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A Heavy Weight Podcast
Bryan Haltom Episode 6: Trevor Powell, the Witness Account, and the Missing Maroon Car
When Bryan Haltom was shot and killed on Highway 231 outside Spencer, Indiana in July 1996, he was not alone. Trevor Powell was in Bryan's red Trans...
Bryan Haltom Episode 4: The Final Hours Before the Highway 231 Shooting
On July 16, 1996, eighteen-year-old Bryan Haltom left home in Spencer, Indiana. He told his mother he would be home by 11. He told her he loved her....
Bryan Haltom Episode 3: The Shift Before His Unsolved Murder
Before Bryan Haltom was shot and killed on Highway 231 outside Spencer, Indiana in July 1996, the people who loved him remember a period when...
Bryan Haltom Episode 2: The Boy in the Trans Am
Before Bryan Haltom became the center of an unsolved murder case, he was an eighteen-year-old from Spencer, Indiana with a red Pontiac Trans Am, a...
Bryan Haltom: The Unsolved 1996 Murder in Spencer, Indiana
For years, drivers passing through Spencer, Indiana on Highway 231 could see a small sign on the side of the road. It was easy to miss, but the...
Cassandra Rhines: The Minneapolis Woman Found at Gooseberry Falls Nearly 30 Years Later
In June of 1985, Cassandra Rhines was 19 years old and living in Minneapolis, Minnesota. She had plans. She had people expecting her. According to...
The Unsolved Murder of Diane Schofield
In July 1975, 21-year-old Diane Marie Schofield was found dead in the trunk of her own car near the Des Moines airport. At first, the case seemed to...
The Unsolved Disappearance of Charlotte Lysdale
Charlotte Lysdale was 68-years-old when she disappeared from Pine River, Minnesota. She was remembered as intelligent, business-minded, and deeply...
The Unsolved Murder of Rachel Anthony: A Minnesota Cold Case Still Seeking Answers
In February 2001, 50-year-old Rachel Anthony was finishing her closing shift at Ultimate Liquors in Pine River, Minnesota, when she disappeared...
The Badge: The Sinmi Asomuyide Case
In this special episode of A Heavy Weight, we stay close to home in Indiana to examine the federal conviction of former Kokomo police officer Sinmi...
The Renata Fernandez-Ramon Case: A Solvable Murder
In October 2011, thirty-year-old Renata Fernandez-Ramon disappeared from Ortonville, Minnesota. She was a mother of two. She worked at Monarch...
The Doorbell: The Case of Marie Kline
On December 30, 1987, Wayne Kline heard the doorbell ring. He was in bed. His daughter, 20-year-old Marie Kline, answered the door at their home...
Gregory Gabler, Indiana University, and the Plea Deal That Left a Campus Asking Questions
In this episode, we cover the case of Gregory Gabler, a former Indiana University student arrested after a reported sexual assault in an on-campus...
Wendy Wear & JoAnn Bontjes: Unsolved Minnesota Cold Cases
Some cases leave behind an overwhelming record. Court filings. Interviews. Timelines. Press conferences. Years of public reporting. Other cases...
Todd Hanson & Chad Birkeland case: The 1993 South St. Paul disappearance and unsolved homicide
A Heavy Weight returns with an episode examining the unresolved 1993 case of Todd Hanson and Chad Birkeland, a case that still sits in Minnesota’s...
The Unsolved Murder of Toni Monette
In the early morning hours of March 25, 1981, 27-year-old Toni Monette was working alone at a 7-Eleven in Mounds View, Minnesota. She wasn’t...
The Murder of Eden Young and a Pattern That Was Never Fully Named
In September 1992, 31-year-old Eden Young was found dead in a residential yard in Dellwood, Minnesota. She had been beaten. Days earlier, she was...
The Unsolved Murder of Teresa Osborne: A 1973 Cold Case Still Waiting for Answers
The Unsolved Murder of Teresa Osborne On August 20, 1973, 18-year-old Teresa Osborne left work to run a routine errand. She never came back. Teresa,...
What Hailey Buzbee’s Case Reveals About Online Grooming
Hailey Buzbee was seventeen years old when she left her home in January 2026 and didn’t come back. In the weeks that followed, investigators...
The Waverly Two – A Story of Wrongful Conviction and Presidential Clemency
In our latest episode, we dive deep into the case of the Waverly Two – Terrence Richardson and Ferrone Claiborne – whose convictions for the 1998...
What the Jesse Butler Case Reveals about Youth, Power, and Accountability
In late 2025, a sentencing hearing in Stillwater, Oklahoma, sparked outrage that spread far beyond one college town. Eighteen year old Jesse Butler...
Re-Releasing Our Coverage of Wilma June Nissen
A Heavy Weight is re-releasing our coverage of Wilma June Nissen, a 23 year old mother of three whose homicide remains unsolved nearly five decades...
The Unsolved Murder or Kathy Jones
On a cold Saturday night in late November nineteen sixty nine, twelve year old Nora Kathylene “Kathy” Jones left her house at 304 Lutie Street in...
The Unsolved Killing of Sixteen Year Old Debra Mae Fulton
On Halloween night in 1981, sixteen year old Debra Mae “Debbie” Fulton stood at the front door of her family’s home on Walter Street in Hammond,...
Remembering Victoria Lynne McDonough
In late November 1974, in a quiet stretch of Clay Township just southwest of U.S. 31 and Brick Road, the body of a young woman was found hidden...
Thank You for Listening
As the year comes to a close, I want to thank everyone who has listened, shared, and supported A Heavy Weight. This year we covered some deeply...
Justice for Joseph Smedley: A Full Look at the Case, the Evidence, and the Questions That Remain
When we began re-investigating the disappearance of Indiana University student Joseph Smedley, our goal was simple: to understand his story clearly,...
Less Than 1%: Reopening The Questions Around Joseph Smedley’s Death
In Episode 7 of A Heavy Weight, we walked through the day Joseph Smedley’s body was found, and the details of his first autopsy and toxicology...
Episode 7 – “Extremely Unusual”: Unpacking Joseph Smedley’s Autopsy and Toxicology Reports
When 20-year-old Indiana University student Joseph Smedley was found in Griffey Lake in October 2015, his death was ruled a suicide by drowning,...
Was Joseph Smedley a Confidential Informant? Re-examining the Evidence
Episode 6 of A Heavy Weight revisits the early investigation, the autopsy overview, and why Joseph’s loved ones dispute the suicide ruling. On...
Does This Make Sense to Anyone in the Room?
In Episode 5, “Does This Make Sense to Anyone in the Room?”, we rewind to the hours that matter most: from a quiet Sunday night of movies and...
E4: 66 Pounds of Rock – The Joseph Smedley Timeline Re‑examined
In this week’s episode, we revisit the final week before Joseph Smedley, an Indiana University student, was recovered at Griffy Lake in Bloomington,...
The Disappearance of Joseph Smedley: Episode 3 “Rumors”
The Disappearance of Joseph Smedley | A Heavy Weight Podcast In 2015, Joseph Smedley, a 20-year-old Indiana University student, disappeared from...
Someone Knows Something: Revisiting the Brotherhood
Ten years ago, Indiana University student Joseph Smedley vanished under the eerie glow of a blood moon. Days later, his body was found in Griffy...
Ten Years Without Answers: Why We’re Returning to Joseph Smedley’s Story
Ten years ago, on the night of September 27, 2015, Joseph Smedley, a sophomore at Indiana University, vanished. Five days later, his body was found...
The Brake Light Still Glowed: Who Killed Delmar Wilson
On June 12, 1994, a motorist driving along Radcliff Road in Washington County, Indiana, saw something strange: a Chrysler idling at the roadside....
Crossroads: The Truck Stop, the Ditch, and the Women We Lost
At first glance, it was just another hot summer night at a Nashville truck stop. Engines idled, fluorescent lights buzzed, and long-haul drivers...
The Unsolved Murder of Bennett Brown
In the summer of 1976, the body of a young man was discovered along a quiet country road in Lawrence County, Indiana. He had no wallet, no watch, no...
The Cold Case of Juanita Boyd: Four Decades Without Answers
On a cold February night in 1981, Juanita Boyd was last seen leaving Snyder’s Corner Tavern in LaPorte, Indiana. She never made it home. For a week,...
Buried in Silence: The Forgotten Case of Mary Ann Higginbotham
It began with a rusted barrel. On a hot June day in 1979, a teenager discovered something chilling beneath the sand and silt of White Lick Creek in...
The Case of Rayna Rison
In 1993, 16-year-old Rayna Rison vanished after her after-school shift at a local animal hospital. A month later, her body was found dumped in a...
Buried Truths: How Two Teenage Girls Led Investigators to One of America’s Most Elusive Serial Killers
She was supposed to graduate that spring. The other just wanted to ride her bike home from school. Both girls ended up dead. Both were found miles...
What Happened to Mary Beth “Pixie” Grismore?
In 1978, Mary Beth “Pixie” Grismore was ready for a fresh start. A newlywed. A mother of two. A former Miss Iowa pageant runner-up with a gentle...
She Was Buried as Jane Doe.
In the early fall of 1978, a utility crew in Rock Rapids, Iowa, stumbled across a body in a ditch along Highway 182. She was young—maybe early 20s....
When Power Protects Itself: A 3-Part Series on Abuse, Silence & Survival
This series started with a name. Deputy Jeffery Freeman. An officer hired, promoted, and arrested for sexual assault in less than 90 days. It led us...
The Unsolved Mystery of Vali Davis: A Cold Case from the 1970s
In 1979, Vali Davis vanished from the streets of Indianapolis after a night out with friends. For months, her disappearance left more questions than...
Covering Tracks: How Indiana’s Silent System Enables Police Misconduct
In today's release of A Heavy Weight, we explore a troubling truth behind Indiana's law enforcement: the systemic issue enabling police misconduct...
When Protection Fails: The Case of Deputy Jeffery Freeman Jr.
In March 2024, a Monroe County probationary deputy — Jeffery Freeman Jr. — was arrested and charged with sexual battery, strangulation, and official...
The Silent Struggle: Systemic Bias in Missing Indigenous Persons Cases
When Jeremy Jourdain, a 17-year-old from Bemidji, Minnesota, disappeared on Halloween night in 2016, his family began an immediate and exhaustive...
New Episode: The Death of Allison Lussier
On February 22, 2024, Allison Lussier, a 47-year-old Indigenous woman from Minneapolis, was found dead in her apartment after enduring months of...