True Crime

Ray William Johnson: True Story Podcast

The Official Podcast of Ray William Johnson, storyteller and comedian. Tune in for the best stories of True Crime and Pop Culture.

Latest Episodes:

This Millionaire Soccer Player is in BIG Trouble // The Quincy Promes Stabbing Story Apr 06, 2026

Show notes

Quincy Promes, once a star forward for the Netherlands national team and Ajax, has seen his career derailed by a series of high-profile criminal convictions. After a 2020 family party ended with Promes attacking his cousin in the knee, he was sentenced in absentia to 18 months in prison for aggravated assault. This was followed by a much more severe six-year sentence in February 2024 for his involvement in smuggling drugs through the port of Antwerp. For several years, Promes avoided his prison terms by living and playing for Spartak Moscow in Russia, which has no extradition treaty with the Netherlands. However, while on a winter training camp in Dubai in early 2024, he was detained by local authorities following a traffic accident and subsequently arrested on a Dutch extradition request.

This Famous Hollywood Actor is in Big Trouble // The Lillo Brancato Comeback Story Apr 04, 2026

Show notes

Lillo Brancato Jr. is an American actor whose rapid rise to fame was followed by a public descent into addiction and a high-profile criminal case. After being discovered at age 15 for his striking resemblance to Robert De Niro, he gained stardom as Calogero in the 1993 film A Bronx Tale and later appeared in several episodes of The Sopranos. However, Brancato’s promising career was derailed by a severe addiction to drugs, leading to a tragic incident on December 10, 2005, when he and an accomplice, Steven Armento, were involved in a botched burglary in the Bronx.

The Gay Santa Claus Serial Killer // The Bruce McArthur Murders Apr 03, 2026

Show notes

Bruce McArthur is a Canadian serial killer who murdered eight men in Toronto between 2010 and 2017. A self-employed landscaper who occasionally worked as a shopping mall Santa Claus, McArthur targeted vulnerable men, many of whom had ties to Toronto's Gay Village.

This Scam Artist is in BIG Trouble // The Eli Weinstein Fraud Scandal Apr 02, 2026

Show notes

Eliyahu "Eli" Weinstein is a New Jersey-based repeat fraudster who masterminded multiple high-stakes Ponzi schemes totaling over $250 million in losses, specifically targeting investors within the Orthodox Jewish community. Originally sentenced to 24 years in federal prison for a $200 million real estate scheme, his sentence was commuted to time served by the president in January 2021 after serving only eight years. Almost immediately following his release, Weinstein began a new $41 million scheme.

Her Body Count is Too Damn High // The Kelly Cochran Murder Story Apr 01, 2026

Show notes

Kelly Cochran and her husband, Jason, lived by a "marriage pact" that required them to kill anyone with whom they had an affair. In 2014, they fulfilled this vow by luring Kelly’s lover, Christopher Regan, to their Michigan home where Jason shot him; the couple then dismembered his body and allegedly served his remains to unsuspecting neighbors at a barbecue. Two years later, Kelly murdered Jason in Indiana by injecting him with a lethal dose of heroin and smothering him, claiming it was revenge for Regan's death.

The Green Ranger Is In Prison For This? // The Yasutomo Ihara Scandal Mar 31, 2026

Show notes

Yasutomo Ihara is a former Japanese stuntman and "suit actor" who gained notoriety for using his professional training to commit a series of high-profile burglaries in Japan. He is frequently associated with the Green Power Ranger in viral reports, though his actual work was as a suit actor in the original Japanese Super Sentai and Kamen Rider series, which were later adapted for the American Power Rangers franchise.

This Entitled Millionaire Just Started Killing People // The Malcolm MacArthur Murder Mar 30, 2026

Show notes

In 1982, Malcolm Macarthur, a refined but impoverished socialite, committed two brutal murders in Ireland as part of an ill-conceived plan to rob a bank. After squandering his inheritance, Macarthur bludgeoned nurse Bridie Gargan with a hammer to steal her car and later shot farmer Dónal Dunne with a shotgun he was pretending to buy. The subsequent manhunt ended in a major political scandal when Macarthur was discovered hiding in the home of the Irish Attorney General, Patrick Connolly, who was an unwitting acquaintance.

This Scandal Destroyed Her - The Katherine Kealoha Scandal Mar 29, 2026

Show notes

Katherine Kealoha, a former high-ranking deputy prosecutor in Honolulu, was the central figure in Hawaii's largest public corruption scandal. Together with her husband, then-Police Chief Louis Kealoha, she orchestrated an elaborate scheme to maintain a lavish lifestyle by defrauding her own family and financial institutions. Her downfall began when she conned her elderly grandmother into a reverse mortgage and stole hundreds of thousands of dollars to fund luxury car payments, high-end concert tickets, and an expensive brunch for her husband’s induction. When her uncle, Gerard Puana, sued her for this financial abuse, the Kealohas abused their power by using a specialized police unit to frame him for stealing their mailbox in an attempt to discredit him.

He Murdered His Tinder Date // The Jesse Kempson Murder Story Mar 28, 2026

Show notes

Jesse Kempson is a New Zealand man who became the center of a major international criminal case following the 2018 murder of 21-year-old British backpacker Grace Millane in Auckland. After meeting Millane on the dating app Tinder, Kempson strangled her in his hotel room and subsequently attempted to hide her body in a suitcase, which he buried in a shallow grave in the Waitākere Ranges.

She Destroyed Her Career // The Tonya Harding Story Mar 26, 2026

Show notes

The 1994 Tonya Harding scandal involved a conspiracy to break the leg of rival figure skater Nancy Kerrigan, orchestrated by Harding’s ex-husband Jeff Gillooly to ensure Harding’s path to Olympic gold. While the January attack failed to break the leg, it caused a massive media sensation. Though Harding pleaded guilty only to hindering the prosecution after the fact, the scandal resulted in a lifetime ban from U.S. Figure Skating and an eighth-place finish at the 1994 Olympics, forever defining her career as one of the most bizarre in sports history.

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