
EXCLUSIVE College football star's brutal murder laid bare by traumatized friends in chilling new documentary
Offensive lineman DiGiuro was killed in July 1994. It was almost two in the morning, and the sporting hopeful had been sitting outside on the porch with his friend, Sean, when a gun went off, striking him.
No one knew who fired the gun, and a grueling police investigation followed.
Investigation Discovery's new documentary series, A Killer Among Friends, unpicks DiGiuro's final moments from the hours leading up to the party, his subsequent murder, and the desperate four-year hunt to find the assailant.
In an exclusive clip shared with Daily Mail ahead of the episode's premiere on July 14, DiGiuro's friend Sean remembered the terrible night.
'It was pandemonium because it was just so random. I called 911.'
He explained that it took the emergency services 'ten minutes' to arrive to the scene of the crime, but sadly DiGiuro had already passed.
Visibly overcome with emotion, Sean recalled the moment he realized that DiGiuro had died.
'I knew he had passed when I came back outside, picked up my sweatshirt, and really looked and you just knew,' he said.
'You just knew… no one could take that kind of… you can't live through that.
'The next thing that I remember is the policeman came up and took my sweatshirt.'
Lead investigator, Don Evans, remembered turning up at the crime scene and described the situation as 'chaotic.'
He said: 'Just after two o'clock in the morning, Lexington Police dispatcher received a call from what was a frantic male subject who said something had happened to his friend.
'I was a fairly new detective at the time, but I learned pretty quickly the victim was a 20-year-old soon to be 21-year-old football player who actually played for University of Kentucky.'
'It was pretty chaotic, lots of people around and the patrol officers briefed me that they'd actually found a gun at the party,' he continued.
'Antonio O'Ferral, who was a quarterback of the UK football team at that time, admitted to having procession of the gun.'
Indeed, Antonio's handprints were on a gun that night, but crucially it wasn't his, nor did he fire it.
Instead, the gun belonged to another friend at the party, Chris Davies, who had kept the weapon in the glovebox of his car, which Antiono had taken.
'I think they might have asked us if there were any weapons in the house, and before the police officers got there I was very much in crisis mode,' he said.
'My handprints were going to be all over that gun, so I just told them that it was there.'
DiGiuro's murder continued to be one of the most mysterious whodunnits for six years, until a woman came forward to turn in her ex-boyfriend, Shane Ragland.
Ragland was eventually found guilty of killing DiGiuro and was sentenced to 30 years in prison.
After several years, however, the conviction was overturned, and Ragland pleaded guilty to second-degree manslaughter instead.
He has since been released for time served.
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The Sun
14 minutes ago
- The Sun
Son of Sam killer invited me into dark world… he was like ‘Jack the Ripper with a gun' but cowardly admission stunned me
HALF a century ago serial killer David Berkowitz began his reign of terror in New York city - shooting random women at point blank range. Today the question remains, why did the man - calling himself The Son of Sam - go on this murderous rampage? 11 11 Berkowitz, 72, who is serving a life sentence for six murders and seven attempted murders, decided to confess all in a series of taped interviews in 1980. Now journalist Jack D Jones has revealed the contents of those interviews in a new Netflix documentary titled Conversations with a Killer: The Son of Sam Tapes. Jones, who covered prison and had spoken to many inmates, became obsessed with Berkowitz - even visiting him at weekends during his free time. Having sat across from one of America's most notorious serial killers for hours on end, the reporter believes Berkowitz took 'gratification' from seeing victims' families grieve and, in his twisted mind, wanted to be 'a hero'. Berkowitz, though, is a slippery character who keeps changing his story. After being caught he told detectives that a 6,000-year-old demon, speaking through the dog of his neighbour Sam Carr, ordered him to commit the murders. But he told Jack that story was a 'sham' to excuse slaying 'innocent people'. Jack says: 'He was a modern Jack the Ripper character with a gun. This was some crazy motherf***er.' When the reporter received a letter from New York's notorious Attica prison in 1980 with the name D Berkowitz on it, he could hardly believe it. Just three years earlier the former US soldier had been caught by police following the biggest manhunt in New York's history. Netflix drops trailer for harrowing new true crime doc The Sons of Sam: A Descent Into Darkness The Son of Sam had targeted young women with long brunette hair, often firing at the men they were with as well. Having stabbed two young women in December 1975, both of whom survived the vicious attacks, he switched to using a .44 caliber handgun. From his first shooting in July 1976 to a final failed plan to commit a massacre in August 1977, fear spread across the Big Apple. Both young men and women stopped going out at night as the police appeared powerless to stop a killer who struck at will. When Berkowitz was apprehended, police officers found bizarre messages scrawled in red all over the walls of his spartan apartment. He was a modern Jack the Ripper character with a gun Jack D Jones To the world, this loner was a dangerous 'nut job'. But that is not the impression Berkowitz gave when Jack first met him. 'Berkowitz comes over, bounds round the table and to my surprise he stuck his hand out and says 'hi, I'm David,'" Jack recalls. 'He's the last person you'd expect to be a serial killer.' Intrigued, Jack wanted to know what his motivation was for ending the lives of so many young people. Over the weeks he says 'we formed an ongoing relationship' and slowly Berkowitz opened up about his past. Making of a murderer Berkowitz was adopted by the childless Pearl and Nathan Berkowitz, with his birth mother Betty Broder not wanting to keep a child she'd had with a married man. He told Jack: 'My parents were very nice, fair, kind, loving people, everything positive.' But he admits to being 'very mean' to his devoted adoptive mother, saying: 'I used to rip up her clothes, tear a hole in her blouse or something.' Berkowitz also used to set fires in stairwells. Berkowitz comes over, bounds round the table and to my surprise he stuck his hand out and says 'hi, I'm David.' He's the last person you'd expect to be a serial killer Jack D Jones His dad Nathan thought that rather than telling Berkowitz that his mother had given him up, he would lie and say she had died in childbirth. That, though, made the youngster feel guilty about the death of his birth mum. Then his adoptive mother Pearl died from cancer when Berkowitz was aged just 14 - and in 1974 he tracked down his birth mother. He disapproved of Betty having him out of wedlock and thinking he "was an accident", adding: 'It's like a volcano erupting.' Twisted logic Berkowitz resented others seemingly following a similar path to his mother. Often his targets would be couples making out in parked cars late at night - and in his depraved mind, 'It felt like I was getting revenge." But there might be another reason. While serving in the US Army in South Korea, Berkowitz started experimenting with drugs, including the hallucinogenic LSD. Friends felt he changed after this, and he became more of a loner on leaving the forces in 1974. It has been suggested that the Robert De Niro movie Taxi Driver, about a vigilante New Yorker, released in February 1976, could have inspired him. But Berkowitz had already stabbed two women by this point and told Jack: 'The movies didn't cause it, but they did reassure me.' Cowardly killer 11 11 Berkowitz did, however, buy himself a .44 Bulldog gun because he found it hard to kill someone with a knife. The coward didn't like to make eye contact with his victims. Jack says: 'He told me he was seeking out women he could kill. He said he had to view his victims as what he wanted them to be. 'When his intended victims asked him if he needed any help or would smile, he couldn't do it.' There were occasions where he ended up helping people he had initially targeted. He told Jack: 'I was always upholding the image of a good upstanding citizen.' In his spare time Berkowitz, who worked various dead end jobs, had helped fire trucks get to blazes. Jack says: 'His whole life he'd been practising keeping this horrible side of himself inside. David Berkowitz was looking to be a hero.' But the psychotic side of his personality took over. Donna Lauria, 18, was his first victim to die, gunned down as she got out of a car in the Bronx in July 1976. Berkowitz said: 'I had so much anger, one killing wasn't going to quench it.' Late at night he would trawl the city planning his next murder, mainly choosing couples sat in cars. After 20-year-old secretary Stacy Moskowitz was shot in the head in July 1977 her funeral was shown on television. Her boyfriend Robert Violante survived the attack but was shot in the eye, leaving him permanently blinded. Jack recalls: 'He remembered the grieving process everybody was going through. He seemed to get gratification from it.' Stacy was to be his final victim. Snared by parking ticket A parking ticket led detectives to Berkowitz, who a neighbour described as 'that nut'. They became even more suspicious on learning Berkowitz had shot a dog belonging to Sam Carr for barking. With the police closing in, Berkowitz headed to the wealthy Hamptons on the coast near New York with the intention of massacring holiday makers with an automatic weapon. But the terrible weather stopped him. Berkowitz admits on tape: 'When it started to rain and there was no one around, I got in the car and went home.' After his arrest he claimed he committed murder because Sam the Demon 'made me do it'. Berkowitz was declared mentally fit to stand trial and pleaded guilty to all of the shootings, and was sentenced to 25 years to life. In his interview with Jack, though, he admitted to making up the voice in his head line because he had to 'convince myself that I'm not the one that's doing this'. He confessed: 'It was all just a sham, to be frank with you.' Even though Berkowitz will be forever known as the Son of Sam, he does not think there was anyone called Sam behind his bloody crimes. Jack thinks that this loner was desperate for attention, concluding: 'He achieved what he wanted. A lifetime of notoriety.' It could be argued that another documentary about Berkowitz will just give him what he wants. But with his next parole hearing due in May 2026, it should also convince everyone how truly dangerous this serial killer is. Conversations with a Killer: The Son of Sam Tapes is streaming on Netflix now. 11 11 11 11


Daily Mail
an hour ago
- Daily Mail
Megyn Kelly makes dire prediction about Trump's decision to potentially pardon Diddy
Megyn Kelly warned President Donald Trump is in danger of having 'another Epstein' situation on his hands if he decides to pardon Sean ' Diddy ' Combs. The former Fox News star made the dire prediction on Wednesday while reacting to reports that Trump is 'strongly considering' pardoning the hip hop mogul over a conviction on prostitution charges. Kelly 'urged' Trump not to even consider such an action, arguing it would be disastrous as the president continues to face backlash from his base over his decision not to release an alleged list of late financier Jeffrey Epstein 's clients. The Epstein decision, Kelly said, made 'it look to the MAGA base like [Trump's] part of the elite cabal. And they don't like that. They elected Trump because he promised not to be one of them.' Pardoning Diddy 'would not help' Trump shake that reputation, 'not at all,' she continued, arguing the case against the rapper is 'the same thing.' 'There's already people thinking that there's a cover-up here,' Kelly said, insinuating other famous celebrities were 'being provided access to young women and drugs' at Diddy's infamous freak-off parties. If the president were to now pardon him, Kelly argued, it could be detrimental to the Republican Party - which she said is already losing support from female voters. 'It's telling all these young vulnerable women they don't count, they don't matter. That even the top Republican president will cover up any wrong doing when it comes to that type of a victim,' she said. Reports emerged Tuesday that the president is 'strongly considering' pardoning the hip hop mogul over his prostitution charges 'It just cannot happen,' Kelly continued, noting that the Republican Party is already struggling to retain young female voters. 'And they're not all lefties,' she said. 'There are young conservative women who aren't in love with Trump or MAGA. And this will not help.' Even without the political ramifications, Kelly said pardoning the I'll Be Missing You singer would be a 'miscarriage of justice.' She said Diddy should 'serve time' because he 'admitted expressly' that he was a domestic abuser. 'He beat those women to a pulp and didn't even deny it,' Kelly said, incredulously. 'He got away with it. He was only found guilty on these two minor charges... let him at least serve the time on those.' The 55-year-old mogul was acquitted on three of his most serious charges earlier this month, when he was found not guilty of sex-trafficking and racketeering. Combs was only instead convicted on two counts of transportation to engage in prostitution, which could see him spend 10 years behind bars. As the judge prepares his punishment for the former producer over prostitution charges, a source told Deadline that Trump has been mulling stepping in to offer reprieve. Insiders told the outlet that the idea had advanced from 'just another Trump weave to an actionable event.' Closed door discussions about a potential pardon reached fever pitch in May when Trump acknowledged Diddy's case with reporters. While he admitted he hasn't paid close attention to the trial, Trump suggested he would be open to the idea of pardoning his one-time friend. 'I'd look at what's happening,' he said. 'I haven't seen him, I haven't spoken to him in years. 'He used to really like me a lot, but I think when I ran for politics he sort of, that relationship busted up from what I read. I don't know. He didn't tell me that, but I'd read some nasty statements in the paper all of a sudden.' 'So, I don't know. I would certainly look at the facts. if I think somebody was mistreated, whether they like me or don't like me it wouldn't have any impact,' he concluded. Trump later addressed the case again in the Oval Office, and said: 'nobody's asked but I know people are thinking about it.' 'I know they're thinking about it. I think some people have been very close to asking,' he added. Attorney John Koufos, who recently met with Trump's pardon 'tsar' Alice Marie Johnson and pardon attorney Ed Martin, now tells the Daily Mail elements of the case fit with Trump's push against 'overcriminalization' and 'weaponization' in charging. The president had himself been charged with a racketeering conspiracy in the Georgia election interference case, and he has long railed against what he calls weaponization of the criminal justice system. Analysts watching the Diddy case have previously questioned whether the government also overcharged the rapper, and Koufos wondered how the defendant could be engaging in a RICO conspiracy by themselves. 'Had he been convicted of a RICO [charge], you'd be looking at something different,' he argued, though he said there was 'nothing particularly sympathetic' about the defendant.


The Independent
2 hours ago
- The Independent
Teacher hired in Arkansas charged in Devil's Den park killing of couple that was hiking with kids
Arkansas police charged a 28-year-old school teacher in the killing of a married couple who were hiking with their children at Devil's Den State Park, finding him in a nearby city after a five-day search and public pleas for trailgoers to look through their photos. State Police arrested Andrew James McGann at a barbershop in Springdale, said Col. Stacie Rhoads, commander of the department's criminal investigation division. He was charged with two counts of capital murder and was being held Thursday in the state's Washington County jail. Police announced the arrest at a Wednesday night news conference but would not discuss a motive. McGann had been hired at Springdale Public Schools as a teacher candidate for the upcoming year but had not yet come into contact with any of its families or students, the district said in a statement. A lawyer couldn't be located for McGann, and a message was left for a number listed for him. It was not immediately clear when his first court appearance was. 'If you commit a violent, senseless act here in our state, our law enforcement will hunt you down and bring you to justice, because that's what the people of Arkansas frankly deserve,' Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders told reporters. Sprindale is roughly 30 miles (48.28 kilometers) north of the state's remote Devil's Den park, where trails have remained closed since Saturday's killings. Clinton David Brink, 43, and Cristen Amanda Brink, 41, were found dead on a walking trail at Devil's Den. Their daughters, who are 7 and 9, were not hurt and are being cared for by family members, authorities have said. Police had released a composite sketch and photo of a person of interest they were searching for in the attack. The State Police have released few details about the investigation, including how the couple was killed. Rhoads said the public's help and video footage they received was instrumental in capturing McGann. Tips came in from as far away as Washington state, she said. 'It was overwhelming,' she said. Jared Cleveland, the superintendent of Springdale Public Schools, said in a statement that McGann had not yet begun his employment and that the district could not provide more information, citing the investigation. 'Our entire team extends our deepest condolences to the Brink family. Their children are especially in our thoughts and prayers,' Clevelansd said. Sierra Marcum said three years ago, her son was a student in McGann's fourth grade classroom in Flower Mound, Texas, and described him as the 'most standoff teacher she had ever met.' Her son's yearbook includes a photo of McGann. 'Pretty cold. You could ask him a question and he would give you a one word response,' she said. 'Overall just pretty disinterested in his students.' Clinton and Cristen Brink had just moved from South Dakota to the small city of Prairie Grove in northwest Arkansas. Their water had been connected less than two weeks ago, Mayor David Faulk said. Clinton Brink had been scheduled to start a job as a milk delivery driver Monday in the nearby Fayetteville area, according to Hiland Dairy, his employer. Cristen Brink had been licensed as a nurse in Montana and South Dakota before moving to Arkansas. The Brink family said the couple died 'heroes protecting their little girls.' 'Our entire state is grieving for the tragic loss and senseless and horrific crime that's taken place in this area,' Sanders said. Devil's Den is a 2,500-acre (1,000-hectare) state park near West Fork, about 140 miles (220 kilometers) northwest of Little Rock, the state capital. The park is known for its hiking trails and rock formations, and it is a short drive from the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville and Walmart's Bentonville headquarters. It was selected as a state park site in the 1930s and the park's trails lead to the surrounding Ozark National Forest. ___ Associated Press reporter Hallie Golden contributed from Seattle.