7 episodes
Hanging Bay Area News Group
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- News
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4.4 • 558 Ratings
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A sheriff's deputy. His 10-year-old son. A bitter custody battle. A haunting death. Was it suicide? Or something more sinister? Twenty-five years later, authorities decided to take a closer look. So did Mercury News reporter Julia Prodis Sulek. Join her on a whirlwind journey from Silicon Valley to Oklahoma’s cowboy country as she explores a brutal question: How did a 10-year-old boy end up hanging on the family farm?
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Hanging: The Mysterious Case of the Boy in the Barn
A sheriff's deputy. His 10-year-old son. A bitter custody battle. A haunting death. Was it suicide? Or something more sinister?
Twenty-five years later, authorities decided to take a closer look. So did Mercury News reporter Julia Prodis Sulek.
Join her on a whirlwind journey from Silicon Valley to Oklahoma’s cowboy country as she explores a brutal question: How did a 10-year-old boy end up hanging on the family farm?
Subscribe now for this six-part series that debuts August 24, 2017. -
Chapter 1: Hanging
A sheriff’s deputy. His young son. A bitter custody battle. A haunting death. Was it suicide or something more sinister? Twenty-five years later, Santa Clara County sheriff’s detectives returned to take a closer look. So did we. How did 10-year-old Joshua Klaver end up hanging to death in the family barn?
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Chapter 2: Presuming
Sheriff’s deputies who responded to the Klaver barn the night of Josh’s death quickly ruled it a suicide, without considering any other possible explanation. Was justice done 28 years ago in the barn in San Martin, California?
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Chapter 3: Connecting
Josh’s mother Kathy Atkins was ready to give up in 2014 when the Facebook message arrived from a stranger. “You don’t know me, but I know that sob klaver. He’s here in okla i have alot to tell you.” But were the suspicions swirling around Josh’s father driven by spurned lovers and their need for revenge? Or did K.W. Klaver’s abusive tendencies — documented in court files — give credence to their darkest fears?
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Chapter 4: Confronting
K.W. Klaver didn’t know I was coming to Oklahoma. He didn’t know I would show up at the Atoka livestock auction barn on the edge of town. I had come with a brazen question no investigator had ever posed, and wasn’t quite sure how to phrase it: How do you ask a man if he killed his 10-year-old son?
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Chapter 5: Hurting
The coroner returned to the barn in San Martin to re-enact a hanging. And for the first time in almost three decades, something new was added to the official story of Joshua Klaver’s death. But other essential parts of the story remained untold until I began to share them — shocking the judge who made a fateful ruling in Josh’s custody case.
Customer Reviews
Well done with a few caveats
Overall I would say this podcast is really well done, the story is well crafted and moves at a nice pace, keeping listener wanting more . Likewise the reporter comes across as dogged, curious, thoughtful and fair minded, all the things you want with a story let alone a 30 year old one. That said, i do have a couple of suggestions. Shorten the opening montage and story review segments, they drag. Also, while it’s important to be unbiased and neutral it can sound monotonous and programmatic over time, showing a bit more personality and color will lend the authenticity and intimacy that you need to keep the listener engaged for a show of this length.
Sad and intriguing story
I doubt we will ever know , but it demonstrates how critical a thorough investigation of the scene can save everyone further heartbreak in that those who are left would know what happened and have a chance make peace with it. When everything is left questioning no one moves on.
Episode 3 interview
Love the pod, hate the music, good job.
The interview in episode 3 with Bobby makes me so irritated talking about how her private life is private and ‘I can’t remember’ when questioned about her past around the hanging and her thoughts about KW if he was abusive or capable of murder. BOBBY you selfish person, a child is dead so you better start remembering and you don’t have the right to be forgetting at this point.