TRUE CRIME with Bratterstein

As always, thank you for hanging out and remembering Dr. James Edward Kohnle with me today. In June 2007, a house fire in Ringgold, Georgia left 57-year-old chiropractor Dr. James Kohnle dead in his bedroom, and at first, it looked like a tragic accident. But as investigators dug deeper, they began to suspect arson, uncovering evidence that the fire may have been intentionally set while he was still inside. The investigation quickly turned toward his wife, Teresa Kohnle, as details about financial problems, life insurance, and claims that he may have been drugged before the fire started began to surface. What followed was a shocking true crime case involving alleged murder for money, a staged house fire, and a last-minute guilty plea to felony murder in 2010. The Teresa Kohnle case remains a chilling example of how a deadly house fire can hide something much darker beneath the surface.

As always, thank you for hanging out and remembering Myriam Dienes, Robert Dienes, Lynn Reister, Susan Lee Hudson, and Anna Karissa Grandine with me today.

As always, thank you for hanging out and remembering Dan and Linda Broderick with me today.

In 1989, San Diego socialite Betty Broderick shot and killed her ex‑husband, prominent medical malpractice attorney Dan Broderick, and his new wife, Linda Kolkena Broderick, as they slept in their home, after a long, bitter divorce and custody battle. Betty had spent years alleging emotional abuse, financial control, and humiliation over Dan’s affair with Linda, and she repeatedly violated court orders, left threatening messages, and vandalized property in the lead‑up to the killings.

Betty was tried twice; the first trial ended in a hung jury, but at her second trial in 1991 she was convicted of two counts of second‑degree murder. She was sentenced to 32 years to life in prison and has repeatedly been denied parole, remaining incarcerated to this day.

As always, thank you for hanging out and remembering Jessica Padgett with me today.

In November 2014, 33‑year‑old mother of three Jessica Padgett left her job at a Northampton, Pennsylvania daycare on her lunch break to use the fax machine at the nearby home office of her stepfather, Gregory Graf and never came back. After a days‑long search, Jessica’s body was found buried behind a shed on the Allen Township property where Gregory lived with Jessica’s mother; investigators say Gregory admitted luring Jessica into his home, shooting her in the back of the head, moving her car to stage her disappearance, and then sexually abusing her body, a necrophilic motive later confirmed by videos found on his computer.

Gregory was charged with first‑degree murder and related offenses and went to trial in 2015. Jurors took only minutes to find him guilty, and he received a mandatory sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole for killing Jessica and abusing her corpse, a punishment he is still serving today.

As always, thank you for hanging out and remembering Jamie Michelle Stice with me today.

In April 2011, 21‑year‑old expectant mother Jamie Stice left her Morgantown, Kentucky home with a woman she’d befriended on Facebook, 33‑year‑old Kathy Coy, believing they were going shopping for baby supplies. Instead, Kathy lured Jamie to a rural area, shocked her with a stun gun, slit her wrists and throat, and then cut Jamie’s baby boy from her womb, leaving Jamie’s body by a dirt road while she took the newborn to a hospital and tried to pass him off as her own.

Kathy was quickly identified and arrested after her story about the baby began to unravel and evidence tied her to Jamie’s killing. She ultimately pleaded guilty but mentally ill to Jamie’s murder and kidnapping the baby, avoiding the death penalty in exchange for a sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole.

As always, thank you for hanging out and remembering Alesha MacPhail, Stoni Blair, Stephen Berry, Grace Packer, and Samiah Downing with me today.

As always, thank you for hanging out and remembering Maddie Clifton with me today.

In November 1998, 8‑year‑old Maddie Clifton vanished while playing outside her home in Jacksonville, Florida, sparking an intense week‑long search through her neighborhood. The search ended when Maddie’s body was found hidden inside the waterbed frame in the bedroom of her 14‑year‑old neighbor, Joshua Phillips, with injuries showing she had been beaten with a baseball bat, stabbed multiple times, and had her throat cut.​

Joshua admitted killing Maddie and was tried as an adult, with prosecutors arguing the attack began during a game of baseball and escalated as he tried to conceal what he’d done. In 1999, he was convicted of first‑degree murder and given a mandatory life sentence without parole; after a 2012 U.S. Supreme Court ruling on juvenile life sentences, Joshua was resentenced in 2017 to life in prison with a review possible after 25 years, but he remains incarcerated and is now seeking another sentencing review.

On a September morning in 2010, single mom Marti Hill followed handyman Brian Pennington down into the basement of her Prairie Village, Kansas home, expecting to talk about repairs, not to fight for her life. Without warning, Brian attacked her from behind, strangling her, beating her, and slashing her throat before leaving her on the cold concrete floor, convinced she would never get back up.

Marti somehow survived, managed to get help, and later named Brian as the man who had tried to kill her, evidence that led to his arrest within days. He eventually pleaded guilty to attempted first‑degree murder and aggravated burglary and was sentenced to more than 28 years in a Kansas state prison, while Marti rebuilt her life as the survivor of an attack she was never meant to walk away from.

As always, thank you for hanging out and remembering Cherish Lily Perrywinkle with me today. In June 2013, 8-year-old Cherish Perrywinkle was shopping with her mother and sisters at a Walmart when they were approached by a stranger, Donald James Smith, who pretended to be a good Samaritan offering help to the struggling family. After hours of gaining their trust inside the store, Smith convinced Cherish’s mother to let him take the little girl to get food, but instead he abducted her. Surveillance cameras captured them leaving Walmart together, and the following day Cherish Perrywinkle’s body was discovered in a wooded area in Jacksonville, Florida. Smith was quickly identified through surveillance footage, arrested, and later convicted of kidnapping, sexual assault, and first-degree murder, ultimately receiving the death penalty. The tragic Cherish Perrywinkle murder case shocked the nation and remains one of the most heartbreaking child abduction and child murder cases in Florida, raising awareness about child predators, stranger danger, and true crime cases involving missing and murdered children.

As always, thank you for hanging out and remembering Joel Guy Sr. and Lisa Guy with me today. In 2016, 28‑year‑old Joel Guy Jr. was accused of murdering and dismembering his parents, Lisa and Joel Guy Sr., inside their Knoxville, Tennessee home over Thanksgiving weekend, after years of being financially supported by them. Prosecutors alleged that Joel killed them to collect life insurance and inheritance money, then tried to dispose of their remains using chemicals and to stage the scene to destroy evidence. The case later resulted in his conviction on multiple counts of first‑degree murder and abuse of a corpse, and he was sentenced to life in prison.