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love to use on monday.com. [music] >> [music] >> Welcome to True Crime Garage. Wherever
00:01:42
you are, whatever you are doing, thanks for listening. I'm your host Nick [music] and with me as always is a man
00:01:48
who is once, twice, three times a captain. Here he is, the captain. And don't you ever forget it's good be seen
00:01:57
and good to see you. Thanks for listening [music] and thanks for telling a friend.
00:02:05
Weedman's has been brewing beer since 1870. [music] It was George Weedman way back then. So,
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this is a beer brewing tradition for over 150 years, and we are featuring one of
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their beers called Wake Me Up. It's just another great offering from the fine folks at [music] Weedman's Brewing
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Company. First in Newport, Kentucky, now in Cincinnati, Ohio. It's a delicious hazelnut coffee milk stout. The milk and
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hazelnut mask the bitterness of the stout and coffee, but both of those provide the roasted flavor that I like
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so much. Garage grade three and 3/4 bottle caps out of five. And let's raise a glass and give some cheers to our good
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garage friends. First up, a shout out to Michelle Hargus in Austin, Texas. >> And a big tall hands in there goes to
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Sea Dog in Longmont, Colorado. Next, we have a cheers to Carrie in [music] parts
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unknown. And last, but certainly not least, we have a cheers to Hannah and Anish Teague, Ireland. Everyone we just
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mentioned, [music] they went to true crimegar.com and helped us out with this week's beer fund for the beer run. And
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for that, we say thank you. Yeah, we're roasty and we're toasty. BWER beer [music] run. Make sure you check
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out trueg.com. Sign up on the mailing list. And Colonel, that's enough of the B, isn't
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[music] he? >> All right, everybody, gather around, grab a chair, grab a beer. Let's talk
00:03:42
some true crime. [music] >> [music] >> It was another great year in the garage. In fact, it was the year 2025 was the
00:04:15
year when we celebrated 10 years of garage goodness. And thank you all for listening, both new listeners and ones
00:04:26
that have been with us for the entirety of the ride thus far. And we say thus far because I don't think that this
00:04:35
flying garage ship is going to slow down anytime soon. So, please gather around,
00:04:40
grab a chair, grab some more beers, and let's continue talking about some true crime together for many years to come.
00:04:48
But today, let's take a peek at the rear view mirror, right? Let's see what is in
00:04:54
the rear view. >> Let's stick up our stick our heads up our asses and check out what's
00:04:59
happening. >> We've done this most years. I won't say every year. We probably should have done
00:05:06
it every year. We would have been smarter to have done so, but did not. Sometimes when we hit that turn of the
00:05:13
year going into early January where it would be most appropriate to do this type of show, we find ourselves really
00:05:22
enthralled in a particular case and excited to get to that one and it kind of clouds our judgment. So this year
00:05:31
we've sifted through the fog and the clouds and we are back at it again. We are going to talk about our favorite.
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>> Yeah. the colonel and the captain's favorite true crime garage episodes of 2025. So, if you missed some episodes,
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we don't hold it against you, but here's your opportunity to >> let us tickle your earballs a little bit
00:05:55
and maybe you go back and dial these up on your garage radio dial and tune in to
00:06:03
what you may have missed. Or if you agree with us, go back and listen again. The thing I love about this here,
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Captain, this is the perfect time for us to ask the listeners, hit us up on Instagram, on X, let us
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know your favorite True Crime Garage episodes of 2025. >> Yeah, give us your top three when we
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decided, hey, we should we should do this again. It's fun. I I can't remember if last year we did our top five or what
00:06:34
we did, but top three is fun. I think Top Three is the way to go. But I was actually surprised because I was like,
00:06:40
"Okay, I got to open up my podcast app, click on True Crime Garage. I got to scroll through the episodes and see
00:06:47
which ones I I even remember." But I was actually shocked how many I was like, "Oh, that's a good one. Oh, and that one
00:06:57
was a good one, too." I thought this list would be a lot easier. And not just because like I actually thought like
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okay well maybe it was just like it felt like a good year but like going back I was like man you could make an argument
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that the these were some of the best episodes we've ever done. >> Yeah I agree 100%. So when we first
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talked about doing this there were four right we said we'll do a top three. There were four immediately that I was
00:07:25
like, "Oh, my three live within this four here." >> Then when I went back, cuz what I wanted
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to do was I wanted to figure out when those episodes were released. And I'm looking through the 2025 catalog and
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there were like several others that I think make a strong argument to be in that top three, maybe hold that third
00:07:49
spot. So, the waters got a little murky. little murky once I started sifting through. I was really impressed with our
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2025 catalog here. And you're right, it ended up being a little more difficult than I
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had originally anticipated. If you're fine with it, Captain, I'll go ahead and kick things off with my number
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three. >> Yeah, kick it off. >> This one might feel like cheating a little bit. >> Um, but you know, most weeks we are
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doing two episodes. Most cases we cover, there are two episodes on that case. So,
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I guess in that regard, there would be no cheating. But with my number three, it was actually a six-part series that
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we did all the way back in April of 2025, and the title of that six-part series was Hate American Made. M
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>> I should maybe I shouldn't lead out the gate with this because it's kind of [laughter]
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>> Well, I feel like this one might have been met with some mixed reviews. >> I think that's fair to say. But I have
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to put together my top three based off of my experience, right? Not >> off of the listeners experience,
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>> right? >> And and the thing here with this one for me, it was much like in the movie
00:09:08
Christmas Story, right? where Ralphie has to write a paper about what he wants for Christmas. Remember, he's so
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impressed with this paper and he thinks that the the teacher is just going to she's going to to love and do on him
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because she because he did such a fantastic job on this on this paper. It's the best thing he's ever written.
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He turns it in and then when he gets it back, reality sets in, he got a C+ or C minus
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maybe. I can't remember. [laughter] But but you know, he was expecting an A+ plus plus plus plus.
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>> I shouldn't say that that's what I was expecting here, but I feel like I kind
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of felt like Ralphie in the moment once these episodes were coming out. And I think the reason why it was mixed, it
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had mixed emotions is that I think that we're living in a day and age where for us anyway as
00:10:05
adults, for the listeners, when I say us, I mean all of us collectively, it feels like we are just bombarded with so
00:10:13
much politics and political rhetoric and all that all that [ __ ] because that's really what it is at the end of
00:10:19
the day, [ __ ] I mean, I people can have their strong opinions and their strong feelings, but let's clear our
00:10:26
heads because at the end of the day, none of them really care about any of us. And I don't want to go down that
00:10:32
road too far, but I think that it's an opportunity if we can see it for what it is to realize we don't need to battle
00:10:40
with each other because they they won't they won't battle for us, so we shouldn't battle for them. That's just
00:10:45
my opinion. And I can see why this would be met with, hey, there's too much politics in this world right now. The
00:10:51
other thing we need to pump the brakes on too is the too much politics thing. I keep hearing that, keep hearing that,
00:10:57
keep hearing that. If you go back, I'm I'm a person who enjoys learning about history and continuing that learning for
00:11:03
the rest of my life. This is something that's happened regularly throughout the history of our country and many, many
00:11:10
other countries. This isn't anything new. This is not the worst it's ever been. It it just is what it is. People
00:11:17
argue and bicker about politics. >> Yeah. >> We weren't trying to join in those arguments with these episodes.
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>> Yeah. >> The reason why I liked doing these episodes, this six-part series, is
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rarely do we do a six-part series. one. And I not going to lie, I'm a little jealous of some of the shows out there
00:11:40
that can dedicate an entire season to a single case or dedicate uh an entire season or 10 episodes, 12 episodes, 12
00:11:50
weeks of listening pleasure to one story line. It's rare for us to be able to live in that case, in that story for
00:12:01
weeks. And here doing the research for this, while each episode was about a different story, we found in our
00:12:10
research that a lot of these stories they were somewhat tied together or have reason to be suspicious that they all
00:12:16
could be tied together. As dark as a subject as it is, I hate to say it's fun. It was fun to live in that world
00:12:23
for like three, four weeks where where all I had to do for the that three and a half weeks was examine these stories.
00:12:32
So, I'll I'll break it down best I can here for you. The six-part series, it ran in April of 2025. It was titled Hate
00:12:40
AmericanMade. The purpose of that title was not to any slight at our country. you it you will it will be hard for you
00:12:51
to find garage guys more patriotic than than us. >> Yeah. >> Yes. I love America and I love the
00:13:00
people and sometimes the sometimes us as a society we act a little strange or we
00:13:06
we forget that uh we're all in this together and we need to be kind to each other. And like you said, I think they I
00:13:17
think not to sound like a conspiracy theorist, but it's like I think the people in power like it when you pick
00:13:25
the red team or you pick the blue team when it's like you should pick team people
00:13:31
>> you know always pick team people and and if you are kind to each other uh don't
00:13:38
let people distract you and separate you >> well. And you know my joke, I've said it
00:13:45
probably five times throughout our 10 years here together, but >> pull my finger.
00:13:51
>> John Wayne Gasey was a Democrat. Ted Bundy was a Republican. That's why I'm an independent. That is those are
00:13:57
perfect examples to be an independent. And look, when we put this together and when we put together other episodes, you
00:14:05
know, there's a an American flag that flies proudly outside of this garage, right in front of the garage here. Flies
00:14:14
every day. Now, I will take it down if it like we have like a windstorm or something because I'm not going to let
00:14:18
I'm not going to let old Glory get beat up. But when we when we put these together, none of this is ever for the
00:14:26
right or the left or the red or the blue or even the middle. This is a show for the people,
00:14:32
>> right? >> And and that's it. And we don't care where you stand, what side you're on.
00:14:36
>> Well, also to be clear, when we sat down initially, well, one, we didn't think it
00:14:41
I don't think we even thought it would last a year, let alone 10 years. But one of the reasons why people listen to
00:14:49
podcasts is uh to fill a part of the conversation and we don't want to talk about politics because that again that
00:14:58
can be uh something that divides us and we want people to feel like they're coming into the garage and drinking a
00:15:05
cold beer just like that's what we used to do. We'd sit in your garage, drink beer, and we'd be talking about Ted
00:15:13
Bundy. And it's just like we just want people to feel welcome no matter what your views are uh politically because
00:15:22
why are we here? We're not here to talk about politics. We're here to talk about
00:15:27
crime. >> Well, in hate Americanmade, again, not against the country. What the that that title is for is at the center
00:15:38
of each one of these stories that are all loosely tied together, there is a very hateful individual or
00:15:45
group of individuals that caused a lot of harm, a lot of pain, a lot of suffering, death, murder,
00:15:52
and what have you. And at the center of that is always an Americanborn individual that you would think if if if
00:16:01
>> if I could tell you these stories and and we didn't have to live them or see them on the news, read about them in the
00:16:06
newspaper, know somebody that that experienced them directly. If we didn't have to have that in our lives, if I
00:16:14
told you these stories and removed all the names, I bet you most people would go, "Yeah, that had to be committed by
00:16:21
somebody that wasn't born and raised in that that hates America, right? That just hates Americans." And that wasn't
00:16:27
the case. And so for those that are not familiar and and look, I get the mixed opinions and views on these episodes
00:16:35
because when I when I sit back and had a chance to look at it two weeks afterwards, I was like, damn, every part
00:16:45
of this is uncomfortable. Every part of the story is uncomfortable. You have white supremacy. You have uh gun
00:16:52
control. You have religious freedoms. You have domestic terrorism. >> Beliefs more so than freedoms, but
00:17:00
religious beliefs. Yeah. >> Beliefs. Yeah. Well, and government shutting down a religious group. You
00:17:06
have the ATF who acted irresponsibly at times. You have again domestic terrorism. So, there was no way that
00:17:13
this was not going to be met with that. And you know what? I'm glad that it was.
00:17:18
Now, in hindsight, I'm glad that it was because it was appropriate and it's and it's it's good to get riled up over
00:17:24
these things. It would be abnormal not to. So, it was six episodes. The first episode was titled The White
00:17:31
Supremacist, which starts with Richard Wayne Snell, and he just had a hatred. He was a white supremist who had hatred
00:17:42
in his heart. And he did not believe that we were all created equal, that we're all created equal, and we deserve
00:17:48
to live a life of equality. And he murdered other individuals. His hate fueled more than hate. It it turned
00:17:57
violent, and it turned deadly. Now, his episode wasn't just the first one because his hate crimes took place
00:18:04
before these other stories. He has ties to all of these groups that we talked about throughout the telling
00:18:13
of this story. So, episode two was Ruby Ridge when Randy Weaver and his family had fought it out with the FBI with
00:18:22
federal agents over Randy Weaver breaking some gun laws and really turned into a a tragedy that I think and that I
00:18:34
I hope we did a good job of explaining. episode that we believe could have been completely avoided was to totally
00:18:40
unnecessary. In fact, we referred to it as a series of errors created unnecessary bloodshed for the Weaver
00:18:48
family and for federal agents at Ruby Ridge. And then the third episode was The Prophet, which was about David
00:18:54
Caresh and his rise within the branch devidians. Episode four was the Waco siege, the ATF
00:19:03
raiding Mount Carmel. Episode five was The Soldier, which was about Timothy James McVey, who was a decorated
00:19:12
American soldier during Operation Desert Storm, who through other influences, plus the Waco
00:19:22
tragedy, he said inspired him to carry out what is episode 6, the Oklahoma City bombing. Oddly enough, the bombing took
00:19:31
place on the same day that the state of Arkansas was executing Richard Snell. It
00:19:36
is said that he had asked to watch the news that day, shortly before the bombs went off and killed so many people April
00:19:45
19th, 1995 in Oklahoma City. Coincidence? Maybe. Difficult to say. I liked doing those episodes because
00:19:56
sometimes I think powerful shows can be uncomfortable. As said, I enjoyed having
00:20:03
the opportunity to examine each one of these cases, have the opportunity to do them back to back
00:20:12
to back >> because they're all connected. Not just because they're connected, but
00:20:17
it gave me the chance to analyze them, keeping that in mind while putting together the research and not tailoring
00:20:27
any of our storytelling to present that, but to live in that, try to put ourselves in those moments and see this
00:20:37
is the dark side of history. This is the dark side of of our American history. We
00:20:42
can't shy away from it. Just like we don't shy away from the cold cases and we don't shy away from telling you this
00:20:47
murder has not been solved. It's the same. We we all must must recognize and attempt to understand the mistakes and
00:20:57
errors that others have made so that we do not repeat them. >> Yeah. One of the things on our 10-year
00:21:04
journey journey that have been interesting for me is when we first started and there wasn't a ton of true
00:21:12
crime shows out there, we get a lot of requests for cases that have been discussed a lot or maybe there's
00:21:18
documentaries or books about those cases. And then the requests started becoming, hey, what about this case that
00:21:25
nobody's really talked about? This hasn't got a lot of attention. But I've but as that turned, it seemed like there
00:21:32
was a good couple years of a lot of suggestions for cases I've never heard of, I've never heard other people talk
00:21:39
about. And then after a couple years of those types of suggestions, we started getting suggestions of like again like a
00:21:48
Waco or a Ruby Ridge or Oklahoma City bombing. you get these requests and because the listeners are like, "Hey,
00:21:57
uh, I've heard other people talk about these major crimes. What are your thoughts?" Or maybe they just like the
00:22:04
way that you're presenting the case. I thought it was a very good series. I guess I can't say I wasn't surprised.
00:22:12
Like you you'd read some of the comments on social media or some of the emails we
00:22:16
got. like one email would be um accusing you of being a Republican and the next email would be accusing you of being a
00:22:25
Democrat and you're [laughter] like we we didn't talk anything about uh politics or our politics on on those
00:22:33
episodes. But uh but yeah, it was a good series. >> Those are there's no way to tell those
00:22:38
stories without talking about some of the politics or the sides involved in >> Yeah. or the beliefs of the individuals.
00:22:47
Yeah. >> Yeah. And that's that's why unfortunately that hate was driven to the point where it was where where it
00:22:54
where it killed people, where people died, where people it was unnecessary suffering um because of the hate in the
00:23:02
hearts of some of these individuals. >> Yeah. The hate and the beliefs. Well, my
00:23:06
number three I really enjoyed. It's just a two-part series. Uh, episode 880 and 881, A Killer Halloween.
00:23:16
And I guess I'm going to turn it over to you on what was your idea about a killer
00:23:22
Halloween. >> That was a conversation that I had with um the author of the book that I had
00:23:28
recommended that week and a friend of mine. He had put out a book where the your he picked several cities and talked
00:23:38
about some of the serial killers. Well, a serial killer from each city. And I enjoyed the book because it was a like a
00:23:49
dark road map if you were to just say, you know what, I'm going to hop in my car and cross the country. And if if if
00:23:57
one were to want to do this, as much as I'm into true crime, I would have no desire to stop off in each city and try
00:24:04
to live through or or relive some of these crimes. I I can't say that I'm I'm not guilty of that on some like I did do
00:24:14
a bunch of Jack the Ripper stuff when I was over in for Crime Con UK in London. It was only the second time I've had the
00:24:22
opportunity to go to the great city of London. And and of course, the first time I was there, it was just work
00:24:29
non-stop. I was there for in my past life for a work trip. This time it was Crime Con. I was lucky enough to be able
00:24:37
to get there a day in advance, stay a day too long. I got to do some of the Jack the Ripper stuff. So, that was
00:24:44
fantastic. And Boulder did a little bit of the Boulder stuff. We won't go into into that into any
00:24:50
great [laughter] but >> get off my lawn. >> I thought to me I always enjoyed the
00:24:59
slasher films growing up and and you and I have talked Halloween. That's one of our favorite franchises.
00:25:06
We've talked about slasher films quite a bit on Off the Record, especially around
00:25:10
Halloween time. And to me, the the serial killer, unfortunately, is the real life slasher film. I always
00:25:19
believe that truth is stranger than fiction. Real life is scarier than fiction. And so, as somebody who likes to be
00:25:28
scared, especially at Halloween time, I thought, you know what? Let's highlight some of these cities and some of the
00:25:35
serial killers. It also gave us an opportunity to discuss some killers that we've not covered yet. We've not learned
00:25:43
much about yet. And we recently just one of one of the killers that we covered in
00:25:48
a killer Halloween. There was a recent update with him. They just linked him to another murder uh
00:25:56
many many decades after the fact. So, I with the permission of the listeners and
00:26:01
with you, that's something I think we could revisit in the future because I enjoyed the research part of it and I
00:26:09
enjoyed hanging out with you in the garage and it and I I know the listeners enjoyed it as well.
00:26:14
>> Well, and as um [laughter] as the guy that does the episode artwork, >> the artwork was cool. It was very cool.
00:26:22
I thought, >> yeah, it always cracks me up when another podcaster goes, "Hey, I just saw
00:26:27
your recent episode. That's cool artwork. Who who do you have do that?" I'm like, "Well, I do." Or they don't
00:26:34
know I do the music. And they'll go, "Hey, Captain, who does the music for your show?" "Well, I do." And and
00:26:41
they'll go, "Well, who who's doing your research for the show?" "Well, we do." You know, [laughter]
00:26:47
like it's basically a twoman operation. And that's how it that's how it rolls. So yeah, that's my number three. And
00:26:54
we'll get back to our list after this quick beer break. [music] A new year, colder days. This is the
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All right, happy [music] New Year's you filthy animals. Onward and upward. Cheers mates. And
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let's get back to the best of true crime garage 2025. >> True Crime Garage best of 2025 according
00:30:01
to the captain and the extra [laughter] crispy colonel. >> It's just a show of us patting oursel on
00:30:08
the back. [laughter] We did a really great job, guys. That's the other part of this too is I had
00:30:14
mentioned Ralphie turning in his paper earlier and that happens frequently, right? Like we
00:30:24
when we put together an episode, we've we've lived in it for a week, sometimes more, sometimes less depending on what
00:30:32
the schedule is. But when when somebody will comment and say, "Yeah, not your best episode." It
00:30:41
the problem for the way that we have to do things and and other podcasters live in this world, too. So, we're not we're
00:30:48
not alone. And I'm sure it works the same for television. But once you've done all the prep work
00:30:54
and the research and the writing for an episode, that's the episode, right? You can't you can't be I think maybe only
00:31:02
once or twice in our 10 years together did we go about halfway through the recording and go, "Nope, nope right.
00:31:10
that one can't come out. You throw it out there and you are always kind of hoping for the best
00:31:16
because you never know will they the large crowd of folks that we are so lucky to have listening feel the same
00:31:25
way we felt about it and you never know and and that's why we love having the conversation and we we look if you don't
00:31:32
like the episode we encourage you to tell us we we we want >> we're fine with that. Yeah, because we
00:31:39
want to every week my only goal is to do >> a better job than last week. And every
00:31:46
week the same goal is to put together the best true crime podcast episode that we possibly can in the amount of time
00:31:52
that we have allotted for that. >> Yeah. But it's a it's a combination of many things. So you get a case that's
00:32:00
suggested to you. Well, how interesting is that case? Are there twists and turns? Are there things that are things
00:32:08
and cases or details in cases you've seen before? Are there bizarre things? Does the information make you question
00:32:16
anything whether it's a solved case or an unsolved case? But then you have to gather that information up and figure
00:32:22
out what timeline of the story and how do you want to tell the story. So it becomes well is the case interesting or
00:32:31
not? How well did you research it? How well did you deliver the information? How cool was the artwork? Was the music
00:32:41
uh did the music enhance the episode or did it hinder the episode? Was it embarrassing? You know what I mean?
00:32:48
There's there's a lot of components and but what's nice and and we've we've had it happen uh many times where
00:32:56
you feel like the case is fascinating. You feel like we researched it well. We feel like we laid it out the best way we
00:33:05
could and it felt good when we recorded it. And sometimes when I'm editing those
00:33:11
episodes, I'm like, "Man, this one's this one's pretty good." And and then when you put it out, uh, you get the
00:33:20
crowd goes wild. And sometimes you can feel great about an episode and put it out and it's just crickets. But, uh,
00:33:27
that's the life. And like you said, all we can do is to do the best we can and move forward. Number two.
00:33:34
>> My number two is from September 2025 and it's our yogurt shop murders update case. It was from September 29th of last
00:33:47
year. And part of that was this was a case for me for many, many years that was a head scratcher. The
00:33:57
kind of case that keeps you up at night. The the case the type of story that has
00:34:03
you constantly analyzing and then reanalyzing the same information over and over again
00:34:09
and trying to figure out what does it mean? What does it tell us about the suspect or suspects? And this case is so
00:34:17
complicated because you had false confessions. You had false you had wrongful convictions. You had four
00:34:23
victims. You had four men who were once teenagers at teenagers at the time of the crime that police went Austin PD
00:34:33
went after very very hard. In fact, landed two of those guys behind prison bars.
00:34:40
>> Right. >> Those guys end up getting their release from prison. And then it wasn't until
00:34:46
September of this year that we get the answers to back up h how much this case wrapped me up got its hooks in me is we
00:34:58
covered the yogurt shop murders in episodes 81 and 82. Then we covered the yogurt shop murders again. It was titled
00:35:08
Yogurt Shop Murders 30 years later in episodes 539 and 540. And then the documentary came out
00:35:19
last year, the Yogurt Shop Murders documentary, and that gave us the opportunity to revisit the case again.
00:35:29
>> Yeah. Because the documentary gave us more insight and more details. Those were interesting episodes because it's
00:35:36
also when you see some of the stuff visually and you get to hear new details and hear stuff from the source. Does it
00:35:44
change the way you view a case that you have covered so many times? So that was episodes
00:35:51
866 and 867 in August of 2025. Now, when we did every time we revisited this case, of course, we were hoping that
00:36:00
they would solve it, that they would finally figure this thing out. By the time we did those episodes after the
00:36:06
documentary had come out, I had pretty much lost all hope that the case would ever be solved. But that it was
00:36:12
September of this year that after more than 33 years, we finally got some closure in the infamous yogurt shop
00:36:20
murders case that haunted Austin, Texas. since that sad and tragic night when four teenage girls were brutally
00:36:30
murdered. And the statement we got from the Austin Police Department and we went
00:36:34
into to as much depth as we could with the information out at the time regarding the answers and them finally
00:36:44
solving this. But from the Austin Police Department, they said, "We've made a significant break through breakthrough
00:36:51
in the 1991. I can't believe it's yogurt murder case with new information. They never quit working this case.
00:37:00
That's that's obvious. You have the four victims, Jennifer Harbison, her sister Sarah Harbison,
00:37:07
and their friends Eliza Thomas and Amy Heirs. All four innocent lives taken senselessly and far too soon. Via DNA
00:37:17
testing, they identified a suspect. his name. He's deceased, horrible, evil man, serial killer,
00:37:26
Robert Eugene Brashers, who committed suicide in 1999. While I've had some difficulties with
00:37:36
the outcome, I was so overjoyed that they finally had had figured out who was responsible. This guy, as we discussed
00:37:47
in that episode, he was a monster before he killed those girls at the yogurt shop. He was a
00:37:53
monster afterwards. This is one of those guys. We talked about him recently on and off the record as well. He's one of
00:38:00
these guys that none of us would be surprised. None of us should be shocked when they find out months from now or
00:38:07
even years from now when they link him to another murder. And that other murder that they link him to could be in
00:38:12
another part of this country. But uh yeah, it was >> it was cause for a small celebration
00:38:22
>> and I'm thankful for the work that Austin PD has done on the case and I I applaud them for seeing it through.
00:38:32
There's a handful of cases that I can mention that I don't think have been worked. Look, and they were wrong. They
00:38:37
were wrong a handful of times in this case, >> right? Um, but they stuck to it and there's
00:38:46
other departments out there that could learn from this is a case that leveled that city that broke the hearts of
00:38:56
everyone in that city. And I think that is what led to this became personal >> for [clears throat]
00:39:05
Austin PD. And when it becomes personal, there are going to be mistakes that are
00:39:09
made. But I you know what? I'm not and I will not hold it against a department for taking a case and making it
00:39:16
personal. Sometimes that's what you got to do. That's what you have to do. So anyway,
00:39:23
yogurt shop murders update case that we did uh episode we did in September of 2025 and also all the other coverage on
00:39:32
the yogurt shop murders case uh that we did over the years. I came up with this analogy the other day which I I actually
00:39:40
thought was brilliant. Sometimes I surprised myself. I was also told on YouTube that I'm as dumb as wood, which
00:39:47
is probably correct, but I I said I if I'm going to be as dumb as wood, I want to be as dumb as pinewood. But I came up
00:39:55
with the analogy of you have these, let's say you're watching like um a documentary on the NFL
00:40:03
and you have a team that was amazing that got to the Super Bowl and they just didn't play well, but it's something
00:40:12
they lost the game and it's something that lives with those players for the rest of their lives. But in these crime
00:40:18
cases with these detectives, they live with these cases for their whole lives. Whether they're still working the case
00:40:26
or not, it just sticks on them. And the fact that they can keep going over it and keep working it and finally get
00:40:36
answers for the victim's families. Like that it's a it's amazing cuz like if you
00:40:43
ask any of these players, would you want to replay that game? They'd say hell yes. You know, give me the chance again.
00:40:53
Unlike sports, that's something uh these detectives can do. they can keep working
00:40:59
and fighting for answers. So, my number two, >> shout out to shout out to Phil Rivers.
00:41:05
[laughter] >> Yeah. Um, >> he's getting a chance he's got a chance to go back every
00:41:10
>> Yeah. And so, so correct me if I'm wrong, but I want to say this was like a a couple years ago. I said something to
00:41:17
you of Oh, it'd be cuz I wasn't clear when I was watching the Mine Hunter series, which was on Netflix.
00:41:27
I I knew that it was basically a a biopic or a docu drama of them creating the behavior science unit at Quantico.
00:41:38
And so some of the big people, like when you see scenes of the BTK or them interviewing different serial killers,
00:41:47
I was like, "Okay, well that's probably all pretty factual, but what about these
00:41:51
small cases that they're solving when they're doing their uh what do they call it? It was like road road school or
00:41:59
something like that." >> Yeah, the road school. >> But I didn't know if those cases were
00:42:03
real or if they were just made up or if they were based off on whatever. So, I believe it was like a few years ago. I
00:42:10
suggested something to you and then you get case suggestions. I get them. We kind of write them down on this master
00:42:19
list. And as we're talking and scheduling some cases out, you were like, "Hey, I got this idea for this
00:42:26
Mine Hunter series." And I was like, "Okay, that's cool." But other than me being able to rewatch it,
00:42:37
I had no clue of how you were going to present it, what you're going to do, how good it would be, and it was almost like
00:42:44
a yes, I was in the garage, but it was like a treat to listen to the the details. I'm I I remember like talking
00:42:52
to friends and other podcaster friends and going, "Man, Nick is just knocking this series out of the park." So yeah,
00:43:00
it was just an absolute joy and and it and I had no clue what was coming. That's what she said.
00:43:07
>> Captain, we park our cars in the same garage. We have sharing opinions here because the Mine Hunter series that we
00:43:16
did in 2025, episodes 868 to 871, a four-part series, was my favorite of 2025. Part of it was that I got the
00:43:28
opportunity to go back and watch the first season again. The other part of it too
00:43:35
that I really enjoyed was some of our accomplishments as well because when you think about Mine Hunter, the series, the
00:43:43
TV show, and really the the true story of it, there were three people at the center of that story. John Douglas,
00:43:50
Robert Wrestler, and Anne Burgess. when the two of us sat down in the garage the
00:43:55
first couple of times and hit record and one we didn't even know we were going to
00:44:01
have a show to release to anybody and then when we did release it we didn't know anybody would listen and then we
00:44:07
didn't think we would be doing this as you said earlier for all of these years it's not always diff it's not always
00:44:14
easy to do the show or put the shows together but when you get the opportunity to do a show with John
00:44:22
Douglas do a show with Anne Burgess. God bless it. I Robert Wrestler, I wish he was
00:44:28
around. We probably would have got the opportunity to do a show with him as well. I think we've we've had John
00:44:34
Douglas, the Mine Hunter, on our show, I think, three times. Dr. Anne Burgess, probably my favorite interview and
00:44:44
conversation, true crime conversation ever. Really, absolutely. I she's such a gem, such a
00:44:52
joy. So, >> well, here's what's funny, too, though, is um John Douglas is very hard to edit
00:44:59
and Anne Burgess is very easy to edit. [laughter] So, it's a polar spectrum, but uh it's
00:45:07
uh both of them are fascinating listens. >> Well, Douglas is the genius that's going
00:45:13
to track down the unknown killer based off of the crime scene. And so his mind is just racing like 10,000 miles a
00:45:21
minute where Anne Burgess is more of the brilliant academic who knows how to lay
00:45:28
things out in a textbook style. And she was so while she was never a real true sworn in FBI officer agent,
00:45:39
she was a consultant and hired and paid by the FBI for many many years. and and we originally had Anne Burgess,
00:45:49
that episode was off the record. It was an off thereord episode. As brilliant as
00:45:54
I always believed her to be, and as much as I always enjoyed her work, I didn't know the conversation would go as well
00:45:59
as I thought that it did. And so when we did this Mine Hunter series, which was an examination of the dramatization
00:46:08
of the Minehunter story put out on Netflix, I sat down, pen to paper, watching every episode and going, "All
00:46:16
right, is that killer real? Is that part of this story? Is this something that was true? Did it even down to the point
00:46:23
of a a Time magazine cover that was in a scene on sitting on an end table or coffee
00:46:32
table? Like is was that really a Time magazine cover at any time or was that just something planted there? And we one
00:46:40
of the scenes that I had never picked up on before until I'm looking at it with a
00:46:45
magnifying glass is the scene where the Anne Burgess character is talking to the
00:46:53
Robert Wrestler and John Douglas character in her office and she's got her bookshelf behind her and I was
00:46:59
looking at the spines of every one of those books on that shelf and one of them in fact was a John Douglas book
00:47:09
that was released in the '9s. And we know people that have watched the show know that uh Mine Hunter, the series
00:47:15
starts off and takes place in the the late '7s. So that book wasn't even out yet. That was just something that that
00:47:21
the the director and the smart folks that worked on that show kind of planted in the background as something something
00:47:29
>> Easter egg. Yeah. >> And so I really enjoyed getting the opportunity to go back and watch it
00:47:34
again. And it was also a good excuse for us to within that series right before we
00:47:39
kicked off our series and this was um >> well the Mine Hunter series was episodes
00:47:44
868, 869, 870 and 871. Four-part series for your earballs, >> which all took place in the middle of
00:47:55
September. What we did was we bookended those with a refill of two of our John Douglas
00:48:03
episodes, which I think he's been on for five. I know he's been on three different times. I can't recall if they
00:48:09
were all two-parters. That was when we had the opportunity to talk with John Douglas about the some of the older
00:48:16
cases, more infamous cases that the folks out there know, the Zodiac case, the West Memphis 3, John Bené Ramsay,
00:48:24
things of that nature. And then at the other end of that, we released our what was originally the off thereord episode
00:48:31
with Dr. Anne Burgess. Again, she's a first generation mine hunter along with the other two gents that we mentioned.
00:48:38
and her level of understanding and expertise when it comes to victimology and postoffense behavior of your suspect
00:48:51
is so genius and so valuable to their investigations and their their manhunt for the criminal, the unknown criminal
00:49:01
at the time. So, love talking with her, love talking with John Douglas, of course, and I really enjoyed putting
00:49:06
together this series. I'm hoping we can find time in 2026, maybe we do season two as well. Yeah. So, when we did our
00:49:14
best true crime documentaries of 2025, we had nothing that over overlapped. But on this list of the best of true crime
00:49:26
garage 2025, we have two that are overlapping cuz my number one is the yogurt shop murders update episode,
00:49:35
which was episode 874. And it's simply because we've talked about that case. We've looked at that
00:49:42
case a a bunch. Again, you you want to be hopeful, but I just wasn't. And anytime anything came out about it, I
00:49:54
just wasn't. And then there was that documentary that came out, which I thought was very well put together,
00:50:02
great production. It It reminded me of true crime documentaries of old. But when it was all said and done, that
00:50:11
didn't leave me with a lot of hope. And then I still remember where I was at. I was laying down on my bed and my phone
00:50:19
went off and then it went off again. And then it went off again and I went, "Who
00:50:26
the hell's texting me so late?" And there was three or four texts. Did you see that they solved the yogurt shop
00:50:34
murders? And I I couldn't believe it. I was like I I got up, ran to my computer,
00:50:41
and I remember finding a news clip about it and posting it. Um because I like to
00:50:46
do that. If you follow us on Facebook or you follow us on Instagram, I'm I'm constantly posting little clips of
00:50:54
whether they're cases that we've covered or we're going to cover or cases that we
00:50:58
haven't got to yet. I try to just post stuff. So, if you're into true crime and what's going on in the true crime world,
00:51:07
that's what I do. I I also do stuff when I hear about a new documentary coming out, I'll post, hey, I heard this new
00:51:14
documentary is coming out in a month, so follow us on Instagram and Facebook. But
00:51:18
was it our best episode? I don't know. But I never thought the case would get solved. It was a joyous uh episode
00:51:26
because you go, here's this case that's so old that it's a case that there's so much stacked up against you. You have a
00:51:35
lot of victims. You don't have that many eyewitnesses. It's a small town. Then we
00:51:40
have, you know, teenagers that are accused. You have a fire that that destroys evidence. You have the
00:51:48
firefighters coming in to put out the fire that destroys evidence. And you just wondered whatever they had, was it
00:51:56
solid information? Was it solid evidence? Were they ever going to solve it? And out of all the cases that you'd want
00:52:07
solved. I mean, of course, you want them all solved, but we all have like a handful of cases that we were were
00:52:15
hoping for one day. Like I tell people all the time if they ever solve the John Benet Ramsay case that will break the
00:52:23
internet for a good week. So it was a case I never thought would get solved and then here we are and
00:52:32
hopefully in 2026 a bunch of cases a bunch of unsolved and cold cases get solved in 2026.
00:52:40
>> Thank you Captain. I love looking back and checking in on our work for 2025 and
00:52:47
it's an inspiration for 2026. My top three, my favorite projects, episodes [snorts] that we did for 2025.
00:52:57
Number three was Hate American Made, a six-part series that kicked off in April of 2025.
00:53:05
Also number two, the yogurt shop murders update. Our continued coverage of the yogurt shop murders from Austin, Texas.
00:53:16
We did those episodes in September of 2025. And then our Mind Hunter series, four parts, episodes 868 to 871
00:53:27
is my top choice for 2025. >> And my list is number three, A Killer Halloween. Number two, the Mine Hunter
00:53:35
series. Number one, the yogurt shop murders update. But man, looking back on all the episodes we did, I some of the
00:53:44
cases that it's weird cuz some of them you you see the artwork and you go, "Oh, that doesn't seem like it was that long
00:53:53
ago." And other ones you're like, "Wait, we did that this year? I thought that was like two years ago." But man, some
00:54:00
wild cases like God's Misfits or David Glenn Lewis, Ellen Greenberg killing for chaos. And I
00:54:10
mean the missing solder children. Like I was like, am I allowed to put that on my
00:54:19
list? We just we just covered it. But I I thought that case was fascinating and um and I think we did a good job. But
00:54:27
who who freaking knows? >> I had a bunch of honorable mentions. Killing was purposeful, uh, five-part
00:54:34
series back in May. Stolen, the Angie Houseman story, a three-part series. The park bench murders, a case that we've
00:54:44
continued, a case here from Northeast Ohio that we continue to revisit. The Santa Rosa murders, the hitchhiking
00:54:52
murders. Uh, we did a four-part series on that. Killing for Chaos was a a bizarre story.
00:54:58
>> Yeah. >> It always seems to surprise and fascinate me when we sit down and we
00:55:04
look at a case. It's not every week, but it is most weeks where I'm like, when am
00:55:10
I going to stop being shocked and surprised >> by the details of these true crime
00:55:15
stories? >> Do you have a favorite off thereord episode of last year? >> That's a great question. Not one that I
00:55:22
anticipated. I will say though, um, it doesn't really answer your question. I'm going to go throw this out there. I know
00:55:28
I've already referenced it, but of course the Ann Burgess interview was my favorite off the record of all time of
00:55:34
of >> right >> what we've been doing off the record eight of the 10 years that we've been
00:55:38
doing True Crime Garage. I >> Yeah, nobody stop. >> It's a mystery to us. That's somebody
00:55:45
should do an episode on that. Off the record with Anne Burgess, my favorite one of all time. Yeah, we just put out
00:55:50
an episode last week called Life Savers. And going back and editing the episode,
00:55:57
it was actually cracking me up, which normally doesn't happen. Uh cuz I'm focused, you know, I got to be extra
00:56:05
focused when I'm editing. So you or the Brian Schaefer update one, even though it was like bogus [ __ ] information,
00:56:12
it was still fun to talk about because that's something uh we're going to dive back into that case again this year and
00:56:19
I think people are going to be shocked about what we're learning. If you're not subscribed to Off the Record, it's the
00:56:25
best way to support the show. It's us and the listeners and that's it. And we appreciate everybody that supports True
00:56:32
Crime Garage and supports Off the Record. And we want to thank everybody for joining us here in the garage each
00:56:38
and every week. Thanks for telling your mother. Thanks for telling your brother.
00:56:41
>> And for the longtime listeners, thanks for joining us back here for a whole another year of True Crime Garage.
00:56:47
>> So yeah, onward and upward in 2026. Colonel, do we have a recommended reading for the beautiful listeners?
00:56:54
>> Yes. Uh this week we are recommending Below the Surface, a new true crime podcast, and we have a preview here for
00:57:01
you for Below the Surface. It's from Abjack Entertainment and hosted by Olivia McKenzie. And every episode
00:57:10
you'll hear about a different fascinating, sometimes bizarre case. Some of these
00:57:15
cases are solved, some still remain unsolved. And there's always one common theme. Water. The first two episodes are
00:57:23
out now, and you can find below the surface everywhere you listen to podcasts. A missing person, [music] a strange
00:57:33
death, a vanished vehicle, a series of unanswerable questions. [music] In so many true crime mysteries, the answers
00:57:41
remain elusive. But in many instances, the clues lead right to the water's edge. [music] And sometimes the truth
00:57:47
lies below the surface. Hi listeners, my name is Olivia and I'm the host of the true crime podcast below the surface
00:57:55
from Abjack Entertainment. [music] the podcast that features bizarre cases with a common theme, water. You can listen to
00:58:01
Below the Surface on every major podcast platform or app. Be sure to subscribe [music] today so that you don't miss an
00:58:08
episode. [music] For everything true crime, check out true crimegar.com. And until next week,
00:58:21
be good, be kind, and don't litter. Heat. Heat. [music] [music] [music] >> [music]