David Kinney, the person who killed his finest pal Brad McGarry in 2017, is spending his life behind the partitions of Belmont Correctional Establishment in jap Ohio. Jail data listing Kinney beneath inmate quantity A741966, admitted on February 16, 2018, and serving a compulsory time period of life with out the potential of parole, plus a further three-year firearm specification.
The conviction adopted an eight-day Belmont County trial during which jurors discovered that David Kinney lured Brad McGarry to the miner’s basement, shot him twice behind the top, after which staged a housebreaking to cover their years-long secret affair. Decide Frank Fregiato, citing the execution-style nature of the crime, rejected any likelihood of future launch.
Dateline: Secrets and techniques Uncovered on Oxygen revisits the case within the new episode Harmful Secret airing Wednesday, June 18 at 8:00 p.m. ET. The episode traces how investigators used telephone knowledge, surveillance video, and Kinney’s shifting tales to maneuver him from grieving witness to convicted assassin.
Unique preview to the most well liked present this season RIGHT HERE.
How the Brad McGarry homicide unfolded and David Kinney grew to become the prime suspect
Deputies entered Brad McGarry’s Bellaire, Ohio, basement on Could 7, 2017, and found the 43-year-old coal miner face-down with two gunshots to the again of his head.
Though furnishings and décor have been scattered, expensive collectibles and McGarry’s personal 9mm pistol lay untouched, rapidly undercutting any theft idea, as per an Oxygen.com report dated October 20, 2018.
As per the report, Detective Ryan Allar later remarked:
“The increasingly more we get into this, the increasingly more it seems to be like this can be a prop left for us, to throw us off the path. This was probably the most staged crime scene I’ve ever seen in my life. … Whoever staged this scene killed Brad McGarry.”
Lower than 24 hours later, detectives discovered from the sufferer’s cousin, Schuyler Strawser, that McGarry had organized to satisfy “DJ,” a married pal he’d been romantically concerned with for years.
“DJ” turned out to be David Kinney, McGarry’s longtime finest pal. Telephone logs and a neighbor’s digicam positioned Kinney on the home shortly earlier than and once more after the killing, when he returned along with his spouse and baby and dialled 911.
Throughout an interview, David Kinney cycled via not less than seven variations of occasions earlier than conceding he had pulled the set off, although he insisted it was self-defense. In a Could 19, 2017, report revealed by The Intelligencer, Detective Allar remarked:
“Always, the defendant’s narrative modified. As I used to be speaking to him I began to suspect that he was the one which had killed Brad McGarry,”
Ballistic proof displaying each pictures entered from behind erased the self-defence declare, and Kinney was charged with aggravated homicide.
Proof path exposes a double life
Prosecutors contended that Brad McGarry needed their affair made public, whereas David Kinney was determined to guard his marriage and popularity. Textual content messages revealed romantic language, and associates testified that McGarry was “Uncle Brad” to the Kinney kids.
Investigators traced Kinney’s route up State Route 7, the place he admitted discarding a .22-calibre pistol; matching ammunition was present in his truck, although the gun was by no means recovered, as cited in The Intelligencer report dated Could 11, 2017. Assistant Prosecutor Kevin Flanagan instructed the court docket that Kinney’s lies confirmed aware guilt.
An eight-day trial in February 2018 laid out the timeline: Kinney lured McGarry to the basement, shot him twice, staged a break-in, then used his household to “uncover” the physique. Forensic consultants testified there have been no battle wounds on both man.
Summing up the state’s case, Prosecutor Dan Fry mentioned the jury had confirmed a premeditated execution-style homicide, as famous within the WTOV-9 report dated February 15, 2018.
From courtroom verdict to jail time period
Decide Frank Fregiato, calling David Kinney “a chilly, calculated murderer,” imposed life with out parole plus a compulsory three-year firearm specification as cited within the Occasions Chief on-line report dated February 15, 2018. David Kinney, inmate A741966, entered Belmont Correctional Establishment on February 16, 2018, the place data listing him as “Incarcerated” with no eligibility for launch.
As cited within the Occasions Chief on-line report, at sentencing, household pal Jack Bonar said:
“The primary individual we met was Mr. Kinney. He was crying, attempting to elucidate what he knew about what had occurred. We cried collectively. A really emotional time. Little did we all know that this was the person that introduced a gun to Brad’s home with the intention of killing him,”
Dateline: Secrets and techniques Uncovered revisits the case within the episode Harmful Secret airing Wednesday, June 18, 2025, at 8 p.m. ET on Oxygen.
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Edited by Riya Peter
