TRUE CRIME with Bratterstein

BRATTERSTEIN

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. 2 Dead and No justice: The Tragic Story of the Killing of Alexis Sharkey

    10h ago

    2 Dead and No justice: The Tragic Story of the Killing of Alexis Sharkey

    As always, thank you for hanging out and remembering Alexis Leigh Robinault with me today. In late November 2020, 26‑year‑old Houston Instagram influencer Alexis Leigh Sharkey (née Robinault) disappeared after reportedly leaving her apartment following an argument with her husband, Thomas “Tom” Sharkey. The next morning, a city public‑works employee spotted a pair of feet protruding from bushes along a road in Houston’s Energy Corridor and found Alexis’ nude body; an autopsy later confirmed she had been strangled and ruled her death a homicide. Friends said Alexis had confided that she was scared for her safety and that her marriage was volatile, while police quietly focused on Tom, who had not reported her missing and left Texas soon after her death. In September 2021, Houston detectives obtained a warrant for Tom’s arrest, publicly stating they believed he was the only person with the means, motive, and opportunity to kill Alexis. Days later, U.S. Marshals tracked him to a relative’s home in Fort Myers, Florida; as agents moved in to serve the warrant, Tom went upstairs and shot himself, dying by suicide before he could be taken into custody or tried. With his death, the criminal case effectively ended without a trial, but investigators have maintained that their evidence points to Alexis’ husband as her killer, and her story has since been covered in documentaries about the dark side of influencer life and intimate‑partner violence.

    22 min
  2. 7-Year-Old Vanishes... Her Teenage Killer Hid Her in His Basement

    2d ago

    7-Year-Old Vanishes... Her Teenage Killer Hid Her in His Basement

    As always, thank you for hanging out and remembering Ashley Ann Carlson with me today. The murder of Ashley Ann Carlson is one of the most disturbing child murder cases in Oregon true crime history. In February 1999, 7-year-old Ashley Carlson vanished from her neighborhood in Astoria, Oregon, sparking a massive search for the missing child. What investigators eventually uncovered shocked the community: Ashley had been abducted, assaulted, and murdered by her 16-year-old babysitter and neighbor, Patrick Harned. Even more chilling, Harned participated in the search efforts while hiding Ashley's body beneath the floorboards of his basement bedroom. Convicted of aggravated murder and sentenced to life in prison, Harned's case later became the subject of debate over juvenile sentencing laws. The Ashley Carlson murder remains one of the most heartbreaking and infamous true crime cases involving a missing child, betrayal of trust, and a killer hiding in plain sight

    50 min
  3. He Survived 43 Hours with the Bonebreaker

    4d ago

    He Survived 43 Hours with the Bonebreaker

    As always, thank you for hanging out and remembering Thadius Phillips and Chris Steiner with me today. In the summer of 1995, 13‑year‑old Thadius “Thad” Phillips was snatched from his bed in Baraboo, Wisconsin, and carried to the house of 17‑year‑old Joseph “Joe” Clark, who would become known as the “Bonebreaker” killer. Over the next roughly 43 hours, Clark sadistically snapped and twisted Thad’s leg bones, breaking his ankles and femur while refusing him medical help and blocking multiple escape attempts, until Thad, hours from death, smashed his way out of a closet, dragged his shattered legs down the stairs, and crawled to a phone to calmly call 911. His survival and testimony not only saved his own life but also helped expose Clark as the likely killer of another boy, Chris Steiner, leading to Clark’s conviction and a sentence of life plus 100 years in prison.

    48 min
  4. Killed by her Stalker : The Alice Ruggles Story

    Jun 26

    Killed by her Stalker : The Alice Ruggles Story

    As always, thank you for hanging out and remembering Alice Ruggles with me today. In October 2016, 24‑year‑old Alice Ruggles was murdered in her Gateshead flat by her ex‑boyfriend, army Lance Corporal Trimaan “Harry” Dhillon, after months of obsessive stalking that she had already begged police to help her escape. Alice had broken up with Dhillon after discovering he was contacting other women, but he refused to let go, driving hundreds of miles to her home uninvited, flooding her with messages, leaving flowers and gifts on her windowsill, and threatening her with intimate photos, behaviour her family later said they didn’t realise was so dangerous until it was too late. On the night of 12 October, Dhillon travelled down from his barracks, climbed in through an open window at Alice’s flat and attacked her inside, slashing her throat repeatedly with a kitchen knife in what a pathologist described as a “deep and forceful” cut from ear to ear, along with multiple defensive wounds as she tried to fight him off. He then left her to bleed to death on the floor, and it was Alice’s flatmate who later found her body and alerted police. At trial, Dhillon claimed he acted in self‑defence and that the fatal wound was an accident during a struggle, but the jury rejected that, convicting him of murder; the judge jailed him for life with a minimum term of 22 years and called the killing an act of “utter barbarism.” Since Alice’s death, her family have set up the Alice Ruggles Trust to campaign on stalking, using her story to show how quickly a controlling, “romantic” obsession can cross the line into lethal violence, and how vital it is that repeated reports to the police are treated as a genuine warning rather than just relationship drama.

    54 min
  5. 5-Year-Old Shawnlee Perry was Killed by a “Helpful Neighbor”

    Jun 24

    5-Year-Old Shawnlee Perry was Killed by a “Helpful Neighbor”

    As always, thank you for hanging out and remembering Shawnlee Matilda Perry with me today. In May 1992, 5-year-old Shawnlee Perry disappeared from Earth, Texas, launching a massive missing child investigation that gripped the small community and became one of the state's most heartbreaking true crime cases. After weeks of searching, Shawnlee was found murdered, and investigators spent years working to solve the child abduction and murder. The case took a shocking turn when forensic evidence linked local resident Eddie Rowton to the crime, revealing that the man responsible had participated in search efforts while Shawnlee's family desperately looked for answers. Convicted of capital murder in 1999 and sentenced to death, Rowton's conviction brought long-awaited justice in a case that continues to be remembered as a tragic Texas murder case, child homicide investigation, and chilling example of a killer hiding in plain sight.

    43 min
  6. Watched her Friends Dig her Grave : The Rachel Burkheimer Case

    Jun 22

    Watched her Friends Dig her Grave : The Rachel Burkheimer Case

    As always, thank you for hanging out and remembering Rachel Burkheimer with me today.

    49 min
  7. One Of The Darkest Things That I Can Ever Imagine : Mary Ann Murphy

    Jun 19

    One Of The Darkest Things That I Can Ever Imagine : Mary Ann Murphy

    As always, thank you for hanging out and remembering Mary Ann Murphy with me today. In July 2012, 48‑year‑old Mary Ann Murphy was found stabbed to death in her bed in the family home in Humble, Texas, after her teenage daughter Keri ran to a neighbor’s house and called 911 claiming an intruder had kicked in the back door. When police arrived, they discovered a scene of extreme overkill: Mary Ann had been attacked as she slept and stabbed more than 70 times, with wounds covering her arms, hands, neck, and face, clearly far beyond what would be needed to kill. At first, detectives focused on 20‑year‑old Zein Ahmed, a male classmate of Keri’s, but as they dug into phone records and relationships, attention shifted to Keri herself and her older girlfriend, 20‑year‑old Rebecca Keller. Mary Ann had recently tried to stop Keri from seeing Rebecca after catching them alone together, and investigators came to believe the two young women had plotted Mary Ann’s murder so they could be together without interference. Recorded jail calls later captured Rebecca admitting that she was the one who crept into Mary Ann’s bedroom and stabbed her more than 70 times while Keri staged the break‑in story. Rather than go to trial, both Keri and Rebecca pleaded guilty in December 2012; Rebecca received a 60‑year sentence for carrying out the stabbing, while Keri was sentenced to 30 years for orchestrating the plot against her own mother. The case has since been highlighted in documentaries and true‑crime shows as a chilling example of a teenage romance turning homicidal when a parent tried to step in.

    48 min
  8. Virginia McCullough Murdered Her Parents… Then Lived With Their Bodies

    Jun 17

    Virginia McCullough Murdered Her Parents… Then Lived With Their Bodies

    As always, thank you for hanging out and remembering John McCullough and Lois McCullough with me today. The Virginia McCullough case is one of the most disturbing family murder cases in recent UK true crime history. In 2019, 36-year-old Virginia McCullough murdered her parents, John McCullough and Lois McCullough, inside their home in Essex, England. Investigators discovered that Virginia poisoned her father and then brutally killed her mother before concealing both bodies inside the house. For nearly four years, she continued living in the home while pretending her parents were still alive, sending messages to family members, making excuses for their absence, and spending money connected to their accounts. The shocking double murder was finally uncovered in 2023 when police conducted a welfare check and found the remains of John and Lois hidden inside the property. Virginia McCullough later admitted to the killings and was sentenced to life in prison, making this chilling case of deception, family murder, and concealed bodies one of the most talked-about true crime stories in the United Kingdom.

    45 min
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4.8
out of 5
46 Ratings

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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