TRUE CRIME with Bratterstein

As always, thank you for hanging out and remembering Kendra Hatcher with me today.
In September 2015, 35-year-old Dallas pediatric dentist Dr. Kendra Hatcher was shot in the head as she stepped out of her car in the parking garage of her Uptown apartment building—the day before she was due to fly to Cancún with her boyfriend. What police initially considered a robbery quickly unraveled into a murder-for-hire plot orchestrated by Brenda Delgado, the jealous ex-girlfriend of Kendra’s boyfriend, Dr. Ricardo “Ricky” Paniagua.

Prosecutors said Delgado stalked Kendra, asked several people to kill her, and ultimately recruited Kristopher Love as the gunman and Crystal Cortes as the getaway driver; Cortes was paid $500, while Love received cash and drugs. Love was convicted of capital murder and sentenced to death, Cortes pleaded guilty and received 35 years, and Delgado was arrested in Mexico after fleeing the country. In 2019, a jury deliberated for less than 20 minutes before finding Delgado guilty of capital murder; she received mandatory life without parole.

As always, thank you for hanging out and remembering Deanna Antoinette Cook with me today.
In August 2012, 32-year-old Deanna Cook called 911 from her Dallas home while being attacked by her ex-husband, Delvecchio Patrick. The dispatcher heard her struggling, screaming, and calling Patrick by his nickname, “Red,” but failed to obtain her address or classify the call as an emergency; officers did not reach the home for roughly 50 minutes and left after receiving no answer.

Two days later, Deanna’s family forced their way inside and found her face down in a bathtub, where she had been strangled and drowned. In 2015, a jury convicted Patrick of murder and sentenced him to 85 years in prison, with parole eligibility after 30 years. Deanna’s murder became a national example of the devastating consequences of a failed emergency response, prompting major reforms to Dallas’s 911 system and renewed attention to domestic-violence intervention.

As always, thank you for hanging out and remembering Keiona Cecilia Braxton with me today.
In the early hours of New Year’s Eve 2008, firefighters responding to smoke at an apartment in Henrico County, Virginia, found 26-year-old Keiona Cecilia Braxton dying inside. She was three months pregnant, and the fire had been staged to mask the attack: Keiona had been beaten in the head, stabbed 43 times in the abdomen, and shot, while gas had been left on and aerosol cans placed in the oven in an apparent attempt to cause an explosion.publications.

Investigators focused on Kayla Armstrong, the ex-girlfriend of Keiona’s boyfriend and the mother of his child. The two women had a documented history of conflict, Armstrong had previously attacked and stabbed Keiona, and prosecutors alleged jealousy over their shared connection to Kenneth Lee drove the killing. Armstrong fled after her indictment but was arrested in 2012, then pleaded under Alford to voluntary manslaughter in Keiona’s death. While jailed, she also attempted to arrange Lee’s murder; she received 10 years for Keiona’s killing and another 20 years for the attempted-murder plot, for an effective 30-year prison sentence.

As always, thank you for hanging out and remembering Emma Walker with me today.
In November 2016, 16-year-old Emma Walker, an honor student and cheerleader from Knoxville, Tennessee, was asleep in her bedroom when her ex-boyfriend, 18-year-old William Riley Gaul, fired two shots through the outside wall of her family’s house. One bullet struck Emma behind her left ear and killed her; the other lodged in her pillow.

Emma had ended the relationship after Gaul’s behavior became controlling and aggressive, and friends later testified that she had grown afraid he would kill her. Prosecutors said Gaul stole a gun from his grandfather, stalked her home, and recruited friends to help dispose of the weapon in the Tennessee River after the shooting. In 2018, a jury convicted him of first-degree murder, stalking, theft, reckless endangerment, and evidence-tampering charges. He received a life sentence with parole eligibility only after 51 years; later efforts to overturn the conviction were denied.

As always, thank you for hanging out and remembering Susan Walters with me today.
In September 2006, 51-year-old Portland emergency-room nurse Susan Kuhnhausen came home after work and walked into an ambush planned by the man she was divorcing. Hiding inside was Edward Dalton Haffey, a man Susan’s estranged husband, Michael Kuhnhausen, had allegedly promised $50,000 to kill her and make it look like a burglary. Haffey attacked Susan with a claw hammer, but she fought back, disarmed him, and strangled him during the struggle, a killing authorities ruled self-defense.

The evidence left behind tied the plot to Michael, who pleaded guilty to soliciting aggravated murder and received a 10-year prison sentence; he died in custody in 2014 before his planned release. Susan later won more than $1 million in a civil suit against him. What Michael intended as a murder-for-hire became a story of survival: the hitman did not leave Susan’s home alive, while the husband who arranged the attack died behind bars.

As always, thank you for hanging out and remembering Linda Kologi, Steve Kologi, Brittany Kologi, Mary Schulz, Shirley Severance, Charles Severance, Chad Amato, Margaret Amato, Cody Amato, Alan Johnson, and Diane Johnson with me today.

As always, thank you for hanging out and remembering Jessica Lyn Keen with me today. In 1991, 15-year-old Jessica Keen disappeared from a youth counseling program in Oregon just one day before she was scheduled to return home. Her disappearance became a haunting cold case until advances in DNA technology identified Marvin Lee Smith, Jr. as her murderer nearly two decades later. In this true crime video, we examine the Jessica Keen murder case, the investigation, the evidence that finally solved the mystery, and the devastating impact her death had on her family.

In March 2013, 18‑year‑old Rachel Pernosky disappeared from her home in Mission, British Columbia, leaving behind her purse and cellphone, and three days later her body was found down a steep embankment in Chilliwack. The case shocked her family and community because Rachel was a young mother with a one‑year‑old child, and investigators quickly determined that her disappearance was not random.

Years later, police charged her estranged half‑brother, Mathew Pernosky, after a lengthy investigation and a “Mr. Big” sting operation led to a confession. Prosecutors said he suffocated Rachel, then moved her body and dumped it in steep terrain before trying to cover his tracks by sending texts from her phone and disposing of her belongings. In 2018, he pleaded guilty to second‑degree murder and indignity to a body and was sentenced to life in prison with parole eligibility after 13 years, meaning he will spend at least that long behind bars before he can even apply for release.

As always, thank you for hanging out and remembering Lauren Giddings with me today.
In June 2011, 27‑year‑old Mercer Law graduate Lauren Giddings vanished from her apartment in Macon, Georgia, just as she was studying for the bar exam. Her next‑door neighbor, Stephen McDaniel, had access to the building with a master key, and investigators later said he used it to enter Lauren’s apartment, strangle her in her bedroom, then dismember her body with a hacksaw and dump most of the remains in a campus trash bin.

The case grew even darker when Lauren’s torso was found in a trash can outside the apartment complex, while the rest of her remains were never recovered, and McDaniel’s own internet searches and behavior helped police narrow in on him. In 2014, McDaniel pleaded guilty to murder and was sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole, later reported as parole eligibility in 2041, ending a case that horrified Macon because a promising young law student was killed by the man living next door.

As always, thank you for hanging out and remembering Sarah Rosemary Everard with me today. The murder of Sarah Everard became one of the most high-profile true crime cases in modern British history. In March 2021, the 33-year-old disappeared while walking home through South London, sparking a nationwide search that ended in tragedy. As investigators uncovered the truth, they discovered that Sarah's killer was a serving Metropolitan Police officer, a revelation that shocked the United Kingdom and ignited worldwide conversations about women's safety, police accountability, and public trust. In this true crime documentary, we examine the timeline of Sarah Everard's disappearance, the investigation that led to her killer, the trial, and the lasting impact this heartbreaking case continues to have on England and beyond.