Unsolved with Steve Gregory

KFI AM 640 (KFI-AM)

There are more than 10,000 unsolved crimes in Southern California, most of which are homicides. Unsolved with Steve Gregory highlights some of the cases that have gone cold, hit a brick wall or just needs that one piece of evidence or witness to surface. The program also features challenging cases, the most wanted, and the investigators who work behind the scenes. Unsolved with Steve Gregory is a production of the KFI News Department for iHeartMedia Los Angeles. The series is produced by Steve Gregory and Jacob Gonzalez. read less

Our Editor's Take

Unsolved with Steve Gregory investigates Southern California murder cases that baffle the police. The podcast also explores other regional crimes that remain mysteries. Listeners learn crime scene and investigation details, updates, and what questions remain.

Podcast host Steve reports for KFI-AM 640 in Los Angeles. He's also an iHeartMedia national correspondent. Steve has taught courses at the LAPD and the University of Southern California. In 2020, he began serving as an instructor for the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department. Steve specializes in media relations and crisis communications.

In one podcast episode, Steve discusses the Colby Fire that raged through the Angeles National Forest in 2014. It burned thousands of acres and several homes. The wildfire seemed to erupt from stray campfire embers. The full story is more complex. A resident reported seeing two men running through the woods. Did they Intentionally start the blaze? What was their motive, and did they have accomplices?

Steve explores a troubling disappearance in "Missing Mom in Mexico." He speaks with Zonia Lopez about the day someone abducted her mother from their front yard. The woman was a US citizen, so the FBI handled her case. The FBI joins Steve on the podcast to discuss kidnappings in foreign countries. Another episode details the killing of two young men. While the police found tons of bullet casings, locals insisted they didn't see anything. Despite a $40,000 reward, no one has shared any information with law enforcement.

The murder of a US Army veteran is the subject of another podcast episode. When he returned from war, someone shot him to death in front of his brother's home in Lancaster, California. The man was about to get married, graduate from college, and begin his life anew. Who shot him, and why? Will anyone ever know the answers to these questions? Sergeant Pete Hish comes on the show to discuss the battle against cybercrimes. He talks about his most intriguing cases and shares advice.

Unsolved with Steve Gregory releases weekly episodes.

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Episode 614 - Season 6 Finale

Episode 614 - Season 6 Finale

In this episode we look back at cases featured during season 6. This season had us at the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, the Upland Police Department, the Los Angeles County Fire Department, the Riverside County District Attorney’s Office, and the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department. Each segment includes the introduction to each case followed by the episode number for easy reference to hear the complete case/episode on the iHeartRadio app.

Episodes

Episode 614 - Season 6 Finale

Episode 614 - Season 6 Finale

In this episode we look back at cases featured during season 6. This season had us at the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, the Upland Police Department, the Los Angeles County Fire Department, the Riverside County District Attorney’s Office, and the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department. Each segment includes the introduction to each case followed by the episode number for easy reference to hear the complete case/episode on the iHeartRadio app.

Episode 613 - Murdered Musical Medical Student

Episode 613 - Murdered Musical Medical Student

Case #1: On July 24th, 2022, Malik McGee had just finished performing at a hookah lounge in Upland, CA. As he drove away someone opened fire hitting Malik twice through the side of his car. Just an hour before that, surveillance video shows a guy scoping out the best positions to shoot from, including methodically practicing how he was going to aim and shoot. Malik had graduated with a degree in biology and was headed to medical school. He performed music, taught dance at his high school alma mater, and gave back to his community. Case #2: On January 27th, 1996, a body of an unidentified woman was found near some trash in a hilly area next to Gilman Springs Road and Highway 60 near the city of Beaumont, CA. A forensic pathologist found the woman had a surgical cesarean scar indicating she had given birth. The woman was wearing jewelry, was well kept, and had undergone expensive dental work. All these years later, detectives have no idea who she is and who wanted her dead.

Episode 612 - Mysterious Murdered Hitchhiker / Sherri Herrera / Christmas Night Shooting

Episode 612 - Mysterious Murdered Hitchhiker / Sherri Herrera / Christmas Night Shooting

Case #1 – August 30th, 1992, a woman was found hidden under some brush along highway 95 just north of Blythe, CA. Her body was mummified and severely decomposed. In 1994, a long-haul trucker admitted to killing the woman and a number of other women. He was nicknamed the ‘Happy Face Killer’. We speak with an investigator from the Riverside County District Attorney’s Office who is asking for help to identify the murdered woman from 1992; Case #2 – The partially clothed body of Sherri Herrera was found near a freeway onramp east of Palm Springs. She was known as a prostitute who frequented truck stops. Investigators use forensic Genealogy to form a suspect profile; Case #3 – On Christmas night of 2016, 3 men approached a car in the city of Riverside and opened fire. Miraculously, the driver and her companion escaped. New surveillance video was released.

Episode 611 - Sahara Sue Doe

Episode 611 - Sahara Sue Doe

In 1979 a 19-year-old woman was found brutally beaten and stabbed to death near what was then the old “El Rancho Hotel” near the Las Vegas Strip. For decades she remained a ‘Jane Doe’ or as detectives nicknamed her, ‘Sahara Sue Doe’. In December of 2023 new DNA technology allowed a cold case detective with the Las Vegas Metro Police Department to contact a probable relative in California. The call paid off and Sahara Sue Doe became Gwenn Marie Story, a teenager from Cincinnati, Ohio who had initially planned a trip to California to find her real father. But the stop in Las Vegas with two male friends would prove deadly. Case #2, Detective Eric Ogaz with the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department talks about Scott Echols, an 8-year-old boy who, in 1992, answered the door at his home late one night and mysteriously disappeared.

Episode 610 - The Black Dahlia Anniversary

Episode 610 - The Black Dahlia Anniversary

On January 15th, 1947, the mutilated body of Elizabeth Short was found in Leimert Park, a public space located in South Los Angeles. Someone had performed an hemicorporectomy, the act of cutting a body in half at a specific point of the body. The woman who first spotted the body out in the open thought it was a mannequin, mostly because the skin color was so pale, a result of Short’s fluids and blood being completely drained from her body. In this Anniversary edition we speak with case expert Steve Hodel, a retired detective with the Los Angeles Police Department. Not only is Hodel entrenched in the case, he also has a personal connection.

Episode 609 - Deadly Search Warrant

Episode 609 - Deadly Search Warrant

On October 28th, 2006, in an unincorporated area of Los Angeles County, a man was shot and killed at a birthday party over an older, long-standing personal grudge. Investigators with the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Homicide Bureau quickly identified a suspect. A few days later, November 2nd, more than two dozen deputies, along with detectives, were serving a search warrant at a house in the Willowbrook area. A number of men were inside the home and as deputies detained them on the porch to wait, three men appeared from across the street and opened fire. Miraculously, none of the deputies, detectives, or detainees were hit. But a 12-year-old girl watching the commotion from her driveway next door was struck through her chest by a round from an AK-47. She died on scene. Her 15-year-old friend was injured and the shooter(s) are still at large.

Episode 608 - Father Chauffeurs Killer Son / Baby Jane Doe

Episode 608 - Father Chauffeurs Killer Son / Baby Jane Doe

Case #1: Anthony Velasquez and his father, Manuel, are arrested by the LA County Sheriff's Department’s Cold Case Unit in connection with the deaths of 3 people over a 4-year period in the East LA area. Manuel is accused of driving his son to some of the murder scenes. Case #2: A tragic case from the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Cold Case unit – the discovery of a newborn at a trash sorting facility. Detectives are trying to find the identity of Baby Jane Doe #45 and the mother who dumped her into a trash bin.

Episode 607 - Holiday Homicides

Episode 607 - Holiday Homicides

In this special edition of Unsolved with Steve Gregory we look back at homicides that happened between the traditional holidays of Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year’s – cases from Southern California and around the country. Many experts say the holiday season is a major stressor for people and some of the motivations behind holiday homicides include money, loneliness, and domestic issues. We look at murders as far back as 1881 and as recent as 2022. The cases come from all walks of life, including a poverty-stricken community in Kentucky and an upscale neighborhood in Chicago. The killers include a tobacco sharecropper, a former engineer with JPL, a desperate roommate, and an 18-year-old who didn’t want to pay rent.

Episode 606 - The Hard Drive Sniffin’ Black Labs

Episode 606 - The Hard Drive Sniffin’ Black Labs

Dogs are being trained to detect chemicals used on the memories and hard drives of all digital devices. These dogs can sniff out thumb drives, smartphones, external drives, and other devices used to store illicit content, including child pornography and financial crime data. We go to the inner sanctum of the Los Angeles County Sheriff Department’s Fraud & Cybercrimes Bureau located at a secret location in south Los Angeles County – a first for a journalist. Sergeant Pete Hish handles ‘K-9 Satoshi’ and Sergeant Sergio Reyes handles ‘K-9 Zypher’. They tell us how their specially trained Electronics Detection K-9’s are being used to help solve cases and catch the bad guys. It’s part of our ongoing ‘Crime-Fighter Series’.

Episode 605 - Holiday Homicides

Episode 605 - Holiday Homicides

In this special edition of Unsolved with Steve Gregory we look back at homicides that happened between the traditional holidays of Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year’s – cases from Southern California and around the country. Many experts say the holiday season is a major stressor for people and some of the motivations behind holiday homicides include money, loneliness, and domestic issues. We look at murders as far back as 1881 and as recent as 2022. The cases come from all walks of life, including a poverty-stricken community in Kentucky and an upscale neighborhood in Chicago. The killers include a tobacco sharecropper, a former engineer with JPL, a desperate roommate, and an 18-year-old who didn’t want to pay rent.

Episode 604 - Front Yard Assassination / Laundromat Execution

Episode 604 - Front Yard Assassination / Laundromat Execution

Case #1: December 30th, 2018, 46-year-old Demetrius Brackens and a relative had just walked out of the front door of a home in Compton. As they went down the sidewalk a man came up on them and without warning or provocation opened fire fatally hitting Brackens and injuring the relative. Neither of the men were tied to a gang and a doorbell video caught a glimpse of an SUV driving from the scene. UPDATE: The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors and Compton City Council are offering a combined reward of $20,000 for the capture of the person or persons responsible for Brackens’ death and the attempted murder of his relative. Case #2: 13-year-old Miguel Perez and 19-year-old Jose Merlos were janitors at a laundromat in Lynwood. On March 8th, 1992, after closing the business for the night, someone entered the laundromat and forced the two to the rear of the building; they were shot execution style. While robbery was the strongest motive, detectives now believe there may have been something more to it. And how will a conversation overheard at a recent party steer the 30-year-old investigation?

Episode 603 - Holiday Homicides

Episode 603 - Holiday Homicides

In this special edition of Unsolved with Steve Gregory we look back at homicides that happened between the traditional holidays of Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year’s – cases from Southern California and around the country. Many experts say the holiday season is a major stressor for people and some of the motivations behind holiday homicides include money, loneliness, and domestic issues. We look at murders as far back as 1881 and as recent as 2022. The cases come from all walks of life, including a poverty-stricken community in Kentucky and an upscale neighborhood in Chicago. The killers include a tobacco sharecropper, a former engineer with JPL, a desperate roommate, and an 18-year-old who didn’t want to pay rent.

Episode 602 - Dead Body Dogs

Episode 602 - Dead Body Dogs

We meet Los Angeles County Firefighter/Paramedics Nick Bartel and Eddie Ruiz who have the additional gruesome task of handling Human Remains Detection K-9’s (aka Cadaver Dogs). The dogs are used both in murder investigations and recovery efforts. Bartel and Ruiz were sent to the island of Maui to help find human remains from that deadly wildfire in August of 2023. The firefighters walk us through how the dogs are trained to focus in on decomposed flesh and even bone marrow. Bartel and Ruiz also give candid first-person accounts of the carnage and devastation they experienced searching for remains around the historic town of Lahaina, Maui, Hawaii. This is part of Unsolved’s ‘Crime Fighter Series’.

Episode 601 - Bloody Bedroom

Episode 601 - Bloody Bedroom

In December of 1983 17-year-old Kristina Rosenberger was found stabbed to death under her bed inside her family’s home in Artesia, California. Kristina’s mother inadvertently discovered the body of her daughter while on the phone with the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department. Kristina’s mother thought she might have been hurt in an accident or was missing. Investigators zeroed in on a couple suspects, including the mother’s live-in boyfriend. Eventually, the case went cold and anyone who might have had access or reason to murder Kristina was cleared or, for whatever reason, never investigated further. LA County Sheriff’s Cold Case Detective Shaun McCarthy breaks down the case of the Bloody Bedroom, including new twists and clues in the case

Episode 510 - SEASON 5 FINALE / RECAP

Episode 510 - SEASON 5 FINALE / RECAP

In this episode we review the cases from Season 5. We also welcomed two new agencies to the program, the Redondo Beach Police Department, and the Los Angeles County Fire Department. The San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department returns as well as the FBI. We feature an accelerant-sniffing dog in our Crime Fighter Series, and cases about a con-man who preyed on single mothers, a security guard ambushed in a grocery store, a military man gunned down in front of a relative’s home, a missing mother in Mexico, and an 89-year-old woman who may have been ‘scared to death’. Plus, we feature a case where a bag of dry bones from 20 years ago led detectives to the identity of a victim and her possible killer. Unsolved with Steve Gregory is produced by Steve Gregory and Jacob Gonzalez.

Episode 509 - The Fast and Furious Fatal House Fire

Episode 509 - The Fast and Furious Fatal House Fire

On April 8th, 2016, fire crews were sent to a home on Mesarica Road in Covina, California. Smoke was seen coming from the roof and it seemed isolated to one area. When firefighters entered, they found the body of 89-year-old Helen Lambert. Her heavily charred body was on a bed and her wrists tied up. Investigators determined that Lambert didn’t die from the fire but most likely died from a very unusual circumstance. The woman lived with her teenage grandson who was at school when the fire happened. A neighbor who was also Lambert’s caregiver is the one who called 911. Who would tie up a grandmother, ignite a fire in her bedroom, and leave her for dead? And what was the motive? Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Detectives Shaun McCarthy and Rich Tomlin debrief us on the investigation.

Episode 508 - Arson K-9 / Laundromat Double Execution

Episode 508 - Arson K-9 / Laundromat Double Execution

The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department recently added an accelerant-sniffing K-9 to its arson unit. The specially trained dog can detect gasoline, diesel, lighter fluid, and many other accelerants. This segment is part of our ongoing Crime Fighter Series that features a behind the scenes look at the work to help solve cases. Also in this episode, 13-year-old Miguel Perez and 19-year-old Jose Merlos were janitors at a laundromat in Lynwood. On March 8th, 1992, after closing the business for the night, someone entered the laundromat and forced the two to the rear of the building; they were shot execution style. While robbery was the strongest motive, detectives now believe there may have been something more to it. And how will a conversation overheard at a recent party steer the 30-year-old investigation?

Episode 507 - History of Homicide (Encore Presentation)

Episode 507 - History of Homicide (Encore Presentation)

In this season opener we speak with Mike Fratantoni of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department’s Information Bureau. Fratantoni is also the curator of the department’s museum housed in the ground floor of the historic Hall of Justice. Fratantoni tells us about the beginning of the department in 1850 and walks us through the history of the department including the creation of the Homicide Detail in 1921, which became the Bureau of Investigation in 1934, and eventually evolved into the Homicide Bureau in 1950. Fratantoni also tells us about the ‘Vigilance Committee’ which was made up of townspeople who held secret court and carried out private executions.

Episode 506 - Dry Bones and DNA / Cul-De-Sac Killer

Episode 506 - Dry Bones and DNA / Cul-De-Sac Killer

Case #1 begins in the city of Redondo Beach where a bag of dry bones was discovered in 2001 by plumbers working at a residential construction site. Workers initially thought the bones were not human, but someone decided to call 911, which sparked a multi-year journey that led investigators from a Jane Doe to recently identifying Catherine Parker-Johnson. Now, if investigators could only find who killed Catherine and why. Case #2 involves a 20-year-old man who was killed for no apparent reason. How does a gaming nerd with a spotless record, loving family, and a fulltime job, get shot in cold blood at a cul-de-sac in an industrial part of El Monte, California?

Episode 505 - Missing Mom in Mexico

Episode 505 - Missing Mom in Mexico

On February 9th Maria Del Carmen Lopez was taken from the front yard of her home in Pueblo Nuevo, Colima, Mexico. Lopez is a US Citizen and retired to Pueblo Nuevo ten years ago. Lopez’ daughter, Zonia ‘Zoe’ Lopez, tells us about the day her family got a ransom call, and the subsequent calls for money, only to be ignored and ghosted. She also speaks about her family's frustration with the FBI and Mexican authorities. We also speak with the FBI about the case and how the agency handles the abductions of US Citizens in foreign countries. After you hear both sides of this mystery, you’ll be left with way more questions than answers.