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Daniel and Stephanie Menard were well known and well liked in their small, close-knit community -  Olive Dell Ranch, a family-friendly nudist resort in Colton, California. 

The elderly couple loved the naturist lifestyle, their church and their little Shih Tzu, Cuddles, and they looked out for each other. Daniel Menard, 79, was a diabetic with dementia and 73-year-old Stephanie Menard, who walked with a cane.

The elderly couple had some good friends at the ranch, but their next-door neighbor, 62-year-old Michael Royce Sparks or “Sparky,” was not one of them. 

Sparky told folks he “hated” the Menards because Daniel trimmed a tree that hung over into Sparks’ yard. Outside of that relationship, Sparky was pretty well liked at the ranch, too, although some people wondered why he often made so many trips to the home improvement store to buy cement. 

Turns out Sparky, an apparent doomsday prepper, was hiding a few secrets that came to light when the Menards mysteriously vanished a week ago and he became the primary “person of interest” in their disappearance. Concerned about booby traps, police used a camera to investigate Sparky’s house and discovered human remains in a cement bunker beneath his house.

It took an armored truck to get him out of there. Now Sparks is charged with murder. 

Join us for the latest episode of the Gulf Coast Confidential podcast, “The Menards Vanish: Did doomsday prepper murder elderly couple at family friendly nudist ranch?”

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Dr. Ben Brown, the Florida plastic surgeon arrested for the untimely death of his young wife, has legal battles on several fronts these days. 

Brown has a pre-trial conference in Santa Rosa Count court next week on his negligent homicide charge. His attorney filed a motion to waive his appearance, but just two days ago Brown filed a motion asking to appear telephonically or virtual at the Sept. 3 hearing.

Also next week, Brown's office in Gulf Breeze, the place where he was performing several surgeries on Hillary Brown when she had seizures and coded from lidocaine toxicity last November, will be auctioned off since the bank foreclosed on the property.

And according to court records, another woman has come forward with a filing that she may sue him for medical malpractice. 

In the meantime, Ben Brown still faces sanctions from the Florida Department of Health for failing to call 9-1-1 and perform basic life saving medical care on his wife after her heart stopped and for botching patient surgeries, but a hearing date has not yet been set for the Florida Board of Medicine to hear his case. 

Join us for an update on Dr. Ben Brown in the latest episode of the Gulf Coast Confidential podcast, "Beauty Buyer Beware VII."  

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Fashion to die for. Shopping and combing the racks for clothes is supposed to be fun, even necessary at times, but not deadly. 

The ladies in these next two cases went shopping for all the same reasons many of us do, to buy a new outfit for a special occasion, to pick up a gift for a friend, or to just kill time. Instead, they were killed. 

Police are still looking for the man who gunned down four customers, a part-time employee and the store manager at a Lane Bryant in Chicago, Illinois, in 2008. They were all taken to the back and shot and at least one of the victims was sexually assaulted. 

The store manager managed to call 9-1-1 before she was killed. When police arrived, only one woman had survived to tell police what happened.  

A Lululemon Athletica store in a suburb of Washington, D.C. was the site of an even grislier slaying in 2011, when store clerk Brittany Norwood murdered her co-worker Jayna Murray, after the young woman caught Brittany shoplifting.

Murray was savagely attacked, sustaining at least 331 wounds from at least five different weapons, including a knife and a hammer. Norwood even injured herself and tried to make it look like she had been attacked and tied up, but police soon cut through all her lies.  

It turns out murder is never in fashion. Join us for the latest episode of the Gulf Coast Confidential podcast, “Lululemon and Lane Bryant Murders – Retail Can Kill Ya!”

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You’d have to be insane to kill your mother, but can you become un-insane? According to Florida State Hospital you can. 

Several psychologists say Brandon Aydelott, who at 17 stabbed, slashed, beat and stomped his mother, Sharon Hill Aydelott, to death on Christmas Eve 2013 because she put him in rehab two weeks before he killed her, say he no longer meets the criteria for commitment at their facility for the criminally insane.   

The 28-year-old Gulf Breeze man will be making his new home at the Apalachee Center in Quincy, Florida, once a bed opens up for at the 24/7 lockdown facility. Sharon’s sisters were hoping he would never be released from Florida State Hospital, and they question the criteria used to evaluate their nephew which is certainly not fool proof, but the best the field can do in measuring a person’s ability to not be homicidal. 

They point out his life was charmed at the time he unleashed so much rage on his mother because she was worried enough about his violent and out-of-character behavior in the months leading up to his psychotic break that she led a family intervention to get him help, help he resented when the facility said his drug test came back clean. How would he handle stressors now after so much has happened, is their fear now. 

Brandon Aydelott is in a secure facility now, but his mom’s family worries this is one step closer to the possibility of his release from state custody, where he’s been for years at their expense. 

Join us for the latest episode of the Gulf Coast Confidential podcast, “Mommy Killer III: Brandon Aydelott, Moving Through the System.” 

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Kendrick Johnson was known for being a talented athlete, so how did the strong, healthy 17-year-old basketball player end up dying upside down, head-first in a rolled up wrestling mat in his high school gym? 

Three autopsies, two exhumations, six tennis shoes, and lawsuits seeking billions of dollars in damages later there are still more questions than answers. 

Kendrick’s parents are not backing down from their belief that their son was killed by another student, the son of a local FBI agent, and that’s why they will never accept that what happened was a freak accident or give up their pursuit of justice in the mysterious death. 

Join us as we dive into the latest episode of Gulf Coast Confidential, “Wrapped in the mat: Kendrick Johnson’s family still grappling with boy’s death a decade later.” 

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Shot in the face. Sonya Massey called 9-1-1 over a suspected prowler, not imagining the police would take aim at her when she was in her own house. 

Illinois deputy Sean Grayson, who had a history of policing at five other police departments in 3 years, as well as allegations of misconduct in the military and other issues, was one of the officer’s who answered Massey’s call. 

Instead of easing her fears, he stoked them. He marched Sonya around her own home ordering her to remove a pot of what he thought was boiling water from her stove. When she scurried to do as he demanded and grabbed the pot, Grayson backed away as if she was the threat which seemingly surprised Massey. 

In light of his barely veiled accusation, the 36-year-old woman told him she “rebuked him in the name of Jesus,” and Grayson immediately pulled is gun.  

Even though she was down on her knees apologizing, and never made a move to throw the pot of water, Grayson shot her in the face and the head over and over, and then told the other officer with him, “no need to help, it’s a head shot.”

Now the hot-headed deputy is in hot water himself, charged with Sonya’s murder. 

Join us for the latest episode of the Gulf Coast Confidential podcast, “Shot in the face: Deputy Sean Grayson in hot water now for killing Sonya Massey, woman who called for help.”

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Darrell Brooks plowed through the Waukesha Christmas Parade like he was in the fast lane driving home from work in rush hour traffic. He drove around barriers in his race through the Wisconsin town, rarely hitting the brakes and only honking at the performers and parade goers who lined the street for the small town’s annual, holiday celebration. 

Brooks didn’t seem to care he mowed some of them down, leaving young and old dead, injured and running for their lives. When police finally caught up with him, he had ditched his red SUV and denied he was ever behind the wheel. 

During the trial for his crimes, Darrell Brooks tried to bowl the court over with the same stubborn, pedal-to-the-metal attitude he showed at the parade, only this time he hit a roadblock and wound up in prison. 

Join us for the latest episode of the Gulf Coast Confidential podcast: “Christmas Parade Crasher: The Darrell Brooks side show.”

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Sandra Birchmore had nothing but respect and admiration for the police. So much so, that at 13-years-old she joined a police explorer’s program in her hometown in Stoughton, Massachusetts. She had lost members of her own family, including her mother, and the close-knit department helped fill a void in her life. 

However, several officers in the program did more than just take the teenager under their wing. According to a lawsuit, brothers Matthew and William Farwell and another officer, Robert Devine, groomed Sandra for years before having sex with the girl and passing her around, beginning when she was just15.

The behavior and illicit relationships continued for years and might have gone unnoticed until Sandra’s untimely death in 2021. She was found dead in her apartment, and authorities said it was suicide.

That didn’t make sense to Sandra’s friends who said not only was she pregnant, she was excited about having a baby and the child was Matthew Farwell’s, a married father and detective. 

New information has come to light since Sandra Birchmore’s death, not only about the scandalous accusations of statutory rape but a new investigation determined her death was a homicide and Matthew Farwell was the last one to see her alive.

Join us for a closer look at this case in New England where protestors are calling for justice, in the latest episode of the Gulf Coast Confidential podcast, “Groomed by the Blue Line: The mysterious death of Sandra Birchmore.”  

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Avery Pickle was a young man who looked out for others. The 17-year-old Elberta High School student was a valued member of the football team, as well as a competitive wrestler, and super likable. He was kind and the kind of guy everybody wanted to be around, thanks to his quick wit, and charm, and easy-going personality. 

He made friends easily and with everyone from his fellow students to his co-workers at Pirates Cove in the small Gulf Coast city of Elberta, Alabama. This past 4th of July, Avery was leaning toward staying at home, but friends called him to come out and enjoy the holiday. And why not? The soon-to-be-senior had a bright future and his whole life ahead of him. He was excited about his last year in high school and planning to double major in college. 

But those dreams drowned in a curious incident that cost the strong and strapping teenager his life on the 4th of July. A tragedy that touched a nerve in the small community and we’ve ended up with more questions than answers. 

Join us for another homegrown episode of the Gulf Coast Confidential podcast: “Drowning on the Fourth of July: What happened to Avery Pickle?”

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Aubreigh Wyatt loved making tik toks, four-wheeling, and her family. The 13-year-old Ocean Springs, Mississippi middle schooler was a lot like any all American-girl her age, she liked to laugh, have fun, and still get good grades and make it to Sunday school. 

Sadly, like a lot of other children her age, finding the right friend group was also hard. Aubreigh’s mother, Heather Wyatt, thought her daughter was too forgiving and tolerant of the insults, cruelty, and bullying Aubreigh endured for years with her own friend group. 

Wyatt said she repeatedly asked the school district for help, but felt ignored and minimized. It’s exactly how she feels now in the wake of her daughter’s sudden death at her own hand. In Heather’s grief and outrage, the young mother poured out her hurt and frustration on social media and although she didn’t name names, the families of the girls Heather Wyatt believe bullied her child sued her to keep quiet because they too were now being targeted and harassed. 

While a court order may have partially silenced Heather, for now, the response to the handling of the case has been deafening with millions on social media watching, following, and supporting her cause because like Heather and Aubreigh Wyatt, families around the country and the world are dealing with bullies. 

Join us for another homegrown episode of Gulf Coast Confidential podcast “Bully-cide: the case of Aubreigh Wyatt.”  

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