Real Life Real Crime

On today’s episode of True Crime Time For, Woody takes listeners through the disturbing story of Carl Eric “Charlie” Brandt, a killer whose known crimes began when he was only 13 years old—and whose true number of victims may never be known.
Woody opens by briefly mentioning the ongoing Lindsay Clancy trial before turning to Brandt, who was born in 1957. In January 1971, 13-year-old Brandt entered a bathroom in his family’s Fort Wayne, Indiana, home and shot his parents with his father’s handgun. His pregnant mother was killed, his father survived, and Brandt then attempted to shoot his older sister before the weapon malfunctioned.
Brandt underwent psychiatric evaluations and spent approximately a year in a psychiatric hospital. He was eventually released back to his family and was never criminally prosecuted for killing his mother. Even more remarkably, Woody explains that Brandt’s younger sisters grew up believing their mother had died in a car accident.
As an adult, Brandt eventually married Teri Helfrich Brandt and settled in Florida. But after his death, investigators would uncover an obsession with human anatomy, surgical imagery, violent material, and female mutilation—evidence that caused detectives to wonder how many women Brandt may actually have killed.
One murder became especially important: Sherry Perisho.
In July 1989, the 38-year-old woman was found near Big Pine Key, Florida. Her throat had been severely cut, her body mutilated, and her heart removed. Her remains were discovered less than 1,000 feet from Brandt’s home. According to the case history Woody discusses, Teri later recalled Brandt returning home around the time of Perisho’s murder with blood on his clothing, which he reportedly attributed to cleaning fish. Investigators eventually concluded that Brandt was responsible for Perisho’s murder.
Then came September 2004.
Brandt and Teri evacuated their Florida Keys home ahead of Hurricane Ivan and stayed with their niece, Michelle Lynn Jones, near Orlando. Days later, a friend checking on Jones discovered Brandt dead by suicide in the garage.
Inside the house, investigators found Teri and Michelle murdered. Teri had been stabbed repeatedly. Michelle had been decapitated and disemboweled, with her heart and other organs removed.
The nature of Michelle’s mutilation immediately raised a frightening question for investigators:
Was this really the first time Charlie Brandt had done something like this?
A search of Brandt’s home revealed extensive material involving anatomy, surgery, autopsies, and violent sexual imagery. Detectives began examining cold cases in areas where Brandt had lived or traveled.
Among the cases Woody discusses are Carol Sullivan, a 12-year-old who disappeared from a Florida school-bus stop in 1978 and whose skull was later recovered; Lisa Saunders, 20, who was murdered on Big Pine Key in 1988; and Darlene Toler, 38, whose mutilated body was found near Miami in 1995.
Investigators considered Brandt in connection with these and other murders, but lacked enough evidence to conclusively attribute them to him.
Brandt is tied to four known killings, but investigators have long suspected there could be considerably more.
Woody then expands the discussion to some of history’s most prolific serial killers.
Luis Garavito — “The Beast”
First is Colombian serial killer Luis Alfredo Garavito Cubillos, better known as Luis Garavito or La Bestia—“The Beast.”
Garavito preyed primarily upon vulnerable boys and young men in Colombia and neighboring countries during the 1990s. He was linked to at least 193 murders, although the true number may have been higher.
Woody discusses the staggering scale of Garavito’s crimes and his disbelief over how a killer responsible for so many children’s deaths could ever have faced the possibility of release.
Garavito died in prison in October 2023.
Mariam Soulakiotis — “Mother Rasputin”
Then Woody heads to Greece for the bizarre story of Mariam Soulakiotis, an abbess sometimes called “Mother Rasputin.”
Soulakiotis operated an abbey where wealthy women and others seeking religious or medical help allegedly surrendered money and property. She was ultimately convicted of murders and numerous other offenses, while authorities attributed many additional deaths to neglect and deprivation at the monastery.
The commonly cited figure of 177 victims includes deaths classified as negligent homicides rather than 177 individually proven intentional murders—an important distinction from the way the number comes across in the transcript. Soulakiotis died in prison in 1954.
Woody uses Brandt, Garavito, and Soulakiotis to discuss a central problem in serial-murder investigations: the number of victims investigators can prove is not necessarily the number of people a killer actually murdered.
But the episode ends on a far more hopeful note.
Modern DNA Is Reopening the Past
Woody celebrates the extraordinary advances in forensic DNA testing and investigative genetic genealogy, which are allowing law enforcement agencies to identify victims and suspects in cases that once appeared impossible to solve.
And one of his examples is breaking news.
The final unidentified victim of Keith Hunter Jesperson, the “Happy Face Killer,” has finally gotten her name back.
She is Lydia Jane Wade McWhorter, a 26-year-old Texas woman whose body was found along Highway 95 near Blythe, California, on August 30, 1992. For decades, investigators knew her only as “Claudia,” the name Jesperson used when discussing her murder.
The Riverside County District Attorney announced on August 27, 2026, that DNA testing had finally confirmed McWhorter’s identity after investigators located a maternal relative. Her sisters had spent decades not knowing what happened after she disappeared from Texas.
Jesperson had already confessed to killing her and pleaded guilty to her murder in 2010. What DNA finally accomplished was something equally important:
It gave Lydia her name back.
Woody also revisits the 45-year-old murder of Yolanda Herrera, whose case was recently solved through advanced DNA analysis and genetic genealogy. Authorities arrested Kelly Lee Brower Sr., 68, in Arizona after DNA linked him to evidence preserved from Herrera’s 1981 autopsy. Authorities say Brower subsequently confessed.
Woody gives additional examples of modern forensic science identifying victims and suspects decades after crimes occurred, emphasizing how much investigative technology has changed since the beginning of his own law-enforcement career.
He closes with one of RLRC’s enduring messages: Never give up. Never surrender.
For families who have waited years—or decades—for answers, advances in DNA mean a cold case does not necessarily have to remain cold forever. And Woody hints again that movement is coming in cases RLRC itself has been working.
True Crime Time For, Real Life Real Crime, Woody Overton, Charlie Brandt, Carl Eric Brandt, Teri Brandt, Teri Helfrich Brandt, Michelle Lynn Jones, Sherry Perisho, Carol Sullivan, Lisa Saunders, Darlene Toler, Florida serial killer, serial killer, Luis Garavito, Luis Alfredo Garavito Cubillos, La Bestia, The Beast, Mariam Soulakiotis, Mother Rasputin, Keith Hunter Jesperson, Happy Face Killer, Lydia Jane Wade McWhorter, Yolanda Herrera, Kelly Lee Brower Sr., investigative genetic genealogy, forensic genealogy, DNA cold case, cold case solved, unidentified victims, true crime podcast
Carl Eric “Charlie” Brandt
Murder of Brandt’s pregnant mother
Teri Helfrich Brandt
Michelle Lynn Jones
Sherry Perisho
Suspected additional Brandt victims
Carol Sullivan
Lisa Saunders
Darlene Toler
Serial-killer victim counts
Luis Garavito / La Bestia
Mariam Soulakiotis / Mother Rasputin
Investigative genetic genealogy
Keith Hunter Jesperson
Happy Face Killer
Lydia Jane Wade McWhorter identification
Yolanda Herrera cold case
Kelly Lee Brower Sr.
Modern DNA technology
Cold-case investigations
Charlie Brandt almost certainly left investigators with unanswered questions. His known history began with the killing of his mother at 13, while the extreme mutilation in his later crimes led investigators to examine numerous unsolved murders.
A serial killer’s confirmed victim count and actual victim count can be very different. That distinction is central to Woody’s discussion of Brandt and other prolific killers.
Lydia Jane Wade McWhorter finally has her name back after 34 years. DNA confirmed the identity of the woman investigators had known only as “Claudia,” closing the final unidentified-victim case associated with Keith Hunter Jesperson’s convictions.
Yolanda Herrera’s case reinforces the same lesson: evidence preserved in 1981 became powerful enough to identify a murder suspect decades later because forensic science finally caught up with the evidence.
Woody ends on the hopeful side of true crime: technology keeps improving, evidence remains evidence, and families who have waited decades can still get answers.

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On today’s episode of True Crime Time For, Woody welcomes September and looks ahead to Labor Day weekend while hoping the holiday does not bring the violent crime and mass shootings that so often dominate the news. He reminds listeners that those stories will be covered as they develop before getting into the day’s true crime.
Khalil Wheeler-Weaver and the Murder of Robin West
For On This Day in Crime, Woody looks back to September 1, 2016, and the murder of 19-year-old Robin West, the first known victim of New Jersey serial killer Khalil Wheeler-Weaver.
West was seen getting into Wheeler-Weaver’s vehicle on the night of August 31. Prosecutors said Wheeler-Weaver strangled her, left her body inside an abandoned home in Orange, New Jersey, and set the building on fire. Her remains were so badly burned that identification took approximately two weeks.
Wheeler-Weaver went on to murder Joanne Brown and Sarah Butler and was convicted of kidnapping, sexual assault, and attempted murder in his attack on Tiffany Taylor, who survived. A jury convicted him in 2019, and in 2021 he was sentenced to 160 years in prison, with 145 years required before parole eligibility.
Woody plays audio from Wheeler-Weaver’s sentencing, where victims’ families pleaded with the judge to show the killer no mercy. Despite his convictions, Wheeler-Weaver continued to maintain his innocence.
Woody focuses on what that denial means to the families—and to Taylor, who survived his attack and testified against him.
Nearly 25 Years Later: Where Is Justice for 9/11?
As the anniversary of the September 11 attacks approaches, Woody turns to something he says remains personally difficult for him to discuss: 9/11.
The focus is Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the accused mastermind of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, and the extraordinary length of the military-commission proceedings at Guantánamo Bay.
Woody discusses why the case has dragged on for decades, the complications created by the military-commission system, disputes surrounding statements made during interrogations, previous attempts to reach plea agreements, and the enormous emotional toll the process continues to have on victims’ families.
His central question is simple: How can a case involving one of the deadliest terrorist attacks in American history remain unresolved nearly a quarter-century later?
Family Matters: Meeting His Biological Father Ends in Death
In Family Matters, Woody travels across the pond for the unusual case of Martin Greensmith, who is on trial for manslaughter after an encounter with Stephen Shevels, the man Greensmith had only recently learned was his biological father.
According to the account presented at trial, Greensmith was at a pub with family when his mother identified Shevels as his father. Greensmith said Shevels had never been part of his life and that he had no desire to establish a relationship with him.
The two later encountered one another in the pub’s beer garden. Greensmith testified that he felt intimidated when Shevels approached him and claimed he pushed him only to create distance. Shevels fell, struck his head, and later died from the injury.
Greensmith denies manslaughter and told jurors that he never intended to fight or kill his biological father. The trial was ongoing at the time covered in the episode.
Who Wanted Chicago Mail Carrier Octavia Redmond Dead?
Then Woody covers the disturbing murder of Octavia Redmond, a 48-year-old U.S. Postal Service letter carrier, wife, and mother who was gunned down while working her route on Chicago’s South Side in July 2024.
Redmond was shot multiple times at close range and later died at a hospital.
The investigation eventually expanded beyond the teenage shooter. Prosecutors allege the killing was planned in advance and that Redmond’s mail route had been watched before her murder. Woody discusses the allegations that the teenage gunman was threatened into carrying out the shooting and the still-lingering question at the center of the case:
Why was a mail carrier targeted for murder?
Livingston Parish: A Newborn Killed Minutes After Birth
Woody ends the episode close to home in Livingston Parish, Louisiana, with an extraordinarily difficult case involving a teenage mother and her newborn baby.
According to prosecutors, the girl was only 14 when she gave birth to a full-term, living infant inside her bedroom in 2025. Authorities alleged that she then used a sharp object to inflict fatal injuries to the newborn’s neck and concealed the baby’s body inside a tote in the bedroom.
The state attempted to have the juvenile prosecuted as an adult for first-degree murder, but the transfer was denied because of her age. The teenager was ultimately adjudicated in juvenile court and committed to the custody of Louisiana’s Office of Juvenile Justice until her 21st birthday.
Woody wrestles with whether that outcome constitutes justice for the newborn while also acknowledging that there may be circumstances involving the young mother’s age, development, or mental condition that are not apparent from the basic facts reported publicly.
He also focuses on another group profoundly affected by cases like this: the deputies, detectives, medical personnel, and forensic professionals who must recover and examine the body of a murdered newborn.
Woody closes by telling the Lifers that significant developments are coming in the cases RLRC has been working—particularly What Happened to Madison—and asks listeners for patience: “Just wait.”

True Crime Time For, Real Life Real Crime, Woody Overton, Khalil Wheeler-Weaver, Robin West, Joanne Brown, Sarah Butler, Tiffany Taylor, New Jersey serial killer, dating app killer, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, September 11, 9/11, Guantánamo Bay, military commission, Martin Greensmith, Stephen Shevels, Octavia Redmond, Chicago mail carrier, USPS, postal worker murder, Livingston Parish, Louisiana crime, juvenile murder, newborn murder, juvenile justice, What Happened to Madison, true crime podcast
Khalil Wheeler-Weaver
Robin West murder
Joanne Brown
Sarah Butler
Tiffany Taylor
Dating-app serial killer
160-year prison sentence
September 11 attacks
Khalid Sheikh Mohammed
Guantánamo Bay
Military commissions
9/11 victims’ families
Martin Greensmith
Stephen Shevels
Manslaughter trial
Octavia Redmond
Chicago postal worker murder
Planned murder allegations
Livingston Parish newborn murder
Juvenile first-degree murder
Louisiana juvenile justice
What Happened to Madison
Khalil Wheeler-Weaver targeted women he believed were vulnerable, but the evidence—and the determination of victims and their loved ones—ultimately helped put him away for what effectively amounts to life.
Robin West was a person, not simply the first name on a serial killer’s victim list. Her murder began a series of killings that eventually resulted in Wheeler-Weaver’s 160-year sentence.
The 9/11 military-commission proceedings demonstrate how procedural and constitutional issues can make even an enormously consequential criminal case extraordinarily complicated and prolonged.
Octavia Redmond’s murder raises an unanswered question: why was a postal worker allegedly surveilled and targeted in a planned killing?
The Livingston Parish case presents an exceptionally difficult collision between the killing of a newborn and a defendant who was herself only 14 years old when the crime occurred.
Woody ends September’s first episode with a message for everyone following RLRC’s ongoing investigations: developments are coming, and he will share them when he can.

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On today’s episode of True Crime Time For, Woody closes out August with one of the most notorious unsolved mass murders in American history: the Villisca Axe Murders of 1912.
Before getting into the case, Woody reminds listeners to continue calling in tips at 313-RLRC-TIP on the cases Real Life Real Crime is working. Because the episode was prerecorded, he also says he is still waiting for developments he hopes he may soon be able to share.
The story begins in Villisca, Iowa, where sometime during the night of June 9 into the early morning of June 10, 1912, eight people were murdered inside the Moore family home.
The victims were Josiah B. “Joe” Moore, 43; his wife, Sarah Montgomery Moore, 39; and their four children: Herman Moore, 11; Mary Katherine Moore, 10; Boyd Moore, 7; and Paul Moore, 5. Also killed were two sisters spending the night with the Moore children: Lena Gertrude Stillinger, 12, and Ina May Stillinger, 8.
The previous evening, the Moore family and the Stillinger girls attended a Children’s Day program at the local Presbyterian church. Sarah Moore helped coordinate the event, and the family returned home around 10 p.m. Sometime after midnight, someone entered the house and used an axe to bludgeon all eight victims to death.
The following morning, neighbor Mary Peckham became concerned when the family failed to begin its usual chores. She contacted Josiah’s brother Ross Moore, who entered the home and discovered the first bodies. Villisca Marshal Henry “Hank” Horton was summoned and found what he later described as someone murdered in every bed.
The crime scene was horrific and bizarre. Investigators believed the killer may have waited inside or near the house until everyone was asleep. An axe belonging to Josiah Moore was found inside the home. Mirrors were covered, victims’ faces were concealed, food and bloody water were reportedly found in the kitchen, and investigators believed at least one victim may have been awake during the attack.
But what happened after the bodies were discovered made an already difficult investigation even worse.
Word of the murders spread rapidly through Villisca, and townspeople began entering the house. Woody describes how the crime scene became hopelessly contaminated as people walked through the rooms, handled items, and even reportedly took pieces of Josiah Moore’s skull as souvenirs. The murder weapon itself was handled by numerous people before authorities gained control of the property.
The situation became so chaotic that the Iowa National Guard was eventually brought in to establish a perimeter around the Moore home. Historical accounts confirm that National Guard troops were used to secure the scene after crowds overwhelmed local authorities.
From there, Woody examines the long list of suspects and theories that developed over the following years.
One of the most prominent was Rev. Lyn George Jacklin Kelly, an English-born traveling minister who had been in Villisca for the Children’s Day services the night of the murders. Kelly drew suspicion because of his fascination with the crime and the detailed letters he later wrote about it. On August 31, 1917, he signed a confession after lengthy interrogation, but later recanted. His first murder trial ended in a hung jury, and he was acquitted at his second trial later that year.
Woody also explores Frank Fernando Jones, a prominent Villisca businessman and former Iowa state senator. Josiah Moore had once worked for Jones before leaving to establish a competing farm-equipment business. Rumors circulated that Jones may have had a motive to want Moore dead, although no evidence ever proved that theory.
Private detective James Wilkerson promoted another theory involving William Mansfield, sometimes referred to in historical accounts as “Blackie” Mansfield. Wilkerson alleged that Jones had hired Mansfield to carry out the killings. Mansfield was arrested, but payroll records placed him in Illinois at the time of the murders, and a grand jury declined to indict him. He was eventually released and later successfully sued Wilkerson.
Other names investigated or discussed over the years included Andrew Sawyer, Henry Lee Moore—a convicted axe murderer who was not related to the Villisca victims—and Samuel Elias Moyer, Josiah Moore’s brother-in-law. None was ever convicted in connection with the murders.
Woody also discusses a much broader serial-killer theory.
In the 2017 book The Man from the Train, authors Bill James and Rachel McCarthy James argued that the Villisca murders may have been part of a larger series of similar family axe murders across the United States. Their theory points toward a German immigrant known as Paul Mueller, or Müller, as a possible serial murderer responsible for multiple attacks. It remains a theory rather than a solved identification.
More than a century later, the Moore home still stands.
The property has been restored to resemble its 1912 condition and operates today as the Villisca Axe Murder House, offering tours and overnight stays. The current attraction openly embraces the home's reputation for alleged paranormal activity.
Woody also recounts stories associated with the house’s haunted reputation, including reports of occupants leaving after allegedly experiencing unexplained events and a 2014 incident in which a paranormal investigator suffered a self-inflicted stab wound while staying overnight at the property.
Ultimately, Woody comes back to the investigation itself.
Eight people—including six children—were murdered with an axe in a small Iowa town in 1912. The crime scene was overwhelmed by curious residents. Physical evidence was handled repeatedly. Modern forensic tools did not exist. Suspects came and went, confessions were made and withdrawn, and competing theories multiplied.
More than 114 years later, no one has ever been convicted of the Villisca Axe Murders.
Woody closes by reflecting on how violence, victim posing, and attempts by killers to conceal or psychologically distance themselves from their crimes are not modern phenomena. Cases from more than a century ago contain disturbing behaviors that investigators still encounter today.
True Crime Time For, Real Life Real Crime, Woody Overton, Villisca Axe Murders, Villisca Iowa, Josiah Moore, Sarah Moore, Herman Moore, Mary Katherine Moore, Boyd Moore, Paul Moore, Lena Stillinger, Ina Stillinger, Lyn George Jacklin Kelly, George Kelly, Frank Fernando Jones, William Mansfield, Henry Lee Moore, Andrew Sawyer, Samuel Elias Moyer, Paul Mueller, Bill James, Rachel McCarthy James, The Man from the Train, unsolved murder, axe murder, mass murder, cold case, haunted house, Villisca Axe Murder House, true crime podcast
Villisca Axe Murders
Moore family murders
Stillinger sisters
1912 Iowa mass murder
Contaminated crime scene
National Guard securing the murder house
Rev. Lyn George Jacklin Kelly
1917 confession
Hung jury and acquittal
Frank Fernando Jones
William Mansfield
James Wilkerson
Henry Lee Moore
Andrew Sawyer
Samuel Elias Moyer
Paul Mueller serial-killer theory
The Man from the Train
Villisca Axe Murder House
Paranormal claims
Unsolved historic crimes

The Villisca investigation was compromised almost immediately. Townspeople flooded the home, evidence was handled, and the scene was so uncontrolled that the National Guard was eventually used to secure it.
Rev. Lyn George Jacklin Kelly remains one of the case’s most famous suspects, largely because he confessed on August 31, 1917—but he recanted, his first trial ended with a hung jury, and his second ended in acquittal.
There has never been a proven killer. Numerous suspects and serial-killer theories have emerged, but the murders officially remain unsolved.
The case demonstrates how dramatically forensic investigation has changed. What investigators today would treat as a tightly controlled crime scene became a gathering place for townspeople in 1912.
More than a century later, the murder house itself has become part of the story, operating as a historical and paranormal tourism destination.
Name verification completed for this episode: the correct place is Villisca, the victims are Josiah B. “Joe” Moore, Sarah Montgomery Moore, Herman Moore, Mary Katherine Moore, Boyd Moore, Paul Moore, Lena Gertrude Stillinger, and Ina May Stillinger, and the minister’s fuller name is Rev. Lyn George Jacklin Kelly. I also checked Frank Fernando Jones, William Mansfield, Andrew Sawyer, Henry Lee Moore, Samuel Elias Moyer, Bill James, Rachel McCarthy James, and Paul Mueller before using them here. 

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On today’s episode of True Crime Time For, Woody opens with the 1994 murders of the Hodges family in Vinton, Virginia. William Blaine Hodges, Teresa Lynn Fulcher Hodges, 11-year-old Winter Ashley Hodges, and 3-year-old Anah Michelle Hodges were found dead inside their burning home. Teresa had been strangled, while Blaine, Winter, and Anah had been shot. Family friend Earl Conrad Bramblett was later convicted and executed for the murders.
Woody then heads to New Hampshire, where Nestor Roman II is accused of stealing a rescue truck while firefighters were battling a blaze at his own home. Authorities say Roman drove through the active emergency scene, nearly struck firefighters, ran over charged fire hoses, damaged vehicles and property, crashed the stolen rescue truck several miles away, and was later taken into custody.
In F’d Up Professionals, Woody covers the case of Green Bay Packers running back Josh Jacobs, who has been charged with misdemeanor battery and criminal damage to property stemming from an alleged domestic incident with his ex-girlfriend. Prosecutors say surveillance footage recovered from Jacobs’ garage corroborates key parts of her account, including allegations that he grabbed her, threw her to the ground, took her phone, and later damaged it. The Packers and NFL are monitoring the case.
The episode then turns to one of the most damaging kinds of misconduct in law enforcement: a dirty cop whose lies can unravel years of cases.
Woody discusses Byron Prophet, who spent nearly six years in prison after Houston narcotics officer Gerald Goines testified against him in a 2008 drug case. Prophet maintained that he had never entered the house where drugs were found and that Goines fabricated key details. Years later, scrutiny following the deadly 2019 Harding Street raid exposed Goines’ history of falsifying evidence and search-warrant information. Prophet’s convictions were vacated in 2024, and he has now filed a federal civil-rights lawsuit against Goines, other officers, and the City of Houston.
Woody uses the story to explain why police corruption damages far more than a single case. Once an officer is proven dishonest, every conviction tied to that officer can come under scrutiny, including cases where the defendant may actually have been guilty.
Then comes a bizarre F’d Up Professional story out of Albany, New York. Tim Walters, a longtime head custodian at Hackett Middle School, was discovered to have been living inside the school for more than six months. Walters had moved beds, a refrigerator, and other belongings into a storage area and even brought his four children there on weekends. School officials stumbled onto the arrangement while reviewing security footage during an investigation into overtime claims by other employees. Walters ultimately resigned.
Finally, Woody returns to Bryan Kohberger, who pleaded guilty to murdering Kaylee Goncalves, Madison Mogen, Xana Kernodle, and Ethan Chapin.
Kohberger is now attempting to withdraw that guilty plea, alleging ineffective assistance of counsel, coercion, and misinformation about the evidence and death-row conditions. Judge Steven Hippler has scheduled a status conference and potential evidentiary hearing for June 2027. Kohberger had waived his right to appeal as part of the plea agreement that spared him the death penalty.
Woody’s position is straightforward: if Kohberger truly wants the plea undone, then the entire case should reopen—including the possibility of the death penalty.
He closes by reminding listeners to stay patient with the RLRC cases currently being worked and promises to update the Lifers as soon as he can share new developments.
True Crime Time For, Real Life Real Crime, Woody Overton, Earl Conrad Bramblett, Blaine Hodges, Teresa Hodges, Winter Hodges, Anah Hodges, Nestor Roman II, Josh Jacobs, Green Bay Packers, domestic battery, Byron Prophet, Gerald Goines, Houston Police Department, wrongful conviction, police corruption, Harding Street raid, Tim Walters, Hackett Middle School, Bryan Kohberger, Kaylee Goncalves, Madison Mogen, Xana Kernodle, Ethan Chapin, Idaho murders, true crime podcast
Hodges family murders
Earl Conrad Bramblett
Nestor Roman II
Fire-rescue truck theft
Josh Jacobs
NFL Personal Conduct Policy
Domestic battery allegations
Garage surveillance footage
Byron Prophet
Gerald Goines
Houston narcotics scandal
Wrongful convictions
Police fabrication of evidence
Harding Street raid
Tim Walters
Custodian living inside school
Bryan Kohberger
Guilty-plea challenge
Ineffective-assistance claim
Possible renewed death-penalty exposure

The Hodges case is another reminder that attempts to destroy evidence—such as setting a crime scene on fire—do not guarantee a killer will escape accountability.
Surveillance footage can become decisive evidence, as seen in the Josh Jacobs case and in the discovery of the Albany custodian living inside a school.
Police dishonesty can contaminate an enormous number of cases. Gerald Goines’ misconduct led to renewed scrutiny of convictions stretching back years and helped overturn Byron Prophet’s case.
Kohberger’s attempt to withdraw his plea faces a significant legal hurdle because he entered the plea in open court and waived appellate rights as part of the agreement.
Woody’s broader message remains consistent: whether the accused is a celebrity, a police officer, or an ordinary citizen, the evidence has to be followed and the job has to be done right.

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On today’s episode of True Crime Time For, Woody opens with updates on Justice for Hailey and What Happened to Madison. Hailey’s case remains under review, while Woody says the Madison investigation is still moving forward and asks listeners to continue sending information to 313-RLRC-TIP.
For On This Day in Crime, Woody remembers Emmett Till, the 14-year-old Black teenager who was brutally murdered in Mississippi in 1955. Roy Bryant and J. W. Milam were charged with the murder, acquitted by an all-white jury, and later publicly admitted killing Till. Woody reflects on the racism surrounding the case and the importance of remembering that history.
Woody then turns to convicted British murderer John Sweeney, known as the “Scalp Hunter”, who died in prison without ever answering whether he had additional victims. Sweeney was serving a whole-life sentence for the murders of former girlfriends Melissa Halstead and Paula Fields, whose dismembered remains were found years apart in canals in the Netherlands and England. Police also investigated him in connection with other missing women. His former girlfriend Delia Balmer survived a violent axe attack by Sweeney and later wrote about her experience.
Next, Woody covers the murder of Star-Michael Tucker and the life sentence imposed on Charles Carson-Dowdy. Prosecutors said Tucker tried to end their relationship, after which Carson-Dowdy traveled from Alabama to Pensacola, broke into her apartment, waited for her, shot her repeatedly, and then ran over her body multiple times with her own vehicle.
In Family Matters, Woody heads to Indiana, where Adriana Velasquez is accused of intentionally driving her Honda into her husband as he left a divorce hearing on a motorcycle. Police say she struck and dragged him, then got out of the vehicle with a knife and stabbed him in the arm. She now faces attempted murder and additional charges.
Then it’s F’d Up Professionals. A Nebraska police captain and her partner are accused of leaving their two-year-old daughter alone inside a locked minivan while they went fishing. Another couple heard the child crying and called 911. The toddler was reportedly left inside for at least 28 minutes but was not injured.
Woody also covers an Indiana case involving Amy Fuller, who is accused of repeatedly striking a child in the head in a church parking lot after the child asked her for water. Witnesses told police the child was hit several times, and doctors later documented a large lump on the back of the child’s head.
Then comes one of the most satisfying stories of the episode: a 45-year-old cold case finally gets an answer.
Twenty-three-year-old Yolanda Herrera disappeared after leaving a bar in Universal City, Texas, in April 1981. Two days later, children walking to school discovered her body. Investigators preserved DNA evidence, but for decades they had no suspect.
Advances in forensic genetic genealogy eventually led investigators to Kelly Lee Brower Sr. in Arizona. Authorities say Brower’s DNA matched evidence from Herrera’s autopsy and that he subsequently confessed to the murder. Woody celebrates the detectives who refused to give up on the case—even though some of the investigators working it today were not yet born when Yolanda was killed.
Woody also discusses the massive Feeding Our Future pandemic-fraud investigation. The scheme involved federal money that was supposed to provide meals for children during the pandemic but was instead allegedly diverted through fake meal sites, fabricated records, kickbacks, and personal purchases. Aimee Bock, the founder of Feeding Our Future, was identified in the episode as the central figure in the broader fraud scheme.
Finally, Woody turns to Bryan Kohberger, who pleaded guilty to murdering four University of Idaho students—Madison Mogen, Kaylee Goncalves, Xana Kernodle, and Ethan Chapin—and avoided the death penalty as part of his plea agreement.
Kohberger is now seeking post-conviction relief and has been granted new counsel. Woody discusses the extraordinarily high bar Kohberger faces after pleading guilty in open court and acknowledging that he understood the agreement. He also focuses on what renewed litigation means for the victims’ families, who are again forced to watch the case return to the spotlight.
Woody’s view is simple: if Kohberger wants the case reopened, then reopen all of it—including the possibility of the death penalty.
He closes by thanking everyone for listening, sharing, and supporting True Crime Time For, and wishes the Lifers a safe weekend.
True Crime Time For, Real Life Real Crime, Woody Overton, Justice for Hailey, What Happened to Madison, Emmett Till, Roy Bryant, J. W. Milam, John Sweeney, Scalp Hunter, Melissa Halstead, Paula Fields, Delia Balmer, Charles Carson-Dowdy, Star-Michael Tucker, Adriana Velasquez, Amy Fuller, Yolanda Herrera, Kelly Lee Brower Sr., forensic genetic genealogy, cold case, Feeding Our Future, Aimee Bock, Bryan Kohberger, Madison Mogen, Kaylee Goncalves, Xana Kernodle, Ethan Chapin, true crime podcast
Justice for Hailey
What Happened to Madison
Emmett Till
John Sweeney / Scalp Hunter
Melissa Halstead
Paula Fields
Delia Balmer
Charles Carson-Dowdy
Star-Michael Tucker murder
Domestic violence
Adriana Velasquez
Divorce-hearing attack
Nebraska hot-car child neglect case
Amy Fuller
Child abuse allegations
Yolanda Herrera cold case
Kelly Lee Brower Sr.
Forensic genetic genealogy
Feeding Our Future
Aimee Bock
Bryan Kohberger
University of Idaho murders
Post-conviction relief

John Sweeney died with unanswered questions, leaving open the possibility that other victims may never be identified.
Domestic violence is a major theme throughout the episode, from Star-Michael Tucker’s murder to the alleged attack following an Indiana divorce hearing.
Yolanda Herrera’s case proves cold does not mean unsolvable. Forty-five years later, forensic genetic genealogy provided investigators with the lead they needed.
The Feeding Our Future case shows how programs created to help vulnerable children can themselves become targets for large-scale fraud.
Bryan Kohberger’s latest legal move affects more than the defendant. Each new filing can force the victims’ families back into the case and the public spotlight.
RLRC’s ongoing message remains the same: keep submitting information in What Happened to Madison and keep waiting for the review in Justice for Hailey. 

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