True Crime with Kimbyr - Part 1: Celebrity Mom's MURDER SOLVED After 40 YEARS!! - True Crime Stories | Karen Klaas

Episode Date: January 19, 2026

What happens when a young mother disappears from a famous Hollywood family without a trace? One January morning, Karen Klaas never makes it to breakfast—and fear quickly replaces routine. With limited clues and outdated technology, the investigation into her disappearance goes cold for decades. In True Crime with Kimbyr, Kimbyrleigha revisits this haunting case with compassion and precision, uncovering how, 40 years later, an unbelievable break finally brings long-awaited answers. What was missed—and who was waiting all this time? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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And very well-known mother of two young boys, it happened in her own home without warning. Lives were ripped apart with no solid suspects until 40 years later. Hi, everyone. Welcome back to my channel. If you've never been here before, I'm Kimberlea. Nice to finally meet you. Today's case is another really heartbreaking one.

Today I'm actually taking you to where I live in the South Bay, Los Angeles, California, specifically Southern California, to a beach town called Hermosa Beach. It's small, but it's not that small. The population was about 17,000 people back in the 1970s. But it really is a very close-knit coastal community. Not only that, it's more of an affluent community. The coastline in the South Bay includes places. like Hermosa Beach and Manhattan Beach,

which you probably heard of before, because there's a lot of celebrities that live on the Strand, which is right here on the screen. It's a beautiful stretch of beaches where the houses are literally hugging the sand of the shoreline. These are multi-million dollar homes along the Strand.

Lots of people enjoy running, walking, biking, etc. down these beautiful sidewalks. And then there's El Segundo, which is where my beautiful set is in my boyfriend's studio. I spent a lot of time working and living in the South Bay Area since I've been here in California for the past 10 years. So I'm very familiar with Hermosa Beach. It is more, like I said, an affluent community.

Dare I say that people are there a little bit snobby, especially about like who's hanging around their city. That is why I was nervous today to go do what I did. Because I actually went out to the area where this case happened. I've been wanting to do this for so long. And finally, we're talking about a case. that's close enough to the proximity of where I film that I was able to go ahead and bring you along. Hermosa Beach doesn't really look that different today than it did back in the 70s, which is the time frame we're going to be talking about. In this case is absolutely incredible. I've never done a case like this before.

It was unsolved for four decades. In order to make our way to Hermosa Beach, California, we have to start with a love story. And that love story started out as a friendship. started out as a friendship between a small town girl from Jackson County, Missouri, and an aspiring singer-songwriter from Santa Ana, California. Let me introduce you to Karen Sue O'Grady. She was born April 22nd, 1943 in Jackson County, Missouri. Karen's childhood was not easy. Her mom and dad did not get along and her father would get physical. When she was just a young child, he decided to leave her and her brother and sister and her mom to fend for themselves. It was really hard

in her mother trying to make ends meet all by herself with the kids. Sadly, over the years, things did not go well for Karen's siblings. Her brother ended up in prison and her sister ended up in a psychiatric ward. But somehow Karen overcame the struggles that she went through as a child, and her and her mom moved to Santa Ana, California, where she attended high school at Santa Ana High high school. And that is where and when she became best friends with a guy named William Thomas Medley. He went by Bill. Bill Medley was born September 19th, 1940 in San Anna, California, to Arnold and Irma Medley. His mother and father were both in the music industry. His mom was a singer and his father was a musician and they had a swing band together. They were always

introducing their son to music starting at a very young age. Bill's parents were Presbyterian and he regularly attended church where he sang in the choir. Bill had a natural talent for singing, and his interest in music just kept growing and growing. By the time he was in high school, he already knew that he wanted to pursue a career in the music industry. Bill and Karen both attended Santa Ana High School and the same church, and soon the stars collided, and they began a friendship, which did not turn romantic at the time, but it did blossom into a very deep friendship. Bill called Karen, his best friend. Bill dreamed of being a singer-songwriter. He was way more interested in music than he was in school, so he decided to drop out of high school to see if the music thing could be more than just

a hobby. Karen was three years younger, so she continued attending San Ana High School. Karen and Bill were living two completely different lifestyles, and by 19 years old, Bill was writing songs for bands and vocal groups out of his living room with his best friend Don Faducci. Two of Bill's songs were recorded by the diamonds womanling and chimes of my heart but Bill dreamed of having his own successful singing group so he and his best friend Don who played the guitar started playing music together and they called themselves the romancers and they had a go at it and by 1960 and nothing really stuck so Bill being determined to make it big he tried again he and Don decided to recruit

a few other musicians Sal Fasulow and Nick Totoro and later Mike Ryder and Barry Rillera. Now they had someone playing drums and bass and other instruments to add to their sound. And they became known as the Paramours and they were good. They actually end up getting signed to a label called Smash Records and that was owned

by a bigger company called Mercury Records. So they were making it and they released two hit songs. That's the way we love and Miss Social Climmer in 1961. Even though this seemed to be exactly what Bill dreamed of, there was just something missing. So one of his bandmates, Barry, told him about a guy named Bobby Hatfield. Barry thought that Bill and Bobby would sound amazing together.

So he told both of them they needed to check each other out. And this is when things came together for Bill. Initially in 1962, the paramours basically just asked Bobby to join their band, and he did. They released a single called There She Goes, she's Walking Away in December, 1962, through an independent record label called Moon Glow, but the band just wasn't feeling it.

They didn't really like the new setup, and they broke up, leaving Bobby and Bill trying to decide what the heck they should do. Both of them were extremely talented singers, with Bill being an amazing songwriter. So instead of quitting, the two guys just said, F it, we'll just sing together, just the two of them. So in 1963, they began booking shows at venues without a name. They were just going by Bobby Hatfield and Bill Medley until one night.

they were performing for a group of Marines. Back then, when something was cool, people would say, that's righteous. Well, after a show one night, one of the Marines, it yelled out to them, hey, that was righteous brothers. And that really stuck with Bill and Bobby because it was that moment where they felt like what they were doing was right. It was working. People liked it. And they finally signed a deal with a recording label. But they realized they still didn't have a name.

And they really didn't think Billy and Bobby. sounded right. And that's when they remembered that night at the venue and they decided to call themselves the righteous brothers. I don't know how old you are, but no matter what age you are, I'm sure that you've heard one of their songs. They went on to become a very famous duo. In 1965, they had their first number one hit. You've lost that love and feeling and I'm sure you've heard of it or at least one of their songs. They're still played in commercials, movies, and speaking of movies. If you have seen this scene right here, you know the righteous brothers. You've probably cried to them. This is the movie Ghost with Demi Moore and Patrick Swayze. And oh my God,

I just watched this last night preparing for this case. The song in the scene is called Unchained Melody and it gave me the chills. I was also bawling my eyes out watching this movie. I can't believe I had never seen it before. And if you haven't, just do it. It's an old one, telling you, just do it. Besides Ghost, Bill Medley also worked on another iconic Patrick Swayze film, The Dirty Dancing Theme Song. I've had the time of my life. Was performed by Bill Medley and Jennifer Warrens, and they earned a Grammy Award. Their righteous brothers would perform at various R&B clubs all over California and beyond, and women definitely went crazy for them. There was not a lack of women throwing themselves at these men. Bill was

definitely a ladies man and one night while he was performing he noticed this gorgeous woman in the crowd and he said out of all the people that were standing in the audience he could just see her smiling face and that's when he was like wait a minute i recognize her wow that's karen it was his best friend from back in high school she was graduated now and all grown up so after he was done singing he ran over to karen and he said hello and by the end of the night he had gotten her phone number and and asked her out on a date. She was 20 and Bill was 23. Well, they fell in love.

It was like they were meant to be together. Best friends that turned into lovers and just a few months later in 1964, the couple were married. Karen O'Grady became Karen Medley. And just under two years later in 1965, they welcomed their son, Darren Medley, into the world. They are such a beautiful little family.

I love this picture of them. To me, they look like, royalty. They're just gorgeous. Well-dressed, everything is perfect. It's like not one hair is out of place. Karen was thrown into this new world. She was basically famous overnight. The righteous brothers had gained an incredible amount of popularity. And this is not an easy life, especially not for a new mom who's staying at home with the baby while her husband performs at nightclubs and different venues all the time. And Bill wasn't faithful to Karen. And that, really ruined their magic. Bill admitted that he was having an affair with a singer Darlene Love.

What made it worse was that he told Karen that he fell in love with Darlene and he couldn't help it and that caused a lot of pain to Karen. It hurt her deeply. She tried to stick it out, but by the time Darren was five, Karen asked for a divorce. She still loved Bill. They still considered each other best friends. Big Karen had enough. And by the end of the relationship, both of them were already seeing other people, and it's sad. Cheating can just shatter everything that you tried so hard to build. Bill still loved Karen, and he wanted to be with her, but she decided to leave. That same year, Bill gets married, yep, to a woman named Susie Robertson, so not the one that he was cheating with. and while he's still married y'all. Bill's dating another woman, Janice Gorham. And guess what?

He tries to marry her too. I don't know what he was thinking, Bill, what are you doing? Well, I know what he's not doing, being a husband. Because both of the women found out and both of the marriages were annulled. He once again tries to get back with Karen, but by now she's already engaged to Gerald Class. And she's pregnant with her second child, who she would give birth to in 1971. His name is Damien Class. Unfortunately, the marriage to Jerry didn't work out. Karen became a single mom of two young boys living in Hermosa Beach, California, and going through her second divorce. Bill had moved about 40 minutes away to Newport Beach, California, and he was co-parenting Darren with Karen. The pair remained very close, despite the painful divorce that they had gone.

through earlier. They would talk on a regular basis and Bill was very involved in his son's life as much as he could be between juggling his music career, which was still going strong. In 1969, Bill performed Hey Jude at the Grammy Awards and one of his recordings, Freedom and Fear, was nominated for a Grammy in 1972. Both Karen and Bill were very hopeful about their futures. Karen had really settled into her new routine in her quaint little house at 535 24th place in her Hermosa Beach. Here's the home right here on this quiet little street with houses that are very close together. And this meant you got to know your neighbors pretty well, especially back when people actually used to talk to one another and welcome you into the neighborhood. Karen had a

very busy social life. Everyone was charmed by her infectious smile and her laid back personality. She was gorgeous, kind, good-hearted, and she was a great mother. She quickly, made friends with two of her neighbors. One is Noelle Castle who lives right here to the right of Karen. Their homes are so close that their fences are actually connected and they could just look over into each other's windows. The two of them became very close friends. They had a routine together with one other neighbor named Sue Kraft. The three of them would have coffee almost every morning after they drop their kids off at school. By 1976, Darren is 10 and Damien is four. Darren was in elementary school and Damien attended the infamous McMarton preschool in Manhattan Beach.

Yes. Coincidentally, I talked about this preschool in my very last video, the one about the Bernizer family murders. I referred to the satanic panic that swept across the U.S. in the 80s. It was a time when there were a lot of people that believed Satan was responsible for some of the most heinous crimes across the country. Most of the cases involved children. and allegations that very indecent things happen to them at the hands of adults. This book right here, Michelle remembers? Well, it was published in 1980, and it is widely seen as what sparked the satanic panic. It's a very controversial book, co-written by a Canadian psychiatrist Lawrence Paster,

and his patient, who later becomes his wife. A little questionable there. Her name is Michelle Smith. he uses this discredited practice of recovered memory therapy to go on to claim that Michelle recalled suffering harm due to satanic rituals. During the satanic panic allegations would commonly involve the most rich and powerful elite. It was said that they were taking children or breeding them for human sacrifices and other very inappropriate practices. One of these real-life trials involved a daycare center where kids, Karen brought her son, Damien.

And that is the McMartin preschool. The McMartin preschool became one of the most notorious schools in the world in the 80s. And this notoriety was due to allegations of satanic rituals that were occurring allegedly at the school. And there's way too much to dive into that. I'm sure there's a plethora of videos here on YouTube. You can watch.

The only connection right now is that Karen's son attended before the allegations were made. There's so many other details and connections other cases like the Phil Specter connection. He was sent to prison for killing actress Lana Clarkson and was also a very famous music producer who produced songs for The Righteous Brothers. But back to Karen. I just saw those connections and thought they were interesting, but back to Karen, she was living and thriving in Hermosa. And now I want to show you what it's like to live here because that lends itself to what happened in this case. I'm always so interested

in painting the most accurate picture so that you can feel like you're there. The first place I want to take you is where all of the fun happens. I guess they would call this the downtown Hermosa Beach area. There's lots of restaurants and bars and this is where the nightlife happens. Karen spent a lot of her time here. She had a boyfriend in 1976 and I'm sure they came down here to the boardwalk. You also have the Hermosa Beach Pier and of course the absolutely gorgeous beach. Even though this town is small, there's a lot to do in Hermosa Beach. It is a prime location to live and it's actually very family oriented as well from everything I know about Hermosa Beach I would honestly say it's a great place to settle down and raise a family as I take you into

more of the residential neighborhood area you can tell these are very small streets which means you're very close to your neighbors you get to know who lives around you you get to understand the different dynamics of the people that are close by and you also recognize different cars and who should and should not be in the area which is why the I said it was a little bit apprehensive to do what I was going to do. I needed to actually walk down the street where all of this is going to take place. As soon as I parked my car, there were people staring at me from their homes. Not only that, I saw this sign welcoming me to the neighborhood.

This is 24th place. This is the little street where a brutal, heartbreaking crime is about to occur. One that stumped investigators and forensic teams for years and years. I'm actually excited that I even get to do this because I don't have a car. I don't own one. I'm borrowing John's car. He's on a trip right now. So I'm getting to go and show you all of this myself.

I try to pull B-roll and pictures from the internet sometimes, but it just doesn't do it justice. This is the moment I walked right in front of Karen's house. It is still there. It is exactly the same house. And this right here next to it is Noelle's house. And you can see just how close these two homes are. You can also tell just how small this street is. It only took me a few steps to get from one side of the street to the other.

It's very small. I also noticed there were not any places to park unless you parked right in front of someone's home. So they were bound to notice you there. I know people definitely noticed me. I tried to get out of that area as fast as possible. I just felt uncomfortable. Now that you have a feel for this area that Karen lived in, You can imagine her and her children walking the streets, her and her friends getting coffee and hanging out, hanging out with the kids in the yard and the driveway.

It was January 1976. She and Darren are out in the driveway playing around on his skateboard when something happened. Karen flies off the skateboard and falls really hard on one of her legs. And she ends up getting taken to the emergency room. And it turns out she actually broke her leg. Ow. That would be very painful. And it's also hard enough managing two young boys that are only 10 and four. But now she's on crutches. So she has to do her very best to still get around. And she still gets around. She continued to take her boys to school every day and meet the ladies for breakfast every morning, as usual, until January 30th when she doesn't show up. Early that Friday morning, Karen took Damien to McMartin preschool before 9 a.m. It's only a five-minute drive to the school. It was Bill's weekend with Darren, so Darren was already with him that day.

Karen was supposed to meet with Sue and Noel for breakfast soon after dropping Damien off, but she was a no-show, which was very unusual for her. You know, her friends were worried. Just for the simple fact that she doesn't show up, this is not typical of Karen, but it's also the fact that she's on crutches. She's having trouble getting around. She's injured. So of course, if you're her friend, you're going to care a little bit more.

You're going to be a little bit more concerned that something may have happened. Maybe she fell, something like that. Before actually getting to where they were going for breakfast, one of the women had seen Karen pulling back into her driveway after dropping Damien off. And that was around 9 a.m. So it did seem a little bit odd that she didn't meet up with them. But maybe she was just running late. So they call her, but they get no answer. These are her next door neighbors, so they decide to walk over and see what is going on with Karen.

Now they go straight to the back of her house because that is where a sliding glass door is located, and that is where Karen had been coming in and out of her house. It was easier for her to use that sliding door once she pulled into the driveway, instead of trying to navigate the landscape towards the front of the house on her crutches. But as the two women got closer to that sliding glass door, they noticed it was open. Now it's not uncommon for Karen to leave it unlocked, but it being completely open was a different story. And when they looked beyond the glass door, they saw Karen's crutches on the ground inside. At first, their thought was, okay, that means she's home.

They also saw some cookies on the countertop, but no Karen. So they call her name several times and she doesn't answer. However, they thought they heard something, so they got quiet and they listened. It sounded like Karen was moaning. So you know what? They're not really sure what to think at this point. They decide that they're going to go around to the front door and knock like respectable neighbors, not just barging in.

When you hear your neighbor moaning, after all, she had a boyfriend. They didn't know what they were hearing. And they didn't know what to expect. But this is when something very unusual happened. When they get to the front door and they're about to knock, they are shocked to see a man coming out. the door towards them. And it's a man they had never seen before. And they're just looking over and they're both like, what is going on? And he comes out and he goes, hey ladies, and he just

keeps walking right past them, doesn't say anything else. And they're just like, who was that? Because it wasn't Karen's boyfriend. So they're like, wait a minute. What is going on here? I mean, okay, maybe they don't know all of Karen's business, but it did seem kind of odd. They could also still kind of faintly hear some kind of moaning or some noise coming from inside the house. And they were pretty freaked out at this point. So they decided to go to a neighbor's house. He was a firefighter and they knew he also had a gun and they were that scared. So they wanted to make sure maybe somebody could accompany them that could protect them.

While the firefighter decides that they need to call 911. The dispatcher sends out firefighters, paramedics, and police to Karen's house. This is a small town, remember? And here's the fire department. It is very close by. I walked in the front of it today so I could take this footage for you. And these small towns, they send everyone out there. That is not unusual. You call 911, you're getting everybody. It's like they really don't have that much to do in a small town like this. The very first thing that police noticed when they get on the scene is that it kind of looks as though there's been a robbery.

Like the house had been burglarized because it was in complete disarray. Things were overturned. There were drawers taken out and rummage through. There were so many things out of place. But as they made their way towards Karen's bedroom, that is when they saw her. She was laying on the floor completely naked. And they could see that there was something tied around her neck. And she was also tied up.

As the paramedics rushed in to assist Karen, they realized that she had been severely beaten. But she was still breathing. albeit barely breathing, barely alive at this point. And when they get closer, they can tell that it's a pair of panty hose that is around her neck. One of the panty hose legs was tied tightly around her throat. And there was also a bra strap around it as well. It looked like the other leg of the penny hose was used to bind her hands and legs together.

So she couldn't move. unbelievably Karen is conscious at this time and she is barely hanging on. They immediately rush her to the hospital. Meanwhile, they start to put up the crime scene tape and crime scene technicians are now on the scene. One of which is Bonnie Clark Johnson, who is a crime scene investigator. She was one of the first there to assess the scene. And it was obvious to her with her expertise and her experience that this had been an event involving forced intercourse. It definitely looked like a struggle had taken place and Bonnie noticed

there was a towel that had fresh bodily fluids on it. So she took an inventory of that. She also found a bra right near where Karen was laying and it had been cut off of her. It wasn't just unlatched. It was actually cut off. They also collect the nylon panty hose and all of Karen's clothing. At the hospital, they take samples of bodily fluid. including seamen that was on and around Karen's body. No one could believe that this was going on in Hermosa Beach. This has been and still is considered a very safe area. The kind of crimes that happen in this area are simple break-ins or maybe somebody stole

someone's beach cruiser or something like that, but not something like this. And not to a person like Karen. It seemed so senseless and unbelievable. And now the most important thing, is for them to interview Sue and Noel because they were the ones who saw that man coming out of Karen's house. They also know Karen very well. They know everybody that she's usually associated with. And the first thing they say is that they do not know who this man is. They did not recognize him. But they do want to give a description to the police so that they can start to canvass the

neighborhood asking neighbors, have you seen someone who matches this person's description? Or is it a person that lived there in this area. They want to act fast because this man could still be walking around. The women described the man as about 5-7 to 5-9 with dark hair and a beard but no mustache. And his hair was kind of scraggly, like a little bit hanging in his face. They thought he could have been probably 160 pounds or so. He wasn't a big guy. He also didn't look scary or creepy. He was most likely in his 20s. And according to the women, he just looked like an ordinary guy. The only thing that made them afraid was the fact that they did not know who he was or what he was doing in Karen's house.

After they get the description, the police officers are on foot going door to door. And here's the neighborhood. These homes, as you have seen, are very close together. Police are counting on somebody that saw something because back then, police relied on that grunt work, putting their shoes to the pavement, walking around, gathering clues and information so they can piece things together. because there were no ring camera, doorbells, or cell phones. They had to go to every door throughout the entire neighborhood and beyond. Just crossing their fingers and hoping they're going to get a lead, and they do.

A couple of the neighbors reported seeing a man in the area the last few days that looked like the description. They said they saw him around Karen's house at one point. And other neighbors said, yep, we saw him too, and he did not belong here. He was walking around and they didn't recognize him being part of their little community. this man was still out there and women in this town were starting to become very frightened they did not feel safe