Crimes, Killers, Cults and Beer: A True Crime Podcast · Dark Pass Productions

163 Gary Heidnik With History Goon

·1 hr 21 min·5 clips

Josephina Rivera says Gary Heidnik choked her out, chained her in the basement, and described a plan to keep 10 women pregnant.

1. Crimes, Killers, Cults and Beer: A True Crime Podcast centers on Gary Michael Heidnik and the path that led from childhood abuse to later crimes. 2. Host Kevin is joined by History Goon, who has covered true crime before and frames Heidnik as a "horror show" rather than a conventional history subject. 3. The episode asks how Heidnik became the kind of man who could build a cult, control women, and keep people in a basement. 4. Heidnik was born November 22, 1943, in Eastlake, Ohio, to an alcoholic mother named Ellen and father Michael. 5. After Michael divorced Ellen, the boys were sent back and forth between parents, and the episode presents that instability as part of the background. 6. The hosts describe repeated beatings, bedwetting, sheets hung in public, and pants with bullseyes painted on the back. 7. A head injury left Heidnik with a "misshapen head," and classmates gave him the nickname "football head." 8. Despite that, the episode says his IQ was reported between about 130 and 148, and he wanted money and a military career. 9. He entered Staunton Military Academy at 14, left after two years, dropped out at 18, and joined the Army. 10. While stationed in West Germany in 1962, he complained of nausea, dizziness, and blurred vision and was diagnosed with the stomach flu and schizoid personality disorder. 11. Back in Philadelphia, he attended the University of Pennsylvania and worked at two hospitals, both of which fired him for being a bad employee. 12. He then stopped showering, wore a leather jacket constantly, and lived on an Army pension while his behavior became more erratic. 13. The episode says he, his brother, and his mother each made multiple suicide attempts, and Ellen died in 1970 after drinking a cup of liquid mercury. 14. In 1971 he founded the United Church of Ministries of God and titled himself bishop while taking money from a small group of followers. 15. He used that money to buy rental properties, trade stocks, and make a fortune after Playboy stock went public in 1971. 16. The story then moves to violence in 1976, when he argued with a tenant, returned with an unregistered handgun, and shot the tenant in the face. 17. In 1978 he was convicted of kidnapping, unlawful restraint, false imprisonment, rape, involuntary deviant sexual intercourse, and interference with the custody of a committed person. 18. While in prison, he handed a guard a note that said, "satan has shoved a cookie down my throat," and then stayed silent for 27 months. 19. The episode is conversational, joke-heavy, and full of side comments about military life, bad neighbors, and cult leaders. 20. Listeners who like longform true crime with cult history and abusive-family background will get the most out of it, while people who want a restrained or non-jokey tone may skip it.

As heard by us

A grim abduction story carried by concrete details, loose banter, and one disturbing kitchen wall.

History Goon follows Gary Heidnik's first abduction through a steady mix of case detail and rough-edged conversation. The account tracks Josefina Rivera from the opened door of Heidnik's Cadillac Coupe de Ville to coffee at McDonald's and then to 3520 North Marshall Street,…

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Why you'd press play

Want a grim case, a weird kitchen wall, and banter that keeps swerving into black comedy?

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

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