Crimery

THE MURDER OF DAVID MCENTIRE: PARANOIA IN THE POCONOS

Jennifer Novotney Season 1 Episode 2

A devoted father and small-town carpenter walks out of his Polk Township home one October afternoon—and never returns. His blue work van is found wiped clean. His bank accounts go quiet. For years, rumors swirl. Then a drunk shoplifter starts talking about a crack house in the woods, a hammer, a rifle, and a basement “injection” meant to end a man’s life. What follows is a decade-long path to justice without a body—built on confessions, forensics that survived a bleach-and-paint scrub, and the unraveling of a rural drug underworld in the Pocono Mountains.

In this episode of CRIMERY, host Jennifer Novotney traces the 2005 disappearance and murder of David Walter McEntire—from addiction’s grip to a night of paranoia-fueled torture; from a staged van drop-off to burn-pit remains; from a killer’s confession to a life-without-parole verdict. Along the way, we confront the Poconos’ early-2000s crack epidemic, the witnesses whose credibility was tangled in their own addictions, and a 2024 prison suicide that cast a new, tragic shadow over the case. David’s body has never been found—but the truth still surfaced.

What you’ll hear:

  • How a routine shoplifting arrest cracked open a “missing” case
  • Why forensic teams still found blood in ten+ spots after a full bleach & repaint
  • The roles of Edwin “Beans” Kelly, Anthony Caiby, Lisa Stavish, and James “Buddah” Gaines
  • How prosecutors won a first-degree murder conviction without a body

Content warning: drug crimes, graphic violence, torture, murder.

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Host: Jennifer Novotney • Show: CRIMERY – True Crime Uncovered

CRIMERY is reported, written, and hosted by Jennifer Novotney. Produced by Timothy Novotney.

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Legal: Everyone mentioned is presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. Content may include descriptions of violence. Listener discretion advised.

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