Intimate Partner Violence, a Mysterious Hanging, a Hate Crime or Self Defense, and The Murder of Three Transgender Women of Color, State of Emergency
Panic: Queer True Crime
Paul Carlile and William Sakosky On November 5, 1982, Paul Carlile and William Sakosky checked into a room at the gay Florida resort Parliament House, only one of them would leave. Alana Miccolis and Megha Saluja Alana Miccolis and Megha Saluja agreed to spend a weekend at the Waldorf Astoria in Orlando, Florida. No one could have imagined how the trail of texts would lead detectives to a volatile trail of obsession, intimate partner violence, and death. Timothy Charles Lee On the evening of November 2, 1985, 23-year-old fashion design student Timothy Charles Lee fell asleep on the Bay Area...
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Ian McLoughlin: Allowed to Kill,
Panic: Queer True Crime
The story of Ian McLoughlin's murder spree contains mentions of crimes against teenagers and children. Viewer discretion is strongly advised. This content is intended for educational purposes only and aims to examine flaws in the justice system. It is not suitable for viewers under 18. Please prioritize your mental health and well-being. Ian McLoughlin - a serial killer who exploited the UK's controversial "provocation defense" to escape murder charges and continue killing for decades. In 1983, McLoughlin brutally murdered Len Delgatty but convinced a jury he was "provoked" by alleged audio...
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PRIDE. BABY!
Panic: Queer True Crime
To belatedly celebrate Pride, this special month-long podcast series highlights four extraordinary figures—some queer, some allied—whose lives and work shaped LGBTQ+ history in ways both bold and quietly revolutionary. We begin with the mysterious, evocative collaboration between African American model T and famed artist John Singer Sargent. Their decade-long connection, hidden in Sargent’s private collection, speaks volumes about art, desire, and survival in the shadows. Next, we honor Lorraine Hansberry—a trailblazing playwright, civil rights activist, and quiet radical. Though best...
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The Montagu Case: A Peer of the Realm Caught in a Gay Sex Scandal
Panic: Queer True Crime
Two corrections: The pronunciation of Beaulieu is closer to "B-you-ly" or BYOO-lee. In the episode, I mention that the age of consent was 16. That was the age of consent for heterosexuals only. Homosexuality was illegal across all ages until a minor reform in 1967. The Sexual Offences Act 1967 legalized homosexual acts between two men over 21 in private. This did not apply to the armed forces or the merchant navy. Lesbian acts were never criminalized, so there was no legal age of consent. In the spring of 1953, four men, including a British lord and two RAF officers, would become the...
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Murder and Hatred in the UK and Across The USA
Panic: Queer True Crime
Several of these stories and their victims are part of the anti-queer wave of legislation put in place by the UK conservative government seeking to outlaw homosexuality. As the anti-queer rhetoric rose, so did the violence against the LGBTQ+ community. The de Gruchy case was the first time the mainstream press began to use the term “queer-bashing” to describe the murderous level of hate crimes. Before this, the tone was unmistakably mock and/or cruel, but the standard would not hold. In 1969, Michael de Gruchy was attacked and beaten to death by a teen gang trolling a gay...
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A Wave of Uk Queer Bashing : The Murders of Michael Boothe and William Dalziel
Panic: Queer True Crime
One of the reasons I wanted to cover the murders of actor, Michael Boone, and hotel porter William Dalziel is that, like me, some of you will be surprised at when they happened. As it turns out, the crackdown on gay men using indecency laws meant gay men were arrested, and the signal to the homophobes was that it was hunting season. In 1990, the lives of lesbians and gays, not to mention trans and gender nonconforming people, were under assault. Section 28, a cynical bit of anti-gay legislation hung a shadow over the well-being of queer folks. In researching these cases, one of the sad...
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The Chicken and The Bull: One of the Largest Extortion Schemes of Gay Men You've Never Heard Of
Panic: Queer True Crime
When I started telling these stories, I understood the organized efforts to shame homosexuality out of existence. What I didn't expect was the level of criminality that would grow out of the demonizing of LGBTQ+ people. In the 1960s, Chicago police officer John J. Pyne began to organize a group of criminals and con men in an extortion ring that would go on to scam more than 1,000 men out of a million dollars across the United States, Mexico, Canada, and the United Kingdom. The FBI called the Chicken and the Bull extortion scheme the largest scheme of its kind up to that time. It is, in fact,...
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A Spree Killer, A Drifter, A Lover, Stranger Danger, A Murderous Wife, An Update, and a Cold Case
Panic: Queer True Crime
In my ongoing exploration of the history of homophobia in life and the law, I've been researching the trends, and I do mean trends, of attacks fueled by the targeting of mostly gay men. From the late 1950s through the 1970s in the United States, "Rolling a Queer" became such an epidemic that both Democrats and Republicans came together to introduce legislation that would create some minor protections for gays and lesbians. It failed, of course, and the attacks continued at pace. This crime wave helps to explain why the "Homosexual Panic Defense" began to be used in the 1960s in...
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Fires, Sudden Violence, White Supremacies, Murder in a Dog Park, Running Away to Murder
Panic: Queer True Crime
In this episode, five cases of homophobic rage, mental illness, alcohol abuse, and murder. Dream City Fire: One of the worst fires in modern London that you've probably never heard of. A combination of alcohol and anger sparked a series of events that ended in the death of 11 men in an unlicensed and uninspected second and third-floor cinema. Ashia Davis: On June 01, 2023, Carlos Scotland and Ashia Davis met at the Woodward Inn in Highland Park, Michigan. By the end of the evening, Ashia Davis would be dead, and the search for her killer would lead to a young killer whose motives remain...
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A Question of Honor?
Panic: Queer True Crime
In the television show The Sopranos, the character of "Big P*ssy" was based on a New York or New Jersey mobster targeted because of his sexual antics, but in Italy, there was a similar situation involving a highly respected hitman who stepped out of line by loving and wanting to make a life with the man he loved. Anthony “Bubbles” Torres was a character, a creation. He tended to amuse and sometimes irritate people. On the night he was killed, witnesses saw the beginnings of a confrontation and Torres's murder. Years later, police struggle to solve the case. In my research into...
info_outlineSeveral of these stories and their victims are part of the anti-queer wave of legislation put in place by the UK conservative government seeking to outlaw homosexuality. As the anti-queer rhetoric rose, so did the violence against the LGBTQ+ community.
The de Gruchy case was the first time the mainstream press began to use the term “queer-bashing” to describe the murderous level of hate crimes. Before this, the tone was unmistakably mock and/or cruel, but the standard would not hold.
In 1969, Michael de Gruchy was attacked and beaten to death by a teen gang trolling a gay cruising spot in Wimbledon, England. In 1972, Leonard Bestwick was stabbed and left to die after an attempted robbery by two young men who “Set out to roll a queer.” The murder of Mr. Bestwick highlights the capriciousness of hate. Bestwick and his friend were just out, as many others were having a drink, and for this, he was brutally murdered. If his friend had gone into the bathroom first, he might have met the same terrible fate.
On the evening of September 18, 1989, 40, Christoph Schliack, a German immigrant living in the UK for more than 20 years, was murdered in his Shepherd’s Bush, London flat. Kenneth Williams, the 20-something who killed him, managed to flee the city of London for Ireland. Mr. Schliack had attended Leeds University, studying Chinese. He was also a lawyer, but did not practice at the bar for unclear reasons.
On August 30, 1987, Richard Lynn Earnest went to his estranged wife's home, where he removed his wife's and her lover's shoes from the car, replacing them with his carpentry tools. Before driving off, he left two notes, one for his son and the other for his wife. A day later, Richard Earnest would be dead. Mr. Earnest left behind a son and a family who loved him.
On Monday, June 9, 2008, 37, Jeremy Waggoner, a Royal Oak, Michigan hairdresser, was last seen leaving a Detroit, Michigan bar getting into his SUV with a man identified as Rich. When he didn't return home, his partner of seven years called the police, reporting Waggoner missing.
On Monday, March 31, 2025, 31, Kaitoria “Kai” Bankz and 27, Kelmen Merrell King made arrangements to hook up in Autaugaville, Alabama, around 11:40 pm. When they did meet, King and an accomplice attempted to carjack Bankz and her brother, resulting in the death of Bankz.
Watch any of these stories of any of the cases covered on the podcast, check out and subscribe to the YouTube channel at: