True Crime with Kimbyr - Part 2: Celebrity Mom's MURDER SOLVED After 40 YEARS!! - True Crime Stories | Karen Klaas

Episode Date: January 21, 2026

The decades-long mystery of Karen Klaas’ disappearance takes a dramatic turn in part 2 of True Crime with Kimbyr. As new evidence resurfaces, Kimbyrleigha guides viewers through the shocking revelations that finally crack the case open after 40 years. Who held the key to the cold case, and how did the Hollywood family cope with decades of uncertainty? With meticulous research and emotional insight, this episode reveals the twists, betrayals, and stunning truths that history almost forgot—but that can no longer stay hidden. The story isn’t over until every secret is uncovered. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Start selling now. Deepop where taste recognizes taste. We're questioning if one of them was going to be next. So what about Karen? Can't she just tell police? Can't she tell them what happened? And who did this to her? Well, no.

Unfortunately, she can't because she's in a coma. Karen had been exfixated with those pantyhoes. They had been tightly wound around her neck to a point that it was cutting off her oxygen. Unfortunately, she fell unconscious and she had not woken up yet, and she never would. That's right. Karen was unable to ever become fully conscious again. It was heartbreaking. Karen's friends and family had to be informed that unfortunately there was nothing that doctors could do.

Karen had already suffered brain damage, and this was as a result of the lack of oxygen to her brain. And ultimately, the decision was made to take Karen off of life support. Karen was unable to breathe on her own, and she passed away on February 4, 1976, at only 32 years old, leaving her two young sons behind. It's absolutely heartbreaking for me. To think of those two little boys did no longer have a mother. this is a homicide investigation. The investigators get the autopsy report back and it is obvious that Karen fought for her life. There were defensive wounds on her body. There were also look at your marks around her neck. At this point, the medical examiner was also able to determine

that she had a lack of oxygen for an extended period of time. Most likely when the panty hose and the bra strap were around her neck as she was lying there without assistance. And it was said that if someone had come even 10 minutes earlier, she may not have died. If maybe this man would have been interrupted before he started strangling her. But that didn't happen. After doing an analysis of the entire crime scene, they were able to determine that someone had definitely gone through a lot of the possessions in the home and they had taken things. And from what they could tell, it seemed as though this person was. was hiding inside Karen's house waiting.

And when she came inside and they saw she's injured, she can't resist, she can't run very fast, they took advantage of her. So in their analysis of everything, they believed that Karen had actually been stalked and that this person was lying in wait and ready to attack. Once this becomes a homicide investigation, the media went crazy. not just locally. This woman wasn't an ordinary woman in a little seaside town. This was the ex-wife of a superstar in Hollywood. So now there's all kinds of media picking up this case. And Hollywood has their opinions and their thoughts and there's a bunch of buzz going on there. And there's all kinds of stories coming out about what people think happened and who did it. And there's a lot of people who want Mr. Bill Medley to be questioned.

Karen's first ex-husband. As they were interviewing friends and family, they decided, discovered that Bill had been trying to get back with Karen multiple times and she refused. So now they're wondering, was this some type of revenge? Did Bill want Karen and Karen didn't want him? And maybe he came there to get Darren for the weekend. And maybe something happened. They're always going to look at the people closest to the victim first. And these two were supposed to be best friends, still talking, still seeing each other all the time and co-parenting. So Bill was close to Karen, close enough that she would have let him inside. So maybe this wasn't a burglary. Maybe it was revenge. So they bring Bill in for questioning and he is absolutely beside himself. He is shocked.

He's devastated. He was in Lake Arrowhead, California with his 10-year-old son Darren and that's when he got the phone call, a call that he will remember for the rest of his life. They told him that Karen was in the hospital in a coma that she was never going to wake up from. They told them there was nothing they could do. And he went down to that hospital and he pleaded with the doctors to do something. He was like, please, please do whatever you can. And there was just nothing that they could do. And he was by her bedside and he was saying these exact words.

He said, come on, honey, the boys need you. We all need you. He was just telling her positive things. like that. This was very difficult for him. He told police that he was a wreck, that he was actually having an out-of-body experience, and he could not believe that he was planning the funeral of his son's mother, that he's sitting there looking for caskets for Karen. It just did not make sense to him. She was just a beautiful person inside and out, and he felt like he was living in a horror movie. The other thing is, Bill did not match the description of the man that people saw.

walking around Hermosa, not to mention the fact that everyone knew who Bill Medley was and what he looked like, including Sue and Noel. They knew it wasn't Bill coming out of Karen's house that day. And he was completely cooperative with the police. Plus, he did have an alibi. He was out of town with his son. They were out there to buy a cabin and that transaction did occur. That was happening far away from the crime scene. But he also gave them information about other people in Karen's life, including the man that she was currently divorcing, Jerry class. Could he have a reason to want to hurt her? They want to bring him in for questioning.

They go through all of the information that he provides, including his alibi, and eventually he's ruled out as well. And the one main reason is because, again, he does not match the description. They had two eyewitnesses who saw a man coming out of that house. Let's not forget. and it wasn't Karen's ex-husbands. Investigators need to move on because they're running out of time.

They already know they missed their opportunity to find this man while he was still roaming around after the crime occurred. And now they have so much pressure on them. This is a tiny police department in Hermosa. I went by there. Here it is. I can only imagine the pressure from Hollywood and the community wanting someone

to be held responsible for this. But no one is being arrested. and they're running out of clues. They don't have any leads. So the next idea that the investigators get are to kind of stake out the funeral. This was an extremely heartbreaking time for anyone that was close to Karen and Bill and the children.

But investigators wanted to go there to see if anyone suspicious came to the funeral or if anyone was acting strange because sometimes people who commit these crimes they sort of want a souvenir of sorts. They want to walk among everyone. among everyone, come back to the scene and sort of look at everything that they've done. The funeral was held at Our Lady of Guadalupe Church.

As they went through the crowd and they were undercover looking around, they did not see anything out of the ordinary. And they were getting pretty desperate. So they decide to try something else. Something kind of controversial, not very scientific, so to speak. They decide to put Noel Castle under hypnosis. She's the friend that saw the guy coming out. out of the house. This was actually the very first time that hypnosis was being used to get information

like this in a criminal case in California. This was not something that the courts were used to seeing, but they had no choice. They were going to do everything they could. Their goal was to get more information about this man that Noelle saw coming out of Karen's house. So they put her under hypnosis to see if she could give them more details, like what did his face look like, what his nose look like, his mouth, everything. And while she's under hypnosis, they have a sketch artist. They had sort of this 3D composite created. And from what I'm understanding, and it could be wrong, but I feel like I read it was made of clay, I believe. And it's right here on the screen. This was the bust that was made with the description and the sketch from that hypnosis session with Noel Castle.

This is what she said he looked like. He had that shaggy hair, sort of like a bowl cut, but a little shaggier than that, because it's hanging down a little bit below his ears. And he's got that beard and no mustache. And this is the biggest lead they have at this point in the case. They photographed the 3D model and they printed flyers to distribute all around this city. Detectives were hoping that someone would see this 3D model and it would lead to them recognizing who this was. But unfortunately, to their surprise, very little came of all of their effort. So then they reviewed the suspect list again.

And they found another suspect, potential suspect. The sketch and the 3D model kind of looked like a firefighter that one of the police officers knew of. Not a good guy. Someone who had been involved in some sexual misconduct cases. They also needed to look into Karen's current boyfriend. So they bring the firefighter in. He told investigators he was back in Orange County. He was at his accountant's office getting his taxes done and he had nothing to do with the crime.

So they decide to map out the route from where the firefighter was to where Karen's was so that they could see if he would have had time to carry out the crime and it turns out the timeline just didn't fit. And there was other specific information provided that ruled him out. And the same thing happened with Karen's boyfriend. It would be unlikely, though possible, but highly unlikely that there were two men inside Karen's house that day. Meaning if somebody didn't match the description of who the girls saw, all coming out, they're probably not involved because there's probably not another guy hiding in there that did the crime. There were two other suspects in Karen's murder, a son of a neighbor and his

friend. And this was because the detectives considered that Karen's murder might have been motivated by revenge because there were these two young men that had argued with her husband at the time, Jerry. Upon confirming their alibis, the two young men were also cleared. But no lead was too small or too insignificant for detectives. But no matter how many times they looked, nothing was adding up. Karen's murder was eventually classified as a cold case. And unfortunately, years were going to go by.

You already know how many are going to go by. But years went by. And then it was 1984. I already hinted at the McMartin preschool investigation. Well, during that investigation, detectives briefly reopened Karen's case because they wanted to check out and make sure there wasn't any kind of link between this alleged satanic ritual situation at the preschool and Karen's murder. I'm not going to go into detail, but a woman named Virginia McMartin founded and ran

the McMartin preschool in Manhattan Beach. This is what is there now. It is just a dry cleaning business, but this is where it used to be located and this is where it was in proximity to Karen's house. It was just five minutes away. Well, Virginia, the owner of the preschool, she had a daughter, Peggy McMartin, Bucky. And Peggy also worked at the school as an administrator. Peggy's son Ray Bucky was a teacher there. And his sister also named Peggy after their mom, Peggy and Bucky, worked there part-time as well. It was a family business. One of the students' mothers noticed a rash on her son's bottom during the summer of 1983. And she claimed that Ray Bucky, did something indecent to her son.

But that's not all. She went on to make further, pretty outrageous allegations, and in 1990, New York Times wrote an article where this mother reported that the daycare employees had relations with animals and that they were Satanists. Following these initial allegations, the police interviewed hundreds of children

and parents of children who had previously attended McMarton preschool or were currently. enrolled and during the spring of 1984 more than 350 students and former students claimed that they had been mistreated as part of a satanic ritual. I never know what to believe. Honestly, I really don't because nothing surprises me. Nothing. You could tell me anything these days. Nothing surprises me. I don't even blink an eye. And that's sad. That's sad that it's gone to this point, but it's probably because I do listen and research so much true crime. I'm sure you can relate. In total,

Total, more than 321 charges were filed against seven of the McMartin preschool employees. And this trial ended up lasting seven years. Costing the state of California millions of dollars. But by 1990, all of the charges against the employees and the owners were dropped. Meanwhile, detectives found no link between the school and Karen's murder. But it did need to be looked into, considering her son did a time. around the time frame that other children who came forward were also in attendance. That same year, detectives on Karen's case met with detectives from across the country

to discuss something else, someone else, an alleged serial killer named Henry Lee Lucas. I did one of my very first true crime videos on this channel on Henry Lee Lucas. He had been linked to several hundred murders, but Karen's case was not one. was not one of them and in the end in that case detectives found out that Henry Lee Lucas was a serial false confessor he would confess to murder after murder after murder using information that police were sort of feeding to him and he did this so that he could get special treatment in prison although Henry Lee Lucas did confess to killing many people it's actually believed that he did not commit nearly as many crimes as he claimed and he definitely would

was not connected to Karen's murder. Back in 1976, when this crime occurred, there was DNA collected in the form of semen on Karen's body and a towel, as I mentioned. But the technology was not advanced enough at the time to make any kind of determination about who that semen belonged to. However, by 1999, detectives tried using CODIS to identify their suspect. This database includes anyone who has been in prison or even arrested in county jail in certain states and counties because certain places require a DNA sample to be taken. And those samples are put into CODIS. So that semen, the DNA from the towel at Cairns was put into CODIS to see if there was a match. But it was unsuccessful. There were no matches. It was a waiting game because there was something I did not know.

with all the cases I do, I did not know this. Once it's submitted, a DNA sample is then automatically ran from time to time automatically by CODIS over the years to see if any matches, any new criminal matches come into the database. However, in order for this to happen, you have to rely on the killer getting caught for some other crime in order to get in to the database. Detectives investigating Karen's murder or losing hope. that justice would ever be served. Ten years after submitting that DNA to Cotis, detectives decided to revisit the case again. It's hard to forget Karen's case for many, many reasons, but one of them for me now is if I ever hear any of the

Righteous Brothers songs, I will instantly think of Karen. And the investigators who worked on this case were of the age group that listened to and knew the righteous brothers so much it came from their generation. So this case most likely stayed on their minds throughout the years. They believed there were still witnesses and people who knew more about this murder who hadn't spoken up yet. Plus DNA technology had advanced and detectives began considering creating an even better DNA sample because now there was another way to match criminals to crimes through their relatives. Yes, and I love this technology. It's called familial DNA. What this means is that maybe a cousin,

an uncle, a sister, brother, your dad, they commit a crime and their DNA is in CODIS, but the killers isn't yet. Well, with this new technique, which is still looked at as controversial, by the way, for privacy reasons, which is at the top of the list, but it was being considered as a way to find a connection in Karen's case. If they connect a relative's DNA, they can track down that relative and find out if they can provide insight or if they know if their family member committed this crime. This gets me so excited.

I love science. The cold case detectives consider familial DNA for Karen's murderer. At the time, familial DNA was only legal in 10 states. The method was called into question by human rights activists because they claimed that it produced false leads and violated people's privacy. How it works is that through a DNA database,

such as one called Jedmatch, familial DNA searches try to find relatives, of these potential suspects, despite their inability to match that exact person. They can get this partial match. And when they identify this child or sibling or other blood relative, they can go through that suspect's family tree, which can contain hundreds or thousand of relatives. So what they do is this genealogist creates this suspect's family tree and they build it out. And then they use circumstantial evidence collected over the years to narrow down their search,

to one person that had means, motive, and the opportunity to commit the crime. I hope I'm making sense. It can sound a little complicated. I didn't understand it at first. But for example, after 30 years since his last crime spree, the Golden State Killer was finally identified as former police officer Joseph DiAngelo. And this was done through familial DNA. Another California serial killer, Lonnie Franklin, or as he was known at the time, the Grim Sleeper was found using the exact same process. But this process had to be approved by the district attorney and individuals all the way up to the Department of Justice here in California. They do not grant permission easily, but luckily in 2011, detectives finally obtained permission. And they submitted the DNA profile from the crime scene to the labs for familial DNA testing.

And they were so hopeful, but it turned out there was no match. This was very disappointing. because unlike CODIS, this system for familiar DNA does not continue automatically scanning. They don't have that function, so they would have to get approved again at some other point and run the DNA again. But these detectives are not going to give up easily. They request to run that DNA again in 2016, and they get the approval, and it's a go. From 1976 to 2016, there was nothing. And finally, there's a match.

Detectives who had diligently investigated Karen's murder for so many years finally received that phone call that they had been waiting for. The lab notified them that familial DNA had uncovered a potential suspect through a family member. And this was huge. All of the original detectives on this case were like elated. They couldn't believe it. Many of them were retired. And they were being notified by their colleagues that they finally had an actual lead to.

Two leads. There were two similar matches, one of which was a direct Y chromosome. We're talking about like a dad, a brother. So next, the detectives have to do what they would usually do. I know this sounds odd. But once they find this match, they have to interview said match and get information. All they can do is ask questions. They track down his familial DNA match. and they start to ask whether or not this person has any connections to Hermosa Beach. That is the first question. And it turns out one of their relatives lived in Hermosa at the time the crime occurred. And when they get the name of the relative, it turns out they lived in close proximity to Karen's house.

They start to gather more and more information about who this person was. And through that person, they're able to pinpoint someone else. another relative who would visit this person on a regular basis and was in the vicinity of the crime when it occurred. So now they are very certain they know who was responsible for Karen's murder. But it doesn't stop there. They need a DNA sample from said individual in order to match it directly to the seaman found on the towel. This is a long process. But they finally have a name.

Kenneth Eugene Troyer. He was 28 years old when he was 28 years old when he was. He used to visit his relative in Hermosa Beach. He was also in the vicinity of Karen's home at the time the crime occurred. Throughout his life, Kenneth had a history of robbery and sexual misconduct. Believe it or not, he spent most of his adult life in and out of prison. So you're probably saying to yourself, then why wasn't his DNA in CODIS? Why didn't they match his DNA sooner?

And the answer is because the CODIS system didn't start until about the 90s. So they didn't start acquiring DNA for this database until then. Any crimes that happened before that database was created wouldn't have been in the system unless Kenneth had committed a crime after the system was created. Does that make sense? And his motive, well, robbery. He would burglarize homes and he wasn't in jail or prison on January 30th, 1976, which means he had the opportunity to commit this crime. This man was not a stable person. He already committed very crimes just like the one that was committed on Karen except obviously hers turned into something more extreme since she was actually killed in the commission of that forced intercourse. Without

even getting a match because they haven't compared his exact DNA to this human, they already know. They know it is highly probable that this is their guy. Considering everything else is circumstantial and this is a controversial type of DNA match, they have to be even more diligent and make sure that they can prove it beyond a shadow of a doubt that this is the person who committed this crime. So the sheriff's department was able to obtain a sample of Kenneth Eugene Troyer's DNA. It was a 100% exact match to the seaman that was on that towel at Karen's house. This makes me so happy that they can do this. It's incredible.

There was no question about it. This was the man who burglarized Karen's home, severely, injured her in the course of a struggle to force himself upon her and ultimately strangling her to death. But when they were going to do something about it, like arrest him, that's when they get some very unexpected and disappointing news. Kenneth is dead. And that was the other reason he stopped committing crimes, because he was dead. He died back in 1982, the year I was born. I should say killed. He was killed by a police officer because get this. And this might be the only consolation considering he can't be tried and convicted for Karen's murder. But he actually escaped from a California

prison. He was a serial big R word. Okay. And the cops were on his trail for doing this to several women. They were trying to hunt him down because this was a dangerous man. And he was repeating this behavior again and again. And they were actually chasing him down in Orange County. in 1982 and he was killed by a Santa Ana police officer. Investigators were finally able to give Karen's family the closure that they have been waiting for all of these years and one of those people that could finally breathe again was Bill Medley. His entire life changed after Karen was murdered. He said that her death changed his life dramatically. At that time in his life before her death, his son was 10 years old,

he was living at as a single dad in Newport Beach. but all of a sudden he wasn't just a single dad anymore. He was a single parent. And it rocked both Darren and Damien's worlds too. It also changed Bill Medley's life forever because he stopped singing. He had to put his life back together. According to him, he took six years off. It took him that long just to get back on his feet.

Bill actually did end up getting remarried in 1986 to his late wife, Paula. And they had a daughter, McKenna. McKenna is also a singer and she performs with Bill. She performed as a singing partner during his 2008 tour entitled Time of My Life. And Bill enjoyed a long and successful solo career after he came back on the music scene. Even though him and Bob Hatfield split up from the Righteous Brothers in 1980, they still appeared together from time to time until unfortunately Bob died in 2003. Billy Joel actually inducted the Righteous Brothers into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

that same year. And in 2020, Bill had to have surgery to remove a cancerous growth from his throat. And that surgery kept him from touring for basically the first time in over 50 years, except for that time he wasn't singing because of Karen's murder. Unfortunately, after five years of fighting Parkinson's disease, his wife Paula died in June of 2020. Bill says that he wrote a song that he dedicated to Karen and its entitled Beautiful Lady. He performed it in Las Vegas at Harris. Bill said that the stage is a good distraction because it's always been a lifesaver for him. Here's Bill at a press conference that took place 41 years to the day after Karen's murder.

This case really wouldn't have been solved without familial DNA. And it's only used in the most extreme cases. And I wonder why. And I wonder what you think about it. Many people think that they shouldn't be investigated for crimes that their family members committed. I think that's kind of a silly argument. That's not the exact legal argument. I'm just giving you an argument for privacy reasons,

that it's an invasion of privacy and it's circumstantial. Those are the two biggest arguments. Because, you know, when they find that match, they have to go question that person. And that person, that family member, they can decide not to say anything. And speaking of which, there were some people in that neighborhood

that decided not to say something back in 1976. Because believe it or not, there were people who knew Kenneth and that he was most likely the person who committed this crime. He matched that description. He matched that sketch. And he matched the 3D bust. But they kept quiet. And when the truth finally came out, there were a lot of people who called it a cover-up because they never came forward.

Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department held that press conference I talked about 41 years. On that 41-year anniversary, January 30th, 2007. Not only was Bill there, but Karen's sons, Darren and Damien were there as well. And I just cannot imagine because I'm 40 going my whole life and not knowing what happened to my family member. So I think that this technique should be legal in every state. And I think it should be used. And I say to the criminals and the people out there that don't think so, if you do the crime, you should do the time no matter what method is used to find out.

Four states, California, Colorado, Texas, and Virginia have actually developed procedures for the use of familial DNA analysis. And I want to tell you the states that currently perform these type of DNA matches. Arkansas, California, Colorado, Florida, Michigan, Texas, Utah, Virginia, Wisconsin, and Wyoming. And I want your thoughts on this. It still pretty much perplexes me, boggles my mind, that women are, still being killed because someone wants to take something from them that they don't want to give, that we're still being killed for our bodies. It is beyond my understanding how an urge can be that strong in someone. I think of it every time, and I don't say anything, but I think of it every

single time. And I'm saying it at the end of my video, because most of you that stay this long are truly amazing and so loyal and come to every one of my videos and comment about something at the way end and I always know that you are one of the ones who watch everything and I really appreciate that because I have to talk the entire time and everything I say in these cases are important to me but what are your thoughts let me know I think that's all I have for today thank you so very much for watching I will see you in my next video bye