Melanin Mayhem Podcast

This week we are headed to Dayton to tell the story of a man with a rap sheet a mile long who received a second chance to do the right thing but instead he walks right back into the same story he already wrote in blood. This episode tracks Nicole “Nico” Cunigan. We unpack the red flags, the parole piece, and how the system looked away while a mother, her unborn child, and a teenager paid the ultimate price because of his shenanigan...

Picture it, Memphis, September 2022. A teen with a long paper trail of criminality since he was knee high to a butterfly hits “go live” and turns a regular Wednesday into a citywide nightmare—random shootings, carjackings, and panic streaming in real time. In this episode, we trace Ezekiel Kelly’s path from early charges and second chances to the hours-long rampage that shut the city down and left families forever changed. This YN ...

Kimberly McCarthy had the kind of smile that could disarm you — and a hustle that could leave you dead. Once an occupational therapist, she fell deep into the streets, trading scrubs for a crack pipe and a dangerous game of survival. But when a sweet-talking “visit” to her elderbun neighbors house turned into a savage murder, Texas was ready to make an example out of her. Then all hell broke loose during sentencing and put Kim on a...

When love walks into a prison and never walks back out…
Two women. Two “family visits.” Same California prison. Same deadly ending. In less than five months, 47-year-old Tania Thomas and 62-year-old Stephanie Brinson each stepped into Mule Creek State Prison to spend private time with their husbands — one serving life for attempted murder, the other serving four life terms for a quadruple homicide. Neither woman made it out aliv...

When a charming smile hides a bloodstained truth, how many warnings get ignored before the mayhem boils over? This week on Melanin Mayhem, we head to New York to dissect the chilling case of Nathaniel White—a convicted killer who stalked the Hudson Valley in the early '90s, leaving behind a trail of brutalized Black women. Despite a prior conviction and multiple red flags, White managed to stay under the radar long enough to ea...

Today we are taking the way back machine to 1902 to learn about the story of how one black man with one rifle held off a mob that was determined to get to him by any means necessary. This week we’re digging into the story of a man whose trigger finger made history, even if most folks have never heard his name. Lock in as we unravel the chaos, the carnage, and the calculated aim of one of the South’s deadliest forgotten shooters- Wi...

Love Kills X Melanin Mayhem brings you the firey tale of a neighborhood vigilante whose warped sense of righteousness led to the death of nine innocent people in Akron, Ohio. In this scorcher of an episode, we’re striking the match on Stanley Ford — the Akron man who turned petty neighbor beef into a deadly firestorm. Stanley appointed himself judge, jury, and executioner, anyone he thought wasn't living by the good book, was d...

She played in everybody's face as the grieving widow when all the while she was playing them like poker chips. This week, we dive into the twisted tale of Josephine Gray — a woman whose lovers had a nasty habit of ending up communing with the Lord. But while the bodies dropped, her bank account grew, getting fat off life insurance payouts. With voodoo, manipulation, and a cold heart, Josephine managed to stay steps ahead of the...

This week on Melanin Mayhem, we’re shining a spotlight on William Jennings Choyce — a wolf in sheep's clothing. He wasn’t just living a double life; he was living a deadly one. William Choyce terrorized California’s streets for years, slipping through the cracks and leaving bodies in his wake. How did he keep up the double life for so long? And what finally brought him to justice? Tap in as we dive into one of the most sinister...

This week on Love Kills x Melanin Mayhem, we dive deep into what happens when 'let her cook' goes wrong.

When passion turns poisonous, some lovers don’t just walk away—they ignite a fire that consumes everything. Raymond Eugene Johnson set his entire world ablaze, literally. In Oklahoma, a woman and her baby paid the ultimate price when love turned into a living nightmare.

Tune in as we unravel the twisted mind of a man who c...

This week on Melanin Mayhem:
In Alabama, they called him Reverend… but he didn't have a pulpit. But Rev. Willie Maxwell was stacking bodies and cashing checks. Family members kept dropping like flies, and somehow the “Voodoo Preacher” always had an insurance policy ready to cash in.

Was it voodoo? Was it hustle? Or was it just cold-blooded murder wrapped in a church robe? For years, Willie Maxwell played the system — untoucha...

This week on Melanin Mayhem:
Stewart Weldon was no stranger to a jail cell — in and out, time after time. His criminality on repeat. Each time, he slipped right back into his same routine, never facing the true weight of his crimes. A never-ending game of “pass the buck” between the courts, until his final arrest ripped the mask off for good.

What they found behind closed doors was the things nightmares are made of: kidnapped wom...

She served up sin with a side of Southern charm — and business was always booming. This week on Melanin Mayhem, we peel back the bedsheets on Nellie Jackson, the legendary Natchez madam who turned her brothel into the hottest hoe house in Mississippi. She wasn’t just turning tricks — she was turning profits, protecting her girls, and playing the game better than most men in power. Nellie wasn’t just in the business of pleasure — sh...

Today, I’m bringing you the story of a man who went from church pews to cold-blooded chaos. Franklin DeWayne Alix didn’t just dip a toe into the dark side—he dove in headfirst. Over the course of six violent months, he left a trail of bodies, broken lives, and a city on edge. Prosecutors labeled him the “poster boy for capital murder,” and trust me… they meant that.

This week, we’re going all the way in—ears first—on one of the dead...

This week on Love Kills X Melanin Mayhem, we explore the story of Darrell Brooks — a young man once embraced by his community, offered guidance, support, and a way out. But when loyalty to the streets and a street code taken too far clashed with the love shown to him, the results were catastrophic. What happens when pride, pain, pressure and stupidity collide? Join us as we delve into a case that ended in an unspeakable tragedy and...

This week on Melanin Mayhem, we're diving into one of the most haunting cases in American history—the Atlanta Child Murders. But we're not just retelling the headlines. We’re examining the trial, the evidence (or lack thereof), and the calculated way authorities built a case around Wayne Williams—without ever charging him for the murders of the dozens of Black children who vanished between 1979 and 1981. Was justice really ...