273: The Untold True Story of Bristlewolf with Special Guest Nathan Morley

Seven Deadly Sinners

Rachael O'Brien

True Crime, Exhibit C, Religion & Spirituality, Society & Culture

4.7 • 1.2K Ratings

🗓️ 6 November 2025

⏱️ 71 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Most people go to the Black Rock Desert to party under neon skies.
Nathan Morley went there to dig up a murder.

Long before Burning Man, this same stretch of Nevada wasteland was home to something darker - a drifter named Ronald John Gress, known only by his nickname: Bristlewolf.

He built a life in the middle of nowhere
a hole in the ground, a shovel, and silence.
And when the peace broke, three people ended up dead.
Their bodies lay in the desert for ten days before anyone found them.

For seven years, Nathan chased this story.
He walked the same cracked earth, lived inside his dugout, pored over six thousand court files, police reports, and forgotten letters. He interviewed forty-two people, survivors, witnesses, lawmen, even the families of the dead.

What he uncovered isn’t legend.
It’s real.

Bristlewolf isn’t fiction.
It’s a true story about pride, madness, and the way the desert remembers what men try to bury.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome back to another episode of Seven Deadly Centers.
0:04.5	Thank you guys so much for listening.
0:06.6	You guys are like my best friends.
0:08.2	And I feel like you're in for a treat on this episode.
0:13.0	I was fascinated by interviewing author Nathan Morley, who had a story that, I mean, I interrupted him a few times
0:25.5	because he kept saying specific places like in Oregon and Nevada that I know very, very well.
0:33.4	And this story is just mind-blowing.
0:37.2	And the fact that he's like a true professional,
0:41.2	I mean, he's written this book, but he's in the medical field and his wife and him became
0:47.5	obsessed with this story, just like Greg and I became obsessed with trying to solve Father Joe's
0:53.4	murder of deadly diocese. And I just really resonated with
0:57.9	him. And this is going to be a two or three-parter. So, because it's, it's a crazy story.
1:06.4	So long before Burning Man, the same stretch of Nevada wasteland was home to something darker.
1:12.9	A drifter named Ronald John Gress, known only by his nickname Bristol Wolf, which is the name of the book.
1:23.6	But Nevada was his landing spot.
1:32.5	He started out in so many parts of Oregon that I know to my core.
1:36.0	And it freaked me out. And I was so fascinated by this story.
1:39.3	And I think you guys are going to be unbelievably fascinated by it.
1:43.4	So without further ado, here's Nathan Morley.
1:49.3	I just went straight off memory this time typing it into the call recorder app.
1:53.6	I'm impressed with myself. Nailed it.
1:57.8	Yeah.
	...

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