Generally speaking, I have avoided covering any true crime on this website. It’s one of the many subjects that I know I’ll have to tackle at some point, but with an endless supply of other material out there, this hasn’t been a top priority. Primarily this is because true crime is an enormously popular field, particularly in podcasts, and there are so many out there which do an amazing job with it. I’m not sure what I could really bring to the table which hasn’t already been done in this realm.
But there are many other quite valid reasons pointing in the opposite direction. And don’t get me wrong, I don’t even intend to elaborate upon any of the notorious Cbus cold cases at the moment here, either, at present. Yet you can never have too many people spreading the word about an unsolved crime. That’s one strong reason in favor of mentioning this stuff in as many places as possible, and, in all honesty, more imporant than just about any of my other relatively trivial topics. While Columbus has fortunately not really experienced any of the more notorious serial killers, that is one topic I somewhat take issue with, in that it often seems to glorify these characters, rather than necessarily attempt to learn anything from or educate the public about them. However, if you are talking about unsolved cases, or possibly someone you think was wrongly convicted, then I think covering these crimes is frequently a valuable, noble pursuit.
And lord knows I have been a true crime fanatic all these years, right alongside everyone else. We too have fallen asleep to the murder channel on TV on countless nights. In more recent times, the podcasting bug has bitten me hardcore, and I’ve chewed through show after show in that format, absorbing a boatload of them. Which makes it totally astounding that I only recently stumbled upon True Crime Garage. Even more surprising, though, and the reason I’m even starting a separate page for it here, was learning that these guys are based out of our very own Columbus, Ohio.
First things first, let me state for the record that this is a thoroughly mind-blowing job they have done with their podcast. It is a staggering body of work, clocking in at over 600 episodes as of this writing, all of them quite long, highly detailed, and extremely well done. But it was only in the course of listening to maybe my third randomly chosen episode of theirs that they made some reference to being from Columbus, which stopped me in my tracks. Since then, this has been somewhat of an obsession, and is pretty much all I’m listening to these days.
So the focus here will be two or three fold. Without stealing any of their thunder – I recommend instead that you check out that podcast, to discover their thoughts on those crimes – I would at least like to make a compendium of the local cases they have covered. Secondly, I plan on doing some research about the duo producing these episodes, Nic Edwards and his sidekick, who refers to himself simply as The Captain. They digress on some interesting though usually related tangents, and on more than one occasion have mentioned playing in bands around Columbus, for example. As well as seeming in general like some genuinely good and relatable dudes. So yeah, it would be great to cover their histories in detail. Oh, and yes, I almost forgot, they begin each episode reviewing a beer, often local, that they are “sampling” in the course of recording it – so make that maybe four different angles this page will ultimately cover, if I decide to mention these as well. And then finally, at some distant date on the horizon, I might offer my two cents on what I think about these cases. Admittedly, one concern and drawback is that this might turn into a crackpot rant forum down in the comments section – but let’s just say I’ll have to be a lot more popular before that ever becomes a problem.
The cases
This is probably not a comprehensive list, because I’m just flipping through their thumbnail descriptions of each episode. And it doesn’t always mention where the crime occurred, at least not within the first few lines. So I’ll update this whenever unearthing a new one. Also keep in mind that they have premium content elsewhere, meaning that the dates and episode numbers might possibly differ from what Spotify/Apple/etc show. But here’s what I’ve found so far:
Anita Lias (December 16 2015, episode 6): This is a shorter episode from before they’d fully dialed in what they were doing. Therefore, the Captain doesn’t even appear in this one, although the catchy theme song is already in place and he contributes other music elsewhere. Anita is a 16 year old young lady from the east side who goes missing, on August 30th, 1975. And then is eventually found stabbed to death two days later, at 862 S. Champion Avenue. She was last seen at a pharmacy, near the corner of Nelson and Broad, on her way home from a babysitting gig. There are some reports that a man in a blue car was following her around while she walked, but if so, nothing comes of this lead. Police apparently do have a different suspect, meanwhile, one who claims he had consensual sex with Lias shortly before her death, but were also unable to make a case against him.
Tony Muncy (June 27 2016, episode 36): Tony Muncy was a young man from the Whitehall area, who was found dead in particularly gruesome fashion (his body lying in a ditch with its arms cut off) just outside of town. He was last seen the night before at the York Plaza Movie Theatre. A few years after this episode aired, in the spring of 2020, Tony’s family does at least get some small measure of closure, when DNA testing finally solves the case. However, there is no justice, as the killer had already died back in 2013.
Brian Shaffer (February 15/17 2016, episodes 16 & 17; revisited with guests March 26/27 2019, episodes 290 & 291): Probably the most notorious case on here, and currently one of the most well-known missing persons incidents anywhere. For the uninitiated, Brian disappeared while apparently inside a bar on the OSU campus – they have video footage of him entering, but never leaving. However, according to The Captain, he has spoken to security figures who insist it was not at all difficult to leave that bar without appearing on camera, despite wide reports to the contrary. Even so, what exactly became of Shaffer remains a mystery.
Joey LaBute (April 27 2016, episode 27): In eerie echoes of the Shaffer case, LaBute also came up missing after leaving a bar (in this case, a Short North one), despite being out with friends. A couple of key differences are that he did send out one nonsensical text – though a wide range of theories have attempted decoding it, pretty much everyone agrees that the purpose was a cry for help – and that his body was eventually found, in the Scioto River.
Bill Comeans (August 29 2017, episode 137): Of all these cases, this one I think unfortunately seems least likely to be solved. Both because it is fairly old, but also because debate persists as to whether this was even a murder. Bill Comeans was a 14 year old boy living over in the New Rome part of town, on the far west side, who was found strangled in a snowy ditch in his own neighborhood. Family members have always believed he was murdered, and his death was indeed classified as such. However, there’s enough evidence to suggest he might have accidentally strangled himself to death.
Amy Hooper (April 9/10 2019, episodes 294 & 295): Amy was an employee at Westland Mall, found murdered in her apartment on March 9, 1992. The killer appears to have placed a unique looking medallion in Amy’s hands, one that belonged to her, though nobody can figure out what significance it might have. There’s a very small window of time where this crime could have occurred, as Amy had visited her mom that morning, then returned home to get ready for work. By noon, people were already concerned about her, as she had never missed a day on the job up to this point.
Tyler Davis (April 16/17 2019, episodes 296 & 297): a married couple travels to Columbus for a weekend getaway, one concluding in horrific fashion as the husband comes up missing. This case is unusual in that it seems like there’s a good chance Tyler fell victim to two unconnected crimes in the same night. A lot of people, his wife Brittany included, think he may have ingested a roofie type drug that was actually intended for her. Then, upon returning to their hotel, a disoriented Tyler wandered off into the night. And to date has never been seen again.
Circleville Letter Writer (July 6/7 2021, episodes 501 & 502): as you might guess from the title, this one wasn’t mostly based in Columbus per se. However, assuming you haven’t already heard about this puppy, most of the letters were postmarked from here. And the primary suspect (well, for at least some of the incidents…this is a really strange case) worked here, in the Budweiser plant.
Asenath Dukat (May 31/June 1 2022, episodes 583 & 584): a 9 year old girl is abducted and then found dead a few hours later at the corner of Riverside and Waltham. The most bizarre aspect about this cold case (it occurred in 1980) is that it happened basically in broad daylight, on the same property where a bunch of people were voting at the time. Also that her killer by all appearances abducted Asenath, took her elsewhere, then brought her back to this original site.
I’m happy to report, though, that this case has since been solved. In August of 2022, authorities announced that DNA had conclusively determined longtime suspect Brent Strutner was in fact her killer. Unfortunately, Strutner killed himself in 1984 and therefore was never brought to justice for this horrific crime.
Garrett Burton (November 29 2022, episode 632): a teenage boy and some of his friends are egging cars late one night along Hilliard Rome Road, back in 2008. One enraged motorist apparently stops, gets out of his car, and shoots Garrett at random before driving away. Though the other teens present have consistently held to this story, some find certain aspects of it to be a little fishy.
The hosts
In listening to these podcasts, before I ever got around to researching this dudes online, it was only natural to kind of wonder what they might actually look like, based upon their voices. I had often thought that The Captain sounds like a guy who would wear a ballcap. And what do you know, in most photos connected to this blog, he is in fact wearing a ballcap! How’s that for some profiling? Take that, John Douglas!
As for more substantial details, it seems that they have intentionally taken a step backwards, away from the limelight. They wished from the outset to have everyone focusing on the cases, rather than them, and have succeeded on that front. Though True Crime Garage somehow just instantly clicked with a huge audience, well beyond their wildest expectations, you won’t really find a single definitive piece written about either of them online – and this is by design. But I don’t think my lightly sketched outlines here are going to fly in the face of that, will rather just compile what few details are already known.
First things first, one mostly buried tidbit is that Nic and The Captain (Patrick Edwards) are actually brothers. Listeners have speculated why they have chosen to keep this under wraps, although if you check out some earlier episodes, there are occasional slips, before they had evertyhing fully dialed in and ironed out. As much as it ever is, anyway – a lot of this show’s charm revolves around its homemade yet still quite professional feel, which is a badge of honor for them as well. In one magazine piece they mention taking great pride in their independent status, speculating that they might be the only 100% indie operation in the top 100 podcasts. They dynamic between the hosts plays into that, too, so it’s possible that they wished to verbally spar like siblings without coming right out and explaining that they are. Also, this could have been more than they wished to reveal, another move to back farther out of the spotlight. So although there were a couple early references such as “our uncle” or “our mother,” those have been all but eradicated ever since – and any pieces you see that mentions Nic and Captain Fathands as being “friends,” though technically not false, is also not entirely accurate.
I also think there’s something very Ohio-centric, or at the very least Columbus-esque, about their chill, offhand natures, that they crank out a project this substantial yet still have the attitude of basically shrugging and saying, “eh, whatever, this is something we’ve been working on, I guess it’s kinda cool.” While scoring it with their own music, reviewing beers, creating their own merchandise, operating out of a garage and attempting to remain as anonymous as possible…even as they are running one of the most successful true crime podcasts in all the land.
“Most of these other shows that are popping up these days are big network shows,” Nic says in a Lantern article from February 2022, adding, “it’s not anything that we are interested in.”
For whatever reason, I was able to learn slightly more about “Captain Fathands” online. There’s an interesting interview in this one bass player publication, many years before True Crime Garage started, where he mentions playing in a cover song trio. In fact, he has also said that the reason he joined the band is because his brother (Nic) couldn’t really sing and play bass at the same time, presumably one of many groups they have been in together through the years. Beyond that, I’m aware that Patrick teaches music, and has also mentioned working at a bank in his younger days. Under the moniker St. Patrick, he has also released some recordings, such as the Tin Man EP.
As for Nic, although he obviously has a music background, too, I think his interests have always skewed more towards the true crime angle, in particular cold cases. He is a member of Project Porchlight, a nonprofit organization which works to solves such, providing “free private investigative services, funding for DNA testing, and media support for a few new cases every year,” according to their website. In addition to that, he is also involved with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. On numerous episodes, Nic mentions having a security background, that he worked as a security admin for a couple different places around town.
So even Nic’s bio on there is typically low-key. With their work on True Crime Garage, they are clearly doing much more than supporting “a few new cases every year.” They are doing such an amazing job, in fact, that if and when I get around to tackling any true crime on this site, these guys will likely represent my filter for choosing which cases. If they’ve already covered it, then it seems highly unlikely I could do a better job, and will leave those alone for the time being. Yet there are some other well known or even obscure Columbus cold cases out there, which they haven’t gotten around to yet, and those would take priority for me. Of course, what I’m really hoping is that they will eventually tackle these as well.
The local beers
Zaftig Brewing Company Shadowed Mistress Strong Ale (4/27/16): rated 4 out of 5 bottle caps
Zaftig Brewing Company Too Cans (11/15/16): rated 4 bottle caps.
Elevator Brewing Dark Force (3/15/17): rated 4 bottle caps
Columbus Brewing Company Sohio Stout (4/9 and 4/10/19): rated 4 1/4 bottle caps
Zaftig Brewing Company Tropical Hazy (1/5/22): rated 4 3/4 bottle caps
Wolf’s Ridge Brewing 614 Lager (1/11 and 1/12/22): rated 3 3/4 bottle caps
Holy Trinity Brewing Big Sky Daddy (8/24/22): rated 4 1/2 bottle caps
Holy Trinity Brewing BBA Jesus Loves Fall (11/29/22): rated 4 bottle caps
Other C-bus mentions
This section pertains to cases which were not based in Columbus, but where they threw in some passing reference to our fair city. I’m not going to list every single time they name checked the capital city, or anything like that, but only the ones that I consider noteworthy.
Lauren Spierer Pt. 1 (episode 91, March 21 2017): Nic mentions that he used to venture over to the Varsity Club after Buckeye football games. The Captain meanwhile says he and his buddies used to frequent the Panini’s on south campus. So while I’ve gathered somewhere along the line that these guys must be a little younger than me and my own pals, I don’t think it’s a huge age difference – these were semi-regular pieces of our repertoire as well. And in the case of the Panini’s, it has been closed for eons, which limits the visits to a particular time period.
Insanesville (episode 268, January 1 2019): this is from that infamous incident which made the news around the country, where all those exotic animals were let loose in Zanesville. Columbus Zoo director Jack Hanna, himself no stranger to publicity, was brought in as an advisor, to try and get a handle on the situation. The Captain mentions that his old cover band used to travel from Columbus to play Zanesville constantly too.
Malibu Creek Murder Pt. 1 (episode 337, September 24 2019): the hosts get into a brief discussion of Columbus’s freeway sniper from the early 2000s. He was terrorizing the outerbelt, I-270, especially the southwest edge of it. The Captain mentions being terrified because he frequented that route during that time, and used many of the commonly targeted exits.
Shaker Heights Pt. 4 & 5 (episode 374 & 375, February 18 2020): This was an interesting experiment, a 6 parter where they had different voice actors play the different characters involved. Having said that, I’m glad not every episode was like this, because I think it works best as a standalone – more often than not, I’d rather just hear these two talk, or else maybe interview someone.
Well, anyway, as far as the parts that pertain to Columbus, these begin to rear their head in episode 4. On September 26, 1990, a bunch of Shaker Heights cops drive down to question OSU student Kevin Young. He’s a suspect in a murder back home, but has recently enrolled at Ohio State. As an added bonus, looking at the podcast notes, I can see local musician Scotty Boombox is one of the voice actors on these episodes.
In episode 5, the action picks back up at OSU, where those cops first meet with a couple of campus officers, to discuss their strategy with Young. The entire episode is set here, narrated by one of the characters playing a Shaker Heights officer. It starts with staking out his dorm building, Morrill Tower, to see when he might turn up again. One of the cops, oddly enough, poses as a maintenance man to conduct his surveillance ruse. For some reason there’s a ton of detail about the layout of his living arrangement in this building, even though this has nothing to do with the crime. Anyway, the assorted officers talk to Kevin quite a bit here, and also convince him to ride over to the nearby Ramada Inn where some of them were staying. While here, they manage to convince Young to take a polygraph, and also grab some grub from…a Pizza Hut on High Street? Nooooooooooo! How could you, with so many better options at one’s disposal? A serious crime of an altogether different nature. They drove all the way down from Shaker Heights to eat at a Pizza Hut. Then again I’m pretty sure I know which location this was, and can’t exactly claim I never dined inside there myself, on multiple occasions.
Missing On Campus Pt.2 (episode 523, September 15 2021): This case concerns a Kent State student, Judy Martins, who went missing in 1978 and has never been found. They mention that one key suspect in the case, William John Posey, Jr., was evidently in a Columbus jail on the day she disappeared (5/24/78), although nobody can seem to pin down the exact time frame he was arrested and/or released.
