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True Crime Garage
Best of True Crime Garage 2024
01:03:59
Best of True Crime Garage 2024 www.TrueCrimeGarage.com Happy New Year to everyone. This week we take a look back and discuss our Top True Crime stories that we covered here in the Garage in 2024. Both the Captain and Nic deliver to you a Top 5 from the True Crime Garage 2024 catalog. If you are looking for some top stories that you may have missed, you have found yourself in the right place.
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Nick
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The Captain
As the same day.
- [00:07]
Nick
Loans offered by NetCredit or lending partner banks and serviced by NetCredit. Applications subject to review and approval. Learn more at netcredit.com partners NetCredit Credit to the people. Get me Will Trent, ABC tonight.
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The Captain
I don't even know where he is.
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Nick
Will Trent is back. You thought she could hide forever. Time to come home. The series that's being called one of the best network procedurals. We're going to solve this case featuring new cast member Gina Rodriguez. I'm a prosecutor.
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The Captain
We deal in truth and facts.
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Nick
Maybe everybody should try that, huh?
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The Captain
Will Trent.
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Nick
The two part season premiere begins tonight on ABC and stream on Hulu. Welcome to True Crime Garage, wherever you are, whatever you are doing, thanks for listening. I'm your host, Nick. And of course with me as always here is the Captain. And we are excited to be kicking off 2025 here with all of you beautiful, wonderful listeners of the Garage Show.
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The Captain
Yeah, it's good to be seen and good to see you in 2025.
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Nick
We've never looked so great.
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The Captain
Never felt better.
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Nick
Never felt better. Well, this week we thought we would take a look at last year and go through some of our favorite episodes of 2024. We know that most of our listeners are hardcore listeners, but you don't get to tune in every week. Life gets in the way, right? You get busy with wonderful family things and events of your own. So here we are to tell you some of our favorite episodes from yesteryear, maybe to point you in the direction of those episodes should your earballs need a little more. True Crime Garage. How's the year starting off for you so far, Captain?
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The Captain
It started off with a bang, my friend. There's nothing better when you're talking to a friend and they go, hey, what's the best episode you've done lately? And you, you say, whatever case. And then they go back and listen and you get a text message saying, these are some of the best episodes you've ever done. So that's why we're here. That's why we're doing this list. Happy 2025.
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Nick
And of course we are recording this one a couple days before it's going to hit your ear out there. But our thoughts and prayers are with the people of New Orleans and really wishing Godspeed. And the best of luck to the investigators down there. The ongoing New Orleans terrorist attack investigation, hopefully by the time this hits your ear, they've sorted it all out and figured everyone is involved and responsible for that terrible attack that occurred down in New Orleans. And shout out to some of our friends who are friends of the show with the New Orleans Office of Homeland Security down there. Godspeed to you guys. So we'll do a little bit of a countdown here today, right, Captain?
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The Captain
Yeah, top five.
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Nick
Top five. Captain's got five. I got five. When we did our true crime documentaries and books and podcasts that we were reviewing true crime that we had consumed in 2024 Countdown, I went first. Would you like for me to go first again this time?
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The Captain
Yeah. Or they say age before beauty.
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Nick
Well, and look, if. If you tune in to a podcast and you enjoy people tooting their own horn, as they say, well, you've come to the right place because we really are going to do nothing but give ourselves very high praise for work that we did last year. And you're going to get to hear me honking quite a bit today on how great we did, because I was reviewing our 2024 catalog and it was, it was a delight to review it.
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The Captain
Because I'm not going to lie there, say so myself.
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Nick
There were so many good cases, so many good true crime stories. I, I'm not going to pretend that we did all of them justice. We, you know, we try our best every, each and every week. There are some stories that are more difficult to tell than others, and each true crime story is unique. You know, that's. That's one thing. The question that I get often is, well, how do you conduct your research and how do you work on preparing the show and organizing the show that you're about to record? And there's no great answer for that. It's not like there's a template that the Captain and I follow and we just check off items as we go doing research and putting together the show. No, every case and every story is unique. It's different. You got to look at each one through a different lens at times. So it is, it can be. It can be difficult to tell some of these stories, and they don't always turn out the way you wanted. And then other times, surprise. You go into it thinking, well, I've done the research, I've put the show together. I'm a little nervous on how this one's going to turn out. And then it turns out to be fantastic. So here we are to celebrate the garage and celebrate 2024 with all of you. I'll kick things off, Captain. So your List is titled I'm a.
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The Captain
Great Guy, Top five Jobs well Done by the Colonel, Fantastic Shows by True Crime Garage. My list is titled the top five episodes of 2024 that we didn't Suck so Bad At Telling.
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Nick
Well, yeah, that's not really the type. The title of mine, I Sucky. I looked at it as a whole because there were some cases that are more interesting than some of the cases that I'm going to say here today. But again, I'm going back to the idea that some of the stories are a little more difficult to tell. Some of them don't lend themselves to great storytelling. And so these are the ones that for any number of reasons stick out in my mind of shows that I'm quite proud of that we did in 2024. So that includes your performance as well, my friend. So my, my number five here.
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The Captain
Well, I'm not judging you, but I guess you're judging me.
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Nick
Well, it is a show, right? And there is two, there are two of us on the show. So if I were look at, to look at it at the cases that I did really well on last year, then it'd be a different list. So my number five is Cabins by the Lake, parts one and two. These are episodes 765 and 766 from June 11and 12. This one was. And I'm going to read the show notes because I don't know how many of our beautiful listeners actually read these show notes, but it's, it's often a quick description of our case story for each week. This is the 17 year old Belinda Van Lith who has been missing for 50 years now. And that's still current. She's still missing. At the time of her disappearance she was described as 5 foot 5 inches tall, about 110 pounds with blonde hair and blue eyes. Belinda was house sitting for a neighbor at the time she failed to attend her sister's going away party on June 15, 1974. Her family contacted the sheriff's office and reported her missing the following day. Accounts from that time have narrowed her disappearance to prior to the party. So she went missing according to the timeline they've been able to put together. Law enforcement. She vanishes shortly before this party is to kick off on June 15, 1974. And law enforcement will tell us time and time again that foul play is very much suspected in her disappearance. And a reminder, anyone with information about Belinda Van Lith is asked to call the Wright County Sheriff's office at 763-682-7879 this case for me was an intriguing one and a listener recommendation. Several listeners had recommended this case. They've still not found this poor young woman. And if you recall Captain, it was one of the neighbors. They lived in this really cool community where it was these nice homes and sometimes you might even describe a plot of land like a farm type setting. But they had these wonderful homes that were all by the lake there and kind of everybody knew everybody's situation. It's believed that one of the neighbors that somehow became aware that this young 17 year old attractive young lady is watching the neighbor's house, house sitting and she's by herself, she's vulnerable. And so it's always kind of been thought that this guy who was a neighbor has something to do with her disappearance. Now a little bit behind the scenes on this case that we didn't discuss when we were covering it. Not only did this story intrigue me and the way that this suspect has been able to dodge police and really this is one of those situations. I don't even know if we had a body if they would be able to arrest him. Right. We see that in a lot of these cases if they just could find the victim, we're pretty certain we know who did it and we're going to put that guy in handcuffs and he's going to have to go to court and face the music. This case. I think most people think they know who is responsible for her disappearance but I'm not convinced that even with a body that that would lead to this individual's arrest. Now we don't know what they have hold back information. I don't suspect that there's a lot but that could change the outcome of that situation. Situation. Now behind the scenes one thing that was intriguing to me is we were, I was assisting Porchlight which is an Ohio nonprofit W.E. victim Advocacy Program that we've set set up years ago. I've been heavily involved. The captains helped us out. We were actively looking for new cases because thank you to all the people that have contributed to the beer fund and people that have contributed to porchlightonline.org we have enough funding to take on a couple more cases for 2025. Actually we were looking for cases for the second part of 2024 and I can't go into the specifics but we this covering Belinda Van Lith's disappearance on True Crime Garage actually led to Porchlight picking up a case, working with law enforcement on a current active case that we started working with law enforcement believe it was in October. So I'm interested to see where that's going to take us and where that will lead. But the short of it, what I can say at this time is there is a case here in Ohio where we have unidentified remains that were found, foul play suspected, where I only came across the case, only became aware of the case because Belinda Van Lith is on the list of exclusions. So if you go to namus, you'll see that oftentimes with these unclaimed or unidentified remains, they'll be exclusions, people that they've been able to exclude either based off of physical appearance or DNA or other factors. Well, our unidentified person here in Ohio had a list of exclusions, Belinda Van Lith being one of them. So that means, and from my understanding, Captain, in this particular case, that exclusion came by way of DNA, meaning that they have Belinda Van List DNA, even though she went missing back in 1974. So reason to have some optimism about Belinda's case. And it was, you never know how you're going to find these cases. And it's always interesting to me when. When one case leads to another. And that certainly happened here. And in some weird, roundabout way, we might be getting justice for somebody else because of Belinda at this point, which would be absolutely amazing. Yeah, so that's my number five cabins by the lake.
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The Captain
My number five is episode 770, the Brian Schaefer interview. Brian Schaefer was 27 when he went missing. He's. He's the famous missing guy that goes into a bar, as seen on CCTV footage going into the bar, but not seen on camera leaving the bar. And this interview was with head detective of the case, John Hurst. And the interview was done with me and Maggie Freeling. Very proud of this episode. It was interesting and an honor to be a part of an interview on a case that I'm very fascinated with. But also Maggie's a real journalist. So just to see how she conducted the interview, the way she was taking notes during the process, the way she was following up with certain questions. And so to take this interview that we did a few years back into edit it down for the show, I thought every year that we do this podcast, I think I learn more about crime. And one of the things I think I learned this year is one of the things that podcasts do, documentaries do, news articles, is we're putting pieces of the puzzle on the table or we're taking those pieces of the puzzle off the table. And so the more that we can put on the table, the better picture of the case we can get. And I think that's what this interview does. It gives us a better understanding of the case, but also better understanding of how law enforcement was looking into the disappearance of 27 year old Brian Schaefer.
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Nick
Those were great episodes. The other thing too, don't sell yourself short. What was great for me as a listener on that one was that, you know, you have Maggie with her background, but also you with your background, you have an intimate knowledge of Columbus, Ohio, having grown up in Columbus, Ohio, lived in Columbus, Ohio for a very long time, and also an understanding of the, let's call it the music scene for Columbus, Ohio. Because we do know that that is part of the story. Brian was there with friends and there was a band playing that night. And so you were able to offer an intriguing perspective from somebody that is a Columbus native. Which in a lot of tellings of Brian's story, his disappearance, it's not being told by people that are from here or from the area. So it adds a different layer to the, the storytelling and to that interview. My number four captain is Rashawn Brazell, which was episodes we. It's parts one through three kind of. I mean we covered the case in parts one and two, but it's really because of the third episode. So these were episodes 741, 742 and 743 from March of last year. Early March, March, 6th, 7th and 8th were the release dates of those episodes. But it's really episode three that that made this make it on the list for me. So the show notes are in late February of 2005, a crew working the A line subway tunnel in Brooklyn, New York found dismembered body parts in trash bags. Later, the victim was identified as 19 year old Rashawn Brazelle. Rashawn had vanished three days earlier. The New York City Police Department searched all over the country for clues. All over the country. Rashawn's murder case was profiled several times on America's Most Wanted and we covered it in the garage in 2024. It's one of those weird cases. It sits in the unsolved bin. But many consider it to be solved. Just the person responsible has not been tried and convicted of Rashawn's murder. In fact, the person believed to be responsible has been tried and convicted of another murder. And he's never getting out of prison or hopefully never gets out of prison because this guy is a serial killer. It was episode three, 743 that really made me want to include this one on my list because we interviewed Rashawn's mother, Desire, and it was to discuss the case and also where it stands today because she's quite angry that they are refusing to charge this individual with her son's murder. And I, and we backed her 100%. There seems to be evidence, there seems to be reason to, to try it. However, it feels like it's not a slam dunk case and it seems like they're hesitant to try it because it's not a slam dunk case. And the guy is already locked up and he doesn't seem to be going anywhere and probably will never get out. So it's a situation where they feel they being the district attorney's office, that it's kind of a no win situation for them, right? Like it's, it's, it's. If they take the chance, they could lose the case, right? If, if they win it, what are they really gaining? Because this guy's already going to be in prison forever. Well, but no, the mom says, I want you to, I want you guys to see this through. And you guys told me, right, you told me that you were going to, you're going to see this through and that you're going to get justice for my son and that you're going to punish the individual to the full extent of the law when this individual is caught. And that has not happened. And she has nudged them very politely all along the way, trying to get them and to remind them. And what was so with this case in this story? And I like that we get to do these, look in the rearview mirror and recommend some of these episodes to people because it gives an opportunity to, for us to explain some things that wouldn't be necessary to the storytelling of the case. Some of the behind the scenes stuff. And with this one, what happened was the only reason why we spoke with Desire was, look, she's a bulldog, man. She, she has made it up in her mind that she loved her son. Her son was like, like her best friend. And she decided, I'm gonna fight for my son no matter what. Nothing's going to stand in my way. I'm going to fight for him. So we get in touch with Desire only because of the detective. So I reached out to the detective to get some information on this case because I was a little clueless when I was going through the research and putting everything together. I'm like, I just don't understand why this individual hasn't been charged for Rashawn's murder. I'm talking to the detective, and he gave us some. Some information that you couldn't find in the. In the newspapers and online. And so I was very thankful. But he did tell me. He said, look, Nick, you have to talk to Rashad's mom. I said, okay, I'm happy to speak with her if you say that's what I should do. He goes, no. He goes, I promised this woman. She made me promise her that anytime her son's case is talked about, that she gets a chance to weigh in. And I said, I told the detective, absolutely. I mean, if that's a mother's wish, I. We. We. We are not going to stand in the way of a mother's wish. I said, so give me her email, give me her phone number. I'll reach out to her. Just listening to her talk in that third episode and listening to her talk about her son and talk about her case and how she believes it could have been handled differently, I cannot say enough nice things about Rashawn's mother. It was, and it was really powerful from, even from a podcaster's perspective to have that interview. And look, we've interviewed plenty of family members of victims, but this is one that I will absolutely never forget.
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The Captain
Well, I think there was a question on whether we put it on the main feed or if we put it on off the record. And what I was saying five minutes ago, this adds pieces of the puzzle to the case, and that's why we thought it was important to put on the main feed.
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Nick
That's exactly right.
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The Captain
So my number four is 11 skulls episodes 788 and 789. This is the episode that we did with Josh Hallmark from True Crime Bullshit and Dakota and Josh from Somewhere in the Pines podcast. This was our discussion, if you will, on serial killer Israel Keys, American Serial killer that I've always been fascinated with. And so this was a way, because Israel Keys has been covered so many times. A little behind the scenes for the beautiful listeners. When a case has been covered so much or a serial killer has been covered so much, we try to think, is there something that we could bring to the table? Can we do something different to still cover the same information, but doing it in a different way? And so this was a discussion between the five of us, and it was a tough one to edit because there were so many voices, but I think worth it in the end. So my number four is 11 skulls episodes 788 and 789 on your true Crime garage radio dial.
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Nick
Well, and it was really fun. To work with those guys, guys on mike and off mic. All three of them are brilliant in, in the stuff that they're putting together and the stuff that they're putting out. And so it was really fascinating to hear what it is that they are up to. And Josh from True Crime is like a walking Encyclopedia Britannica about the case. Like, you can ask him any detail from any year and he's got some information that he can tell you. And so talking with him was fascinating, was fantastic. And then the guys from Somewhere in the Pines who are just doing next level when it comes to what they're doing with, with the Israel Keys case, actually going out and looking for these hidden, concealed, buried kill kits that Keys put around the. The country.
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The Captain
What I thought was so fascinating with talking with both those podcasts are their. Their podcasts are about the same case every week. So you want to talk about a true deep dive where as we cover different cases every week. So there's a fascinating aspect of that because, man, there's about five cases I would love to just cover and talk about every week and I probably could find some new piece of information every week to discuss. But also it's fascinating to see both True Crime bullshit and Somewhere in the Pines podcasts that are, hands down, going to make a difference and the outcome of those cases because of Josh's work and because Somewhere in the Pines work, we're going to have more information and we're going to be able to identify more victims and give answers to family members of those victims because of their work.
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Nick
When we come back, the top three of 2024. But first, a quick beer break. A few years ago, while digging through a box in storage, I expected to find old keepsakes from the 1990s. Instead, I found VHS tapes and police reports detailing a murder that happened in Dayton, Ohio. Police arrested Jim McWhorter and Timothy Powell for the Triangle park murder. And as the two are brought to jail, McWhirter blames Terrell.
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The Captain
I did do it.
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Nick
Right there in the mother. Right there. As I dug through the contents of the box, I uncovered that the murderer may have been connected to a group who called themselves the Lords of Death. I'm Thrasher Banks, host of the new.
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The Captain
Tenderfoot TV show Lords of Death.
- [26:16]
Nick
Join me as I unpack the box and discover connections between the Lords of Death and a slew of unsolved murders. They're just two little scrawny men, but what makes them so scary is their emptiness, their lack of conscience. People like that, you know, are capable of doing anything. Lords of Death is available now. Listen for free on Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcast. This message is sponsored by Greenlight Looking ahead is important. It's important to teach kids important life skills like financial literacy. It's easy to do with Greenlight. Greenlight is a debit card and money app made for families that lets kids learn how to save, invest and spend wisely. Kids and teens build money, confidence and skills in a fun, accessible way like with games. Plus set up chores and reward kids with allowance for a job well done. Greenlight is the easy, convenient way to raise financially smart kids. Millions of parents and kids are learning about money on Green Light already. We send our kids off to these great schools with great teachers, but guess what? They are not teaching them at school. Financial literacy. You need to teach your kids mom and dad. It's your job to teach them about money. And the thing I love about Greenlight that is your powerful tool to help teach your kids financial literacy. But Greenlight also teaches your kids to set goals and the reward for achieving those goals Start your risk free Greenlight trial today@greenlight.com garage that's greenlight.com garage to get started.
- [27:53]
The Captain
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- [29:08]
Nick
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- [31:47]
The Captain
All right, tall cans in the the air. Thanks for telling your mother. Thanks for telling your brother. Cheers everybody. And cheers to you Colonel.
- [31:57]
Nick
Cheers to you Captain. Cheers to all of the wonderful beautiful listeners out there. Thank you for being along for the ride for 2024 and we hope you are buckled up and strapped in for 2025 because we got a lot of interesting cases and true crime stories coming your way. The calendar is shaping up nicely for 2025. My number three True Crime Garage episodes for 2024 captain is the Florida Vampire episodes parts one and two. This is episodes 749 and 750 from April April 9th and 10th in November of 1985 in Malabar, Florida, authorities responded to a strange and disturbing call. A young woman who had been abducted the day before someh to escape from her captor's home. A motorist found the young woman on the side of the road. He took her to his home for both her protection and to call first responders for help. The woman described to detectives what the abductor had subjected her to over the last 22 hours. An abduction case was rare. But perhaps the most startling detail of the woman's story was that the man who had abducted offered her a ride. He had then tortured her in his home. He also drank the woman's blood. These two episodes were about John Brennan Crutchley. He is a convicted kidnapper and rapist widely regarded to be a serial killer. The numbers are astonishing because he's suspected of potentially having murdered up to 30 women. It is my belief in many in law enforcement as well, that the woman who managed to escape from his home, he would have killed her. Remember, if you listen to those episodes, he. They found in his possession driver's licenses of missing women and murdered women. We've seen with serial killers, they take trophies, for a lack of a better term. Yeah, and it's a little Hollywood esque, Right. It's, it's. It's kind of something ripped right out of a movie that the serial killer would keep a driver's license or state identification card, but he had these in.
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The Captain
His possession in the movies because it's based on reality.
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Nick
That's right. He had these in his possession with no explanation for why he would have had these items. So, yeah, this one, this is a case. We really kind of boiled it down. And what I mean by boiling it down is 30 might be an ambitious number for the potential number of victims of this guy. But he, he had lived in. In a few different states. And what we were able to do in those episodes was to. To give a. A good look at the timeline of his life and where he was at what years and what he was doing in those areas. And then also cross reference that with murder victims or missing women in that area from those times. And so we kind of boiled it down from about 30 potential victims to, I think we had him somewhere between 12 and 16. And some of the victims look to be stronger. There's a stronger argument for some of these victims that he's responsible than others, of course. But, yeah, he's never been officially convicted of murder, but suspected of having killed many women, several women. And he's called the Vampire rapist. That's his nickname. We called him the Florida Vampire. He's the Vampire rapist because he drained the blood of his one confirmed victim almost to the point of death. And he also is on record saying that There were other women that he didn't kill, that he drank their blood, as well as some, as some kind of sexual thing that he was into. Now this, this, these episodes were strange. As I said earlier, each case, each true crime story is unique and you have to take a different approach with each one. And a lot of times I don't know exactly the approach that I'm going to take when I start researching a case or how we're going to tell the story. A lot of times it's kind of presented to me along the way at some point. And really this case started off with the episodes that came out just prior to the vampire, the Florida Vampire episodes. So the episodes prior, 747 and 748 on your true Crime garage listening dial, those were titled Murder at NAS Norfolk. And what happened there was Carol Ann Molnar, a 21 year old Navy clerk, disappeared February 6th of 1983. Her body was found about three months later at the Naval Air Station in Norfolk, Virginia. So one of her relatives reached out to the show and said look, I, I'm related to Carol Ann Molnar and her case is still unsolved. And not only is it unsolved, but I believe it was. NCIS is the investigating agency the lead on this case. Well, NCIS is quite secretive, right? You don't see them in the newspapers or on the news openly talking about their, their open cases very often. So the relative reached out to us and said look, you guys do, I tune in and I, I hear stuff on your guys's show, details about cases and stories that I, I don't hear elsewhere. So somehow you guys are finding this information. We, our family, we do not know very much about our relative's murder case. There's not much in the newspapers and NCIS is not talking anything that we could learn about the case. We, we want to know more about it. So can you guys do some digging and, and tell us what you find? And really her case is still, still quite the mystery. And one thing we did determine is it was long suspected that her murder was connected to another murder, the murder of Pamela Ann Kimbrough. We did a lot of looking and analyzing that potential and really I think that argument falls apart rather quickly. I don't think those two cases are connected. In fact, Pamela Ann Kimbrough's case has been solved somewhat recently. It was a cold case, but they did make an arrest and that guy is put away forever. We were able to provide Carolyn's family with some more information that they had not had prior to contacting us. So I was very proud of that. But what it spilled into was that John Brennan Crutchley, the vampire rapist slash Florida vampire, was considered or is considered by some to be a suspect in the Carol Ann Molnar murder. And while we don't think that he is responsible, what it turned into was this huge story that ultimately took four episodes to tell. There was enough activity in the area of Norfolk at the time of Carol Ann Molnar's murder in 1983 that we had to tell all that story before we could even get to this John Brennan Crutchley guy. Because his. The things he suspected of and the things that we were potentially able to tie him to. It's a long list of. Of horrific things that this guy is suspected of having committed.
- [39:49]
The Captain
Yeah. And like what we're talking about last week, evidence found on the killer with these IDs. And you just wonder what compels them to hold on to this evidence that could lead them to be found guilty of other crimes?
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Nick
Yeah, it's hard to say. But my guess is that with a lot of these types that this is something that they've long desired to do. They've long fantasized about committing these types of crimes, and therefore when they do, they need some kind of something to hold on to, to relive it. Because for them, it's like one of their greatest achievements. Right. Like, if you and I were to go out play high school football and win the state.
- [40:33]
The Captain
Yeah. Never would happen.
- [40:35]
Nick
They would give us a trophy and we, we could hang on to that forever and, and keep it if we wish. Well, that would be a major accomplishment for a normal person. For these types, these kind of acts are their major accomplishment.
- [40:50]
The Captain
Well, that's a great number three. A lot of twists and turns. And my number three has a lot of twists and turns. Also. My number three is out or in episode 787. This is about Bob Gill. He was a bar owner. He turned around a failing bar to become a successful bar. Years later, he goes missing. He is found miles away from where he should be, dressed as a ninja out in the fields. And that's just the beginning of this tale. This is one of the true crime stories that if I'm at a party and I start talking about Bob Gill's case, people don't even believe it. They. They think you're making most of it up, which is just proof that the truth is stranger than fiction.
- [41:44]
Nick
It does sound like something from a crime fiction book. Right? It really, truly does. And it's an incredibly fascinating case and one where we're pretty sure we know who did it. But then it comes down to going to prove it. Yeah. Can you prove it? And it wasn't the only murder discussed in that episode because there were, there was another homicide that seems like this, this guy was masterful at duping people out of their money, but also probably having to commit murder to do so. Or at least Bob's case.
- [42:23]
The Captain
Yeah. It's almost like the murders are secondary to the con man job.
- [42:29]
Nick
The greed driven killer who will kill multiple people for his own advancement and his own greed. My number two captain. I have Apex Predator parts one and two, episodes 743 and 744 from March. Those came out in March 12th and 13th of 2024. The Virginia State Police and the FBI are calling Allen Wade Wilmer Sr. A serial killer after his death. Alan Wade Wilmer Sr. Was linked to three murders. Two of those murders are part of the series known as the Colonial Parkway Murders. Alan Wade Wilmer Sr. Killed David Knobling and Robin Edwards in Isle of Wight in 1987. And he is also responsible for the murder of Teresa Howe in Hampton, Virginia. This week in the garage. Sorry, this is from the show Notes. This week in the garage, Nick and the captain discuss how police linked Alan Wilmer to these murders, discussing where the other Parkway cases stand in relation to him being a good suspect. So I was always and have been for a very long time consumed by the Colonial Parkway murders. Yeah, just a case that, it was one that we, you know, we covered many years ago. And one thing that's so unique about that case in compared to other serial killer cases, and I'm talking about unidentified serial killer cases. It's. We have these series of murders and no one can really, if you, if you collected a hundred people that were involved in this story, the overarching story of all eight of these, it's technically six murders and two disappearances. But it's, it's, let's go ahead and say eight murders because those, the disappeared people, they've not been seen forever. I mean, for, for over 30 years by this point. These eight homicides were broken up into four different events or attacks. And if you collected the different jurisdictions and people that worked the cases or people that were affected by the cases being the family members of these eight victims, you're not going to get all of them to agree 100% that these cases are in fact all committed by the same perpetrator or perpetrators. I want to make sure we say that because. Because I have some suspicions about Allen Associates of Alan Wade Wilmer Senior. But it took all of this time, Captain, to finally connect and solve two of the cases. So David Knobling and Robin Edwards were out together at Isle of Wight in 1987, where they were, it looks to me, and based off of what we now know about the case, that the killer stumbled upon these two and for a lack of better term, hunted them down in the middle of the night. When he stumbled upon them, they're out just having a good time, and they come across an absolute monster with a shotgun. So I was very happy to see that they've advanced the case. We also talked about some of the weird problems and maybe even weird stumbles by Virginia State Police and the FBI on this case, because Alan Wade Wilmer Sr. Turns out, was a suspect in one of the other cases. He was one of their prime suspects at one point, and they moved on from him.
- [46:15]
The Captain
Yeah.
- [46:15]
Nick
And never really circled back to him. And then he's later, after he dies. Well, after he's dead, they say, well, we have DNA evidence that tells us that he is absolutely responsible for these two murders that are part of the Colonial Parkway series. But also this Teresa Howe from Hampton, Virginia, that we didn't know was connected to any of those other murders at all. And one thing we were able to do, too, is to look at his activities best that we could find and bring up some other potential victims of his.
- [46:54]
The Captain
Well, like you said, in the Colonial Parkway murders, there's eight murder victims. So then if you add the other case, now we got nine victims. And is he only responsible for those nine, or could there be a plethora of other victims?
- [47:11]
Nick
And I think that there are. And we did point out some. In fact, we pointed out one victim in particular who has a direct connection from victim to him as a suspect. So look into that and. And check those ones out, if you haven't already. Apex predator.
- [47:34]
The Captain
Yeah. And you could go back and listen to the original Parkway murders coverage, add those to your list, and now you got a whole series. So my number two, which is weirdly, it's kind of part of a series, even though we didn't label it as such, is West Memphis 3 a harvest of Innocence? This is where you were able to sit down with Dan Stidham, defense attorney for Jesse Misskelley, and the famous West Memphis Three case episodes. 756. 757. The reason why I say it's kind of a part of a series and it really didn't get its due because I think we confused the listeners a little bit. We put out our original coverage of the West Memphis three, followed it up with these two episodes where you sat down and talked with Dan Stidham about his book and about his time and his involvement in the West Memphis three case. But then after that we had a two part series where it was just me and you discussing where are our thoughts at on this case so many years after we originally covered it.
- [48:47]
Nick
Yeah. And 30 years after the case took place. So maybe I don't know what the best way to do this is because you're spot on with your, with what you're saying here is that it kind of got lost in the sauce a little bit. And that was similar to what took place with our JonBenet Ramsey coverage because we were, we're at CrimeCon earlier in 2024 and several people that had come up to our table. Oh, by the way, if you want to attend CrimeCon 2025, it's in September in the beautiful city of Denver. Tickets are available now. Please use our promo code tcg. You can save. I think it's spent on your, on your purchase. But regardless, you will save a little bit of CA. But we're at CrimeCon and several people come up to us and they're like, I love your guys's coverage of JonBenet Ramsey. And I remember going, oh yeah, did you like the new episodes that we put out? So we put out additional JonBenet Ramsey episodes in December of 2023. Having already covered Ramsey, when did we first cover that 21? I believe it'd been a couple years. Yeah, but, but we added six or seven more episodes of JonBenet Ramsey coverage. And what we did was we re released our previous Ramsey coverage and then followed it up with the additional episodes. Or maybe we had the additional episodes first. I don't remember the exact order. But what we're doing here with the West Memphis Three stuff is similar where we're kind of setting the table. Right. Like here's what we've already discussed because in a lot of these cases, our initial coverage, we're going through the timeline, we're going through the facts, we're going through the questions that remain. So that that is the case, that is the big bulk of the case itself. Now we're revisiting it and looking at it through a different lens and from a different angle. And it would be redundant to go through the entire timeline again or go through the entire list of evidence again. Because we've already covered that and a lot of times, especially with West Memphis Three and JonBenet Ramsey just going through the timeline and the evidence takes up a full episode or two anyway. And so we would never really get to the new angle, the new looking at it through a different lens. And so we've kind of set the table that way, but then it gets lost on the listeners. Not, not at large, but in some form and fashion. So maybe, I don't know if there's, if there, if any of the listeners have a great suggestion.
- [51:29]
The Captain
Yeah.
- [51:29]
Nick
Of, of a way that we could do that and present that better to you so that it's not lost. Because what we had was a lot of people with JonBenet said, what do you mean you did new episodes? Well, just last December, we released several new episodes where we, we spoke with John Anderson, who was, was good friends with Lou Smith. We spoke with Stephen and Joyce Singular, who wrote Presumed Guilty, which is one of the more fascinating JonBenet Ramsey investigation books. And we brought in all these additional people to help us look at the case and really discussed a lot of information that was not covered in our first go round with it.
- [52:14]
The Captain
Yeah, it's like, like I said, it was us putting more pieces of the puzzle on the table.
- [52:19]
Nick
Well, and so a lot of the, my, the responses I was getting was, oh, I just thought that you were re. Releasing the episodes. I didn't realize that there was new stuff. And so I was very happy to point out that yes, there is new stuff. And one thing that we set out to do when we first started doing True Crime Garage, we didn't know how we were going to do a lot of what it is that we do. And that certainly morphed and evolved and changed throughout the years.
- [52:48]
The Captain
Yeah.
- [52:49]
Nick
But one thing we did set out to do when we first started a conversation that the captain and I had was we don't want to be one of these shows that discusses a case and then never discusses that case ever again. And of course we are. There's good and bad with covering a new case each and every week. We would be remiss if we didn't revisit cases when there was new angles to explore or an update.
- [53:15]
The Captain
Yeah, it seems like every week now I am running into new pieces of the puzzle and old cases that we've covered. I almost feel like I should do some kind of tick tock series or YouTube series where I just go, hey, you remember the JonBenet Ramsey case? Well, here's a piece of information you probably never heard before or, you know, the West Memphis three case, here's a piece of information you might never heard before. And some of those pieces of information, when they're new, it can alter the way you examine the other pieces of the puzzle that you already know.
- [53:58]
Nick
Yeah, and a lot of times too, for those of you that have not checked out our subscription show off the Record yet, a lot of times too, those updates or further discussions about cases that we've covered will be featured on off the Record. And a lot of that has to do with just the amount of information. You know, we do get a lot of people, wonderful people that will email and say, hey Nick, hey, the captain, there's been an update in one of your guys's cases. Do you plan to revisit it? And we almost always do. You just may not hear it because it, it does most of the time find its way to off the Record. Because if an update, it only takes us 15 or 20 minutes to discuss, then it, it doesn't really necessarily warrant putting it on the big show here. So there are a lot of updates and a lot of further discussions on off the Record and. But that was a case where Dan Stidham, who is somebody that we've always wanted to talk to, I mean there, there's no shortage of people that we would want to talk to regarding the West Memphis three case. But he was certainly high on that list and the opportunity to speak with him and he's, he's, he's like the captain and I, he's a long winded fella. So we, we got to talk to him a lot and he doesn't.
- [55:16]
The Captain
What I like to drink a little bit too well.
- [55:20]
Nick
Well, I do. I actually, he didn't join me in a drink, unfortunately, because of a health concern at the time.
- [55:26]
The Captain
But, well, we hope that he's back to drinking.
- [55:30]
Nick
The thing here is though, what I appreciated about Dan was he didn't pull any punches. Right. If there was something on his mind or a thought that he had about the case, he's not reluctant to share because he, he's aggravated that it's drug on for so long and he's moved on with his career. He's now a judge. But I appreciated that he wasn't. You know, you get sometimes when you talk to somebody that, you know, has great information about a case and they're a little guarded and he, he wasn't, he was all walls down. I'll tell you whatever it is that you want to know. If I know something about a detail about the case. I, he was willing to discuss it with us and he certainly did on those episodes. My number one here, Captain, and you'll see maybe you see a little bit of a theme with some of my choices for our, our picks here. A lot of it has to do with not just episodes that I'm very proud of, but also episodes where we've furthered the coverage of a case. And then in this particular case where there was a, a major update leading to an arrest. This, my number one episode was Sharif Rahman from January of last year. And that was January 9th, the release date. It's episode number 728. The show notes are on Thursday night, August 2023. So we were covering this just months after this unfortunate event when Sharif Rahman was murdered. Business owner and pillar of the community, Sharif Rahman was attacked outside of his Owen Sound, Ontario restaurant. Sadly, Sharif did not survive. So he, he goes to the hospital from these horrific injuries that he sustained during this attack, this brutal attack that involved three men. And the, the Owen Sound Police Department were asking the public for help to identify the three men that they believed were all linked to the murder of Sharif Rahman. So he's attacked. There were photographs of suspects who they were calling suspects number one and two fleeing the scene. And there were also some vehicles that police had questions about that they believe may be involved in this homicide. So this one really stuck with me for a lot of reasons. And I've said this openly on the show many times. There are some cases that bother me more than on an emotional level, bother me more than others. And I don't know why that is. There is doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason for it. But this one really bothered me. Maybe I can give a little rhyme and reason to this one. Part of it was the wonderful nice things that people of this community had to say about Sharif. He was a husband and a father and a business owner. And he also was an individual that volunteered his time to helping others and he used his restaurant to try to feed the local homeless community as well. I mean, so just a guy that's doing wonderful, amazing things and he gets attacked by these three people that were patrons of his restaurant. Yeah. If not just for that one single night.
- [58:50]
The Captain
Pieces of.
- [58:52]
Nick
Absolute pieces of. And what, what I loved about this one was there was an update. This did lead to the arrest. It was actually they arrested three individuals and the case was rather complicated. The investigation was rather complicated because it was international. They arrested some individuals from the uk. We're glad to see that that case is moving in the right direction. And sadly, Sharif left behind a young daughter. And it's just. It's one of those. It's one of those attacks and horrific public violence scenarios that you just would never dream up, especially for this victim, because this victim. There was no. I mean, there's no reason for most of these victims to be a victim and any of the cases that we cover. But. But to see a person who is best described as a cherished member of the community being assaulted so badly that he dies in the hospital was just beyond belief and, and beyond comprehension for. For me. And so I was. So we had locals, locals who reached out to True Crime Garage and asked us to cover it, because the. The police were searching for these individuals and were wanting help, and they actually believed. They. They said it in some of their statements to the public. We have reason to believe that there's a potential that these suspects are not local because this is an area that people travel to, to visit on vacation and what have you. And also that we've made enough of a public plea that we think that if they were local and mind you, at the same time, there were people, a huge outpouring for this man's death and for his murder. A huge outpouring of people going to public vigils and candlelight vigils and, And. And trying to come together as a community to help solve this case and make an arrest as a community working with the police force there. So they had some reason to believe that there's a potential, high potential, that these suspects are not local, and therefore they needed people to spread the word wide and far. And I was very happy that we were, in a small way, part of that, spreading the word and so quickly to rush to doing it too, because it's not often that we are covering a case just months after. After it broke. And so we. We were. I was very proud that we could be a part, even if it was in some small way to. To spreading the information, spreading awareness about the case, and most importantly, spreading awareness that police are looking for two or three individuals that they believe are responsible. And, oh, by the way, we have images of two of these individuals, we have images of vehicles we believe are tied to this case. And so there is a breadcrumb trail here. We just need you, John Q. Public, to help us connect the dots.
- [61:58]
The Captain
Yeah. So I want to thank all the listeners that follow us on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, all that stuff that shared those images, because it all helps. And, and I like to go on social media myself and watch silly videos and videos where people are singing karaoke badly. And I like to share the, the funny videos or things that I think are funny to, to my friends so they have a little laugh and. But I also think that these posts are very important to share as well, to spread the word. And maybe somebody in another country sees your story that you posted and goes, I think I know that guy because of people sharing this stuff on social media and through the Internet. This is how law enforcement gets more tips. And like the colonel said, we have three men that have been arrested. There's not a lot of information about that as we stand today, but it's something I'm sure we're going to update eventually on off the record. So my number one is maybe a little self serving, but it's our four part series episodes 802 to 805. Robert Wan and the reason why this is self serving is because my favorite episodes that we do are the cases that lead to discussion points and where we can speculate a little bit or have a little bit of a back and forth. Because I always feel like I learn more about the case by going, well what about this? Or what do you think of this? You never seem to amaze me. No, you never cease to amaze me that you always come up with some angle on a piece of evidence or, or some speculation that I, I just never would have thought of of my own.
- [64:04]
Nick
Well, I appreciate you saying that, that I can't always do that with every case. But the cases when we're, when we're working on them and before we hit record on, on the episodes, 95% of the time, like I'm, I'm almost living and breathing the case for the days leading up to recording it to the point where I'm like, can't sleep at night lying in bed thinking about something, driving me nuts about the case. And so sometimes I'm able to come up with something of consideration and other times not. But yeah, that was one of those cases that definitely kept me up at night for several nights in a row. And it's, it's one of those cases that I think they, I think from a strategy standpoint law enforcement and the prosecution had the right idea of charging those individuals with conspiracy. Unfortunately, it just didn't shake out as good of a job as I believe that they did. It's that convoluted of a case, it's that tricky of a case that it's just too hard to get a conviction in something that, that confusing Really, I mean, that's. The best way to describe that case is confusing.
- [65:26]
The Captain
Yeah. And a little behind the scenes for the listeners. We, we have had to argue for the fact that when you have ads on your show, they want a set schedule. And what we've had to argue or push back on consistently. Every time we have a contract negotiation, we have to argue. We let the case determine how many episodes it's going to be. If there's enough to talk about for six episodes, we're going to do that. If there's only enough information to give the public for one episode, that's what the case will be. Let the case dictate how we cover the case.
- [66:14]
Nick
Yeah. And I, and I don't want to chastise other podcasts because everybody, they have their own, they have their own formula. But, but one thing that I think is a little annoying and it's not most true crime podcasts, most true crime podcasts don't handle it this way. But there are some out there and the listeners will, They've come across the same thing. So they'll share, they'll share my disdain for this with me. But there are some shows out there that are very cookie cutter, where it doesn't matter if they're talking about the Zodiac case or a case that happened an hour down the road that you've never heard of before. They're a 30 minute show. And they, they put it, they put what they can into 30 minutes or 45 minutes or whatever, whatever their time schedule is, and that's it for their coverage of the case, whether. Whether it warrants further coverage or not. And I just, I can't. You and I can't operate that way.
- [67:15]
The Captain
Yeah, that's not a show that we want to put out.
- [67:17]
Nick
Right. And it. So we will dedicate an episode to each and every one of these victims that we possibly can. But sometimes the case warrants. The story warrants a second, third or fourth episode. And we've gone even further than that before. And like we said before, we always try to revisit a case when it is warranted. We always try to revisit a case when needed. And so we just absolutely cannot stress this enough and cannot say it enough. We shout it from the mountaintops, Captain, that we, we love each and every one of you and we thank you for being along with us for this incredible ride and enjoy and joining us each and every week in the garage. I say that with open arms. Group hug. We can just do a quick group hug right here.
- [68:08]
The Captain
They always tell me every year at Crimecon, they always pull me aside. The people from Crimecon, they pull me aside. They say, captain, can you explain something to me? And I go, what is it? I'm pretty knowledgeable. What do you need to know? They go, why is it that True Crime Garage fans are the smartest, best looking? They smell better, they feel better. Why are they the best listeners on the planet? And I say, I. I don't know. They just are. They just are. So we want to thank you so much for listening and joining us each and every week. Thanks for a great 2024. Onward and upward in 2025. Make sure you tell your mother, make sure you tell your brother, and make sure you subscribe to True Crime Garage. And until next week, be good, be.
- [69:04]
Nick
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