Ray William Johnson: True Story Podcast - He Could've Been a Super Star // The XxxTentacion Murder Story

Episode Date: June 13, 2026

XXXTentacion was ambushed and fatally shot on June 18, 2018, while leaving RIVA Motorsports in Deerfield Beach, Florida. The 20-year-old rapper, born Jahseh Onfroy, had just withdrawn cash from a bank. As he attempted to drive away, an SUV blocked his vehicle, and two masked gunmen confronted him at his driver’s window.

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Now the rapper is X, X, X, X, X, Tentacion. But people call him X. An X is around 18 when this story starts, and he's living in Florida. And like I said, he's an up-and-coming rapper trying to make a name for himself. The problem is he's constantly getting into trouble. Like he has a history of getting into street fights. He was arrested for a home invasion robbery. And so he has to spend some time in juvenile detention.

Twice. Here's a mugshot. Here's another mugshot. But then he gets out. And now he's trying to focus on just his music. So he starts releasing more of his songs on SoundCloud. And there, slowly, he starts building a fan base and even doing smaller live shows. And so one day, in 2016, X is performing at a show.

And that is when he sees this girl in the crowd, Geneva. And X thinks Geneva is foin, and Geneva thinks X is foin. And after the show, they start talking and then. they hit it off, and before long, they start dating, and eventually Geneva moves in with him. And so, their relationship is doing well. And the two of them, they're like constantly posting about each other on social media. It's so adorable. But at some point, this relationship starts to fall apart. Because here's the thing about X. He's been dealing with some serious mental health issues for years. He was diagnosed with bipolar disorder when he was young. He's also strong. He's also

struggling with depression and he has anger issues and sometimes he hears voices in his head and i'm not sure if that's been properly diagnosed during this time and a lot of these issues they start to surface while he's with geneva like he gets irrationally jealous me ex hates the idea of her giving unnecessary attention to anyone else besides him like one time i guess she compliments a male friend's jewelry and he gets mad and he like destroys her iPhone over it. Another time they're in the car and she's like humming along to another artist playing on the stereo system and this pisses him off and so when they get home they get into a big argument over it and he gets violent and he starts hitting and punching her. And none of this is a one-time

thing. Allegedly this abuse happens over and over and over again. But then it gets even worse for them. Because at one point, X finds out that Geneva has cheated on him with one of his friends. And if that isn't complicated enough, she then tells him that she's pregnant with his ex's baby. Now, whether or not she was actually pregnant, that's the subject of debate, but that's what she tells him. Regardless, X flips the fuck out. And allegedly, he starts beating her and punching her and he strangles her. And so from here, she gets hurt and she needs medical attention. But X, he doesn't want her going to a hospital because he knows that if hospital staff sees her injuries, there's a chance that they'll alert the police.

And he could end up going to prison because, you know, he's already on probation for his previous crimes. So he takes her phone away from her, and he locks her in a bedroom, and he refuses to let her leave the apartment. And about two days go by, and he still got her trapped in there. And so she's looking for any opportunity that she can get to escape. Then, at one point, he gets distracted. He's like playing Minecraft while simultaneously talking to some people on Skype. And he's so focused on the game that he doesn't notice her sneaking past him and crawling her way out the door.

And from there, she contacts police, and police show up and bam, they arrest him. Here's his mugshot. And so now, he's facing charges for false imprisonment and aggravated battery against a pregnant woman. And these are serious charges. So if he's convicted, he'd be looking at multiple years in prison. And even if he somehow avoids prison, this kind of case could destroy his career, one that's just starting to take off.

But here's where the story gets really wild. While he's in jail, whoever's handling his social media for him, changes the cover art on SoundCloud for his song, Look at Me, to a picture of his mugshot. and this song starts to blow the fuck up and therefore his mugshot blows the fuck up and people on the internet become obsessed with it they think it looks so cool with his half blonde hair and around the same time ASAP Rocky posts about him

and then there's like some Drake beef or whatever that's catching traction and so suddenly lots and lots of people are searching his name and finding his music and that is when his streams start shooting up and his fan base grows bigger and bigger. And after six months in jail, he finally gets out. And he's still on probation. But now he's no longer just some underground soundplowed rapper. He's kind of a big deal at this point.

And record labels have been approaching him, and he signs a $6 million record contract with Capital Records, and he releases a new album, and he even starts touring. Then, around the same time, he and Geneva reconciled their relations. and Geneva decides that she wants the domestic violence charges against him dropped entirely. The problem with that is that Florida state prosecutors, they're not about to drop the charges. I mean, they believe X may have pressured her or influenced her to try and drop them. So instead of dropping the charges, they actually add additional charges of witness tampering.

And so the legal battle keeps going. Then in 2018, something interesting happens to him. And I don't know if he just matures or if he realizes that this lifestyle he's in could destroy his music career forever. But he decides that he's done with the kind of chaotic life he was living. And he starts presenting a very different version of himself to the public. Like he goes on social media now and he talks about his struggles and about wanting to become a better person. and he encourages his fans to become better people too. Then he starts donating money to charity

and he encourages his supporters to go out and do good things for other people. And so it seems like for the first time in years, it genuinely looks like X is trying to leave the old version of himself behind and that things are looking up for him. Until... Until one day, X decides he wants to buy him. himself a motorcycle. So he goes to the bank and he withdraws $50,000 in cash and he puts it in a Louis Vatan bag. Then he drives to a motorcycle dealership. Now what he doesn't know is that two men at the

dealership notice that he's got this nice Louis Vuitton bag and they can see some of the cash peeking out of it. So while they're there, they buy some black neoprene face masks and they go wait outside in their SUV. Now, eventually, X leaves the building and he heads back to his car. But before he can pull out of the parking lot, skirt! An SUV suddenly pulls in front of him,

and boom, two men jump out, and they've got guns. And they reach through his window, and they try and grab the bag of cash. But X, he refuses to let it go. So he starts struggling with them. And when they realize that he's not going to give him that bag, blam! Blam! One of the men

shoots X. And unfortunately, he doesn't survive. Then, the guys grabbed the bag and they flee the scene. Later, the police arrive, and they begin investigating, and they go through the dealership's security camera footage, and they're able to identify one of the two guys who came into the place around the same time as X. And later, they find videos that he had posted on his social media

of him waving around a bunch of the stolen cash. And so, bam, they arrest him. Here's his mugshot. Also, bam, they arrest three other guys involved in the robbery. Here are their mugshots. And ultimately, three of them go to trial and they're found guilty and they each get sentenced to life in prison. But one guy, he takes a plea deal and he gets seven years in prison.