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TRUE CRIME with Bratterstein: Daily Summaries Delivered
by 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.
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- 2 days ago52 min
Nothing Good Happens After Midnight : The Sarah Ludemann and Rachel Wade case
As always, thank you for hanging out and remembering Sarah Ludemann with me today. In April 2009, 18-year-old Sarah Ludemann was fatally stabbed by 19-year-old Rachel Wade outside the Pinellas Park, Florida, home of Joshua Camacho, the young man both women had been involved with. The case arose from months of jealousy, arguments, confrontations, and hostile online and phone exchanges linked to the volatile relationship between Wade, Ludemann, and Camacho.On the night of April 14, Ludemann went with friends to Camacho’s home, where Wade was also present. A confrontation developed outside. Wade had brought a kitchen knife with her, and during the argument she stabbed Ludemann once in the chest. The blade penetrated Ludemann’s heart, and she bled to death in the street shortly afterward.Wade said she had acted in self-defense because she feared being attacked by Ludemann and her friends. Her defense maintained that she produced the knife to frighten them, not intending to kill anyone. Prosecutors argued that bringing the knife and waiting for the confrontation showed Wade had prepared for violence; they also presented evidence of the long-running conflict and communications between the people involved.In July 2010, a jury convicted Wade of second-degree murder after deliberating for less than three hours. In September, Judge Joseph Bulone sentenced her to 27 years in Florida state prison rather than treating her as a youthful offender. Her appeal was unsuccessful, and Florida corrections records cited in recent reporting list a projected release date in March 2032.
- 4 days ago47 min
Three Naval Academy Graduates, Two Murders, One Obsession
As always, thank you for hanging out and remembering Kerryn O’Neill and Alton Grizzard with me today. In the early hours of December 1, 1993, Ensign George P. Smith, 24, shot and killed his former fiancée, Ensign Kerryn “Kerry” O’Neill, 21, and their friend, Lt. j.g. Alton Lee Grizzard, 24, inside O’Neill’s room at the Bachelor Officers’ Quarters on Naval Amphibious Base Coronado near San Diego. Smith then died by suicide. The killings followed the recent end of Smith and O’Neill’s engagement, which had begun when they were students at the U.S. Naval Academy.O’Neill had asked Grizzard, a fellow Naval Academy graduate and Navy colleague, to come to her quarters because she was worried about Smith’s behavior. Grizzard was not romantically involved with O’Neill; he was there as a friend. Smith came to the building three times that night. On his final visit, at about 1:30–1:45 a.m., Grizzard answered the door.Smith entered carrying a 9 mm Ruger pistol and shot Grizzard multiple times. O’Neill tried to hide behind a chair, but Smith walked to her and shot her at close range. He then turned the weapon on himself. Grizzard and O’Neill died at the scene; Smith died later while being transported to a hospital.The case later became part of a legal dispute over whether the Navy had failed to respond adequately to signs that Smith was unstable and stalking O’Neill. O’Neill’s family filed a wrongful-death lawsuit against the United States, alleging that Navy psychologists and officials had ignored warning signs. The federal government’s account acknowledged that O’Neill had asked Grizzard to stay with her out of concern about Smith on the night of the murders.
- 6 days ago43 min
Failed at 4-Years-Old: The Samiah Downing Horrifying Case
As always, thank you for hanging out and remembering Samiah Downing with me today. In December 2012, four-year-old Samiah Christine Cornell Downing died in Adelanto, California, after prolonged abuse by her father, Ronald Dean Greer, and his girlfriend, Bianca Annie Mae Stanch. Prosecutors said Stanch resented Samiah and, with Greer’s participation, subjected her to repeated beatings, whipping, deprivation, and torture in the apartment where they lived.In the days before her death, Samiah was whipped with a belt and electrical cords and suffered scald burns after boiling water was poured on her. She had been deprived of water for two or three days, was malnourished and significantly underweight, and was locked alone in her bedroom while Greer and Stanch left the home. An autopsy determined that she died from dehydration, with extensive injuries across her body consistent with being whipped and abused.After finding Samiah dead, Greer decided to conceal the death. He and Bianca Stanch, with assistance from Stanch’s brother Rayshawn, wrapped Samiah’s body in a sleeping bag, drove it to a remote desert area near Baker, California, and buried her in a shallow grave. Authorities located her body in late December 2012 after receiving a tip and interviewing Greer and Stanch.A jury convicted Greer and Stanch in October 2020 of first-degree murder, torture, and child abuse causing death. On March 12, 2021, each received a sentence of 32 years to life in state prison, 25 years to life for murder plus a consecutive seven-years-to-life term for torture. The California Court of Appeal later upheld the convictions and sentences.
- 1 weeks ago24 min
True Story of a Family Annihilator : The Christian Longo Case
As always, thank you for hanging out and remembering Mary Jane, Zachary, Sadie, and Madison with me today. In December 2001, Christian Longo killed his wife, MaryJane Longo, 34, and their three children, Zachery, 4, Sadie, 3, and Madison, 2, after the family relocated to the Oregon coast while he was facing escalating debts, fraud allegations, and financial pressure. The victims’ bodies were discovered over several days in coastal waters and inlets around Newport, Oregon, near Christmas.Evidence established that Longo strangled MaryJane and two-year-old Madison, then disposed of their bodies in suitcases in the water. He initially claimed that MaryJane had killed the two older children, Zachery and Sadie, before he killed her in retaliation, but prosecutors argued and the jury found, that Longo alone murdered all four members of his family.After the killings, Longo fled to Mexico, where he assumed the identity of New York Times journalist Michael Finkel and attempted to start a new life. He was arrested in Mexico in January 2002 and returned to Oregon to face prosecution.At his 2003 trial, Longo pleaded guilty to murdering MaryJane and Madison, but a jury convicted him of aggravated murder in the deaths of Zachery and Sadie. The jury then sentenced him to death for all four killings; Oregon’s Supreme Court affirmed the convictions and sentence in 2006. In December 2022, Governor Kate Brown commuted Oregon’s 17 death sentences, including Longo’s, to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole.
- 1 weeks ago47 min
Alison Botha Survived the Impossible : Frans du Toit and Theuns Kruger are Worms
As always, thank you for hanging out and remembering Alison Botha with me today. In the early hours of December 18, 1994, Alison Botha, a 27-year-old insurance broker, was abducted outside her home in Port Elizabeth, now Gqeberha, South Africa. Frans du Toit and Theuns Kruger forced her into her own car at knifepoint, drove her to a secluded area near Noordhoek, and subjected her to a prolonged sexual assault.Afterward, the men took Botha to an isolated field and attempted to murder her. She was stabbed more than 30 times, often reported as 37 wounds and her throat was cut repeatedly. Believing she had died, the attackers left her there. Despite catastrophic injuries, Botha managed to get to a road and obtain help; her detailed evidence was central to identifying and prosecuting both men.Du Toit and Kruger were convicted of kidnapping, rape, attempted murder, and related offenses in the Port Elizabeth High Court in August 1995. Du Toit received three life sentences, while Kruger received life imprisonment plus 25 years. The sentencing judge, Chris Jansen, said their crimes showed “inherent evil” and recommended that neither man be released on parole.The two men were released on parole in July 2023 after serving about 28 years, a decision Botha said had occurred without adequate victim consultation. In February 2025, Correctional Services Minister Pieter Groenewald cancelled their parole following legal review and consultation, and both were returned to custody, where the department said they would remain.
- 1 weeks ago2h 19m
Home is Where the Murder is : 3 Hours of True Crime
As always, thank you for hanging out and remembering Aliza Parsy, Rachel Pernosky, and Mary Ann Murphy with me today.
- 2 weeks ago49 min
Local Hero Executed a Man on Christmas Night: The Ernst Brothers Murder Case
As always, thank you for hanging out and remembering Larry Streeter with me today. On Christmas night in 1997, brothers Ted and Jesse Ernst drove to the home of Dr. John Bradshaw near Bigfork, Montana, intending to burglarize it while Bradshaw was away. Ted Ernst, then about 20, was a well-known local wheelchair-racing athlete whose public image as an accomplished paraplegic competitor had made him something of a hometown hero.Larry Streeter, a 51-year-old businessman and Bradshaw’s friend, was checking on the house while Bradshaw was out of town. After noticing the Ernsts’ car at the property, Streeter approached to investigate. According to later accounts and the brothers’ confessions, Ted Ernst shot Streeter six times at close range with a .22-caliber pistol. As Streeter lay wounded in the snow, Ted fired a final shot from a .357-caliber handgun, killing him.The brothers attempted to remove evidence and conceal their involvement, but an investigation eventually led police to them. Both were arrested on May 18, 1998, and faced deliberate-homicide and burglary charges. Because they confessed and pleaded guilty, the case did not proceed to a conventional trial.Ted Ernst received a 100-year prison sentence without parole. Jesse Ernst was initially sentenced to 100 years, but his conviction was later overturned; a 2001 proceeding found him not guilty after his defense argued that he had Klinefelter syndrome and had acted under coercion and fear of Ted. He was released after roughly two years in custody.
- 2 weeks ago51 min
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.
About TRUE CRIME with 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.
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