FILE 738 / 25 September 2026 / 74 MIN / express

Guilty Google Search Murder

Winchester, IndianaListen

The town

N ↑Public placeTown centre (approximate places)
Static locations; no street basemap. Places and details. OpenFreeMap © OpenMapTiles Data from OpenStreetMap.

We're going to Indiana this week... Winchester, Indiana, like the rifle; it's in Randolph County about 0:04:45

History, in brief

1818

Winchester was laid out in 1818 as the county seat of Randolph County; five early settlers donated the land, and it was probably named for Winchester, Virginia.

about 0:07:04

Town note

Randolph County was a major spot on the Underground Railroad in the mid-1800s, and the area was big in the abolition movement before the Civil War.

about 0:07:22

Town note

Indiana was one of the states with the heaviest Klan presence, and in the 1900s and 1920s the Klan controlled politics and police forces.

about 0:07:33

Town note

Oil and natural gas were found in the late 1800s, and Winchester changed from a farming community into an industrial town.

about 0:07:53
All 8 history facts

1818

Winchester was laid out in 1818 as the county seat of Randolph County; five early settlers donated the land, and it was probably named for Winchester, Virginia.

about 0:07:04

Town note

Randolph County was a major spot on the Underground Railroad in the mid-1800s, and the area was big in the abolition movement before the Civil War.

about 0:07:22

Town note

Indiana was one of the states with the heaviest Klan presence, and in the 1900s and 1920s the Klan controlled politics and police forces.

about 0:07:33

Town note

Oil and natural gas were found in the late 1800s, and Winchester changed from a farming community into an industrial town.

about 0:07:53

Town note

Cheap natural gas and oil let the glass-making industry thrive, because the furnaces needed very high temperatures to melt glass.

about 0:08:13

2024

In 2024 a quarter-mile-wide EF3 tornado hit Winchester, badly damaging the Goodwill store, the lodge at Summer's Point, a strip mall, the Freedom Life Church and the Taco Bell.

about 0:08:32

Town note

Thirty-eight people were injured in the tornado, three critically, and one of those three died weeks later.

about 0:09:31

2024

In June 2024 the rest of the strip mall was demolished; a Wendy's was rebuilt and the Taco Bell was repaired and reopened.

about 0:09:31

The figures, as told

Money

Median home value$118,000
Median household income$51,985
All figures and comparisons, as told in 2026

Population

"5016"

No direction stated.

As told in 2026 about 0:05:33

Median household income

"$51,985"

Comparison: "about $20,000 below the rest of the country's average". Direction: below.

As told in 2026 about 0:05:45

Median home cost

"$118,000"

No direction stated.

As told in 2026 about 0:05:52

Estimated value of Brumley's house

"$114,000"

No direction stated.

As told in 2026 about 1:22:58

The reviews

3.2 / 5 · average of 5

5 stars

“An excellent place to raise a family and a perfect place to settle down and put roots; a cozy small town that feels like home and always will be home.”
about 0:09:53

3 stars

“Your average town in the middle of a cornfield, easy to miss; everyone knows everyone, which is either really nice or terrifying.”
about 0:10:17

3 stars

“You know the town like the back of your hand and it has a little diner known for miles around; not much, but it's home.”
about 0:10:42

3 stars

“A cute little hometown feel, but it has recently fallen victim to a lot of major drug use, and the reviewer has lost loved ones to it.”
about 0:10:58

2 stars

“Not a good place to raise a family; it traps you in the town.”
about 0:11:20

In Indiana

Closest episodes

  1. Death In The FamilyWilliamsburg, Indiana · 6 December 202525 km / 16 miShow on map
  2. A Murder For GreedEaton, Ohio · 15 February 201755 km / 34 miShow on map
  3. A Grossly Insane Tale Of DeathMarion, Indiana · 27 January 202272 km / 45 miShow on map
  4. Beauty And The BeastMarion, Indiana · 29 August 202472 km / 45 miShow on map
  5. Like Severed Legs At A Wedding...Fairfield, Ohio · 1 October 2020101 km / 63 miShow on map

The story

David L. Brumley was born on 13 February 1957 in Winchester, Indiana, the son of Robert and Deloris Brumley, and he hardly ever left. He graduated from Winchester High School in 1976, worked for Omega Enterprises and lived on West South Street, where a detached garage held his pride and joy: a maroon 2006 Ford Mustang GT with black stripes, a hood scoop and the plate RSP 657.

On 5 July 2003, at 2.23 a.m., a fire destroyed the 35,000 square foot Mastercraft factory, which made upholstered furniture and mattresses for boats and RVs, and did seven and a half million dollars of damage, putting roughly 300 people out of work. The plant had been closed for the three-day Fourth of July weekend.

On 31 October 2018 Brumley took out a $5,000 bank loan to replace his broken furnace. Brumley missed work on 1 and 2 November, and at about 1 p.m. on Saturday 3 November officers went to West South Street for a welfare check. The Mustang was missing from the garage. In the entry room they found scraps of black electrical tape and clear packaging tape and a cardboard box containing a white disposable dust mask, used zip ties and two belt loops cut from a pair of jeans, one with a zip tie pulled tight around it. Brumley was in the bedroom, wedged between the bed and the wall, a pillowcase taped around his neck and a black bin bag taped over the pillowcase, electrical tape around his right wrist, and his jeans missing two belt loops. The autopsy found asphyxia from ligature neck compression and suffocation, and the death was ruled a homicide.

Police said nothing for a month. On 8 December they named him as the person of interest. Fingerprints on the tape scraps were his, and a partial DNA profile on the dust mask matched him strongly as well as Brumley. His browsing history, taken from two Google accounts, showed searches in the fortnight before the killing for undetectable poison, whether DNA survives a burned body, how long a body takes to burn, dissolving a body in acid, the trunk size of a 2004 Mustang and cabins in the Tennessee mountains; after the death came jobs in the Bahamas, how to disappear, fake passports, hiding in a hole in the woods and the fugitives who had stayed hidden longest.

He had hitchhiked from Arkansas towards Nevada with Alexander Gross, a man he met online, then robbed him at knifepoint, forced him to drive to Arizona and to rent him a hotel room. The judge gave him 62 years for murder plus consecutive theft terms, 64 years in all.

The case

Arson of the Mastercraft factory

Victims

Accused and outcomes

As told in the episode, on 25 September 2026.

Accused

Outcome

Other people

Clifton Reynolds. president and part owner of Mastercraft; the burnt building was his father's dream
the jail inmate. man serving 30 days for a minor felony who received kidnap letters and took them to his probation officer

The timeline

  1. July 5th, 2003 At 2.23 a.m. a fire breaks out at the 35,000 square foot Mastercraft factory, causing $7.5 million in damage; state and federal agents investigate. (Mastercraft factory)about 0:19:58
  2. July 2003 After the fire goes to a friend's house in Millersburg to watch the blaze on television. (friend's house in Millersburg)about 0:32:19

Murder of David Brumley

Victims

David L. Brumley (61). Lived all his life in Winchester, worked for Omega Enterprises, owner of a prized 2006 Mustang GT

Accused and outcomes

As told in the episode, on 25 September 2026.

Accused

Outcome

Other people

Sandra Kelly. Brumley's childhood friend, who spoke to reporters about his death
Tim Brumley. David's brother, alerted when David missed work
Alexander Gross. traveller met online, robbed at knifepoint in Nevada and forced to drive him to Arizona

The timeline

  1. February 13th, 1957 David Brumley is born, son of Robert and Deloris Brumley.about 0:14:44
  2. September 1959 is born; he and Brumley grow up and go to high school together.about 0:16:06
  3. 1976 Brumley graduates from Winchester High School. (Winchester High School)about 0:14:58
  4. October 31st, 2018 Brumley takes out a $5,000 bank loan to replace his broken furnace.about 0:44:23
  5. November 1st, 2018 Brumley is last seen alive; bank security cameras record depositing Brumley's loan cheque into his own account. (Winchester bank)about 1:06:48
  6. November 1st and 2nd, 2018 Brumley fails to turn up for work two days running, which is out of character.about 0:44:58
  7. November 3rd, 2018 At about 1 p.m. officers make a welfare check at West South Street; the Mustang is gone from the garage, tape scraps and a box of zip ties, a dust mask and two belt loops are in the entry room, and Brumley's body is found in the bedroom with his head wrapped in a taped pillowcase and bin bag. (Brumley house)about 0:45:14

Places and phrases

N ↑Public placeTown centre (approximate places)
Static locations; no street basemap. Places and details. OpenFreeMap © OpenMapTiles Data from OpenStreetMap.

Places in the story

Public places are marked on the map.

Heard in this episode