Killafornia Dreaming

On October 6, 1998, 21 year old University of Wyoming student Matthew Shepard encountered 2 men, Aaron McKinney and Russell Henderson, on a night out of drinking beers and shooting pool. The two men soon realized Matthew was gay and came up with a plan to attack, rob, and rob his house. They ended up leaving Matthew tied to a fence on a desolate road where he wasn’t discovered until 18 hours later, barely alive. He was transported to the hospital and would remain in a coma for 6 days until his battered body gave up. While the men who murdered Matthew insisted the crime was motivated by the intentions to rob him and burglarize his house, however, many more people felt as though it was motivated by homophobia. While Matthew was not the only gay person to be attacked and/or killed in the United States, his story resonated with people all over the world and to this day remains one of the most heartbreaking cases that cast a spotlight on small the anti-gay sentiment at the time in small town America https://www.vanityfair.com/news/1999/13/matthew-shepard-199903 https://www.matthewshepard.org/

We are going over the timeline in the search for missing children Tylee Ryan and JJ Vallow, the role their mother had in their disappearance, her sudden obsession with the end of the world and preparing for doomsday.

On October 3, 2016, father of 3 Donald ‘DJ’ Fickey, Jr. was killed by a shotgun blast to the left side of his face in Flintstone, Georgia. A number of conflicting stories emerged from the onset from the various witnesses at the scene, but one thing was certain among all of them - DJ did not shoot himself. Yet, the assistant medical examiner with the Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI) ruled his death a suicide, when clearly all of the evidence pointed to this being anything but a self-inflicted gunshot wound. So, as it stands, DJ’s case is considered closed and is no longer being investigated. DJ’s sister, Amanda Shirley has been working tirelessly to get anyone and everyone to understand - DJ’s death is a homicide and a killer is walking free. See all the links below if you would like to help - sign the petition, share, and/or donate to the costs of getting DJs case re-opened and investigated. https://justicefordj.com/ https://www.gofundme.com/f/wwqw3-justice-for-dj https://www.change.org/p/help-support-justice-for-dj-and-demand-this-case-be-brought-in-front-of-a-grand-jury/u/22814017?recruiter=328583737&utm_source=share_update&utm_medium=twitter&utm_campaign=share_twitter_responsive https://www.facebook.com/groups/111926779427988/ https://twitter.com/justicefordj88?lang=en

On February 12, 2008, 15 year old Lawrence King was seated in his computer lab in class working on an English paper when 14 year old Brandon McIreney pulled a gun from his back pack and shot Lawrence twice in the back of the head. Lawrence died 2 days later. The tension between the boys had been growing the the days and weeks leading up to the shooting, as Lawrence had been subjected to incessant bullying and taunting from not only Brandon, but several of the boys in his class. In his attempt to turn things around on his tormentors, Lawrence began teasing and taunting Brandon back, which enraged Brandon. The school seemingly did very little as the problems between the boys continued to escalate.

On March 3, 1993, an intruder broke into the home of Millie Horn and murder her, her severely disabled 8 year old son, Trevor, and his nurse. Before long, investigators began to uncover a plot hatched by Millie’s ex-husband, former Motown producer and sound engineer, Lawrence Horn, Trevor’s father, to eliminate them so he could become the sole beneficiary of Trevor’s $1.7 million settlement for a malpractice lawsuit that caused his disabilities - quadriplegia, cerebral palsy, and brain damage. Listen to hear the details of how a hitman learned to to become a professional from a book entitled “Hitman: A Technical Manual for Independent Contractors” in order to carry out the killings. https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/local/longterm/library/montgom/hitmen/horn.htm   https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/local/1996/04/08/case-against-murder-for-hire-suspect-to-unfold-today/d6e3521d-8bbc-436f-9b94-49d56da8618d/   https://www.courts.state.md.us/data/opinions/coa/1996/119a95.pdf   https://blackthen.com/motown-engineering-innovator-lawrence-horns-murder-plot/   https://murderpedia.org/male.H/h/horn-lawrence.htm   Hitman A Technical Manual for Independent Contractors Paladin Press : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive

This is a the second part of a two part series. Please listen to episode 145 first then come back to this. On May 27, 2011, 26 year old nursing student Michelle Le abandoned her training post at Kaiser Permanente in the East Bay Area of San Francisco, took the footbridge to the parking garage and seemingly vanished into thin air. What the investigation would lead to involved a years long feud with Michelle’s best friend from high school, Giselle Esteban. What happened to Michelle Le, and who betrayed who in what Giselle believed to be a love triangle? https://murderpedia.org/female.E/e/esteban-giselle.htm https://archive.org/details/MSNBCW_20200120_070000_Dateline

On May 27, 2011, 26 year old nursing student Michelle Le abandoned her training post at Kaiser Permanente in the East Bay Area of San Francisco, took the footbridge to the parking garage and seemingly vanished into thin air. What the investigation would lead to involved a years long feud with Michelle’s best friend from high school, Giselle Esteban. What happened to Michelle Le, and who betrayed who in what Giselle believed to be a love triangle? https://murderpedia.org/female.E/e/esteban-giselle.htm https://archive.org/details/MSNBCW_20200120_070000_Dateline

On June 14th, 2010, apparent model/singer/socialite/heiress Lisette Lee, heir to the Samsung Family Fortune, was arrested in Columbus, Ohio, accused of trafficking more than 7000 pounds of marijuana by way of private jet from California. The story that emerged was something right out of a really bad Hollywood Movie Plot. Lisette told many tall tales, but not all of it was completely untrue…maybe https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-news/the-gangster-princess-of-beverly-hills-190793/ https://www.biography.com/crime-figure/lisette-lee https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n9K16CU0Lzs

On the evening of January 6, 2007, young couple 21 year old Channon Christian and Christopher Newsom had plans to go out to dinner and then attend a birthday party. However, the couple failed to show up, and were never heard from or seen alive again. The fell victim to what was meant to be a carjacking, but somehow it turned much worse. The case would take years to wind through the court system including 5 defendants, 7 trials, and a disgraced judge whose conduct threw the entire case into jeopardy. https://www.knoxnews.com/story/news/crime/2017/08/24/archives-horror-christian-newsom-killings-focus-what-happened-chipman-street/597805001/   https://www.seattletimes.com/nation-world/when-hate-crime-is-not-a-black-and-white-issue/   https://www.seattletimes.com/nation-world/when-hate-crime-is-not-a-black-and-white-issue/   https://caselaw.findlaw.com/tn-supreme-court/1761907.html

WARNING: This episode contains some details involving child abuse and neglect and may be disturbing to some listeners. Listener discretion is strongly advised. On February 26, 2020, Netflix released a documentary entitled “The Trials of Gabriel Fernandez” where we heard the harrowing tale of an 8 year old who was beaten and batter to death by his mother Pearl Fernandez and her boyfriend Isauro Aguirre in May of 2013, despite numerous reports made to the Department of Children and Family Services that it was strongly suspected Gabriel was being severely abused by his caregivers. We are not going to go over all the details of what happened to Gabriel, but rather, why. Why was he overlooked time and time again, and repeated left in the care of his mother and her boyfriend, when it was evident he was suffering an incredible amount of physical abuse? This is an examination of how Gabriel Fernandez was failed by the system meant to protect him. https://www.the-sun.com/news/510383/8-times-gabriel-fernandez-pleaded-for-help-from-telling-teacher-he-was-shot-punched-to-showing-guard-horror-injuries/   https://www.theatlantic.com/family/archive/2018/10/la-county-dcfs-failed-protect-gabriel-fernandez/571384/   https://childwelfaremonitor.org/2018/11/06/why-no-one-saved-gabriel-fernandez/   https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/tv/story/2020-02-26/netflix-the-trials-of-gabriel-fernandez-docuseries-coverage

This is the second part of a two part series. Listen to episode 140 first, then come back to this. We are taking an in-depth look at the timeline of the days leading up to the 2009 disappearance of Steven Koecher, as our inaugural Nevada episode entering into the new phase of our journey. We are still KD at heart, but this is a case that is so full of mystery and intrigue, I wanted to get to it quickly. On December 13th, 2009, Steven Koecher parked his car on a cut-du-sac at the end of a street in a retirement community in the city of Henderson, Nevada. He was capture on video surveillance walking away from his car, up the street, and he was never seen again. What happened to Steven Koecher? The theories are plentiful and we’ll touch on several of them. https://www.reddit.com/r/UnresolvedMysteries/comments/8fb4b3/steven_koecher_thoughts/ http://hellomynameisjustin.blogspot.com/2015/08/the-disappearance-of-steven-koecher.html http://armchairdetective.org/steven-koecher-timeline/ http://charleyproject.org/case/steven-thell-koecher https://www.reddit.com/r/UnresolvedMysteries/comments/68mw7v/steven_koecher_thorough_writeup/

This is the first part of a two part series. We are taking an in-depth look at the timeline of the days leading up to the 2009 disappearance of Steven Koecher, as our inaugural Nevada episode entering into the new phase of our journey. We are still KD at heart, but this is a case that is so full of mystery and intrigue, I wanted to get to it quickly. On December 13th, 2009, Steven Koecher parked his car on a cut-du-sac at the end of a street in a retirement community in the city of Henderson, Nevada. He was capture on video surveillance walking away from his car, up the street, and he was never seen again. What happened to Steven Koecher? The theories are plentiful and we’ll touch on several of them. https://www.reddit.com/r/UnresolvedMysteries/comments/8fb4b3/steven_koecher_thoughts/ http://hellomynameisjustin.blogspot.com/2015/08/the-disappearance-of-steven-koecher.html http://armchairdetective.org/steven-koecher-timeline/ http://charleyproject.org/case/steven-thell-koecher https://www.reddit.com/r/UnresolvedMysteries/comments/68mw7v/steven_koecher_thorough_writeup/

This is the 6th and final part of a multi part series. If you haven’t listened to episodes 134, 135, 136, 137, and 138, pause this now and listen to those first. WARNING: This episode contains details involving the death of a young child and may be difficult to listen to. Listener discretion is advised Zachary Andrew Turner was murdered by the hands of his mother on August 18, 2003 at the age of 13 months. She also was responsible for the murder of Zachary’s father, Andrew David Bagby, 1 year 9 months and 14 days earlier. In this series, we are going to examine the entire timeline from the very beginning to see just how preventable this tragedy should have been, to examine the warning signs that so many people overlooked, and discuss just how fair the justice system should be when it comes to the rights of parents - especially when that parent is actually facing indictment for her child’s father. https://www.childandyouthadvocate.nf.ca/pdfs/turner-v1.pdf https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2EQI0bO9KSw https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/newfoundland-labrador/no-need-for-zachary-turner-to-die-death-review-1.596561

This is the 5th part of a multi part series. If you haven’t listened to episodes 134, 135, 136, and 137, pause this now and listen to those first. WARNING: This episode contains details involving the death of a young child and may be difficult to listen to. Listener discretion is advised Zachary Andrew Turner was murdered by the hands of his mother on August 18, 2003 at the age of 13 months. She also was responsible for the murder of Zachary’s father, Andrew David Bagby, 1 year 9 months and 14 days earlier. In this series, we are going to examine the entire timeline from the very beginning to see just how preventable this tragedy should have been, to examine the warning signs that so many people overlooked, and discuss just how fair the justice system should be when it comes to the rights of parents - especially when that parent is actually facing indictment for her child’s father. https://www.childandyouthadvocate.nf.ca/pdfs/turner-v1.pdf https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2EQI0bO9KSw

This is the 4th part of a multi part series. If you haven’t listened to episodes 134, 135, and 136, pause this now and listen to those first. WARNING: This episode contains details involving the death of a young child and may be difficult to listen to. Listener discretion is advised Zachary Andrew Turner was murdered by the hands of his mother on August 18, 2003 at the age of 13 months. She also was responsible for the murder of Zachary’s father, Andrew David Bagby, 1 year 9 months and 14 days earlier. In this series, we are going to examine the entire timeline from the very beginning to see just how preventable this tragedy should have been, to examine the warning signs that so many people overlooked, and discuss just how fair the justice system should be when it comes to the rights of parents - especially when that parent is actually facing indictment for her child’s father. https://www.childandyouthadvocate.nf.ca/pdfs/turner-v1.pdf https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2EQI0bO9KSw