Murder With My Husband - 81. B.J. Liske - The Liske Family Murders

Episode Date: October 11, 2021

On this episode of MWMH, Payton and Garrett discuss the Liske Family Murders. LIVE ONLINE SHOW TICKETS HERE! https://www.moment.co/murderwithmyhusband Case Sources: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/ohio-triple-murder-teen-thought-it-was-halloween-prank/ https://sanduskyregister.com/news/40338/tragic-timeline-details-surface-on-halloween-family- killings/ https://medium.com/true-crime-addiction/bj-liske-butchers-family-on-halloween-true- crime-114279f06b8c Links: https://linktr.ee/murderwithmyhusband  ADS: https://bombas.com/husband https://www.myfitnesspal.com/ code HUSBAND https://www.getquip.com/murder www.prose.com/mwmh https://simplisafe.com/mwmh Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This summer, PXU Energy is back with Ultimate Summer Pat, starting 50% off energy charges all summer. Everybody's on for automatic energy savings! Plus free energy on the hottest day. Don't you see it? Free days are now the coolest days. In this summer's hottest blood flow start guaranteeing to keep you cool. The savings for coming from inside the house! Ultimate Summer Pat, energy savings and results so cool. Open it summer path, energy saving has been developed so cool.

Yes, you energy, energy for everything. Cast the banner now to learn more. Hey everybody, welcome back to our podcast. This is Myrida with my husband. I'm Peyton Moreland. And I'm Garrett Moreland. And he's the husband. And I'm the husband.

Another week and we are back here again. Yeah, thank you guys so much for listening. A reminder if you are on YouTube, please subscribe, and turn on notifications, and leave us a comment. And if you are listening on podcast, just leave us a review. And if you want to support the show and check out our Patreon,

which has three extra bonus episodes this month. So that's cool. You can do that. It's just Patreon slash murder with my husband. There's different levels here. And it really does help us out. It helps, it's all at free. And also every single episode

is released a day early for all of our patrons. So if you want to support the show that way, go check it out. Okay, also this is the first episode since we released our spooky episode. And I wanna know if you guys liked it. I thought it was really fun. It was like super fun from our side,

and I loved reading this story, so let us know in a comment, either on Instagram, Facebook, or just down below if you're watching on YouTube so let us know in a comment either on Instagram, Facebook, or just down below if you're watching on YouTube. Let us know if you liked the spooky stories, because I personally was a fan. If everybody roasts me from a Halloween costume, it's okay. I won't be offended.

You look so cute. Thanks, babe. Okay, girl, what is your 20 seconds? Well, since everyone wants more. 20 seconds. I mean, I want more too, so. Um, I don't know. I mean I want more to so um I don't know I've been I've been playing golf

I'm not a good golfer, but it's fun. I like doing it. So I've been doing that also everybody's been talking about the squid games Squid game. Let's go Squid games on Netflix. I haven't watched it. We haven't watched it It feels a little like black mirror to me. That's what I think it's gonna be like. Anyways, if it's good, let us know. Maybe we'll watch it. All I know is I just see this big old robot thing just shooting people if they move.

I know. That's all I see. Oh, last thing is that last week I mentioned the cheesecake factory, and how we were, I wanted to go there, we didn't go there. Actually, cheesecake factories like 40 minutes from us. Yeah. So we just decided not to go.

Yeah, it's kind of a job. And then today, we won't be going out there. Oh, also, I was going to say that sometimes I get some comments, I don't want to make it seem like a lot, but it's enough that I'll say something about my nails. People just wanting to like see my designs or what I'm doing. I think because on YouTube YouTube they see them. So I actually will post anything personal info

like that, like my nails or my outfits or anything like that over on my personal Instagram. So if you want to know about that and you want to follow me on there, you can just search Peyton, Marland. And that's where I post all of that information for everyone who's asking. Keep leaving suggestions for my 10 seconds

and the YouTube comments and Instagram comments. I do read those. All right, so our case sources, I do want to preface that there was not a lot of information on this case, but it is a good Halloween case. So you know I had to do it for October. So our case sources are CBS news.com, Sundeskyregister.com and medium dot com. All right. So our episode begins in Columbus, Ohio It's Halloween in 2010 and 16 year old Devon Griffin has just finished church for the day He had actually spent the weekend at his dad's house

But was going home to his mom's house after church Devon actually saying in the church choir that morning Which was why he was at church service by himself and like not with his whole family I actually tried saying in the church choir that morning, which was why he was at church service by himself and like not with his whole family. I actually tried to sing in church choir once. How'd it go? Bad because I'm not a good singer, but I always want to be a singer. So as soon as Devon gets home to his mom's house, Devon runs upstairs and starts playing video games in his room. He's like, he finished church, just going straight up to his room. But as 1.30 pm rolled around, he noticed something. His house was really quiet. Too quiet. He knew that his mom, 46-year-old Susan Lysky, would be awake by now and moving around the house. And also, where was the rest of his family, too? He didn't hear anyone downstairs.

He'd actually dropped in at home to get his church close earlier that morning, around 9.30 AM before church, but he'd only quickly seen his step brother, 24 year old BJ Lisky, while running back out the door. So he was there that morning, didn't see the rest of his family, only saw BJ, ran back out, went to church, saying in church choir came home, ran in immediately upstairs

and now was like, wait, where's my whole family? Like, why haven't I seen anybody? Got it. Okay. So Devon finishes up his video game and makes his way downstairs to find his family. No one was on the main level of the home, like in the living room or kitchen, where he assumed they would be. So he makes his way to the master bedroom that was on the main level and opens the door. Inside the master bedroom, it looks like his mom and stepdad, 53 year old William E. Lysky, who goes by bill, they're still in bed, but it's so late, it's like 130 and he's like,

what the heck? So Devon decides to walk over and wake up his mom. As he approaches the bed, he notices that their comforter is pulled up over both of their heads. So weird it out, Devon calls out, mom. When she doesn't respond, he tries touching her foot that was poking out of the covers, but she still doesn't move. He calls out mom again while pulling the covers down off her head. This is when Devon jumps at the sight of blood all over his mom's pillow.

He relaxes a little as he remembers it's Halloween and his family must be playing a Halloween prank on him. He's like, okay, this is a prank like it's Halloween. They are trying to spook me or whatever so he's like, okay, but then Devon dramatically realizes that this is not a prank. This is much worse. When he pulls the rest of the covers down and finds his mom dead in her bed, he freaks out both the mom and the dad, correct? His stepdad is in the bed too. Yeah, and his stepdad is laying next to her dead as well.

Okay. Devon runs outside like of the home immediately. I'm sure he's traumatized and he calls his aunt Lori Morse who then called 911 for him and rush to the home And at first I was kind of like why wouldn't he just call 911? But like the thought of calling 911 actually really scares me So I don't think like after finding your parents dead. It's that weird that you like call your aunt like come help Oh my gosh, what do I do? And she's like okay? We need a call 911. So I don't think that's that weird and he was he was young still Yeah, I think he was only 16.

So I could see that. When Ottawa County authorities arrive at the Lysky home, they come across a grisly crime scene. The Lysky home was in a very rural part of Columbus sitting on roughly 100 acres. So it's like a really secluded place, like we're not talking a neighborhood home. I mean, their home sits on 100 acres.

There's nobody nearby. Police find father Bill Liskey, his body, was kind of lying in a natural sleeping position. He had been shot five times in the head and face. And from what investigators think only about one to two feet away is how far away he was shot from. So that's like pretty intense. It's almost like he was shot while he was asleep.

So I assume whatever happened between the time that he was at choir and came home. Or church, yeah, I mean came home. I mean, maybe because like they said that Bill was asleep. True. So this was how he woke up. I don't think he woke up being shot in the face,

but he was obviously still asleep. So it happened in the early morning hours. They hadn't woken up yet for the day. And then his mother, Susan, had been shot three times, but she was positioned a little bit more awkwardly than Bill. Like she had been moved after she was shot. So policing whoever did it,

shot her husband Bill while he was sleeping, that obviously woke her up. And then she was shot after him. So she was not in a normal sleeping position. And then the killer positioned her back onto the bed and pulled the covers up over both of them. So that's why she was kind of in like a weird position. So where's the step brother and everybody else in? We'll get there. Okay. So according to Sarah Weber with the Sandesky register, the bullets that were used to shoot the parents were smaller like were a smaller caliber likely a 22. As police are taking in the crime scene, they wonder about the rest of the family. Devon Griffin was outside being comforted by his aunt

he's the 16 year old, but they were still missing his stepbrother, BJ Lysky, who he'd seen that morning and his brother Derek Griffin, who also lived at the home. BJ was not actually living with the family at the time, so they were a little less worried about finding him as they were worried about locating Derek. So they searched the family home, and as they got up to 23 year old Derek's room, they find his door locked. After knocking and finally kicking the door down, police are hit with even more tragedy. Derek Griffin's body is curled up on his bed in kind of like the fetal position and he's facing the wall.

A coroner determines that he suffered blunt force trauma to his head and died within a few minutes of the first hit. Gosh dang it. So he too is dead in his room. Police discovered a bloody claw hammer later in the house that actually matched the wounds on Derek Griffin's head. So the parents were shot, but Derek was beaten with a hammer until he died. Oh, weird. And was the hammer part like was it their hammer? Do you know? I think so because it was just left at the house. And I think I'm pretty sure they were just like this was the hammer used. After talking to Devon, police learned that the Lysky family had multiple guns on the

property, but none of them actually matched the murder weapon that was used to kill the parents. Police found muddy footprints by a deck near the family's pond, and so they actually believed that maybe the murderer had thrown the murder weapons in there to try to get rid of them, like these footprints around them down here, maybe whoever did this walked down there and tried to get rid of the murder weapons in there to try to get rid of them, like these footprints around them down here, maybe whoever did this, walked down there and tried to get rid of the murder weapons. But after draining the pond and bringing in weapons, sniffing dogs, like dogs who can detect weapons, police could not find the gun used to kill Susan and Bill.

So we don't think it's still on the property. All they knew was Devon was traumatized. Susan and Bill were slaughtered in their own home. Derek was beaten savagely, probably scared for his life in his bedroom, and BJ Lysky, who Devon had seen earlier that morning at the house, was now nowhere to be found. 24-year-old BJ Lysky had had a pretty troubled past. When Bill had divorced BJ's mother, BJ really struggled. He started skipping school and misbehaving. Then when Bill and Susan got married in 2001,

adding two more brothers into the family, BJ resented everything that had to do with it. When Susan tried imposing some rules on the new family, it was met with backlash from BJ. In 2002, his father Bill Lysky had actually called police on then 16-year-old BJ who had actually been threatening to harm himself. He was actually on house arrest at the time of the call

and when officers arrived, BJ attacked them. And so then he ended up facing charges in juvenile court, which I'm just telling you this to show that like, he was having a very hard time and so were the parents, his stepmom and his dad with kind of like managing this rough time he was having. Got it. Okay, you guys, we are getting into an ad. I know you guys have both heard the story

about how Garrett and I were both paying separately for peacock and then we used rocket money and realized how dumb we are and our so happy rocket money helped us stop doing that. Rocket money is a personal finance app that finds and cancels your unwanted subscriptions, monitors your spending and helps you lower your bills all in one place.

And like Payton said, I'm always on it, checking things out, seeing what's going on, seeing how many Amazon packages Payton are buying. Is that how you find out about my Amazon packages? No, I just get emails. Oh my email's on the account. Over 3 million people have already used rocket money saving the average person up to $720 a year.

Imagine what you could do with that extra cash and your pocket. Stop throwing your money away. Cancel unwanted subscriptions and manage your expenses the easy way by going to rocketmoney.com slash husband. That's rocketmoney.com slash husband. Rocket money.com slash husband. This show is sponsored by BetterHelp. Have you ever found yourself at a crossroads unsure of which direction to take in life? We all face those moments of uncertainty where the right path seems elusive. But guess what? There's a solution that can help you find clarity

and confidence. And that's therapy. As you guys know, I talk about therapy all the time. I go to therapy weekly. I definitely am a big supporter of it. It's helped me manage my stress and anxiety and really helped me work through difficult times. Therapy is not just for major traumas. It's for anyone who wants to learn positive coping skills, set healthy boundaries, and become the best version of themselves.

It's about staying connected to what truly matters as you navigate life's challenges. Here's how it works. Simply fill out a brief questionnaire and better help will match you with a licensed therapist who meets your specific needs. And if you ever feel they need to switch therapists, you can do so at no additional charge. That therapy be your map to a better life. Visit BetterHop.com slash husband today and get 10% off your first month. That's better help help.com slash husband jumping into an ad and it is native. I use their body wash.

I use their shampoo. We use their sunscreen, everything or deodorant. We are big native fans over here. And the funny thing is is I caught myself wanting to buy native products at stores, and then I was like, why am I doing that? Murder with my husband literally has a code. You can use promo code husband and get money off your native purchases, so go do it.

Native sunscreen offers a quickly absorbing ultra-shear and lightweight formula that hydrates your skin while providing broad spectrum SPF 30 protection from harmful UVA and UVB rays. And native sunscreen offers three delightful scents, coconut and pineapple, rose, and sweet peach in nectar. They're also for your face and body, I use them every day. But if you prefer unscented, they've got you covered too. Give your skin the protection it deserves with natives and mineral sunscreens. Go to nativedo.com slash husband or use promo code husband at checkout to get 20% off your first order.

That's native de.com slash husband or use promo code husband at checkout. nativedo.com slash husband and use promo code husband. It's cheap four by four season. Make your next adventure epic with Jeep Wrangler four by e. Jeep Grand Cherokee four by e and the 3-row Grand Cherokee L. Hurrie and now for great deals. Now get 3,500 combined bonus cash and Texas residents get 2,000 bonus cash.

Plus owners were less seized if competitive vehicles get 500 bonus cash. In the 2023 Jeep Grand Cherokee Limited and Grand Cherokee L Limited. Competitive vehicles exclude all other FCA vehicles. Contact dealer for details. Take retail delivery by 531-23. Jeep is a registered trademark. Then October of 2004, BJ got into a fight with his stepmother Susan and hit her in the chest hard. So it got physical. And then not even two months later, he was charged again, this time with felonous assault and robbery for hitting Susan with a coffee cup and stealing her keys.

So is he not in Juveo at all? No, they did press charges, but he was actually found incompetent to stand trial. And so then his father and stepmother actually just dropped the charges because they were like, he's still like, I mean, like it's still his dad. It's still his son, you know what I mean? That would be hard. It would be hard.

It wasn't until 18 year old B.J. tried to attack Susan, again, his stepmother while she was innocently showering. Like he, like, you know how you're like, you told me one time you were like, I always, like, one time I was in the shower and I was like, oh my gosh, like, I'm so innocent here. Peyton was gonna kill me. This is when she's gonna do it.

Because my eyes are closed. I'm just washing my eyes. Which is so messed up. I would never kill you. But he goes in and does that to Susan. While she's in such a vulnerable state, he goes in and tries to attack her. And so this is when Susan and Bill had had enough. Like Bill was like, despite the fact that BJ's my son,

this is like enough heat. Obviously has it out for Susan. He's physical, he's violent. We've hit our breaking point. So I think for everyone's safety, BJ was appropriately kicked out of the home. He's 18 now and moved to a Sandesky group home for mental health patients,

because he was obviously struggling. He actually had the cops called on him three times while living at this home. And one of those times was after his dad Bill came to pick him up once and then they got into a physical fight again. Oh man, so there's a lot involved. Yeah, and Bill would like kind of go back continuously to try to visit his son.

I mean, he still loved him. He still cared about him at this home. And it just never went well. Like the relationship was just really struggling. It's safe to say that with BJ missing and most of the family murdered, friends and family of the Liskies were really quick to point their fingers and voice their concerns about BJ.

So was BJ supposed to be at the house though? No, he wasn't living there, but his brother had seen him there earlier that morning, so police were kind of like, why was he here? And now the rest of the family's dead. So it was kind of odd that he was there. Yeah, apparently he'd been there the night before, but he didn't ever sleep there because of the violence.

So it was a little weird that he was there. At least at first, police were like this a little weird. Mark Gradle, who is a longtime family friend of the Liskies and like a neighbor, told police that Bill called him multiple times for help with BJ, whether it was that he couldn't get BJ to settle down or things had finally turned physical. It seems like Mark was called

before the last resort of contacting police. So like instead of calling police, he would contact Mark and say, can you please get over to the house and help me? And then if that wasn't enough, they would result to calling police, he would contact Mark and say, can you please get over to the house and help me? And then if that wasn't enough, they would result to calling police. Got it. Mark even told police that they actually suspected

BJ of killing and torturing their pets. And despite confronting Bill with the theory, Bill reassured Mark that BJ was just acting out, that he didn't mean any harm by it. No way. Which is like a really bad sign. Morturing pets. Yes, that's a really bad sign.

So I understand why Mark confronted him with it. And was like, hey, I think he needs help. Mark told police that despite the severe issues BJ had caused in the family, Bill loved him and never gave up on him. He wanted him to be a part of the family. In February 2006, Bill filed for guardianship over BJ because BJ had been hospitalized for a schizo effective disorder by polar type and he needed help. He needed

a guardian. When BJ moved to the Sandusky halfway home, Bill visited often and felt bad for his son. He just wanted him to know that he was loved. So the weekend of the murders, Bill had actually taken vacation time and gone hunting with BJ so that they could get someone on one quality time together. The family actually had a cabin in Carroll County that they used often while hunting. And so that's where they stayed like during this little vacation together. When BJ and Bill returned home from hunting that Saturday, they decided to spend the night with some friends together.

Mark Gradle, the neighbor, actually attended the gathering and said that everything seemed normal. After the party, BJ, who was really not allowed to sleep at the house, like I said, due to the violence of the past, actually ended up staying the night at the home that night. Bill had been drinking and he didn't feel it was safe to drive BJ all the way back to the home in Sandusky. And so he was like, I just think you should stay tonight. Plus, they're hunting tripe gone well. And so had the party.

They just weren't hunting. So they have guns and now he's staying the night at the house. Yes, but like the hunting had gone well. And so had the party that night. Like everyone was getting along. Yeah. Jay wasn't having any outbursts. So I think his dad who like despite the fact that they had made the role, he was like, okay, it's going to be okay. We'll just have him stay the night and I'll drive him home in the morning. Oh. So Bill actually made up a bed on the couch for BJ to stay in that night. And we only know that because police like found the couch made up into a bed. And so one plus one equals two. Once Devon left the house that morning for church, BJ took the family's Ford F-150

and drove back to the hunting cabin. He stopped along the way to get a subway sandwich and police actually found footage of him buying the sandwich, but it went like unearned. Like they just found it at the cabin, he never ate it. After learning about BJ and the family's cabin, police knew that they needed to head up that way. They stormed the cabin and found BJ hiding out inside. He was arrested and charged with aggravated murder and BJ pled guilty to all three murders and was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

BJ ended up taking his own life in prison in 2015 at age 29. Oh, so he was fit to stand trial? Yes, I mean, apparently, I think he kind of said that he didn't really know why he did it. He just did it. Like he said, he just... It seems so black and white. They found him like guilty, and that was it.

Yeah, because I mean, once they found him, he confessed and was like, yeah, I did it. Like he didn't try to put up a fight or anything and which is, I mean, that's a pretty open and shut case if the person who everyone is pointing fingers at then says, yes, I did it. So after finding out what BJ had done to his family, Devon recalled running into him earlier that morning.

This is when he was like, well, I did see him earlier that morning and police were like, how did that conversation go? Because we think he just killed your family. Like when you ran into him, This is when he was like, well, I did seem earlier that morning. And police were like, how did that conversation go? Because we think he just killed your family. Like when you ran into him, he had already killed your family. And Devin was like, well, he couldn't remember much about the conversation because it was so fast because he was rushing in to get dressed.

But he did note that BJ seemed happier than normal. Like he was a little bit more giddy. And he was also asking him a lot of questions like, where are you going? How long are you going to be there? How long is that going to take? And so, I mean, Devon just kind of like brushed it off like, okay, this is just like a little... Is it where that BJ didn't kill Devon? I think so.

But I think because Devon was like, oh, I'm just running in and out and people are expecting me at church, maybe BJ was like, I can't because people are like, oh, I'm just running in and out and people are expecting me at church Maybe BJ was like I can't because people are expecting him and then I'm not gonna have enough time to get away If he doesn't show up. I'm not sure but I do think that's weird that he killed everyone and then ran into him in the same house in the safety of the house that he just slaughtered his own family and chose not to yeah And I also like think a big part of this case is that you have to think about the impact that it had on Devon, that he entered his house not once but twice and spent hours in it with the whole family dead inside and didn't know that whole time he was playing video games, his family was dead.

Yeah. And when he ran into BJ that morning, his family was dead and Yeah, and when he ran into BJ that morning his family was dead And he had no idea and to me that's just like the worst part and it was on Halloween Yeah, that's even worse the fact that it was on Halloween. It's just even worse horrible But yeah, BJ said he didn't know why he did it. He just he just said he just got up and did it You think he was would have been like a serial killer? I think that he had really, really strong mental illness. And that's why I think he pled guilty and then ended up taking his own life.

I think he really struggled with some demons. Like, we don't know what he was going through. I'm not making an excuse. He brutally took people's lives. But I think there was obviously some things going on there that he was fighting in his own head. And I don't know if that's what caused him to do it. He didn't necessarily say that, but I think that all signs are pointing towards some severe mental illness.

So where's Devon now? Is there any information on that? No. No, yeah. This case is like surprisingly not reported on a lot. Like I really struggled finding information on it, but it was a Halloween murder. And so I wanted to incorporate that into our October.

And also like this family was completely innocent victims. Like innocently taken by someone that they should have been able to trust. And then also just to like put that impact on Devon and make him continue living on with that. It's just an awful, awful case, but that is the case of the Liskey family murders. Okay, you guys, well, don't,

you don't have to wait a week to hear from us again. We will have another spooky story coming out from you guys. So you will have more content coming and we are super excited for that. And plus, we will be dressed up again, and I'm really excited for you guys to see this week's costumes. It'll be on Thursday, right?

Yes, Thursday is one of our drop-in spooky stories, so we will see you then. I love it. And I hate it. Goodbye.