Panicked: Brent William Bedayan and the Murder of Three Members of the Schallock Family
Panic: Queer True Crime
On March 16th, 1973, three members of the Schallock family were found dead in their driveway as their home burned behind them. This episode explores the tragic descent of Brent William Bedayan, a former athlete whose treatment of schizophrenia couldn't prevent the devastating, violent outcome. Discover how the defense relied on the discredited psychiatric theory "homosexual panic," even though the decade had ushered in advances in the understanding and treatment of paranoia and schizophrenia. Join me to explore the rarely discussed intersection of mental health, LGBTQ+ history, and...
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Sex, Identity, and a Fight for Survival
Panic: Queer True Crime
Sex, Identity, and The Fight for Basic Rights Two landmark cases that overturned the targeted attempts on the part of states across the United States to criminalize being queer. In 1982 and 1998, both Michael Hardwick, John Geddes Lawrence Jr., and Tyron Garner were arrested for having sex in the privacy of their own homes. A State of Emergency: Violence Against Black Trans Women, A Cry for Justice 4 Black Trans Women Killed – A State of Emergency from across the country of black transgender women murdered by gun violence. All but one of these cases is solved. All of the women deserve the...
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A Serial Killer in the Suburbs of Paris, The Death of a Small Town Legend, Domestic Violence in Harlem, A Repeat Offender, and a Black Trans State of Emergency
Panic: Queer True Crime
A Serial Killer in the Suburbs of Paris The first victim was spotted by a passerby on August 13, 2025, as officials fished the body out of the Seine in a suburb of Paris near a known gay cruising spot. Divers searching the area found another body, then another, then another. As investigators search for answers and other possible victims, speculation swirls about the motive for the murders. The Murder of Ryan Godbey: A Family Seeks Justice Ryan Godbey, a beloved member of Canton’s LGBTQ+ community, whose a disappearance and murder shocked the Canton, Ohio area in 2025. The arrest...
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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,...
info_outlineThe 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 recordings, receiving just 5 years for manslaughter instead of life for murder.
This legal loophole - similar to the US "gay panic defense" - allowed prejudice against LGBTQ+ victims to influence courtroom decisions. Released early as a "model prisoner," McLoughlin killed again in 1990, murdering Peter Halls using the same defense strategy. F
inally sentenced to life in 1992, he was inexplicably granted temporary release in 2013, leading to the senseless murder of a man coming to the aid of his elder neighbor. A fair amount of attention has been paid to the use of the gay/trans panic defense in the USA, but not quite enough attention has been paid to the ravages of the Provocation Defense before it was ended in the UK.
I will do another story about murders committed under the Provocation Defense in the next episode. The victims mentioned in that episode have rarely been discussed in print or on social media. These are difficult but I think important stories to tell.
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