Melanin Mayhem Podcast

In 1978, the city of Columbus, Georgia was shooketh.Headlines screamed about a serial killer targeting the elderbuns and all the while another monster was hiding in plain sight a melanated baddie with delusions of grandeur. For months, our mayhem maker terrorized the city, murdering women near Fort Benning and sending letters to police pretending to be something he was not. His twisted deception played the city and the cops like a poker chip. Come take a ride with me as I break down the story of William Henry Hance and the Forces of Evil that never was.

Orlando in the 80s was all sunshine, theme parks, and vacation dreams… until it wasn’t. Tourists were flying in for fun in the sun, but someone waiting in the shadows turned paradise into panic. A teenage terrorist with a taste for mayhem was using a popular tourist strip as his personal hunting ground, and his crimes would leave Orlando shooketh. This week, we head to the Sunshine State to unravel the story of Isaac Green that the travel brochures never mentioned.

This week I am headed to Springfield, Massachusetts to bring you the story of a disgusting doped up demon that was disconnecting black women like he worked for the power company. Alfred Gaynor was not only chasing a fix — he was chasing victims. Women overlooked and under investigated by police, all raped and killed by a dope smoking killer who thought his crimes would disappear like the crack smoke.You know how I bring it, and this story is a whole ass mess, so get comfortable and let's spill all this tea on Alfred's shenanigans.

This week, Noir Nation, we’re headed to Tampa, Florida, where the Seminole Heights neighborhood was under siege in late 2017. For 51 days, residents were shooketh because of a serial killer whose random, unprovoked attacks left four people dead and an entire community terrified. The man behind the violence? Someone no one ever would have thought could or would be behind it all- a young man named Howell Emanuel Donaldson III.From the fear on the streets to the jailhouse drama, this case is a chilling reminder that sometimes the predator is the boy next door.

Noir Nation have you ever seen somebody get caught with their hand in the cookie jar… then burn down the whole damn kitchen? This week’s Melanin Mayhem maker turned a petty hustle into pure carnage and went from “caught slipping” to “counting bodies” in minutes. This week we're going to Connecticut, and I've got a crazy story of how one man made the leap from misdemeanor theft to felony murder to busting hell wide open. I’ll walk you through how it all went down to become one of the worst workplace massacres you’ve probably never heard of committed by a melanated baddie named Omar Thornton.

In the winter of 1857, a Mississippi plantation dinner ended with more than just indigestion — we got a dead body, a master and mistress poisoned, and all fingers pointing to the cook. Was she serving dinner with a side of revenge, or was she the perfect scapegoat in a house already boiling with jealousy, colorism, pettiness and lust?This story has everything: a master who couldn’t keep out of his slaves’ beds, a mistress burning with rage, house slaves pitted against field slaves, and one pot of tea that changed everything. From whispered gossip around the cabins to a courtroom packed with lies, betrayals, and technical loopholes, this case shows how one woman may have turned the tables in the deadliest way possible.So, grab your cup, Noir Nation — because this week we’re sipping on a vintage tea as I lay out the story of Josephine the enslaved woman whose cup was overflowing with get back.

For years, a staggering number of Black women turned up dead in Bridgeport, CT. They died a horrific death- raped, strangled, stabbed, even burned. The streets whispered about a serial killer on the loose, but nobody knew who he was. Our mayhem maker on the surface was just another working man, blending into the fabric of the neighborhood like he belonged. But in reality, he was hiding evilness in plain sight.When police turned up the heat, he flew south to avoid detection, but his sick twisted ways followed him to Georgia. Different states. Same pattern. More bodies.It would take years, a mandatory cheek swab, and a backlog of ignored evidence before investigators finally connected the dots. And what they uncovered was worse than anyone expected.This week I'm bringing you the chilling story of the man who came to be known as the East End Killer —Mr. Emanuel L. Webb. Tickets for the live BTCC show:⁠⁠⁠https://btcc-presents-crime-cocktails-canvases.cheddarup.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Hotel booking:⁠⁠⁠https://group.homewood-suites.com/yfpzox⁠⁠Get your Melanin Mayhem Merch: www.melaninmayhempodcast.com

This week’s Melanin Mayhem maker turned an ordinary commute into a nightmare. Picture it, a crowded train, rush-hour passengers just trying to get home, and in a matter of minutes— bullets start flying. The aftermath? Chaos and tragedy that stunned New York and the nation.But the mayhem didn’t end there. What followed in the courtroom was a spectacle unlike anything the justice system had ever seen—complete with shocking testimony, conspiracy-laced rants, and a defendant determined to represent himself no matter how outrageous it became.Join me as we peel back the layers of one of the most underreported, diabolical and infamous cases in black true crime history and see how one train ride spiraled into horror at the hands of the Long Island Rail Road Killer Mr. Colin Ferguson.

Chuck E. Cheese is supposed to be all about kids running around on a sugar high, eating nasty pizza, and parents trying to survive the chaos. But in Aurora, Colorado, one night in ’93 turned into anything but fun.See what happened when a job went left, and a disgruntled employee decided not to do the right thing. His anger didn’t just stop at a pink slip. It came back with a gun. And what should’ve been another night of flashing lights and arcade tickets turned into one of the deadliest acts of workplace violence the city had ever seen.This week's Melanin Mayhem maker is Nathan Dunlap and this ain’t just a story about a mass shooting—it’s a story about how fast resentment can turn deadly and how any workplace can become a battlefield.Tickets for the live BTCC show:⁠⁠⁠https://btcc-presents-crime-cocktails-canvases.cheddarup.com⁠Hotel booking:⁠⁠⁠https://group.homewood-suites.com/yfpzox⁠⁠Melanin Mayhem Podcast official merchandise:www.melaninmayhempodcast.com

Today we are starting out in Colorado to spill the tea on a man whose face and life were forever scarred, both literally and figuratively and forever branded with the nickname “Scarface” after a childhood trauma. Barely skating on murder charges for a shocking crime in Aurora he then embarks on a crime spree in Virginia and New York. Join me as I delve deep into the life and crimes of Joshua Wayne Andrews—his troubled upbringing, his violent spiral across states, and the legal twists that took him from dead man walking to 3 hots and a cot for the rest of his life Was he a product of circumstance, or a man hellbent on crashing out whenever and wherever he could? Tune in to “Scarface” and decide for yourself.Tickets for the live BTCC show:⁠⁠⁠https://btcc-presents-crime-cocktails-canvases.cheddarup.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Hotel booking:⁠⁠⁠https://group.homewood-suites.com/yfpzox⁠⁠Get your Melanin Mayhem Merch: ⁠⁠www.melaninmayhempodcast.com

I don’t usually cover gang shenanigans, mostly because I like my edges intact. But today I got some vintage tea on a wild story about one of Chicago's most vicious gang- the Royal Family, where “no witnesses, no mercy” wasn’t a motto; it was protocol.This story has everything- murder, drugs, intimidation and hitmen for hire. But the real gangster shit didn't happen in the streets, it went down at the courthouse. Come join me for the tale of Roger Lee Collins, William Bracy and Murray Hooper and the southside mayhem that followed.Go down the rabbit hole: (4) Chicago Gangs Folks Vs People Vs Renegade | The Royal Family (New Breed Black Gangster) Gang History | FacebookTickets for the live BTCC show:⁠⁠⁠https://btcc-presents-crime-cocktails-canvases.cheddarup.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Hotel booking:⁠⁠⁠https://group.homewood-suites.com/yfpzox⁠⁠Get your Melanin Mayhem Merch: www.MelaninMayhempodcast.com

Listen, fam — you can only push somebody so far before they show you better than they can tell you. Emanuel Burl Patterson wasn’t a career criminal, wasn’t out here terrorizing folks… until one morning in Huntsville when an argument over a CD player turned into a mass shooting. This ain’t your typical “snapped” story — this is a cautionary tale about what can happen when you clown the wrong one. Noir Nation, buckle up. FAFO is in full effect.Tickets for the live BTCC show:⁠⁠⁠https://btcc-presents-crime-cocktails-canvases.cheddarup.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Hotel booking:⁠⁠⁠https://group.homewood-suites.com/yfpzox⁠⁠Get your Melanin Mayhem Merch: ⁠⁠Shop Melanin Mayhem Podcast

Picture it, Memphis, September 2022. A teen with a long paper trail of criminality since he was knee high to a butterfly hits “go live” and turns a regular Wednesday into a citywide nightmare—random shootings, carjackings, and panic streaming in real time. In this episode, we trace Ezekiel Kelly’s path from early charges and second chances to the hours-long rampage that shut the city down and left families forever changed. This YN was a domestic terrorist and I'm spilling all the tea on how it all went down. Tickets for the live BTCC show:⁠⁠⁠https://btcc-presents-crime-cocktails-canvases.cheddarup.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Hotel booking:⁠⁠⁠https://group.homewood-suites.com/yfpzox⁠⁠Get your Melanin Mayhem Merch: ⁠⁠Shop Melanin Mayhem Podcast

Kimberly McCarthy had the kind of smile that could disarm you — and a hustle that could leave you dead. Once an occupational therapist, she fell deep into the streets, trading scrubs for a crack pipe and a dangerous game of survival. But when a sweet-talking “visit” to her elderbun neighbors house turned into a savage murder, Texas was ready to make an example out of her. Then all hell broke loose during sentencing and put Kim on a whole 'nother level of mayhem, Kimberly wasn’t just in the headlines — she was making death row history.Tickets for the live BTCC show:⁠⁠https://btcc-presents-crime-cocktails-canvases.cheddarup.com⁠⁠Hotel booking:⁠⁠https://group.homewood-suites.com/yfpzox⁠Get your Melanin Mayhem Merch: ⁠Shop Melanin Mayhem Podcast

When a charming smile hides a bloodstained truth, how many warnings get ignored before the mayhem boils over? This week on Melanin Mayhem, we head to New York to dissect the chilling case of Nathaniel White—a convicted killer who stalked the Hudson Valley in the early '90s, leaving behind a trail of brutalized Black women. Despite a prior conviction and multiple red flags, White managed to stay under the radar long enough to earn the title of one of New York’s most prolific serial killers. How did he slip through the cracks? And what does his story say about whose lives are prioritized in the pursuit of justice?Tap in as we unravel a case filled with missed chances, overlooked victims, and cold-blooded murder.Get your Melanin Mayhem Merch:www.melaninmayhempodcast.comTickets for the live BTCC show:https://btcc-presents-crime-cocktails-canvases.cheddarup.comHotel booking:https://group.homewood-suites.com/yfpzox

Today we are taking the way back machine to 1902 to learn about the story of how one black man with one rifle held off a mob that was determined to get to him by any means necessary. This week we’re digging into the story of a man whose trigger finger made history, even if most folks have never heard his name. Lock in as we unravel the chaos, the carnage, and the calculated aim of one of the South’s deadliest forgotten shooters- William Reynolds.

She played in everybody's face as the grieving widow when all the while she was playing them like poker chips. This week, we dive into the twisted tale of Josephine Gray — a woman whose lovers had a nasty habit of ending up communing with the Lord. But while the bodies dropped, her bank account grew, getting fat off life insurance payouts. With voodoo, manipulation, and a cold heart, Josephine managed to stay steps ahead of the law — that is until the law figured out how to out slick a slickster. Tap in as we unravel the deadly game of one of Maryland’s most chilling femmes fatales.Get your Melanin Mayhem merch: www.melaninmayhempodcast.com

This week on Melanin Mayhem, we’re shining a spotlight on William Jennings Choyce — a wolf in sheep's clothing. He wasn’t just living a double life; he was living a deadly one. William Choyce terrorized California’s streets for years, slipping through the cracks and leaving bodies in his wake. How did he keep up the double life for so long? And what finally brought him to justice? Tap in as we dive into one of the most sinister predators you’ve probably never heard of.

This week on Melanin Mayhem:In Alabama, they called him Reverend… but he didn't have a pulpit. But Rev. Willie Maxwell was stacking bodies and cashing checks. Family members kept dropping like flies, and somehow the “Voodoo Preacher” always had an insurance policy ready to cash in.Was it voodoo? Was it hustle? Or was it just cold-blooded murder wrapped in a church robe? For years, Willie Maxwell played the system — untouchable, unstoppable, and surrounded by whispers of black magic and deep-country curses.But karma don’t miss. One funeral turned into front-row vengeance when someone decided to handle the Reverend’s “last sermon” himself… in front of a packed house.Tap in as we dissect the twisted shyster of a man who turned faith into a fatal hustle and see how the so-called “Voodoo Preacher” finally met his match.

This week on Melanin Mayhem:Stewart Weldon was no stranger to a jail cell — in and out, time after time. His criminality on repeat. Each time, he slipped right back into his same routine, never facing the true weight of his crimes. A never-ending game of “pass the buck” between the courts, until his final arrest ripped the mask off for good.What they found behind closed doors was the things nightmares are made of: kidnapped women, unspeakable abuse, and a trail of bodies that could’ve been stopped if someone had just stood on business sooner.Join me as I break down the tragic failures that let a monster roam free, and the chilling discoveries that finally brought his diabolical crimes to an end.