If someone you love is missing, what you do in...
View Full CaseSolved Case — Convicted
The Murder of Brad Dennis McGarry
● Convicted — Life Without Parole
Coal Miner — Openly Gay
Killed by Secret Lover
Appeal Denied 2019
Bellaire, Ohio
The Victim
Brad Dennis McGarry
Brad Dennis McGarry
| Full Name | Brad Dennis McGarry |
| Date of Birth | October 24, 1973 |
| Date of Death | May 7, 2017 |
| Age at Death | 43 years old |
| Hometown | Cambridge / Lewisville, Ohio |
| Residence | West Bellaire, Ohio |
| Occupation | Coal Miner — Murry Energy; Former Hairdresser |
| Education | Swiss Hills Vocational School — Cosmetology |
| Known For | Warmth, humor, antique collecting — "Uncle Brad" |
Brad Dennis McGarry was born on October 24, 1973, in Cambridge, Ohio, and grew up in Lewisville, a small town in the southeastern part of the state. He was openly gay from an early age and faced the kinds of comments and pressures that came with being who he was in a conservative rural community. He did not let any of it change him. He pursued a degree in cosmetology at the Swiss Hills Vocational School and built a reputation as a talented hairdresser in the Ohio Valley, someone whose skill and personality made people feel at ease the moment they walked through the door.
Wanting to earn more money, Brad made the unconventional decision to pursue a career in coal mining. He joined Murry Energy and trained for the work, becoming part of a coal mining community that would not have seemed like a natural fit for an openly gay man with a cosmetology background. But Brad was not a man who hid himself, and he earned the respect of the people around him. He was larger than life, according to his friends. He absolutely had the best personality. He was always telling jokes, playing pranks, making every room a little warmer than it had been before he walked in.
Brad lived alone in a country-style home in West Bellaire that he filled with antiques he had collected over the years. He was beloved by a wide circle of friends and was a regular fixture in the lives of the families closest to him. David Kinney's children called him Uncle Brad. He joined them for holidays, vacations, and family dinners. He was present at weddings and celebrations and ordinary Sundays. He was, by every account, exactly the kind of person a community is grateful to have.
Brad McGarry had a large, generous heart and an identity he wore without apology. He deserved to live out a full life. He was 43 years old when he was shot twice in the back of the head in the basement of his own home by the person he loved and trusted most.
01
Background
What We Know
Brad McGarry and David Kinney met in a coal mining safety class in 2011. Kinney was a 20-year-old newly married rookie. Brad was an experienced miner with a personality that made people feel instantly at home. The two became best friends quickly and thoroughly. Kinney introduced Brad to his wife Cheri and their children. Brad became Uncle Brad. He joined the family for holidays and vacations, sat at their dinner table, and was woven into the fabric of their lives in the way that only a genuine friend can be.
What the Kinney family did not know, and what David had kept carefully hidden, was that his relationship with Brad had evolved into something more. Over the years following their friendship, Brad and David had carried on a secret sexual and romantic relationship. Kinney was not out. He presented himself publicly as a happily married man. The relationship was the kind of dangerous secret that required constant maintenance: different stories for different people, careful management of phone records, and a double life that depended entirely on Brad's silence.
By the spring of 2017, that silence was under pressure. Brad had grown tired of the arrangement. According to investigators, Brad wanted David to leave his wife and be with him in a real relationship. He felt David was taking advantage of him. He had begun to suggest, or outright state, that he would tell Cheri about the affair if Kinney did not make a decision. For Kinney, the threat of exposure was catastrophic. His marriage, his family, his standing in his community — all of it depended on Brad staying quiet.
On May 7, 2017, Brad attended a family dinner but excused himself, telling his cousins he had to return home to meet someone he called "DJ." DJ was David Kinney's nickname among those who knew about the relationship. Brad told his cousin Schuyler Strawser he was going home to meet DJ that afternoon for a nap, a reference his cousin understood. When Strawser later searched social media using the details Brad had shared about DJ over the years, she identified the man as David Kinney.
Later that afternoon, David Kinney arrived at Brad's home in his wife's car. A neighbor's surveillance camera recorded his arrival. Brad returned home shortly after. Then, shortly after Brad's arrival, Kinney left. Several hours later, Kinney returned to the home, this time with Cheri and their daughter in tow, claiming they were there to return a weed whacker. His daughter noticed the front door slightly ajar and the kitchen in disarray. Kinney entered the home, went to the basement, and found Brad's body on the floor next to the hot tub in a pool of blood. Cheri called 911 screaming that there was blood everywhere. Kinney stood outside and wept for the cameras. He appeared, to everyone watching, to be a man who had just lost his best friend.
Case Timeline
How It Unfolded
2011
McGarry and Kinney Meet at Coal Mining Training Class
Brad McGarry and David Kinney meet during a coal mining safety training class. Kinney is 20 and newly married. They quickly become best friends. Kinney introduces Brad to his wife Cheri and their children, who begin calling him Uncle Brad. Over the years that follow, the friendship deepens — and so does a secret romantic relationship that Kinney conceals entirely from his family.
Spring 2017
McGarry Pressures Kinney to End the Double Life
Brad grows increasingly frustrated with the arrangement. He wants Kinney to leave his wife and commit to a real relationship. Investigators later establish that Brad had begun to threaten to tell Cheri Kinney about the affair if David did not make a decision. For Kinney, this threat is existential. His marriage, his family, his community identity — all depend on Brad's continued silence.
May 7, 2017 — Afternoon
Brad Excuses Himself from Family Dinner to Meet "DJ"
Brad attends a family gathering but excuses himself, telling his cousins he has to return home to meet someone he calls DJ. He tells his cousin Schuyler Strawser that the meeting is romantic in nature. The name DJ is David Kinney's nickname within their relationship. Kinney later drives to Brad's home in his wife's car. A neighbor's surveillance camera records his arrival. Brad arrives home shortly after. Then Kinney leaves.
May 7, 2017 — Approximately 6:15 p.m.
Kinney Returns with Family; Brad's Body Discovered
Hours after leaving, Kinney returns to Brad's home with his wife Cheri and their daughter, claiming they are there to return a borrowed weed whacker. His daughter notices the front door slightly ajar and the kitchen in disarray. Kinney enters, finds Brad's body in the basement next to the hot tub in a pool of blood — two bullet wounds at the base of his skull. Cheri calls 911. Kinney breaks down outside. The scene has been staged to suggest a robbery; several rooms are ransacked, but there are no signs of forced entry.
May 9, 2017
Kinney's Stories Unravel; Cell Phone GPS Contradicts His Alibi
Chief Detective Ryan Allar of the Belmont County Sheriff's Office interviews Kinney. Kinney tells multiple contradictory stories, claiming first that he spent the afternoon at a Chinese restaurant with his wife and then went alone to look at trailers. Cell phone GPS data places him at Brad's home at the time of the murder. Confronted with the data, Kinney admits he was there but invents a third unidentified man who he claims shot Brad during an argument. Kinney eventually admits to shooting Brad, claiming self-defense — that Brad pulled a gun on him and he fired in a struggle. Both shots entered from the back of the head, directly contradicting a face-to-face struggle.
May 9, 2017
Kinney Arrested; Tells Wife About the Affair in Interrogation Room
Kinney is arrested on aggravated murder charges. Police station cameras capture the moment Kinney tells his wife Cheri about the affair in the interrogation room before being led away. Cheri's response — "I can't even look at you" — is recorded. Kinney is held pending trial.
January 29 — February 6, 2018
Eight-Day Trial — Jury Finds Kinney Guilty
Trial begins in Belmont County Common Pleas Court. The defense acknowledges Kinney fired the shots but argues self-defense. Prosecutors establish that both shots entered from the back of the head, inconsistent with a face-to-face struggle. After eight days, the jury finds David Carl Kinney guilty of aggravated murder with a firearm specification. Deliberations last four hours.
February 14, 2018
Kinney Sentenced to Life Without Parole
Judge Frank Fregiato sentences David Carl Kinney to life in prison without the possibility of parole, plus an additional three years for the firearm specification. Kinney is 32 years old at sentencing. He does not speak during the proceedings. He is remanded to the custody of the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction.
June 28, 2019 — And Beyond
Seventh Appellate District Upholds Conviction; Ohio Supreme Court Declines Full Review
Kinney's attorney challenges the conviction on ten grounds before the Seventh District Court of Appeals, including sufficiency of evidence on premeditation, Miranda violations, and the voluntariness of his confession. The appellate court upholds the conviction and sentence on all grounds on June 28, 2019. Kinney subsequently appeals to the Ohio Supreme Court, which agrees to review only the narrow constitutional question of whether life-without-parole sentences can be appealed under Ohio law. As of April 2026, Kinney is serving his sentence at Noble Correctional Institution in Caldwell, Noble County, Ohio.
03
Law Enforcement
The Investigation
The investigation into Brad McGarry's death was led by Chief Detective Ryan Allar of the Belmont County Sheriff's Office. When officers arrived at the scene on the evening of May 7, 2017, they found a home with several rooms in disarray and no signs of forced entry. The scene appeared staged. Crime scene technicians processed for DNA evidence and found nothing belonging to anyone other than the victim. The two bullet wounds at the base of Brad's skull told investigators this was not a confrontation gone wrong — it was an execution.
Investigators initially considered the possibility that Brad's murder was a hate crime, given that he was an openly gay man in a conservative coal mining community. They also examined his most recent ex-boyfriend, a man named Scotty, who was cleared when records confirmed he had been held in a West Virginia jail on a probation violation at the time of the murder. All other leads were ruled out within 48 hours.
The break in the case came from Brad's cousin, Schuyler Strawser. She told investigators that Brad had confided in her the night before his death, at a family wedding, that he planned to meet a man he called DJ the following afternoon. Strawser described the nature of that relationship as romantic and said it had been ongoing for years. When she identified DJ through social media sleuthing, the name that came back was David Kinney — Brad's best friend, the married father of three whose family called Brad Uncle Brad.
Armed with the name, Detective Allar brought Kinney in for questioning on May 9 and requested permission to search his cell phone. Kinney consented. The phone's GPS data placed him at Brad's home at the time of the murder, directly contradicting his alibi. Text messages and voicemails recovered from the same device confirmed the long-term romantic nature of the relationship. Surveillance footage from a neighbor's camera showed Kinney arriving at Brad's home earlier that afternoon, before Brad returned home, and leaving shortly after Brad arrived.
Over the course of a lengthy interrogation, Kinney's stories collapsed one by one. He first denied being at Brad's home. He then admitted it, inventing a third man. He then admitted he fired the gun himself, claiming self-defense during a struggle. Prosecutors at trial established that both shots entered the back of the skull, ruling out a face-to-face struggle. Detective Allar concluded that Kinney had lured Brad home with the promise of sex, killed him to prevent the exposure of their affair, and then staged the scene and orchestrated the discovery with his own family as cover.
The interrogation footage, in which Kinney wept dramatically, was central to both the trial and the subsequent appeal, with the defense arguing the emotional intensity of the interview rendered his statements involuntary. The Seventh Appellate District specifically addressed this argument, finding that Kinney appeared alert and cognizant throughout and that his tears appeared to the detective to be performed rather than genuine.
04
Convicted — Life Without Parole
The Accused
David Carl Kinney
David Carl Kinney
Born Approximately 1986 — Age 31 at Time of Crime — Brilliant, Ohio
Charge: Aggravated Murder with Firearm Specification
Verdict: Guilty — February 6, 2018 — Eight-Day Trial
Sentence: Life without possibility of parole + 3 years firearm specification
Sentenced: February 14, 2018 — Judge Frank Fregiato, Belmont County Common Pleas Court
Defense at Trial: Acknowledged firing the shots; claimed self-defense during a struggle in which McGarry produced a weapon
Appeal: Seventh Appellate District upheld conviction June 28, 2019 on all ten grounds challenged; Ohio Supreme Court agreed to review only the constitutionality of prohibiting appeals of life-without-parole sentences
Current Location: Noble Correctional Institution, Caldwell, Noble County, Ohio
Case Closure Notes
David Kinney was convicted on the theory of prior calculation and design, meaning the jury found the murder was premeditated rather than impulsive. The prosecution argued Kinney had decided Brad had to die to protect his double life, lured him home, and executed him. The Seventh Appellate District, in upholding the conviction, affirmed that Kinney had sufficient time and opportunity for planning and that the jury was not required to credit his self-defense account. As of April 2026, Kinney remains incarcerated at Noble Correctional Institution in Caldwell, Ohio, with no possibility of parole.
Forensic Breakdown
Evidence and Method
Wound Trajectory and Self-Defense Refutation
Both shots entered from the back of the skull — one at the top of the scalp, the second more centrally at the base of the head. Kinney claimed he and Brad were face-to-face in a struggle when he fired. The wound trajectory is inconsistent with that account.
The Seventh Appellate District addressed this directly, quoting the appeals court: Kinney admitted to standing above an incapacitated victim who had already been shot in the back of the head before firing a second, fatal shot. This sequencing supported the prosecution's theory of a planned execution rather than a reactive struggle.
Cell Phone GPS Evidence
Kinney consented to a search of his cell phone during his May 9 interview with Detective Allar. GPS data from the device placed him at Brad's home during the window of time he claimed he was elsewhere — at a Chinese restaurant with his wife and then looking at trailers alone.
When confronted with the GPS data, Kinney abandoned his alibi and admitted he had been at Brad's home but introduced the fiction of a third unidentified shooter. Text messages and voicemails recovered from the same phone confirmed the long-term romantic nature of the relationship.
Surveillance Video
A neighbor's home surveillance camera captured Kinney's arrival at Brad's home that afternoon, driving his wife's car. The footage shows Brad returning home shortly after Kinney's arrival, and then Kinney leaving the area a short time later.
Hours later, Kinney returned in his own truck with his wife and daughter. The footage established a clear sequence of events that directly contradicted his initial claim that he had not been to Brad's home earlier that day.
Staged Crime Scene
Investigators arriving at the scene found multiple rooms of the home ransacked in a manner consistent with a robbery or confrontation. However, there were no signs of forced entry anywhere in the home, and no DNA evidence belonging to anyone other than Brad was recovered from the premises.
The absence of forced entry, combined with the staged disarray, led investigators to conclude the scene had been arranged after the murder to suggest a home invasion or robbery. The staging was identified as one of the indicators pointing to a premeditated killing rather than a spontaneous act.
Motive — Threat of Exposure
The prosecution established that Brad had grown increasingly frustrated with the secret nature of the relationship and had begun to pressure Kinney to either leave his wife or face the consequence of the affair being revealed. Kinney was not out; his marriage, his children, and his standing in a conservative community all depended on Brad staying silent.
Detective Allar summarized the prosecution's theory: Kinney made up his mind that Brad McGarry had to die, lured him home with the promise of sex, killed him, and then covered it up as best he could. The jury accepted this account over Kinney's self-defense claim.
Interrogation and Confession
Kinney's extended police interview on May 9 produced a series of escalating admissions over the course of several hours. He moved from a false alibi, to inventing a third party, to admitting he fired the shots while claiming self-defense. The interview was video-recorded throughout.
The defense later argued the confession was involuntary due to emotional distress, sleep deprivation, and the detective making false statements about the evidence. The Seventh Appellate District rejected each of these arguments, finding Kinney alert and his statements legally admissible.
In Memoriam
He Is Not Forgotten
Brad McGarry was a hairdresser who became a coal miner because he wanted to prove something and because he wanted a better life and because he was exactly the kind of person who could walk into a room full of people who might not accept him and become their friend anyway. He was Uncle Brad. He was the one telling the jokes and playing the pranks and showing up for the holidays and making every gathering feel more like home.
He was also a gay man who fell in love with someone who was never going to love him back the way he deserved. He wanted a real life with a real partner and he was not willing to keep pretending that he did not. That honesty cost him everything. The man he trusted with his secret killed him rather than face the truth of who he was.
His friends remember his spirit and his warmth and the way he filled every space he occupied. They remember that he never sacrificed who he was for anyone, not in the coal mine and not anywhere else, and that the quality of life he built was a testament to a person who simply refused to disappear. He collected antiques and filled his home with things that had stories. He was a person who had stories too, and they deserved to be told to the end.
Brad Dennis McGarry is buried in Ohio. His name is known across the country now because of documentaries and news specials and the kind of attention that comes too late and cannot give anything back. But he is remembered by the people who loved him long before any of that, and they carry him forward. He is not forgotten.
Brad Dennis McGarry — October 24, 1973 — May 7, 2017
Sources
Oxygen — A Surprising Suspect Emerges in Death of Openly Gay Coal Miner | Oxygen — Ohio Coal Miner Shot to Death by Married Best Friend He'd Been Having Secret Affair With | Investigation Discovery — Investigation Into the Murder of Openly Gay Ohio Coal Miner Reveals a Secret Affair | The Intelligencer — Seventh Appellate District Court Upholds Life Sentence for David Kinney, July 2019 | The Intelligencer — David Carl Kinney Appeals Murder Conviction in Belmont County, April 2019 | Times Leader — Life Sentence Upheld for Kinney, July 2019 | Times Leader — Kinney Appeals Murder Case, April 2019 | WTOV9 — Convicted Murderer Appealing Life Sentence in Ohio, December 2019 | WTOV9 — Could a Life Sentence in a Bellaire Murder Case Be Appealed, July 2020 | Ohio Supreme Court — State of Ohio v. David C. Kinney, Case No. 2019-1103 | Court of Appeals of Ohio, Seventh Appellate District —
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