Introducing: The Peacemaker

Starting in 2016, a series of student suicides shook Truman State University. At first, they were seen only as tragedies. But when the same young man appeared at the center of each death, mourning turned to questions--then accusations. Was Brandon Grossheim a compassionate confidant? Or something else entirely? THE PEACEMAKER is a true crime podcast about grief, suspicion, and the most notorious suicide cluster in American history.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
I'm investigative journalist Ben Westoff and This is The Peacemaker,
a new true crime podcast set at Truman State University,
a small liberal arts college in Missouri that is often
called the Harvard of the Midwest. Many college students struggle
with anxiety, yet no one was prepared for the rash
of suicides that overtook this picturesque campus in twenty sixteen

(00:24):
and twenty seventeen. They happened one after another before anyone
could figure out what was going on. The suicides took
on a distressing pattern. Many victims were from the same fraternity,
and every single one was close friends with a mysterious
student named Brandon Grosheim. Brandon was, by some accounts, a

(00:48):
really caring, empathetic guy. He seemed to want to talk
to anyone who is depressed, but something went terribly wrong.
The young men he purportedly tried to help were the
very ones taking their own lives. In fact, he even
found some of the bodies.

Speaker 2 (01:06):
Whenever I got through the windill, I tried to pick
him up, and his body was stiff. I laid him
down and I'm ursiated right, so it's his head back
and presenting him off the cpr okay, I'd tell you
guys are right. Okay.

Speaker 1 (01:18):
As the body count kept rising, Brandon came under scrutiny.
People wondered why he always seemed to be in the
mix when someone killed himselves.

Speaker 2 (01:27):
The lawsuit says Grossheim was one of the last people
to see each victim before their deaths, and was reportedly
seen wearing one of the victim's clothing.

Speaker 1 (01:35):
He was kicked out of his fraternity, and now he's
being sued by the parents of some of the victims.

Speaker 2 (01:42):
Well, just the fact that at that point to find
out that Brandon had been either present to find the bodies,
or had been the last known person to be seen
with them, or showed up at the scene.

Speaker 1 (01:56):
Ironically, according to the lawsuit against him, Brandon called himself
the Peacemaker because of his supposed abilities to help people
in crisis. But not everyone thinks Brandon Grosheim is guilty.
In fact, a lot of people think he's gotten a
raw deal, that he was simply unlucky enough to be
in the wrong place at the wrong time, again and

(02:19):
again and again. I do feel bad for Brian Grossheid
if he's top and files liable of anything, Yet his
name is in every major newspaper across America. This is
The Peacemaker, a true crime podcast investigation into the most
infamous suicide cluster in American history and the man at

(02:40):
the center of it all. Listen to The Peacemaker podcast
starting October fourteenth, on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or
wherever you get your podcast