Buzz
Since its founding in 1955, the Waffle House chain has been a staple in the fast-food world. The franchise proudly claims to have served close to one billion waffles to breakfast lovers across the country. However, the chain isn't just famous for its delicious waffles; it has also gained a darker reputation over the years.
Whether it's the late-night hours or the fact that many Waffle House locations are situated in high-crime areas, the restaurant chain seems to attract bizarre or even violent incidents. A quick search of 'Waffle House crime' will show thousands of articles about the many criminal activities that have captured public attention. Among the many tragic events, these 10 deaths stand out as the most unsettling.
10. The Antioch Waffle House Shooting
In 2018, a tragic incident unfolded in a quiet neighborhood of Nashville, Tennessee. Early on the morning of Sunday, April 22, at 3:19 am, a man named Travis Reinking drove into a Waffle House parking lot. He was naked except for an oversized green jacket and carrying an assault rifle. Reinking shot and killed two people in the parking lot before entering the restaurant to continue the deadly rampage.
Inside the Waffle House, Reinking continued his attack, killing two customers and injuring several others. When another customer managed to tackle Reinking and wrestle the gun from him, he fled the scene, sparking a widespread manhunt. Just 34 hours after the incident, police found Reinking, now completely naked, hiding in the woods behind the restaurant. Despite being diagnosed with severe schizophrenia by forensic psychologists, Reinking was sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole.
9. The South Florida Waffle House Executions
In 2002, former Waffle House employee Jimmy Mickel and his roommate Gerhard Hojan planned to rob the restaurant where Mickel once worked. Only one of the employees present during the attempted robbery survived to tell the story. Barbara Nunn recounted how Mickel and Hojan forced the Waffle House workers into the kitchen freezer and shot them at close range.
The two victims were each shot once in the head and once in the throat; Nunn was also shot in the head and left for dead alongside the others. However, she managed to walk to a nearby gas station where the clerk called the police. Another Waffle House employee who wasn’t present during the robbery stated that Mickel had shown no signs of hostility before the attack, making this horrific crime seem completely unexpected.
8. The Biloxi Waffle House Murder
In the early hours of November 27, 2015, a Waffle House employee encountered her killer. A customer, later identified as Johnny Max Mount, wanted to smoke, which violated Waffle House's policy. When the hostess informed him that smoking was prohibited, an argument broke out. The altercation ended swiftly when Mount pulled out a pistol and shot the hostess in the head.
Mount made no attempt to flee. Police discovered him sitting in the same spot where he had just taken an innocent life. Strangely, Mount later pleaded 'not guilty' to the charge of first-degree murder.
7. Toddler Killed at Florida Waffle House
This tragedy isn't categorized as murder, but the details are just as heartbreaking as any homicide. On March 14, 2019, three-year-old Jeremiah Rios lost his life when his father, Guillermo Montoya Rios, accidentally ran him over. The Rios family was about to leave a Waffle House parking lot, and both parents believed Jeremiah was safely strapped into the car with his six siblings. Tragically, they were mistaken.
According to the local Sheriff’s office, Jeremiah’s death was deemed an accident, and it was confirmed that Mr. Rios was neither intoxicated nor under the influence of drugs. Tragically, less than a month later, another of the Rios children died in an unrelated drowning accident.
6. The Gainesville Waffle House Murder
Craig Brewer was widely known as a kind-hearted and well-liked man, cherished by his family and friends. This made his brutal killing during a minor dispute at a Waffle House in Gainesville, Florida, all the more shocking. Brewer had been generously paying for others' meals, handing out cash, and leaving big tips for the staff when he crossed paths with a woman upset by Brewer’s refusal to pay for her meal.
Witnesses reported that the situation between Brewer and the woman escalated quickly. Ezekiel Hicks, who had been sitting with the woman, left the restaurant and came back carrying a 9mm handgun. Hicks then shot Brewer multiple times in the head, turning a moment of kindness into a senseless act of violence.
5. Family Found Dead at Georgia Waffle House
In November 2020, first responders discovered a man and his infant child dead in a Waffle House parking lot. A woman, unconscious but alive, was also rescued from the car where the father and son were found. It was later determined that all three had fallen victim to carbon monoxide poisoning.
Authorities reported that both the man and woman found in the car worked at Waffle House. The man, Christopher McKinzie, had finished his shift at 12:30 am. With his girlfriend not due to finish work until 2:30, McKinzie decided to sleep in his car while he and his baby waited for her. By the time the girlfriend joined them, the car had been running for two hours, filling it with lethal fumes.
4. Body Found Behind a Georgia Waffle House
In late 2017, Fulton County police received a report of an abandoned vehicle behind a Waffle House. Upon investigation, officers made a grim discovery: the body of 58-year-old Toni Abad was found in the car's trunk.
Abad, a Publix grocery store employee, had agreed to give one of her young coworkers, De’Asia Page, a ride home. Page directed Abad to a secluded area where Page’s boyfriend, Jared Kemp, was waiting. Kemp proceeded to beat Abad to death with a baseball bat. Page and Kemp then hid Abad’s body in the trunk of her own car and drove to a nearby Waffle House, where they abandoned the car and the body. It was later revealed that the motive for Abad’s murder stemmed from a petty theft.
3. The Raleigh Waffle House Murder-Suicide
On December 15, 2018, Jason Griffith carried out a murder-suicide, killing his wife’s lover, his mother-in-law, and then himself. The first shooting occurred outside a Waffle House in Raleigh, North Carolina. Griffith pulled up alongside his wife, Emma, and her lover, John Wright, and opened fire on their vehicle. Both John and Emma were struck, but Emma survived the attack. Griffith fled the scene, only to be found dead at home from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
Five days later, Griffith’s mother-in-law was discovered dead, and it was revealed that she, too, had fallen victim to his violent outburst. What began as a crime of passion outside a Waffle House quickly evolved into a complex and tragic tale of family conflict, a contested inheritance, and a love triangle.
2. The Columbia Waffle House Gang Fight
Gang violence remains a widespread issue across the United States, and a Waffle House in Columbia, South Carolina, was the scene of a brutal clash between rival gang members. What makes this tragedy even more unsettling is that one of the victims was a 15-year-old boy named Brian Wright.
According to authorities, Wright was aware that the men he was with were gang members. As with many teenagers, Wright likely made impulsive choices leading up to the fatal gunfight, but no young life should be stolen by a bullet. Brian Wright's death is another grim reminder of the devastating impact of gang violence, particularly among minors, and one of the many lives lost in a Waffle House parking lot.
1. The Waffle House Killers
Greenville County, South Carolina, the state's largest with over half a million residents, became infamous when two lives intertwined in a chilling manner involving Waffle House. Todd Kohlhepp, a cold-blooded murderer who was eventually captured after police found a woman held captive on his property, had previously met one of his victims at a local Waffle House. Her remains were discovered buried in Kohlhepp's backyard.
Around the same time and in the same vicinity, a man named Markius Yeargin brutally attacked and murdered Henrietta Crawford. In an attempt to cover up his crime, he set her body on fire before discarding her remains behind another Waffle House in Greenville County. Though Crawford was Yeargin's first known victim, he had a criminal history, having been previously arrested for two separate violent rape charges.
Although the heinous actions of Yeargin and Kohlhepp are not connected, the eerie coincidence remains. One of their victims crossed paths with her killer at a Waffle House, while another's body was disposed of behind one. This unsettling connection lingers, serving as a chilling reminder of the darkness hidden within these seemingly ordinary places.
