Sword and Scale Nightmares - Full House

Episode Date: July 24, 2024

It took over four years to identify the remains of Ryan Zimmerman. Understanding how and why he was killed would force authorities to untangle a twisted knot of love, sex, and gender transitioning.

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and delivered with conversation-based teaching. So you're ready to practice what you've learned in the real world. Mi aero de Slizador esta llena de anguilas. See what I mean? I just said that my hovercraft is full of veals. It's the kind of thing I would say at a cocktail party and walk away from you as you stand there sucking on an olive. Very, very confused.

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The grinding and splintering of his bones is especially time-consuming, lubricated with the sticky blood that drains down into the bathtub. In time his hands and feet are gone. When a nauseous gut-churning intestinal cramp overpowers her, she needs to lie down. But there is so much work to be done. Welcome to Sword and Scale Nightmares. True crime for bedtime. About a hundred miles northwest of Columbus, Ohio, there's a scenic park that's home to Grand Lake. While it's surrounded by highways on all sides, closer to the lake are a fish hatchery, several dog parks, and hiking trails within the wooded wildlife area. On January 3rd, 2016, a woman hiking with her dog was enjoying the crisp winter air near the mouth of Coldwater Creek when she spotted what she thought might

be human bones. She couldn't be certain. This was an area where the occasional deer carcass might be dumped. She reported her sighting to 911 and when the investigation officially began, authorities transported the remains to an out-of-state facility, where they were ultimately confirmed to be human. Over a year later, in June of 2017, Mercer County sheriffs revealed in a press conference that they were still unsuccessful at identifying who the victim was. Gruesomely, saw marks on the corpse's spinal column indicated that the victim's head had

been severed, and unfortunately, the skull was nowhere to be found. Also missing, bones from the knees down and bones from the elbows down. Essentially they were dealing with an anonymous torso, one that had been decomposing in the woods for an estimated two to three months before it was discovered. Experts believe that the person had died prior to their dismemberment. I should hope so. Yet they had no idea who this person was or where they came from. How do you solve a crime when you don't have a place to start? Three words. Bone, oxygen, isotopes. I know those aren't the three words you were probably expecting but

hey, I'm a little unpredictable sometimes. Well, what are bone oxygen isotopes you might ask? Not to get all sciency and shit, but authorities reached out to a research group called ISO Forensics. This company could measure the subtle changes in bones over time to predict where the person may have lived in the previous decade of their life. Forensics has gotten a little nutty over time. Impressive, but nutty. In this process, there are actually two different tests. One measures oxygen isotopes and the other measures something called strontium isotopes. I think that's how you say that. Anyway, it's not important what those things are, but the results of each test could be

printed as dots on a map map indicating where in the United States that person may have come from. Results from both tests on their own span the entire country from California to Maine but by overlaying the two maps there were several areas that seemed to generate positive results for both tests, helping investigators narrow it down even further. Maybe in the last decade this person lived in Michigan, or maybe they had lived in Kentucky. Even with this information, three more years went by. Further DNA testing revealed that the bones were from a male between the ages of 20 and 35, standing at a height between 5'7 and 6'1. Doesn't exactly narrow it down, does it? Finally, in January of 2020, an analyst within Columbus, Ohio's Bureau of Criminal Investigations came across

a missing persons report dated November 2015. This date is about two months before the decomposing, decapitated corpse was found in the woods by Grand Lake. At that time, a 22-year-old male had been reported missing by his father. He had lost touch with his son after his son moved to Columbus. More specifically, his son had moved away from Corbin, Kentucky, where the bone isotope testing predicted he may have once lived, and where his parents still lived. While the victim's DNA had been analyzed, it turned out that neither of his parents

had ever been tested. Once that information was collected, the police could finally, positively identify their mysterious victim. His name was Ryan Zimmerman. Ryan loved playing video games, watching movies, and teaching things to his younger brother, with whom he had an especially close connection. But there was another aspect of Ryan's life that he wasn't as open about with his family. By examining his internet activity, it was clear that Ryan was interested in transitioning into a female.

He was looking into vocal training, hormone therapy, and was shopping for female clothing. He was also exploring his sexuality using several social media accounts, including hosting a Craigslist Personals where he expressed interest in becoming the submissive female of a relationship. Soon after he connected with someone who used the screen name Laurel Emerson. As should be expected, this was not the person's real name. After all, it is the internet. We know how that works, right?

Still, don't believe everything and stuff. You guys got that? Nevertheless, Ryan packed up his things in August of 2015 and drove from Kentucky to Ohio to begin living with his new friends. Ryan's parents last had contact with him about a month later on September 25, 2015. On the 27th, the car he'd driven was impounded by the police. The car was actually registered in his father's name, so his dad was contacted and found it odd that he could not get a hold of his son. His father even went out to Columbus himself to pick up the car. Still Ryan was an adult and clearly going through something private that he needed to

figure out on his own. But after another month and a half of no contact, his father formally filed a missing persons report in November of 2015. Ryan's body had been so badly brutalized, it had taken over four years and several 21st century miracles to connect the unsolved missing persons report to the unidentified torso, observed at Grand Lake. Authorities knew from the jagged saw marks there was foul play, but they still didn't know where the murder or the limb removal had taken place. The why would have to come later, but first, who was Laurel Emerson and these online friends that Ryan had decided to move in with? Ryan probably saw it all as a nerve-wracking, but exciting new start. A chance to act on his innermost desires and find out who he really was.

But the funny thing about being lost in your thoughts is that you may not realize you're drifting into oncoming traffic. Let's talk a minute about relationship rules. You ever been in a relationship? I hope you have, because otherwise you're one of them incels they keep talking about. Anyway, if you have, you know that there are these little rules. A lot of little rules. There are tiny ones like leave the toilet seat down or take out the trash. And then there are bigger ones like, you know, don't have sex with my sister.

Sometimes you don't even have to say those out loud. You just kind of know if you're an intelligent person. Then again, that last one is probably a little flexible these days. Polyamory may have been taboo in the 1950s, but y'all heard of a throuple? Yeah, that's a word. Or even just an open relationship, which, you know, they've been pushing on us now for a good couple decades. Maybe you're cool with it if your wife likes to make out with other women when she gets a little tipsy. Or maybe you just want to be like Adam 22 and, you know, let your wife do whatever the hell she wants with whoever the hell she wants. As long as, you know, she's honest about it and tells you what's up.

I guess that's kind of the way things are going nowadays. Listen, I'm not trying to judge or kink shame, whatever the hell that is. I'm just saying that when you're in a relationship, you set up rules to keep your relationship intact and these rules should be followed by either side. Nowadays you can have pretty much whatever relationship structure you want as long as it's consensual but in order to keep your partner or in some cases partners happy you need to lay down some groundwork so that everyone can agree. Rules and compromises. Ain't love grand?

Corey and Sarah Buzzard lived together in a two-story apartment in Cleveland, Ohio. They were married, but as we established the beginning of this tragic timeline in late June 2014 Sarah was chatting with a woman named Jen on a dating site as The online chats turned into real-life dates Corey was aware that his wife was exploring a new relationship He told her he was fine with it and would not get involved. But something shifted when Sarah learned that Jen was transgender, biologically male but six or seven years into hormone therapy and surgery. Sarah's husband, Corey, also learned this information, at which point he revealed to his wife that

he believed the perfect relationship would involve a man, a woman, and a transgender individual. The Perfect 2023 Nuclear family. Now that his philosophy was out in the open, it seemed to both Sarah and Jen that Corey was starting to get more involved with their relationship than he had first promised. It was becoming an uncomfortable situation for all of them. Eventually Corey started going out on dates with other women, though not having very much success on his own. In spring of 2015, Corey was using the online alias Laurel Emerson and began talking with

a young man who had expressed desires to become the submissive female in a relationship. His name was Ryan Zimmerman. And Corey announced to his wife, Sarah, that he wanted Ryan to move in with them, in an effort to help carry out his ideal relationship paradigm. He was certain that Sarah would become utterly infatuated with Ryan, but he couldn't have been further from the truth. The one time Sarah chatted with Ryan online, she did not like him, saying that she found him to be subservient to the point of being annoying. There was even more arguing now as Sarah felt like she was somehow lacking in qualities, unable to satisfy the desires that her husband had kept hidden for so long, and Corey was

equally passionate, unwilling to back down from the idyllic life he was this close to actualizing. Eventually a compromise was agreed upon. Sarah said that Ryan could stay in the spare bedroom for three months while he relocated his life from Kentucky to Ohio. As long as Ryan paid rent, bought his own groceries, and secured a job, Sarah said she would be fine

with her husband pursuing this relationship. She just didn't want Ryan living with them permanently. By the end of that summer, several changes had come to the two-story apartment that Cory and Sarah Buzzard shared. Now they were sharing it with two more people. Upstairs, as promised, Ryan lived in the spare bedroom adjacent to the room that Corey and Sarah had once shared. And downstairs in the living room, an area was blocked off with curtains for Sarah's transgender girlfriend. She had previously gone by Jen, but during this time period she signed paperwork to have her name officially changed to Nyra Whittaker, which is how we'll refer to her moving forward.

Nyra also appeared to strongly dislike her new upstairs roommate, Ryan. She felt if you wanted to portray yourself as a female, you should commit fully and not let anyone know otherwise. She referred to Ryan as a disgusting person and often caught him eavesdropping from the top of the stairs. Sarah and Nyra tended to huddle together downstairs trying to avoid their other roommates at all costs except for the occasional awkward chatter in the small kitchen they all shared. Brady Bunch, this was not.

It was clear to Sarah that Nyra had a dark streak within her. Manipulative with a sometimes disturbing sense of humor. But to use Sarah's words, Nyra was also fiercely loyal and to Sarah's mind the only person who ever truly cared about her. Meanwhile, the other couple in the apartment, Cory and Ryan, were not forming the emotionally and sexually satisfying bond they had anticipated. Only a month into the new living situation, Cory wanted his new lover Ryan to move out. Corey allegedly said that he hated Ryan and that he wasn't what he was expecting. Ryan wasn't able to start hormone therapy, he wasn't seeing a psychiatrist for it, and

he also suggested that Ryan had genital herpes. On Friday, September 25, 2015, Corey explained to all of his roommates that he would be staying at a hotel with a woman he'd recently met and that he wanted Ryan to pack up and leave before he returned. On the morning of September 26th, with Corey out of the house and an emotionally distraught Ryan upstairs, Nyra began voicing plans to Sarah that she wanted to actually kill Ryan. Sarah didn't take it seriously. She was always making fucked up jokes, anyway, so this wasn't out of the ordinary. Ryan left a note on the staircase to speak with Sarah in his room, and when Ryan begged

for Sarah to give him a second chance, Sarah stood by her husband's decision to kick him out. After all, Ryan wasn't holding up his end of the bargain. He'd never gone to any job interviews because he apparently thought he'd get rejected anyway, so why bother showing up? Back downstairs, Sarah told Nyra about her uncomfortable conversation, which only seemed to strengthen Nyra's resolve that today would be the day. Sarah said that she saw Nyra gathering bleach, a handsaw, and she began to realize that she was actually serious. Sarah claims to have gotten hysterical and that Nyra said if she didn't help her, she'd do

it herself anyway, and that it would be much messier and harder if she did it alone. They had to act fast before Corey came home. Sarah's story about what happened next has changed over time. In earlier accounts she indicated that she was angry at Ryan. He had been the source of so many arguments and now a life-ruining accident was taking place as she knocked him to the ground and began strangling him. But later, she said it was all Nyra's plan. That she loved Nyra, and that she would do anything, and keep any secret, to prove that love to her. Since all the details of that night come from just one person, we'll likely never know the exact truth of what happened. But as Sarah's version of events continue to unfold, one thing is certain. but was coming for him. The End It's the evening of September 26th, 2015. Cory Buzzard is away for the weekend, staying at a hotel with a woman he recently met. His wife Sarah is apparently

done trying to talk her girlfriend, Nyra, out of murdering the innocent roommate that's already been asked to move out anyway. They wait for Ryan to use the upstairs bathroom, at which point they slip into the office area. Nyra has a bleach soaked rag and a bottle of vinegar ready to go. The chemical reaction may emit a highly toxic chlorine gas. Do not, I repeat, do not try this at home." As Ryan walks down the hallway, Sarah suddenly jumps on top of him from behind, getting him in a headlock and strangling him as she forces him to the ground. Nyra straddles him from above, placing the rag over his mouth until he makes gargling, gasping noises. Sarah says she crawls out from under him,

curls up and cries. Nyra needs Sarah to help her get Ryan into the bathtub, but Sarah won't do it. She can see that his calves have turned white. She's certain that he's dead, and she can't bring herself to look at his face. She leaves Nyra alone in the bathroom and goes into her office to console herself. Nyra gets to work with the handsaw. First, she slides a garbage bag over Ryan's head and then she begins to sever his skull from the spinal cord. When it's done, she puts the bagged head in the freezer, covering it with packaged vegetables until she figures out what to do with it later.

Next, come the hands and then the feet. It's exhausting, nauseating work. Intestinal cramps begin to overpower Nyra. She has to rest. Sarah eventually comes out of the office and into the bloody bathroom. Apparently having the head removed means not having to see Ryan's face, which is enough for her to get to work, sawing off Ryan's arms and legs from his elbows and knees. Sarah also helps organize the severed limbs into separate bags for disposal. Gotta stay organized, maybe do a little color-coding, head down to the container store. Anyway, all that's left eventually is just a torso. By now it's four or five in the morning. The sun is coming up. Nyra enters the room with a

large Tupperware bin, which they fill with Ryan's torso, along with the rags and gloves they use to clean up the bathroom. Then they load up Ryan's car with the bags of all his body parts and set out for Illinois. At that point, Nira explains to Sarah that an anonymous friend can help them secure Greyhound bus tickets. They'll simply abandon Ryan's car somewhere along the route and then use those bus tickets to return to Columbus. But like a scene out of a bad movie, they stop for gas an hour into the trip and the car won't start again. They try everything they can to fix the problem on their own, but hey, they're just two women out there with a car problem.

So they ultimately have to call a tow truck. No doubt sweating bullets as the car containing the person they had just brutally torn apart is being brought right back to the crime scene. Somehow they convince the driver to leave Ryan's car on the side of the road and once he pulls away they move the evidence of their crime into Sarah's car and hit the road once more. They drive for hours until nighttime is upon them. Once it's dark, Nyra picks random exits and they look for unsupervised dumpsters

to drop off bags and then keep driving. But now they've been awake for nearly 36 hours and Sarah is finding it extremely difficult to keep herself awake behind the wheel. All they have left is the torso and they choose what they think is an inconspicuous wooded area to dispose of it before driving the long road back to Columbus. Sarah wrapped up her story by saying that when they returned, Cory was back at the apartment and didn't suspect a thing. He was mad that Sarah had kept her phone off and he had no idea where she was, but he was apparently just happy

to move on now that Ryan had officially moved out. Corey was oblivious to the fact that Nyra had at one point stored Ryan's decapitated head in his freezer and then eventually moved it into their tool shed. Sarah said that Nyra had purchased a soup pot and that she had filled it with some kind of lye mixture and then had put Ryan's head in it, partly to view it as a trophy, but also because she didn't know how to properly dispose of it. And then time just kept moving forward. Cory and Sarah's relationship was coming to a close. In November, Corey moved in with another woman and in December, Sarah and Nyra left the apartment and brought

everything with them to her mother's house. And when brought the severed head to mom's house. In January of 2016, Corey and Sarah officially divorced. Didn't see that coming. Just saying. Alright, I'll shut up now. Later that month, Sarah and Nyra got married. I'm sure that'll work out just fine. But happening in the background of these life-changing events on January 3rd, 2016,

a woman walking her dog alongside Grand Lake and Coldwater Creek came across the decomposing torso that Sarah and Nyra had abandoned several months earlier. When they saw the news of the discovery, Nyra wanted to make a suicide pact. If it looked like they were going to get caught, Nyra would shoot Sarah first and then kill herself. She knew that going to prison was a death sentence in and of itself. Nyra was still anatomically male and very feminine. She would rather die than face that fate.

Sarah was terrified of dying, but agreed with the plan. Incredibly years went by, so much time that Sarah and Nyra eventually stopped checking the news and instead started focusing on planning for their future. Unfortunately for them, the past has a way of catching up with you. Thanks to advancements in DNA and bone isotope analysis, as we mentioned previously. Though it took authorities over four years to identify Ryan Zimmerman, once they did, they were given access to his entire digital footprint. From Google searches to phone records to social media activity. They learned about Ryan's communications with Laurel Emerson,

aka Cory Buzzard, and they eventually searched the apartment everyone had lived in back in 2015. Additionally, they searched Sarah's Toyota, which she had previously sold. Traces of human blood were found in both the apartment and the car. By August of 2021, Sarah and Nyra were living in Indiana. Not exactly clear if the severed head made the move with them again, that piece of evidence was never recovered. Anyway, when police arrived to arrest Sarah, Nyra denied any involvement. Sarah was brought in for questioning, at which point she admitted to strangling Ryan to death and helping Nyra with the dismemberment, saying that she did it all for love. With Sarah in custody and fully cooperating, police returned to arrest Nyra Whittaker. Five police officers

approached the home to serve the search warrant they had obtained, but just as they told her she was under arrest, Nyra pulled a handgun out of her purse and killed herself. No other rounds were fired. When there's only one person left standing that can tell the story, you're forced to take them at their word. There will always be question marks surrounding the motivations behind these disgusting crimes against Ryan Zimmerman. Maybe Nyra Whittaker was as ruthless and sociopathic as Sarah suggested. Or if Nyra hadn't put a bullet through her brain, maybe we'd get an entirely different perspective

on who did what and why. Maybe we'd even get a little victim blaming to go with it. The other bystander, Cory Buzzard, was conveniently out of town for the weekend, but has never been considered to be involved. In the end, Sarah will not have to hold up her end of the suicide pact. She will continue living, albeit in prison. While she was originally charged on 18 charges ranging from multiple counts of murder to tampering with evidence and felony abuse of a corpse, most of these charges were dismissed as part of her guilty plea agreement. At her sentencing in January of 2022, Sarah accepted responsibility for her part in the murder and gruesome aftermath,

insisting she was a good person who made horrible mistakes. She said, quote, Not a day goes by that I don't wish for a chance to take it all back. I will live every day for the rest of my life attempting to redeem myself through positive actions and deeds. Wow. How generic. In any case, the judge pointed out that Sarah had no prior criminal convictions or signs of delinquency and has otherwise been a law-abiding citizen. Ultimately, Sarah Buzzard pled guilty to a single charge of aggravated murder that resulted

in a sentence of life in prison, no chance of death penalty, and in fact, a shot at parole in 30 years. Apparently, the justice system and relationships have something in common. Rules and compromises. Ain't justice grand? If you enjoyed the show, please consider joining PLUS at swordandscale.com slash PLUS. But if you can't,

consider leaving us a positive review on your preferred listening platform. Sweet dreams and good night.