TRUE CRIME with Bratterstein

BRATTERSTEIN
  • 4.8 (49)
  • True Crime
  • Updated Weekly

As someone who has been personally effected by homicide, I approach every True Crime case I cover with the goal of balancing facts with empathy—giving victims a voice while exploring the larger cultural and societal implications of the cases. I want you to leave my episodes not only knowing that the people who I talk about are real.. what happened to them is real but also acknowledging that they are much more than just their deaths. Each audio file from this podcast is taken from my videos on YouTube. If you want to see me in action, you can search "Bratterstein" there.

  1. 1d ago

    2 Teen Girls were Taken, Only 1 Survived

    As always, thank you for hanging out and remembering Liz Reiser & Brandi Hicks with me today. In May 2000, best friends Elizabeth “Liz” Reiser, 17, and Brandi Hicks, 18, went to a Hollywood Video store in New Philadelphia, Ohio, after a choir banquet to pick out a movie. As they were leaving, 27-year-old Matthew Vaca approached and said he needed a ride home, offering them $20. The girls, who knew each other through church and believed they were helping someone in need, agreed. Once inside their car, Vaca gave conflicting directions and led them away from town. When the girls became concerned and told him to get out, he pulled a gun and ordered Hicks to drive to a secluded area. He bound Hicks to the steering wheel with her shoelaces, then forced Reiser into a nearby field. There, he stabbed Reiser repeatedly and cut her throat, killing her. Vaca then returned to Hicks, made her see Reiser’s body, and drove her to a railroad trestle over the Tuscarawas River. He attempted to sexually assault and strangle her. Hicks lost consciousness but survived; when Vaca pushed her from the trestle into the river, she pretended to be dead and floated downstream until she was confident he had gone. She reached the riverbank and eventually flagged down help. Her survival and account were crucial to the investigation. Vaca was arrested after investigators developed evidence from Hicks and from a friend he had reportedly confessed to. He pleaded guilty to charges including aggravated murder, attempted aggravated murder, kidnapping, rape, aggravated robbery, and forgery. Prosecutors did not seek the death penalty, partly to spare the families a prolonged capital-case appeals process. He received a total sentence of 96½ years in prison; reporting described him as not eligible for parole until 2096.

    2 Teen Girls were Taken, Only 1 Survived

  2. 3d ago

    Brutalized on a City Bus : The Tim McLean Case

    As always, thank you for hanging out and remembering Tim Mclean with me today. On July 30, 2008, 22-year-old Tim McLean was travelling on a Greyhound bus through Manitoba, Canada, when he was killed by fellow passenger Vince Weiguang Li. McLean had been sleeping or resting in his seat near the rear of the bus when Li suddenly attacked him with a knife. The assault was unprovoked, and terrified passengers and the driver escaped after the bus stopped near Portage la Prairie. Li stayed on the bus after the passengers fled. During a police standoff that lasted several hours, he decapitated and mutilated McLean’s body and consumed parts of it. When he attempted to climb through a bus window, officers arrested him. Li was charged with second-degree murder, but a Manitoba judge found him not criminally responsible on account of mental disorder in March 2009. Psychiatric evidence established that Li had schizophrenia and was in a severe psychotic state during the killing; he had believed he was following what he perceived as divine instructions and that McLean posed a threat. He was confined in a secure psychiatric hospital rather than given a prison sentence. After years of psychiatric treatment and supervised reintegration, review-board decisions concluded that Li, who later changed his name to Will Bakern, no longer posed a significant threat to public safety. He received an absolute discharge in February 2017, ending the Review Board’s supervision; McLean’s family strongly criticized the outcome.

    Brutalized on a City Bus : The Tim McLean Case

  3. 5d ago

    14-Year-Old Kills His Sleeping Father... But Says He Had No Choice

    As always, thank you for hanging out and remembering Edwin John Olson Jr. with me today. In May 1998, 14-year-old Terry Charles Olson shot and killed his father, Edwin John Olson Jr., inside their home in Ferndale, Montana. Terry later testified that he had endured severe abuse, saying his father withheld food and beat him and that he believed killing him was the only way to make it stop. After shooting his father in the head, Terry checked for a pulse, showered, took money from his father’s wallet, and drove to a mall to play arcade games. When school officials contacted authorities about his truancy, he reportedly told them his father was dead; deputies then went to the house and found Edwin’s body. Terry was sentenced to 40 years in prison, with 10 years initially suspended, a sentence later adjusted to 40 years with 16 years suspended. He was paroled in 2009 but returned to prison by late 2010 after violating his release conditions, including an assault on a girlfriend and alcohol use.

    14-Year-Old Kills His Sleeping Father... But Says He Had No Choice

  4. Aug 26

    Solved After 47 Years: Her Killer was Hiding in Plain Sight

    As always, thank you for hanging out and remembering Lindy Sue Biechler with me today. Lindy Sue Biechler’s 1975 murder in Lancaster County went unsolved for nearly five decades, becoming the county's oldest cold case. The 19-year-old was brutally stabbed in her apartment while putting away groceries, and despite exhaustive investigations, including theories involving serial killers, psychics, and a mysterious letter, the case went cold. In 2022, advances in forensic genealogy finally identified her killer: David Sinopoli, a former neighbor. Using DNA from the crime scene and advanced genetic tracing, police matched Sinopoli's discarded coffee cup to the evidence. The arrest shocked the community, as Sinopoli had lived a seemingly normal life for years, married with children and grandchildren.David Sinopoli was sentenced to 25-50 years in prison after pleading guilty to third-degree murder, aggravated assault, and burglary. Although justice was finally served, the motive behind Lindy's murder remains a mystery. The case highlights the power of modern forensic technology and genetic genealogy in solving cold cases, offering hope to other unsolved crimes. Lindy’s husband and family finally received closure, proving that, even decades later, justice can still be achieved. This case serves as a chilling reminder that killers can hide in plain sight, living among us undetected for years.

    Solved After 47 Years: Her Killer was Hiding in Plain Sight

  5. Aug 24

    Egging Prank Gone Wrong or Execution?

    As always, thank you for hanging out and remembering Jonathan Gilbert aka Tyler Lane with me today. In July 2023, 22-year-old Johnathan Gilbert, known as Tyler Lane, was outside a home on Dobbins Mill Road in Spalding County, Georgia, when three teenagers arrived to egg the property amid an ongoing “lover’s quarrel.” Tyler was visiting another woman whom his ex-girlfriend, 18-year-old Sydney Maughon, reportedly wanted to confront and fight. When Tyler, who was unarmed, came outside to confront the group, they ran back toward their car. Video and prosecutors’ evidence showed Maughon urging someone to “shoot him,” then taking a gun belonging to 18-year-old Jeremy Munson and firing twice at Tyler as he approached the vehicle. The group fled, leaving him in the road; Maughon and Munson then went to her parents’ home, handed over the gun, and later went to work, while a third person, McKenzie Davenport, ran for help and called 911. Maughon pleaded guilty to malice murder in November 2024 and was sentenced to life with parole eligibility only after serving at least 30 years. Davenport pleaded guilty to two misdemeanors tied to the events before the shooting. Munson’s case had not yet been resolved in the reporting available from December 2024, despite earlier reports that he was charged with murder and firearm offenses because the group allegedly acted together.

    Egging Prank Gone Wrong or Execution?

  6. Aug 21

    When Obsession Leads to Bloodshed : The Kendra Hatcher Case

    As always, thank you for hanging out and remembering Kendra Hatcher with me today. In September 2015, 35-year-old Dallas pediatric dentist Dr. Kendra Hatcher was shot in the head as she stepped out of her car in the parking garage of her Uptown apartment building—the day before she was due to fly to Cancún with her boyfriend. What police initially considered a robbery quickly unraveled into a murder-for-hire plot orchestrated by Brenda Delgado, the jealous ex-girlfriend of Kendra’s boyfriend, Dr. Ricardo “Ricky” Paniagua. Prosecutors said Delgado stalked Kendra, asked several people to kill her, and ultimately recruited Kristopher Love as the gunman and Crystal Cortes as the getaway driver; Cortes was paid $500, while Love received cash and drugs. Love was convicted of capital murder and sentenced to death, Cortes pleaded guilty and received 35 years, and Delgado was arrested in Mexico after fleeing the country. In 2019, a jury deliberated for less than 20 minutes before finding Delgado guilty of capital murder; she received mandatory life without parole.

    When Obsession Leads to Bloodshed : The Kendra Hatcher Case

  7. Aug 19

    Deanna Cook Called 911 While Being Murdered… But Help Never Came

    As always, thank you for hanging out and remembering Deanna Antoinette Cook with me today. In August 2012, 32-year-old Deanna Cook called 911 from her Dallas home while being attacked by her ex-husband, Delvecchio Patrick. The dispatcher heard her struggling, screaming, and calling Patrick by his nickname, “Red,” but failed to obtain her address or classify the call as an emergency; officers did not reach the home for roughly 50 minutes and left after receiving no answer. Two days later, Deanna’s family forced their way inside and found her face down in a bathtub, where she had been strangled and drowned. In 2015, a jury convicted Patrick of murder and sentenced him to 85 years in prison, with parole eligibility after 30 years. Deanna’s murder became a national example of the devastating consequences of a failed emergency response, prompting major reforms to Dallas’s 911 system and renewed attention to domestic-violence intervention.

    Deanna Cook Called 911 While Being Murdered… But Help Never Came

  8. Aug 17

    LOVE TRIANGLE turns "Misguided, Wicked, and Evil"

    As always, thank you for hanging out and remembering Keiona Cecilia Braxton with me today. In the early hours of New Year’s Eve 2008, firefighters responding to smoke at an apartment in Henrico County, Virginia, found 26-year-old Keiona Cecilia Braxton dying inside. She was three months pregnant, and the fire had been staged to mask the attack: Keiona had been beaten in the head, stabbed 43 times in the abdomen, and shot, while gas had been left on and aerosol cans placed in the oven in an apparent attempt to cause an explosion.publications. Investigators focused on Kayla Armstrong, the ex-girlfriend of Keiona’s boyfriend and the mother of his child. The two women had a documented history of conflict, Armstrong had previously attacked and stabbed Keiona, and prosecutors alleged jealousy over their shared connection to Kenneth Lee drove the killing. Armstrong fled after her indictment but was arrested in 2012, then pleaded under Alford to voluntary manslaughter in Keiona’s death. While jailed, she also attempted to arrange Lee’s murder; she received 10 years for Keiona’s killing and another 20 years for the attempted-murder plot, for an effective 30-year prison sentence.

    LOVE TRIANGLE turns "Misguided, Wicked, and Evil"
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4.8
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About

As someone who has been personally effected by homicide, I approach every True Crime case I cover with the goal of balancing facts with empathy—giving victims a voice while exploring the larger cultural and societal implications of the cases. I want you to leave my episodes not only knowing that the people who I talk about are real.. what happened to them is real but also acknowledging that they are much more than just their deaths. Each audio file from this podcast is taken from my videos on YouTube. If you want to see me in action, you can search "Bratterstein" there.

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