Speaker 1: Sword and Scale contains adult themes and violence, and is
not intended for all audiences. Listener discretion is advised.
Speaker 2: There when he was killed. No, sir, I was not
at his house when that man was murdered. Sir I, kid,
this is the kind of shit that gets people in drulled.
Speaker 1: Oh my god, I know, hello and welcome this Sword
and Scale Episode three, twenty eight Let's Go. Forty three
year old Brad McGarry and thirty year old David Kinney
were friends for years. They met while working at a
local coal mine in the small town of Ohio called
bel Air. Sounds nice, right. Don't get ahead of yourself, though,
This is Ohio. Belair sits along the Ohio River and
borders West Virginia. Another stunning location filled with PhDs. It's
a place built on hard work, traditional values and coal. Yeah, coal,
the thing that's probably powering your iPhone for generations. The
mines and the coal in it shaped everything in bel Air.
Those minds offered steady work for anyone willing to face
the challenges of being underground all day long. It's dangerous work,
probably worth every penny and then some. But by twenty seventeen,
these jobs were disappearing, mines were shutting down, and operations
were scaled back. Work became harder to find and harder
to keep. For men like Brad McGarry and David Kinney,
getting and keeping a job in the mines made them
feel lucky. This is Detective Ryan Aller of Belmont County.
Speaker 3: Blair is one of our bigger municipalities in Belmont County.
I wouldn't say it's a high crime rate, but compared
to other parts of the county, there's a good bit
of drug activity down there. There's bit homicides in Blair before,
but it's been quite some time, so a case like
this is very shocking to our community.
Speaker 1: Brad McGary wasn't just a friend to David. He was
a family friend, sharing holidays, family dinners and afternoons at
each other's homes. To David's kids, Brad was known as
Uncle Brad because they loved and trusted him. Brad was single,
so he appreciated the opportunity to feel part of a
full blown family, and both David and his wife Sherry
were happy to have Uncle Brad. Cherry felt almost like
she had two responsible men in her life. She was
a young, single mom. When she and David met, David
was young too, but in no time they married and
he became a father to her three kids. By twenty seventeen,
they'd been together for ten years, and Brad had been
part of the family picture for about six years. On
May seventh, twenty seventeen, David Sherry and their thirteen year
old daughter drove half an hour from their town of
Brilliant to Brad's bel Air home, a nineteen fifties ranch
sitting almost at the end of a residential, dead end street.
They were stopping by to give Brad a weed trimmer.
It was a small gift to repay for some things
he'd done for them. Brad was like that, he was
really helpful, good friend. Those are hard to come by.
So they pull into the driveway, the gravel crunching under
the truck's tires. It's a typical quiet Sunday afternoon. Cherry
shifts in her seat and takes her seat belt off
while David exits the truck. As they're doing this, they
immediately notice that the kitchen door is open, just slightly.
But it's not normal. It's not like Brad to just
leave it open like that. David scrunches his face, squinting
towards the house. But their thirteen year old daughter is
excited to see uncle Brad, so she darts from the truck.
Stay here, said automatically, but the girl's already halfway to
the porch, where she waits but peers inside. Meanwhile, David
starts calling Brad because he's afraid something is off. Brad's
phone rings unanswered. Cherry watches David try again, holding his
phone up and listening to empty ringing on the other end.
She follows her daughter up the steps, and her adrenaline
is pumping. The door swings inward with a soft creak
under her hand. Inside she sees chaos, yanked open drawers
and gaping cabinets. Papers and belongings were scattered like someone
at ransacked the place in a hurry. At that point,
Sherry is scared and reaches for David's arm. Go get
your gun, she whispers. David doesn't argue. He turns back
towards a truck moving fast but controlled. Cherry stands frozen
in the doorway, one arm thrown out to hold her
daughter back. Her daughter looks at her in sheer terror.
What's happening?
Speaker 2: Mom?
Speaker 1: David comes back with his firearm at his side. His
face is tight and pale. She's not used to seeing
her tall, rugged husband in this state. He tells her
to stay there, he's going inside the check. Sherry doesn't move,
gripping her daughter's shoulders. She wants to run out, but
she can't make herself move. She's frozen like a rabbit
in headlights. David's footsteps creak on the basement stairs. A
second passes, then another, then suddenly she hears his panicked
voice from the basement call mine.
Speaker 4: When one he shouts, they hear.
Speaker 5: What's the road? What's the county?
Speaker 4: Nine?
Speaker 5: One one? Where is your emergency?
Speaker 4: We want an emergency.
Speaker 5: I don't know what's this? Stay there? Where are you at?
We we's Blaire?
Speaker 4: I don't even know the road right next to persy
to come all the way back and up the hill.
Speaker 5: Okay, what's going on? I don't even know. You don't
know what's going on?
Speaker 4: Whercies?
Speaker 5: Oh my god, what work ma'am, ma'am? Or what's vlaire?
Speaker 4: We came into my husband's friend and his back door
was cracked open. He wasn't into the face, so we
came in the house, he's in his basement.
Speaker 1: The dispatcher tries to make sense of what's unfolding on
Wagner Avenue, but Sherry is struggling to process it herself.
Speaker 5: Okay, okay, calm down. Did you say he's dead? Okay, okay, ma'am.
Does it look like something happened to him? Does it
look like you fowl? He's all over on the.
Speaker 4: Floors, one everywhere?
Speaker 5: Okay. What is your name? My name is Sarry Kenny,
Sherry Kenney.
Speaker 4: Yeah, it's facts.
Speaker 5: Okay, husband looked.
Speaker 4: In Okay, now it's still play from the kitchen.
Speaker 5: Okay, Sherry, I need you, I need you to catify
me an address.
Speaker 4: Can you do that?
Speaker 6: Oh?
Speaker 5: Cool?
Speaker 4: Even though it's like that's the Pervis market? Well, what's
an address on a house?
Speaker 1: The questions keep coming from the operator, but the whole
scene is disorienting for Sherry. She's still trying to make
sense of the chaos around her when the most critical
question of all waits in the background. Is he dead?
Speaker 5: Oh? I thought he's just playing there. Okay, listen to me. Okay,
does the back door look like it was four? So
there's his kitchen door? Does it look like it was
just was it cracked open? It wasn't force open.
Speaker 7: I don't I don't know.
Speaker 5: Go in here, okay, it was just cracked. I don't
know if it was fourth entry. Mary, Oh, I'm Mary, Sherry.
Speaker 4: Any breathing?
Speaker 5: Is he breathing?
Speaker 4: I don't think he's breathing.
Speaker 1: It was looking like they were too late and Brad
was indeed dead. But how did this happen? Did he
fall down the stairs or was there a struggle?
Speaker 4: What is his name?
Speaker 5: Brad McGary? Brad McGary?
Speaker 4: Oh, Nora McGary.
Speaker 5: Okay is that your husband? My lessons? Freaking out?
Speaker 8: Yea sister?
Speaker 5: Okay, okay, all right? Oh yes, oh my god?
Speaker 4: Run wound in the back of his head.
Speaker 5: He has a gunshot wound. Okay, scary sharing grow up, Sherry, Oh, Sherry,
I need you to calm down. Is there a gun
near him? Okay? Ask your husband if he saw a
gun lying on the floor. No, do see one. You
don't see a gun. No, I don't see a gun. Okay,
all right. I need you guys listen. I need you
and your husband to back out of the residence and
wait outside for the officers.
Speaker 2: Do you hear me?
Speaker 9: All right?
Speaker 5: Okay, stay outside. You both of them need to go
wait outside, we're outside. Okay.
Speaker 1: There were a lot of unanswered questions. Apparently Brad knew
they were going to stop by, and David's spoke with
him on that very day, but then he didn't answer
his phone, so the Kinneys were already on alert. Brad
was good at communicating, and it just wasn't like him
to ignore calls.
Speaker 5: Okay, I know you're upset, and I know this. This
is a horrible, horrible thing. Okay, I need to try
to calm down for me. Okay, Now, when was the
last time you guys spoke with him? When was the
last time you guys spoke with him? It was the
last time he talked to him, DJ.
Speaker 4: She talked him earlier.
Speaker 5: She went to a wedding over the weekend. He was
wanted lead up from his mom. He talked to him,
didn't care. That was today, Yeah, I was very weird
today and he told him that we would be coming
down and he.
Speaker 4: Could just cook down whenever.
Speaker 5: Okay, all right, do you remember what time earlier today
you spoke with him? What time was that he talked
Do you remember it's on your instead of you on
his cell phone?
Speaker 10: Okay, all I.
Speaker 5: Know is we uh, well, that's my husband and he
has his kids.
Speaker 4: Still curious of you, do you have your gun just
because Brad wasn't answered his phone and isn't Kay was
yelling and.
Speaker 5: He wasn't saying anything. Then he went to his truck.
Speaker 4: He got his not is just the case, you know,
because he was scared of himself, as it's not like Brad.
Speaker 5: Want to answer his tone. Okay, and then oh gosh,
do your husband still have his gun out her first
on his side?
Speaker 4: He has still carry just you know, carries a reflection
for her being a meaning that he wasn't answer and
the door was cracked open. We you know he got
it because he was scared of himself.
Speaker 1: Remember, kids, if you're ever at a crime scene and
you have a gun on you, let the nine one
one operator no, for the safety of everyone.
Speaker 5: Okay, the officer is out there. Okay, yeah, make sure
you tell the officer that your husband has a gun
on his side. Okay, just sorry, Okay, so we'll let
you know he hasn't a gun he'll carry but all right, thanks, okay,
my walk with the officer. Okay.
Speaker 1: As first responders secured the scene, The question wasn't how
Brad McGarry died, it was who would want him dead.
In May of twenty seventeen, Brad McGarry, a resident in
the quiet town of Balero, Ohio, was found dead in
the basement of his home, faced down, surrounded by blood,
with what appeared to be a gunshot wound to his head.
Speaker 3: Money's Ryan Aller, the chief of Investigations of the Belmont
County Sheriff's Office. I've been with the Sheriff's Office since
nineteen ninety six. I've been a detective since two.
Speaker 2: Thousand and five.
Speaker 3: You know, Brad was Brad was a coal miner. He
had a couple other careers. He seemed to be be
happy with that job. He was very well liked by
his friends and family. They say that he had a
very outgoing personality, kind of lit up in a room
he walked into, loved being the center of attention. Nobody
I talked to, Not a single soul had a sim
little bad thing to say about him, which I can't
always say about the victims that we have. One of
the things any good detective will do is they try
to get to know their victims, even if they're deceased,
and that's that's one of the most important things to do.
Try to get inside the head of your victim, try.
Speaker 2: To know them.
Speaker 3: And you know, sometimes you don't really like your victims.
Know they're not the best people in the world. But
you know, I think I would have liked Brad.
Speaker 1: It was his friend David Kinney and his wife Sherry
who made the discovery. As detectives started to dig deeper,
they uncovered parts of Brad's life that no one had
talked about and people who might have wanted him gone.
One of the first leads that came in was from
a local cab driver. He told police that a woman
he knew named Courtney had asked him for a ride
to Wagner Avenue. Her plan, she said, was to rob
a man she claimed had contacted her through a Craigslist
modeling ad. According to this guy, the man was going
to give her five hundred dollars for nude pictures of her,
but the deal changed when he added that he'd like
to see the pictures of her three year old child
as well. Courtney saved his number in her phone under
the name Baby Raper. She told the cab driver the
man was sick and that he deserved whatever was coming.
It was the kind of lead investigators just couldn't ignore.
But when they interviewed her further, Courtney said she didn't
go through with it. The cab driver said he refused
a drive her because he'd been drinking that night. She
said she deleted the messages, but she gave the police
the man's phone number, and when they traced the number,
it led them right back to bel Air, close enough
that police had to wonder was Bradan Gary living a
life no one knew about, was he indeed the baby
raper on her phone? Or were they just chasing the
wrong lead entirely. Detectives started digging and discovered that Brad
would probably be the last person who would ask for
naked pictures. Courtney's story fell apart. Two phone numbers didn't match,
she gave the wrong street, and she was just kind
of a sketchy witness all around. With that lead fading fast,
detectives turned to the people who knew Brad best, starting
with Brad and Sherry. When was the last time they
saw Brad? Well, it was just a day before a Saturday.
Speaker 2: What did you guys do any good at there?
Speaker 7: Uh?
Speaker 11: Brad made pizza who we all had some pizza, went
down in the basement, was talking about the two spare
rooms in the back.
Speaker 2: He was playing on.
Speaker 11: We tore all the drywall the one room, filed a
bunch of stuff up there there, and we were talking
about how to dry locket and you know, start getting
stuff done. Because he had a company, he wanted to
come in to put rug down and stuff. And I'm
out down there and he asked about that. Come upstairs,
played with the dogs.
Speaker 2: You know, my son and I just we just hung
me out, the normal thing you can do at your
buddy's house. You should hang out there a lot. He
goes with me. What's he doing while you're there?
Speaker 11: He usually just hangs out with us. Okay, I got
a house full of girls. He's the only boys, so
a lot of times it's Adad can.
Speaker 2: I go U.
Speaker 1: That was Saturday, May sixth. They hung out and then
Brad took off for a wedding that evening. When it
was over, he stayed with his family overnight and he
called David just to check in.
Speaker 11: He called me when he got back to his mom's
house and we just he asked about the wedding, and
then he called me the next day.
Speaker 2: Did he stay in his mom's house, yes, yes, or
his grandmom's or his grandmother's house. I'm not sure which
house he stayed at. Now we're a Sunday right, Yes.
Speaker 1: On Sunday, the day of Brad's murder, Brad was excited
to get home. The Kennies had told him they'd be
bringing him a gift.
Speaker 2: So that was out running around.
Speaker 11: Me and my wife did our normal Sunday thing throughout
the day and had lunch. He texted me again, hey
or hello. I texted hey, he said, don't creat my surprise.
I said, we'll be bringing it out.
Speaker 2: When was that probably? Well, he texted me.
Speaker 11: I would say it was probably on some one something,
and I didn't get right back to him right away.
I think by the time I actually got back and
texted him back, it was like three o'clock wherever three
or something like that. I told him we'll be bringing
it out. I told him, you know, stalk by drive
by earlier. I wents home, call me whenever you get home,
and we'll come out.
Speaker 2: Where were eating away fat Sunday afternoon Chinese rest, get
some lunch after young out at the house. What change
your instrument. You guys close the Studentville. Yeah, I'll try
to get the geography. Yes, like I said, fifteen minutes
a well, but just doing once we're like fifteen minutes
out to Studentville.
Speaker 1: She and David had breakfast with the kids, then ran
a quick errand to stop and pick up hair dye
at Sally's Beauty in Steubenville. Stupen am, I saying that right,
who cares? It's Ohio. Anyway. They came home and shortly
after David said he had to go help a friend
whose car had broken down, and he wanted to stop
by Rural King, a farm supply store, just to look around.
Then David brought up the weed trimmer.
Speaker 2: And then I talked to a friend of mine.
Speaker 11: And then I went and I went and was gonna
go a Rural King, look at some trailers, get a truck.
Speaker 2: I did a little bit of running. Did you go there? Yeah? Did,
as did my run. And I wanted to do see
you drove from your home and brilliant to Rule King.
Guess there's your wife with you? No, sir, okay. And
this was probably about one maybe nott quarter till two okay,
and left see back home by you went back to Brilliant.
Speaker 11: Yeah, I was back home. I think it was like three.
I was back home about three o'clock.
Speaker 1: When David got back home, his wife was dyeing her hair.
They decided to drive back over to Brad's, thinking he'd
be home from the wedding by then. His daughter wanted
to go with them because Brad's dog had a litter
of puppies if she hadn't seen, and Cherry wanted Brad
to see her new hair color. Why you ask, would
a male family friend be interested in her hair?
Speaker 2: Oh?
Speaker 1: Well, that's easy. You see, despite the fact that he
now worked in a mine, he had a job before that,
he was a hairdresser. And yes, Brad was gay. Since
the Kinneys knew this and the detective was asking about
Brad's relationships, David had this to say, I can't.
Speaker 2: Tell you of one person I know that Brad would
call on a basis to who said.
Speaker 4: Uh uh.
Speaker 12: Uh, Richard, Richie, like a fuck buddy or a boyfriend.
Speaker 10: I think it was more along the lines of just
a fucking buddy, okay, and that's who he was with recently.
Speaker 2: I don't know if he's with him recently. I just
know that they would. Brad would call him what he
wanted him to come over? Were you over there when
he came over? I think I was there once when
he came by.
Speaker 6: It what he looked like, uh, medium, highs athletic note,
some tattoos.
Speaker 1: And then there was a young guy named Scotty. Friends
and family described Scotty as Brad's X, someone he was
involved with not long before the murder. According to them,
it didn't end well. Scotty had a drug problem and
legal issues and Brad didn't need that in his life.
Scotty wasn't happy when they broke up and even made
some veiled threats. It looked like detectives might have found
their suspect, but when they tracked Scotty down, he was
already in jail, locked up for a probation violation, and
that's where he was for the whole weekend of murder.
Whatever happened to Brad, it wasn't Scottie. The more detectives
questioned David, the more they found out about Brad and
his relationships. Investigators had already spoken with Brad's friends and family,
and they all hinted at yet another romantic involvement. Someone
Brad talked incessantly about during the weekend of the wedding,
But David didn't seem to be aware of this person,
or at least he didn't let on that he knew.
Speaker 2: How long have you known Brad?
Speaker 11: Oh?
Speaker 2: My eight years?
Speaker 5: My daughter was.
Speaker 2: Two when we first met. Where'd you mean, Brad? Coal
mining classes? We carpooled. Would you say you were his
best friend? Yes? Or you got real close with our families,
got real close. We did days and gatherings and everything together.
Your wife too. You can't remember for like what Christmas
until Christmas? Thanksgiving? He certainly did the same with him.
What's your kids going, uncle, Brad?
Speaker 1: This was a breaking point for David. His kids called
Brad uncle. He was part of the family, and he
was David's best friend. The numbness was wearing off for
David now, and the realization was setting in that Brad
was gone forever.
Speaker 2: Whatever it okay, I've just been trying to okay, all right,
take some deep breath.
Speaker 1: The detective and obviously people cry before, but it seemed
like David had been holding a whole lot of tears
back for some reason. He was a big lumberjack looking
guy at least six feet tall, but in the police station,
he was reduced to the sobs of a child over
the loss of his best friend.
Speaker 2: Guys are pretty close for you.
Speaker 5: Yes, sir?
Speaker 6: What uh?
Speaker 2: How close?
Speaker 4: Who are you?
Speaker 2: And Brad? Very close? How close? Who are you? Guys?
We're very close. I'm very best friend.
Speaker 1: Have you ever lost a best friend? I'm sure it's
really hard, but being best friends with someone and being
really close to them are two kind of very different things.
Speaker 2: David, you should be here's your stuff on your fence?
Little questionable? Yes, kind of sounds like you and Brad
were boyfriend boyfriend? Oh no, sir, remember boyfriend and boyfriend.
It was kind of shocked us. You guys have sex together.
Speaker 11: There's a few times in the past where you know,
he's attempted a lot, and we've kind of moved around
a little bit in the past.
Speaker 1: But was it okay? David was married with kids, a wife,
and a life built around routine and appearances. Brad was
his best friend. According to detectives, that part didn't matter.
This wasn't about judgment, It was about honesty.
Speaker 2: He being one of the ball.
Speaker 13: This is.
Speaker 2: Between us. Yes, there's some stuff on your thing. Anybody
know about you guys?
Speaker 11: Uh, my wife doesn't that food around for I mean
that was When was the last time he gets food around?
Speaker 2: It's been a while, it hasn't been recently. I know
what's on your phone? The guy the video he took
the guys have his SAgs? Is that Brad you or video?
I'm the the machinery uses.
Speaker 11: Sir, I understand he brings all to the devices instead
of the suck a whole food out there stuff he deleted.
Speaker 2: Yes, sir, I understand. So texting messages too, Yes, sir,
I understand.
Speaker 1: The text messages paint a picture of a whole lot
more than friendship. Put it that way, it was a
very deep, deep friendship, if you catch my drift. They
were fucking basically. Not only did David try to minimize
the activities and their relationship, but he also denied that
these activities were sex.
Speaker 2: When's the last time you had sex with him? We
never had sex. We would just cool around, movie to
there's like sung each other, hul jerk and jerky. What
I mean, I didn't you know? I didn't. I never
had a bad look job. It's are you ashamed about?
Are you ashamed about?
Speaker 6: It, But what.
Speaker 2: Does it do? What does it know? Was was bradon
love what you? David? I couldn't tell you that he
was in love with you.
Speaker 11: I mean we did the whole all right, but love me,
I love you too, kind of thing like you could
ask my son when we left Saturday.
Speaker 1: So they told each other casually, love you, Bud. I
don't know, but maybe that's what bros do in twenty seventeen.
I'm really not sure. I'm really too old for that.
But all the other stuff I'll tell you right now,
that's not something bros too. Pretty sure, pretty sure about
that one. The next question the detective asked was even
more personal and would be an essential part of the investigation.
Speaker 2: He said, us can him in his trash can?
Speaker 8: That's going to laugh, Hey said, I don't feel in
your DNA's going to be on that condom all this?
Speaker 2: So sure, yes, sir, never so.
Speaker 1: Brad and David may have been fooling around, to put
it lightly, but DNA analysis confirmed he was telling the truth.
The contents of the condoms were someone else's, maybe Richie,
a guy Brad would call sometimes for company, And it
wasn't like Brad was slotting around in fact, he didn't
want another boyfriend. He wanted David, but David asked him
to find boyfriends from time to time, almost like decoys,
to keep people from knowing about the two of them.
So the police would check into this Richie lead and
anyone else who might have been there recently. But for now,
the detectives would squeeze as much as they could out
of David.
Speaker 2: How many times, for how long it was oftome home?
For a long time. It was just kind of like
a do you hear tell you had feelings for you?
Speaker 11: It was a while back he came out and you
know it was me and my wife births, Me and
my wife he come out to.
Speaker 2: At one point in time, I did have feelings where
they said, I understand that you're marrying your kids. And
my wife was part of that whole Does she does
she know? You guys ever did anything together? What was
the last time you guys didn't do anything together? Oh,
it's been a little while.
Speaker 1: When asked to clarify, it turns out that a little
means a few weeks, if you believe them, that is.
And when asked the burning question, David said that one
thing was off limits at least that's what he said.
Then again, he lied a lot to his wife and kid,
to everyone.
Speaker 2: Actually never had any that the one thing that was
kind of big. He tried to get me an eye,
totally want to. He tried to, yesked to do him
in the butt. He just asked me to.
Speaker 9: To have sex.
Speaker 2: You that point. No, never, sir, okay, Well, so you
sure it's not your DNA on that cold sir? I
mean you didn't realize that it is or it isn't.
Speaker 1: The detective was good at making David relax, probably not
as good as Brad was, but I digress. He needed
all the information to get to the bottom of what
was becoming a mystery. No detail was untouchable, as personal
and as explicit as it might be. But there was
one thing that David was particularly concerned about his wife
finding out. And this was odd because all of Brad's
friends seemed to think she already knew about her husband's
affair with him.
Speaker 8: But I don't know who one have told you that
she knows four different people unrelated, No, sir, I told
damn no, sir, will do this, sir.
Speaker 2: Brad lost all that weight because he wanted to keep
you no, sir, my wife has no idea about business,
the gentle labor.
Speaker 11: No, sir, he's even told me before, like I understand,
you're not going to leave your wife and kids.
Speaker 1: This interview made soap operas seem boring. So Brad is
in love with David and David is married to a
woman with kids. David and Brad are best friends, though,
and David appreciates the friendship as well as the favors
Brad does for him. Cookouts, holidays and barbecues, a little
smoke and a lot of heat. But the interrogation room
was a pressure cooker and the detective was about to
crank it up to eleven. David was brought in as
a witness, but he was starting to look like something else.
Speaker 2: You got this wall.
Speaker 10: Oh that's not my hand on that guy's ass having
sex a thing? But look, is there some other ado
with your tattoo? No, sir, he showed me that picture. Yeah,
I wish you would I picture of it.
Speaker 2: He's coming. I'll show you. It's you. Oh my god,
you know that's good. It's but it's you. I mean
he's took a making the ship. Oh, no, sir, but
I've never taken any pictures. I mean he's having sex
with something. If I have pictures on my phone, me
fucking my wife.
Speaker 1: David was telling the truth about that. The picture of
the detective was describing happened to be a picture of
David having sex with his wife. Not a man easy
to mistake, I guess, depending on the ankle yikes. So far,
David hadn't confessed. The killer may have been someone else,
but David still had some explaining to do, and it
was complicated when he had so much more to hide.
Speaker 2: See he drew buys.
Speaker 11: How she didn't stop, Sir, I drove by his house
and he was not on my player and it's in
my phone.
Speaker 2: Sir, listen, drew while he wasn't who how long were
you there? I wasn't there that long? How long I could?
Speaker 5: I don't know.
Speaker 2: This is oh my, you're telling me just drew by?
Did you stop? I drew by the house. I pulled
it off. He was not who. We're talking seconds, minutes,
a couple of minutes, that's it. I was. I even
sat there on my phone. I sat there on my phone.
Speaker 1: David said this occurred after he went to Rural King.
He stopped by Brad's waited around for a few minutes
and then went home.
Speaker 7: You guys really too, David Kevin, Yeah, I was really
think seriously.
Speaker 2: I'm not going to tell you that. Tell you, David,
look at me. I'm tell you. I know I know
something to do with What else could it be?
Speaker 7: Yes, sir, I understand it.
Speaker 2: It's once. I've known the man eight years right now,
they're GPS, GPS in your whole day, eight years? How
long you were at that house? Entertain right now it's
your chance to get in front of this. Yes, sir,
you're not the type of guy that would do something
like it.
Speaker 4: No, sir, I would not.
Speaker 2: Your There's got to be something to it.
Speaker 4: I got to be a reason.
Speaker 5: Oh my god, this would not do this.
Speaker 2: You're a father, yes, sir, you're a husband. Yes, sir,
you could get in front of this. Tell me what
happened for I gotta put it together. Oh my god,
we got it all. It's on the phone. I know, sir,
we're there, we know exactly when he was killed. Yes, sir,
I know you were there when he was killed. No, sir,
I wasn't at his house when that man was murdered. Sir,
I can't. This is the kind of gets people in trouble.
Oh my god, I know had to get with it, sir,
What do you want me?
Speaker 1: I'll tell you anyway.
Speaker 5: I don't know what happened.
Speaker 11: Oh my god, there's nothing I'm.
Speaker 5: Not telling you.
Speaker 2: I didn't want to kill bred. I didn't kill bad
Oh my god. No, school.
Speaker 1: I don't know about the rest of you, fellow CIS
males out there, but listening to mister Mackie here wail uncontrollably,
is a little uncomfortable. Either David was hiding something huge
or he was the killer. By the way, what are
the awards soap operas give out the daytime Emmys? David
gets a daytime emmy. Remember how a minute ago he said,
I'll tell you everything. He was just about to do that.
Speaker 2: But what I saw her, what I read, what I've
been trained to read. What I saw, what I believe.
Speaker 8: There's somebody panicked and opened all the drawers in the
house to make it look like something, and it was
like shit, shit, shitchit.
Speaker 2: What do I do, sir?
Speaker 8: But it only you look me straight eye you, and
I won't tell you if you had anything to do
with Brad's death.
Speaker 2: We will bring you.
Speaker 4: To you, I know.
Speaker 8: So listen to me now, and listen to me cood
like you never listen to anybody in your whole life.
Speaker 2: You understand. Yes, I probably won't get a little grief
over this, but I I got a theory. I think
it might have been an accident.
Speaker 1: David is unraveling, but even now he denies that he
killed Brad. Instead, he starts to talk about that day,
and now it sounds like maybe there's more to this
than anyone realized.
Speaker 2: Brad called me. He wanted me to meet up with
him at his house before you and the wife and
kids came out. Great. So I went to his house
and I sat there and I waited on him, and
I waited on and he shows up. He had another
guy with him. I don't know who he was. I
don't know his name. I swear it on everything right now.
What happened?
Speaker 11: He was to get out of the car I been
walking over bratsipt Brood, unload the back of his BMW,
And what happened.
Speaker 2: This is the hor report, isn't it.
Speaker 6: David?
Speaker 5: Let go?
Speaker 2: I can't look at me. Let it go. Let it
off that chest. You'll feel better. I guarantee you God.
Speaker 5: You heard a good shot you.
Speaker 2: And what happened? I wanted one call.
Speaker 13: Like I came running out of the garage, Okay, did
you get the Brad's BMW okay?
Speaker 2: And then I left, Oh, okay, okay, it's okay. He
knew what I look like. He my vehicle was there.
Speaker 5: I did not know what to do.
Speaker 1: At one point after Detective alar here's about the third person.
He turns, starts the camera and makes a what the
fuck kind of face.
Speaker 3: So one of the first stories he gave me was, oh,
well I was there and this mysterious person was with
Brad and I heard a gun shot, so I left,
and I'm like, okay, well, David has said, so you
hear gunshot your dear friends inside, you think something's going on,
so you leave, you go home, you get your wife
and kid and come back.
Speaker 2: And he's like, uh, well, this is what happened.
Speaker 3: So then he's like, well, I was in the basement
and this guy who got out of Brad's car and
you know, uh, he just went crazy and he shot
Brad and he put a gun to my head and
told me if I said anything, I'm next. I'm like Okay,
so you go home, you leave there this mysterious one
arm man and he didn't really have one arm in
the story. That's a that's a reference to the fugitive.
I said, so, he says, say so, so this guy
kills Brad, tells him he's going to kill.
Speaker 4: You, and you leave.
Speaker 3: He's like, yeah, I said, so you go home and
get your family and come back to find Brad's body. Why.
Speaker 1: It was still possible that David had just been a bystander,
but with every new detail that was less and less likely.
Speaker 5: So Wi God, I kept saying, I need to hola copster,
you need to call you need to cola comps.
Speaker 2: I didn't know what happened.
Speaker 14: Okay you're telling me now, oh I go.
Speaker 2: Do you know why this guy shot? Sir? What Brad saying?
Speaker 1: It was time to call David out on his bullshit?
Speaker 4: Listen this on.
Speaker 2: Now we got a what our manage shows up?
Speaker 7: To My God, the evidenced this guy wasn't there.
Speaker 2: There was where did he go? Did he fly else?
What else would I have got to shove?
Speaker 1: No, Sir, I swear to God, Sir, I swear to God.
Speaker 2: Glafi because you gotta get struck a light.
Speaker 7: Oh my god, this is all that I'm from there
on me now because you did it, Sir, I did.
Speaker 2: Not killed my friend, David. Listen, I like I told
John's all with you there for a while, Sir, I
did not kill my best friend. You cannsult me.
Speaker 5: I did not.
Speaker 2: I'm killing him, Sir. I don't know what your wife, no, sir? Sure, yes, sir,
I'm gonna goad to go ask her. No, sir, that's fine.
Speaker 1: The detective was using every tactic he had, and still
David insisted that he wasn't Brad's killer.
Speaker 2: I mean, list love with each other, you guys having
a beer at a bar? What the fuck? What the fuck?
Speaker 1: Indeed, I mean you can do whatever you want, and
I hope you uh have the right to do whatever
you want and all of the rights that everyone else has,
of course, but uh still you right Next, he points
out that the chief of police lives on Brad Street
and happens to have cameras everywhere. He tells Brad that
if he pulls out that footage, he's pretty sure he'll
see you. BMW pull into the driveway and Brad will
be in it. But the seat next to him will
be empty. He had just given David numerous opportunities to
be truthful, his life actually depended on it, but David
just wouldn't be straight with him. Pun intended.
Speaker 2: I'm not talking because I like to hear me talk.
I mean, this is a serious, God your shit. You
got to see that, the things you.
Speaker 10: Keep telling me, and listen, I'm at the point out
I don't think that you're telling me this.
Speaker 2: Stuff because you care about what I think. I'm gonna
tell you something I still don't hook. You're not an ask.
I'm thinking you can't admit it to yourself what happened because.
Speaker 8: You immediately made up this grand of your story right away,
and you believed it. You believed it, You made yourself
believe it because you can't live with yourself about what happened.
Speaker 2: It seems your best friend, he loved him. He was
more than your friend. He was your heart. Wasn't he
and Brad loved each other?
Speaker 8: But you love you was in my heart. You love
this man, and there's no shame in it. You understand,
there ain't no shame in loving somebody, no matter what
color they are. They got a dig or three bussies
he doesn't matter.
Speaker 2: You love them, You love them.
Speaker 1: Those are some pearls of wisdom right there. Finally, it
seemed like David was ready to confront himself and tell
the detectives what actually happened.
Speaker 2: Tell me what happened. He's probably me and Brad. We
were really close. I love him, not like I do
my wife.
Speaker 9: You know what I mean.
Speaker 2: But I know I love him. What I want you
to know for I didn't shoot him. To New show,
I did not shoot him. Tell me what happened. Somebody
did shoot Tell me what happened.
Speaker 1: David tells them that while he's at Brad's, a man
he doesn't know comes into the place and starts an argument,
and Brad accuses him of taking money. It turns violent.
Speaker 2: Because I said, I'm gonna run this full shit down.
You can say no more. Tell me, sir, what's like?
Shoot him? I can't bring myself to shoot anybody.
Speaker 11: Okay, there's a big fucking argument between whose dick is
bigger and the money?
Speaker 2: Okay with is this guy real? Yes, sir, Yes, sir,
that guy is real. He and Brad have argued about
it before.
Speaker 1: I'm assuming he means that he and Brad argued about
this guy before. I wonder what they argued about. Not sure.
In any case, it was another false lead. The detective
was again sure that footage would show only two people
on three pot fifty eight Wagner Avenue that day, Brad
and David. This was a personal issue between the two
of them, and Detective Alaar had a theory it involved
stolen money, which was one of the few truths in
David's story.
Speaker 2: This is a fucking TV movie of the ship stuff here. Listen,
I'm worry. Here's what I think happened. Anything did this
guy here that you're coming up with and creating. Okay,
I'm thinking this is your putting all your guilt into
this guy because you can't live with yourself of what happened.
Speaker 8: Brad's met at this guy, and you're met at this
guy for stealing Brad's money. Brad eccues to you stealing
this money if you neither didn't, it's irrelevant what Brad.
Speaker 2: Excues to you taking your money. You were so upset
that demanding love thought you excuse to you and he's dead.
Speaker 8: You totally don't all your guilt and your accountability into
this dude.
Speaker 2: It doesn't exist. Okay, that's some crazy ship man. I
never seen anybody so upset or similar cells that they
went to this extreme.
Speaker 1: This was yet another lie, and there was still one
lie left, this one David hadn't said out loud, not
yet anyway. Two men in Ohio. David is straight, allegedly
married and has children, and his best friend Brad is gay.
Somewhere along the way, their friendship crosses a line into
a sexual affair. All of Brad's friends know this Dj,
this man Brad is in love with. But is David
in love with Brad? This may never be known. He
claims he loves him, but not like he loves his wife.
They all say David's wife is onto the whole thing,
but David insists she knows nothing other than David confessing
to her that Brad has told him how he feels
about him. But hey, honey, no worries. He tells her,
I'm not going anywhere and there's nothing going on between us.
Winky face, winky face. Now Brad is dead and it's
looking very much like David is the killer. At the
very least, he was present during the time of the murder,
so he's either guilty of being an accomplice since he
waited to call police, or he's just all the way around.
In any case, he knew Brad was lying face down
in a pool of blood, dead of gunshot wounds to
his head in his basement. And what does David do.
He takes his wife and younger daughter to the house,
pretending he doesn't know any of this. He subjects his
young daughter to the trauma of seeing dead uncle Brad.
But after all the stories and all the lies, Detective
of Laar was closing in and David was about to
reveal the final version of his truth.
Speaker 14: He took your own daughter past the body the man
he knew he was dead. And maybe I don't know
if your waves evolved with her or not yet. Okay,
we're gonna find out. We're gonna find this out very shortly.
Do you understand to what You're gonna look in the
eye and tell you. Listen, if I had to tell
her about you and Brad or on iron, she already knows.
That's what I kept being told today.
Speaker 2: And listen, people that I'm talking to, nine team's talking.
Speaker 12: To they don't know each other. Yes, okay, it's like
Brad's friend from when he was a hairdresser, and he
worked at a gyms lawn. That doesn't know Brad's cousin
who came in from Florida.
Speaker 2: Who talk to Brad about all the problems he's having
with you at the wedding.
Speaker 14: Okay, and wait for it, Brad abruptly leaves his dinner
with his family, saying he's going to meet Guess.
Speaker 2: Who who's he going to meet.
Speaker 8: He's not going to pick up another dude to bring
to your house, he says, he's going to meet with
you because he wants.
Speaker 2: To have sex with you.
Speaker 1: You heard Detective of Law ask if David's wife, Sherry
was involved. That brings in a whole new layer of suspicion,
though she was never brought in as a suspect. There
could only be one reason she would know about this
and go along with her husband having a gay affair.
The reason is the same reason people have been doing
shady things for millennia. Do I have to spell it out?
Speaker 2: Yeah?
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, it's money. It's money, the root of all evil.
You know all that. Apparently Brad paid for all kinds
of things for the Kenney family, not just for David.
He provided elaborate birthday parties for the kids, bought them
household gifts, took them out to eat a lot and
get this.
Speaker 3: So one of the things you found out was that,
you know, Brad was essentially a part of David's family.
The kids called him Uncle Brad. He paid for a
lot of things for the Kennis vacations, birthday parties, things
of that nature. Both Sherry and David told us that
they were getting ready to go on a cruise together,
all of them together, which you think, you know, you're
going on a cruise with your wife and your your lover.
At the same time, that made us kind of wonder
about Sherry, you know, did she know this was going on?
Speaker 1: So, while Sherry's involvement is unconfirmed this day, that gun
is smoking. Speaking of guns, it definitely did not go
down the way Brad described. That was his last lie,
trying to say that Brad was waving it at him
and he felt threatened, so he took the gun from him.
But then what the threat is gone? Right, no more
gun pointing at him? So why shoot him? Not once
but twice?
Speaker 13: Was like our situation him, I love my wife and
kids to death. You love Brad too, I did I mean,
we're tight, man, real tight. Sometimes you think about the
being a white friend. Okay, I told him numerous times.
Then I'm not gonna leave my wife. May come to.
Speaker 2: The conclusion that he understood. Okay, but uh, I told him.
I said, it seems we're gonna have to start to stop.
No doubt.
Speaker 1: It was hard, as David put it, but self defense
was out of the question. He tried to allege that
Brad was slapping him around before pointing the gun in
his direction. Keep in mind that Brad was about a
foot shorter than David, and not only was David a
big guy, a bear, you might say, it was also
rugged and muscular. Unlike Brad. All he had to do
was walk out of the house.
Speaker 11: He told me, he said, if you end all of
this now, then I'm done with you forever.
Speaker 2: He said, that's it.
Speaker 11: I said, you know, we can't just drop each other
like his. You're my best friend, your best friend. This
one said, leave your wife. He said, this is being
going on for too long. Lead your wife.
Speaker 2: I told him. I said, I'm done. I'm not doing
this more.
Speaker 6: I'm done.
Speaker 1: David claimed that Brad was guilt tripping him and accusing
him of playing with his emotions that he couldn't believe
he wouldn't leave his wife. David claimed he never said
anything different than that, and Brad always knew. Maybe parts
of this version were true. Maybe David was the man
arguing with Brad. Brad wanted him to leave his wife,
but David refused, and rather than split up and risk
their relationship being out it, he shot him in the head.
It's also possible that David was milking Brad for everything
he had, including stealing money from him. Someone had stolen money,
but the culprit was never proven, and maybe Brad finally
called him out on his thievery.
Speaker 2: Why you shoot him? He's coming at me with his gun?
Speaker 6: Man?
Speaker 1: What ill thought?
Speaker 2: You said? You took his gun from him? I did
so he had another gun. Call you take his gun
from him? Soon, he said, he shot him. Just then
tell me why he shot him. I felt threatened.
Speaker 1: I'm not gonna lie to you, he claimed, I'm not
gonna lie to you. Not only did David sit there
for hours and hours, telling one lie after another, but
his whole life was a lie. His whole marriage was
tainted with lies. If he felt threatened, it was because
he was scared he couldn't have his way, scared his
wife would leave him, or scared of admitting that maybe
he was actually gay.
Speaker 2: Gasp.
Speaker 1: I don't know if you know it or not, but
it's twenty twenty five. Nobody gives a shit. Do whatever
you want. If you just don't lie to your family
and make them live a whole lie that they don't
even know about, you know, be a decent human being.
Detective of Lar promised David he'd let him know if
he had to tell his wife about the affair, assuming
she didn't already know. Well, that time had come. It
was time to tell his wife, my dall's going on.
Speaker 9: I need to know that you have in my back
and then everything I'm going to use the truth from here, okay.
Speaker 2: And I love you and the kids, and don't I
want you to be there for me, okay.
Speaker 5: I had another gun.
Speaker 2: At the house. He had a twenty two there, and
you're I went to Brad's house to meet up with
the matter the wedding.
Speaker 9: He was flighting with me because he had some money
come up with this, and and I didn't taken Brad.
Speaker 2: I never stole money, nobody. He always gave me money
you have done to be fuck listening. Just listen to me.
Speaker 9: I went to the house and I told him, I said,
listen from here now and it's just friends, you me,
and it can't be anything more else cause Brad his.
Speaker 2: You know how Grandpa was with me. Okay, he looked,
he flipped out.
Speaker 9: Listen to me.
Speaker 2: Please just let me talk, Cherry, will you please let
me talk? He flipped out on me and he granted
the twenty two diarring chirt and he before you even
did that, he saw me around a little bit. I
tried to him, this was it. Okay, Thick, you were
kid it listen, you.
Speaker 9: Mat me with that gun. Okay, he can't back me
with that gun because I oh, he wanted me to
leave you guys, I told him. Then when he come
back me with that gun, no, no.
Speaker 2: Sherry, I was fine. Scared. I didn't know what to do.
Speaker 1: I was scared.
Speaker 2: I didn't know what to do.
Speaker 1: She knew. She knew. You can tell she may have
been lying to herself and everyone around her, but she
knew deep down. David was scared, but he wasn't scared
of Brad. He was scared of everything, but Brad. He
continued to lie repeatedly to his wife for the next
half an hour, only admitting what she probably already knew
that he and Brad had fooled around. But it had
been a while, he said, since they had. The only
real question she had for David was how long had
it been. She desperately wanted to know the last time
they had sex together, probably because she did know about
the affair, and David had likely made promises of stopping
before but didn't. But Sherry finally gave in and told
him she'd be there for him and to stay strong.
They embraced each other for a long hug, They kissed
several times. They told each other they loved each other,
and David went to jail.
Speaker 3: You know, I've had harder trials, but it was a
rough trial. We thought we had. You know, still think
we had a really good case, but you never know.
They never know what a jury's going to do. But
at the end of the day, you know, you present
a good case, you get a good result. And this
was a good case. I mean, everybody played by the rules,
colored in the lines. There was nothing out there that
we were worried about. I think David thought that his
self defense story would win the day, but it was
just so ridiculous that no one bought it. I know
one thing that that was talked about or prosecutor deciding
to charge David with aggravated We believed that's what it was.
But could we prove prior calculation and design? Can we
prove that he went there with the attention to kill?
There was a lot of evidence support that, but that
was definitely a hot topic issue with the trial and
defence counsel, who did an excellent job, really tried to
keep that from happening. But you know, the evidence won
the day and he was convicted on everything we cheme went.
Speaker 1: Finally we get to the truth of what actually happened.
Here it is Brad was shot twice in the back
of the head. The first bullet entered near the crown
at a downward angle, as if he were turning or crouching.
He would have left after this one. The second one
hit lower, driving forward into a skull. He never saw
it coming. Brad was found face down in the basement,
lying in his blood near his hot up. There were
bruises on his face. His phone was still in his pocket.
Nothing in the house had been stolen, but the drawers
were open, like someone had tried to make it look
that way. David Kenny would claim it was self defense
and that Brad had confronted him, things had gotten heated
and he pulled the trigger out of fear, but the
evidence suggested a very different story. There were zero signs
of a struggle, no defensive wounds, just two bullets to
the back of the head, and David had brought the
gun with him that day. To anyone's best guess, Brad
didn't even own a darringer.
Speaker 3: So mean, the only other thing about the scene that
we had was that basement was very cluttered, and we
knew at the time we were dealing with a small caliber,
but we didn't know how small. But typically laws of averages,
when you're dealing with a small caliber is probably going
to be a twenty two. So we're looking for showcasings
and I think for the next week we searched that basement.
At one point we actually took everything out of that basement,
every thing, every box, everything, period and look for showcasings.
Never found any. So typically that'll tell us that you're
probably dealing with a revolver or someone found the showcasings
and picked him up. One of David's many stories was
that he took Brad's derringer off of AIM, which is
a revolver or a contained weapon depending on the model
and where the casings stay in the weapon after they're fired,
and that's what he shot him with. But I, you know,
I just don't know. I know, I believe that that
David took a weapon there to kill Brad. You know,
it was his plan to kill him. I mean, I
think that the evidence supports that most definitely. So we
don't know what kind of gun it was, just it
was a twenty two, not for sure to detectives.
Speaker 1: It wasn't panic, it was fear. It was a plan.
David claimed he chucked the gun in a certain location
along the highway, but it was never found. We asked
Detective of Lar for his take on David's character.
Speaker 3: I think there's a little bit of monster in everybody,
and some are worse than others. And you know, like
I said before, I understand, you know, I know I've
been There's been several times in my life where if
things blew a different way, I might have been capable
of murder. I think everybody if they're honest with theirselves,
they can they can agree with that. And you know,
it's the fact that you got to you gotta tame
your own monster, you know, and you get to that point,
you know, you can either be a decent human being
and you let the monster win. And in this case,
you know, David Kenny, you let the monster win.
Speaker 1: David Kinney, the Flaming Queen, was convicted of aggravated murder
and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole,
plus three years for the firearm. His wife was cleared
of any involvement with the murder. For a time, it
appears she stayed by his side. They were still married
for several years after his conviction, but by twenty twenty
four her life had taken a different turn. Public posts
suggested she eventually remarried, quietly moving on from the man
at the center of one of Ohio's most intimate betrayals.
There's no public word on how her children have coped,
either by the loss of their dad or uncle Brad,
but one can only hope they've had support and counseling
needed to navigate away from something so ugly. This wasn't
just a story about murder. It was a story about betrayal.
It was about trust fractured across every layer of small
town life. It was about the damage that a secret
can do to a family when it's fed, protected, and
finally exposed. That does it for another one. Go check
out our merch store now that the holidays are coming up,
and if you like what we do here, you can
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