The Generation Why Podcast

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. On...

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 have...

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...

March 30, 1985. Bedford County, Virginia. In 1984, 18 year old Jens Soering, a German citizen, and a 20 year old woman named Elizabeth Haysom met at the University of Virginia where they were both students. They subsequently fell in love. In March of the following year, Elizabeth's parents were brutally stabbed to death at their home. At the top of the suspect list were Elizabeth and Jens. As the authorities sought to gather statements and evidence, Elizabeth cooperated while Jens did not....

Valley Springs, California. April 27, 2013. Twelve year old Isiah Fowler asked to stay home while his father and stepmother took his siblings to a baseball game. His sister, eight year old Leila, wished to remain at home as well. The parents agreed to let them stay. Isiah made pancakes and the two watched a movie. Sometime later, Isiah called his parents to report that an intruder was in the home. The 911 dispatcher, after being called by Isiah's stepmother, Crystal, wanted to speak with the...

September 14, 2007. King's Cross Railway Station, London, UK. A bright young student named Andrew Gosden leaves for school one day. His family didn't know it, but Andrew waited for them to leave then returned home and changed into his street clothes and headed for the Doncaster railway station after withdrawing £200 from a cash machine. When his parents discovered that he was missing they began to look for him. Once they learned that he had purchased a one way ticket to London their concern...

Michael Peterson's trial for the alleged murder of his wife Kathleen was the subject of a documentary titled, The Staircase, which is now on Netflix. This is the second and final part of our discussion where we go over the evidence in more detail and state what issues we had with the trial and with the documentary series. Do we believe Michael Peterson murdered his wife? Or do we think this was just an accident? Or, as some believe, could a barred owl be responsible? Join us as we conclude...

December 8, 2001. Durham, North Carolina. Michael and Kathleen Peterson seemed to have it all. A beautiful home and great careers. She was an executive at Nortel and he was an author. But one night, Kathleen went into the home they shared while Michael continued to lounge outside. After a bit he went in only to discover his wife covered in blood at the bottom of their back staircase. He called 911 to report an accident. After a few hours, Michael Peterson contacted his attorney. Inside the...

Yuba County, California. February 24, 1978. Five men went to a basketball game in Chico, California to watch their favorite college basketball team play. They never returned home. Four days later their car was found on a Plumas National Forest access road. There was no sign of the men and no indication of why they had abandoned their operable car. In June, the remains of four of the five men were found even deeper in the forest. The fifth man remains missing. No one knows why they went into...

December 01, 1987. Townsend, Massachusetts. Andrew Gustafson was a 34 year old lawyer who had just closed a successful real estate deal and was attempting to let his wife know about it and to see if she would like to go out that evening to celebrate. A babysitter would be needed for their two children, but Andrew didn't think finding one would be a problem. Upon arriving home, Andrew found the house to be quiet. Too quiet. Upstairs, in their master bedroom, he found the body of his wife. He...

Evil Genius. August 28th, 2003. Erie, Pennsylvania. A pizza delivery man robbed a bank with a bomb around his neck and a cane shotgun. He was captured soon after by police and handcuffed. The presence of a possible live bomb underneath his shirt caused the authorities to back away. The man repeatedly asked them to look for the keys to remove the bomb which were hidden in the instructions of a scavenger hunt. The elaborate heist resulted in a shocking moment that was captured by the media as...

Adam Kaufman. November 7, 2007. Aventura, Florida. Adam Kaufman, a successful real estate developer, called 911 to report that he found his wife, Lina, slumped over in their bathroom. Paramedics are dispatched and take her to the hospital where she was later pronounced dead. By all accounts the couple, who had two young children, were very happy. But a case of murder would develop against the husband after the manner of death is released a year and a half later. It was listed as manual...

February 22, 2017. Olathe, Kansas. A man re-enters a bar that he was escorted out of minutes before for spouting hateful rhetoric and, armed with a gun, shoots two Indian men as well as a bar patron who attempted to stop him. On this episode we discuss two different shooting incidents, the motives behind them and the responses by survivors. Gun crimes affect many more people than those who are shot. Immigration fears, racism, and outright paranoia can encourage violence against others but...

West Valley City, Utah. December 7th, 2009. Josh Powell took his two sons camping at 12:30am so they could have s'mores. This wasn't a typical trip to take during a snow storm and on a Monday morning, but stranger still, no one was told about this trip. Not his employer who expected him at work. Not the daycare where his sons should have been that day. His wife, Susan, also missed work. The boys' daycare worker did her best to contact the parents of Charlie and Braden, but no one answered...