Crooked River

CROOKED RIVER is a fictional podcast narrative that spans the five-year period between September 1934 and August 1939 in post-Prohibition Cleveland, Ohio at the height of the Great Depression. During this politically turbulent time, an elusive killer decapitated and dismembered thirteen victims—seven men and six women—all under the watch of newly appointed Public Safety Director Eliot Ness, the famed G-man from Al Capone’s Chicago glory days. The disturbing crimes, the setting, and the peripheral characters, suspects and cops are real—the two lead characters (the local cop and the Federal Agent) are fictional.


Created by:

Dave Beazley and Casey Wells


Starring:

Zachary Ray Sherman as Alvin Pike

Jeff Tendall as Joe Antonetti

Miles Sullivan as Ed Krauss

Andrew Garrett as Gus Frayne

Albie Selznick as Coroner Pearse

Stephanie Myers as Margie

Levi Petree as Eliot Ness and Orley May

Joseph Covino as Pete Merylo

Glenn Payne as Frank Vorrell

Nate Ward as Mick Basile and Newscaster

Taylor Jorree Scorse as Agnes Tuttle and Operator

Jessica Andres as Virginia Allen and Waitress

Dave Huber as Joseph Andrassy and Lou Fortum

Gayle Trudeau as Helen Andrassy

Rafael Goldstein as Martin Zalewski and Emil Musil

Alexandra Vaughan as Cop


Post Production Sound by

Joe Moralez & ElfTree Studio


Written by:

Casey Wells


Produced, Directed & Edited by

Dave Beazley


A Heywood Production

Fiction
1
6. The Devil You Know
In 1935, Pike interviews the parents of one of the Butcher’s victims. In 1964, Antonetti and Krauss discuss the details of the Torso Murders case and plan their next move.
18 min
2
5. The Untouchable Eliot Ness
In 1935, Pike and Frayne meet with Eliot Ness while the cops at the Cleveland Detective Bureau examine the evidence in the Jackass Hill murders. Later, Pike pays a visit to the Coroner.
21 min
3
4. Two Heads Are Better Than One
In 1935, Pike and Frayne visit the Coroner’s office to view the decapitated heads of the Butcher’s second and third victims before joining a raid on an illegal alcohol manufacturing still led by famed G-man Eliot Ness.
15 min
4
3. Kingsbury Run
In 1964, Antonetti and Krauss quiz elderly Alvin Pike about the two dismembered bodies found on Jackass Hill. In 1935, Pike comes face to face with the enigmatic Gus Frayne.
23 min
5
1. Thirty Years Hence
In 1964, Homicide Detectives Antonetti and Krauss take a deep dive into Cleveland’s most notorious unsolved serial murder case, that of the Mad Butcher of Kingsbury Run, a.k.a. The Torso Murders.
17 min
6
2. The Lady of the Lake
In 1964, Antonetti and Krauss embark on a cat-and-mouse interview with long-retired Cleveland cop Alvin Pike about his involvement in the Butcher case. In 1934-5, Detective Pike investigates the murders of the Butcher’s first three victims.
20 min
7
Crooked River - Trailer
Crooked River - Trailer
2 min