'The Many Lives Of Benjaman Kyle' premiered on Investigation Discovery on Monday, May 25, 2026. So, let's take a look at the truth behind the true-crime case.
It was in 2004 when a man was found lying near a Burger King's dumpster in Richmond Hill, Georgia, and today a mini-series about him has left everyone surprised. Released on May 25, 2026 (ET), The Many Lives of Benjaman Kyle has become the talk of the town. For the unversed, the man who referred to himself as Benjaman Kyle allegedly suffered from amnesia and could not remember who he was or how he ended up at a dumpster near Burger King.
With just a handful of memories, Kyle started starring all over the news as "a man with seemingly no identity". Soon, he was the topic of a student documentary and even on Dr Phil. A decade later, the founders of Hot Snakes Media heard Kyle's story and set out to film a documentary to find out who he actually was and piece together his forgotten life. However, not long after they started shooting the documentary, his true identity was revealed. But the production team realised that things about Kyle and his past didn't add up.
A team of genetic genealogists, led by CeCe Moore from the Parabon NanoLabs genetic genealogical unit, finally identified Benjaman Kyle in 2015 as William Powell. According to reports and a missing persons report filed by his brother, the man disappeared from his Indiana home in March 1976. Soon after, his car was found abandoned in a remote area of Battleground, Indiana, and the plates had been removed. His family reportedly believed he had died. Nonetheless, years later, at the age of 67, he was finally able to obtain legal identification and access government assistance.
However, finding out who Kyle (William Powell) was was just the first part of a very complicated story. In the interview footage, The Many Lives of Benjaman Kyle's co-executive producer, Shannon, revealed that, "Initially, we really wanted to help Benjaman Kyle. But the more we learned about him, the angrier he became. He wants to control the flow of information." She recalled how, in an effort to jog William Powell's memory, the team escorted him across the country, including Indiana, to reunite with his brother and to Purdue University, where he worked as a janitor.
One of the episodes of The Many Lives of Benjaman Kyle centres on a slew of witness accounts that allege that William Powell is linked to a powerful crime family in Lafayette, Indiana, where some believe his disappearing act was a way of saving his own life. Part of the series focuses on an alleged suspect named George Keck, whom investigators examined in connection with several unsolved Indiana cases before his death in 2020. In a conversation caught on camera, Eric Evangelista was seen grilling him about what he knows about Powell.
According to reports, both Powell and Keck were janitors at Purdue at the time of Kozik's disappearance. For the unversed, her body was found two miles from The Bar. He stated, "It's not the most comfortable thing knowing I'm going to speak with the prime suspect, whose wife said he did it-'I'll do it, 'but I'm not happy about it.' I hope I don't end up in a ditch." During the interview, Keck also reflected on some disturbing details about Kozik's death and stated:
"On that one there, in fact, they wanted me as a suspect, and I failed a lie detector because I did know more than I was letting on. I knew she was killed accidentally because I was told straight from the horse's mouth."
According to the interview, the killer tried to get her to perform a sexual act on him, and when Kozik refused, there was a struggle between them. He revealed, "She swung at him. He hit her, she fell, and she hit her head on a rock. Now, I didn't see a rock or anything else there, but that's what I was told." Unfortunately, Kozik's murder was never solved and remains a mystery even today. The series also touches on several other cold cases in the Lafayette area. Evangelista has worked to revive the cases, but no one has been charged.
Evangelista says that despite everything they have figured out, a major question remains unanswered. Shannon revealed that "Because he (William) was not himself and lived off the grid between 1981 and 2004. I know why he left and why he fled. I know where he went for the most part, but I don't know who he was and what he was like, and I want to know all of it." The series also notes that Powell has never been charged with any of the connections alleged in the documentary. However, for the executive producers, the tale is nowhere near over, as Shannon said:
"He thinks I've given up. I'm not giving up. I know too much. If we stop, he wins. We can't give up."
While Shannon, Eric, and now even the viewers are left with several questions, William Powell is living a relatively private life away from national media attention. He has cut off communication with their team and investigators, making it harder for them to track him down.
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