The Generation Why Podcast

June 5, 1983. Chino Hills, California. The Ryen family consisted of Douglas, Peggy, Jessica and Joshua. They had invited Joshua's friend, Christopher Hughes, to stay the night. The next day after Chrs hadn't returned, his father visited the Ryen home to look for him. Soon after, he would make a terrible discovery. Sometime during the night the Ryens and his son had been attacked and all had been killed save for Joshua. An investigation turned up a suspect in Kevin Cooper. He had recently...

August 20, 1989. Beverly Hills, California. Jose and Kitty Menendez were eating ice cream and watching a movie at home when they were shot to death. Their two sons, Lyle (21) and Erik (18) said that they were not home at the time but their behavior following the murders of their parents as well as the investigation into it began to reveal a different story. The two sons had burned through a lot of money buying cars, trips and even a restaurant. After Erik told his psychiatrist, Dr. Jerome...

May 14, 2013. Omaha, Nebraska. For five years the brutal murders of Thomas Hunter, 11, and Shirlee Sherman, 57, were a mystery. Then, in 2013, Roger and Mary Brumback, both 65, were murdered and the similarities between the two led the police to Anthony Garcia, a former employee of Roger Brumback and Thomas’ father, William Hunter, who appeared to have a grudge against those who fired him from Creighton University Medical Center. But with very little evidence found at the crime scenes, how...

April 26, 2005. Durham, North Carolina. 30 year old Raven Abaroa returns home after a soccer game to find his wife slumped over on the floor in their home. At first he was not alarmed as she would often do this when she had cramps. But when he got close to her, he could see that his wife, 25 year old Janet Abaroa, was covered in blood and appeared to be deceased. The couple's 6 month old son was found unharmed in his room. Investigators did not suspect that robbery was a motive in the...

April 16, 2003. San Antonio, Texas. Colonel Michael Philip Shue said goodbye to his wife and was supposed to drive to Lackland Air Force Base where he worked. But he was seen driving erratically on the highway away from both his work and his home later on. The Colonel's car then smashed into a tree, killing him. But he sustained injuries prior to the accident that suggested that he may have been the victim of a crime. Some of these injuries included: duct tape on his wrists and ankles, a...

April 21, 1998. Onondaga County, New York. Recently separated but still living in the same home, Jeff and Jill Cahill got into an argument. Jill attempted to walk away, but her husband wasn't going to let her do that. Using a baseball bat he struck his wife multiple times in the head. He then called his mother. While his family spoke with him at the house, Jill was bleeding and near death. It wasn't until after a doctor, a friend of Jeff's family, showed up and demanded that they call for...

Feb. 9, 2010. Wenatchee, Washington. Beauty school student Mackenzie Cowell left class and said she would only be gone for 15 minutes. She didn't return. Days later, her mutilated body was discovered near the Columbia River. Who killed her? Her boyfriend? Her mother's boyfriend? Drug dealers? Or a fellow student? Conflicting information and confusing evidence didn't prevent this case from reaching a conclusion.

November 15, 2004. Bethlehem, New York. A 52 year old law clerk named Peter Porco unexpectedly misses work, prompting someone to check on him at his home. There, a grisly scene is discovered. Peter and his wife, Jean, had both been brutally attacked with an axe. Surprisingly, Joan is still alive and is asked a handful of questions by a detective. Among them, she was asked if she knew who had attacked her. She said that she did. But the investigation and the case would take surprising...

October 24, 2001. Montgomery County, Texas. Fifty year old Sandra Stotler, her 17 year old adopted step-grandson, Adam, and his 18 year old friend, Jeremy Richardson, were all shot to death. Sandra was murdered at her home. The young men were killed at a wooded area nearby. It took days for these crimes to become known to the police, but once they were it didn't take long to discover a motive. The primary motive being the theft of Sandra's Chevy Camaro. Identifying suspects in the crimes...

December 5th, 1981. Toledo, Ohio. Bobbie Russell, a 28 year old mother of three, is brutally attacked and murdered at her home. Detectives were able to get a name from the woman's six year old son who was there with his younger twin sisters. The name he gave was Danny. With that information they picked up 24 year old Danny Brown who had been seeing Bobbie Russell. Danny is cooperative, but denied any involvement. A jury disagreed and he spent years in prison before a dna test in 2000...

April 13, 2012. Irmo, South Carolina. A panicked man named Brett Parker called 911. He told police that a friend of his named Bryan Capnerhurst had shot his wife, Tammy Parker, and that he was forced to shoot Bryan in self defense. Brett Parker admitted to owing his friend money. He stated that his friend must have snapped due to being so far in debt. But early on in the criminal investigation, investigators began to doubt Brett's story. Brett scheduled a meeting with the sheriff to make...

July 13th, 1994. Bellevue, Washington. Sebastian Burns (19) and Atif Rafay (18), who had been in Bellevue for a number of days to visit Atif's parents, arrive at the home around 2am to find a terrible scene. Burns calls the police to tell them of a break-in and the deaths of his friend's father, mother, and sister. The authorities get the two close friends a hotel room to stay in while the investigation gets under way. But they decide to go back to Canada rather than remain in the USA. The...

May 1st, 2001. Washington, D.C. Chandra Levy, an intern in Washington, D.C. was an independent woman with big dreams. As someone who was very interested in politics and law enforcement, the move from California to the nation's capital was exciting for her. In April of 2001, she lost her intern position with the Federal Bureau of Prisons because her eligibility had expired six months before. Because of this she had no real reason to stay in D.C. Chandra started the process of moving back....

Sept. 17, 2016. Point Judith, R.I. Nathan Carman, 22, and his mother Linda, 54, left on his boat for a fishing trip. The two hadn't been getting along but they were known to fish together and maybe this was the opportunity for them to patch things up. A week later, a Chinese freighter discovered Nathan on a life raft and rescued him. Linda's sisters and local law enforcement suspected foul play. But this isn't the first time someone close to Nathan Carman had died under strange...

May 17, 1953. Isojoki, Finland. 17 year old Kyllikki Saari bicycled home after a prayer meeting with a friend. Kyllikki had earlier expressed a bit of fear about riding home at night, but when it came time for the two to go there separate ways, she seemed to downplay her fear. Perhaps she felt that three and a half miles was close enough to home or that her fear was not something that she wanted to give into. Her final words to her friend began, "I'm sure I'll be fine from here on, as I...

Aaron from Generation Why presents Framed: An Investigative Story. An unsolved crime has divided a community for more than a decade. This season on Framed we will go beyond the narratives and attempt to answer the question of what happened one fateful night in 2002.

2002-2013. Cleveland, Ohio. Three young women went missing in Cleveland, Ohio between 2002 and 2004; Michelle Knight, Amanda Berry and Gina DeJesus. While investigations occurred and families held vigils, these three women endured unspeakable torture at the hands of a monster. But as terrible as this was, what this story really became was one of courage. Aaron & Justin discuss the kidnappings, the captivity and the escape of these three strong women after a decade in hell. You will be moved...

September 10, 2001. Los Angeles, California. Successful personal injury attorney Larry McNabney is seen being pushed in a wheelchair by his wife Elisa after a horse show. An odd sight as Larry was known to be a healthy guy. The next day his office was being cleared out. Clients had been asking after him and being given the run around. After the body of Larry McNabney was discovered in a San Joaquin vineyard, authorities began to uncover Elisa McNabney's secrets. The woman who had married...

Introducing I, Survivor. There are so many podcasts about crime and tragedy, but few if any who give a voice to those who survived, who overcame adversity, and who could help others get out of the way of physical or emotional harm. Listen to I, Survivor on Apple podcasts, wherever you’re listening to this or go to wondery.com/shows/i-survivor/

November 5th, 1975. Heber, Arizona. On their way back to the town of Snowlfake, a logging crew of seven men see a strange sight in the sky. Mike Rogers, who hired the other six men, stopped the truck. Travis Walton, who had been sitting up front, jumped out and moved towards what appeared to be an alien craft. A blue-green beam shot out of the craft and into Travis and was thrown backward ten feet. The men in the truck did not wait around to see what would happen next. Mike drove the truck a...