Remembering Richard ”Beebo” Russell - The Sky King

Due popular demand by our viewers, we recount the tragic death of Kelly Anne Bates - an English teenager who was murdered in Manchester, England at the age of 17 by her abuser and live in partner, James Patterson Smith, who was roughly 30 years her senior. She was tortured by him over a period of four weeks, including having her eyes gouged from their sockets up to three weeks before her death, before being bludgeoned over the head and drowned in a bathtub. The murder inquiry was headed by Detective Sergeant Joseph Monaghan of Greater Manchester Police, who said: "I have been in the police force for 15 years and have never seen a case as horrific as this." William Lawler, the pathologist who examined Bates' body, described her injuries as the worst he had seen on a murder victim.  Smith, with a history of violence and torture against former partners, denied murdering Bates but was convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment on 19 November 1997. This case has been compared to the Junko Furuta and Sylvia Likens case, and once again highlights the topic of bystander apathy. Join Our Facebook Group to Request a Topic: https://t.co/DeSZIIMgXs?amp=1 Support Our Patreon For More Unreleased Content: https://www.patreon.com/themiserymachine PayPal: https://www.paypal.me/themiserymachine Instagram: miserymachinepodcast Twitter: misery_podcast Discord: https://discord.gg/kCCzjZM #podcast #documentary #truecrime  Source Material: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murder_of_Kelly_Anne_Bates https://www.manchestersfinest.com/articles/manchesters-vilest-murder-kelly-anne-bates/ https://allthatsinteresting.com/kelly-anne-bates-james-patterson-smith https://murderpedia.org/male.S/s/smith-james-patterson.htm

24 Aug 202024min

This week, Drewby and Yergy discuss the tragic death of Kendrick Johnson, conspiracy theories related to his untimely death, the gross mishandling of his case at the hands of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, and how the legal system has yet again failed a person of color. On January 11, 2013, the body of Kendrick Johnson  was discovered inside a vertical, rolled-up mat in the gymnasium of Lowndes High School in Valdosta, GA where he was a student. KJ, as he was known by family and friends, was described him as a sweet and quiet boy. He was a three-sport athlete and dreamed of one day playing professional football. A preliminary investigation and autopsy concluded that his death was accidental, and was classified as "positional asphyxia" or that he suffocated as a result of being stuck upside-down in an enclosed space for an extended period of time. Johnson's family had a private pathologist conduct a second autopsy (and years later, a third) which concluded that Johnson died from blunt force trauma, which was allegedly inflicted by means of a 45lb weight or dumbbell, according to many accounts. Also discovered during the second autopsy was the fact that Kendrick's body lacked internal organs, and that his body cavity had been stuffed with newspapers during the embalming process. The absence of his organs raised questions pointing at a cover up at the hands of the coroner that handled the initial autopsy, and sparked conspiracy theories regarding organ harvesting and trafficking. Kendrick's family sued the funeral home, but the case was subsequently dropped as nothing technically illegal had occurred.  On October 31, 2013, the U.S. Attorney for the Middle District of Georgia announced that his office would open a formal review into Johnson's death. On June 20, 2016, the US Department of Justice announced that it would not be filing any criminal charges related to Johnson's death. Kendrick Johnson's family filed a $100 million civil lawsuit against 38 individuals. The lawsuit alleged that Johnson's death was a murder and accused the respondents of a conspiracy to cover up the homicide, which involved two sons of an FBI agent. Johnson’s father, however, admitted that he had no hard evidence to back up any of these claims and the Johnsons had to drop the suit. They were sued for more than $850,000 in attorney fees and more than one million in defamation charges. They were ultimately ordered by a judge to pay close to $300,000 worth of lawyers’ fees to those they had accused with no evidence. Some people have compared KJ's death to the Emmett Till case. Drewby and Yergy also touch on the racial elements of this case, and discuss whether or not the case would have been handled differently if Kendrick would have been a white student. Black Lives Matter Links to the Petitions To Reopen the Case: https://www.change.org/p/united-states-supreme-court-justice-for-kendrick-johnson, https://www.change.org/p/gbi-justice-for-kendrick-johnson & https://sign.moveon.org/petitions/kendrick-johnson-petition Join Our Facebook Group to Request a Topic: https://t.co/DeSZIIMgXs?amp=1 Support Our Patreon For More Unreleased Content: https://www.patreon.com/themiserymachine PayPal: https://www.paypal.me/themiserymachine Instagram: miserymachinepodcast Twitter: misery_podcast Discord: https://discord.gg/kCCzjZM #podcast #documentary #truecrime #justice4kendrick #blm Source Material: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_Kendrick_Johnson https://allthatsinteresting.com/kendrick-johnson https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N9_n9vXz_LM&t

17 Aug 202036min

As we've talked about in previous episodes, the treatment of Indigenous and First Nations people, specifically women, in Canada is unacceptable. Today we're sharing a case with you courtesy of our friends at Occultae Veritatis Podcast. If you have any information, please utilize the links below.   Tipline Email: shorturl.at/pHKMX Saskatchewan Crime Stoppers: 1-800-222-8477 https://www.p3tips.com/tipform.aspx?ID=206# https://www.facebook.com/bringashleymorinhome/ https://saskatoon.ctvnews.ca/timeline-a-look-at-the-tiki-laverdiere-homicide-investigation-1.4543609

5 Aug 202030min

This week, Yergy and Drewby report on Maine's first shark related death that took place on July 27th in the town of Harpswell, on the quaint Bailey Island - a place Yergy and Drewby both grew up visiting. 63-year-old Julie Dimperio Holowach, a New York native who, while staying at her summer home in Harpswell, was tragically killed by a great white shark while she was swimming in the ocean. We cover the facts of the case as made public by the media, and give our own tips as locals on how to stay safe in the ocean this summer.    This week's episode is sponsored by Podcorn: https://podcorn.com/ Join Our Facebook Group to Request a Topic: https://t.co/DeSZIIMgXs?amp=1 Support Our Patreon For More Unreleased Content: https://www.patreon.com/themiserymachine PayPal: https://www.paypal.me/themiserymachine Instagram: miserymachinepodcast Twitter: misery_podcast Discord: https://discord.gg/kCCzjZM #podcast #documentary #truecrime

3 Aug 202025min

This week, Yergy and Drewby take a break from true crime to pay tribute to the legend known as Billy Herrington, highlighting his early work in male adult entertainment, and his unexpected rise to internet fame in Asia, and later the rest of the world, through the internet phenomena of Gachimuchi.   Billy Herrington was born in North Babylon, New York, and grew up on Long Island learning karate from his father, who was a sensei. He had interests in boxing, wrestling and martial arts, but did not start bodybuilding until he was 24 years old, after moving to New York City. Herrington began his career when his then girlfriend from Long Island submitted his pictures to Playgirl magazine. The photographs won him a "Real Men of the Month" contest and a $500.00 prize. His appearance in the magazine caught the eye of famed photographer Jim French, but it was two years before Herrington posed for his first Colt calendars for French. Soon after, Herrington was filming adult films for All Worlds Video, and appearing on mainstream TV programs such as Love Connection and the Ricki Lake talk show.    Herrington gained fame in Japan as an Internet meme, after a clip from one of his videos was posted on Nico Nico Douga, a Japanese video sharing website. Thousands of mash-up parody videos of him have been made, many of which utilize deliberate mishearings of lines from his films. He is affectionately called "Aniki," or "older brother," among the Nico Nico Douga community, and most of his videos are deliberately mistagged with "Wrestling Series," "Forest Fairy," "Philosophy," or all three, later these videos would crossover to Youtube as well as Twitch through streamers like Forsen, and Gachimuchi would gain international popularity alongside the Catalina Video meme craze.   On February 14th, 2009, Herrington visited Japan after he was invited to make an appearance in a special Nico Nico Douga livecast for Valentine's Day. According to the YouTube video description, more than 10,000 fans of Billy Herrington showed up at the Nico Nico Douga event in Tokyo's Akihabara district. On the same day as the event, Japanese model kit makers Good Smile Company announced that they would manufacture a limited-edition Billy Herrington action figure. During the evening of March 1, 2018, Herrington was involved in a car accident on California State Route 111 in Rancho Mirage. He was found trapped in the wreckage and was brought to a Palm Springs hospital, where he died the next day. On March 3rd, film director Chi Chi LaRue tweeted a memorial tweet for Herrington, which gained over 4,000 retweets and over 1,500 likes in less than 12 hours. Shortly after, Herrington's mother, confirmed the death in a Facebook post which received over 1,400 reactions over the same time, revealing he died in a car accident. Fans responded with hundreds of tributes across video sharing sites and message boards. One tribute video uploaded on Nico Nico Douga accumulated over 80,000 views in less than one week. Herrington was buried at the Forest Lawn Cemetery in Cathedral City, California. We miss you Billy ❤ ♂ RIP   This week's episode is sponsored by True Crime by Indie Drop-In: https://pdsh.re/p/true-crime Join Our Facebook Group to Request a Topic: https://t.co/DeSZIIMgXs?amp=1 Support Our Patreon For More Unreleased Content: https://www.patreon.com/themiserymachine PayPal: https://www.paypal.me/themiserymachine Instagram: miserymachinepodcast Twitter: misery_podcast Discord: https://discord.gg/kCCzjZM #podcast #documentary #truecrime   Source Material: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billy_Herrington https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/people/billy-herrington-gachimuchi https://siivagunner.fandom.com/wiki/Gachimuchi https://gachimuchi.fandom.com/wiki/Gachimuchi_Wiki

27 Juli 202036min

It's our anniversary! Thank you so much to all of our listeners that have been with us on this crazy ride. We appreciate all that you do and cannot wait to see what this next year brings. To help celebrate, this week we are releasing the heavily anticipated "Dahmer Episode" guest starring the one and only Eddy! Jeffrey Dahmer and his crimes in the late 80's and early 90's shook the US. The murders of almost 2 dozen men and boys, many gay men of color, sent waves of fear through the city of Milwaukee, Wisconsin; in particular the LGBT community, which was already suffering through the turmoil of the AIDS epidemic, as well as prejudicial violence.  Rather than discuss Dahmer and his crimes as a whole, Drewby and Yergy do a deep dive on how his crimes affected the LGBT community, and if there was any lasting effect today. We shed light on how Milwaukee for the time was something of an unexpected beacon for the community, developing progressive policies that became the model for anti-discrimination legislation that we see today across the United States.  Eddy gives an invaluable first hand account of LGBT life in Milwaukee, as well as his own Dahmer connection, and how natives - both in and outside the LGBT community, view Dahmer's crimes and the effect they have on Milwaukee today.  This week's episode is sponsored by True Crime by Indie Drop-In: https://pdsh.re/p/true-crime Join Our Facebook Group to Request a Topic: https://t.co/DeSZIIMgXs?amp=1 Support Our Patreon For More Unreleased Content: https://www.patreon.com/themiserymachine PayPal: https://www.paypal.me/themiserymachine Instagram: miserymachinepodcast Twitter: misery_podcast Discord: https://discord.gg/kCCzjZM Source Material: https://www.wuwm.com/post/how-did-jeffrey-dahmer-harm-milwaukees-gay-community#stream/0 https://www.wuwm.com/post/walkers-point-gathering-space-milwaukees-lgbt-community-75-years-and-counting#stream/0 #podcast #documentary #truecrime

20 Juli 20201h 2min

Drewby and Yergy cover the recent death of Mary Kay Letourneau, who was an American school teacher (and tabloid fixture of the 1990's) who pleaded guilty in 1997 to two counts of felony second-degree rape of a child, Vili Fualaau, who was 12 or 13 at the time, had been her sixth-grade student, and had allegedly also taught him in second grade. While awaiting sentencing, she gave birth to Fualaau's child, a daughter named Audrey Lokelani. With the state seeking a six-and-a-half-year prison sentence, she reached a plea agreement calling for six months in jail, with three months suspended, and no contact with Fualaau for life. The case received national attention. Shortly after spending three months in jail, the police caught Letourneau in a car with Fualaau. A judge revoked her plea agreement and reinstated the prison sentence for the maximum allowed by law of seven-and-a-half years. Eight months after returning to prison, she gave birth to Fualaau's second child, another daughter named Georgia. She was imprisoned from 1998 to 2004. Letourneau served her sentence in the Washington Corrections Center for Women. In October 1998, Letourneau and Fualaau co-authored a book, which was published in France, called Only One Crime, Love. In 1999 a second book appeared, this one published in the United States, but written with only minimal cooperation from Letourneau, and none from Fualaau: If Loving You Is Wrong. Letourneau and Fualaau were married in May 2005, and the marriage lasted 14 years until their separation in 2019. Letourneau died of colon cancer in July 2020 after several months of treatment, with Vili Fualaau at her side. We dive into the hard questions - Did the media go too easy on Letourneau? Although now a legal adult, could Fualaau really make an informed decision after being victimized for years by Letourneau? If Letourneau were a male teacher, would the media still be hailing their story a fairy tale romance? Do boys get the support they need when preyed upon by older women? We speculate on all of these questions, share personal thoughts and experiences - and more. This week's episode is sponsored by True Crime by Indie Drop-In: https://pdsh.re/p/true-crime Join Our Facebook Group to Request a Topic: https://t.co/DeSZIIMgXs?amp=1 Support Our Patreon For More Unreleased Content: https://www.patreon.com/themiserymachine PayPal: https://www.paypal.me/themiserymachine Instagram: miserymachinepodcast Twitter: misery_podcast Discord: https://discord.gg/kCCzjZM #podcast #documentary #truecrime

13 Juli 202027min

This week, Drewby and Yergy discuss in great detail the Enumclaw horse sex case, which was a series of incidents in 2005 involving Kenneth Pinyan, an engineer who worked for Boeing and resided in Gig Harbor, Washington; James Michael Tait, a truck driver; and other unidentified men. Pinyan and Tait filmed and distributed zoophilic pornography of Pinyan receiving anal sex from a stallion under the alias "Mr. Hands". After engaging in this activity on multiple occasions over an unknown span of time, Pinyan received fatal internal injuries in one such incident. The story was reported in The Seattle Times and was one of that paper's most read stories of 2005. It was informally referred to as the "Enumclaw horse sex case". After Pinyan's death, a video circulated around the internet of Kenneth Pinyan engaging in receptive anal intercourse with a horse. The video was nicknamed "Mr. Hands" or "2 Guys 1 Horse". The video, intended originally to sexually gratify the viewer, became one of the first viral reaction videos. Pinyan's death rapidly prompted the passing of a bill in Washington prohibiting both sex with animals and the videotaping of such an act. Under current Washington law, bestiality is now a Class C felony punishable by up to five years in prison. We also discuss what qualifies as a "snuff film" and we touch on the furry subculture and how "Mr. Hands" does not represent furries. Happy Birthday Eddy, who was our patron and believed in us even when we had no subscribers and were struggling to get 100 views a month. We love you.  This week's episode is sponsored by True Crime by Indie Drop-In: https://pdsh.re/p/true-crime Join Our Facebook Group to Request a Topic: https://t.co/DeSZIIMgXs?amp=1 Support Our Patreon For More Unreleased Content: https://www.patreon.com/themiserymachine PayPal: https://www.paypal.me/themiserymachine Instagram: miserymachinepodcast Twitter: misery_podcast Discord: https://discord.gg/kCCzjZM #podcast #documentary #truecrime

6 Juli 202038min