Gulf Coast Confidential with Mollye Barrows

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Phil Hartman was one of Hollywood’s leading funny men. There was no impression he couldn’t make, no character he couldn’t bring to life on screen, from appearances on The Simpsons to skits on Saturday Night Live and roles in dozens of movies. 

Hartman was popular and loved, on and off screen, by fans, friends, and family alike, for his easy-going ways and ability to make people laugh.  

But there was nothing funny about what happened to the comedian in 1998. His wife of 11 years, Brynn, shot him to death in his sleep with their young children in the house.

According to police, friends, and witnesses, Brynn, who was also an actor and model, struggled with drinking and drugs and had a hard time playing second fiddle, in her mind, to her famous husband’s success. 

She could be a supportive, and loving wife and mother when she was sober, and a jealous, spiteful woman in a rage when she was not – which was often.    

Phil typically retreated into their bedroom after one of her rages. The confrontations were so contrary to his personality he usually went to sleep. Only this time Brynn refused to let it go and she shot him three times in the throat, head, and chest in a drunken fury, before driving to a friend’s house and confessing.

It wasn’t until they returned to the crime scene and the Hartman’s sleeping children that Brynn’s friends believed her and called police. Before anyone could stop her, she took her own life too.  

Join us for more on the tragic, behind the scenes drama in the latest episode of the Gulf Coast Confidential podcast, “Heartless Hollywood Murder-Suicide: Phil and Brynn Hartman.”

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Some people can handle temptation, but apparently Ashley McArthur isn’t one of them. When her friend, police officer turned private investigator Taylor Wright, asked her to hold onto some cash, she did. Then Ashley refused to let it go.

Taylor didn’t know at the time Ashley had a lying problem, and that men, money, and friendships were simply the cost of doing business.

No matter how many times Taylor asked for her cash back, Ashley always had an excuse why she couldn’t get it to her. Finally, she agreed to go to the bank with Taylor to retrieve it. And then Taylor all but vanished. 

Fortunately for investigators, Ashley left a trail of lies and deceit from Milton to Cantonment to Pensacola, and she faced an array of charges including arson, racketeering, and murder. 

Police didn’t have to dig far to find the truth. Follow the corruption with us in the latest episode of the Gulf Coast Confidential podcast, “Taylor Wright was dead wrong about Ashley McArthur: PI killed for cash, found in shallow grave.”

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Toby Madden couldn’t commit to his longtime girlfriend when it comes to marriage, but when it comes to murder, he committed to stabbing her 55 times. 

Rachelle Brewsaugh was used to Toby Madden’s meltdowns. They had been a couple for nearly thirty years and even had a daughter together. 

Rachelle’s family testified that he regularly threatened her, telling her more than once he was going to “cut off her head and put it in her mother’s lap so the whole family would suffer.” 

Most of the time Rachelle could appease him during one of his temper tantrums, often drug-fueled, but in October of 2022, he made good on his threat and attacked her with a knife, stabbing the 50-year-old woman all over her chest, abdomen, head, back, knees, arms, shoulders, and hands.

Her gruesome, unprovoked murder was awful enough, but Madden’s behavior at his murder trial was unhinged. 

Join us for more on the next episode of the Gulf Coast Confidential podcast, “Whiny Toby Madden says he ‘didn’t mean’ to stab common law wife 55 times: Meltdown Madden.”

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Psychiatrist Pamela Buchbinder knows how to mess with people’s heads. When she no longer wanted to split custody of the child she shared with her baby-daddy, psychiatrist Michael Weiss, she didn’t take him to court. Prosecutors say she made a plan to kill him.
 
That plan included brainwashing and bamboozling her bi-polar younger cousin, Jacob Nolan. His family was delighted when the accomplished and seemingly kind and caring Buchbinder offered to let Jacob live with her and help take care of her young son.

Only instead of helping him deal with his mental instability she recruits and masterminds him to fulfill a mission to murder her son’s father armed with a bizarre map of his office, a knife and a sledgehammer.

Fortunately, the tall and imposing Dr. Weiss was able to fend off the homicidal attack from the young man who was falsely told Weiss was abusing his cousin and her son. 

Jacob even took a selfie of his bloody face in Michael’s office to prove to Buchbinder he did as he was asked. At Jacob’s trial for attempted murder he claimed he was under duress and only did what he did because she manipulated him and convinced him he was killing a molester and an abuser, neither of which was true.

Did the jury believe him or blame Buchbinder?

Join us for more on the case in the latest episode of the Gulf Coast Confidential podcast, "Doctor's Orders: How Psychiatrist Pamela Buchbinder Brainwashed Her Cousin Patient to Kill for Her!"

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Here’s the shakedown and breakdown of the latest Dr. Thomas Shaknovsky wrong site surgery. The doctor is under investigation and has had his medical license suspended by the Florida Dept. of Health after he allegedly mistakenly removed a man’s liver instead of his spleen, two easily identifiable organs for a health care professional.

The Florida Agency for Health Care Administration launched a ten-day investigation to better understand why he could allegedly make such a deadly, egregious error in the operating room during a what should have been a straightforward surgery.

Join us as we break down the state’s report to understand this incredulous case and what others in the operating room had to say about it in the latest episode of Gulf Coast Confidential podcast, “That’s the effing liver.”

From murderers to money launderers, thieves to thugs – police officers from the...

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An open marriage ended in a closed casket. Laurie and Michael Shaver were together, but seeing other people…because that always ends so well, even when you’re living in the shadow of the happiest place on earth, Disney World.

But one day, Michael, who was a monorail mechanic at Disney, didn’t show up for work or anywhere for that matter. For all intents and purposes, the husband and father had all but disappeared except for a cryptic message sent to his boss, friends, and family on social media telling everyone to “leave him alone.” 

And people did, for a long time. Especially his wife, who promptly had not one, not two, but three boyfriends after Michael left. She had enjoyed her newfound freedom for years, often sharing random messages from Michael, until the day his friends and co-workers became suspicious and asked for a welfare check. 

Police only had to look three feet under a new slab of concrete in the backyard to find the answer, Michael Shaver was dead. His widow, who claimed to be getting messages from him, became the prime suspect. Not only did she deny it, she blamed the couple’s then seven-year-old daughter as well as one of her lovers for killing Michael who had been shot in the back of the head. 

Join us for more on the latest episode of the Gulf Coast Confidential podcast, “A murderous third grader, deadly paramour, and a missing husband buried in the backyard: Laurie Shaver’s blame game.”

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Mississippi 14-year-old Carly Gregg shot her mom three times in the face and saved three more bullets for her stepdad. She was upset her mom had caught her vaping pot and discovered that Carly had a secret life which included a boyfriend, burner phones, and other forbidden extracurricular activities.  

Security footage in the house shows that the day her mom, a school teacher, found out Carly was rebelling against the house rules, Carly walked into her room, took a gun hidden in the house and turned it on her screaming mother. Witnesses say she then invited another school friend to come and see her mom's corpse and told her to watch while she shot her stepdad who was on his way home after Carly texted him from her mom's phone to return. 

She fired three times when he walked in the door but he was only wounded by one shot in the shoulder. The teen tried to plead insanity when she was charged with the shootings, but the court wasn't buying it and it only took the jury two hours to come back with a verdict. 

Join us for the chilling story in the 100th episode of the Gulf Coast Confidential podcast, "Psycho teen caught vaping pot shoots mom in the face, wounds stepdad: the deadly ‘secret life’ of Carly Gregg." 

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Killing a man over his tattoos?! That’s what happened to Josh Davies, who was enjoying date night with his wife when they stopped at a popular watering hole to meet some friends.  The 39-year-old was hanging out, relaxing, and minding his own business when 64-year-old Kevin Sehmer marched into the bar, already looking for a fight, prosecutors said. 

Although Josh was a complete stranger, Kevin zeroed in on the younger man’s tattoos, visible on his arms, and became incensed by them. Kevin told Josh his tattoos were a sin and obscuring the work of God. 

Refusing to argue, Josh stepped outside to avoid a confrontation and let Sehmer cool off. Only Sehmer didn’t seem interested in cooling off and instead determinedly followed Josh outside.

Surveillance video shows Josh was walking away again from the enraged stranger when Sehmer punched him so hard in the face Josh fell back and cracked his head on the sidewalk. The skull fractures put him in the hospital for a month, but Josh never recovered and died from the fatal blow. 

Now Josh’s family say they will never recover from losing a “loving” son, father, and husband in an angry and unprovoked attack. What was Kevin Sehmer thinking?!

Join us for the latest episode of the Gulf Coast Confidential podcast, “Stink Over the Ink: Is a tattoo a sin? Kevin Sehmer says so!”

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Whew! There’s so much stuff happening we added an extra episode to touch on new cases and others that just aren’t going away anytime soon!

Jury selection starts Monday in the case of “Suitcase Sarah Boone,” who is on her 9th attorney, and wouldn’t you just know it, he’s James Owens from Milton, Florida, and the former Public Defender for our area. 

He’s not without notoriety here in the Panhandle, with his connection to a woman and criminal suspect who died in a shootout with police after firing at them through the sunroof of her ex-husband’s black, Jaguar, “Bonnie and Clyde” style.

If the Gulf Coast wasn’t infamous enough for doctors like Ben Brown and Thomas Shaknovsky, now we’ve got Dr. Elaine Sharp, a once well-respected 72-year-old OB/GYN in Gulf Breeze who is now charged with murder, manslaughter, money laundering, and racketeering, amongst other charges. 

And we’ve got several other high-drama, headline making cases at home and across the country including a high-school homecoming King who was fatally harassed by online scammers in a sextortion case. We’ve had our own deep fake picture scandal here in Pensacola and the parents of the girls who were sexualized are up in arms about it. 

Join us for this bonus episode of the Gulf Coast Confidential podcast called, “Southern Fried Crime: updates, deaths, and sextortion.” 

From murderers to money launderers, thieves to thugs – police officers from the...

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“That 70s Show” was one of the most popular TV shows in the1990s, taking people on a wholesome walk down memory lane down when long hair, bell bottoms, and hanging out was the norm. 

One of the stars of the show was anything but wholesome in real life, according to prosecutors. Actor Danny Masterson was convicted of raping two women and sentenced to thirty to years life. 

The victims said he drugged and repeatedly raped them and when they came forward with the accusations, they were allegedly shamed and attacked by members of the LAPD and the Church of Scientology for speaking up about the “heavily protected Masterson who was seen at the time as untouchable member of the Church of Scientology.”  

The victims said he groomed them prior to being sexually assaulted by initially being charming but the charm gave way to undermining insults, degradation, and eventual emotional blackmail when he used their personal fears and traumas to blame them for his abuse, leading some to consider self-harm.

Join us for more on the “not cool and not so groovy” story of Danny Masterson in latest episode of the Gulf Coast Confidential podcast “From That 70s Show to Prison: the Danny Masterson case.”

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