As a crime writer I get notifications about cold cases every day. Most are solved by DNA and there isn’t anything interesting after awhile. This case caught my eye, however. If this guy hadn’t chewed on his cup they wouldn’t have caught him!
On the morning of February 26, 2024, Rebekah Byler said goodbye to her husband and began to do her laundry. Her two toddlers were home with her, and life seemed typical for a 23-year-old Amish woman. Today, death would storm through her living room and attack her viciously without cause.
Andy Byler returned home midday to find his wife’s lifeless body lying in a pool of blood on the front room floor. The driver who had been with him called 911. The two toddlers with Rebekah were unharmed – physically. The oldest would later tell police about the tennis shoes the killer was wearing. No one can imagine the horror those two children witnessed.
Six days later, law enforcement arrested Shawn Cranston. He lived eight miles away but was familiar with the family. He had driven for them a couple of times. Witnesses saw a red jeep in the driveway on the day of the murder. Cranston owned a red jeep, and the tire treads matched the marks left on the Byler driveway.
Cranston had shown up on the property twice in the weeks before the slaying. Each time was a little odd. Once, Mr. Byler found him in the barn one night around 10 o’clock. When questioned, Cranston said he was looking around because he wanted to buy the property.
Three weeks before the murder, he showed up again dressed in black from head to toe and had a gun holstered on his hip. This time, he made up some excuse for wanting to go to their church with them sometime. Of course, he never showed up for the services.
What could cause a 52 grandfather to slaughter a young pregnant woman? She was shot in the head, her throat slashed, and reports say it looked like the murderer tried to scalp the poor woman.
Currently, Cranston is in custody and awaiting trial, but we may never find his motive. In the meantime, keep this family in your thoughts and prayers. Those poor babies are going to need supernatural support to survive this ordeal.
Youtube has started restricting my videos because of their true crime content. This hinders my channel’s monetization, sure, but more importantly it makes it hard to get these stories the publicity they need. Please consider following me on Rumble to help avoid these issues and to raise awareness about these unsolved cases.
If you enjoy this content don’t forget to sign up for The Racketeer, Synova’s Weekly True Crime Newsletter. You will receive exclusive content directly in your inbox. As a gift for joining you will also receive the Grim Justice e-book free.
Each week Synova highlights obscure cold cases on her blog as a victim’s advocate. She never charges for her services. If you’d like to help support Synova in this worthy cause please check out the affiliate links below. By purchasing one of her books or using these links, you will be supporting Synova’s work on cold cases and will ensure her ability to continue to give a voice to the victim’s family. Thank you.
Follow the heart-rending cases Synova first wrote about on her blog in 2018. Filled with missing persons’ cases, unsolved homicides, and even serial killer cases, this book will give you a greater insight into the shattered lives behind every story. Cases Included in this book: Jayme Closs, Haley Owens, Josh Robinson, Timothy Cunningham, Carol Blades, Pam Hupp, Arthur Ream, Angela Hammond, The Springfield Three, Jennifer Harris, Danny King, Angie Yarnell, Jack Robinson, Madelin Edman, Alexis Patterson, Amber Wilde, Sandra Bertolas, Jennifer Casper-Ross, Crystal Soulier, Jody Ricard, Carmen Owens, Brandon Tyree McCullough & The I-70 Serial Killer
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Update on the tragic story of Riley Strain, the Missouri College student who went missing in Nashville after being kicked out of a local bar.
This week we continue to cover a series of cases that have been mishandled and completely abandoned by law enforcement in Madison County.
Timmy Dees was last heard from when he called 911 asking for help because his friend was chasing him. The cops arrived 8 minutes later & seen someone who had outstanding warrants. They arrest the guy and never even look for the man who made the call.
Timmy’s body was found 5 months later less than 200 yards from where he made that call. WHY!?
This is another one of the videos from my true crime archive. This case is quite unusual and it’s disturbing how far her husband would go to try to get away with her murder.
Thanks for watching another True Crime Tuesday Episode. Today we are discussing the ongoing investigation into the disappearance of Riley Strain
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He agreed to be the pawn in a drug sting after his mother received threatening calls over the Christmas holidays. Unfortunately, drug stings don’t always turn out like they do in the movies, and Randy’s brothers watched in horror as the car sped away out of the reach of law enforcement. 49 years later and the family still doesn’t know what happened to Randy Brosius.
Randall B. Brosius, 22, had a rocky past that involved drugs, but he was getting his life together by the Christmas holiday in 1976. Christmas cheer was in the air, the shopping season was in full swing, and everything was bliss. That’s what Christmas is supposed to be, anyway. During the festivities, the Brosius family was being terrorized by an unknown blackmailer.
Randy’s mother received a demand for $500, saying that Randy was involved in a big drug deal. The blackmailer threatened to cut Randy up in pieces and send him to her if she didn’t pay. Terror-stricken, the poor mother, found the money and tried to deliver it to the dropzone in Williamstown, Pennsylvania. She had one hour to get there. Although she made it well within the allotted time, the blackmailer never arrived.
After all of this, Randall went to the police for help. He agreed to a “meet up” with the police waiting in the shadows. His brother and father were there, as well. He had nothing to fear. Unfortunately, things don’t always go as planned, and somehow by some terrible twist of fate, Randy was taken.
The newspaper accounts make it sound so innocent. They claim Randy was last seen in a car driving away from Mace’s Fountain Blue Motel with two men. Richard Green, 31, and Kenneth H. Lenker, 25. In reality, that was the last time his family or the police ever saw him. The two men were later found in Florida and questioned, but no arrests were ever made.
What happened to Randy Brosius?
A John Doe was found in Hewett, TX, on April 3, 1978. The twenty-something male had been shot in the back of the head and dumped in a culvert. His height and weight closely match that of Randy. The clothing wasn’t a match to what Randy was last seen wearing, but we’re talking 15 months later.
The man’s flamboyant clothes are what lead investigators to call him Disco Dan. Unfortunately, the Hewett police department only had two officers, and the John Doe case went cold rather quickly.
The family wonders if this could be their long lost Randy. There’s a possibility since one of the men he was last seen with ended up in Texas. At the time of his disappearance, Randy had long shoulder-length brown hair and a mustache. He was around 5′ 7,” and his weight was approximately 140 lbs. All of these things closely match Disco Dan.
I noticed when comparing the two photos; the nose seems really similar to me. Who knows. We will have to wait for the DNA results. I’ll keep you posted. In the meantime, if you know anything about the disappearance of Randall Brosius or the John Doe known as Disco Dan, please call in a tip. These families need answers.
Youtube has started restricting my videos because of their true crime content. This hinders my channel’s monetization, sure, but more importantly it makes it hard to get these stories the publicity they need. Please consider following me on Rumble to help avoid these issues and to raise awareness about these unsolved cases.
If you enjoy this content don’t forget to sign up for Synova’s Weekly True Crime Newsletter. You will receive exclusive content directly in your inbox. As a gift for joining you will also receive the Grim Justice e-book free.
Follow the heart-rending cases Synova first wrote about on her blog in 2018. Filled with missing persons’ cases, unsolved homicides, and even serial killer cases, this book will give you a greater insight into the shattered lives behind every story. Cases Included in this book: Jayme Closs, Haley Owens, Josh Robinson, Timothy Cunningham, Carol Blades, Pam Hupp, Arthur Ream, Angela Hammond, The Springfield Three, Jennifer Harris, Danny King, Angie Yarnell, Jack Robinson, Madelin Edman, Alexis Patterson, Amber Wilde, Sandra Bertolas, Jennifer Casper-Ross, Crystal Soulier, Jody Ricard, Carmen Owens, Brandon Tyree McCullough & The I-70 Serial Killer
Helping our vets beat PTSD – each purchase pairs Vets with service dogs
Dangers of Partial FBI Files: Can You Believe Partial FBI Documents? NO!! An FBI File or Police Report received from a FOIA Request includes all of the witness statements, and information gathered from all sources. It doesn’t mean the FBI believes everything that is told to them. By using one paragraph out of a file, you are taking it out of context and thereby distorting the subject matter. Be careful of this in your own research!
#bufordpusser #truecrimestories #coldcase #revisionisthistory
The battle raged for ten long years, but two warriors refused to abandon the case. Lynn Sherry Sposito and FBI agent Keith Bell kept fighting until justice was served for the murders of Judge Vincent Sherry and his wife Margaret.
How did this criminal enterprise finally crumble? Although it would take a decade to find justice for the Sherry murders, the foundations began to erode when investigators learned of the Dixie Mafia’s involvement. The first clue came in rather quickly after a neighbor spoke to Lynn Sposito about a strange car in the area on the night of her parent’s murder.
The Greenwood Commonwealth reported on the abandoned car believed to be the getaway car. It was found on September 22, 1987, within a couple of miles from the Sherry house. This 1981 Ford Fairmont would lead straight back to the Dixie Mafia and would get the case rolling.
Photo courtesy of the Greenwood Commonwealth September 24, 1987Not only was this vehicle found close to the murder scene, but it also matched the description given by the neighbor. Strangely, the dome light had been purposely dismantled and the bulb removed. Whoever was driving this car did not want to be seen when he opened the car door.
The car had been stolen off a lot shortly before the murder. Some reports say it was stolen the day before, but in the book Mississippi Mud, it says the car was stolen on the same day. This is not the only discrepancy reported in the book and newspapers. You must remember that both the newspapers and the book were written as the story broke, so they could only write what was known at the time. It is easier to write a story decades afterward in my opinion.
The license plates on this stolen car were registered to another abandoned vehicle from three years earlier. This stolen Firebird had been abandoned in front of an apartment complex. A known Dixie Mafia member named Lenny Sweatman had stripped the car for parts before it was towed away. That tangled web is what led the investigators to the doorstep of the Dixie Mafia. Sweatman would lead to the club owner, Mike Gillich. Gillich would lead back to Kirksey Nix and his Lonely Hearts scam.
The scam was on the police radar for a while and investigators wondered if the murder was connected, but they had no proof. It would take a couple of snitches, a little legal wrangling, and a lot of patience to bring down the killers.
Bobby Joe Fabian was serving a life sentence in Angola prison when he decided to work with investigators in hopes of shortening his sentence. Fabian was the informant who would officially link the scam to the murders. He told of Kirksey Nix’s involvement and implicated Pete Halat. He also told authorities that known hitman, John Ransom was the triggerman. This would later be proved false, but it was enough to get the ball rolling.
Bill Rhodes, an associate of Ransom turned states evidence and claimed he had been hired to drive the getaway car. He claims to have met with Mike Gillich and Pete Halat several months before the murder. Rhodes was to drive and Ransom was to kill the Sherry’s, but this plan fell through when John Ransom was arrested five months before the death of the Sherrys.
As it turns out, Ransom provided the weapon used to kill the judge and his wife, but was not the triggerman as first alleged. Eventually, investigators persuaded Mike Gillich to turn informant. When he finally told his side of the story he spoke in great detail even telling how the hitman put superglue on his fingers so he wouldn’t leave prints behind in the house. He also gives the name of the actual triggerman. Thomas Leslie Holcomb was offered $20,000 to kill the Sherrys.
Nix and the crew were indicted in May 1991, but Pete Halat somehow escaped the noose. It was difficult for investigators seeing the Mayor’s smiling face on the news knowing he was involved in murder, but knowing they didn’t have enough evidence to charge him. Finally, their day came when Gillich spilled the beans and Pete Halat was convicted in 1997.
Halat was working with Nix’s former girlfriend Sheri La Sharpe. Together they would stash the money in a safety deposit box, but Halat got greedy and moved the money to a different safety deposit box that only he had access to. Conveniently there was one other name on the box. Judge Vincent Sherry. Sherry had been Halat’s law partner before he left to become a judge. This would give Halat an “out” when Nix eventually noticed the money was missing. Now Halat could blame the innocent judge for the theft and Halat could get off scot-free.
If you enjoy this content don’t forget to sign up for Synova’s Weekly True Crime Newsletter. You will receive exclusive content directly in your inbox. As a gift for joining you will also receive the Grim Justice e-book free.
Further Reading:
This week’s Recommended Reading:
Mississippi Mud: Southern Justice and the Dixie Mafia
All information used to create this content is a matter of public record and can be easily found online. Any participation or alleged involvement of any party mentioned within this site is purely speculation. As the law states, an individual is innocent until PROVEN guilty. I do not own the photos used in this post. All photos are used under the fair use act. No copyright infringement intended.©2017-2024. All rights reserved.
“The most deadly enemy you will face in the entirety of your career is the Dixie Mafia based out of Phenix City, Alabama.” – Major Cullen O’Conner to General Haggerty
From their birthplace in Phenix City, Alabama to the corruption of today, the Dixie Mafia’s tentacles stretch from coast to coast throughout the south. While most of the world denies their existence, this network of freelance criminals have flown under the radar for the most part since the 1950s. Their structure is completely different than that of La Cosa Nostra so people discount them as rogue bands of individual criminals. In reality it’s one massive web of corruption, lies, and murder.
Check out Synova’s latest book called Dawn of the Dixie Mafia to find out how all of these random crimes fit together.
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