The Murder Book: A True Crime Podcast

BKC Productions

Each week, The Murder Book will present unsolved cases, missing persons, notorious crimes, controversial cases, and serial killers, exploring details of the crime scenes and the murderer's childhood. Some episodes are translated into Spanish as well. The podcast is produced and hosted by Kiara Coyle. 

  1. 2D AGO

    The Von Stein Family Tragedy Part XIX: The Von Stein Arrests

    Send us Fan Mail The case changes the moment the handcuffs go on, and it never stops changing after that. We pick up with Bart’s arrest and a quiet, rushed arraignment designed to keep the public from noticing, then watch that secrecy unravel as Chris is arrested at home and the town starts buzzing with leaks, reporters, and fear. With first-degree murder charges on the table and the death penalty looming, the early hours feel less like a clean search for truth and more like a race to control the story.  From there, we track the legal machinery that decides what the public learns and when: grand jury indictments that help prosecutors avoid early hearings, discovery motions that reveal how little the defense can actually see, and bond hearings that separate who gets to go home from who stays behind bars. We also dig into the human side of the Von Stein family tragedy in Beaufort County, including the phone calls, breakdowns, and family fractures that erupt when someone is accused of murder and insists they were framed.  Then the motive conversation lands like a thunderclap: news reports of a multimillion-dollar estate bring inheritance into the spotlight, while investigators and attorneys maneuver around witness statements, private detectives, and mounting media coverage. The pressure peaks with a plea bargain that turns Neil Henderson into the state’s key witness, complete with a rehearsal-style “trial before the trial,” and we end on a final development that reshapes everything heading into court.  If you’re following the Von Stein murder case, true crime legal strategy, or how plea deals and public narratives collide, you’ll want every detail here. Subscribe, share this with a friend who loves court-room true crime, and leave a review with the question you can’t stop thinking about. Support the show

    1h 26m

  2. APR 27

    Van Stein Family Tragedy Episode XVIII: Bart "Moog" Upchurch On The Lamb In Raleigh

    Send us Fan Mail He walks away from house arrest and convinces himself it’s a great adventure, a cat and mouse chase where he is smarter than the police. Bart Upchurch drifts through Raleigh and the NC State campus on borrowed keys and borrowed time, reading under trees, checking out Moby-Dick, and writing diary entries that swing from political anger to an almost unbearable loneliness. It’s the kind of true crime story where the details feel ordinary until you realize how close danger is in every scene. Then the case turns. Neil Henderson starts talking, investigators retrace the murder night step by step, and the search for the missing baseball bat becomes a race between evidence and escape. Stakeouts fail, rumors spread, and officers work angles that are both methodical and messy, from campus alerts to disguised searches in the woods. When the bat is finally found, the net tightens fast. A thunderstorm becomes the backdrop for the moment everything changes: a patrol officer spots a suspicious figure, Bart tries a false identity, and police search the backpack that carries books, tapes, and a knife. What follows is a last burst of flight, a hard stop, an interrogation room, and the instant a first-degree murder warrant lands with full weight. If you’re drawn to investigative twists, fugitive psychology, and the realities behind a manhunt, listen now, then subscribe, share the show, and leave a review so more people can find The Murder Book. Support the show

    46 min

  3. APR 20

    The Von Stein Family Tragedy XVII: How A Forgotten Army Bag Cracked A Family Murder Plot

    Send us Fan Mail One abandoned army knapsack on a back porch becomes the thin thread detectives tug until an entire murder-for-inheritance plan starts to unravel. We follow John Taylor and Chief Crone as they walk the bag through Raleigh, comparing half-memories and denials, trying to figure out who owned it and why it showed up at the Von Stein house. The smallest details start to feel loud: a car parked too far from a dorm, a story that doesn’t quite fit, and a circle of friends who suddenly seem careful with their words. If you love investigative true crime, this is the kind of episode where a single object turns into a map. Then the pressure spikes. A troubled suspect under house arrest cuts his ankle band and vanishes, and the case shifts from slow frustration to urgent pursuit. At a Wendy’s near campus, detectives press Neil, a friend who seems weak enough to crack but steady enough to surprise them. When he hints he can “lay the whole thing out,” the investigation collides with courtroom reality: prosecutors worry about deals, tainted testimony, and procedure, while detectives fear the chance will slip away if they wait. What follows is the statement that changes everything. Neil describes an inheritance motive, hand-drawn maps, a key for entry, and a plan meant to look like a burglary. He recounts the night drive to Washington, clothes changed on the road, a ski mask and black shoe polish, a bat and a knife, and the sickening aftermath of burning evidence and washing mud from the car. Listen through to the end for the part that hurts the most: what guilt does to a person, and who they tell first when the secret finally becomes too heavy. If this episode pulls you in, subscribe, share it with a friend, and leave a review telling us which detail felt like the real turning point. Support the show

    1h 4m

  4. APR 5

    The Von Stein Family Tragedy Part XVI: Dungeons And Dragons As A Murder Rehearsal

    Send us Fan Mail The investigation feels like it’s finally ready to pop, until it doesn’t. We head into a new strategy session convinced Chris Von Stein will fold under pressure and give up the name investigators are waiting for, only to learn he’s lawyered up and refusing to speak. Bonnie Von Stein agrees to meet, but her calm certainty hardens the conflict, and a quiet detail surfaces that changes how we read her confidence: the power of a polygraph result and what people choose to believe when the stakes are life and death. From there, the story becomes a true crime manhunt across Raleigh and the NC State campus for Bart “Moog” Upchurch. We track dead-end tips, dorm-room leads, bad checks, and a borrowed identity that nearly lets him slip away. When the arrest finally lands, we sit in on a jailhouse interview that paints a portrait of Chris’s drug use, his circle, and the dark humor around “inheriting money,” while investigators struggle to pin down anything solid enough to end the Leith Von Stein murder case. Then the episode takes a chilling turn: a Dungeons and Dragons game recounted in vivid detail that sounds eerily like a rehearsal of the homicide itself. Is it coincidence, exaggeration, or a confession hiding in plain sight? Listen through to the final beats, then subscribe, share the show with a friend who loves investigative storytelling, and leave a review with your theory: did the game reflect the crime, or did the crime shape the story? Support the show

    1h 1m

  5. MAR 9

    The Von Stein Tragedy Part XV: How A Simple Ruse Exposed A Crucial Link In The Murder Investigation

    Send us Fan Mail A cold case sharpens when a simple sketch turns into a lever. We open the Von Stein murder file with fresh eyes, bringing the SBI back into the room and laying out a clear plan: protect the few secrets that still hold power, then set a ruse to test what the suspects don’t know they’re revealing. The hinge point is a map—handwriting that echoes a guarded clue—and the patience to let a small moment move a heavy investigation. We walk through Chris’s well-practiced timeline: a Sunday of beer and cards, a late return to bed, missing keys, and a campus police ride that threads him from dorm to hospital to Smallwood. Along the way, we note the friction points that matter: a sudden decision to park in a far, well-lit lot weeks after a theft, and a set of stories that tidy up just as new details slip out. When we ask him to draw the neighborhood, he does, and twice writes a name in a way that could tie him tighter than he intends. It’s not a confession; it’s a comparison. Strategy over spectacle. From there, the circle widens. Bruce paints a picture of friendship, Dungeons & Dragons marathons, and the gravitational pull of Moog: bright, charismatic, fueled by drugs and chaos. He frames Chris as easily led yet affectionate toward his parents, complicating any neat motive. Hank meets us in a rain-soaked doorway with guarded half-answers and multiple versions of the crime story—burglary, assault, murder—raising questions about what changed and why. Money hums under the surface: talk of stock percentages, a new car, big weekends, and the image-management that young men perform when they want to be seen as flush. The thread pulling tight is absence. Multiple voices can’t place Moog on the crucial night, and that negative space becomes a lead of its own. We close by shifting from cold calls to a warmer trail: a probation officer who knows his habits and haunts, someone who can map the person as precisely as Chris mapped the streets. That’s the heartbeat of this chapter—maps everywhere. Neighborhoods, friend groups, timelines, and the thin lines of ink that can tip a case. Listen, then tell us: which small detail changed your mind? If this story drew you in, follow, share, and leave a review so more listeners can join the investigation. Support the show

    17 min

  6. FEB 9

    The Von Stein Family Tragedy Part XIV: When Grief Looks Like Guilt: Who Drew The Map To Murder

    Send us Fan Mail A frantic tap at a window, a campus buzzing with rumors, and a family shattered by a brutal attack set the stage for a true-crime journey that refuses easy answers. We walk through the raw hours after Leith Von Stein’s murder and Bonnie’s hospitalization, hearing how friends rallied around Chris as shock collided with uneasy memories—offhand jokes about inheritance, a party that spiraled into a bad trip, and a growing cloud of paranoia that left everyone on edge. From there, the story pivots to the investigation’s turning point. A new police chief, John Crone, arrives to fix a struggling department and revive a stalled case. His bold move is to hand the biggest file in town to the youngest detective: John Taylor, a quiet local with a relentless work ethic. Taylor rebuilds the case from the ground up, tracking down college friends who were never properly interviewed, digging into criminal histories, and focusing on a name that stands out—James “Moog” Upchurch, a friend with a breaking-and-entering record and fresh probation violations. While theories about Dungeons & Dragons swirl, Taylor stays grounded, chasing leads that can hold up in daylight. The breakthrough is deceptively simple and deeply human: a housing card from NC State with Chris’s handwriting and a single word—Lawson—echoing the label on a burned hand-drawn map found near key evidence. Placed side by side, the match electrifies the room. It doesn’t end the case, but it changes its direction. Add a neighbor’s memory of diesel fumes and a curious remark—“It could have been one of my best friends”—and the narrative tilts from rumor toward resolution. As the FBI is pulled back in, the stakes rise and the path narrows. If you’re drawn to true crime that balances empathy with rigor, this chapter of the Von Stein case delivers: messy grief, flawed friendships, and the quiet persistence that turns a cold file warm. Listen, subscribe, and share your take—does the map change how you see Chris and his circle? Your thoughts might surprise you as much as the evidence does. Support the show

    1 hr

  7. FEB 2

    The Von Stein Family Tragedy Part XIII: Drugs, Games and a Deadly Spiral

    Send us Fan Mail Support the show

    58 min

  8. JAN 26

    The Von Stein Family Tragedy Part XII :Neal; Henderson's Troubled Rise

    Send us Fan Mail Support the show

    27 min
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4.2
out of 5
29 Ratings

About

Each week, The Murder Book will present unsolved cases, missing persons, notorious crimes, controversial cases, and serial killers, exploring details of the crime scenes and the murderer's childhood. Some episodes are translated into Spanish as well. The podcast is produced and hosted by Kiara Coyle. 

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