logo
episode-header-image
Nov 2023
38m 10s

Gitchie Manitou Murders // 354

Dark West Productions
About this episode

In November of 1973, five teenage friends were attacked while they sat around a campfire at a local state reserve. After killing four of them, the final girl was taken into a van before being dropped off at home, able to share her story with the police in hopes of catching the monsters behind it all. This is the story of Sandra Cheskey, Roger Essem, Stewart Baade, Dana Baade, and Michael Hadrath. Also known as Gitchie Girl, and the Gitchie Manitou Murders.


BONUS EPISODES

Apple Subscriptions: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/going-west-true-crime/id1448151398

Patreon: patreon.com/goingwestpodcast


CASE SOURCES

1. Find A Grave: https://www.findagrave.com/virtual-cemetery/395258

2. Sioux City Journal: https://www.newspapers.com/image/497248567/?terms=gitchie%20girl&match=1

3. Kingsport Times: 

4. Des Moines Register: https://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/news/crime/1/01/01/sole-survivor-of-brutal-1973-slayings-finds-strength-to-tell-her-story/3726397/

5. The Holland Evening Sentinel: https://www.newspapers.com/image/11889310/?terms=gitchie%20manitou%20murders&match=1

6. No One Can Hear You Scream: https://www.amazon.com/gp/video/detail/amzn1.dv.gti.1832f18f-dfdf-4b3f-ba26-3e7d7bb7b24d?ref_=imdbref_tt_wbr_ovf__pvt_aiv&tag=imdbtag_tt_wbr_ovf__pvt_aiv-20

7. Argus-Leader: https://www.argusleader.com/story/news/crime/2021/11/16/gitchie-manitou-murders-1973-survivor-sandra-cheskey-fryer-brothers-south-dakota-iowa/8637229002/

8. The Cinemaholic: https://thecinemaholic.com/where-are-allen-david-and-james-fryer-now/

9. Argus-Leader: https://www.newspapers.com/image/238916630/?terms=%22michael%20hadrath%22&match=1

10. Murderpedia: https://murderpedia.org/male.F/f/fryer-brothers.htm

11. Argus-Leader: https://argusleader.newspapers.com/image/238916994/?clipping_id=48458612&fcfToken=eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJmcmVlLXZpZXctaWQiOjIzODkxNjk5NCwiaWF0IjoxNjk4MTk1NjY4LCJleHAiOjE2OTgyODIwNjh9.V2kgk_9wvFxXqbh9tu2OrYcId4Vr0BfWVUtY-MwNpUU

12. Argus-Leader: https://www.newspapers.com/image/239091110/?terms=allen%20fryer%20escape&match=1

Up next
Oct 7
The Hall-Mills Murders // 544
On a quiet September morning in 1922, two bodies; one, a respected minister, the other, a singer in his choir, were found beneath a crabapple tree in New Jersey. Both had been thoughtfully posed under that tree, surrounded by carefully placed items, igniting rumors of romance, be ... Show More
54m 10s
Oct 3
Joanna Simpson // 543
On Halloween, 2010, the quiet English village of Ascot was shaken when a bloody scene was found in the charming home of a local, 46-year-old bed and breakfast owner. At first, the brutal scene raised questions of a home invasion gone wrong. But upon finding her body in a garden b ... Show More
52m 50s
Sep 30
Tracy Gilpin // 542
In October of 1986, a 15-year-old girl attended a friend’s house party in the coastal town of Kingston, Massachusetts after babysitting. After dark, she left the party on foot, heading to pick up cigarettes from the store. But the following day, she was nowhere to be found… For w ... Show More
1h 2m
Recommended Episodes
Dec 2024
The Gitchie Manitou Murders
On November 17th, 1973, five teens went to the Gitchie Manitou State Preserve on the Iowa-South Dakota border to hang out and play guitar. Three brothers found them sitting by the fire and began shooting. Only one of the teens survived the night. Join Mike and Gibby as they discu ... Show More
1h 3m
Aug 5
Uncovering A Serial Killer - Part 2 | 13
From 1976 to 1977, four young women were found dead, their bodies dumped outside of Calgary city limits. The first two were deemed “undetermined deaths.” The third and fourth were considered murders, and police felt the same offender was likely responsible. For decades, the four ... Show More
40m 5s
Nov 2024
The Rainbow Murders: The Serial Killer Theory
Nancy Santomero and Vicki Durian hitchhiked from Arizona to West Virginia in the summer of 1980. They planned to attend the Rainbow Gathering, an annual event where like-minded, free spirits could peacefully gather and celebrate. Just before they arrived, someone killed them. The ... Show More
47 m
Apr 2025
The Murder of Keith Gentry - 621
November 9th, 2005. Waco, Texas. One early November morning in 2005, Darlene Gentry made a 911 call to report stolen guns from her home and a potential robbery. She then revealed that her husband, Keith, is laying in a pool of blood in their bed with foam coming from his mouth. O ... Show More
47m 37s
Dec 2023
100: Texas Cheerleader Stabbed to Death in Bathtub, Crazed Triple Murderer & Donna Adelson Goes WILD
Donna Adelson was scolded in court this week after her theatrical outbursts. Charlie Adelson says he’s innocent. Lizbeth Medina, a 16-year-old cheerleader at Edna High School in Texas was found stabbed to death. Ruby and Jodi Hildebrandt Court Dates Set. Athena Brownfield, murder ... Show More
47m 25s
Jul 2024
Randa Jawhari Part 2: Ten of Spades
Last week, we brought you the first installment of Randa Jawhari’s story. You learned about Randa’s life, her strengths and challenges, her disappearance, and the early investigative efforts to find her. Randa was last seen on the evening of February 10, 2009. Her parents stopped ... Show More
1h 3m
Apr 2025
Lori Vallow Daybell's phone calls. Karen Read's retrial set to start. And Houston's "lost boys".
Listen to this week's episode of the Dateline: True Crime Weekly podcast with guest host, Blayne Alexander. In Arizona, the prosecution plays phone calls Lori made to her insurance agent in the days after her husband's shooting. In Massachusetts, a jury is finally seated in the K ... Show More
27m 44s
Apr 2020
Ep. 81 - Gangsters and the Dynamite Murder
In 1952, a Wyandot County farmer taking his trash into the woods near his home came across a gruesome sight: Body parts blasted into the trees. Detectives quickly learned the victim was a small business owner from Maple Heights named Karl Kwinem, a.k.a. Karl Stone. They also had ... Show More
41m 44s
Feb 2025
Talking Dateline: Return to the Lake
Josh Mankiewicz and Craig Melvin sit down to talk about Craig’s episode, “Return to the Lake.” In 1994, the disappearance of two young brothers, Michael and Alex Smith, following an alleged carjacking in Union, South Carolina, was all anyone could talk about. The nation felt thei ... Show More
26m 52s
Jul 2023
EP. 118 TEXAS - She Killed Her Best Friend & Stole Her Baby
At the end of 2019, a puzzling crime rocked the community of Austin, Texas. A mother, Heidi Broussard, had gone missing, along with her daughter... and nobody had a clue where she had went. But when the facts of the case began to emerge, an extremely dark picture was painted... a ... Show More
1h 12m