Episode 5: Glenna

Summary

The Peacemaker – Episode 5: Glenna (November 11, 2025)

Episode Overview

Episode 5 of The Peacemaker, hosted by Ben Westhoff and Ryan Krull, shifts focus from the infamous suicide cluster at Truman State University's Alpha Kappa Lambda house to a tragic related death—that of Glenna Hott. Glenna was a 29-year-old bartender and dog trainer, who died of liver failure in the same Kirksville apartment where one of the fraternity suicides occurred, and under circumstances that again involved Brandon Grossheim, the recurring central figure of the series. This episode explores Glenna's troubled life, her struggles with addiction, her connection to Brandon, and the lingering suspicions and controversies surrounding her final hours.

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Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. Setting the Stage: Glenna as the "Fifth" Death

• Glenna Hott's death is introduced as both similar to and different from the previous suicides: she was not a young male college student and didn't die by suicide in the classical sense, but was still tied to the broader milieu of tragedy around the Alpha Kappa Lambda cluster (03:05).
• Notably, she died in the same room as Alex Vogt, the third suicide victim, just five months after his death.

2. Glenna's Backstory: A Troubled Young Woman

• Interview with her father, Skip, and stepmother, Gayla, paints a portrait of Glenna as an animal-loving "wild child" shaped by chaotic and alcoholic family dynamics on both parental sides (06:43–07:47).
  • Skip: "She was a wild child. Not in a bad way, but, you know, and she didn't study well." (07:09)
• Glenna struggled with both alcoholism and heroin addiction, leading her from St. Louis to Kirksville in an attempt to escape the substances that consumed her (08:09–08:55).

3. Love, Isolation, and Attempts at Recovery

• After a stint in rehab and ongoing struggles with alcohol, Glenna followed her then-boyfriend Cody to Kirksville, both eventually working at local bar The Wooden Nickel (08:55–10:03).
• Glenna formed a new relationship with Terry Yardley, a local motorcycle club member ("Smokey"), who recounts their whirlwind romance and attempts to help her recover (10:18–11:49).
• The environment at the Journal Building, where much of the tragedy occurred, is depicted as a hub of "non-stop debauchery," substance use, and easy access to alcohol (12:09–15:08).

4. The Journal Building: A Cursed Environment?

• The Journal Building, across from The Wooden Nickel, becomes a focal point—a beautiful historic building on the outside, but "party central" and deeply troubled within (12:09–15:08).
• After Alex Vogt's suicide, Glenna's ex-boyfriend Cody moves into his old room, which soon becomes Glenna's final place of residence as well (16:12–16:36).

5. Glenna’s Final Days and Declining Health

• Glenna's alcoholism reaches life-threatening levels. A doctor at DePaul Hospital warns Terry that if she drinks again, she’ll die from liver failure (17:33).
  • Terry: "If she drinks again, she will die." (17:33)
• Despite this, Glenna relapses on July 3, 2017, leading to a breakup with Terry and her moving back to Cody's apartment with plans to talk things out later (18:36–19:22).

6. The Fatal Afternoon: What Happened?

• Disputes persist about Glenna's last hours. She is left at Cody’s (who is away), while Terry expects to see her later that day—only to find police at the scene when he arrives (19:43).
• Brandon Grossheim is revealed, once again, as the last person to see the victim alive (19:43).

7. Brandon Grossheim’s Account

• Brandon claims he heard a loud thump and went to check on Glenna, finding her lying on the floor, wincing in pain from an apparent fall. He asks if she’s okay; she insists she is and requests him to leave, which he does without calling 911 (25:28–27:18).
  • Brandon: "She said that she tripped and fell and hit her head... she said, yeah, I promise you, I'm fine. Just go." (26:41–27:18)
• The police question why he did not summon help for someone clearly in distress, especially given her imminently fatal condition (27:42).

8. The Investigation and Unanswered Questions

• Glenna’s ex-boyfriend Cody finds her body upon returning at 4:30 p.m.—she is naked except for underwear, with bruises and surrounded by medication and empty alcohol bottles (32:04).
• Police question Brandon about scratches and possible involvement. He claims they’re from cats and a work accident, and resists providing a DNA sample without further cause (33:52–36:44).
• Brandon notably insists he didn't know Glenna personally, despite evidence to the contrary and shared friend circles (38:02–39:46).
  • Terry: "There's no way he didn't know who she was... wouldn't he have acted a little bit different when he walked into Cody's apartment and saw somebody he didn't know?" (39:13)

9. The Aftermath: Anguish, Skepticism, and Suspicions

• Glenna’s family and boyfriend continue to doubt the completeness and integrity of the investigation, asking basic questions like why Brandon didn’t call 911:
  • Skip: "If she's alive when the guy supposedly left... why didn't he call 911? That has always boggled my mind." (41:06–41:31)
• Terry expresses his continuing anger and frustration:
  • Terry: "What the fuck happened? That would be my main and only question, really. Why didn't you do more?" (43:32)
• The hosts and family all note the disturbing pattern of deaths in proximity to Brandon Grossheim and the recurring oddities in his behavior, suggesting more questions than answers persist (44:05).

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Glenna's background:

  • Skip: "Her mother was a very bad mother. And her stepfather, they were both alcoholics to the extreme... I think that really shaped Glenna's outlook on life to some extent." (07:24)

• On attempts to save her:

  • Terry: "If she drinks again, she will die." (17:33)
  • Ben (reflecting): "If I came across somebody that was obviously that intoxicated and had taken a bad fall, I don't think I would just leave. Even if they said, don't call 911..." (41:31)

• On Brandon’s denial:

  • Brandon: "I want to say her name is Cara. I'm not really sure... I just knew she looked familiar. I figured she was one of Cody's friends." (38:05–38:25)

• Terry’s anger:

  • Terry: "I better hope I never run into him ever again because I have a lot of questions that need answered..." (43:18)
  • "What the fuck happened? Why didn't you do more?" (43:32)

• On the investigation's shortcomings:

  • Ben: "I wasn't really satisfied with the investigation of her death. Again, just too many unanswered questions." (44:05)

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Timestamps for Important Segments

• 03:05 – Introduction to Glenna Hott and the circumstances of her death
• 06:43 – Interview with Glenna’s father and discussion of her childhood
• 08:55 – Glenna’s move to Kirksville to escape heroin addiction
• 10:18 – Terry describes meeting and falling for Glenna
• 12:09 – The Journal Building’s party scene and residents
• 17:33 – The medical warning: Glenna’s life in jeopardy due to alcohol
• 18:36 – Glenna’s relapse, breakup, and being dropped off at Cody’s
• 19:43 – Last known hours before death and Brandon’s involvement
• 25:28 – Brandon’s account of his interaction with Glenna
• 32:04 – Discovery of Glenna’s body and police arrival
• 38:02 – Brandon’s interviews with police (claims not to know Glenna)
• 41:06 – Glenna’s father and family’s unanswered questions
• 43:18 – Terry’s fury and unresolved questions for Brandon
• 44:05 – Host Ben expresses lingering doubts; foreshadowing next episode

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Episode Tone and Language

The language is frank, empathetic, and at times blunt, reflecting both the grief of Glenna’s loved ones and the ongoing confusion and suspicion around her death. The hosts blend investigative skepticism with sensitivity—never shying away from the tough, awkward truths, but giving plenty of space for the personal pain and frustration of the families involved.

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Conclusion

Episode 5 deepens the complex tragedy surrounding Kirksville’s suicide cluster, broadening its scope to include those drawn into its orbit. Glenna’s story is one of generational addiction, missed opportunities for intervention, overlapping relationships—and the shadowy presence of Brandon Grossheim. The investigation’s ambiguities and loose ends leave listeners with the same aching questions as Glenna’s family and friends, setting up further exploration in subsequent episodes.

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Transcript

[Ben Westoff]

This is an iHeart podcast.

[Ryan Krall]

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[Ben Westoff]

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[Terry Yardley]

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[Narrator / Host (Ben Westoff)]

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[Narrator / Host (Ben Westoff)]

A warning. This episode discusses youth, depression and suicide. These topics may be distressing for some listeners. When I first heard about the Kirksville suicide cluster, I could hardly believe it. The fact that four young men killed themselves in such quick succession was incredibly tragic. And the fact that they all had a friend in common, Brandon Grossheim, was quite eerie. But in a way, it was the fifth Kirksville death that was the most shocking to me. While in some ways it was completely different than the others, in some ways it wasn't. You might be wondering why we haven't discussed the fifth death on this podcast yet. Well, for one thing, that's because it wasn't a suicide. At least not a suicide in the way we usually think about suicides. The victim died of liver failure. It seems she drank herself to death. And she was an outlier in other ways too. The first four victims all killed themselves by hanging. They were all guys. Many of them knew each other. But this fifth victim, this young woman, was an outsider. She had no connection to the Alpha Kappa Lambda fraternity house. She was not a high flying Truman State student with a potentially bright future ahead of her. Her name was Glenna Haught. She was a 29 year old bartender and dog trainer, a down on her luck troubled soul who'd come to Kirksville for a fresh start. And yet, despite having a different background than the other victims, she still managed to get caught up in the same toxic milieu. In fact, Glenna died in the same Kirksville apartment as the third suicide victim, Alex Vogt. The exact same room. And it happened just five months after Alex's death. But to me, the strangest part was what happened just before her death. Because right before she died, and I'm talking like minutes before her death, she had a bizarre interaction with one of the apartment building's tenants. Guess who? Yep, it was Brandon Grossheim. This podcast series Tells the story of the most infamous suicide cluster in American history. It's a production of I Heart podcasts and Cool Fire Studios. I'm your host, Ben Westoff, along with Ryan Krall. This is the Peacemaker. I wanted to try to understand Glenna and her situation, to know how she got caught up with Brandon and his tragedy. And so producer Ryan and I sat down with her father, known as Skip, and her stepmother named Gayla, who live in St. Louis, where Glenna grew up. They'd, of course, been grieving since her death in 2017, but had never spoken publicly about Glenna. When we welcomed Skip into our studio, he seemed overwhelmed. Perhaps it was all the microphones and equipment, or perhaps it was the fact that someone was finally invested in his daughter's story. But soon, Skip and Gayla settled in and talked to us about Glenna's childhood.

[Skip (Glenna's Father)]

Oh, she loved horseback riding. I used to take her to a place. There was a big stable and riding grounds there, and she loved that. She loved working. She worked for kennels around town, that she bring home strays and just tell.

[Narrator / Host (Ben Westoff)]

Me a little bit about her in high school. What was she like as a. I guess a teenager.

[Ben Westoff]

Rambunctious.

[Skip (Glenna's Father)]

She was. She was a wild child. Not in a bad way, but, you know, and she didn't study well.

[Narrator / Host (Ben Westoff)]

And what was the dynamic like between you and your Goethe's biological mom?

[Skip (Glenna's Father)]

Between me and her mother, Very bad. Her mother was a very bad mother. And her stepfather, they were both alcoholics to the extreme. I mean, we all drank, but not like them. And I think that really shaped Glenna's outlook on life to some extent.

[Narrator / Host (Ben Westoff)]

Glenna's mother died a little while back, so we can't get her side of the story. But there was chaos on both sides of Glenna's family. Glenna eventually moved out on her own and began tending bar in St. Louis. Along the way, she developed increasingly severe alcoholism.

[Skip (Glenna's Father)]

When I knew she was really deeply an alcoholic is when she started taking a hip flask to work with her. And instead of, you know, pouring a drink and she go in the bathroom and hit the hip flask, she just, I can handle it. I know what I'm doing. Her grandmother on her mother's side even paid for two weeks of rehab at some rehab center here in St. Louis.

[Narrator / Host (Ben Westoff)]

But it wasn't just alcohol. According to a man who would become her boyfriend named Terry Yardley, Glenna eventually came to Kirksville to try to beat a different substance abuse problem.

[Terry Yardley]

Glenna was running away from St. Louis to get away from an addiction that she had there. She was addicted to heroin and she wanted to get sober from it, but was having a hard time doing that where it was present. Heroin hadn't made its way here yet. And her friend that lived here is like, hey, you and your old man, come stay down here.

[Narrator / Host (Ben Westoff)]

Glenna's old man was her St. Louis boyfriend named Andrew Cody Robin. He went by Cody and was a bit younger than Glenna. They decided to come to Kirksville so Glenna could get away from heroin at some point after moving there, Cody got a job at the Wooden Nickel, the bar and restaurant that we visited in the last episode. Glenna got a job there, too. Here's their former coworker, Connor Templeton. She worked there at the same time as me for a little bit. She seemed nice and normal. I feel like she might have a beer after a shift and she'd walk home. At the time, I can't remember his name. I think she had a boyfriend that worked there for a little bit. They both worked there at the same time as me and broke up.

[Terry Yardley]

After.

[Narrator / Host (Ben Westoff)]

Glenna and Cody broke up. Glenna soon got together with Terry Yardley, a car body technician from Kirksville, who we've been talking to in this series. As Terry describes it, it was practically love at first sight.

[Terry Yardley]

Abby, my friend at the time, was like, hey, I met this chick that she stayed with, my buddy. I think you guys would really click. You should come meet her. So I went over there after work, picked her and Abby up, and we just went and cruised around and hit all the back roads. Because apparently in St. Louis, you don't get the scenery that you get here. It's just all highways. So I took her out some old back roads, showed her the countryside, and we really sparked it off. Then from that day, there was never a day that we weren't with each other.

[Narrator / Host (Ben Westoff)]

Terry is quite the character. When I first tried reaching out to him, he avoided me because he thought I was a bill collector. He's got a scraggly beard and looks like a Hell's Angel. He also has the chromed out hog to match. In fact, he's vice president of his motorcycle club called the Imperials, and they call him Smokey.

[Terry Yardley]

Yep, that's my road name.

[Narrator / Host (Ben Westoff)]

Okay, nice. So how'd you make the nickname?

[Terry Yardley]

Well, I smoke a lot of pot. I vape everywhere, so anywhere I go, there's always smoke present. So that's where that came from.

[Narrator / Host (Ben Westoff)]

Terry's actually a super nice guy. Very easy to get along with. In fact, Even after he started dating Glenna, he somehow became buddies with Glenna's old boyfriend, Cody. Cody and Terry hung out all the time. When Cody moved into the Journal Building apartments, Terry came over and partied with him and the other people in the building.

[Terry Yardley]

There was like four apartments there, and everybody that lived there was all good friends. So it would always alternate whose room the party was in. It would be like, sup, you decent? Just making sure you got clothes on because I want to see your dick.

[Narrator / Host (Ben Westoff)]

The Journal Building, where Glenna's ex boyfriend Cody lived is the seemingly cursed apartment building across the street from the Wooden Nickel. It's where Brandon Grossheim and so many other characters from our story lived and where two of the deaths took place. I first saw it after producer Ryan and I stumbled out of the Wooden Nickel one night. I'd heard that the apartment building was kind of a shithole, so I was surprised to see that it's actually really beautiful on the outside anyway. It's got columns, cornices. It's listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Of all things still inside the Journal Building, it was basically party central.

[Terry Yardley]

Lot of liquor every now and then, cocaine, bongs, bowls joints, blunts. It's just whatever we felt like that day, we had it all.

[Narrator / Host (Ben Westoff)]

So it was in this environment where Terry Yardley met Brandon Grosseim.

[Terry Yardley]

When Cody, the one that Glenna moved here with, was living in the Journal Building in those apartments. And I think him and Brandon worked together maybe at the Wooden Nickel. And that's when I met Brandon, because him and Cody were work buddies and he came over and would hang out.

[Narrator / Host (Ben Westoff)]

I asked Terry for his impressions of Brandon.

[Terry Yardley]

I wasn't super crazy about him. I didn't get good vibes from him. He just seemed kind of shady. I couldn't really pinpoint what it was about him I didn't like or I didn't even know why. I just had that gut feeling from the first time I met him because we didn't really have that many conversations with each other. It was like we were hanging out at the same time place. He just didn't put up the greatest vibes.

[Narrator / Host (Ben Westoff)]

After Brandon was kicked out of the Alpha Kappa Lambda house, it was kind of like he moved into the off campus version of the frat house. Because just like at the AKL house, the Journal Building offered similar non stop debauchery. Here's Dalton McVeigh talking about it. Remember, he was Brandon's friend and former roommate.

[Terry Yardley]

Yeah. Most of the people who lived there at the time were familiar with Each other and all being, you know, young 20 somethings. There was a lot of loud music and drinking and smoking going on.

[Narrator / Host (Ben Westoff)]

What kind of music were people blasted in there?

[Terry Yardley]

Like hip hop, trap music, a lot of like Kevin Gates, Jeezy Khalid was big at the time.

[Narrator / Host (Ben Westoff)]

Adding to the mayhem, Kirksville's bar scene was right across the street with watering holes like the wooden Nickel and TP's office. This is Terry Yardley.

[Terry Yardley]

We'd party and then even when we weren't there partying, there was non stop parties going on there because all the bars are right there by it. Everybody's like, oh, dude, my buddies live up here. Let's go, Farty. It's way cheaper to get drunk up here than it is over there at the bar. So it was just a good hot spot for everybody.

[Narrator / Host (Ben Westoff)]

Inside the Journal Building, Terry and the crew would often party in Alex Vogt's room. Alex got really close with the whole crew. Terry, Cody, Brandon Grossheim and others. Which is why when Alex died by suicide In January of 2017, it hit everyone hard. But his room didn't stay empty for long. In fact, soon afterwards, Cody moved in. Now, Cody, remember, is Glenna Hott's ex boyfriend. Cody was already living in a different apartment in the Journal Building. But after Alex Vogt died, he took over Alex's spot.

[Terry Yardley]

After Alex passed, which I don't know how he could stomach doing it, Cody moved into Alex's old room after Cody had walked in there and seen his best friend hanging.

[Narrator / Host (Ben Westoff)]

Wow, that is crazy. I didn't know that he moved into that place.

[Terry Yardley]

Yeah, he moved from down the hall to Alex's old room because Alex, there was more room and it was a cool little room because there was like an upstairs loft.

[Narrator / Host (Ben Westoff)]

We tried reaching out to Cody to talk to him about this time, but he never got back to us. In any case, around this time, Glenna Haut and her new boyfriend, Terry Yardley, were living out in the country in a small town west of Kirksville called Greencastle.

[Terry Yardley]

We had her dog she just adored, like its name was Chili because Glennon was a dog trainer. There was quite a bit of animals, like, lived out down an old gravel road in the middle of nowhere. Yeah, she loved getting in the car, cruising down the gravel road and just going, sitting on bridges and reading her books. She loved to read and she loved to do it in nature where nobody could bug her.

[Narrator / Host (Ben Westoff)]

I'm sure it was pretty out there, but man, they were really isolated. Glenna didn't even have a phone at this point. And Simultaneously, her problems with alcohol intensified.

[Terry Yardley]

She was talking about wanting to quit drinking, but she was such a heavy alcoholic that she could not detox unless she was in a hospital because she would have hallucinations. So the hospital we went to was the DePaul Hospital in St. Louis because they were non profit. She ended up staying there for like a week or two weeks, something like that. And whenever I went to get her, the doctors pulled me to the side and, like, if she drinks again because she's got pancreatitis from this, her liver's shutting down. We've got her on meds to bypass her liver so it has time to heal. If she drinks again, she will die.

[Narrator / Host (Ben Westoff)]

Terry took this warning very seriously. He did everything he could to try to get Glenna to stop drinking because he really loved her, he cared for her, he didn't want her to die. But only about two weeks later, July 3, 2017, Glenna fell off the wagon.

[Terry Yardley]

I caught her relapsing, tried to nip it in the butt right then and there before she actually could consume enough to kill herself. We got mad, we got in an argument. She's like, we're just gonna break up and I'm gonna move back to St. Louis. This is too hard on you. You can't deal with it.

[Narrator / Host (Ben Westoff)]

Terry wasn't going to condone her drinking herself to death, and so all he could do was agree to let her leave. Around noon on July 5th, Terry's dad came to pick Glenna up so she could cool off. He took her to the apartment of her ex boyfriend, Cody, who was basically the only other person she knew in the area. But Terry says she didn't completely close the door on their relationship.

[Terry Yardley]

She called me off my dad's phone because she didn't have a phone. When he dropped her off, she was like, come see me when you get off work so we can try to talk this out. Like, okay, love you. Love you too. Bye. Five o' clock hits. I get there. Cop cars all around the property. Like, that's weird.

[Narrator / Host (Ben Westoff)]

What happened in the four plus hours between when Terry's dad dropped Glenna off and when she was found dead is a matter of dispute. We don't know much about this period right before she died, except for one thing. Brandon Grossheim was the last person to see her alive.

[Ben Westoff]

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[Narrator / Host (Ben Westoff)]

There's much controversy surrounding Glenna Hott's death on July 5, 2017, but one thing is clear. When Glenna arrived to her ex boyfriend Cody's apartment that afternoon, Cody wasn't actually there. See, the night before, he'd been at a Fourth of July party at a house on Smith spring Lake, about 11 miles southwest of Kirksville. A lot of people were there, including Brandon Grosseim, and they'd set off fireworks and partied it up. Many of those party guests, including Cody, decided to spend the night at the house. Glenna even tried calling Cody to tell him she was coming to his place. But out there in the country, his phone didn't get good reception. So it appears Cody didn't even realize that Glenna had arrived at his apartment. But as for getting inside the apartment without a key, that was no problem for Glenna. That's because the apartment door didn't even have a doorknob. According to a police report, it had been secured with a T shirt stuffed into the existing hole to be used as a handle. So yeah, that's the kind of place the Journal Building was pretty on the outside, a mess on the inside. In any case, once she arrived, no one knows for sure what Glenna did inside Kody's apartment over the next few hours. We do know that police later found in her purse several medication bottles with her name on them and a partial bottle of vodka. The apartment itself had numerous alcohol bottles throughout, and most were found empty or partly empty, said the report. Now, around this time, Brandon Grosseim was returning to his apartment across the hall. Unlike Cody, he hadn't stayed over at the Fourth of July party. Instead, he'd slept at his girlfriend's place. Her name was Melissa Russell. Here's Brandon describing to police his timeline of events.

[Brandon Grossheim]

I Woke up around 11. Melissa and I cleaned up her apartment, went out to get McDonald's, came back, cleaned up a little more, watched some TV, Brooklyn Nine Nine and after that I told her I wanted to go back to my place, clean up. I took a bunch of stuff that I had over at her place back to mine. My apartment's been a wreck. I don't have any electricity right now and so I wanted to rescue organize my apartment. I'm about halfway done with My laundry. I hear a huge thump. And only time I've ever heard like a thump as big as this was this one time that Cody was at his apartment with Squirrel and he fell out of the loft. And so that's immediately was my first thought was that somebody felt out this loft. So Cody fell out this loft.

[Narrator / Host (Ben Westoff)]

Brandon heard a loud noise from Cody's apartment across the hall. He said it sounded like someone had fallen out of the lofted bed. This was weird, Brandon added, because he knew Cody wasn't home still. He went to check it out.

[Brandon Grossheim]

So I went over there to check and there was this girl. She was lying on the floor next to the couch, between like the couch and the ladder.

[Detective]

And then.

[Brandon Grossheim]

She was holding her head. Her head was closer to the door, like with the doorway leading to the hallway. And she was wincing in pain. I was asking her if she was okay. And I asked her, she fell out of the loft. Is she alright? Asked if she needed help. She seemed more like, I don't know, upset with herself for like making a bunch of noise and eating shit. She said that she tripped and fell and hit her head.

[Terry Yardley]

Again.

[Brandon Grossheim]

I started yelling, well, is there anything.

[Narrator / Host (Ben Westoff)]

I can do for you?

[Brandon Grossheim]

Is there anything I need for you? And, you know, no, no, I'm okay. She started to tear up and, you know, she said it looked like she was getting more upset. And she was like, yeah, I promise you, I'm fine. Just go. I was like, okay. If you need anything, would it be right across the way or for you to knock one door and just, okay, thank you. I said, okay, and she said, I appreciate it, and walked out the door.

[Narrator / Host (Ben Westoff)]

The officer asked Brandon if Glenna looked intoxicated. Brandon said no. When a different officer asked why he didn't call 911, Brandon said it was because Glenna said she was fine. But did Glenna really tell Brandon she was fine? And if so, why? After all, she was literally on the brink of death. According to the police report timeline, she would be dead within the hour.

[Ben Westoff]

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[Narrator / Host (Ben Westoff)]

Glenna Hoth's body was soon discovered by her ex boyfriend, Cody. He found her when he arrived home to his apartment around 4:30pm she was lying on the floor when he walked in, completely naked except for her underwear. He covered her with a towel and called 911. Glennehot's official cause of death was a ruptured liver. According to her autopsy, severe acute alcohol intoxication may have contributed to her death as well. When the police got there, they arrived to a hell of a scene seen cats scattered. The apartment was a total mess. Booze and pill bottles were all over the place. And to top it all off, a nearly nude dead woman was lying on the floor. Police immediately noticed she had bruises on her right breast and her waist. The detectives soon learned that Brandon Grossheim had been the last person to. To see her alive. By now, they must have thought they were in the movie Groundhog Day. As you can imagine, they had all sorts of questions for him about his interaction with Glenna.

[Detective]

Was she naked?

[Ben Westoff]

No.

[Skip (Glenna's Father)]

Okay.

[Brandon Grossheim]

She was closed. I don't really remember what she was wearing. I was just. I don't know, more concerned about issues. Okay.

[Detective]

She was hurt, right? They don't know if she had pants, her shirt, or anything on.

[Brandon Grossheim]

She definitely had her shirt on. She definitely had, like, clothes.

[Terry Yardley]

The.

[Brandon Grossheim]

The police officer at the door asked me what she was wearing.

[Skip (Glenna's Father)]

Whatever.

[Brandon Grossheim]

I just questioned me real quick, real briefly. I said she might have been wearing, like, pants and a shirt.

[Narrator / Host (Ben Westoff)]

The detective then noticed that Brandon had scratches on his arms. Could there have been a struggle?

[Detective]

Okay.

[Brandon Grossheim]

All this stuff, the scratches. I have three cats. They give me all the time. This one's actually a burn from work, but this one is over there, too. That was actually Melissa.

[Narrator / Host (Ben Westoff)]

Melissa, remember, was Brandon's girlfriend at the time.

[Detective]

Okay, so I see hands for me. Okay. You care if I take pictures of that stuff? My hands. Here's what I'm gonna say.

[Brandon Grossheim]

I'd just like to ask why.

[Detective]

Here's what. What we're doing. I don't know anything about what's going on over there. What I was told was she may be. She may have been naked. Okay. So that leads us to believe that maybe possibly something along the lines that. So that's kind of the route I'm going down.

[Narrator / Host (Ben Westoff)]

You have a problem.

[Detective]

Let me do that.

[Brandon Grossheim]

I mean, I don't. Yeah, go for it.

[Detective]

I mean, you didn't have any kind of contact with her, you didn't touch her, nothing like that? Nothing whatsoever.

[Skip (Glenna's Father)]

That's fine.

[Detective]

Can have your hands platforming. What I'm going to do is I'm going to take one of all of you and then I'll just take a couple of your cat scratch ones and your burn. I'll get you to turn your hands over for me. Like I said, I don't know everything that's going on. Get you to turn your hand over. I'll get that one on your shoulder there.

[Narrator / Host (Ben Westoff)]

Brandon consented to let the detective take pictures of his scratches and burns. But then when the detective asked for a DNA sample, Brandon drew the line.

[Detective]

Would you have a problem giving us a DNA sample just so in case something is found, we can compare it to make sure it wasn't you? That's completely up to you. Just asking.

[Brandon Grossheim]

I prefer not. If you guys do find something, I'm more than willing to, like, provide a sample because I know it won't be well.

[Detective]

Okay. And I understand what you're saying. What I'm saying is if we get the sample, it'll only be sent in if something's found. It's not like we'll send it in and then you'll be in the system or anything like that. Does that make sense? I got you. So it would only be used if something is found. I mean, it's up to you. If you want us to come find you after the fact and do it, that's fine. I don't have a problem doing that. But I don't want you thinking that we're gonna get your sample now and automatically put you in some. Some kind of system.

[Brandon Grossheim]

I gotcha. If all at all has to be just out of preference, would you be able to find me whenever you guys need it? I promise you, you'll have my full cooperation with me.

[Narrator / Host (Ben Westoff)]

One wonders why Brandon didn't ask for a lawyer, but the detective ultimately didn't force him to submit a DNA sample. If you're wondering why Brandon was so reluctant to give a DNA sample, here's what he told the New Yorker. I was an Underage, alcoholic, pothead. I was afraid they would figure it out. Maybe you find this believable, maybe you don't. But in either case, it's worth reiterating here that Brandon was never charged with a crime in Glenna Haut's death or anyone else's. Out of all of this, though, there was one detail I found particularly strange. The detail was this. Brandon said he didn't know who Glenna Hott was. He claimed not to know her. Bizarre, huh? I assumed that since they ran in the same circles and knew many of the same people, that they had to know each other, but he claims they didn't. During his interview with a Kirksville police detective. This was the detective who is sometimes confused. At the beginning of their interview, which took place right after Glenna died, he had no idea what her name was, so he asked Brandon.

[Detective]

So who's the girl that's at the.

[Brandon Grossheim]

Apartment, the one that was found? I want to say her name is Cara. I'm not really sure if she looks familiar. I know she's hung out with Cody before. I didn't even ask her name or anything. I just knew she looked familiar. I figured she was one of Cody's friends. I didn't want to be embarrassed and make like a who were you again? Kind of thing.

[Detective]

And you don't know her?

[Brandon Grossheim]

Not personally. I don't know if, like, I think, again, I don't know even how. What her relationship is to Cody. The only reason why I guessed it was Cara was because of the fact that Cara is a friend of his who has, I want to say, dark skin, dark hair. And he had talked with her last night over the phone or at least tried to call her and left her a voicemail. Of course, I might be thinking of his stepsister. I don't know if they're the same person. I don't know the name of his stepsister.

[Narrator / Host (Ben Westoff)]

Okay, was this really true? That Brandon didn't know Glenna? Glenna's boyfriend, Terry Yardley, says no, that Glenna and Brandon actually did know each other.

[Terry Yardley]

It doesn't make sense that he wouldn't know her name because we were around there so often. Like me and him, me and Cody became friends at the same time that me and Glenna did, so we knew each other for the same amount of time. And me and her going over there to hang out when he. Whenever he would show up. There's no way he didn't know who she was, because if he didn't know who she was, wouldn't he have Acted a little bit different when he walked into Cody's apartment and saw somebody he didn't know. Yeah. There's no way that Brandon didn't know who Glenna was.

[Narrator / Host (Ben Westoff)]

If that's true, then the question becomes, why would Brandon lie? Was it because he thought that if the cops knew he knew her, this would make him more of a suspect in her death? Or was it because that after being close with the four previous suicide victims, having a relationship with a fifth person who died would seem beyond the pale? There's another weird wrinkle here. If Brandon's story is to be believed, this would be breaking with his pattern, because with so many other people, Brandon had been acting like a kind of amateur crisis counselor. The peacemaker, he called himself. People said he wouldn't leave them alone when it came to the subject of their depression. But with Glenna, he claims not to have inserted himself into the situation. He asked if she needed help. She said no. And so he said, no worries, and just left. That's his story. That doesn't sound like the guy who claimed he was a superhero who could help people in bad situations. Glenna Hott's case leaves many unanswered questions, say Glenna's father and stepmother, and many of them involve Brandon Grossheim.

[Skip (Glenna's Father)]

I would like to find out if she was alive when the guy supposedly left, and I'd like to know if that's the case. If he's telling the truth, why didn't he call 911? That has always boggled my mind.

[Ben Westoff]

If I came across somebody that was obviously that intoxicated and had taken a bad fall, I don't think I would just leave. Even if they said, don't call 911, you know, I think I would. Why would you come and check on somebody across the hall unless it's somebody that you knew? And why, when you found someone in that condition, why would you just turn around and leave?

[Narrator / Host (Ben Westoff)]

I feel awful for Glenna's family and also for her boyfriend, Terry Yardley. Glenna had all but told him she didn't care if she drank herself to death, and there was nothing he could do about it. Here's some heartbreaking audio from Terry's police interview right after they broke the news of her death to him.

[Terry Yardley]

And she had a drinking problem, and I kept trying to help her get better, and I caught her drinking again after they told her she was gonna die if she didn't.

[Detective]

When'd you catch her drinking? Yesterday.

[Terry Yardley]

I caught her on Monday. We've been having problems since then. But last night we called a break.

[Skip (Glenna's Father)]

Not.

[Terry Yardley]

I was just heading over there just now to figure out whether we were still together or not.

[Narrator / Host (Ben Westoff)]

I guess not. He remains bitter about the investigation into Glenna's death. He says initially police wouldn't give him any information about it. They acted at first like he was the guilty party. And when I talked to him, he reserved particular animosity for Brandon Grosseim.

[Terry Yardley]

I better hope I never run into him ever again because I have a lot of questions that need answered. But I don't know if I'll let him get to the point to talk.

[Narrator / Host (Ben Westoff)]

What would be, like, some of the questions you would have for him if you saw him?

[Terry Yardley]

What the fuck happened? That would be my main and only question, really. Like, why didn't you do more, like, go back in and check on her again, maybe? Like, was she in the. Where was she at when you went in there? Was she in the floor? Was she standing? Was she upright? Where was she when you seen her? Like, you heard a thud. What state was she in when you went over there? Like, if she was on the floor, you should have done something other than like, oh, yep, she said she's good.

[Narrator / Host (Ben Westoff)]

Like Terry Yardley and like Glenna Hot's family. I wasn't really satisfied with the investment investigation of her death. Again, just too many unanswered questions. It seemed particularly strange to me that she died in the exact same apartment building where Alex Vogt hung himself, and that both times, Brandon Grossheim was living right across the hallway. I wanted to see this apartment where the deaths happened to try to get some answers. Producer Ryan and I contemplated how we might do this. We came up with a few different schemes before ultimately just deciding to go over there and knock on the door. Kind of a Hail Mary. To our surprise, someone answered and invited us in. 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.

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[Narrator / Host (Ben Westoff)]

Janice Torres here and I'm Austin Hankwitz. We host the podcast Mind the Small Business Success Stories produced by Ruby Studio in partnership with Intuit QuickBooks.

[Ryan Krall]

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[Ben Westoff]

To some incredible small business owners.

[Narrator / Host (Ben Westoff)]

The big thing about working at tech is that it's ever evolving, ever changing. Everyone's a rookie, that's how fast the industry is changing. So what I'm really excited about is.

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[Narrator / Host (Ben Westoff)]

So listen on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. You know what a girl's best friend is not diamonds.

[Terry Yardley]

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[Ben Westoff]

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Terms apply.

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[Ben Westoff]

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[Ryan Krall]

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