamics in real time.

9. Preview: More Deaths at the Journal Building

[41:50–End]

• The Journal Printing Company building emerges as especially consequential: “This was the apartment building where…the fourth and the fifth deaths happened. That’s right, a fifth death.”
• Next episode will address the mysterious death of a 29-year-old woman there, with a curious encounter: “…she had a strange encounter with someone from the building right before her death. That person was, you guessed it, Brandon Grossheim.”

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Notable Quotes & Moments

• Melissa Bottorff Airey: “That’s when the shit hit the fan… at that point, to find out that Brandon had been either present to find the bodies or had been the last known person to be seen with them… that’s when I started putting some of the back pieces together.” ([03:55])
• Dalton McVeigh: “I could certainly agree with the statement that…the relationship, the father-son relationship with the Vogts, was a tenuous one that probably put some mental strain on him and contributed to…reaching that breaking point.” ([27:01])
• Gentry Meininger (recalling Brandon’s view on suicide): “If you felt [suicide] was the best decision for your life…then that was your own personal choice and no one should try to stop you… should only try to understand and accept it.” ([14:49])
• On-the-ground moment: The hosts witness “a bit of a ruckus” at the bar between Jen Ray and another local, then observe her disputing with her father Dan, highlighting the personal toll and complexity of the social ties. ([36:46–38:00])
• Host Ben Westhoff on Dan Vogt: “Sure, it’s admirable that he employs people and…has a neat looking bar and restaurant, but man, the dude is kind of scary. But I’m also glad we got to see the world where he, Brandon, and several of our other characters inhabited.”

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Important Timestamps by Topic

• [03:05] – Melissa Bottorff Airey learns of the fourth suicide (Alex Vogt)
• [06:53] – Dalton McVeigh on Alex Vogt's visible depression
• [10:20] – Brandon Grossheim enters Alex’s life (move-in, shared workplace, drug use)
• [13:00] – Night of Vogt’s death: timeline and aftermath
• [14:19] – Brandon’s odd fascination with death and request to see Vogt’s body
• [14:49] – Brandon’s quoted views on suicide as free will
• [19:09] – Wooden Nickel as central social hub; character sketches
• [27:01] – Analysis of Alex-Dan Vogt relationship and community context
• [28:17] – Brandon’s conflict with Dan Vogt (electricity dispute)
• [33:15] – Dan Vogt’s open refusal to discuss the deaths
• [36:46–38:00] – Argument at the Wooden Nickel involving Jen Ray and Dan Vogt
• [41:50] – Introduction of the Journal Building as the scene of further deaths and preview of next episode

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Conclusion

Episode 4 peels back the layers of tragedy in Kirksville, focusing on the overlooked case of Alex Vogt and the complex intersection of mental illness, substance use, family strain, and the perplexing role of Brandon Grossheim. Through interviews, on-the-ground reporting, and community anecdotes, the episode paints a vivid portrait of a college-town ecosystem under immense strain—one where personal and institutional relationships remain fraught, and unsettling questions persist.

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Transcript

[Ben Westoff]

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A warning. This episode discusses youth, depression and suicide. These topics may be distressing for some listeners. About eight months after the suicide of her son Alex Mullins, Melissa Bodorf Airey met with police detectives in Kirksville. By now, two more of Alex's fraternity brothers had killed themselves. Melissa had been following the cases closely and thought she knew most of the details about this suicide cluster. All three deaths had these things in common. They were all Alpha Kappa Lambda members, they all hung themselves at the frat house, and they were all friends with Brandon Grossheim. Except there weren't three. Police informed her that there was another suicide in the cluster, one that wasn't reported in the media at all. His name was Alex Vogt, and he killed himself in January 2017. When she learned about him and the fact that he was also close with Brandon Grossheim, that's when the shit hit the fan, as Melissa told us back in episode one. That's when it kind of all started to take a different turn, if you will. Just the fact that at that point, to find out that Brandon had been either present to find the bodies or had been the last known person to be seen with them or showed up at the scene and asked about the bodies. Like all these things started coming out because the police were telling us about them. And that's when, you know, I started putting some of the back pieces together. What's interesting is that this death she was just learning about Alex Vogt, not to be confused with Melissa's own son, Alex Mullins. This Alex wasn't an Alpha Kappa Lambda fraternity member like the others. Alex Vogt didn't even go to Truman State, but he lived in an apartment near campus. And incredibly, he killed himself shortly after Brandon moved in across the hall. So that made four suicides under Similar circumstances with Brandon at the center. It boggled the mind. And so Melissa Bottorff airy worked to figure out everything she could about the case of Alex Vogt and his relationship with Brandon Grosseim. This podcast series tells the story of the most infamous suicide cluster in American history. It's a production of iHeart podcasts and Coolfire Studios. I'm your host, Ben Westoff, along with Ryan Krull. This is the peacemaker. Alex Vogt was a student at nearby Moberly Area Community College. He was 21 years old, solidly built, with a big Charlie Chaplin tattoo on his left shoulder and bicep. He was a fan of first person shooter video games, and he also played those sorts of games in real life with plastic pellet firearms called Airsoft Guns. Here's one of his friends describing him named Terry Yardley. Me and him would party all the time. He was a caring dude. Like, if somebody needed something and he could help, he would help. Never got the sense of that. He was struggling mentally. One of his classmates, named Dalton McVeigh saw Alex differently, however.

[Interviewee/Local Resident]

We had a couple classes together. I always got the vibe that he was a very unhappy individual. Like, I don't know, I guess like, my childhood wasn't particularly great. So you just kind of, like, you see it, you know, you just see other kids and you're like, man, like, I don't know the deal, but I feel you, brother.

[Narrator/Host]

The truth was, Alex Vogt was severely depressed. Exactly the kind of person Brandon Grosseim made a habit of befriending, or some might say preying upon. In fact, Alex's depression went back for years. In 2014, he made suicidal comments at his school. And so the Kirksville police took him to a psychiatric center in Columbia, Missouri, 90 minutes away, apparently for four days of hospitalization. In September 2016, just a few months before he died, he was in a severe car accident. It was bad enough that there was a lawsuit. The guy who hit him would eventually have to pay $25,000. Plus, there was drama in Alex's personal life. He'd had a child at a young age. The boy apparently lived with his mom in Nevada. It's not exactly clear what happened between Alex and the child's mother, but they were estranged. Alex sent them money as often as he could, but according to a letter to the court from Alex's mom, he only got to visit his kid twice. All of this stress would take its toll on anyone. And according to a police report, Alex had been diagnosed with depression, bipolar, and adhd. He'd been prescribed Adderall, Prozac, and an antipsychotic medication. Pretty heavy meds. And then over Thanksgiving break 2016, according to Alex Vogt's girlfriend, Madeline Mazurek, he broke down. According to her account to the police, she told him she thought they should break up. He got upset, went to his apartment and locked the door. When she keyed in using her own key, she saw him attempting to hang himself. She was able to talk him down. But over the next months, Alex remained very unsteady. And then, poof. Brandon Grossheim walked into his life. In December 2016, Brandon moved into Alex's building. This was not long after the first two suicides. Brandon had been kicked out of his fraternity and he dropped out of school. The apartment building he moved into was called the Journal Printing Company Building. Its name comes from the fact that it used to house the local newspaper. The apartment building was actually owned by Alex Vogt's parents. Brandon and Alex may have known each other previously. Though Alex Vogt didn't go to Truman State. He was friends with many people there and had even been called an honorary AKL fraternity member. In any case, Brandon moved into apartment three. Right across the hall from him in apartment two was Alex. Alex worked at the Wooden Nickel, a restaurant and pub right across the street from the apartment building. Brandon at the time worked at the Wooden Nickel as well. The Wooden Nickel appears to be where the two of them became close. They bonded, apparently over the fact that Alex took LSD at work. He enjoyed tripping out while staring at the sauces he was cooking. Hey, Brandon, this is what I watch when I trip balls, he said, according to a New Yorker story quoting Brandon at one point, Alex and Brandon started taking LSD together. Brandon frequently took drugs with guys who later killed themselves. He also tripped acid with Jake Hughes. He and Alex Mullins smoked blunts together. Brandon and Alex's vote grew tight. They played the game catan together. Other times, they partied with the folks in their apartment building. But though he may have hid his depression from some people, things were getting worse and worse for Alex. He began having more problems with his girlfriend Madeline again. She said they should break up. He responded, if that happens, I'll kill myself. Obviously, it was a horrible position to put her in. She said she didn't know if he was serious, but agreed to stay together. The night of Alex's death, he and Madeline went out, had drinks, and ate at the Wooden Nickel. They returned to Alex's apartment, became intimate, and then fell asleep in his lofted bed. Sometime in the middle of the night, Alex climbed down and hung himself from a water pipe. Madeline discovered him when she Woke up around 7am he was hanging just inches away from where she'd been sleeping. She called the police when they arrived. They couldn't get into the building, so they called Madeline back. Then, to the police's surprise, who should let them into the building but Brandon Grossheim. They soon interviewed him for his account of the night. He said he'd been working at the wooden nickel, picked up his girlfriend, went back to his apartment, and then saw Alex in the hallway. They chatted briefly, nothing very consequential, according to Brandon. But then, after the interview, Brandon had an unusual request for the police. He wanted to see Alex's body. The coroner's office was about to take the body away, but Brandon asked an officer if he could see it first. What made the request especially strange was that apparently Brandon had already seen seen Alex's body. Here's what a Kirksville officer wrote in his Other officers had informed me of his request, which they felt was odd. I believed it was odd, but felt it was his way of saying goodbye. Grossheim advised that he had seen Vogt in the loft but was unsure if he was dead. He made his request to me after he was told that Vogt was dead. So let me get this straight. Brandon had already seen Alex's body, but wasn't sure if he was dead. All of this, to me, seems very strange. Brandon seemed fascinated by people who had just died in a way that I believe goes beyond normal curiosity. In fact, it recalls Brandon's other bizarre interactions with people who had just passed, like his grandmother. As we noted previously, this happened when Brandon was in high school. When he realized that his grandmother was dead, he sent his mother away so he could be alone with the body. In any case, this time, it's unclear if the police permitted Brandon to see Alex's body. But something else peculiar happened. A counselor working in conjunction with the police department wanted to contact Brandon's family about this suicide. But according to the police report, Brandon refused to allow them to contact his family. So I don't know. A lot of smoke when it comes to Brandon Grosseim and the suicide of Alex Vote. But no smoking gun. There aren't allegations that Brandon texted him messages about how to kill himself, as someone claims Brandon did to the second suicide victim, Jake Hughes. But following Alex Vogt's death, Brandon made strange comments. According to an acquaintance named Gentry Meininger, Brandon went into a spout about how suicide was your own free will. And that if you felt that was the best decision for your life and that's where your life should go, then that was your own personal choice and no one should try to stop you, she told the New Yorker. Brandon said they should only try to understand and accept it.

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[Narrator/Host]

The Wooden Nickel is a Kirksville bar and restaurant that's been around for decades. In fact, it calls itself Kirksville's only full service restaurant. Pretty much everyone in Kirksville knows the Wooden Nickel. It attracts a wide variety of people, college kids, townies, locals college kids who became locals. It's where the third suicide victim, Alex Vogt, was a cook. In fact, a lot of people involved in our story worked there. Besides Alex, there were members of the Alpha Kappa Lambda fraternity from Truman State working there, including Connor Templeton, who we've been talking to in this series. And then there was a guy named Cody, who also lived in the Journal Building, and Cody's girlfriend Glenna, both of whom you'll hear more about soon. Also working at the Wooden Nickel was Brandon Grossheim. Here's his colleague and fraternity brother, Connor Templeton, talking about him.

[Connor Templeton]

Yeah, the time frame's a little rough, but he probably he started working there maybe a year or two after. Probably a year after me. Think he was a server busser. Yeah, he'd usually be there a little before me since I was a bartender and he was serving.

[Narrator/Host]

The Wooden Nickel is where the people in our story, worked, commiserated, did drugs and drank, particularly Alex Vogt in the months leading up to his death. Here's Connor Templeton again, talking about Alex.

[Connor Templeton]

We'd have a drink here and there together and chat after hours because he lived in the building right across the street. So when I was closing, he'd come over, hang out, talk for a little bit. I mean, he had. I'd say he had. You could tell he had a lot on his mind, just the way he talks. I don't know, I feel like when we talked, sometimes you just tell. He had a lot to let out.

[Narrator/Host]

It might sound dark, but the wooden nickel was the backdrop during a time when many young people's lives began to unravel. Because of that, I wanted to get a sense of what the place was like. And so after a long day of podcast reporting in Kirksville with our producer Ryan Kroll, he and I went out to the Wooden Nickel to get a few drinks. Well, producer Ryan doesn't drink and to be honest, I don't really drink much either. Do you have any na beers, like non alcoholic beers?

[Ben Westoff]

Yeah, we do.

[Narrator/Host]

Do you want me to go ask about the. Oh yeah. The place has a cool vibe. It's different, classier than Kirksville dives like the bar next door. That place is called TP's office and they have $12 all you can drink specials. It gets pretty sloppy. The Wooden Nickel, on the other hand, has an awesome neon sign out front spelling its name in red and green neon. In the front is a restaurant with lots of Italian offerings. Ryan and I had dinner there. It was, you know, fine, but the place really comes alive. In the back area behind the restaurant there, the blues music is cranked up a little louder. It's got some slot machine type games and an American flag paying homage to the second Amendment. Naturally, the theme of the establishment is I guess you would say wood W o o d since the place is called the Wood Nickel. I guess that makes sense. The floors and the bars are made of wood and the bathroom doors have signs designating them for wood es and woodettes. And then the back bar has a sign explaining, I guess who runs the place. Woody's, it reads. So then that begs the question, who is Woody? Ryan asked the waitress. I asked her who, like, Woody was.

[Interviewee/Local Resident]

And she's like, I don't know if.

[Narrator/Host]

There is a Woody, but if it is, it's the owner, Dan.

[Connor Templeton]

That guy.

[Narrator/Host]

That would be the Wooden Nichols proprietor named Dan Vogt. He's the father of the third suicide Victim Alex Vogt. Everybody in town knows who Dan Vogt is. He owns the Journal Building and the Wooden Nickel. That's why most of the people that were living in the Journal Building were employees at the Wooden Nickel. Because right across the street, that was Terry Yardley, a gregarious local who has spent some time at this bar. We should make one correction, though. Dan Vogt doesn't actually own the Wooden nickel anymore. His daughter actually owns the Wooden Nickel. But according to people interviewed for this story, Dan was more or less in charge during the time when these suicides were happening. And the apartment building he owned, the Journal Printing Company building, was where his son Alex killed himself. In fact, it's where two of the deaths in our story happened. More on that later. But suffice it to say that the more we dug, the more it was clear that Dan Vogt was a central character in this story, not just because his son killed himself, but because Dan knew Brandon Grossheim well. See, he was the owner of the Journal Building where Brandon lived, and he was also the former owner of the Wood Nickel where Brandon worked. And yet, unlike the parents of some of the other suicide victims, Dan Vogt is not suing Brandon Grossheim. I wanted to know why. And as luck would have it, Dan is there at the Wooden Nickels back bar when producer Ryan and I arrive. He wears a Stag baseball cap, as in stag beer, and he has sunglasses perched on top of them. He also wears a black shirt that says, you don't know teamwork until your partner is a 1200 pound free spirit. I'm not exactly sure what that means. I'm guessing it's an inside joke of a mounted Division of the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department, who are also referenced on the shirt because, you know, a horse might weigh 1200 pounds. Whatever the case, this guy Dan is kind of intimidating looking, to be honest. I mean, he's in his 60s, but he's big and solid, and he's kind of soft spoken.

[Connor Templeton]

A lot of people don't like Dan. He could be hard to get along with. Dan was not afraid to speak what's on his mind whatsoever. But I always liked Dan. He was a tough boss, but not in a bad way. You know, he just made sure he loved his restaurant. His restaurant was his passion and his life, and he didn't want to see anyone being disrespectful to it or not working hard in it.

[Narrator/Host]

That's Connor Templeton, who is Dan's former Wooden Nickel employee. Now, I must say, it's quite Possible that Dan didn't run the tightest possible ship, what with his son tripping acid while on the clock and whatnot. And some people we talked to in Kirksville were more negative on him, including Dalton McVeigh, his former tenant.

[Interviewee/Local Resident]

I mean, overall, I would say his, like, standing of character is a pretty poor one. I mean, he doesn't manage the wooden nickel very well. He's just kind of like the. Of a mean guy.

[Narrator/Host]

This next quote is from Terry Yardley, who is a friend of Alex Vogt's. I've always heard that Alex's dad was real rough on him all the time, but I never witnessed it and I never heard it from him, so that's all just hearsay. One young woman who works at Truman State and knew the central players in our story named Gentry Meininger, told us she thought that Dan's relationship with his son was. Could have played a role in his suicide, though she wasn't more specific than that. I told this to Dalton McVeigh, and this is what he said.

[Interviewee/Local Resident]

I could certainly agree with the statement that, like their relationship, like the father, son relationship with the votes, was a tenuous one that probably put some mental strain on him and contributed to, you know, eventually reaching that breaking point. But I don't think it would be justified to call it the soul factor.

[Narrator/Host]

In any case, when it comes to the Kirksville suicide cluster, this was the first time we heard anyone mentioning someone other than Brandon Grosseim. But still, it must be said, we never found any evidence that Dan Vogt did anything criminal. Really? To be honest, I was particularly curious about his relationship with Brandon Grosseim. That's because Dan Vogt had some pretty weird run ins with Brandon when Brandon was his tenant. This is what happened. When Brandon was living in the Journal Printing Company building, he was pilfering electricity via an extension cord from another apartment, one being rented by the guy named Cody. Apparently, Dan Vogt was paying for Cody's electricity. So Dan didn't like the idea of Brandon's stealing it. Here's Brandon talking to the cops about it. I mean, at one point, Dan cut the extension cord after. Who did, Dan? Bo. Oh, the.

[Interviewee/Local Resident]

Okay.

[Narrator/Host]

Owner of the apartments. Yeah.

[Interviewee/Local Resident]

Gotcha.

[Narrator/Host]

Because he didn't like me using electricity from Cody's apartment. Yeah, sure.

[Interviewee/Local Resident]

Yeah.

[Narrator/Host]

I didn't. I. Cody gave me permission to use. Use electricity. And I'm not trying to get into. No, you're not looking at any char. I'm sorry. Not looking at any charges or anything like that. Like, apparently Dan was paying for his electricity.

[Connor Templeton]

So straight out of Dan's pocket.

[Narrator/Host]

Sure, but I could maybe you understand that, but okay. It's not exactly clear why Brandon was using his neighbor's electricity. Did his own apartment not have it? Was Brandon just broke? And it seems perfectly justified for Dan Vogt to dismantle this hookup, especially if he, the landlord, was paying for the electricity. Beyond that, it was probably also a fire risk and a safety hazard. This was not a criminal matter, and it's not even very clear why the police were questioning Brandon about Certainly didn't have anything directly to do with the suicides, but it was an example of Brandon's dealings with Dan Vogt, a guy who was basically his boss and his landlord at the same time, cutting him checks and also taking checks from him. And so I wanted to talk to Dan about his relationship with Brandon, among other issues, but I didn't approach him that night at the bar when Ryan and I were there. That's because I'd already tried talking to Dan before and that didn't go so well. See, I'd called up Dan a few weeks earlier. He answered the phone friendly enough, but his tone soon changed.

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Learn [e-mail] podcast that's superhuman.com podcast. When I called Dan Vogt to ask him about his son Alex and about Dan's relationship with Brandon Grossheim, he wasn't thrilled. He got irritated when I explained that I was hosting a podcast about the Kirksville suicide cluster. Oh yeah, that's a great story, he said. I'm not interested in speaking about that at all or my family. Goodbye. And then he hung up. So fair enough. I'm sure many reporters have contacted him since the suicides and he's probably sick of them. More power to him were very annoying. But as I mentioned, he's an important part of this story and he's also a controversial character in Kirksville for many years now. We did a little digging and found that way back in 1989 he was fighting sobriety checkpoints. He presented a petition containing 1,000 signatures to the Kirksville City Council saying that the planned sobriety checkpoints for which the city received a state grant was a violation of their constitutional rights. I'm not sure how that worked out, but for a bar owner to fight against enforcing drunk driving seems dubious. Whatever the case, like I said, producer Ryan and I wanted to talk to Dan, but since he'd already denied my request for an interview in no uncertain terms, I didn't want to harass him. And so we decide to just, I don't know, soak up his aura a little bit. Sitting at the table while we wait for our na beers, Ryan and I gaze in his general direction. He wears work boots with dark socks and shorts. He has a mustache and close cropped salt and pepper hair. When we worry we're becoming too obvious about staring at him, we glance around at other things, like the bar's decor. Yeah, the stained glass of the.

[Advertiser/Commercial Voice]

Looks.

[Narrator/Host]

Like it's the North Missouri State Bulldog, I guess. Oh, that's the former name. Oh, interesting. Northeast Missouri State University is what Truman used to be called before its name was changed back in 1996. Fun fact. Anyway, finally our NA beers arrive. Only not the ones we ordered. Okay, I lied.

[Interviewee/Local Resident]

These are the only non alcoholic beers I ordered.

[Connor Templeton]

Perfect.

[Advertiser/Commercial Voice]

Thank you.

[Narrator/Host]

Maybe we look dorky sipping n a brews, but we feel pretty cool doing on the scene reporting from a rural bar. I'm, like, very rarely done reporting like this. Just sitting, sitting back and just. Yeah, like you hear about reporters getting all these great scoops by just like being a fly in the wall, you know, Nightlife. Yeah, Like I never like staying out. Yeah. And then just as we're talking about how good patient reporters wait for the action to come to them, a bit of a ruckus breaks out just a few feet away from us. I didn't tell you to fuck off. You did my.

[Ben Westoff]

Not a thing.

[Narrator/Host]

I told you I was almost done. I had one right clip. It's hard to make out what's being said. Basically, it's an argument between a younger woman and an older man. The woman wears a shirt with an orange tiger on it. The Kirksville High School mascot, I believe. The guy wears overalls with a beard and no mustache. Our recording is bad, but the woman accuses the man of having been very inappropriate during an event that happened a couple weeks ago. The altercation does not get physical, but it's still a pretty lively confrontation that catches the attention of everyone in the bar. When the waitress comes by, I ask her what they're fighting about. What are they arguing about?

[Advertiser/Commercial Voice]

I don't know.

[Narrator/Host]

Is that. Is there?

[Advertiser/Commercial Voice]

Is there?

[Narrator/Host]

They're not going to start throwing bottles. Are. Our waitress isn't much help. But later we talk to a different waitress who says they're arguing about something that happened during an annual Kirksville event called the Whiskey and Turkey Festival, otherwise known as Whiskey Turkey. The dispute itself is kind of obscure, but what's interesting to me is the identity of the woman. She is Jen Ray, the daughter of Dan Vogt. Her brother, Alex Vogt was the third suicide victim, and it turns out she's the current owner of the wooden nickel. Jen and the guy in the overalls continue arguing with each other for a while, maybe 10 minutes. But then Jen stops yelling at this guy and turns to her dad, Dan Vogt. She's pissed at him, too. She accuses him of just watching this argument neutrally the whole time and not taking her side. I'm sick of you not supporting me, she says. And then she storms out. Though she had come in with a bunch of girlfriends, she just leaves everyone behind. Ryan and I aren't sure how to process all of this, and so we finish our drinks. We figure that's enough excitement for one day, and so we ask the waitress for our check. She says we can pay at the bar, but it's pretty crowded at the bar, so I have to kind of wedge myself in. And that's how I find myself standing right next to Dan Vogt. As in eyeball to eyeball. It's quite awkward, but I figure this is my chance to, well, not interview him. Just try to take the measure of the man, I guess. Still, what am I gonna say? He doesn't seem like the type to suffer fools, so I have to make it something good. Then I start noticing the music. The blues. I enjoy the blues. I can vibe with this. And one of Dan's old employees told us that Dan loves the blues. So I'm guessing he picked out this playlist, or at the very least approved it, so. So I tell him I'm digging the music. I love the blues, I say. It's a bit weird. I'm just coming out of nowhere with this. He looks me dead in the eyes. My heart is pounding. And then he sticks out his hand to shake. He smiles and says something like, hell, yeah. That's probably not what he said. I can't remember. I was just psyched that I'd pressed the right button with this guy. I ask him who his favorites are. Buddy guy, he says. Robert, Craig. And then some others. I don't catch. I say I like Stevie Ray Vaughan, to which he responds that he plays Stevie Ray Vaughan all the time. And that's it. Ryan and I pay the check and we leave. What was the point of all this? I guess while we couldn't pin him down about Brandon Grossheim, the or suicides, it was helpful to understand Dan a little bit. Considering he was such a force in some of our characters lives, we were able to hopefully paint a broader picture, particularly concerning his son and their allegedly fraught relationship. Sure, it's admirable that he employs people and that he has a neat looking bar and restaurant, but man, the dude is kind of scary. But I'm also glad we got to see the world where he, Brandon and several of our other characters inhabited a place where booze is at the center. Because Brandon and the four Kirksville students who committed suicide lived in that same kind of world. As became increasingly clear in our reporting, many of them had issues with alcohol and substance abuse. And so, having finished staking out the wooden nickel, Ryan and I stagger out of there, tipsy from the experience, if not the na bruise. And then we come face to face with the Journal Printing Company building, which is right across the street. This is another important location in our story where lots of our characters lived. Practically the whole crew working at the wooden nickel lived there. It's the apartment building where, if you'll recall, Brandon Grossheim moved in. And then very soon after Alec's vogt killed himself. It becomes clear to me that this is a place we need to investigate because this is where this shit truly went south. You see, this apartment building is where the fourth and the fifth deaths happen. That's right, a fifth death. Yes, it's true. There was another Kirksville death, one we haven't mentioned yet. A 29 year old woman. It wasn't suicide exactly, but it happened not long after Alex votes suicide in the exact same apartment and she had a strange encounter with someone from the building right before her death. That person was, you guessed it, Brandon Grossheim. That's next time on the Peacemaker. The Peacemaker is a production of Cool Fire Studios and iHeart Podcasts. It's hosted by me, Ben Westoff and Ryan Krull. Our executive producers are Jeff Keane, David Johnson and Steve Lubert. Music and audio engineering by Brent Johnson. Executive producers for iHeart podcasts are Katrina Norvell and Nikki Etor. If you or someone you know is having suicidal thoughts, there are resources available to you. Please call the suicide and crisis lifeline 988. Amazon Five Star Theater presents real customer reviews performed by Eva Longoria. Tonight's review, sports briefs. Oh, boy. Where do I even start with these.

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