Dark Side of the Land

Who killed Kate Brown and Carnell Sledge? The two longtime friends were gunned down in broad daylight while sitting on a bench in the Cleveland Metroparks. Five years later, the murders remain unsolved. In this episode, 19 News anchor Nichole Vrsansky sits down with police and the FBI as they go through the evidence in the case, persons of interest, and the latest developments in their investigation. You'll also hear from the families of "Nell" and Kate as they share memories and discuss their theories about what may have happened. A $100,000 reward is available for information that leads to an arrest in this case. Tipsters can reach out anonymously to the FBI's Cleveland Field Office at (216) 622-6842, the Cleveland Metroparks Police Department at (440) 331-5219, or Crime Stoppers of Cuyahoga County at (216) 252-7463. Tips can also be submitted at tips.fbi.gov.

On May 13, 2005, a millionaire doctor was gunned down while traveling long the Ohio Turnpike with his wife and mother-in-law. Was it road rage? A robbery gone wrong? Or was it something more sinister? In a tearful television interview, Donna Moonda made a plea for help to find her husband’s killer. But more than a year after the deadly roadside ambush, it was Dr. Gulam Moonda’s widow who ended up behind bars. In this episode, 19 News anchor Tiffani Tucker digs deeper into the murder-for-hire scheme and how the shooter himself helped investigators piece together the crime.

It is arguably one of the darkest days in Cleveland baseball history. On June 4, 1974, the Indians held a "Ten Cent Beer Night" promotion to help boost fan attendance as the team struggled to fill seats. Their ploy worked, and over 25,000 fans descended upon Municipal Stadium to watch the Indians take on the Texas Rangers. But the cheap beer stunt also led to something never seen before, or ever again, on a Major League field - a violent, drunken riot. In this episode, 19 News investigators Brian Duffy and Jen Picciano revisit the chaotic game with a group of guests, including former Indians manager and first baseman Mike Hargrove, who was a rookie with the Rangers that night.

An elderly man vanished in the mid-1990s, leaving behind a large sum of money. Nearly a decade later, his ex-wife disappeared too. What happened to the Shoemakers? And where did the money go? 19 News investigative reporter Sara Goldenberg takes you through the clues and uncovers family secrets within the investigation.

In September 2021, chaos erupted at an off-campus college party near the University of Akron when someone pulled out a gun and started shooting, taking two innocent lives. Nearly three years later, the person who killed 18-year-old Maya McFetridge and 25-year-old Alexander Beasley is still walking the streets. In this episode, 19 News investigative reporter Kelly Kennedy dives deep into this chilling cold case, unraveling new leads and piecing together the clues with detectives who refuse to give up. You’ll also hear from the parents of the victims, and how Alex Beasley helped solved another murder from beyond the grave.

A $50,000 reward is available for tips that lead to an arrest and conviction. If you know anything that could help crack this case, please call Akron Police at 330-375-2490.

Crime doesn’t pay – unless you’re Ted Conrad. After pulling off the biggest cash heist in Cleveland’s history, the 20-year-old bank teller turned infamous thief spent 52 years in the clear living under a new identity on the east coast. But in March 2021, he finally revealed his real name, and fugitive status, in a shocking deathbed confession to his wife and daughter. In this episode, 19 News investigative reporter Jen Picciano takes listeners on a journey through Conrad's film-inspired bank heist and the five decades he kept his crimes a secret while living as "Thomas Randele." And for the first time ever, she brings Conrad's daughter to Ohio where they walk in her fugitive father's footsteps - from the halls of his high school to the bank vault he stole from in 1969.

Who was the Mad Butcher of Kingsbury Run? Over a four year period in the 1930s, the dismembered body parts of at least a dozen people popped up throughout Cleveland. The serial killer behind the horrific crimes was never captured or identified and, nearly 90 years later, the infamous ‘Torso Murders’ remain unsolved. In this episode, 19 News anchor Brian Duffy takes an in-depth look at the killings alongside experts with unprecedented knowledge about the case. The podcast also explores the new developments he recently uncovered regarding the Torso Killer’s unidentified victims, including plans to exhume remains for DNA testing.

A mysterious man living a double life. Why did the man known as Joseph Newton Chandler abandon his family, steal the identity of a young boy, and hide from his past for decades? Could he have been a fugitive or an infamous serial killer? 19 News Investigative Reporter Sara Goldenberg takes you inside the journey to find his real identity and uncover his past.

Jeffrey Dahmer, the infamous Milwaukee Cannibal, brutally murdered 17 men and boys between 1978 and 1992. In this episode, 19 News investigator Kelly Kennedy takes a deep dive into the serial killer's earlier years growing up in Northeast Ohio. Listeners will hear from Dahmer's 91-year-old high school teacher, as well as one of his classmates, about what the killer was like as a teenager when he attended Revere High School.

As the reward increases in Keshaun Williams' case, the mother of the missing 15-year-old makes a public plea for tips that can help bring her son back home. In part 2 of this series, 19 News investigative reporter Sara Goldenberg updates the ongoing search for Keshaun and speaks with Sylvia Colon, co-founder of the Cleveland Family Center for Missing Children and Adults, about how the organization is helping Keshaun's family and the families of others who have disappeared.