WEBVTT
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What's going.
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On, man?
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Okay, so parents have some concerns with some stuff they
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may have found in your room.
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What would it be?
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A human head and hands.
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To come face to face with somebody so young, it's
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kind of scary.
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The nature was extremely brutal.
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I cut open his belly to see his guts. They're
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really pink.
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Every murder is bad, but this one, it was particularly horrific.
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He found this easy to do and admits that.
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I was growling and making the animalistic noises.
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He seems to be completely detached from the fact that.
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This was a human being.
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To understand why somebody kills We have to understand their
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life story and the silent evolution of their thought patterns.
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I think a lot of people are familiar with Grand
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Junction because they've passed through here along the interstate. We're
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located in the high mountains of Colorado, halfway between Denver
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and Salt Lake City.
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It is, I would say, a safe place to live.
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Brian, since he was a small child, had grown up
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in the Grand Junction community. His family lived out in
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the Redlands area, which is a nice upper middle income
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area of our town.
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My name is Kellen Pfeiffer. I'm a former classmate of
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Brian Cohey. I grew up here in Grand Junction. When
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I was about eight, we moved up to the Redlands.
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And that's when I started going to Broadway Elementary, which
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is where I met Brian. Brian lived in a similar
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part of the Redlands to me. All the people knew
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each other. It was very nice living there. You always
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kind of felt supported. You kind of felt like you
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knew all your neighbors. It always felt like you could
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always reach out for help. People often brought each other cookies,
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treats for the holidays. So it felt very, you know, tight-knit.
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Brian Cohey's family seemed normal. They seemed like they had normal,
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steady jobs.
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His mom ran the daycare out of the basement of
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our home. His father worked in construction. His parents were separating,
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and they were living in two homes not very far
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from each other. He lived primarily with his mother, but
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he frequented his father's home.
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Brian's mannerisms in elementary school were a little bit strange.
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He seemed to exaggerate his movements a little bit. He
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spoke very loud, oftentimes would over-pronunciate his words.
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Brian Cohey's mother was reporting that he had mild autism.
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From the time he was very little, she was reaching
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out for help, trying to have him assessed and trying
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to get him the right help.
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I would definitely say that Brian seemed to lack social awareness.
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Oftentimes it felt like he didn't necessarily know where bounds
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were supposed to be, or maybe he felt like pushing
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on those bounds was the best way to get attention.
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By middle school and high school, the schools were interacting
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with the Cohey family about things that they were discovering
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that were disturbing. Brian Cohey, he was fixated on infamous
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people who hurt people, such as Hitler, Stalin. He was
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obsessed with crime scenes. He was obsessed with murder. He
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was obsessed with serial killers.
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It was apparent in talking to Brian's teachers that there
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was disturbing behavior, disturbing thoughts.
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What do you remember about Brian? Not much.
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Just I remember there was like a notebook that had.
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Some obviously concerning stuff talking about like serial killer statistics
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and stuff.
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I just seem to be kind of enamored with that.
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So famous serial killers and information about them?
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Yeah, like kill counts and just stuff like that. That's
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not entirely normal.
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I'm Kerry Danes. I'm a consultant forensic psychologist. How he
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is reading about serial killers, he's researching serial killers on
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the net, and he's doing all of this not through
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a lens of empathy. He's doing it through a lens
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of intellectual curiosity, and he's not empathizing with the victims.
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He is identifying with the killer. It's the killer and
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the killer's mindset and the killer's behavior that resonates with him.
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People came to know him as somebody with dark, dark humor.
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He'd make comments about the Holocaust, you know, wildly inappropriate
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all the time. He always looked for shock. He fed
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on that negative attention. I felt like he was bottling
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up a lot of dissatisfaction, because he was a really
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smart kid, very academically brilliant, but he was a little
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bit of a social outcast.
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Kohi is really emotionally immature, but also you've got to
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understand that he does not understand the social world. He
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doesn't understand the nuances, of social interactions. He doesn't really
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understand the reciprocal nature of friendships. And he wants people
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to take note of him. But the only way that
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he's found that really he can achieve any sort of
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attention is by being shocking. And in being shocking, all
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it really reinforces to him is his difference from other people.
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Brian made a series of posts on Reddit that provided
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a lot of insight into his thinking and his motives.
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I saw my therapist today.
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We talked about how I manipulate others' feelings to see
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what makes them tick. That because I feel less emotion
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than others. I'm curious to see what regular amounts of
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emotion feel like. That I'm like a scientist and everyone
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else is my test subject. I test painful stimuli to
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elicit a reaction. I enjoy those reactions, the ones of
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pain and sorrow.
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The fact that Kohi is going on the internet and
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he's becoming more and more extreme in what he is
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posting shows that he is struggling himself in trying to
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understand this and he wants to test. Are there other
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people out there that feel the same kind of things
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to me? But of course the response is overwhelmingly negative.
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So that can only feed into this cycle of feeling low,
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feeling different, feeling other, and also feeling resentful of the
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world around you.
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It did seem like whenever a situation happened, maybe he
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didn't fully understand. Like if he had done something wrong,
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sometimes it felt like, you know, it was more funny
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than it was concerning to him.
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I was bored in school. So I made a mace
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out of tape and a pencil. I became manic again
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with no warning. I got the urge to hit a kid.
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When I hit him on the back of the head,
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he fell to the ground crying.
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It was entertaining, so I decided to mock him. It
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was very funny.
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I'm Dr. Julia Shaw, a criminal psychologist and author.
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What I think is most fascinating about the Brian Cohey
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case is that he seems to have what are called
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callous unemotional traits. CU traits, or callous unemotional traits, are
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when you don't feel the same feelings as other people
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and you don't have the same empathy. In the brain,
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callous unemotional traits are related to a part of the
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brain called the anterior temporal cortex. And what you see
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with people who are high in callous and emotional traits
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is this area that is responsible for suppressing callous thoughts.
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Is literally smaller.
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Being high in these traits makes you more likely to
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hurt other people, and it takes away a barrier that
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most of us would have to doing things like murder.
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It's really hard to know when someone's actually going to
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take something too far. You know, when something goes from
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being a joke that you say, you know, to get
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attention or to be funny to where that actually gets
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turned into something maybe a lot more, you know, deeper,
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a lot more scary.
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Brian Cohey had got his car stuck in the river
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and had made a call to his family for help.
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Police were notified also.
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Hey, partner, come on, talk to me real quick.
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Sure, I mean, I'm really cold. Is it okay if
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it's in here?
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That's fine.
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I did not know that.
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It seemed like a normal thing a teenager would get
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themselves into.
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Well, you're not hurt, right?
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You're okay? No, just a little cold is all.
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Just besides your pride a little bit? What were you
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doing down here, bud?
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Well, I felt like I needed to get out, like.
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And I figured, why not park here and just relax
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and think. And I parked on the boat ramp, and
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I thought it would be easy to get out.
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And it slid into the river.
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I was able to get out.
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Brian Cohey told officers that he was just hanging out
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when he had accidentally backed his car too far into
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the river.
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He was an.
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Inexperienced driver.
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Okay.
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Oh, yep.
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Teenagers.
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Does he need to stay here?
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I'm sorry?
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Is he free to go?
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I'm sure he'd like to go home and get warm.
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I'm sure he'd like to get some pants on.
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Yeah, right?
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Yeah, it's not a crash.
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Okay.
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This is stupid.
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The fact that Brian's parents were on scene and telling
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the officers what their son had done, apparently made a
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mistake as an inexperienced driver, did not raise any suspicions.
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What'd they say about us looking in the trunk?
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They're good with it.
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Okay.
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Hey, quick question for you.
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Sure.
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The back bumper, I don't know, you can probably see
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it from here.
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It's a lot of red.
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On the back of that, dripping down it all a
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little bit.
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A lot of red.
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Looks like blood.
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Blood?
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Yeah.
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I don't know, did your son hurt himself?
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Maybe just have him do like a self-check, make sure
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he's okay.
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Hello?
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Brian, are you okay? They've seen blood on the back.
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Bumper of the vehicle.
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Really? Yeah, did you get hurt?
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No.
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Are you sure you don't have any injuries?
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No, I'm fine.
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There's blood on it?
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No.
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Brian was very calm and cool when talking to his
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parents on the phone after police officers had noticed blood
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on the back of the car. He acted like nothing happened,
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there was nothing wrong, and he was very convincing.
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It's typical not here to dump a body.
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Hi, yes, I was just wondering if you could tell
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me who I could possibly talk to about filing.
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Maybe a report on someone that hasn't been seen for.
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A couple of days.
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Okay.
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Are you needing to file, like, a missing persons report?
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I think so.
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Mr.
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Barnes was reported missing by a friend of his who
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ran a local business. This friend would see him on
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a daily basis and noticed that he had not been
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coming around for a couple days, which made her concerned.
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One key connection that we found was a wallet belonging
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to Mr. Barnes had been located by Brian Cohey's father
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inside the vehicle, and that was submerged in the river.
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When they realized that a wallet that was associated with
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the boat ramp, some local people were literally walking the
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Colorado River looking for Warren Barnes. He literally shows up
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every morning, every day without bell, like at six o'clock,
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sometimes a little sooner.
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We always let him in before the customers. We give
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him free coffee.
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He's the nicest old man ever.
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I am Gail Gandy. I am the youngest niece of
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Warren Barnes. Uncle Warren is the seventh of nine children.
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He was definitely a fun uncle. He liked being around people.
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He really enjoyed country music. He definitely loved to read.
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My Uncle Warren would read books downtown. A local shop
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owner actually would give him a chair so he could
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sit out in the sun to absorb the sun and
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read his book and be out with the nature. He
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would help shop owners bring in boxes and stuff. And
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that's the weird thing.
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Is I said, I'll see you tomorrow. He said, I'll
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be here. I'll see you tomorrow.
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I don't, I don't know.
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I just have a really bad feeling because it's unlike him.
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We are investigating the missing person.
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Okay.
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I'm just going to keep looking.
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Until I hear from you guys.
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Okay.
258
00:15:16.679 --> 00:15:17.820
I'm too worried about him.
259
00:15:17.870 --> 00:15:18.830
So, all right.
260
00:15:18.870 --> 00:15:21.110
Thank you guys. Thanks for coming out and looking for him.
261
00:15:33.940 --> 00:15:35.360
No one wants to address the emergency.
262
00:15:36.700 --> 00:15:38.860
Hi, there is an emergency.
263
00:15:42.179 --> 00:15:43.299
I found.
264
00:15:45.639 --> 00:15:46.850
Something in my truck.
265
00:15:46.950 --> 00:15:48.879
Okay, what was.
266
00:15:50.110 --> 00:15:50.870
It?
267
00:15:59.529 --> 00:16:01.750
I'm Deputy Wick. I work for the Mesa County Sheriff's Office.
268
00:16:02.370 --> 00:16:05.649
I saw the call populating and the dispatcher, they'll take
269
00:16:05.669 --> 00:16:07.960
the phone call and then they start throwing in notes
270
00:16:08.120 --> 00:16:10.059
as they're developing the call and we can see those
271
00:16:10.139 --> 00:16:11.159
notes start coming in.
272
00:16:11.179 --> 00:16:14.159
My first response was.
273
00:16:32.929 --> 00:16:36.980
It's probably a Halloween costume or maybe it's animal parts.
274
00:16:42.539 --> 00:16:45.159
I was a patrol deputy at the time and I
275
00:16:45.210 --> 00:16:48.870
am now a sergeant. The reporting party had said that
276
00:16:49.090 --> 00:16:51.730
she had found what she believed was a human head
277
00:16:51.769 --> 00:16:55.850
and hands in her son's closet. So that's pretty much
278
00:16:55.889 --> 00:16:57.379
kind of what we had as we were headed out
279
00:16:57.389 --> 00:17:01.860
that way. So driving down here, it's just, what are
280
00:17:01.879 --> 00:17:05.230
we going to? What am I going to see? I
281
00:17:05.269 --> 00:17:08.049
can't just go in there and think somebody's guilty or
282
00:17:08.089 --> 00:17:10.390
pull my gun out. I have to let their actions
283
00:17:10.470 --> 00:17:13.130
dictate what my actions are going to be after that.
284
00:17:17.279 --> 00:17:21.619
As we're approaching, I'm going to gauge what type of reaction,
285
00:17:21.660 --> 00:17:25.819
what type of cooperation are we getting? Are they aggressive
286
00:17:26.140 --> 00:17:27.700
or calm people?
287
00:17:32.329 --> 00:17:42.170
What's going on, man? Okay, so parents have some concerns
288
00:17:42.190 --> 00:17:43.289
with some stuff they may have found.
289
00:17:43.190 --> 00:17:43.589
In your room?
290
00:17:44.769 --> 00:17:47.130
Um, yeah, I believe so.
291
00:17:47.230 --> 00:17:48.119
And what would it be?
292
00:17:51.400 --> 00:17:52.619
A human head and hands.
293
00:17:55.319 --> 00:17:57.579
Are we dealing with somebody that has a mental illness
294
00:17:57.640 --> 00:18:01.970
that is hallucinating, seeing this, perceiving it, or... Is it
295
00:18:02.029 --> 00:18:06.309
something fake that he's made and he's playing a prank
296
00:18:06.369 --> 00:18:09.950
on mom? I wanted to verify, like, you said human
297
00:18:09.990 --> 00:18:11.890
head and hands. Are they real?
298
00:18:12.430 --> 00:18:14.130
Like, for real human head and hands?
299
00:18:14.650 --> 00:18:14.910
Yes.
300
00:18:15.210 --> 00:18:15.470
From?
301
00:18:17.410 --> 00:18:19.210
That fellow who went missing recently.
302
00:18:19.269 --> 00:18:20.109
Which fellow was that?
303
00:18:20.509 --> 00:18:20.869
Warren.
304
00:18:21.349 --> 00:18:21.710
Warren.
305
00:18:21.829 --> 00:18:22.910
And how did you end up with him?
306
00:18:24.630 --> 00:18:25.279
I murdered him.
307
00:18:25.960 --> 00:18:29.279
With what? A knife. Why would you have done that?
308
00:18:30.349 --> 00:18:32.069
I've always wondered what murder felt like.
309
00:18:34.890 --> 00:18:37.849
And now my brain is like, okay, we have something.
310
00:18:37.869 --> 00:18:40.990
Do you have anything on you that's going to cut, poke, hurt,
311
00:18:41.309 --> 00:18:43.329
stigmatize anything without reaching for nothing? Don't reach for nothing.
312
00:18:43.789 --> 00:18:44.910
My phone and my wallet.
313
00:18:44.950 --> 00:18:45.130
Okay.
314
00:18:45.190 --> 00:18:46.589
Well, I'm going to have you face that way.
315
00:18:46.609 --> 00:18:47.569
Put your hands on top of your head for me
316
00:18:47.589 --> 00:18:47.789
real quick.
317
00:18:47.809 --> 00:18:49.309
I just want to make sure you interlace your fingers
318
00:18:49.329 --> 00:18:50.039
for me real quick, all right?
319
00:18:50.630 --> 00:18:53.799
Okay.
320
00:18:53.839 --> 00:18:57.000
How did you come across the gentleman?
321
00:18:57.460 --> 00:18:58.160
I was driving.
322
00:18:58.180 --> 00:18:58.660
Uh-huh.
323
00:18:59.099 --> 00:19:01.779
And I saw a strange shape near the railway. So
324
00:19:01.839 --> 00:19:04.359
I parked my car and investigated it and I found
325
00:19:04.420 --> 00:19:05.420
it to be a man sleeping.
326
00:19:05.680 --> 00:19:05.940
Okay.
327
00:19:06.640 --> 00:19:07.380
Where's the knife at?
328
00:19:08.599 --> 00:19:09.960
It is in my sunken car.
329
00:19:11.690 --> 00:19:14.730
And at that point in time, with the information he
330
00:19:14.769 --> 00:19:18.269
was giving, the way he was answering, my brain started
331
00:19:18.309 --> 00:19:21.910
to shift from this isn't real to okay, so maybe
332
00:19:21.950 --> 00:19:25.690
he found a dead person to oh my gosh, I
333
00:19:25.730 --> 00:19:27.569
think this kid really killed somebody.
334
00:19:28.210 --> 00:19:28.920
When I killed him.
335
00:19:30.569 --> 00:19:32.809
I tried disposing of his body by putting it in
336
00:19:32.829 --> 00:19:34.789
the river, but I parked too low in the river.
337
00:19:35.069 --> 00:19:36.410
Where's the rest of his body at?
338
00:19:37.880 --> 00:19:38.039
Huh?
339
00:19:38.140 --> 00:19:39.240
Where's the rest of the body at?
340
00:19:40.059 --> 00:19:40.539
What parts?
341
00:19:41.759 --> 00:19:47.029
His family is there listening to everything he's saying, and
342
00:19:47.130 --> 00:19:52.200
he seemed unbothered and unconcerned with anything that was occurring.
343
00:19:53.940 --> 00:19:55.039
I'm going to have you walk over here.
344
00:19:55.079 --> 00:19:57.099
You're going to sit in the back of my partner's
345
00:19:57.119 --> 00:19:59.359
control car for a minute, okay?
346
00:19:59.440 --> 00:20:04.980
Okay. I referenced to Sergeant Stuckenschneider a motion which we
347
00:20:05.099 --> 00:20:09.720
used to handcuff, and he's primary deputy, and he said,
348
00:20:10.289 --> 00:20:11.789
you know, kind of gave me the head nod of no.
349
00:20:13.230 --> 00:20:18.299
We make those decisions based upon behavior, mannerisms, cooperation.
350
00:20:18.319 --> 00:20:18.509
How are.
351
00:20:20.740 --> 00:20:20.940
You?
352
00:20:20.960 --> 00:20:21.740
I'm good, sir.
353
00:20:21.779 --> 00:20:23.359
How are you? You said your name is Brian?
354
00:20:24.380 --> 00:20:25.339
I'm not feeling too well.
355
00:20:25.359 --> 00:20:26.440
You're not feeling too well?
356
00:20:26.720 --> 00:20:29.380
I've been very, very anxious.
357
00:20:29.440 --> 00:20:31.819
That's understandable. What we're going to have you do here
358
00:20:31.859 --> 00:20:32.920
is I'm just going to have you sit in the
359
00:20:32.960 --> 00:20:34.920
back here, okay? I'm going to turn on the air
360
00:20:34.980 --> 00:20:37.799
for you in a second. That way you're not too hot.
361
00:20:37.819 --> 00:20:39.440
Are you a hot-blooded or cold-blooded kind of guy?
362
00:20:39.460 --> 00:20:41.559
I am very cold-blooded.
363
00:20:43.339 --> 00:20:46.299
The way he said it to me, I took it
364
00:20:46.380 --> 00:20:48.140
as he wasn't talking about the temperature.
365
00:20:48.160 --> 00:20:49.519
So hop in here.
366
00:20:49.539 --> 00:20:50.779
I know you're tall, so it's a little bit of
367
00:20:50.819 --> 00:20:52.420
a tight squeeze. But like I said, I'll get that.
368
00:20:52.319 --> 00:20:52.859
Air in for you.
369
00:20:53.079 --> 00:20:53.779
Sorry about that.
370
00:20:54.059 --> 00:20:56.839
It's all right.
371
00:20:56.859 --> 00:20:58.039
I can't believe it.
372
00:20:59.380 --> 00:21:00.160
Oh, my god.
373
00:21:00.200 --> 00:21:02.180
It's kind of a time to not really know it, so.
374
00:21:13.359 --> 00:21:18.720
It was a very wild situation to watch unfold. It
375
00:21:18.740 --> 00:21:20.720
was kind of like their whole life was falling apart
376
00:21:21.220 --> 00:21:22.039
right in that moment.
377
00:21:23.900 --> 00:21:25.289
Can you walk me inside?
378
00:21:26.849 --> 00:21:29.470
So that's when I had dad take me inside so
379
00:21:29.509 --> 00:21:32.509
that I can verify for myself that what we have
380
00:21:32.630 --> 00:21:34.410
is an actual human head and hands.
381
00:21:34.910 --> 00:21:36.430
Can I go in there and verify here first?
382
00:21:36.450 --> 00:21:37.009
Oh, yeah, please.
383
00:21:37.130 --> 00:21:37.950
We haven't seen it yet.
384
00:21:38.079 --> 00:21:38.339
OK.
385
00:21:41.500 --> 00:21:44.559
So as I'm going in the house, I'm expecting to
386
00:21:44.619 --> 00:21:45.359
see something.
387
00:21:50.779 --> 00:21:51.000
OK.
388
00:21:55.180 --> 00:21:56.890
I could tell right away as soon as I lifted
389
00:21:56.930 --> 00:21:57.410
up the towel.
390
00:21:59.569 --> 00:21:59.769
Yeah?
391
00:22:00.309 --> 00:22:02.769
It was indeed a real human head.
392
00:22:03.230 --> 00:22:03.430
Yeah?
393
00:22:06.200 --> 00:22:09.269
This is a home where Brian's mother ran a daycare.
394
00:22:09.930 --> 00:22:14.009
Several children were present on a daily basis. And to
395
00:22:14.049 --> 00:22:16.589
think there was a human head at hands inside the
396
00:22:16.609 --> 00:22:18.490
house was quite disturbing.
397
00:22:18.490 --> 00:22:31.210
22, 42, are you clear for a call? Oh, yeah,
398
00:22:31.230 --> 00:22:35.339
you might want to call Investigations. So, oh yeah, he already,
399
00:22:35.359 --> 00:22:36.450
I asked him what was going on.
400
00:22:36.460 --> 00:22:37.200
He said, I killed the guy.
401
00:22:38.220 --> 00:22:38.700
I stabbed him.
402
00:22:39.019 --> 00:22:39.880
The head's in the sink.
403
00:22:40.279 --> 00:22:44.509
The body is in the river. Does it sound by
404
00:22:44.529 --> 00:22:45.549
my voice that it looks real?
405
00:22:47.250 --> 00:22:47.490
It is.
406
00:22:49.829 --> 00:22:53.150
Now we are actually verified that this is a murder
407
00:22:53.170 --> 00:22:56.839
and this is an actual person. Now I'm just calling
408
00:22:56.859 --> 00:22:57.339
the cavalry.
409
00:22:57.920 --> 00:22:59.359
All right, Brian.
410
00:23:01.960 --> 00:23:03.900
We're headed to the sheriff's office and your family's going
411
00:23:03.920 --> 00:23:04.819
to go with us, okay?
412
00:23:06.359 --> 00:23:07.240
I've got one male on board.
413
00:23:07.289 --> 00:23:08.200
We're en route to the office.
414
00:23:09.210 --> 00:23:10.670
Brian, I'm going to roll up these windows because the
415
00:23:10.710 --> 00:23:11.470
air gets really.
416
00:23:11.289 --> 00:23:12.170
Loud back there, okay?
417
00:23:13.990 --> 00:23:17.450
We do often try to keep people at ease as
418
00:23:17.509 --> 00:23:19.869
much as we can, even in situations where they've just
419
00:23:19.930 --> 00:23:26.630
confessed to murder. Brian was just that same even-keel demeanor.
420
00:23:27.400 --> 00:23:29.640
He did not show emotion one way or the other.
421
00:23:32.900 --> 00:23:35.460
When we arrived at the sheriff's office, we pull into
422
00:23:35.500 --> 00:23:38.619
the back area so I can walk him through into
423
00:23:38.660 --> 00:23:44.410
our investigations unit. I felt fully comfortable.
424
00:23:45.670 --> 00:23:46.710
He was still very polite.
425
00:23:46.730 --> 00:23:49.970
He didn't do anything that I thought was.
426
00:24:02.849 --> 00:24:05.150
Indicative of him trying to run or be violent.
427
00:24:05.410 --> 00:24:06.150
Take another left.
428
00:24:06.480 --> 00:24:06.819
Hard left.
429
00:24:06.900 --> 00:24:07.559
Right here. Right here.
430
00:24:08.559 --> 00:24:08.880
All right.
431
00:24:09.619 --> 00:24:11.700
I walked him into the interview room and told him
432
00:24:11.720 --> 00:24:13.119
he could have a seat and that somebody would be
433
00:24:13.160 --> 00:24:13.880
with him shortly.
434
00:24:17.009 --> 00:24:19.390
Even though Brian Cohey had confessed, we knew we had
435
00:24:19.450 --> 00:24:22.730
to gain some insight into his mental state and things
436
00:24:22.769 --> 00:24:25.690
that would lead us to understand his thinking.
437
00:24:26.809 --> 00:24:30.369
What are we dealing with here? Is this somebody who
438
00:24:30.529 --> 00:24:35.910
has acted on hallucinations, delusions? Is this somebody that is
439
00:24:35.950 --> 00:24:37.970
suffering with a mental illness?
440
00:24:41.380 --> 00:24:44.059
My name's Pete Berg.
441
00:24:44.119 --> 00:24:46.839
I'm an investigator with the Mesa County Sheriff's Office, and
442
00:24:46.940 --> 00:24:48.720
I interviewed Brian Cohey.
443
00:24:50.400 --> 00:24:58.210
And Well, this is Lisa.
444
00:24:58.250 --> 00:24:59.309
Hi, how are you?
445
00:24:59.549 --> 00:25:00.109
I'm okay, you?
446
00:25:00.390 --> 00:25:00.849
Good, thanks.
447
00:25:01.769 --> 00:25:05.170
I'm Investigator Norcross. I've worked with Investigator Berg for a
448
00:25:05.259 --> 00:25:08.240
really long time. Our job is to get the truth,
449
00:25:09.000 --> 00:25:09.920
whatever that truth is.
450
00:25:09.940 --> 00:25:16.319
When was your birthday, Brian? January 10th, 2002. And your.
451
00:25:18.690 --> 00:25:18.970
Address?
452
00:25:21.069 --> 00:25:23.509
Which one? Um, I mean, yeah.
453
00:25:24.849 --> 00:25:27.190
My first impressions of just looking at Brian, he looks
454
00:25:27.549 --> 00:25:30.839
like the typical 19, 20-year-old young person. Brian is well-spoken.
455
00:25:30.900 --> 00:25:32.099
He's a smart young man.
456
00:25:32.259 --> 00:25:32.980
He's cooperative.
457
00:25:33.019 --> 00:25:53.559
He's willing to sit and talk with us. And how
458
00:25:53.599 --> 00:25:54.279
did you get here?
459
00:25:55.779 --> 00:25:56.500
I murdered someone.
460
00:25:56.960 --> 00:25:59.440
Okay. But how did you get to my office?
461
00:26:01.119 --> 00:26:04.819
Well, the police drove me here from my mom's house.
462
00:26:05.119 --> 00:26:05.420
Okay.
463
00:26:06.859 --> 00:26:09.980
When somebody is very quick to say things like that
464
00:26:10.000 --> 00:26:14.160
and implicate themselves in serious crimes, that tells me I
465
00:26:14.160 --> 00:26:18.339
have someone who has a unique personality here, and we're
466
00:26:18.359 --> 00:26:20.000
going to want to talk to them a lot more.
467
00:26:20.740 --> 00:26:24.299
One of the things that I knew we needed to
468
00:26:25.140 --> 00:26:27.319
ask about was any type of mental health issues that
469
00:26:27.339 --> 00:26:29.700
he's either been diagnosed.
470
00:26:29.609 --> 00:26:30.569
With or he believes he has.
471
00:26:46.930 --> 00:26:50.109
When you say you have a major depressive disorder, I'm
472
00:26:50.130 --> 00:26:51.009
curious what those are.
473
00:26:52.150 --> 00:26:53.250
Well, actually, I have several.
474
00:26:54.049 --> 00:26:56.190
I have high-functioning Asperger's.
475
00:26:56.210 --> 00:26:56.930
Okay.
476
00:26:57.900 --> 00:26:58.599
I have.
477
00:27:00.259 --> 00:27:05.240
ADHD, a major depressive disorder. And they also said I
478
00:27:05.259 --> 00:27:09.890
was schizo-something. That isn't me misremembering. They just said you
479
00:27:09.930 --> 00:27:16.099
have your schizo-something, whether it be schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder, schizopapal
480
00:27:16.119 --> 00:27:17.619
or schizoid disorder.
481
00:27:17.640 --> 00:27:20.589
They said I had something that was schizo.
482
00:27:22.329 --> 00:27:23.190
Can you imagine?
483
00:27:23.210 --> 00:27:27.809
At the age of 19, you've got this list of diagnosis,
484
00:27:28.029 --> 00:27:32.430
list of labels. Here are all the reasons why there's
485
00:27:32.490 --> 00:27:37.160
something different about you, there's something wrong about you. None
486
00:27:37.200 --> 00:27:41.460
of this is being addressed therapeutically, and he feels like
487
00:27:41.680 --> 00:27:42.259
a freak.
488
00:27:46.029 --> 00:27:48.970
It seemed like Brian had studied serial killers a lot
489
00:27:49.039 --> 00:27:53.059
to me, and he did want to be like those people.
490
00:27:53.180 --> 00:27:55.259
I mean, it seemed like maybe they were his heroes.
491
00:27:55.279 --> 00:27:59.420
So my nickname in high school was Jeffrey Dahmer.
492
00:27:59.819 --> 00:28:00.119
Okay.
493
00:28:00.680 --> 00:28:02.880
I had a reputation that I would become a serial killer.
494
00:28:02.900 --> 00:28:02.980
Okay.
495
00:28:04.069 --> 00:28:05.160
Why did you have that reputation?
496
00:28:05.690 --> 00:28:09.609
It depends on how off-putting I was.
497
00:28:09.630 --> 00:28:13.269
In school, I was not social. I didn't like anyone.
498
00:28:13.289 --> 00:28:15.210
I would purposely make.
499
00:28:16.099 --> 00:28:19.359
offensive, crass, rude comments just to get a rise out
500
00:28:19.380 --> 00:28:23.180
of people. To ruffle their feathers.
501
00:28:27.339 --> 00:28:30.140
Most people obviously aren't going to jump from I've never
502
00:28:30.180 --> 00:28:33.920
done anything wrong to killing a person. They have a
503
00:28:33.980 --> 00:28:37.329
progression of leading up to now I'm killing people.
504
00:28:39.930 --> 00:28:40.930
Have you ever done it before?
505
00:28:41.809 --> 00:28:41.990
No.
506
00:28:42.289 --> 00:28:42.509
No.
507
00:28:43.210 --> 00:28:43.710
Okay.
508
00:28:43.730 --> 00:28:44.430
You got apps, right?
509
00:28:44.589 --> 00:28:44.829
Yeah.
510
00:28:44.950 --> 00:28:47.490
How about animals? Can you practice on anything?
511
00:28:47.869 --> 00:28:48.089
Yes.
512
00:28:59.049 --> 00:29:03.230
On October the 23rd, 2018, I killed a feral cat
513
00:29:03.259 --> 00:29:04.059
and mutilated it.
514
00:29:06.819 --> 00:29:07.960
Cat has quality teeth.
515
00:29:08.200 --> 00:29:08.779
It can hurt.
516
00:29:09.400 --> 00:29:12.519
So I herded the cat into the sleeping bag and
517
00:29:12.579 --> 00:29:15.059
beat it and strangled it and for a snap of
518
00:29:15.079 --> 00:29:15.400
its neck.
519
00:29:19.720 --> 00:29:19.799
I.
520
00:29:24.609 --> 00:29:28.470
Was so excited. Excited in a good way. Thrilled. High
521
00:29:28.529 --> 00:29:33.190
on homicide, you would say. Oftentimes, over the next few hours,
522
00:29:33.250 --> 00:29:36.000
I would feel its warmth and play with the limp body.
523
00:29:37.880 --> 00:29:39.519
I then decapitated the cat.
524
00:29:41.809 --> 00:29:43.890
Hit the body in a shoebox, hit the head in
525
00:29:44.289 --> 00:29:46.430
a wine cork box.
526
00:29:46.880 --> 00:29:49.160
I kept it for three days. Then it started to stink.
527
00:29:49.960 --> 00:29:53.500
And then I disposed both in the trash and got
528
00:29:53.539 --> 00:29:54.059
away with it.
529
00:29:55.640 --> 00:29:58.500
At the age of 16, he kills a cat.
530
00:29:58.900 --> 00:30:03.859
I think psychologically, that is... quite an extreme thing to do.
531
00:30:03.920 --> 00:30:05.740
It's also almost.
532
00:30:05.240 --> 00:30:07.980
The cliche of a serial killer.
533
00:30:08.599 --> 00:30:10.680
That is the kind of behavior that is associated with
534
00:30:10.759 --> 00:30:13.920
callous and emotional traits, with the inability to have empathy
535
00:30:14.119 --> 00:30:15.539
or sympathy for other creatures.
536
00:30:16.019 --> 00:30:17.640
Brian Cohey actually says about his.
537
00:30:17.640 --> 00:30:21.549
Own behavior that he was, in quotes, high on homicide. Now,
538
00:30:21.630 --> 00:30:23.910
what that suggests is that in the process of killing,
539
00:30:24.150 --> 00:30:27.960
while he is doing this, and also afterwards, arguably, that
540
00:30:28.039 --> 00:30:31.420
he is enjoying the adrenaline rush he's getting, and also
541
00:30:31.460 --> 00:30:33.539
that presumably he's needing more and more of it to
542
00:30:33.579 --> 00:30:35.500
get the same effect. And so that's what we see
543
00:30:35.539 --> 00:30:39.109
with his behavior is that he's graduating to increasingly violent actions.
544
00:30:45.369 --> 00:30:47.630
Brian Cohey had talked about killing a cat and keeping
545
00:30:47.650 --> 00:30:50.920
the remains in his house. He indicated that he gets
546
00:30:51.019 --> 00:30:53.720
some sense of excitement from this, and that might have
547
00:30:53.740 --> 00:30:55.640
been part of the reason why he kept a human
548
00:30:55.680 --> 00:30:56.279
head in hands.
549
00:31:04.869 --> 00:31:08.769
I was driving along, and I see a shape here
550
00:31:08.829 --> 00:31:12.970
on the railway track. So I'm like, oh, interesting. So
551
00:31:12.990 --> 00:31:15.250
I go up, and as I'm looking, I see a
552
00:31:15.250 --> 00:31:21.519
large thing wrapped in a canvas. And I'm like, that's
553
00:31:21.539 --> 00:31:26.640
a homeless person. So I grab my knife, I pull
554
00:31:26.680 --> 00:31:30.859
back the canvas, and I stab his neck. He was
555
00:31:30.940 --> 00:31:34.880
panicking at first in his old man voice. He was saying,
556
00:31:34.920 --> 00:31:35.960
what are you doing? What are you doing?
557
00:31:36.029 --> 00:31:36.630
Why that?
558
00:31:37.950 --> 00:31:39.750
And I said, I've been wanting to do this for
559
00:31:39.769 --> 00:31:43.069
a long time. And I just kept on stabbing his neck.
560
00:31:43.509 --> 00:31:48.059
I was looking if I do a demonstration. This is him.
561
00:31:48.380 --> 00:31:50.700
I was straddled on top of him like this.
562
00:31:51.279 --> 00:31:52.660
And I couldn't fight back.
563
00:31:53.779 --> 00:31:56.920
It was actually surprisingly easy. I was barely breaking a sweat.
564
00:31:56.980 --> 00:31:59.039
I thought, oh my God, he's going to be tough.
565
00:31:59.779 --> 00:32:01.980
But no, it was actually surprisingly easy.
566
00:32:02.779 --> 00:32:07.519
And during the time I was growling and making the
567
00:32:07.579 --> 00:32:08.579
animalistic noises.
568
00:32:10.660 --> 00:32:14.589
Why were you doing that? I was supposed to look friendly. Okay.
569
00:32:15.069 --> 00:32:17.730
I was so excited, so rushed up on adrenaline.
570
00:32:17.829 --> 00:32:17.970
Okay.
571
00:32:21.559 --> 00:32:27.980
After I killed him, I just couldn't stop saying, stinky, dirty, dirty, stinky, stinky.
572
00:32:28.009 --> 00:32:33.430
I stripped his clothes. I cut open his belly to
573
00:32:33.470 --> 00:32:34.150
see his guts.
574
00:32:36.029 --> 00:32:36.609
They're really stinky.
575
00:32:38.450 --> 00:32:39.369
Sorry, that was morbid.
576
00:32:40.069 --> 00:32:44.930
And then I cut off his head. And then I
577
00:32:45.289 --> 00:32:47.789
cut off his hands. And then I took.
578
00:32:49.500 --> 00:32:51.240
Put it in a leftover box.
579
00:32:54.779 --> 00:32:59.559
Uncle Warren was vulnerable without a home when I found
580
00:32:59.619 --> 00:33:05.700
out that he was murdered. It really hit hard, and
581
00:33:05.720 --> 00:33:11.369
I know I had a hard time just knowing how
582
00:33:11.460 --> 00:33:14.650
he passed. It was senseless.
583
00:33:16.950 --> 00:33:17.970
We were all shocked.
584
00:33:17.990 --> 00:33:18.990
We were just.
585
00:33:21.430 --> 00:33:23.390
It was very, very hard for all of us.
586
00:33:25.410 --> 00:33:27.490
I think in the heat of the moment of killing somebody,
587
00:33:27.849 --> 00:33:30.890
the reason why you might disfigure their face is to
588
00:33:31.019 --> 00:33:34.140
try and keep your high going. So if you have
589
00:33:34.299 --> 00:33:38.619
done this crime not out of any real reason other
590
00:33:38.640 --> 00:33:40.779
than because you feel like you want to know what
591
00:33:40.819 --> 00:33:43.440
it feels like to kill somebody, and if you're there,
592
00:33:43.559 --> 00:33:45.819
you might also then go, Well, I wonder what it
593
00:33:45.859 --> 00:33:48.119
feels like to gouge somebody's eyes out. I wonder what
594
00:33:48.140 --> 00:33:51.349
it feels like to cut someone's face. Now, of course
595
00:33:51.369 --> 00:33:53.210
that's all very extreme, but if you're already in that
596
00:33:53.289 --> 00:33:56.650
mode of trying things and seeing how they make you feel,
597
00:33:57.210 --> 00:33:58.970
that to me makes perfect sense that he would try
598
00:33:59.029 --> 00:34:02.329
lots of different things and go increasingly more severe with
599
00:34:02.369 --> 00:34:06.359
his actions. He's trying to maximize the emotional payoff of
600
00:34:06.420 --> 00:34:06.900
his murder.
601
00:34:09.079 --> 00:34:12.679
One of the things that makes Brian the scariest type
602
00:34:12.719 --> 00:34:16.460
of person is that he found this easy to do
603
00:34:16.619 --> 00:34:17.420
and admits that.
604
00:34:17.440 --> 00:34:23.739
The crime scene was located near the Justice Center, near
605
00:34:23.989 --> 00:34:27.210
the courthouse here in Mesa County, underneath a bridge.
606
00:34:43.289 --> 00:34:46.449
There was a location where homeless people do often stay.
607
00:34:46.570 --> 00:34:47.750
It's fairly secluded.
608
00:34:47.769 --> 00:34:50.849
There's an arm.
609
00:34:50.909 --> 00:34:57.110
There's another arm. There's another one.
610
00:34:57.130 --> 00:34:59.090
Right here's a leg.
611
00:35:01.929 --> 00:35:02.820
Could be the upper arm.
612
00:35:04.360 --> 00:35:06.780
This was a disturbing crime scene as there were human
613
00:35:06.820 --> 00:35:11.400
remains that were thrown around and discarded after the victim
614
00:35:11.440 --> 00:35:12.119
was dismembered.
615
00:35:13.880 --> 00:35:16.539
The most common reason for why somebody cuts somebody else's
616
00:35:16.559 --> 00:35:19.539
head off, after the commission of a murder especially, is
617
00:35:19.800 --> 00:35:24.309
to hide the body. And that is called a defensive strategy.
618
00:35:24.510 --> 00:35:26.650
So you have already done this and you're trying to
619
00:35:26.670 --> 00:35:30.010
defend yourself from actually having evidence against you. What we
620
00:35:30.070 --> 00:35:33.369
also have with Brian Cohey is an offensive strategy where
621
00:35:33.429 --> 00:35:37.670
he is decapitating somebody because he wants to, and he's
622
00:35:37.789 --> 00:35:40.670
mutilating the body because he's getting some sort of enjoyment
623
00:35:40.750 --> 00:35:41.789
out of it or a thrill.
624
00:35:42.329 --> 00:35:45.010
And so that is incredibly uncommon.
625
00:35:49.900 --> 00:35:51.980
When did you start thinking about killing people?
626
00:35:53.320 --> 00:35:54.099
Six months ago.
627
00:35:55.480 --> 00:35:58.360
The six months before the murder, Brian Cohey's parents found
628
00:35:58.400 --> 00:36:01.719
him with a backpack full of supplies. We refer to
629
00:36:01.739 --> 00:36:02.579
it as a kill kit.
630
00:36:06.590 --> 00:36:15.750
His parents discovered it. They were very, very concerned.
631
00:36:35.900 --> 00:36:38.559
And it did not make sense to them why he
632
00:36:38.599 --> 00:36:40.639
would have this kit. So they took it from him.
633
00:36:40.980 --> 00:36:42.440
He was trolling or lurking around town.
634
00:37:03.019 --> 00:37:06.579
Trying to identify what type of person he would ultimately kill.
635
00:37:08.380 --> 00:37:13.340
I was figuring the police don't, this is not to
636
00:37:13.400 --> 00:37:17.079
be taken offense, but police, they don't seem to care
637
00:37:17.099 --> 00:37:17.920
as much about high.
638
00:37:20.039 --> 00:37:25.690
Risk individuals, homeless people, prostitutes, et cetera. So I was.
639
00:37:26.210 --> 00:37:28.929
Deliberately looking for someone who lived that type of life.
640
00:37:28.949 --> 00:37:29.590
Okay.
641
00:37:31.059 --> 00:37:34.570
In early February of 2021, Brian was conducting searches about
642
00:37:34.619 --> 00:37:37.690
how deadly a neck stab wound would be, where homeless
643
00:37:37.710 --> 00:37:39.869
people sleep, and how people react to being held at
644
00:37:39.909 --> 00:37:44.090
knife point. Brian had also conducted internet searches related to
645
00:37:44.829 --> 00:37:47.639
river washing away evidence, and also how long does it
646
00:37:47.679 --> 00:37:51.199
take for a body to stink. It seemed like Brian
647
00:37:51.239 --> 00:37:53.400
was obsessed with committing a murder after looking at his
648
00:37:53.440 --> 00:37:54.099
internet searches.
649
00:38:01.909 --> 00:38:04.010
So any idea, like, the time of night when you
650
00:38:04.090 --> 00:38:08.050
started looking for this person? That night up in there?
651
00:38:09.389 --> 00:38:12.670
Which was 10 p.m.
652
00:38:12.690 --> 00:38:16.599
And what were you wearing? Well, you know the movie Halloween,
653
00:38:16.820 --> 00:38:17.420
Michael Myers?
654
00:38:17.719 --> 00:38:17.940
Mm-hmm.
655
00:38:18.000 --> 00:38:20.119
For Halloween last year.
656
00:38:21.230 --> 00:38:24.969
I bought that as a costume to put on the
657
00:38:25.010 --> 00:38:26.570
mask in my room.
658
00:38:27.050 --> 00:38:27.170
OK.
659
00:38:27.309 --> 00:38:32.369
And, yeah, I just associated that piece of article of
660
00:38:32.389 --> 00:38:33.809
clothing with violence.
661
00:38:34.449 --> 00:38:35.349
That's what I was wearing it.
662
00:38:36.730 --> 00:38:37.150
That night?
663
00:38:37.429 --> 00:38:37.630
Yes.
664
00:38:39.449 --> 00:38:45.119
He's getting himself psyched up for this grand event. So
665
00:38:45.179 --> 00:38:49.699
it's almost like a kid playing dress-up This is an
666
00:38:49.800 --> 00:38:54.190
outfit that he associates with violence, and he's trying to
667
00:38:54.269 --> 00:38:56.130
get himself into character.
668
00:38:56.730 --> 00:39:01.469
He actually went home to bed, couldn't sleep, because he was.
669
00:39:01.309 --> 00:39:02.130
Afraid he had left evidence.
670
00:39:18.630 --> 00:39:21.400
And that's when he returned to the scene behind the
671
00:39:21.440 --> 00:39:25.079
Justice Center and ultimately took pieces of the body and
672
00:39:25.139 --> 00:39:27.889
disposed of the primary pieces of the body in the
673
00:39:27.909 --> 00:39:30.500
Colorado River, which is when his car got stuck in
674
00:39:30.519 --> 00:39:35.920
the river. The rest of his torso and legs were
675
00:39:35.980 --> 00:39:41.099
never discovered. I have never handled a murder case where
676
00:39:41.239 --> 00:39:46.570
a human body was murdered and destroyed after the murder
677
00:39:46.679 --> 00:39:47.300
in this way.
678
00:39:49.280 --> 00:39:51.219
There was more than enough evidence found in the home
679
00:39:51.239 --> 00:39:54.900
and at the scenes, in addition to Brian's confession, to
680
00:39:54.940 --> 00:40:02.420
determine that he was the person who had killed Warren Barnes.
681
00:40:07.449 --> 00:40:10.690
He was very much looking forward to the consequences that
682
00:40:11.090 --> 00:40:13.989
he knew were going to be coming. He just misjudged
683
00:40:14.289 --> 00:40:15.750
the amount of the consequences.
684
00:40:21.190 --> 00:40:21.820
What did it feel like?
685
00:40:23.960 --> 00:40:24.800
It was intense.
686
00:40:25.820 --> 00:40:30.059
It was, um, it was a rush of adrenaline. It
687
00:40:30.099 --> 00:40:37.570
wasn't fear. It was just pure... What's the word? Um, excitement,
688
00:40:37.610 --> 00:40:38.150
I suppose.
689
00:40:38.170 --> 00:40:43.530
Not excitement as in joy, just excitement as in increased heartbeat.
690
00:40:43.690 --> 00:40:45.380
Did you enjoy it or not enjoy it?
691
00:40:45.570 --> 00:40:45.789
Um.
692
00:40:48.550 --> 00:40:54.329
Did I enjoy it? I think when.
693
00:40:54.150 --> 00:40:59.639
He says, I didn't enjoy it, but I didn't hate it,
694
00:41:01.360 --> 00:41:04.119
what he's trying to say is, I'm not a sadist.
695
00:41:14.230 --> 00:41:16.809
I didn't do this just because I get pleasure from
696
00:41:16.869 --> 00:41:17.409
hurting people.
697
00:41:17.949 --> 00:41:19.929
It's more that I did a thing because I thought
698
00:41:19.949 --> 00:41:23.190
it was interesting, and we know that he got at
699
00:41:23.269 --> 00:41:26.250
least a thrill out of it, that emotional slash just
700
00:41:26.449 --> 00:41:29.829
physical response that he was maybe struggling to get elsewhere.
701
00:41:31.789 --> 00:41:34.130
I think Brian Cohey killed Warren Barnes because he wanted
702
00:41:34.150 --> 00:41:38.260
to feel something. And notably, and this is where we
703
00:41:38.300 --> 00:41:42.070
get to those callous, unemotional traits, He seems to be
704
00:41:42.110 --> 00:41:45.489
completely detached from the fact that he has taken somebody's life.
705
00:41:45.969 --> 00:41:50.079
He doesn't have those feelings of remorse and guilt.
706
00:41:53.000 --> 00:41:55.320
After his interview, we took Brian back to the jail
707
00:41:55.360 --> 00:41:58.139
and as he was sitting in booking, he kind of
708
00:41:58.159 --> 00:42:01.199
grinned and said, I feel like Hannibal Lecter right now
709
00:42:01.320 --> 00:42:03.840
and kind of got a grin like he was a
710
00:42:03.880 --> 00:42:06.820
celebrity at this point because he had now killed somebody
711
00:42:06.860 --> 00:42:09.530
and got arrested. Because you don't hear about serial killers
712
00:42:09.590 --> 00:42:13.050
that don't get caught. So now he got caught and
713
00:42:13.090 --> 00:42:15.929
he's famous in his mind, I believe. But then it
714
00:42:15.949 --> 00:42:18.449
was almost like another part of euphoria of, and now
715
00:42:18.489 --> 00:42:19.989
I get to go to jail and tell people I'm
716
00:42:20.050 --> 00:42:20.889
a killer.
717
00:42:27.380 --> 00:42:30.659
Brian pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity. He was
718
00:42:30.679 --> 00:42:32.280
looking at a life sentence.
719
00:42:34.139 --> 00:42:41.019
This crime sounds crazy. But just because it sounds crazy
720
00:42:42.579 --> 00:42:45.280
and is not expected, that does not make him insane.
721
00:42:48.739 --> 00:42:52.260
The plea of not guilty by reason of insanity was
722
00:42:52.760 --> 00:42:58.530
entirely dismissed because actually he had proven his legal sanity
723
00:42:58.690 --> 00:43:03.849
all the way through his police interview. He was not hallucinating.
724
00:43:03.949 --> 00:43:09.659
He was not struggling with paranoid beliefs. or delusions. He
725
00:43:09.699 --> 00:43:12.519
was fully in control of his behavior.
726
00:43:15.639 --> 00:43:17.920
I think the jury did have a hard time hearing
727
00:43:17.940 --> 00:43:20.889
the story of what happened to Mr. Barnes, that he
728
00:43:20.909 --> 00:43:24.050
was an innocent victim who did nothing to provoke the situation.
729
00:43:24.070 --> 00:43:26.670
I think it was a lot to handle for them.
730
00:43:28.369 --> 00:43:38.000
The fact that this monster would attack a 69-year-old man
731
00:43:38.079 --> 00:43:42.559
while he was sleeping. It was such a cowardly act.
732
00:43:43.559 --> 00:43:47.820
The judge said this was the worst crime he had
733
00:43:48.110 --> 00:43:54.469
ever heard in his lifetime on the bench. I know
734
00:43:54.550 --> 00:43:59.389
it shocked everybody. It wasn't just our family that was affected.
735
00:43:59.710 --> 00:44:03.960
It was pretty much everybody in this valley was affected
736
00:44:04.019 --> 00:44:04.320
by it.
737
00:44:06.699 --> 00:44:10.159
Ryan Cohey, who committed first-degree murder. Every murder is bad,
738
00:44:10.219 --> 00:44:15.079
but this one, it was particularly horrific. Ultimately, he's serving
739
00:44:15.099 --> 00:44:17.800
the appropriate sentence of life, life without parole.
740
00:44:20.420 --> 00:44:26.639
I think that Cohey killed Warren because he was feeling down,
741
00:44:26.860 --> 00:44:32.480
feeling lost, feeling that he couldn't relate to anybody in
742
00:44:32.539 --> 00:44:35.820
the world other than serial killers.
743
00:44:36.489 --> 00:44:38.610
I think there were two things going on when Brian
744
00:44:38.650 --> 00:44:40.630
Cohey murdered Warren Barnes.
745
00:44:41.110 --> 00:44:43.070
I think the first thing is he was thrill-seeking.
746
00:44:43.329 --> 00:44:45.210
He was trying to get a rush, and we could
747
00:44:45.269 --> 00:44:48.699
see that as a pattern of behavior where he perpetrated
748
00:44:48.760 --> 00:44:50.960
various violent acts over the course of his life, and
749
00:44:50.980 --> 00:44:52.420
they got more and more extreme.
750
00:44:52.739 --> 00:44:54.460
The other thing that I think was happening is.
751
00:44:54.400 --> 00:44:57.599
That we know that Brian Cohey had a fascination with
752
00:44:57.840 --> 00:44:58.639
serial killers.
753
00:44:58.739 --> 00:45:00.940
He would record their kill counts.
754
00:45:01.260 --> 00:45:06.300
He was fascinated by the fame that comes with killing people.
755
00:45:07.000 --> 00:45:10.510
And I think it's possible that he saw himself as
756
00:45:10.570 --> 00:45:15.309
someone who would fit that kind of label, that maybe that.
757
00:45:15.230 --> 00:45:17.230
Kind of fame would look good on him.
758
00:45:18.880 --> 00:45:22.920
This is somebody that is really struggling to experience any
759
00:45:23.000 --> 00:45:25.820
kind of emotion. He's so cut off from his own emotions.
760
00:45:25.860 --> 00:45:28.860
He doesn't have a language for his own emotions. You know,
761
00:45:29.179 --> 00:45:33.300
he's expecting to feel something. I think that a lot
762
00:45:33.320 --> 00:45:37.300
of things are best left as fantasies because the reality
763
00:45:37.400 --> 00:45:38.400
just doesn't measure up.
764
00:45:45.039 --> 00:45:49.820
Uncle Warren got the moniker the Reading Man because a
765
00:45:49.880 --> 00:45:54.059
lot of the downtown business owners saw him reading all
766
00:45:54.099 --> 00:45:58.969
the time. There is a a memorial downtown off of
767
00:45:59.010 --> 00:46:02.110
Main Street. I believe that we should remember my Uncle
768
00:46:02.150 --> 00:46:08.610
Warren being the kind, generous person that he was. Remember
769
00:46:08.730 --> 00:46:12.110
to take time just to go out and soak up
770
00:46:12.150 --> 00:46:17.610
some sun. Tomorrow may not come for you. Enjoy the
771
00:46:17.650 --> 00:46:20.679
little things in life and the here and now.
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What's going.
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On, man?
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Okay, so parents have some concerns with some stuff they
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may have found in your room.
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What would it be?
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A human head and hands.
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To come face to face with somebody so young, it's
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kind of scary.
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The nature was extremely brutal.
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I cut open his belly to see his guts. They're
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really pink.
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Every murder is bad, but this one, it was particularly horrific.
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He found this easy to do and admits that.
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I was growling and making the animalistic noises.
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He seems to be completely detached from the fact that.
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This was a human being.
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To understand why somebody kills We have to understand their
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life story and the silent evolution of their thought patterns.
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I think a lot of people are familiar with Grand
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Junction because they've passed through here along the interstate. We're
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located in the high mountains of Colorado, halfway between Denver
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and Salt Lake City.
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It is, I would say, a safe place to live.
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Brian, since he was a small child, had grown up
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in the Grand Junction community. His family lived out in
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the Redlands area, which is a nice upper middle income
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area of our town.
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My name is Kellen Pfeiffer. I'm a former classmate of
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Brian Cohey. I grew up here in Grand Junction. When
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I was about eight, we moved up to the Redlands.
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And that's when I started going to Broadway Elementary, which
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is where I met Brian. Brian lived in a similar
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part of the Redlands to me. All the people knew
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each other. It was very nice living there. You always
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kind of felt supported. You kind of felt like you
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knew all your neighbors. It always felt like you could
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always reach out for help. People often brought each other cookies,
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treats for the holidays. So it felt very, you know, tight-knit.
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Brian Cohey's family seemed normal. They seemed like they had normal,
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steady jobs.
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His mom ran the daycare out of the basement of
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our home. His father worked in construction. His parents were separating,
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and they were living in two homes not very far
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from each other. He lived primarily with his mother, but
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he frequented his father's home.
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Brian's mannerisms in elementary school were a little bit strange.
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He seemed to exaggerate his movements a little bit. He
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spoke very loud, oftentimes would over-pronunciate his words.
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Brian Cohey's mother was reporting that he had mild autism.
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From the time he was very little, she was reaching
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out for help, trying to have him assessed and trying
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to get him the right help.
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I would definitely say that Brian seemed to lack social awareness.
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Oftentimes it felt like he didn't necessarily know where bounds
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were supposed to be, or maybe he felt like pushing
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on those bounds was the best way to get attention.
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By middle school and high school, the schools were interacting
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with the Cohey family about things that they were discovering
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that were disturbing. Brian Cohey, he was fixated on infamous
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people who hurt people, such as Hitler, Stalin. He was
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obsessed with crime scenes. He was obsessed with murder. He
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was obsessed with serial killers.
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It was apparent in talking to Brian's teachers that there
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was disturbing behavior, disturbing thoughts.
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What do you remember about Brian? Not much.
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Just I remember there was like a notebook that had.
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Some obviously concerning stuff talking about like serial killer statistics
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and stuff.
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I just seem to be kind of enamored with that.
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So famous serial killers and information about them?
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Yeah, like kill counts and just stuff like that. That's
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not entirely normal.
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I'm Kerry Danes. I'm a consultant forensic psychologist. How he
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is reading about serial killers, he's researching serial killers on
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the net, and he's doing all of this not through
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a lens of empathy. He's doing it through a lens
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of intellectual curiosity, and he's not empathizing with the victims.
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He is identifying with the killer. It's the killer and
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the killer's mindset and the killer's behavior that resonates with him.
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People came to know him as somebody with dark, dark humor.
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He'd make comments about the Holocaust, you know, wildly inappropriate
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all the time. He always looked for shock. He fed
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on that negative attention. I felt like he was bottling
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up a lot of dissatisfaction, because he was a really
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smart kid, very academically brilliant, but he was a little
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bit of a social outcast.
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Kohi is really emotionally immature, but also you've got to
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understand that he does not understand the social world. He
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doesn't understand the nuances, of social interactions. He doesn't really
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understand the reciprocal nature of friendships. And he wants people
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to take note of him. But the only way that
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he's found that really he can achieve any sort of
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attention is by being shocking. And in being shocking, all
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it really reinforces to him is his difference from other people.
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Brian made a series of posts on Reddit that provided
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a lot of insight into his thinking and his motives.
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I saw my therapist today.
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We talked about how I manipulate others' feelings to see
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what makes them tick. That because I feel less emotion
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than others. I'm curious to see what regular amounts of
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emotion feel like. That I'm like a scientist and everyone
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else is my test subject. I test painful stimuli to
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elicit a reaction. I enjoy those reactions, the ones of
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pain and sorrow.
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The fact that Kohi is going on the internet and
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he's becoming more and more extreme in what he is
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posting shows that he is struggling himself in trying to
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understand this and he wants to test. Are there other
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people out there that feel the same kind of things
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to me? But of course the response is overwhelmingly negative.
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So that can only feed into this cycle of feeling low,
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feeling different, feeling other, and also feeling resentful of the
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world around you.
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It did seem like whenever a situation happened, maybe he
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didn't fully understand. Like if he had done something wrong,
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sometimes it felt like, you know, it was more funny
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than it was concerning to him.
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I was bored in school. So I made a mace
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out of tape and a pencil. I became manic again
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with no warning. I got the urge to hit a kid.
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When I hit him on the back of the head,
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he fell to the ground crying.
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It was entertaining, so I decided to mock him. It
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was very funny.
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I'm Dr. Julia Shaw, a criminal psychologist and author.
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What I think is most fascinating about the Brian Cohey
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case is that he seems to have what are called
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callous unemotional traits. CU traits, or callous unemotional traits, are
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when you don't feel the same feelings as other people
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and you don't have the same empathy. In the brain,
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callous unemotional traits are related to a part of the
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brain called the anterior temporal cortex. And what you see
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with people who are high in callous and emotional traits
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is this area that is responsible for suppressing callous thoughts.
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Is literally smaller.
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Being high in these traits makes you more likely to
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hurt other people, and it takes away a barrier that
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most of us would have to doing things like murder.
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It's really hard to know when someone's actually going to
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take something too far. You know, when something goes from
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being a joke that you say, you know, to get
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attention or to be funny to where that actually gets
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turned into something maybe a lot more, you know, deeper,
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a lot more scary.
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Brian Cohey had got his car stuck in the river
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and had made a call to his family for help.
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Police were notified also.
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Hey, partner, come on, talk to me real quick.
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Sure, I mean, I'm really cold. Is it okay if
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it's in here?
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That's fine.
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I did not know that.
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It seemed like a normal thing a teenager would get
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themselves into.
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Well, you're not hurt, right?
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You're okay? No, just a little cold is all.
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Just besides your pride a little bit? What were you
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doing down here, bud?
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Well, I felt like I needed to get out, like.
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And I figured, why not park here and just relax
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and think. And I parked on the boat ramp, and
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I thought it would be easy to get out.
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And it slid into the river.
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I was able to get out.
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Brian Cohey told officers that he was just hanging out
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when he had accidentally backed his car too far into
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the river.
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He was an.
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Inexperienced driver.
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Okay.
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Oh, yep.
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Teenagers.
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Does he need to stay here?
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I'm sorry?
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Is he free to go?
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I'm sure he'd like to go home and get warm.
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I'm sure he'd like to get some pants on.
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Yeah, right?
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Yeah, it's not a crash.
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Okay.
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This is stupid.
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The fact that Brian's parents were on scene and telling
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the officers what their son had done, apparently made a
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mistake as an inexperienced driver, did not raise any suspicions.
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What'd they say about us looking in the trunk?
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They're good with it.
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Okay.
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Hey, quick question for you.
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Sure.
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The back bumper, I don't know, you can probably see
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it from here.
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It's a lot of red.
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On the back of that, dripping down it all a
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little bit.
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A lot of red.
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Looks like blood.
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Blood?
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Yeah.
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I don't know, did your son hurt himself?
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Maybe just have him do like a self-check, make sure
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he's okay.
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Hello?
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Brian, are you okay? They've seen blood on the back.
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Bumper of the vehicle.
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Really? Yeah, did you get hurt?
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No.
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Are you sure you don't have any injuries?
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No, I'm fine.
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There's blood on it?
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No.
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Brian was very calm and cool when talking to his
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parents on the phone after police officers had noticed blood
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on the back of the car. He acted like nothing happened,
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there was nothing wrong, and he was very convincing.
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It's typical not here to dump a body.
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Hi, yes, I was just wondering if you could tell
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me who I could possibly talk to about filing.
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Maybe a report on someone that hasn't been seen for.
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A couple of days.
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Okay.
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Are you needing to file, like, a missing persons report?
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I think so.
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Mr.
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Barnes was reported missing by a friend of his who
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ran a local business. This friend would see him on
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a daily basis and noticed that he had not been
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coming around for a couple days, which made her concerned.
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One key connection that we found was a wallet belonging
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to Mr. Barnes had been located by Brian Cohey's father
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inside the vehicle, and that was submerged in the river.
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When they realized that a wallet that was associated with
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the boat ramp, some local people were literally walking the
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Colorado River looking for Warren Barnes. He literally shows up
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every morning, every day without bell, like at six o'clock,
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sometimes a little sooner.
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We always let him in before the customers. We give
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him free coffee.
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He's the nicest old man ever.
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I am Gail Gandy. I am the youngest niece of
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Warren Barnes. Uncle Warren is the seventh of nine children.
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He was definitely a fun uncle. He liked being around people.
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He really enjoyed country music. He definitely loved to read.
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My Uncle Warren would read books downtown. A local shop
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owner actually would give him a chair so he could
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sit out in the sun to absorb the sun and
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read his book and be out with the nature. He
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would help shop owners bring in boxes and stuff. And
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that's the weird thing.
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Is I said, I'll see you tomorrow. He said, I'll
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be here. I'll see you tomorrow.
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I don't, I don't know.
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I just have a really bad feeling because it's unlike him.
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We are investigating the missing person.
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Okay.
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I'm just going to keep looking.
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Until I hear from you guys.
257
00:15:16.039 --> 00:15:16.279
Okay.
258
00:15:16.679 --> 00:15:17.820
I'm too worried about him.
259
00:15:17.870 --> 00:15:18.830
So, all right.
260
00:15:18.870 --> 00:15:21.110
Thank you guys. Thanks for coming out and looking for him.
261
00:15:33.940 --> 00:15:35.360
No one wants to address the emergency.
262
00:15:36.700 --> 00:15:38.860
Hi, there is an emergency.
263
00:15:42.179 --> 00:15:43.299
I found.
264
00:15:45.639 --> 00:15:46.850
Something in my truck.
265
00:15:46.950 --> 00:15:48.879
Okay, what was.
266
00:15:50.110 --> 00:15:50.870
It?
267
00:15:59.529 --> 00:16:01.750
I'm Deputy Wick. I work for the Mesa County Sheriff's Office.
268
00:16:02.370 --> 00:16:05.649
I saw the call populating and the dispatcher, they'll take
269
00:16:05.669 --> 00:16:07.960
the phone call and then they start throwing in notes
270
00:16:08.120 --> 00:16:10.059
as they're developing the call and we can see those
271
00:16:10.139 --> 00:16:11.159
notes start coming in.
272
00:16:11.179 --> 00:16:14.159
My first response was.
273
00:16:32.929 --> 00:16:36.980
It's probably a Halloween costume or maybe it's animal parts.
274
00:16:42.539 --> 00:16:45.159
I was a patrol deputy at the time and I
275
00:16:45.210 --> 00:16:48.870
am now a sergeant. The reporting party had said that
276
00:16:49.090 --> 00:16:51.730
she had found what she believed was a human head
277
00:16:51.769 --> 00:16:55.850
and hands in her son's closet. So that's pretty much
278
00:16:55.889 --> 00:16:57.379
kind of what we had as we were headed out
279
00:16:57.389 --> 00:17:01.860
that way. So driving down here, it's just, what are
280
00:17:01.879 --> 00:17:05.230
we going to? What am I going to see? I
281
00:17:05.269 --> 00:17:08.049
can't just go in there and think somebody's guilty or
282
00:17:08.089 --> 00:17:10.390
pull my gun out. I have to let their actions
283
00:17:10.470 --> 00:17:13.130
dictate what my actions are going to be after that.
284
00:17:17.279 --> 00:17:21.619
As we're approaching, I'm going to gauge what type of reaction,
285
00:17:21.660 --> 00:17:25.819
what type of cooperation are we getting? Are they aggressive
286
00:17:26.140 --> 00:17:27.700
or calm people?
287
00:17:32.329 --> 00:17:42.170
What's going on, man? Okay, so parents have some concerns
288
00:17:42.190 --> 00:17:43.289
with some stuff they may have found.
289
00:17:43.190 --> 00:17:43.589
In your room?
290
00:17:44.769 --> 00:17:47.130
Um, yeah, I believe so.
291
00:17:47.230 --> 00:17:48.119
And what would it be?
292
00:17:51.400 --> 00:17:52.619
A human head and hands.
293
00:17:55.319 --> 00:17:57.579
Are we dealing with somebody that has a mental illness
294
00:17:57.640 --> 00:18:01.970
that is hallucinating, seeing this, perceiving it, or... Is it
295
00:18:02.029 --> 00:18:06.309
something fake that he's made and he's playing a prank
296
00:18:06.369 --> 00:18:09.950
on mom? I wanted to verify, like, you said human
297
00:18:09.990 --> 00:18:11.890
head and hands. Are they real?
298
00:18:12.430 --> 00:18:14.130
Like, for real human head and hands?
299
00:18:14.650 --> 00:18:14.910
Yes.
300
00:18:15.210 --> 00:18:15.470
From?
301
00:18:17.410 --> 00:18:19.210
That fellow who went missing recently.
302
00:18:19.269 --> 00:18:20.109
Which fellow was that?
303
00:18:20.509 --> 00:18:20.869
Warren.
304
00:18:21.349 --> 00:18:21.710
Warren.
305
00:18:21.829 --> 00:18:22.910
And how did you end up with him?
306
00:18:24.630 --> 00:18:25.279
I murdered him.
307
00:18:25.960 --> 00:18:29.279
With what? A knife. Why would you have done that?
308
00:18:30.349 --> 00:18:32.069
I've always wondered what murder felt like.
309
00:18:34.890 --> 00:18:37.849
And now my brain is like, okay, we have something.
310
00:18:37.869 --> 00:18:40.990
Do you have anything on you that's going to cut, poke, hurt,
311
00:18:41.309 --> 00:18:43.329
stigmatize anything without reaching for nothing? Don't reach for nothing.
312
00:18:43.789 --> 00:18:44.910
My phone and my wallet.
313
00:18:44.950 --> 00:18:45.130
Okay.
314
00:18:45.190 --> 00:18:46.589
Well, I'm going to have you face that way.
315
00:18:46.609 --> 00:18:47.569
Put your hands on top of your head for me
316
00:18:47.589 --> 00:18:47.789
real quick.
317
00:18:47.809 --> 00:18:49.309
I just want to make sure you interlace your fingers
318
00:18:49.329 --> 00:18:50.039
for me real quick, all right?
319
00:18:50.630 --> 00:18:53.799
Okay.
320
00:18:53.839 --> 00:18:57.000
How did you come across the gentleman?
321
00:18:57.460 --> 00:18:58.160
I was driving.
322
00:18:58.180 --> 00:18:58.660
Uh-huh.
323
00:18:59.099 --> 00:19:01.779
And I saw a strange shape near the railway. So
324
00:19:01.839 --> 00:19:04.359
I parked my car and investigated it and I found
325
00:19:04.420 --> 00:19:05.420
it to be a man sleeping.
326
00:19:05.680 --> 00:19:05.940
Okay.
327
00:19:06.640 --> 00:19:07.380
Where's the knife at?
328
00:19:08.599 --> 00:19:09.960
It is in my sunken car.
329
00:19:11.690 --> 00:19:14.730
And at that point in time, with the information he
330
00:19:14.769 --> 00:19:18.269
was giving, the way he was answering, my brain started
331
00:19:18.309 --> 00:19:21.910
to shift from this isn't real to okay, so maybe
332
00:19:21.950 --> 00:19:25.690
he found a dead person to oh my gosh, I
333
00:19:25.730 --> 00:19:27.569
think this kid really killed somebody.
334
00:19:28.210 --> 00:19:28.920
When I killed him.
335
00:19:30.569 --> 00:19:32.809
I tried disposing of his body by putting it in
336
00:19:32.829 --> 00:19:34.789
the river, but I parked too low in the river.
337
00:19:35.069 --> 00:19:36.410
Where's the rest of his body at?
338
00:19:37.880 --> 00:19:38.039
Huh?
339
00:19:38.140 --> 00:19:39.240
Where's the rest of the body at?
340
00:19:40.059 --> 00:19:40.539
What parts?
341
00:19:41.759 --> 00:19:47.029
His family is there listening to everything he's saying, and
342
00:19:47.130 --> 00:19:52.200
he seemed unbothered and unconcerned with anything that was occurring.
343
00:19:53.940 --> 00:19:55.039
I'm going to have you walk over here.
344
00:19:55.079 --> 00:19:57.099
You're going to sit in the back of my partner's
345
00:19:57.119 --> 00:19:59.359
control car for a minute, okay?
346
00:19:59.440 --> 00:20:04.980
Okay. I referenced to Sergeant Stuckenschneider a motion which we
347
00:20:05.099 --> 00:20:09.720
used to handcuff, and he's primary deputy, and he said,
348
00:20:10.289 --> 00:20:11.789
you know, kind of gave me the head nod of no.
349
00:20:13.230 --> 00:20:18.299
We make those decisions based upon behavior, mannerisms, cooperation.
350
00:20:18.319 --> 00:20:18.509
How are.
351
00:20:20.740 --> 00:20:20.940
You?
352
00:20:20.960 --> 00:20:21.740
I'm good, sir.
353
00:20:21.779 --> 00:20:23.359
How are you? You said your name is Brian?
354
00:20:24.380 --> 00:20:25.339
I'm not feeling too well.
355
00:20:25.359 --> 00:20:26.440
You're not feeling too well?
356
00:20:26.720 --> 00:20:29.380
I've been very, very anxious.
357
00:20:29.440 --> 00:20:31.819
That's understandable. What we're going to have you do here
358
00:20:31.859 --> 00:20:32.920
is I'm just going to have you sit in the
359
00:20:32.960 --> 00:20:34.920
back here, okay? I'm going to turn on the air
360
00:20:34.980 --> 00:20:37.799
for you in a second. That way you're not too hot.
361
00:20:37.819 --> 00:20:39.440
Are you a hot-blooded or cold-blooded kind of guy?
362
00:20:39.460 --> 00:20:41.559
I am very cold-blooded.
363
00:20:43.339 --> 00:20:46.299
The way he said it to me, I took it
364
00:20:46.380 --> 00:20:48.140
as he wasn't talking about the temperature.
365
00:20:48.160 --> 00:20:49.519
So hop in here.
366
00:20:49.539 --> 00:20:50.779
I know you're tall, so it's a little bit of
367
00:20:50.819 --> 00:20:52.420
a tight squeeze. But like I said, I'll get that.
368
00:20:52.319 --> 00:20:52.859
Air in for you.
369
00:20:53.079 --> 00:20:53.779
Sorry about that.
370
00:20:54.059 --> 00:20:56.839
It's all right.
371
00:20:56.859 --> 00:20:58.039
I can't believe it.
372
00:20:59.380 --> 00:21:00.160
Oh, my god.
373
00:21:00.200 --> 00:21:02.180
It's kind of a time to not really know it, so.
374
00:21:13.359 --> 00:21:18.720
It was a very wild situation to watch unfold. It
375
00:21:18.740 --> 00:21:20.720
was kind of like their whole life was falling apart
376
00:21:21.220 --> 00:21:22.039
right in that moment.
377
00:21:23.900 --> 00:21:25.289
Can you walk me inside?
378
00:21:26.849 --> 00:21:29.470
So that's when I had dad take me inside so
379
00:21:29.509 --> 00:21:32.509
that I can verify for myself that what we have
380
00:21:32.630 --> 00:21:34.410
is an actual human head and hands.
381
00:21:34.910 --> 00:21:36.430
Can I go in there and verify here first?
382
00:21:36.450 --> 00:21:37.009
Oh, yeah, please.
383
00:21:37.130 --> 00:21:37.950
We haven't seen it yet.
384
00:21:38.079 --> 00:21:38.339
OK.
385
00:21:41.500 --> 00:21:44.559
So as I'm going in the house, I'm expecting to
386
00:21:44.619 --> 00:21:45.359
see something.
387
00:21:50.779 --> 00:21:51.000
OK.
388
00:21:55.180 --> 00:21:56.890
I could tell right away as soon as I lifted
389
00:21:56.930 --> 00:21:57.410
up the towel.
390
00:21:59.569 --> 00:21:59.769
Yeah?
391
00:22:00.309 --> 00:22:02.769
It was indeed a real human head.
392
00:22:03.230 --> 00:22:03.430
Yeah?
393
00:22:06.200 --> 00:22:09.269
This is a home where Brian's mother ran a daycare.
394
00:22:09.930 --> 00:22:14.009
Several children were present on a daily basis. And to
395
00:22:14.049 --> 00:22:16.589
think there was a human head at hands inside the
396
00:22:16.609 --> 00:22:18.490
house was quite disturbing.
397
00:22:18.490 --> 00:22:31.210
22, 42, are you clear for a call? Oh, yeah,
398
00:22:31.230 --> 00:22:35.339
you might want to call Investigations. So, oh yeah, he already,
399
00:22:35.359 --> 00:22:36.450
I asked him what was going on.
400
00:22:36.460 --> 00:22:37.200
He said, I killed the guy.
401
00:22:38.220 --> 00:22:38.700
I stabbed him.
402
00:22:39.019 --> 00:22:39.880
The head's in the sink.
403
00:22:40.279 --> 00:22:44.509
The body is in the river. Does it sound by
404
00:22:44.529 --> 00:22:45.549
my voice that it looks real?
405
00:22:47.250 --> 00:22:47.490
It is.
406
00:22:49.829 --> 00:22:53.150
Now we are actually verified that this is a murder
407
00:22:53.170 --> 00:22:56.839
and this is an actual person. Now I'm just calling
408
00:22:56.859 --> 00:22:57.339
the cavalry.
409
00:22:57.920 --> 00:22:59.359
All right, Brian.
410
00:23:01.960 --> 00:23:03.900
We're headed to the sheriff's office and your family's going
411
00:23:03.920 --> 00:23:04.819
to go with us, okay?
412
00:23:06.359 --> 00:23:07.240
I've got one male on board.
413
00:23:07.289 --> 00:23:08.200
We're en route to the office.
414
00:23:09.210 --> 00:23:10.670
Brian, I'm going to roll up these windows because the
415
00:23:10.710 --> 00:23:11.470
air gets really.
416
00:23:11.289 --> 00:23:12.170
Loud back there, okay?
417
00:23:13.990 --> 00:23:17.450
We do often try to keep people at ease as
418
00:23:17.509 --> 00:23:19.869
much as we can, even in situations where they've just
419
00:23:19.930 --> 00:23:26.630
confessed to murder. Brian was just that same even-keel demeanor.
420
00:23:27.400 --> 00:23:29.640
He did not show emotion one way or the other.
421
00:23:32.900 --> 00:23:35.460
When we arrived at the sheriff's office, we pull into
422
00:23:35.500 --> 00:23:38.619
the back area so I can walk him through into
423
00:23:38.660 --> 00:23:44.410
our investigations unit. I felt fully comfortable.
424
00:23:45.670 --> 00:23:46.710
He was still very polite.
425
00:23:46.730 --> 00:23:49.970
He didn't do anything that I thought was.
426
00:24:02.849 --> 00:24:05.150
Indicative of him trying to run or be violent.
427
00:24:05.410 --> 00:24:06.150
Take another left.
428
00:24:06.480 --> 00:24:06.819
Hard left.
429
00:24:06.900 --> 00:24:07.559
Right here. Right here.
430
00:24:08.559 --> 00:24:08.880
All right.
431
00:24:09.619 --> 00:24:11.700
I walked him into the interview room and told him
432
00:24:11.720 --> 00:24:13.119
he could have a seat and that somebody would be
433
00:24:13.160 --> 00:24:13.880
with him shortly.
434
00:24:17.009 --> 00:24:19.390
Even though Brian Cohey had confessed, we knew we had
435
00:24:19.450 --> 00:24:22.730
to gain some insight into his mental state and things
436
00:24:22.769 --> 00:24:25.690
that would lead us to understand his thinking.
437
00:24:26.809 --> 00:24:30.369
What are we dealing with here? Is this somebody who
438
00:24:30.529 --> 00:24:35.910
has acted on hallucinations, delusions? Is this somebody that is
439
00:24:35.950 --> 00:24:37.970
suffering with a mental illness?
440
00:24:41.380 --> 00:24:44.059
My name's Pete Berg.
441
00:24:44.119 --> 00:24:46.839
I'm an investigator with the Mesa County Sheriff's Office, and
442
00:24:46.940 --> 00:24:48.720
I interviewed Brian Cohey.
443
00:24:50.400 --> 00:24:58.210
And Well, this is Lisa.
444
00:24:58.250 --> 00:24:59.309
Hi, how are you?
445
00:24:59.549 --> 00:25:00.109
I'm okay, you?
446
00:25:00.390 --> 00:25:00.849
Good, thanks.
447
00:25:01.769 --> 00:25:05.170
I'm Investigator Norcross. I've worked with Investigator Berg for a
448
00:25:05.259 --> 00:25:08.240
really long time. Our job is to get the truth,
449
00:25:09.000 --> 00:25:09.920
whatever that truth is.
450
00:25:09.940 --> 00:25:16.319
When was your birthday, Brian? January 10th, 2002. And your.
451
00:25:18.690 --> 00:25:18.970
Address?
452
00:25:21.069 --> 00:25:23.509
Which one? Um, I mean, yeah.
453
00:25:24.849 --> 00:25:27.190
My first impressions of just looking at Brian, he looks
454
00:25:27.549 --> 00:25:30.839
like the typical 19, 20-year-old young person. Brian is well-spoken.
455
00:25:30.900 --> 00:25:32.099
He's a smart young man.
456
00:25:32.259 --> 00:25:32.980
He's cooperative.
457
00:25:33.019 --> 00:25:53.559
He's willing to sit and talk with us. And how
458
00:25:53.599 --> 00:25:54.279
did you get here?
459
00:25:55.779 --> 00:25:56.500
I murdered someone.
460
00:25:56.960 --> 00:25:59.440
Okay. But how did you get to my office?
461
00:26:01.119 --> 00:26:04.819
Well, the police drove me here from my mom's house.
462
00:26:05.119 --> 00:26:05.420
Okay.
463
00:26:06.859 --> 00:26:09.980
When somebody is very quick to say things like that
464
00:26:10.000 --> 00:26:14.160
and implicate themselves in serious crimes, that tells me I
465
00:26:14.160 --> 00:26:18.339
have someone who has a unique personality here, and we're
466
00:26:18.359 --> 00:26:20.000
going to want to talk to them a lot more.
467
00:26:20.740 --> 00:26:24.299
One of the things that I knew we needed to
468
00:26:25.140 --> 00:26:27.319
ask about was any type of mental health issues that
469
00:26:27.339 --> 00:26:29.700
he's either been diagnosed.
470
00:26:29.609 --> 00:26:30.569
With or he believes he has.
471
00:26:46.930 --> 00:26:50.109
When you say you have a major depressive disorder, I'm
472
00:26:50.130 --> 00:26:51.009
curious what those are.
473
00:26:52.150 --> 00:26:53.250
Well, actually, I have several.
474
00:26:54.049 --> 00:26:56.190
I have high-functioning Asperger's.
475
00:26:56.210 --> 00:26:56.930
Okay.
476
00:26:57.900 --> 00:26:58.599
I have.
477
00:27:00.259 --> 00:27:05.240
ADHD, a major depressive disorder. And they also said I
478
00:27:05.259 --> 00:27:09.890
was schizo-something. That isn't me misremembering. They just said you
479
00:27:09.930 --> 00:27:16.099
have your schizo-something, whether it be schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder, schizopapal
480
00:27:16.119 --> 00:27:17.619
or schizoid disorder.
481
00:27:17.640 --> 00:27:20.589
They said I had something that was schizo.
482
00:27:22.329 --> 00:27:23.190
Can you imagine?
483
00:27:23.210 --> 00:27:27.809
At the age of 19, you've got this list of diagnosis,
484
00:27:28.029 --> 00:27:32.430
list of labels. Here are all the reasons why there's
485
00:27:32.490 --> 00:27:37.160
something different about you, there's something wrong about you. None
486
00:27:37.200 --> 00:27:41.460
of this is being addressed therapeutically, and he feels like
487
00:27:41.680 --> 00:27:42.259
a freak.
488
00:27:46.029 --> 00:27:48.970
It seemed like Brian had studied serial killers a lot
489
00:27:49.039 --> 00:27:53.059
to me, and he did want to be like those people.
490
00:27:53.180 --> 00:27:55.259
I mean, it seemed like maybe they were his heroes.
491
00:27:55.279 --> 00:27:59.420
So my nickname in high school was Jeffrey Dahmer.
492
00:27:59.819 --> 00:28:00.119
Okay.
493
00:28:00.680 --> 00:28:02.880
I had a reputation that I would become a serial killer.
494
00:28:02.900 --> 00:28:02.980
Okay.
495
00:28:04.069 --> 00:28:05.160
Why did you have that reputation?
496
00:28:05.690 --> 00:28:09.609
It depends on how off-putting I was.
497
00:28:09.630 --> 00:28:13.269
In school, I was not social. I didn't like anyone.
498
00:28:13.289 --> 00:28:15.210
I would purposely make.
499
00:28:16.099 --> 00:28:19.359
offensive, crass, rude comments just to get a rise out
500
00:28:19.380 --> 00:28:23.180
of people. To ruffle their feathers.
501
00:28:27.339 --> 00:28:30.140
Most people obviously aren't going to jump from I've never
502
00:28:30.180 --> 00:28:33.920
done anything wrong to killing a person. They have a
503
00:28:33.980 --> 00:28:37.329
progression of leading up to now I'm killing people.
504
00:28:39.930 --> 00:28:40.930
Have you ever done it before?
505
00:28:41.809 --> 00:28:41.990
No.
506
00:28:42.289 --> 00:28:42.509
No.
507
00:28:43.210 --> 00:28:43.710
Okay.
508
00:28:43.730 --> 00:28:44.430
You got apps, right?
509
00:28:44.589 --> 00:28:44.829
Yeah.
510
00:28:44.950 --> 00:28:47.490
How about animals? Can you practice on anything?
511
00:28:47.869 --> 00:28:48.089
Yes.
512
00:28:59.049 --> 00:29:03.230
On October the 23rd, 2018, I killed a feral cat
513
00:29:03.259 --> 00:29:04.059
and mutilated it.
514
00:29:06.819 --> 00:29:07.960
Cat has quality teeth.
515
00:29:08.200 --> 00:29:08.779
It can hurt.
516
00:29:09.400 --> 00:29:12.519
So I herded the cat into the sleeping bag and
517
00:29:12.579 --> 00:29:15.059
beat it and strangled it and for a snap of
518
00:29:15.079 --> 00:29:15.400
its neck.
519
00:29:19.720 --> 00:29:19.799
I.
520
00:29:24.609 --> 00:29:28.470
Was so excited. Excited in a good way. Thrilled. High
521
00:29:28.529 --> 00:29:33.190
on homicide, you would say. Oftentimes, over the next few hours,
522
00:29:33.250 --> 00:29:36.000
I would feel its warmth and play with the limp body.
523
00:29:37.880 --> 00:29:39.519
I then decapitated the cat.
524
00:29:41.809 --> 00:29:43.890
Hit the body in a shoebox, hit the head in
525
00:29:44.289 --> 00:29:46.430
a wine cork box.
526
00:29:46.880 --> 00:29:49.160
I kept it for three days. Then it started to stink.
527
00:29:49.960 --> 00:29:53.500
And then I disposed both in the trash and got
528
00:29:53.539 --> 00:29:54.059
away with it.
529
00:29:55.640 --> 00:29:58.500
At the age of 16, he kills a cat.
530
00:29:58.900 --> 00:30:03.859
I think psychologically, that is... quite an extreme thing to do.
531
00:30:03.920 --> 00:30:05.740
It's also almost.
532
00:30:05.240 --> 00:30:07.980
The cliche of a serial killer.
533
00:30:08.599 --> 00:30:10.680
That is the kind of behavior that is associated with
534
00:30:10.759 --> 00:30:13.920
callous and emotional traits, with the inability to have empathy
535
00:30:14.119 --> 00:30:15.539
or sympathy for other creatures.
536
00:30:16.019 --> 00:30:17.640
Brian Cohey actually says about his.
537
00:30:17.640 --> 00:30:21.549
Own behavior that he was, in quotes, high on homicide. Now,
538
00:30:21.630 --> 00:30:23.910
what that suggests is that in the process of killing,
539
00:30:24.150 --> 00:30:27.960
while he is doing this, and also afterwards, arguably, that
540
00:30:28.039 --> 00:30:31.420
he is enjoying the adrenaline rush he's getting, and also
541
00:30:31.460 --> 00:30:33.539
that presumably he's needing more and more of it to
542
00:30:33.579 --> 00:30:35.500
get the same effect. And so that's what we see
543
00:30:35.539 --> 00:30:39.109
with his behavior is that he's graduating to increasingly violent actions.
544
00:30:45.369 --> 00:30:47.630
Brian Cohey had talked about killing a cat and keeping
545
00:30:47.650 --> 00:30:50.920
the remains in his house. He indicated that he gets
546
00:30:51.019 --> 00:30:53.720
some sense of excitement from this, and that might have
547
00:30:53.740 --> 00:30:55.640
been part of the reason why he kept a human
548
00:30:55.680 --> 00:30:56.279
head in hands.
549
00:31:04.869 --> 00:31:08.769
I was driving along, and I see a shape here
550
00:31:08.829 --> 00:31:12.970
on the railway track. So I'm like, oh, interesting. So
551
00:31:12.990 --> 00:31:15.250
I go up, and as I'm looking, I see a
552
00:31:15.250 --> 00:31:21.519
large thing wrapped in a canvas. And I'm like, that's
553
00:31:21.539 --> 00:31:26.640
a homeless person. So I grab my knife, I pull
554
00:31:26.680 --> 00:31:30.859
back the canvas, and I stab his neck. He was
555
00:31:30.940 --> 00:31:34.880
panicking at first in his old man voice. He was saying,
556
00:31:34.920 --> 00:31:35.960
what are you doing? What are you doing?
557
00:31:36.029 --> 00:31:36.630
Why that?
558
00:31:37.950 --> 00:31:39.750
And I said, I've been wanting to do this for
559
00:31:39.769 --> 00:31:43.069
a long time. And I just kept on stabbing his neck.
560
00:31:43.509 --> 00:31:48.059
I was looking if I do a demonstration. This is him.
561
00:31:48.380 --> 00:31:50.700
I was straddled on top of him like this.
562
00:31:51.279 --> 00:31:52.660
And I couldn't fight back.
563
00:31:53.779 --> 00:31:56.920
It was actually surprisingly easy. I was barely breaking a sweat.
564
00:31:56.980 --> 00:31:59.039
I thought, oh my God, he's going to be tough.
565
00:31:59.779 --> 00:32:01.980
But no, it was actually surprisingly easy.
566
00:32:02.779 --> 00:32:07.519
And during the time I was growling and making the
567
00:32:07.579 --> 00:32:08.579
animalistic noises.
568
00:32:10.660 --> 00:32:14.589
Why were you doing that? I was supposed to look friendly. Okay.
569
00:32:15.069 --> 00:32:17.730
I was so excited, so rushed up on adrenaline.
570
00:32:17.829 --> 00:32:17.970
Okay.
571
00:32:21.559 --> 00:32:27.980
After I killed him, I just couldn't stop saying, stinky, dirty, dirty, stinky, stinky.
572
00:32:28.009 --> 00:32:33.430
I stripped his clothes. I cut open his belly to
573
00:32:33.470 --> 00:32:34.150
see his guts.
574
00:32:36.029 --> 00:32:36.609
They're really stinky.
575
00:32:38.450 --> 00:32:39.369
Sorry, that was morbid.
576
00:32:40.069 --> 00:32:44.930
And then I cut off his head. And then I
577
00:32:45.289 --> 00:32:47.789
cut off his hands. And then I took.
578
00:32:49.500 --> 00:32:51.240
Put it in a leftover box.
579
00:32:54.779 --> 00:32:59.559
Uncle Warren was vulnerable without a home when I found
580
00:32:59.619 --> 00:33:05.700
out that he was murdered. It really hit hard, and
581
00:33:05.720 --> 00:33:11.369
I know I had a hard time just knowing how
582
00:33:11.460 --> 00:33:14.650
he passed. It was senseless.
583
00:33:16.950 --> 00:33:17.970
We were all shocked.
584
00:33:17.990 --> 00:33:18.990
We were just.
585
00:33:21.430 --> 00:33:23.390
It was very, very hard for all of us.
586
00:33:25.410 --> 00:33:27.490
I think in the heat of the moment of killing somebody,
587
00:33:27.849 --> 00:33:30.890
the reason why you might disfigure their face is to
588
00:33:31.019 --> 00:33:34.140
try and keep your high going. So if you have
589
00:33:34.299 --> 00:33:38.619
done this crime not out of any real reason other
590
00:33:38.640 --> 00:33:40.779
than because you feel like you want to know what
591
00:33:40.819 --> 00:33:43.440
it feels like to kill somebody, and if you're there,
592
00:33:43.559 --> 00:33:45.819
you might also then go, Well, I wonder what it
593
00:33:45.859 --> 00:33:48.119
feels like to gouge somebody's eyes out. I wonder what
594
00:33:48.140 --> 00:33:51.349
it feels like to cut someone's face. Now, of course
595
00:33:51.369 --> 00:33:53.210
that's all very extreme, but if you're already in that
596
00:33:53.289 --> 00:33:56.650
mode of trying things and seeing how they make you feel,
597
00:33:57.210 --> 00:33:58.970
that to me makes perfect sense that he would try
598
00:33:59.029 --> 00:34:02.329
lots of different things and go increasingly more severe with
599
00:34:02.369 --> 00:34:06.359
his actions. He's trying to maximize the emotional payoff of
600
00:34:06.420 --> 00:34:06.900
his murder.
601
00:34:09.079 --> 00:34:12.679
One of the things that makes Brian the scariest type
602
00:34:12.719 --> 00:34:16.460
of person is that he found this easy to do
603
00:34:16.619 --> 00:34:17.420
and admits that.
604
00:34:17.440 --> 00:34:23.739
The crime scene was located near the Justice Center, near
605
00:34:23.989 --> 00:34:27.210
the courthouse here in Mesa County, underneath a bridge.
606
00:34:43.289 --> 00:34:46.449
There was a location where homeless people do often stay.
607
00:34:46.570 --> 00:34:47.750
It's fairly secluded.
608
00:34:47.769 --> 00:34:50.849
There's an arm.
609
00:34:50.909 --> 00:34:57.110
There's another arm. There's another one.
610
00:34:57.130 --> 00:34:59.090
Right here's a leg.
611
00:35:01.929 --> 00:35:02.820
Could be the upper arm.
612
00:35:04.360 --> 00:35:06.780
This was a disturbing crime scene as there were human
613
00:35:06.820 --> 00:35:11.400
remains that were thrown around and discarded after the victim
614
00:35:11.440 --> 00:35:12.119
was dismembered.
615
00:35:13.880 --> 00:35:16.539
The most common reason for why somebody cuts somebody else's
616
00:35:16.559 --> 00:35:19.539
head off, after the commission of a murder especially, is
617
00:35:19.800 --> 00:35:24.309
to hide the body. And that is called a defensive strategy.
618
00:35:24.510 --> 00:35:26.650
So you have already done this and you're trying to
619
00:35:26.670 --> 00:35:30.010
defend yourself from actually having evidence against you. What we
620
00:35:30.070 --> 00:35:33.369
also have with Brian Cohey is an offensive strategy where
621
00:35:33.429 --> 00:35:37.670
he is decapitating somebody because he wants to, and he's
622
00:35:37.789 --> 00:35:40.670
mutilating the body because he's getting some sort of enjoyment
623
00:35:40.750 --> 00:35:41.789
out of it or a thrill.
624
00:35:42.329 --> 00:35:45.010
And so that is incredibly uncommon.
625
00:35:49.900 --> 00:35:51.980
When did you start thinking about killing people?
626
00:35:53.320 --> 00:35:54.099
Six months ago.
627
00:35:55.480 --> 00:35:58.360
The six months before the murder, Brian Cohey's parents found
628
00:35:58.400 --> 00:36:01.719
him with a backpack full of supplies. We refer to
629
00:36:01.739 --> 00:36:02.579
it as a kill kit.
630
00:36:06.590 --> 00:36:15.750
His parents discovered it. They were very, very concerned.
631
00:36:35.900 --> 00:36:38.559
And it did not make sense to them why he
632
00:36:38.599 --> 00:36:40.639
would have this kit. So they took it from him.
633
00:36:40.980 --> 00:36:42.440
He was trolling or lurking around town.
634
00:37:03.019 --> 00:37:06.579
Trying to identify what type of person he would ultimately kill.
635
00:37:08.380 --> 00:37:13.340
I was figuring the police don't, this is not to
636
00:37:13.400 --> 00:37:17.079
be taken offense, but police, they don't seem to care
637
00:37:17.099 --> 00:37:17.920
as much about high.
638
00:37:20.039 --> 00:37:25.690
Risk individuals, homeless people, prostitutes, et cetera. So I was.
639
00:37:26.210 --> 00:37:28.929
Deliberately looking for someone who lived that type of life.
640
00:37:28.949 --> 00:37:29.590
Okay.
641
00:37:31.059 --> 00:37:34.570
In early February of 2021, Brian was conducting searches about
642
00:37:34.619 --> 00:37:37.690
how deadly a neck stab wound would be, where homeless
643
00:37:37.710 --> 00:37:39.869
people sleep, and how people react to being held at
644
00:37:39.909 --> 00:37:44.090
knife point. Brian had also conducted internet searches related to
645
00:37:44.829 --> 00:37:47.639
river washing away evidence, and also how long does it
646
00:37:47.679 --> 00:37:51.199
take for a body to stink. It seemed like Brian
647
00:37:51.239 --> 00:37:53.400
was obsessed with committing a murder after looking at his
648
00:37:53.440 --> 00:37:54.099
internet searches.
649
00:38:01.909 --> 00:38:04.010
So any idea, like, the time of night when you
650
00:38:04.090 --> 00:38:08.050
started looking for this person? That night up in there?
651
00:38:09.389 --> 00:38:12.670
Which was 10 p.m.
652
00:38:12.690 --> 00:38:16.599
And what were you wearing? Well, you know the movie Halloween,
653
00:38:16.820 --> 00:38:17.420
Michael Myers?
654
00:38:17.719 --> 00:38:17.940
Mm-hmm.
655
00:38:18.000 --> 00:38:20.119
For Halloween last year.
656
00:38:21.230 --> 00:38:24.969
I bought that as a costume to put on the
657
00:38:25.010 --> 00:38:26.570
mask in my room.
658
00:38:27.050 --> 00:38:27.170
OK.
659
00:38:27.309 --> 00:38:32.369
And, yeah, I just associated that piece of article of
660
00:38:32.389 --> 00:38:33.809
clothing with violence.
661
00:38:34.449 --> 00:38:35.349
That's what I was wearing it.
662
00:38:36.730 --> 00:38:37.150
That night?
663
00:38:37.429 --> 00:38:37.630
Yes.
664
00:38:39.449 --> 00:38:45.119
He's getting himself psyched up for this grand event. So
665
00:38:45.179 --> 00:38:49.699
it's almost like a kid playing dress-up This is an
666
00:38:49.800 --> 00:38:54.190
outfit that he associates with violence, and he's trying to
667
00:38:54.269 --> 00:38:56.130
get himself into character.
668
00:38:56.730 --> 00:39:01.469
He actually went home to bed, couldn't sleep, because he was.
669
00:39:01.309 --> 00:39:02.130
Afraid he had left evidence.
670
00:39:18.630 --> 00:39:21.400
And that's when he returned to the scene behind the
671
00:39:21.440 --> 00:39:25.079
Justice Center and ultimately took pieces of the body and
672
00:39:25.139 --> 00:39:27.889
disposed of the primary pieces of the body in the
673
00:39:27.909 --> 00:39:30.500
Colorado River, which is when his car got stuck in
674
00:39:30.519 --> 00:39:35.920
the river. The rest of his torso and legs were
675
00:39:35.980 --> 00:39:41.099
never discovered. I have never handled a murder case where
676
00:39:41.239 --> 00:39:46.570
a human body was murdered and destroyed after the murder
677
00:39:46.679 --> 00:39:47.300
in this way.
678
00:39:49.280 --> 00:39:51.219
There was more than enough evidence found in the home
679
00:39:51.239 --> 00:39:54.900
and at the scenes, in addition to Brian's confession, to
680
00:39:54.940 --> 00:40:02.420
determine that he was the person who had killed Warren Barnes.
681
00:40:07.449 --> 00:40:10.690
He was very much looking forward to the consequences that
682
00:40:11.090 --> 00:40:13.989
he knew were going to be coming. He just misjudged
683
00:40:14.289 --> 00:40:15.750
the amount of the consequences.
684
00:40:21.190 --> 00:40:21.820
What did it feel like?
685
00:40:23.960 --> 00:40:24.800
It was intense.
686
00:40:25.820 --> 00:40:30.059
It was, um, it was a rush of adrenaline. It
687
00:40:30.099 --> 00:40:37.570
wasn't fear. It was just pure... What's the word? Um, excitement,
688
00:40:37.610 --> 00:40:38.150
I suppose.
689
00:40:38.170 --> 00:40:43.530
Not excitement as in joy, just excitement as in increased heartbeat.
690
00:40:43.690 --> 00:40:45.380
Did you enjoy it or not enjoy it?
691
00:40:45.570 --> 00:40:45.789
Um.
692
00:40:48.550 --> 00:40:54.329
Did I enjoy it? I think when.
693
00:40:54.150 --> 00:40:59.639
He says, I didn't enjoy it, but I didn't hate it,
694
00:41:01.360 --> 00:41:04.119
what he's trying to say is, I'm not a sadist.
695
00:41:14.230 --> 00:41:16.809
I didn't do this just because I get pleasure from
696
00:41:16.869 --> 00:41:17.409
hurting people.
697
00:41:17.949 --> 00:41:19.929
It's more that I did a thing because I thought
698
00:41:19.949 --> 00:41:23.190
it was interesting, and we know that he got at
699
00:41:23.269 --> 00:41:26.250
least a thrill out of it, that emotional slash just
700
00:41:26.449 --> 00:41:29.829
physical response that he was maybe struggling to get elsewhere.
701
00:41:31.789 --> 00:41:34.130
I think Brian Cohey killed Warren Barnes because he wanted
702
00:41:34.150 --> 00:41:38.260
to feel something. And notably, and this is where we
703
00:41:38.300 --> 00:41:42.070
get to those callous, unemotional traits, He seems to be
704
00:41:42.110 --> 00:41:45.489
completely detached from the fact that he has taken somebody's life.
705
00:41:45.969 --> 00:41:50.079
He doesn't have those feelings of remorse and guilt.
706
00:41:53.000 --> 00:41:55.320
After his interview, we took Brian back to the jail
707
00:41:55.360 --> 00:41:58.139
and as he was sitting in booking, he kind of
708
00:41:58.159 --> 00:42:01.199
grinned and said, I feel like Hannibal Lecter right now
709
00:42:01.320 --> 00:42:03.840
and kind of got a grin like he was a
710
00:42:03.880 --> 00:42:06.820
celebrity at this point because he had now killed somebody
711
00:42:06.860 --> 00:42:09.530
and got arrested. Because you don't hear about serial killers
712
00:42:09.590 --> 00:42:13.050
that don't get caught. So now he got caught and
713
00:42:13.090 --> 00:42:15.929
he's famous in his mind, I believe. But then it
714
00:42:15.949 --> 00:42:18.449
was almost like another part of euphoria of, and now
715
00:42:18.489 --> 00:42:19.989
I get to go to jail and tell people I'm
716
00:42:20.050 --> 00:42:20.889
a killer.
717
00:42:27.380 --> 00:42:30.659
Brian pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity. He was
718
00:42:30.679 --> 00:42:32.280
looking at a life sentence.
719
00:42:34.139 --> 00:42:41.019
This crime sounds crazy. But just because it sounds crazy
720
00:42:42.579 --> 00:42:45.280
and is not expected, that does not make him insane.
721
00:42:48.739 --> 00:42:52.260
The plea of not guilty by reason of insanity was
722
00:42:52.760 --> 00:42:58.530
entirely dismissed because actually he had proven his legal sanity
723
00:42:58.690 --> 00:43:03.849
all the way through his police interview. He was not hallucinating.
724
00:43:03.949 --> 00:43:09.659
He was not struggling with paranoid beliefs. or delusions. He
725
00:43:09.699 --> 00:43:12.519
was fully in control of his behavior.
726
00:43:15.639 --> 00:43:17.920
I think the jury did have a hard time hearing
727
00:43:17.940 --> 00:43:20.889
the story of what happened to Mr. Barnes, that he
728
00:43:20.909 --> 00:43:24.050
was an innocent victim who did nothing to provoke the situation.
729
00:43:24.070 --> 00:43:26.670
I think it was a lot to handle for them.
730
00:43:28.369 --> 00:43:38.000
The fact that this monster would attack a 69-year-old man
731
00:43:38.079 --> 00:43:42.559
while he was sleeping. It was such a cowardly act.
732
00:43:43.559 --> 00:43:47.820
The judge said this was the worst crime he had
733
00:43:48.110 --> 00:43:54.469
ever heard in his lifetime on the bench. I know
734
00:43:54.550 --> 00:43:59.389
it shocked everybody. It wasn't just our family that was affected.
735
00:43:59.710 --> 00:44:03.960
It was pretty much everybody in this valley was affected
736
00:44:04.019 --> 00:44:04.320
by it.
737
00:44:06.699 --> 00:44:10.159
Ryan Cohey, who committed first-degree murder. Every murder is bad,
738
00:44:10.219 --> 00:44:15.079
but this one, it was particularly horrific. Ultimately, he's serving
739
00:44:15.099 --> 00:44:17.800
the appropriate sentence of life, life without parole.
740
00:44:20.420 --> 00:44:26.639
I think that Cohey killed Warren because he was feeling down,
741
00:44:26.860 --> 00:44:32.480
feeling lost, feeling that he couldn't relate to anybody in
742
00:44:32.539 --> 00:44:35.820
the world other than serial killers.
743
00:44:36.489 --> 00:44:38.610
I think there were two things going on when Brian
744
00:44:38.650 --> 00:44:40.630
Cohey murdered Warren Barnes.
745
00:44:41.110 --> 00:44:43.070
I think the first thing is he was thrill-seeking.
746
00:44:43.329 --> 00:44:45.210
He was trying to get a rush, and we could
747
00:44:45.269 --> 00:44:48.699
see that as a pattern of behavior where he perpetrated
748
00:44:48.760 --> 00:44:50.960
various violent acts over the course of his life, and
749
00:44:50.980 --> 00:44:52.420
they got more and more extreme.
750
00:44:52.739 --> 00:44:54.460
The other thing that I think was happening is.
751
00:44:54.400 --> 00:44:57.599
That we know that Brian Cohey had a fascination with
752
00:44:57.840 --> 00:44:58.639
serial killers.
753
00:44:58.739 --> 00:45:00.940
He would record their kill counts.
754
00:45:01.260 --> 00:45:06.300
He was fascinated by the fame that comes with killing people.
755
00:45:07.000 --> 00:45:10.510
And I think it's possible that he saw himself as
756
00:45:10.570 --> 00:45:15.309
someone who would fit that kind of label, that maybe that.
757
00:45:15.230 --> 00:45:17.230
Kind of fame would look good on him.
758
00:45:18.880 --> 00:45:22.920
This is somebody that is really struggling to experience any
759
00:45:23.000 --> 00:45:25.820
kind of emotion. He's so cut off from his own emotions.
760
00:45:25.860 --> 00:45:28.860
He doesn't have a language for his own emotions. You know,
761
00:45:29.179 --> 00:45:33.300
he's expecting to feel something. I think that a lot
762
00:45:33.320 --> 00:45:37.300
of things are best left as fantasies because the reality
763
00:45:37.400 --> 00:45:38.400
just doesn't measure up.
764
00:45:45.039 --> 00:45:49.820
Uncle Warren got the moniker the Reading Man because a
765
00:45:49.880 --> 00:45:54.059
lot of the downtown business owners saw him reading all
766
00:45:54.099 --> 00:45:58.969
the time. There is a a memorial downtown off of
767
00:45:59.010 --> 00:46:02.110
Main Street. I believe that we should remember my Uncle
768
00:46:02.150 --> 00:46:08.610
Warren being the kind, generous person that he was. Remember
769
00:46:08.730 --> 00:46:12.110
to take time just to go out and soak up
770
00:46:12.150 --> 00:46:17.610
some sun. Tomorrow may not come for you. Enjoy the
771
00:46:17.650 --> 00:46:20.679
little things in life and the here and now.
