Who was the suspect convicted in Brad McGarry's murder? Details explored ahead of The Murder Tapes on ID

In May 2017, Brad McGarry, a resident of Bellaire, Ohio, was found dead in his basement.

Shortly after, McGarry's best friend, David Kinney, who had driven to McGarry's house with his wife, Cheri, and daughter to drop off a weed whacker, discovered the house's door slightly ajar. Wanting to check if everything is alright, the family decided to search the house. It was then that David Kinney stumbled upon the dead body of McGarry.

The police arrived at the scene almost instantaneously and searched the house. They determined shortly that the cause of McGarry's death was two gunshot wounds to the head.

Investigation Discovery's The Murder Tapes will revisit the shocking murder case of Brad McGarry in their upcoming episode, Scene of the Crime. The synopsis of the episode, as per IMDb, reads:

"When Brad McGarry is discovered murdered in his Ohio basement, residents in this sleepy coal mining town are left in shock; detectives suspect robbery until a friend comes forward and points them in the direction of someone whom they least expected."

The episode airs on the platform on August 3, 2023, at 6 pm ET.

In the investigation that followed the incident, the police discovered that Brad McGarry was an openly gay man who worked at the coal mining factory. Due to the persistent homophobia that was prevalent in the town, McGarry did not have an easy life. This fact broadened the suspect pool in the case, but shockingly, all the potential suspects had air-tight alibis.

Just when the police had hit a dead end in their investigation, a shocking revelation from McGarry's cousin Schuyler Strawser changed the trajectory of the case. Strawser revealed that just hours before his death, McGarry had revealed to him that a man named "DJ" had been coming over to his house.

He further revealed that McGarry insinuated that they were in a romantic relationship, however, "DJ" was married and had not come out to his wife yet.

Upon the persistent efforts of the police, they came to the shocking conclusion that "DJ" was none other than McGarry's best friend, David Kinney, the man who had found his body in the first place. Kinney was later sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of prison on the charge of aggravated murder.

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Brad McGarry murder case: David Kinney was sentenced to life in prison

David Kinney during the legal proceedings (Image via Yahoo)

Upon the shocking revelation by Brad McGarry's cousin, David Kinney was detained by the police for a lengthy interrogation. During the questioning, Kinney confessed to having a romantic relationship with McGarry and admitted to having hidden his affair from his wife Cheri for months.

Initially, Kinney rejected the claim that he had anything to do with the murder. However, his alibis did not check out and he ultimately confessed to having been with McGarry at the time of his murder.

He then claimed that there had been a third unidentified man who had shot McGarry, but when the investigators did not buy that claim, he revised his version of events and claimed that he had shot McGarry in self-defense.

He reportedly revised his version of events seven or eight times. However, when he was pressed for the truth and the investigators outrightly rejected his theory of the events by pointing out to him that McGarry had been shot in the back of the head, and therefore could not have been killed in self-defense, Kinney broke down and finally confessed to the crime.

Before his eventual imprisonment, Kinney pleaded for forgiveness from his wife Cheri. This conversation alone was enough to convince the police that Cheri had truly no idea about the events that occurred behind her back.

David Kinney was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole on the counts of aggravated murder. He continues to serve his sentence today.

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The Murder Tapes' new episode, Scene of the Crime, premieres on ID on August 3, 2023, at 6 pm ET.