199: Shawn Bentler & War Machine

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Shawn Bentler had money trouble. He wanted money desperately, but didn’t want to work for it. In fact, Shawn was so bad at showing up for work that he got fired from the family business. He later got fired from another job when he told his boss that he was overwhelmed by the sudden passing of his father. (His dad was very much alive.) But at some point, Shawn came up with an idea. If his family was dead, he’d inherit a lot of money.

When Christy Mack and Jon Koppenhaver, a.k.a. “War Machine” met on a photo shoot for Hustler Magazine, Christy was indifferent. She wasn’t looking for a boyfriend. She valued her independence. But she and Jon got to talking, and she was charmed. She’d never had someone shower her with so much love and attention before. Within a few weeks, they began dating. A few months later, the violence began.

And now for a note about our process. For each episode, Kristin reads a bunch of articles, then spits them back out in her very limited vocabulary. Brandi copies and pastes from the best sources on the web. And sometimes Wikipedia. (No shade, Wikipedia. We love you.) We owe a huge debt of gratitude to the real experts who covered these cases.

In this episode, Kristin pulled from:
“The Case of Jon Koppenhaver,” JCS - Criminal Psychology
“The tragic love story of Christy Mack and MMA fighter War Machine,” by Jane McManus for espn.com
Christy Mack’s twitter account
“Cage-fighter War Machine blames anti-male society for his domestic violence in suicide note,” by Scott Kauffman for rawstory.com
“Ex-fighter War Machine gets judge to postpone trial,” by Ken Ritter for the Associated Press
“War Machine sentenced to life for brutal assault of ex: Inside the MMA star’s fall,” by Mike Bohn for Rolling Stone
“Christy Mack vs. War Machine: The whole ugly case, explained,” by Meera Jagannathan for the Daily News
“Porn star Christy Mack’s alleged ‘rape fantasy’ new focal point of War Machine abuse trial,” by Jessa Schroeder for the Daily News
“War Machine blows ‘offensive’ kiss after arguing that porn star ex cant’ claim rape because of her job as sex worker,” the Daily News
“MMA Fighter ‘War Machine’ arrested in Simi Valley, was sought in Las Vegas beating of ex-girlfriend,” by Melissa Palmer and Mary Beth McDade for KTLA

In this episode, Brandi pulled from:
“Shawn Bentler” podcast episode, This Is Monsters
“Shawn Michael Bentler” murderpedia.org
“Man charged in killing described as unreliable” Associated Press
“Trial Opens for Man accused of Killing his 3 Sister, Parents in Iowa” Associated Press
“Judge to visit home where man is accused of killing his family” by Amy Lorentzen, Associated Press
“Emotional day for Bentler family” Associated Press
“Remembering the Bentlers” by Melissa Shriver, KHQA News
“Killer’s Children Get Millions” KTVO News
“State v. Bentler” Findlaw.com
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