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Blood at Dawn

Blood at Dawn

By: Fire Eyes Media LLC
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On October 12, 1996, Kevin Carroll, Keith Chavez, and Donald Mikesh Jr. were brutally beaten and murdered inside a condominium on Chicago’s Southwest Side. Three people were arrested. Three people were convicted. Each was sentenced to three concurrent life sentences in prison.

The case may have ended in convictions, but nearly 30 years later, the story is far from over...

Blood at Dawn is a multipart true crime series hosted by Heather, Kevin Carroll’s daughter. She was just 13 years old when her father was killed. Now, for the first time, she is going back through the case that changed her life. Using court testimony, police records, and interviews with family members and people closely involved in the investigation, Heather reconstructs the hours leading up to the murders. She examines the investigation and trials that followed, as well as the conflicting stories told by the three people convicted of the crime. But this story did not end when the verdicts were read.

Blood at Dawn explores what happens to the families left behind once the headlines disappear and everyone else moves on. They are expected to live with what happened. Then, decades later, they discover that the people convicted are asking the state for mercy.

Nearly 30 years after her father walked into that condominium and never walked out, Heather is returning to the evidence, the memories, and the questions that never completely went away.

This time, she is telling the story...Fire Eyes Media LLC Social Sciences
Episodes
  • Episode 3: Blind Rage

    Episode 3: Blind Rage
    12 Oct 2026
    Colleen Turner has walked away from the condo on 64th Place. Behind her are raised voices and shattering glass. What happens next is told through three conflicting accounts.

    In Episode 3 of Blood at Dawn, Heather Stephens examines Rhonda Thompson’s trial testimony alongside the accounts given by Kevin Aalders and Richard Fikejs. Thompson describes herself as a terrified witness forced to help conceal evidence. Aalders and Fikejs describe her as an active participant, while offering their own explanations for the violence and shifting responsibility between one another.

    Their versions overlap in some places and diverge sharply in others. Who began the attack? Who wielded which weapon? What did each person admit, and what did they blame on someone else?As police arrive and the three flee, the story turns toward the families who do not yet know what has happened...

    Content warning:
    This episode contains graphic descriptions of fatal stabbings, throat injuries, and beatings. It also includes strong language, threats involving children, and discussion of unwanted sexual advances. Listener discretion is advised.

    Featured voices:
    Heather Stephens, Kevin’s daughter and host of Blood at Dawn. The defendants’ accounts are narrated from records; they are not interviews conducted for this podcast.

    Sources and background:
    This episode draws on Rhonda Thompson’s trial testimony and accounts given by Kevin Aalders and Richard Fikejs, including Fikejs’s statement to police. Each account is attributed to the person who provided it. Presenting a defendant’s statement does not establish that statement as fact. The episode examines their claims, admissions, and contradictions.

    Explore more:
    Visit www.bloodatdawn.com to learn about the podcast and Kevin’s story.

    Credits:
    Created, written and hosted by Heather Stephens
    Production and editing by Jen Rivera and Fire Eyes Media
    Cover art: Jen Rivera
    Drone footage/photography: Jovan Landry (@JLeslieMonique)

    Follow:
    Facebook: Blood at Dawn Podcast
    Instagram: @bloodatdawnpodcast
    Tiktok: @bloodatdawnpodcast
    Youtube: Blood at Dawn Podcast
    Show more Show less
    20 min
  • Episode 2: Breaking Glass

    Episode 2: Breaking Glass
    12 Oct 2026
    A shift at work. Drinks with coworkers. A chance reunion between former classmates. An invitation to see a new condo. In the early morning hours of October 12, 1996, two groups crossed paths at a Chicago bar called Touch of Class. Before sunrise, eight people would gather inside Donald Mikesh’s condo on 64th Place.

    Three of them - Kevin T. Carroll, Keith Chavez, and Donald Mikesh - would never leave alive...

    In Episode 2 of Blood at Dawn, Heather Stephens reconstructs the hours leading up to her father’s murder through trial testimony and statements to police. As the gathering unfolds, uneasy exchanges, a cigarette run, and an unexpected stop begin to change the shape of the night.

    Paul Tyeptanner decides to leave. Colleen Turner eventually walks away, too. Behind her, she hears breaking glass.


    Content Warning:
    This episode discusses the events preceding a triple homicide and includes references to alcohol and drug use, weapons, and sexual propositions.

    Featured voices:
    Heather Stephens, Kevin’s daughter and host of Blood at Dawn, with a recorded recollection from her mother about their final conversation with Kevin.

    Sources and background:
    This episode draws on trial testimony and statements to police, including accounts from Paul Tyeptanner, Colleen Turner, Rhonda Thompson, and Richard Fikejs, along with testimony concerning the victims’ lives and Kevin’s work schedule. These accounts do not always agree. Conflicting recollections and statements are identified throughout the episode rather than presented as a single, undisputed sequence of events.

    Explore more:
    Visit www.bloodatdawn.com to learn about the podcast and Kevin’s story.


    Credits:
    Created, written and hosted by Heather Stephens
    Production and editing by Jen Rivera and Fire Eyes Media
    Cover art: Jen Rivera
    Drone footage/photography: Jovan Landry (@JLeslieMonique)

    Follow:
    Facebook: Blood at Dawn Podcast
    Instagram: @bloodatdawnpodcast
    Tiktok: @bloodatdawnpodcast
    Youtube: Blood at Dawn Podcast
    Show more Show less
    24 min
  • Episode 1: Before

    Episode 1: Before
    12 Oct 2026
    Before he became one of the victims of a brutal triple homicide on Chicago’s Southwest Side, Kevin Carroll was a husband, a son, a White Sox fan, and my dad.

    He was the one that would work nights, come home and make breakfast for us before he went to bed. The one who read us bedtime stories, complete with different voices for all the characters.
    But he was also a man who was struggling with alcohol addiction. Loving him, meant loving both the warmth and the unpredictability. And remembering him - is remembering both of those things.

    In the first episode of Blood at Dawn, Kevin’s daughter, Heather Stephens, returns to the ordinary goodbye that became her last. Through her own memories, and interviews with her mother and older sister, she introduces the complicated man that is the center of this story, and the family that he left behind on October 12, 1996.

    Nearly 30 years later, Heather begins reading the records she once feared opening, and asking the questions about the story she was told at 13.


    Content Warning:
    This episode discusses alcohol addiction, difficult family experiences, the murder of a parent, childhood bereavement, and grief.

    Featured Voices:
    Heather Stephens, Kevin Carroll’s daughter, and host of Blood at Dawn, with personal reflection from her mother, Lynn, and older sister.

    Sources and Background:
    This episode draws primarily on Heather’s personal memories and recorded interviews with her mother and older sister. It also introduces her examination of court records, transcripts, motions, and appeals relating to the murders of Kevin T. Carroll, Keith Chavez, and Donald Mikesh. Family recollections reflect each speaker’s experiences and memories nearly thirty years after the events.

    Explore more:
    Visit www.bloodatdawn.com to learn about the podcast and Kevin’s story

    Credits:
    Created, written and hosted by Heather Stephens
    Production and editing by Jen Rivera and Fire Eyes Media
    Cover art: Jen Rivera
    Drone footage/photography: Jovan Landry (@JLeslieMonique)

    Follow:
    Facebook: Blood at Dawn Podcast
    Instagram: @bloodatdawnpodcast
    Tiktok: @bloodatdawnpodcast
    Youtube: Blood at Dawn Podcast
    Show more Show less
    15 min
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