The following podcast contains explicit descriptions of violence, including sexual violence, that some listeners may find upsetting. Continue at your own risk. My name might have been, my name has never was. That's a lyric from the nineteen ninety eight Whole song Celebrity Skin. It's also the opening line of a letter I recently received in the mail. Here it is in its entirety, My dearest Courtney, my name is might have been ben My name is never name as never was?
Why because you stole my name and leave it to someone else? Oh, Courtney, it's been so long. I saw a video of one of your most recent lectures online, and time has not been kind to you, is it? You're one school to name, air is now gray. You're once kerky breasts now sag almost to your navel, and you must now hide those pretty blue eyes behind horn rimmed glasses.
But you're not alone.
When I look in the mirror, I almost don't recognize the old man looking think at me, what has become of us? I was inspired to reach out to you one more time for reasons of my own that I will not disclose to you, but suffice to say I miss you. I miss you so much, but I am also angry with you. You profited off my work while I never got.
Any recognition at all.
I suppose there is solace in the fact that another man is in prison for my so called crimes, but there's an unsatisfying element to it, like fucking without rusting a nut.
Fun sure, but incomplete. Maybe, my dear Courtney, We're not done after all.
Maybe you can bring anything this full circle. Who knows, you might even get another book out of it. Come back to Domino Beach, Courtney, come home.
I'll be waiting for you with love.
DBK the real Domino Beach Killer. I'm Courtney Barnes and this is the Murder Years, Episode eight, Celebrity skin. Okay, so there's a lot to unpack there. This letter came to me in the mail in the fall of twenty twenty three. I read it once, then again, then a third and fourth time. I compared it to the original letters I received in fall of nineteen ninety four and spring of nineteen ninety five. Style is the same, the
handwriting is the same. All three letters could easily have been written by the same person, but scans of the original letters have been online for years, often in side by side comparisons to the Zodiac Killers letters to police or the Unibomber's manifesto, they wouldn't be hard to copy. It's not the first time someone has tried to scare me. When your name is forever linked to a serial killers, you're an easy target for disturbed minds with twisted senses
of humor. My initial reaction was to dismiss this letter as some sick bastard's idea of a joke, But lying awake in bed night after night, some just kept needling at me. First of all, the author's choice of song lyrics and the lead singer of the band Hole was Courtney Love. Not only do I share a first name with her, but she was married to Kurt Cobain, who wrote the lyrics Polly Wants a Cracker that were painted near the body of the first victim via Kendrick in
nineteen ninety two. I tried, but I couldn't shake the feeling that there might be something to this. That's why I decided to do this podcast. My book All Fall Down, The Story of the Domino Beach Murders, was published in nineteen ninety nine. For over a year, I traveled the country, doing book signings, sitting on panels, and appearing on talk shows. When things settled down, I chose not to return to
Domino Beach or even California. Instead, I bounced around the Northeast for a while before settling in Connecticut, where I eventually quit writing and started teaching journalism at a community college. I hadn't set foot in Domino Beach in twenty five years. A few months ago, two weeks after I received that letter, I flew into Lax, rented a car, and made the hour long drive south to the place where my career began and so many lives ended. It's weird being back here.
Fuels abandoned, the ferris wheel and roller coaster on the boardwalk are quiet and rusted. The once pristine beaches are littered with trash and homeless encampments, hotels and resorts have closed, and the multimillion dollar homes have fallen into disrepair. Surfers still come here because one thing that hasn't changed is the waves, but it's no longer a tourist destination, sparely even a town anymore. As I was prepping for the interviews I wanted to do for this podcast, I looked
everyone up for the first time in ages. Connor Langford was easy to find, Still serving two consecutive life sentences in California State Prison in Los Angeles County, the prison van Connor made it easy for me to interview him over the phone several times. Connor's father, former Domino Beach City councilman, Greg Langford, lost his bid for reelection the
year after his son was convicted. He and his wife sold their home and moved to Texas, where he served as a campaign advisor to various politicians until he died of a heart attack in twenty eleven. Damon Stokes was re elected sheriff of Del Soul County every cycle until he retired in twenty fifteen and moved to nearby La Joya. I did my interview with him in his home over the course of two afternoons. Only Maya Morales still lives in Domino Beach, where she cares for her invalid mother.
I did my interview with her at her office. She's a broker in the last real estate agency still operating in Domino Beach. In the four hours I spent with her, not one client came in and the phone owned rang twice. Here's Maya now with more on the evidence that proved critical in sealing Connor Langford's fate.
I mean, I get why he was so easy to convict. The letters you got from the killer were written on the paper.
I bought myself, identified by the faulty watermark and stored at Connor's band's rehearsal space, which.
By the way, a lot of people had access to, not just Connor, who else, well a lot of Okay, here's what I think. And at the time I told Sheriff Stokes and anyone else who would listen what I'm about to tell you, but I always got waved off. Go way, stupid girl, know what I mean?
Unfortunately, yes I do. Go on.
Okay, First, the door to the rehearsal space was locked by one of those number thingies, you know, like the little metal buttons right under the knob and you have to press in the right code.
Well, they they weren't exactly.
Super careful with who they gave that code to, and it wasn't hard to guess either.
What was it? Four twenty?
Of course it was easy to remember, though, right.
So you're suggesting someone else use that code to get to the paper and what frame Connor.
I'm just saying there were like at least a dozen or so other guys who had access to the rehearsal space, and anyone who went in there used that paper to work out said lists, write songs, sketch out tattoos they wanted to get it, roll joints, whatever. People grab stocks of it.
No one cared.
So sometime in it must have been late nineteen ninety three, Connor and Brody started looking for a new bass player because the guy that they'd been using went off to college. And I bought that paper in like January or February of nineteen ninety four.
Okay, do you know what a pain.
In the ass?
Con was?
Back then?
They went through at least seven or eight bass players before Brody decided to move to Seattle and kill the band off for good.
And you think one of these bass players.
I think it's way more likely it was one of them than Connor.
Do you know their names?
No?
Connor and I started having our troubles early on in nineteen ninety four, and I wasn't coming around so much.
But you didn't break up until February of nineteen ninety five. A year later.
Well that was when I caught him cheating and ended it, you know.
For real real.
But Connor and I had broken up and gotten back together like a million times over the years. It was kind of like our thing anyway. I'm telling you, if you want to find out anything new, you got to go look into those bass players. If you want to find out anything new, you gotta go look into those bass players.
We did.
You probably know by now. That's Damon Stokes, retired sheriff of Delsaul County and the lead law enforcement official in the investigation of the Domino Beach killer.
It turned up nothing. You have to understand. Maya Morales is just as much a victim of Connor Langford as any of the people he killed. He used her, he manipulated her.
I stood by someone I cared for. I chose not to believe all the lies that were being said about him. That makes me a victim.
Fuck him.
I am nobody's victim. And maybe he called the couple of those bass players, but I know for a fact that he did not look into them hard. By that time. He was all in on Connor. And if it turned out to be so someone else, it just would have made him look stupid.
I would have been thrilled if the killer was anyone other than Connor Langford. I was risking my livelihood by charging him. But all the evidence pointed to Connor. I know it's difficult for Miss Morales to accept, but you know it's true.
Yeah, Maya's whole the bass player did it. Theory never really gained much traction. Even my own lawyer didn't buy into it.
That's Connor Langford talking to me from California State Prison.
The thing was in ninety four. I was starting to use drugs pretty heavily, and Maya and I were fighting all the time. I just didn't pay much attention to the guys coming in and out of.
The rehearsal space. That was Brodie's thing. He was more on top of it than I was.
Brody Hanigan, your friend and the drummer in your band.
By then, friend was stretching it.
He was already starting to get fed up with me, and he moved to Seattle in October that year.
In court, Brody leaving Domino Beach was cited as a reason why you became sloppy, like in the failed abduction of Angela Bowers.
And if I really was the killer, that would have been true. I was really bummed when he left.
I have to tell you, Brody never wanted to talk to me about you. I tried to interview him back when I was writing my book.
Which is complete bullshit by the way, covered a fucking cover. Sorry, but it has to be said, even if you'll probably edit this out.
Okay.
I also tried to get Brody to take part in this podcast, but he never returned any of my calls.
Look, Brody, like I said, we weren't on the best of terms when he quit the band and left town.
And then he believed it.
Okay, he believed everything they said about me, and I bet he still does. He thinks I killed Vera, and look, he had a thing for her when they accused me of her murder. Maya tried contacting him up in Seattle, trying to convince him to come be a character witness in my defense.
You know, he told her to tell me to rotten hell.
That must have been hard being abandoned by a friend like that.
He had his reasons to hate me.
I mean, he may be the one who left town, but I was the one who really broke up the band.
I was a dick.
Yeah, it was really sad when all this started. They were like best friends.
Have you talked to him since m not in a long long time. You should, though I tried. You won't talk to me.
You mean he won't take your calls or return them exactly. Look way back when I was trying to get him to come testify for Connor, he was doing the.
Same thing to me. So you know what I did. I flew up there and I kind of ambushed him.
Did it work?
Well, he didn't come testify at the trial, but at least he talked to me. He sat down, explained where he was coming from. I mean that's all I could really ask for.
Right, you're saying I should just go to Seattle and just knock on his door.
Yeah, I mean, look, I haven't spoken to him in at least ten years, but he's a nice guy. If you show up, he's not gonna slam the door in your face. I mean, I don't know that he'll agree to be interviewed for your podcast, bye.
But it it's worth a try. Yeah, I decided Maya's right. Brody Hanigan is still living in Seattle, still working in music, apparently, he has his own business where he designs and hooks up sound systems at clubs and small venues in support of the latest crop of aspiring rock stars. I've been back in Domino Beach for months now working on this podcast, and I'm almost ready to get it out there, done with my interviews recorded, my narration, and well, Brody seems
like he's the last thread there is to pull. So I've booked a ticket to Seattle out of Lax for tomorrow morning, and I'm going to take a page from Maya's book and ambush him. I used to do this sort of thing with difficult interview subjects back in the day, but it's been a while though, so wish me luck. Okay, check check check, check, okay, okay, you guys. So I'm in a rental car parked at the curb on a street in what appears to be pretty much a lower
middle class neighborhood in the suburbs of Seattle. I am right outside the house of Broderick Brody Hanigan, which he's been renting for the last sixteen years. Oh okay, no time like the present. Oh okay. I'm putting my phone in my purse with the voice memo app running. I don't know if I can convince Brody to give me an interview, but I want to be able to prove
to Maya that at least I tried. Okay, I am walking down the driveway, passed a van with a microphone logo and the words Hannigan's sound design stenciled on the side, and I am up on the front porch ringing the bell and okay, one more time, Brody Hanigan, Hello, anyone home? Who is it, mister Hannigan. Hi, It's Courtney Barnes. I contacted you a couple of weeks ago about a possible interview with Connor Langford.
I said, I wasn't interested.
Well, actually you never responded to my calls or emails, so I wasn't sure you got them. I'm sorry, but I'm I guess you did. I don't know if you remember, but I was also living in Domino Beach at the time of the murders. I was writing for the.
I remember you newspaper reporter.
Yes, yes, that's me.
You wrote a book too, write a long time ago.
Write again, and well, I'm I guess you could call I'm doing like a follow up kind of revisiting the whole thing, checking in with all the players after all.
These years, and I'm one of the players.
Well, you were there at the start, weren't you. You were with Connor when the body of the first victim vire. Uh?
Yeah, you know. It was bad enough to see her like that.
She was.
I cared about her, and the.
Fact that Connor used me the way he did made sure I was with him when we found her body.
I'll never forgive him.
I understand, and I can only imagine how traumatic look.
I have no interest in whatever this is.
I know Connor's always maintained his innocence and all, but he's a fucking liar.
I know he did it.
Okay, Okay, Well maybe we can talk a little bit about what makes you so sure. I promise I will not take up too much of your time, all right, fuck it, come on in, Okay, great? Thank you?
Is it?
Okay?
If I record this and rather you didn't, I'll give you a few minutes. But I don't want this on the record or anything.
Oh okay, I understand.
Have a seat.
Thanks, So if you don't mind, can I ask you why you were so hesitant about speaking with me?
Yeah? I recently got diagnosed with lung cancer stage three.
Oh, I am so sorry.
Yeah, well, I'm probably not going to be around much longer.
So living in the past, digging up these bad memories talking about them just feels like a waste of time.
I don't have, I understand. And again, I'm really sorry to hear that. I'll be quick.
I already said, okay.
Okay, well, okay. The main thing I wanted to ask you about is the period of time between say, April and October nineteen ninety four.
October ninety four, that's when I moved up here.
And why did you leave Domino Beach.
Well, it was the nineties and I was a musician. Seattle was the place to be. The band was going nowhere. Connor's heart wasn't in it anymore at the time. I didn't know he had, you know, other interests taking priority. Besides, that wasn't long after those spring Break Girls got hacked up. I had plenty of reasons to leave Domino Beach. What I didn't have was a reason to stay.
Well, let's talk about your last few months there. You and Connor were looking for a new bass player, right, yeah, yeah, we.
Were, man. We went through a ton of them.
Some were in a good fit, some didn't like the way Connor was half assing the whole thing.
Some just, I don't know, just didn't work out for whatever reason.
Okay, well, I'm sure you remember. One of the key pieces of evidence used against Connor was the paper mya kept in your rehearsal space. It had a faulty watermark.
Yeah, so.
I was hoping to track down some or all of the musicians who had access to your rehearsal space during that time period.
Why, oh no, wait, let me guess Connor convinced you the real killer is one of those guys, and he's still out there right.
No, he didn't convince me. I just think it's worth looking into.
But that's been this story for damn near thirty years. Why did you suddenly decide it's worth looking into?
Now?
Well, let's just say new information has come to light.
What kind of new information?
I don't think that I can hold on.
You come to my home, uninvited, unannounced. I answer your questions. You say you have new information that can mean the guy who used to be my best friend isn't a murderer after all, And you won't tell me.
What it is.
I'm sorry, mister Hanigan, but.
Don't call me that. That's not my name.
Excuse me.
My name is might have been. My name is might have been.
Wait, don't my name is never lost. You still getting right fucking to me? This feels right, doesn't it. I'm not the only one dying of.
Cancer, am I?
I'm your cancer? Did you thirty years taking you over? Killing me?
It's good about you get off me.
No, it had to end this way. We both knew it all along. That's say look at me. I want to see the light go out in those pretty eyes of yours. It's okay.
Wherever you're going, I'll be following you there soon. And it happened.
You had your moment, Courtney. It's my turn.
You are always going to be my last.
Goodbye, Courtney.
Hello, my name is Maya Morales.
What you just.
Heard was the final moment of Courtney Barnes's life. Apparently she had set her phone up to automatically email her voice memos to herself, which is how we were able to hear that recording. It has been three months since her brutal death, and after talking to everyone involved in this podcast, it was decided that I should be the one to finish it. So here we go. Welcome to the epilogue.
The Ending.
After the Ending, Brody Hannigan was arrested two days later outside of Vancouver, Canada. A motel clerk recognized him from a news report and called the Mounties. He's currently being extradited to the United States and has confessed to all seven of the Domino Beach murders between nineteen ninety two and nineteen ninety five, as well as the attempted abduction
of Angela Bauers in nineteen ninety four. He also confessed to the murder of Courtney Barnes and sadly eight other murders across the Pacific Northwest between nineteen ninety eight and twenty seventeen. Based on Brodie's confession, the police and the lawyers turned out to be right about almost everything except for who the actual killer was. It all began one night in nineteen ninety two, when Vera Kendrick rejected Brodie's advances. He took by force which she wouldn't give him freely,
and then silenced her to protect himself. It was a horrible, violent impulse that unfortunately awakens something inside of him. He claims he tried to suppress it, but eventually it got the better of him, so he went downtown and picked up teenage hustler Billy Boyreeves, plied him with drugs, then slit his throat. After that, he fell ready for what would be the most ambitious crime yet, the murders of Holly Blake and Sandra Gerard and the rape, murder and
mutilation of Mary Crouch. In April nineteen ninety four, things got a little hot around here, so he decided it was time to move on. But he didn't want the murders to end with his departure from Domino Beach, so he crept back a month later and attempted to abduct Angela Bowers, who, as we know, managed to escape. He came back two more times over the next year. On his first visit, he saw what a mess Connor was becoming and decided to try to set him up to
take the fall. He of course, knew the code to the rehearsal space, which Connor was now using with his new band.
In fact, the.
Second letter he sent to Courtney was written in the rehearsal space. He saw they had black hole sun on their set list, which inspired him to quote the lyrics. A few days later, he killed my friend, my little brother, Juan Gosas, hoping everyone would tie Connor to him through me, and it worked. That was when Courtney said she started to believe Connor was the killer. Brody made one more trip to Domino Beach a few months later, in late
nineteen ninety five. He stole Connor's van, which was easy since he knew Connor kept the keys in the visor, then chose his final victim, Trudy Masterson. He had planned to kill Courtney too, but after being spotted by homeless woman Henrietta Jones, he abandoned that plan and left town. But when Courtney showed up at his door thirty years later, he finished the job. According to his oncologist, Brody Hannigan has about two to three more months left to live.
I hope his death is long, slow, and painful.
As for the rest of us.
Damon Stokes, former sheriff of Del Soul County and lead investigator in the Domino Beach murders, ended his involvement with his podcast and issued a very lawyered statement about Courtney, Connor, and Brody. It's kind of apologetic without admitting any fault or taking any blame. Reading it here is not worth my time or yours, but I understand his need to express regret. After all, I'm the one who encouraged Courtney to go to Brodie's house, and I'll have to live
with that for the rest of my life. Connor has been released from prison, where he spent the last twenty eight years. I suspect he will have a long adjustment period ahead of him, and I plan to help him in any way I can. Have you ever seen a movie or read a story about like a dragon or a monster that's terrorizing a medieval village and they have to sacrifice people to keep the rest of the villager safe. Well, Domino Beach had a monster like that, and it demanded
a hell of a sacrifice. Connor Langford had to give up twenty eight years of his life and Courtney Barnes had to make the ultimate sacrifice. But it worked. The monster who terrorized our town has finally finally been vanquished. The Murder Years in Domino Beach are over.
The Murder Years is a production of AYR Media and iHeartMedia. Executive producer Elisa Rosen for AYR Media. Written by Tim Huddleston, directed by Elisa Rosen. Editing and sound designed by Tristan Bankston. Consulting producer Jean Chandil coordinator Olive Goldberg. Audio engineering and mastering by Justin Longerbean studio engineer Josh Hook. Original concept developed in partnership with Anne Margaret Johns and Greg Spring.
Executive producer for iHeartMedia. Maya Howard. Performances for this episode by Erica Leniac as Courtney Barnes, Tom Virtue as Sheriff, Damon Stokes, Alex Salem as Connor Langford Melon Faxis as Maya Morales, John Ralston Craig as Brodie Hannigan