Ray William Johnson: True Story Podcast

Ryan Wedding, a former Canadian Olympic snowboarder who competed in the 2002 Salt Lake City Games, transitioned from professional athletics to becoming one of North America's most wanted drug kingpins.

Jonathan Gerlach, a 34-year-old former metalcore vocalist from Ephrata, Pennsylvania, was arrested in January 2026 for a massive grave-robbing spree that officials described as a "horror movie come to life." Following a months-long investigation and an anonymous tip, police caught Gerlach leaving the historic Mount Moriah Cemetery with a burlap sack containing human remains.

In February 2008, facing massive debt and a Medicare fraud conviction, 40-year-old Lake Barrington contractor Ari Squire hatched a plan to fake his own death to collect on a $5 million life insurance policy. He lured 20-year-old Justin Newman to his home with the promise of a high-paying construction job, then murdered him and staged a horrific scene in his garage.

Kulthum Akbari is an Iranian serial killer arrested in 2023 who confessed to murdering her 82-year-old husband and 13 men over a twenty-year span, though investigations suggest she may have killed over 20 men through a scheme involving multiple fraudulent marriages. Operating in Sari, Iran, between 2001 and 2023, Akbari targeted elderly husbands, marrying them before killing them.

John Hinckley Jr. became infamous in 1981 when he attempted to assassinate President Ronald Reagan outside the Washington Hilton Hotel, shooting Reagan and three others, including Press Secretary James Brady, who was left permanently disabled. Hinckley later said he carried out the attack in a delusional effort to impress actress Jodie Foster, with whom he had become obsessed after watching the film Taxi Driver.