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:

The Girl Who Was Hit By a Train - The Yareni Rios-Gonzalez Story Nov 26, 2025

Show notes

Yareni Rios-Gonzalez was involved in a reported road-rage incident in Weld County, Colorado, on September 16, 2022, after a man called 911 claiming she tailgated him and pointed a firearm. Police pulled her over near Platteville, where officers from two departments handcuffed her and placed her in the back of a patrol SUV that one officer had parked directly on railroad tracks. While officers searched her truck, a freight train approached; body-cam video shows Yareni screaming for help moments before the train slammed into the police vehicle, critically injuring her and leaving her with a traumatic brain injury, broken bones, and requiring surgery.

This Postman Went Insane - The Devan Schreiner Story Nov 25, 2025

Show notes

Devan Schreiner, a former USPS worker from Longmont, Colorado, was locked in a turbulent custody battle with her ex-boyfriend, postal carrier Jason Schaefer, the father of their young son. Their relationship had soured after years of conflict, and shortly before the murder she was fired from the post office following an undisclosed “incident.” Prosecutors said Schreiner became enraged when Jason sought increased custody, and on October 13, 2021, she ambushed him on his mail route, shooting him as he sat in his postal truck.

The World's Craziest Diamond Heist - The Leonardo Notarbartolo Story Nov 24, 2025

Show notes

Leonardo Notarbartolo was the mastermind behind the 2003 Antwerp Diamond Heist, one of the most ingenious burglaries ever pulled off. Working with a crew of elite Italian thieves, he spent over a year posing as a diamond trader to gain access to the Antwerp Diamond Center, a building considered nearly impenetrable thanks to its multilayered security

He Started Hundreds of Fires - The John Orr Story Nov 22, 2025

Show notes

John Orr was a respected Glendale, California fire captain and arson investigator who spent nearly a decade secretly setting the very fires he was supposed to prevent. Between 1984 and 1991, Orr ignited hundreds possibly thousands of fires.

He's The Most Corrupt Cop in History - The Rafael Perez Story Nov 21, 2025

Show notes

Rafael Pérez was an LAPD officer whose crimes detonated the largest police-corruption scandal in Los Angeles history. A member of the elite Rampart Division CRASH unit, Pérez spent years planting guns, framing suspects, falsifying reports, beating civilians, and even shooting unarmed people- including paralyzing 19-year-old Javier Ovando, then lying to send him to prison.

The Worst Dad In History - The Ronnie O'Neal Story Nov 20, 2025

Show notes

Ronnie O’Neal III committed one of Florida’s most shocking family murders on March 18, 2018. His son miraculously survived, crawled out of the burning house, and later testified against his father in court.

She Killed Both Her Husbands - The Velma Barfield Story Nov 19, 2025

Show notes

Velma Barfield was a North Carolina caretaker who became one of the most notorious female poisoners in U.S. history. Between 1971 and 1978, she quietly murdered multiple people in her orbit- beginning with her husband, Jennings Barfield, who died in a suspicious house fire while he slept, and later her own mother, along with an elderly couple she stole money from. Her final victim was her boyfriend, Stuart Taylor, whom she poisoned after he discovered she’d forged his checks.

Trapped Underwater For 60 Hours - The Harrison Okene Story Nov 18, 2025

Show notes

The Nigerian cook Harrison Okene was using the bathroom on a tugboat when a massive wave capsized the vessel and sent it to the ocean floor about 100 feet down. Trapped in total darkness, surrounded by drowning crew members, Okene found a tiny pocket of trapped air inside a bathroom and laundry area. He survived nearly three days in that pitch-black bubble.

The Craziest Ex Girlfriend - The Jodi Arias Story Nov 17, 2025

Show notes

Jodi Arias brutally murdered her ex-boyfriend, Travis Alexander, a charismatic Mormon salesman from Mesa, Arizona. The pair had met two years earlier at a business conference and quickly began a passionate but toxic relationship marked by jealousy, obsession, and sexual tension that clashed with Travis’s religious values. After he tried to end things and invited another woman on a Cancun trip, Arias drove from California to Arizona, where she stabbed him 27 times and shot him in the head.

The Con Man Who Faked His Own Death - The Samuel Israel Story Nov 15, 2025

Show notes

Samuel Israel III was a New York hedge fund manager who founded the Bayou Hedge Fund Group in 1996 and orchestrated one of the largest financial frauds of the early 2000s. After years of falsifying trading records and using a fake accounting firm to hide losses, Israel’s $300 million Ponzi scheme collapsed in 2005 when investors tried to withdraw their money. Facing charges of fraud and conspiracy, he was sentenced to 20 years in prison. In a bizarre twist, just before reporting to prison in 2008, Israel staged his own death.

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