Menu
Sign In Search Podcasts Libraries Charts People & Topics Add Podcast API Blog Pricing
Podcast Image

Small Town Murder

The Mutilated Musician - Kawaihae, Hawaii

05 Jun 2026

Transcription

Transcript generated automatically by AI and may contain errors.

Chapter 1: Why does nobody panic when the local musician goes missing?

0.031 - 19.327 Unknown

Marketing is hard. But I'll tell you a little secret. It doesn't have to be. Let me point something out. You're listening to a podcast right now, and it's great. You love the host. You seek it out and download it. You listen to it while driving, working out, cooking, even going to the bathroom. Podcasts are a pretty close companion. And this is a podcast ad. Did I get your attention?

0

19.908 - 39.505 Unknown

You can reach great listeners like yourself with podcast advertising from Libsyn Ads. Choose from hundreds of top podcasts offering host endorsements or run a pre-produced ad like this one across thousands of shows to reach your target audience in their favorite podcasts with Libsyn Ads. Go to LibsynAds.com. That's L-I-B-S-Y-N ads.com today.

0

57.254 - 61.101 James Pietragallo

Hello, everybody, and welcome back to Small Town Murder Express.

0

61.662 - 64.046 Jimmie Whisman

Yay and choo-choo.

0

64.066 - 67.633 James Pietragallo

Yay indeed, Jimmy. Yay indeed. My name is James Petrigallo.

Chapter 2: What leads to the search for the musician in Kawaihae, Hawaii?

67.653 - 88.955 James Pietragallo

I'm here with my co-host. I'm Jimmy Wissman. Thank you, folks, so much for joining us today on another crazy, wild Small Town Murder Express edition. As you know, 10 pounds of murder in a two-pound bag. We got an hour. And we're going to slam a big murder into there. So let's get into it real quickly. Before we do, though, definitely head over to ShutUpAndGiveMeMurder.com.

0

89.275 - 101.88 James Pietragallo

Get your tickets for live shows. Oh, we've been having such a blast. Buffalo and Detroit were incredible. Thank you, everybody. Amazing shows. Thank you so much for that. We just we had a blast. Couldn't couldn't have better time doing comedy. So it was great.

0

101.94 - 114.36 James Pietragallo

Can't wait to see you guys at the Small Town Murder live shows, including September 18th at the Pabst in Milwaukee, September 19th at the State Theater in Minneapolis. Get those tickets now. Pabst, you're almost sold out.

0

Chapter 3: Who is Martin Booth and what is his background?

114.38 - 139.303 James Pietragallo

But Minneapolis there, you got to get in there. And don't let Milwaukee punk you. And then also we have Dallas, San Jose, Sacramento, Tarrytown, Boston in October and November. So get in there. Get your tickets right now. Shut up and give me murder.com. Patreon.com slash crime in sports. That's where you get all the bonus material. Anybody $5 a month or above, you get every damn thing we put out.

0

139.283 - 155.84 James Pietragallo

Wow. Including as soon as you subscribe, you're going to get a massive back catalog of bonus episodes. You've never heard before. Almost 400 of them on there. So tons of them. And then new ones every other week. It keeps growing and growing. This week, well, every week, every other week, you get one crime and sports, one small town murder.

0

156.141 - 164.329 James Pietragallo

This week, what you're going to get for crime and sports, it is back to theme park disasters. Absolutely. And we're going to center around the Disney properties, too, this time. So that'll be a lot.

0

164.309 - 164.95 Jimmie Whisman

It's amazing.

0

164.97 - 165.531 James Pietragallo

A lot of fun.

165.571 - 169.737 Jimmie Whisman

The timing we have, because every time a new accident happens.

169.757 - 177.108 James Pietragallo

It's every damn time we have a new one here. Viral one. Big, something big. And then for Small Town Murder, the poll is up still, I believe.

177.148 - 196.834 James Pietragallo

It might be closed by now, but it's either the crash, that documentary, the Mackenzie Shirella thing and all the stuff around it, or Corey Richens, part three, the sentencing where we hear her kids' statements about basically she lied about everything that she said happened that night that tried to kill her. Terry Richens, the gift that keeps on giving. It keeps on giving.

196.854 - 214.75 James Pietragallo

So that's patreon.com slash crime in sports. And you get a shout out at the end of the regular show. And even bigger than that, you get everything we put out. Crime in sports, small town murder, your stupid opinions all ad free with that. Get the fuck out of here. Ad free, damn it. No, no, you're taking it. Just take it. We're crazy.

Chapter 4: What evidence connects Martin Booth to the missing musician?

215.21 - 248.822 James Pietragallo

Doesn't matter. So do that. Get yourself Patreon. And that said, I think it's time to sit back, everybody. What do you say here? Let's all clear the lungs here. Arms to the sky. Let's all shout. Shut up and give me murder. Let's do this, everybody. Okay. Let's go on a trip, shall we? Where are we going? Someplace nice. Yeah? We are going to, oh, man, Kauai, Kauai, Hawaii. Hello, Hawaii.

0

248.842 - 255.388 James Pietragallo

Hello, Hawaii. Yeah, we've been in different places, but we're going to Hawaii. It's been a long time. God, I'm butchering that pronunciation.

0

255.589 - 259.032 Jimmie Whisman

Yeah, I'll never understand how to do that language.

0

259.012 - 268.426 James Pietragallo

That's one of those where I'll say, how do you pronounce this? Someone will say it to me and then I can't repeat it back to them. It's the craziest thing in the world that my mouth does not make the noise correctly.

0

268.687 - 272.232 Jimmie Whisman

It's like Native American, like Tahoe to Odom or some shit like that.

272.453 - 300.192 James Pietragallo

It's hard. It's hard. It's so hard. This is K-A-W-A-I-H-A-E. I don't know. I've heard it pronounced 12 times, and that's the best I can come out with. I don't know. It's on the north side of the Big Island, Hawaii. Hawaii is the Big Island. It's the southernmost of the islands, and this is on the north side of the island. So this is the dry side of the island. There's a dry side and a wet side.

300.212 - 301.835 James Pietragallo

How do you have that? Not sure.

Chapter 5: How does the musician's family react to his disappearance?

301.855 - 324.242 James Pietragallo

I think because one side has mountains because there's volcanoes there, I know. There's lava fields and all that. And then on the other side, it's lower. Yeah. So the weather with the volcanic shit cuts down the humidity? I have no idea. You're asking the wrong guy now. Who the fuck would do that? I got to know about murders and comedy and legal shit. Meteorology is really not my strong point.

0

324.262 - 325.044 Jimmie Whisman

Let's get weather patterns involved.

0

325.264 - 352.209 James Pietragallo

Yeah, I don't know anything about it. But on the north side of the island, the dry side. Now, I tried to do like the time we do drive times. Hawaii is a totally different thing. My guts are off. To our last episode, which, by the way, was so long ago, episode 474. This is 706. It's been... 300 shows. Over two years since we've done an episode in Hawaii. That was in Hana, Hawaii.

0

352.55 - 358.577 James Pietragallo

That was twin-powered craziness. Remember the twins that did, like, yoga stuff? The twin blonde ladies? That was crazy. Yeah, it was...

0

358.557 - 360.923 Jimmie Whisman

Oh, we've only done like three here.

360.943 - 387.594 James Pietragallo

We've done like four or five episodes, I think. Yeah. So this is to Hana. It's a 40 minute flight to another island, followed by a three and a half hour drive from the airport to Hana. So that's how to get there. This is in Hawaii County. Area code 808. Population, that's all of Hawaii is 808. Population here, 742. Not many. This is not a real tourist spot. This is kind of a local spot.

388.196 - 405.388 James Pietragallo

Well, it's not tropical because it's dry. I mean, it's still Hawaii and nice, but it's not constantly raining. That's the thing. Because some of Hawaii is like a rainforest kind of. It rains all the time. Do they have desert? They can't have desert, right? I don't know if it's like desert, but it's dry. Close enough. Yeah.

405.448 - 426.406 James Pietragallo

Median household income here, about $97,500, which is well above the national average, about $69,000. But you'd need it. Well, here are the median home costs, $444,700, which for Hawaii is low. That's not bad. This is not a real... Hugely desirable area. You know what I mean? It's not like Maui or something. It's not that kind of place, but it's very nice.

426.426 - 428.268 Jimmie Whisman

More desirable than fucking Lincoln, Nebraska.

Chapter 6: What discoveries are made during the investigation into the musician's case?

429.79 - 453.744 James Pietragallo

That sounds awesome. So history of this town, little bit here of history. Basically, well, there's the King Kamehameha stuff here where his rival cousin arrived here, and then his cousin's many followers were killed and sacrificed here. The cousins were? Yes, to fulfill the prophecy and gain spiritual power. That's the king.

0

454.785 - 468.862 James Pietragallo

This event somehow paved the way for a bunch of Kamehameha's conquests leading to the unification of the Hawaiian kingdom in 1810. So I guess any rival leader, including his cousins, he's going to cut them out.

0

468.882 - 472.126 Jimmie Whisman

Feels like something you would do. Anybody that comes to visit you, you'd just sacrifice.

0

472.347 - 481.18 James Pietragallo

Sacrifice, like Vlad the Impaler? Yeah. Yeah, don't come to my house. Well, I wouldn't invite you to be sacrificed. That's the thing. You show up unannounced. That's a whole other.

0

481.2 - 482.522 Jimmie Whisman

That's what it feels like happened here.

482.542 - 491.415 James Pietragallo

Yeah. If Vlad the Impaler did all that because all those people showed up for dinner unannounced, I'd go, I understand what he's doing. Yeah. Fucking call before you come. What are you doing, bro?

491.455 - 496.902 Jimmie Whisman

Send a messenger. His cousin showed up with his family. He's like, throw them in the volcano.

496.922 - 521.809 James Pietragallo

I love my cousins, but call first. That's all I'm saying. You know what I mean? That's it. This was also a filming location for Waterworld, which is the famous Kevin Costner bomb. So there are no reviews for this town of any kind. They are not telling a soul. Couldn't find them. So let me try one. Okay. Here. It's going to be hard. All right. Um, It's goddamn paradise.

522.31 - 538.8 James Pietragallo

Smoke a fatty, grab a snorkel, and shut the fuck up. Five stars. There you go. There's a review of the town. It's probably still fucking amazing. It's great. Things to do here. Well, it's Hawaii. Do I seriously need to tell you about some, you know, festival that's going on? It's all a festival. Yeah.

Chapter 7: What are the circumstances surrounding the musician's tragic fate?

555.623 - 592.902 James Pietragallo

The bands that will be playing there. The New Salts. Funky Jams, which seems like someone would have taken that by now. At least in the 70s. Regular old funky. Yeah. I feel like someone in 1973 took that, right? Blaine Azing. A-S-I-N-G. Kingside. We also have the Johnny Ness Band. Jesus. Tomi Asobi. The Savory Brothers, not savory like a taste with an E, savory. Tavana, it's Johnny Shot.

0

594.284 - 597.129 James Pietragallo

Who or what? Johnny Shot.

0

597.149 - 598.571 Jimmie Whisman

I would have gotten that one by now.

0

598.671 - 611.331 James Pietragallo

Bald head, looks like Bill Goldberg with a guitar, which is an odd thing. DJ Overflow. Hell yeah. And let's see, Pete Sawyer and the Left Hand Monkey Wrench Gang.

0

611.311 - 612.353 Unknown

What?

612.754 - 631.631 James Pietragallo

Their logo is basically like it looks like a Grateful Dead logo, but there's a wrench in there instead of a skull. That's a lot of words. A lot of words to put on a marquee of a small place. And then Brother Noland, who looks like a very old man with white hair and a white beard, standing in this field and smiling. I feel like this is all locals, right? A lot of locals, yeah.

631.651 - 660.319 James Pietragallo

This is a long flight into... Do a bar and get paid $180. Muse Aquarium. Muse Aquarium. That said, let's talk about some murder. What do you say here? All right. Let's talk about a young man first here. Or a man, I should say. Robert Kiaway Ryder. R-Y-D-E-R. He goes by Lopaka. L-O-P-A-K-A. Lopaka. Everybody calls him that. That's his name.

660.66 - 662.503 Jimmie Whisman

It's probably his Hawaiian name, yeah.

662.523 - 690.972 James Pietragallo

Well, it means something, as we'll get into later. His family all calls him that. Now, he's born in Honolulu, but he didn't grow up there. I feel like Honolulu is where the good hospital is. In 1976, so that's where you go. But he grew up on the other side of the big island, on the wet side, where it rains, in the Puna district here, which basically is a lot of jungle and lava.

Chapter 8: How does the community respond to the musician's murder?

712.502 - 734.502 James Pietragallo

It was after Pearl Harbor. And then that's when – if you look at like in the 50s and 60s, there was a million like tiki bars. And like that's southeast – southwest or southeast Pacific shit. South Pacific shit became real popular. And then Hawaii became a state. And then it was – Yeah. Cause we were vacationing there a lot. So, um, now his mother's name is Deborah or Debbie.

0

735.244 - 757.138 James Pietragallo

Um, his father is Roy Ryder jr. Oh, Roy Ryder jr. Um, So he's got brother named Wailau, W-A-I-L-A-U, and Kawai, K-A-W-A-I. But he goes by Buddy. Perfect.

0

757.158 - 757.799 Jimmie Whisman

I would, too.

0

758.039 - 781.968 James Pietragallo

Okay. He's like, I'm tired of people fucking my name up. That's enough. It's too much. So LaPaka and his brother Wailu, of course, the one who has a not called buddy that I have to try to pronounce his name is the one that is going to be involved in this. They were very musical, both of them. Oh, they're both musical guys. LaPaka is all music all the time. He's got his ukulele, and he plays.

0

781.988 - 810.73 James Pietragallo

Is that what he's playing? That's what he's playing, and he plays all sorts of shit. He is Mr. Hawaii. Yeah. So their aunt is a – oh, Jesus. Le'ohu. Le'ohu? L-E-I apostrophe O-H-U Ryder. That's their aunt, and she's a very famous Hawaiian singer from Maui. She was singing for 30 years. She's known as a spiritual leader and a healer and a singer-songwriter and all that shit.

811.05 - 812.171 Jimmie Whisman

Big deal, huh?

812.371 - 823.322 James Pietragallo

Yeah, everything on the island. So she got the Gandhi King Peace Hero Award, the United Nations Peace Educator Award.

824.103 - 824.243

Mm-hmm.

824.223 - 830.821 James Pietragallo

And she teaches healing and chant to audiences in Miami and Amsterdam and at the United Nations.

Comments

There are no comments yet.

Please log in to write the first comment.