Ray William Johnson: True Story Podcast - He Stole Another Man's Entire Life // The Darryl Kuehl Murder Story

Episode Date: September 26, 2026

In 1994, part-time handyman Darryl Kuehl shot and killed 53-year-old retired schoolteacher Paul Gruber at his home near Muskrat Lake in Sandpoint, Idaho.

So why did this crazy-eyed man go off and kill someone and completely take over their life? Now the crazy-eyed man's name is Cool, and Cool is 43 during this time living in Sandpoint, Idaho, and here's the thing about him. He apparently really loves money. Problem is, he's broke. He works as a handyman and general contractor, but his businesses, they're kind of failing. I mean, he doesn't even have a steady place to live, like he's living on his buddy's couch. So things are not going well for him. But one day, in 1993, he gets hired to do some handywork for this guy, Paul. And Paul is about 52, and he's a retired high school teacher, and apparently a super nice guy.

Now, Paul had recently got some inheritance money. That's how he was able to retire at 52. So cool goes to work at Paul's house on a regular basis. And over time, he notices that Paul has some really nice things, like a big TV, a boat, a nice pickup truck, and a cell phone, which in 1993, having a cell phone is a flex. So cool figures, this guy must have some money in his bank account. So cool goes to him, and he pitches him this amazing investment opportunity. All Paul has to do is invest in his handyman business.

But Paul, Paul sees this as not a good investment. So he's like, no. And this apparently pisses cool off. And his greedy ass decides that he wants everything. that Paul has. And the only way for him to get what Paul has is to kill him and take over his life. So one day, Cool shows up to Paul's house like normal to do some handiwork, and once he's inside, he pulls out a pistol with a homemade silencer on it, and blam, he shoots him. And unfortunately, Paul doesn't survive. Then Cool wraps the body in a deflated waterbed mattress, and he

buries Paul in a crawl space underneath Paul's house. After that, Kuhl starts stealing all of Paul's stuff. Like he takes his TVs, his tools, his boat, his cell phone, his VHS collection, and he even takes a bunch of personal documents for some reason. He also takes Paul's bank cards and uses them at an ATM to withdraw a bunch of money. Now, on top of all that, here's where cool gets really sinister. So I guess he doesn't want anyone knowing that Paul is dead. So he decides to start impersonating him. He goes to the post office and he picks up Paul's mail on the regular. I guess he gets a hold of Paul's calendar and contacts list because he starts mailing birthday cards and holiday cards to Paul's family and friends pretending to be Paul like hey, happy birthday. Love Paul. And if that

isn't crazy enough, he takes Paul's checkbooks and he forges checks in Paul's name and he starts paying Paul's utility bills and paying his mortgage. Now, by this point, one of the birthday cards he sent reaches its destination in Reno Nevada. And this birthday card is for his grandson, but his grandson is three, so it's really meant for his mom to read. So the kid's mom, Paul's daughter, reads this card and she immediately knows something is off, like the handwriting is not like her dad's and just the tone of the whole thing is just different. So she tries calling Paul at his house, but the phone rings and no one answers. And she leaves messages on the answering machine and no one calls her back.

And weeks go by. And she still hasn't heard from her dad. So she starts to get super worried. And she calls the police in Sandpoint to go do a welfare check on him, and some officers show up to Paul's house, and not only can they not just they not. can they not find him anywhere, they can also see that all of his stuff has been taken. So police start investigating all of this, and they find that money had been withdrawn from

Paul's account through various ATMs. They also find out that someone had been paying Paul's bills and sending out checks from his account and even picking up his mail. So police set up a hidden surveillance camera at the local post office, one that's pointed right at Paul's PO box. Later, Cool comes in to pick up Paul's mail. So now, police have identified him as a suspect. And they have him come down to the station so they can question him. So Cool goes to the police station and police interrogate him and they ask him why he's been picking up Paul's mail. Now, at this point, Cool is freaking the fuck out.

He knows police are on to him. So he comes up with a bullshit story. He tells the officers that he and Paul were business partners. and that they had recently been involved in some business venture and that Paul was gonna invest in one of his companies. And then he also says that Paul had simply gone away on an extended trip and left him in charge of his personal affairs. That's why he's been picking up his mail and keeping his bills paid.

Now, to make sure that Cool is talking about the right person, police show him a picture of Paul. And immediately, Cool is like, that's not Paul. That's not the Paul I've been talking to. the Paul I've been talking to looks different. And this fucking scumbag tries to convince police that there's another person out there impersonating Paul and that he got conned too.

And the police, they aren't sure what to think of all this. So they get cool to sit down with a sketch artist to help them create a composite sketch of this alleged man who is impersonating Paul. And so Cool describes this fake Paul to the sketch artist and when the artist does the composite sketch, it looks like the sketch artist. So Cool was just sitting there describing what was in front of him.

Anyway, so police let Cool go, and they start looking for fake Paul from the composite sketch. But even if this fake Paul had taken over real Paul's life, that still doesn't explain what happened to the real Paul. Like, where is he? And so police know that they have a lot more investigating to do. And so they go back to Paul's house and they do another search. This time, they find something.

There's gunshot residue and blood stains underneath a rug, a rug that had recently been glued down by someone. So they take this blood and they have it tested and they discover that it's a match for Paul. So now, police are probably on to the fact that Paul was murdered. And because Cool was the last known person to have contact with him, he's definitely now a suspect. So they look into him, and they discover that checks from Paul's bank accounts

were written and deposited to the handyman and independent contracting companies that Cool owns. So they bring Cool in again, and they ask him about this, why is so much of Paul's money going directly into your businesses? And so cool, he comes up with another bullshit story.

He tells them that Paul had taken a vacation to Canada, and he had asked him to help pay his bills. That is, of course, a lie, because Kuhl's a liar. Now at this point, police definitely don't believe his lying ass. So they go and they get the birthday card that was sent to Paul's 3-year-old grandson and they test the stamp on the envelope. They test the glue side of it to see if the sender had licked it

because then it would have the sender's DNA on it. So they test it and sure enough, it has Kuhl's DNA on it. Then they get a warrant and search Kuhl's house because I guess he has his own place to live now. And that is when they find Paul's boat, his televisions, his stolen checkbooks, even a bunch of Paul's financial documents. Meanwhile, police search Paul's home again, and underneath the house, they find a depression in the dirt floor of the crawl space.

So they dig there, and that is where they find Paul's body. So bam, they arrest cool. Here's his mugshot. And ultimately, he goes to trial, he's found guilty, and he gets sentenced to life in prison.