Gulf Coast Confidential with Mollye Barrows

Mollye Barrows

I’m Investigative Journalist Mollye Barrows. For years, I’ve covered the stories that made headlines in Northwest Florida and all along the Gulf Coast - murders, missing persons, and mysteries of all kinds. These cases are far from over for many victims because the full story has yet to surface. Join me for Gulf Coast Confidential, where I dive into the saltier side of the South and expose the lies, greed, and corruption that often weighs down the truth.

  1. 8h ago

    'Badd Barbie' Kelsey Turner kills Sugar Daddy Psychiatrist

    Send us Fan Mail Former Playboy model Kelsey Turner took being selfish and greedy to a whole new level.  The 29-year-old was known as "Badd Barbie" online - a persona police say she carried into her personal life when she manipulated and exploited her 71 year old “Sugar Daddy” Child Psychiatrist Dr. Thomas Burchard like a professional fraudster. Over the course of their less than two year relationship he spent an estimated $500,000 to fund her lavish lifestyle, including covering her rent on homes in California and Las Vegas and the lease payments on a beautiful, blue Mercedes.   Fed up with her lies and finally realizing he was nothing but her Golden Goose, Dr. Burchard traveled to Las Vegas in March 2019 to confront Turner and cut off her financial support. Knowing the free ride was over, Turner’s actual boyfriend Jon Logan Kennison, who was secretly living off Burchard too, beat the elderly doctor to death with a baseball bat at Turner’s instruction.  He stuffed Dr. Burchard’s bludgeoned body into the trunk of Turner’s Mercedes-Benz and abandoned it in the Nevada desert near Lake Mead. Police found the car and Burchard’s dead body three days later.   This is a cautionary tale with a moral of financial exploitation and toxic relationships can have deadly consequences.  People were merely resources to Kelsey Turner and when her supplies were cut off, greed and selfishness trumped human life and resulted in death, despair, and some long prison sentences. Join us for the latest episode of the Gulf Coast Confidential Podcast, "'Badd Barbie' Kelsey Turner kills Sugar Daddy Psychiatrist." Support the show

  2. Sep 1

    Medication Mix-Up at Ascension Saint Thomas leaves patients paralyzed

    Send us Fan Mail On August 14, 2026, a catastrophic medication mix-up occurred at Ascension Saint Thomas Midtown hospital in Nashville, Tennessee, where four routine joint-replacement surgery patients were accidentally injected in the spine with potassium phosphate instead of the intended local anesthetic, mepivacaine.  The severe error left at least one patient permanently paralyzed from the sternum down and sent others to intensive care.  An 80-page state investigation by the Tennessee Health Facilities Commission revealed that the incident was a systemic failure involving multiple missed safety checks and the hospital had a “culture of non-compliance.”  The Pharmacy Error: A pharmacy technician mistakenly grabbed vials of potassium phosphate from the wrong storage bin while preparing surgical nerve-block syringes. Ignored Safety Alerts: When the technician scanned the potassium vial, the computer system flagged an error. Rather than stopping, the technician overrode or bypassed the alert and proceeded to fill five syringes, which were then incorrectly labeled as the anesthetic.  Two other pharmacy technicians participating in the workflow had an opportunity to double check the correctness of the drug as well. A pharmacist final verification check failed to notice the mistake. Because surgical teams must rely on the labeled pharmacy syringes, doctors injected the high-alert medication directly into the patients' spines.  State regulators placed the hospital under an "immediate jeopardy" warning due to critical flaws in pharmacy protocols, surgical care, and administrative response and there's now an ongoing criminal investigation. Join us for more in the latest Gulf Coast Confidential Podcast episode, "Medication Mix-Up at Ascension Saint Thomas leaves patients paralyzed."  Support the show

  3. Aug 25

    He took his brother’s life and wife, killed his dad and hurt his mom really bad - Craig Heidt

    Send us Fan Mail Craig Heidt wanted everything his younger brother Carey had, a successful business, a pretty wife, and the respect of their father.  In a family synonymous with wealth, faith, and Southern charm, Craig was the self-proclaimed black sheep who never could get it right. He fell behind on child support, didn’t have steady work, and carried on a not-so-secret affair with his brother’s wife, Robin. When confronted with their illicit rendezvous by Carey and their real estate mogul father, Phillip Heidt, Craig and Robin defiantly doubled down on their low-rent romance, causing a massive split in the family.   It all came to a head on a sweltering August night in 2008, when the previously picture-perfect legacy was shattered by a hail of close-range shotgun blasts.  Philip and Carey were shot dead in their beds. Linda, the family matriarch was shot through the face and left clinging to life.   As small-town detectives raced to catch a monster, they didn't find a stranger hiding in the shadows. Instead, they unraveled a toxic web of forbidden lust, family betrayals, and a secret affair so explosive that a father actually rented a helicopter just to catch the lovers in the act.  In the latest episode of the Gulf Coast Confidential Podcast we step inside a devastating family empire where greed and obsession drove one brother to do the unthinkable to another. Join us for more in our latest episode, “He took his brother’s life and wife, killed his dad and hurt his mom really bad - Craig Heidt.” Support the show

  4. Aug 11

    Legal loophole lets child killer Ronald Exantus walk free: RIP 6-year-old Logan Tipton

    Send us Fan Mail Logan Tipton was a typical, outgoing, football loving preschooler who loved playing with his sisters and brother and watching Christmas movies with his family.  That’s what they were doing in early December of 2015 before they were all safely asleep in their beds – or so they thought. In the middle of the night Ronald Exantus, an Indianapolis nurse who had been acting erratically all day, was driving through the Tipson family’s Kentucky neighborhood when he saw their home aglow with festive Christmas lights and decided it was time to go inside and perform surgery on the people who lived here.  Police said Exantus was obsessed with the TV medical show, “Gray’s Anatomy” and that’s all he thought about when he walked into their home, grabbed knives out of their kitchen, then walked upstairs and started stabbing 6-year-old Logan in the head.  His fathers and sisters tried to protect Logan, but it was too late. They were also injured in the home invasion, but Logan’s dad managed to pin Exantus down until police arrived.  When it came time for trial, prosecutors were seeking the death penalty, but instead of convicting Exantus, the jury found him “not guilty by reason of insanity” for killing Logan, and “guilty but mentally ill” for attacking the murdered boy’s father and sister. After only serving about half of his 20-year sentence for the crime Exantus is now out of prison - a free man with no requirements for counseling, medication or probation.  While Logan’s family is serving a life sentence of grief and trauma over the loss of their boy, Exantus is free to roam wherever he pleases.  He even ended up in Florida right next to an elementary school.  That’s one of the cases we’re discussing this week on the Gulf Coast Confidential Podcast. We’ve also got updates on two Cullman County cases - attorney Sarah Baker who is accused of trying to poison her husband with fentanyl and a former salon owner and accused drug trafficker Whitney Cheatham who prosecutors say used AI to create a phony request to travel out of state for an adult content creators event.   And we talked a little bit about the alleged overmedication of Lindsay Clancy, the mom accused of strangling her three children to death. Join us for the latest episode, “Legal loophole lets child killer Ronald Exantus walk free: RIP 6-year-old Logan Tipton.” Support the show

  5. Aug 4

    VIP treatment – How celebrity clinic culture failed Joan Rivers

    Send us Fan Mail The bright lights of showbiz faded into a dim New York outpatient clinic on August 28, 2014, when comedy icon Joan Rivers walked in for a routine throat procedure and never spoke again.  What was supposed to be a brief examination of her vocal cords instead unraveled into a chaotic display of gross medical malpractice, where star-struck doctors reportedly suffered from "VIP syndrome" and prioritized cell phone selfies over critical patient care.  When the 81-year-old’s airway began to swell shut under the heavy sedative propofol, the clinic’s medical director famously dismissed the supervising anesthesiologist's desperate warnings as "paranoid," steering a routine medical checkup into a fatal, oxygen-starved catastrophe. The tragedy left the entertainment world reeling, stripping Hollywood of its sharpest wit and exposing a terrifying lack of oversight in outpatient surgical centers. Following her death from irreversible brain damage a week later, a high-stakes legal battle culminated in a confidential multi-million-dollar settlement, forcing the physicians involved to publicly accept full accountability for her death.  While Rivers spent her legendary career fearlessly exposing the absurdity of celebrity culture, her final, tragic chapter ultimately pulled back the curtain on the deadly consequences of medical arrogance. Join us Tuesday for the latest episode of the Gulf Coast Confidential Podcast, “VIP treatment – How celebrity clinic culture failed Joan Rivers!” Support the show

  6. Jul 28

    Outcry over ‘Allie’ the alligator drilled to death by Navy Seal & trappers

    Send us Fan Mail Did FWC cut some slack to three Santa Rosa County men accused of illegally capturing and killing an alligator with a power drill? They say “No,” but folks in our community still have a lot of questions. “Allie” the 8.5-foot-long alligator wasn’t bothering a single soul. She lived safely inside a locked, fenced in retention pond in the Garcon Point area of Milton, Florida for about ten years, neighbors said.  She was considered to be harmless by folks who live in the area, co-existing peacefully in the man-made environment, keeping to herself and catching a few fish, birds, and sunrays.  Some thought it was kind of a beautiful thing and enjoyed seeing her when they passed the pond which sits along Avalon Blvd., situated away from homes and busy neighborhoods. In March 2026, decorated former U.S. Navy SEAL Kevin Lacz along with two other Santa Rosa County men who were experienced in wildlife removal, Jason Giffin and Richard Reder, trapped, bound, and killed “Allie” using a power drill.  Officers with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission charged all three men with second-degree misdemeanors.  However, the law clearly says what they did – removing and killing an alligator without the proper permits - is a third-degree felony.  Wildlife advocates and neighbors this is not a paperwork hiccup or slipup by some teenagers.  These are full grown men who say they saw a “capture of opportunity” and didn’t hesitate to snatch Allie out of her home, hog-tie her, and then take her to Lacz’s house where she was killed with a hand-held power drill. According to Florida law licensed trappers are supposed to get clearance and proper permitting to capture and dispatch an alligator and when they do, they’re supposed to kill it immediately and humanely on the spot.  Nowhere in Florida law does it say hauling the animal off alive and drilling into its head at your house is an acceptable or legal part of the process.   In fact, according to the report detailing their arrests Lacz said he used to have a nuisance complaint for the alligator – that had expired two years ago – and he and “agent trappers” picked her up because he “suspected” there would be another a nuisance complaint. He also mentioned he got $50 an alligator. So, is this about money? If not, why?! Was it the so called "thrill of the kill?" So many questions… These men were bold and seemingly unbothered by this incident that has turned into a heartbreaking mess and an embarrassment here in our beautiful part of the world.   Even the prettiest places have a bit of ugly.  How is this even a thing?!  Join us this week for our 200th episode of the Gulf Coast Confidential Podcast, “Outcry over ‘Allie’ the alligator drilled to death by Navy Seal & trappers.” Support the show

  7. Jul 21

    Sadistic Shanda Vander Ark’s cruel campaign of hell against teen son

    Send us Fan Mail Put your seatbelt on, we didn’t know some of these cases could get any wilder but apparently, they can.  From doctors behaving badly to a tragic story of child abuse, we’re running down some cases you’ve probably heard of and some you haven’t.  The worst medical malpractices cases in the state are piling up in North Florida and stretching to the Panhandle.  Dr. Thomas Shaknovsky is accused of accidentally removing an Alabama man’s liver instead of his spleen at a hospital in Miramar Beach. In Jacksonville, an orthopedic surgeon, the late Dr. David Heekin, is at the center of one of the largest mass-medical malpractice actions in Florida’s history with 522 lawsuits.  Both incidents happened at Ascension hospitals and the executive in charge during Heekin’s tenure when he was accused of botching patient surgeries, Tom VanOsdol, has been promoted to the national leadership team where he oversees “the strategic integration of Ascension's mission and values…across all organizational policies, programs, and culture.” From executives and doctors who patients trust to a mother of five who is expected to protect her children, sometimes alleged “bad actors” turn up when you least expect it. Mom and former law clerk Shanda Vander Ark was an abuser who cruelly ended the life of her 15-year-old special needs son through cruel, atrocious, and systematic abuse. On the surface Vander Ark appeared highly successful, a bit of a know-it-all, and a gruff, no-nonsense person. She graduated from law school with honors, clerked for two judges, and aced the bar exam. Then she ended up being tried for the murd3r of her son, Timothy Ferguson, in the same courtroom where she had previously worked, turning the trial into a circus with delays, motions, and shenanigans.  But there was no distracting from the terrible facts that she starved, t0rtur3d, and ended her boy's life with the help of another son and his older brother.  Join us for the latest episode of the Gulf Coast Confidential Podcast, “Sadistic Shanda Vander Ark’s cruel campaign of hell against teen son,” but it comes with a sensitivity warning.   Support the show

4.8
out of 5
67 Ratings

About

I’m Investigative Journalist Mollye Barrows. For years, I’ve covered the stories that made headlines in Northwest Florida and all along the Gulf Coast - murders, missing persons, and mysteries of all kinds. These cases are far from over for many victims because the full story has yet to surface. Join me for Gulf Coast Confidential, where I dive into the saltier side of the South and expose the lies, greed, and corruption that often weighs down the truth.