Where is David Kinney Now? Details explored ahead of Dateline: Secrets Uncovered on Oxygen
David Kinney, the man who killed his best friend Brad McGarry in 2017, is spending his life behind the walls of Belmont Correctional Institution in eastern Ohio. Prison records list Kinney under inmate number A741966, admitted on February 16, 2018, and serving a mandatory term of life without the possibility of parole, plus an additional three-year firearm specification.
The conviction followed an eight-day Belmont County trial in which jurors found that David Kinney lured Brad McGarry to the miner’s basement, shot him twice in the back of the head, and then staged a burglary to hide their years-long secret affair. Judge Frank Fregiato, citing the execution-style nature of the crime, rejected any chance of future release.
Dateline: Secrets Uncovered on Oxygen revisits the case in the new episode Dangerous Secret airing Wednesday, June 18 at 8:00 p.m. ET. The episode traces how investigators used phone data, surveillance video, and Kinney’s shifting stories to move him from grieving witness to convicted murderer.
How the Brad McGarry murder unfolded and David Kinney became the prime suspect
Deputies entered Brad McGarry’s Bellaire, Ohio, basement on May 7, 2017, and discovered the 43-year-old coal miner face-down with two gunshots to the back of his head.
Although furniture and décor were scattered, pricey collectibles and McGarry’s own 9mm pistol lay untouched, quickly undercutting any robbery theory, as per an Oxygen.com report dated October 20, 2018.
As per the report, Detective Ryan Allar later remarked:
"The more and more we get into this, the more and more it looks like this is a prop left for us, to throw us off the trail. This was the most staged crime scene I've ever seen in my life. ... Whoever staged this scene killed Brad McGarry."
Less than 24 hours later, detectives learned from the victim's cousin, Schuyler Strawser, that McGarry had arranged to meet “DJ,” a married friend he’d been romantically involved with for years.
“DJ” turned out to be David Kinney, McGarry’s longtime best friend. Phone logs and a neighbor’s camera placed Kinney at the house shortly before and again after the killing, when he returned with his wife and child and dialled 911.
During an interview, David Kinney cycled through at least seven versions of events before conceding he had pulled the trigger, though he insisted it was self-defense. In a May 19, 2017, report published by The Intelligencer, Detective Allar remarked:
"Constantly, the defendant’s narrative changed. As I was talking to him I started to suspect that he was the one that had killed Brad McGarry,"
Ballistic evidence showing both shots entered from behind erased the self-defence claim, and Kinney was charged with aggravated murder.
Evidence trail exposes a double life
Prosecutors contended that Brad McGarry wanted their affair made public, while David Kinney was desperate to protect his marriage and reputation. Text messages revealed romantic language, and friends testified that McGarry was “Uncle Brad” to the Kinney children.
Investigators traced Kinney’s route up State Route 7, where he admitted discarding a .22-calibre pistol; matching ammunition was found in his truck, though the gun was never recovered, as cited in The Intelligencer report dated May 11, 2017. Assistant Prosecutor Kevin Flanagan told the court that Kinney’s lies showed conscious guilt.
An eight-day trial in February 2018 laid out the timeline: Kinney lured McGarry to the basement, shot him twice, staged a break-in, then used his family to “discover” the body. Forensic experts testified there were no struggle wounds on either man.
Summing up the state’s case, Prosecutor Dan Fry said the jury had proven a premeditated execution-style murder, as noted in the WTOV-9 report dated February 15, 2018.
From courtroom verdict to prison term
Judge Frank Fregiato, calling David Kinney “a cold, calculated assassin,” imposed life without parole plus a mandatory three-year firearm specification as cited in the Times Leader online report dated February 15, 2018. David Kinney, inmate A741966, entered Belmont Correctional Institution on February 16, 2018, where records list him as “Incarcerated” with no eligibility for release.
As cited in the Times Leader online report, at sentencing, family friend Jack Bonar stated:
“The first person we met was Mr. Kinney. He was crying, trying to explain what he knew about what had happened. We cried together. A very emotional time. Little did we know that this was the man that brought a gun to Brad’s house with the intention of killing him,”
Dateline: Secrets Uncovered revisits the case in the episode Dangerous Secret airing Wednesday, June 18, 2025, at 8 p.m. ET on Oxygen.
