Full Transcript for MURDERED: Brittany Locklear

00:04:03.879 get you by the time I get back, I will 72 00:04:03.919 --> 00:04:06.560 keep waiting with you. It only takes her a couple 73 00:04:06.560 --> 00:04:08.800 of minutes to walk into the house, go to the bathroom, 74 00:04:08.840 --> 00:04:12.000 and walk back out, and when she does, she's actually relieved. 75 00:04:12.039 --> 00:04:15.120 She told Brittany to stay because she's gone now, which 76 00:04:15.240 --> 00:04:18.560 means the bus must have come while she was inside, right, 77 00:04:18.920 --> 00:04:21.240 So she heads back up the driveway one more time 78 00:04:21.319 --> 00:04:24.639 to start her day, but it's not long before she's interrupted. 79 00:04:25.160 --> 00:04:28.480 There's someone knocking on her front door, and not a 80 00:04:28.560 --> 00:04:32.160 casual are you home knock? This sounds urgent. When she 81 00:04:32.279 --> 00:04:35.160 opens the door, it's her neighbor, Rose Johnson, with a 82 00:04:35.240 --> 00:04:38.680 look of just straight panic on her face, and the 83 00:04:38.720 --> 00:04:41.680 words that spill out of Rose's mouth almost don't register 84 00:04:41.800 --> 00:04:45.319 with Connie. They're so unexpected. She says she thinks that 85 00:04:45.480 --> 00:04:49.560 Britney got kidnapped. She tells Connie that she just watched 86 00:04:49.639 --> 00:04:51.920 it happen because she was keeping an eye on her 87 00:04:51.959 --> 00:04:54.360 own kids from her house as they also waited for 88 00:04:54.439 --> 00:04:56.680 the bus. I think at the end of their driveway. 89 00:04:57.399 --> 00:05:00.759 Rose is quoted in the Charlotte Observer saying, I saw 90 00:05:00.800 --> 00:05:04.480 a truck come flying around the curve and down toward Britney. 91 00:05:05.000 --> 00:05:07.399 It slowed down quick, and someone hopped out of the 92 00:05:07.399 --> 00:05:10.399 truck real fast. He bent over like he was picking 93 00:05:10.439 --> 00:05:13.160 something up, hopped back in the truck and drove out 94 00:05:13.160 --> 00:05:13.879 of their fast. 95 00:05:14.360 --> 00:05:16.800 Did she actually see the driver grab Brittany, though. 96 00:05:17.000 --> 00:05:20.120 Now, I don't think so. She just saw this weird thing. 97 00:05:20.160 --> 00:05:22.000 And then a few minutes later, the bus comes to 98 00:05:22.040 --> 00:05:24.600 pick up her kids, and she realizes that the bus 99 00:05:24.639 --> 00:05:27.120 didn't stop at Britney's house. So that's when it all 100 00:05:27.199 --> 00:05:29.279 kind of clicked into place for her. She realized what 101 00:05:29.319 --> 00:05:31.519 she had actually witnessed. So that's when she comes like 102 00:05:31.600 --> 00:05:32.720 running over to Connie's. 103 00:05:33.040 --> 00:05:34.879 Has anyone called the police yet, I don't know. 104 00:05:34.920 --> 00:05:37.240 I think maybe Rose has is a little bit muddy, 105 00:05:37.720 --> 00:05:39.399 And I'll tell you why I think that in a second. 106 00:05:39.439 --> 00:05:42.079 But either way, so she runs to tell Connie. Connie 107 00:05:42.160 --> 00:05:45.759 is trying not to spiral because before she calls police, 108 00:05:45.800 --> 00:05:47.680 she has someone actually drive her to the school where 109 00:05:47.680 --> 00:05:49.519 they wait for Britney's bus. I mean, they're moving so 110 00:05:49.600 --> 00:05:52.319 fast they get there before the bus, and she's hoping 111 00:05:52.399 --> 00:05:56.879 to reassure herself whoever's driving her that Brittany is safe 112 00:05:56.879 --> 00:06:00.680 and sound. But when the bus finally does arrive, Britney 113 00:06:00.759 --> 00:06:03.639 is not on it. And it's not like her bus driver, 114 00:06:03.759 --> 00:06:06.240 a woman named Nancy, didn't notice her absence at the 115 00:06:06.240 --> 00:06:09.120 bus stop. She did, but she just assumed Britney's mom 116 00:06:09.199 --> 00:06:10.759 and stepdad had taken. 117 00:06:10.480 --> 00:06:11.360 Her to school. 118 00:06:11.600 --> 00:06:14.360 So for her to get there and see Connie there waiting, 119 00:06:14.920 --> 00:06:17.920 everyone is on the same page like this is not good, 120 00:06:18.519 --> 00:06:21.279 and everyone agrees that it is time to call this in. 121 00:06:22.079 --> 00:06:24.519 Connie calls nine to one one to report Britney missing. 122 00:06:24.639 --> 00:06:27.199 And this is why I say, I think Rose might 123 00:06:27.199 --> 00:06:30.879 have already called, because according to MICHAELA. Muck for WNCT, 124 00:06:31.360 --> 00:06:33.959 the operator tells her that she's not the first person 125 00:06:34.000 --> 00:06:35.480 to call about it. So I don't know if it 126 00:06:35.560 --> 00:06:36.920 was Rose, I don't know if it was someone else 127 00:06:36.920 --> 00:06:37.560 that Connie might. 128 00:06:37.560 --> 00:06:38.879 Have talked to. 129 00:06:38.879 --> 00:06:40.279 To me, it seems like it would have been Rose, 130 00:06:40.319 --> 00:06:42.319 but again that's not actually stated well. 131 00:06:42.279 --> 00:06:44.319 Rose or not. I assume her description of the truck 132 00:06:44.319 --> 00:06:46.160 and stuff eventually gets to the police. 133 00:06:46.240 --> 00:06:48.120 It does, and not even just the truck like the 134 00:06:48.160 --> 00:06:51.079 guide too, because even though she was inside watching from 135 00:06:51.120 --> 00:06:54.720 her own house, her kids were out there on the driveway, 136 00:06:55.040 --> 00:06:58.160 so they actually saw it all go down too. They 137 00:06:58.199 --> 00:07:00.560 think that the guy they saw was a white guy. 138 00:07:01.079 --> 00:07:03.399 And what they described to the Hope County Sheriff's office 139 00:07:03.519 --> 00:07:07.000 is this brown truck with a rack of overhead lights, 140 00:07:07.040 --> 00:07:10.959 which I don't think comes standards, so that could be 141 00:07:11.000 --> 00:07:13.240 super helpful and narrowing it down something that could set 142 00:07:13.240 --> 00:07:16.199 this brown truck apart from all the other brown trucks,

I. 143 00:07:16.160 --> 00:07:18.519 Mean, unless the guy is smart enough to take these 144 00:07:18.600 --> 00:07:19.120 lights down. 145 00:07:19.439 --> 00:07:21.600 Well yeah, and I know that that detail does get 146 00:07:21.600 --> 00:07:23.000 publicized eventually. 147 00:07:23.040 --> 00:07:24.120 That's how I know about it. 148 00:07:24.199 --> 00:07:27.240 So when they first get this information from the witnesses, 149 00:07:27.680 --> 00:07:30.120 they're basically in a race to find him before he 150 00:07:30.279 --> 00:07:32.920 changes too much, before he knows that they know what 151 00:07:33.000 --> 00:07:37.720 they do. HCSO gets a massive search effort up and going. 152 00:07:37.839 --> 00:07:38.879 Almost immediately. 153 00:07:39.439 --> 00:07:42.199 They get dozens of deputies started on the land search, 154 00:07:42.279 --> 00:07:45.199 and the State Highway Patrol even gets a chopper with 155 00:07:45.279 --> 00:07:48.439 an infrared camera up in the air, which gets grounded 156 00:07:48.480 --> 00:07:51.319 before long because of the wind. But they also send 157 00:07:51.360 --> 00:07:53.639 a deputy and an agent from the North Carolina State 158 00:07:53.680 --> 00:07:57.519 Bureau of Investigation or SBI, out to Pembroke, about thirty 159 00:07:57.519 --> 00:07:59.959 minutes from Rayford, to go check the home of Britney's 160 00:08:00.079 --> 00:08:03.800 biological dat According to reporting in the Rocky Mount Telegram, 161 00:08:03.839 --> 00:08:06.040 he's been mia since she was born, so they don't 162 00:08:06.079 --> 00:08:07.959 think that it's likely he was the one to come 163 00:08:07.959 --> 00:08:09.959 pick her up. But I mean, they wouldn't be doing 164 00:08:09.959 --> 00:08:11.920 their jobs if they didn't at least check him out, 165 00:08:12.199 --> 00:08:15.079 right right, Yeah, And it's not clear what he tells investigators, 166 00:08:15.120 --> 00:08:17.279 but whatever it is, they're satisfied by the end of 167 00:08:17.319 --> 00:08:20.040 the interview that he had nothing to do with her kidnapping, 168 00:08:20.720 --> 00:08:23.519 though I'm sure on some level everyone was probably hoping 169 00:08:23.639 --> 00:08:25.839 he was involved that maybe at the end of the 170 00:08:25.879 --> 00:08:28.079 day this was a messy custody dispute. 171 00:08:28.199 --> 00:08:29.600 I mean, I don't know anything about. 172 00:08:29.319 --> 00:08:31.040 This guy, but at least they would know where to 173 00:08:31.079 --> 00:08:33.360 look if that was the case, right right, right. 174 00:08:33.200 --> 00:08:34.879 It's still be messy it's still be bad, it's still 175 00:08:34.919 --> 00:08:39.279 be very scary, but you would know we're shit starting pointant, Yeah, 176 00:08:39.279 --> 00:08:41.840 it's something. Well, he may not have given them any. 177 00:08:41.639 --> 00:08:44.039 Clues as to where to look, but it doesn't take 178 00:08:44.120 --> 00:08:47.120 long for ground searchers back near Rayford to find one 179 00:08:47.559 --> 00:08:51.360 an ominous clue at that Around nine am that morning, 180 00:08:51.399 --> 00:08:54.799 this would be January seventh, flashes of pink and green 181 00:08:54.919 --> 00:08:57.360 and purple catch the eyes of some searchers in the 182 00:08:57.360 --> 00:09:00.960 woods a few miles from Britney's home. When they get closer, 183 00:09:01.399 --> 00:09:04.080 they see that what caught their eye was a child's 184 00:09:04.120 --> 00:09:08.639 purple backpack, some sneakers, and a small pair of green overalls, 185 00:09:08.720 --> 00:09:11.080 the same ones that Brittany had picked out to wear. 186 00:09:10.879 --> 00:09:13.320 To school that day, just a few hours earlier. 187 00:09:13.960 --> 00:09:16.840 So they immediately like span out all over the area 188 00:09:16.879 --> 00:09:20.720 looking for any additional signs of Britney's things or Britney herself. 189 00:09:21.240 --> 00:09:22.639 Hour after hour. 190 00:09:22.559 --> 00:09:25.480 Passes with nothing. It's almost like these things were just 191 00:09:25.799 --> 00:09:29.720 dropped there. So the question is was Britney there and 192 00:09:29.759 --> 00:09:32.960 then taken with whoever discarded those items were. 193 00:09:33.039 --> 00:09:35.679 There wasn't any blood on these items or anything, right. 194 00:09:35.919 --> 00:09:39.240 Nothing has been reported like that, no, So I think 195 00:09:39.399 --> 00:09:44.639 everyone is still really hopeful, but their hope dwindles with 196 00:09:44.759 --> 00:09:47.799 the daylight, and eventually they're forced to call off their 197 00:09:47.840 --> 00:09:51.360 searches until the next morning. By then, Hope County Sheriff 198 00:09:51.399 --> 00:09:55.200 Wayne Bird has recruited as many as three hundred ground searchers. 199 00:09:55.600 --> 00:09:58.600 I mean he's got sheriff's deputies, obviously, but also officers 200 00:09:58.639 --> 00:10:03.399 from other agencies, doc employees, soldiers from Fort Bragg, firefighters, 201 00:10:03.440 --> 00:10:07.679 and community volunteers. Even Brittney' stepdad, Charles gets out there, 202 00:10:07.720 --> 00:10:11.919 although Connie is too distraught to participate. Now more clothing 203 00:10:12.000 --> 00:10:15.519 is found on Thursday, presumed also to belong to Brittany, 204 00:10:16.120 --> 00:10:19.000 but before they can even confirm that it's hers, one 205 00:10:19.039 --> 00:10:24.399 officer makes a terrible discovery. Mikaela Muck reports for WNCT 206 00:10:24.480 --> 00:10:28.200 nine that it's about two PM when Britney's unclothed body 207 00:10:28.320 --> 00:10:31.399 is found submerged in water in a drainage ditch just 208 00:10:31.480 --> 00:10:32.799 a few miles. 209 00:10:32.360 --> 00:10:33.080 From her home. 210 00:10:33.759 --> 00:10:36.879 Now, there are no apparent gunshot wounds or puncture wounds, 211 00:10:36.919 --> 00:10:40.519 or any indication that she'd been tied up. But on Friday, 212 00:10:40.519 --> 00:10:43.360

the day of her autopsy, the sheriff confirms what everyone 213 00:10:43.399 --> 00:10:47.639 already feared that she had been sexually assaulted. The Emmy 214 00:10:47.639 --> 00:10:50.919 office also finds that she died by drowning, although this 215 00:10:51.039 --> 00:10:54.799 fact isn't disclosed to the public for months. In fact, 216 00:10:55.039 --> 00:10:58.159 Night Chamberlain reports in the News and Observer that it's 217 00:10:58.200 --> 00:11:01.879 at a primary campaign event in March for his re 218 00:11:02.039 --> 00:11:06.799 election as sheriff that Sheriff Bird finally confirms this, saying, quote, 219 00:11:07.080 --> 00:11:10.320 she was held under water until she drowned. I think 220 00:11:10.360 --> 00:11:13.519 she was drowned right where we found her. End quote. 221 00:11:13.759 --> 00:11:17.759 Hold up, I'm sorry he discloses this at a campaign event. 222 00:11:18.039 --> 00:11:21.879 Yeah, held it, held it until that moment, which feels gross, right, 223 00:11:22.200 --> 00:11:25.039 And yeah, it won't be the last time that her 224 00:11:25.120 --> 00:11:27.279 death is used as campaign fodder. 225 00:11:27.360 --> 00:11:29.399 Just wait, But I don't want to jump too far 226 00:11:29.440 --> 00:11:30.559 ahead of ourselves. 227 00:11:31.000 --> 00:11:34.519 By Friday, January ninth, the FBI and the SBI have 228 00:11:34.600 --> 00:11:37.200 been brought in to assist the Hope County Sheriff's office, 229 00:11:37.480 --> 00:11:40.519 and the FBI even offers up experts from its child 230 00:11:40.559 --> 00:11:44.799 abduction and serial killer unit. They set up dedicated tip lines, 231 00:11:44.919 --> 00:11:49.080 and boy do tips come in. Reporting in the Herald 232 00:11:49.159 --> 00:11:52.080 Sun indicates that throughout Friday they're getting as many as 233 00:11:52.159 --> 00:11:57.120 thirty calls per hour, and then another fifteen hundred calls 234 00:11:57.159 --> 00:12:00.039 come in over the weekend, which I mean, we we 235 00:12:00.480 --> 00:12:01.320 know all too well. 236 00:12:01.559 --> 00:12:03.639 It's like this is a blessing and a curse because 237 00:12:03.759 --> 00:12:06.320 great people are talking about it, people are providing information. 238 00:12:06.720 --> 00:12:09.200 Yeah, and each one could be the tip, the one 239 00:12:09.279 --> 00:12:10.679 that cracks the case wide open. 240 00:12:10.919 --> 00:12:13.360 But they aren't all the tip, which means you have 241 00:12:13.399 --> 00:12:15.799 to figure out which one that is right. 242 00:12:15.879 --> 00:12:19.080 Some are just dead ends that take up time and resources, 243 00:12:19.320 --> 00:12:21.519 and you don't know which is which until you run 244 00:12:21.600 --> 00:12:23.039 every single one down. 245 00:12:23.440 --> 00:12:25.840 And I assume during all this they're also doing like 246 00:12:25.919 --> 00:12:28.919 an inventory of sex offenders in the area. Yeah, if 247 00:12:28.919 --> 00:12:30.480 they haven't started that already. 248 00:12:30.200 --> 00:12:31.240 Yeah, done and done. 249 00:12:31.639 --> 00:12:34.559 But as one FBI agent says in the news and record, quote, 250 00:12:35.000 --> 00:12:39.519 we don't have anyone within our crosshairs. We're just settling 251 00:12:39.600 --> 00:12:43.080 in for the long term here end quote. And mind you, 252 00:12:43.200 --> 00:12:48.159 this is just Saturday, three days after she initially went missing, 253 00:12:48.519 --> 00:12:51.720 and they're already talking about settling in for the long term. 254 00:12:52.039 --> 00:12:55.399 Though by Sunday, the eleventh, they'll be singing a different 255 00:12:55.399 --> 00:13:00.200 tune because that's when an investigator passes a guy driving 256 00:13:00.440 --> 00:13:05.679 a brown truck on the very road Britney was abducted from. 257 00:13:06.039 --> 00:13:09.679 For decades, some cold cases have been reduced to files 258 00:13:09.720 --> 00:13:13.679 in a cabinet, but not anymore. I'm Ashley Flowers and 259 00:13:13.720 --> 00:13:16.159 me and my team on the Deck have been traveling 260 00:13:16.279 --> 00:13:19.840 across the country to report on these forgotten cases, and 261 00:13:19.919 --> 00:13:23.720 in some instances it's resulted in these cases being solved 262 00:13:23.799 --> 00:13:28.600 after decades. Join me every Wednesday as we revive these stories, 263 00:13:28.759 --> 00:13:32.039 one card at a time. Listen to the Deck now 264 00:13:32.279 --> 00:13:38.919 wherever you get your podcasts. When the officer sees this 265 00:13:39.120 --> 00:13:41.759 brown truck, he makes a quick U turn to pull 266 00:13:41.799 --> 00:13:45.039 the guy over for a little chat. But the driver 267 00:13:45.159 --> 00:13:47.120 of the truck doesn't pull off to the side of 268 00:13:47.120 --> 00:13:50.039 the road like he's supposed to. Instead, there's a little 269 00:13:50.080 --> 00:13:51.120 bit of a chase. 270 00:13:51.519 --> 00:13:53.879 MM, tell me you've got something to hide without telling 271 00:13:53.879 --> 00:13:55.200 me you've got something to hide. 272 00:13:55.279 --> 00:13:58.759 Right, And when he finally does pull over, he's gotten 273 00:13:59.320 --> 00:14:02.000 underwhelmed explanation for why he fled. 274 00:14:02.519 --> 00:14:03.960 The guy says he was late for work. 275 00:14:04.360 --> 00:14:07.679 Cool, He's about to be a lot more late for work. 276 00:14:07.759 --> 00:14:08.360 Yeah, I know. 277 00:14:09.120 --> 00:14:12.200 He does get hauled in for questioning, obviously, and he 278 00:14:12.240 --> 00:14:16.720 spends the next six hours being grilled by investigators he 279 00:14:16.759 --> 00:14:19.000 does consent to a search of his house and his truck, 280 00:14:19.000 --> 00:14:21.159 which Sheriff Bird says in the News and Observer they 281 00:14:21.559 --> 00:14:26.120 dismantled searching for evidence, but in the end they are 282 00:14:26.360 --> 00:14:28.120 pretty sure he's not their guy. 283 00:14:28.480 --> 00:14:31.159 So

he literally was just late for work. 284 00:14:31.200 --> 00:14:31.679 I guess. 285 00:14:31.720 --> 00:14:34.679 So this is where like again these like older cases, 286 00:14:34.759 --> 00:14:37.480 you just get stuff that's so spotty. They never really 287 00:14:37.519 --> 00:14:40.639 say for sure. All Sheriff Bird says is quote after 288 00:14:40.679 --> 00:14:43.919 several hours, we determined there was no reason to hold him, 289 00:14:43.960 --> 00:14:46.320 and there is no reason to think we will bring. 290 00:14:46.159 --> 00:14:47.080 Him back in again. 291 00:14:47.720 --> 00:14:50.559 End quote. The same day they have to let their 292 00:14:50.600 --> 00:14:54.159 first real person of interests go awake, is held with 293 00:14:54.200 --> 00:14:57.360 a whopping four thousand people in attendance. 294 00:14:57.519 --> 00:14:57.879 Wow. 295 00:14:58.039 --> 00:15:00.919 Same thing at the funeral the next day. And I 296 00:15:00.960 --> 00:15:03.320 can't help but think that many of the attendees from 297 00:15:03.320 --> 00:15:07.360 the community probably see their own kids in Brittany. You see, 298 00:15:07.360 --> 00:15:09.879 she was part of the Lumbee tribe of North Carolina, 299 00:15:09.919 --> 00:15:13.720 which has deep, deep roots in the local community. Hope 300 00:15:13.799 --> 00:15:17.440 County is among a cluster of counties in Lumbee Tribal Territory, 301 00:15:18.080 --> 00:15:21.080 and according to an episode of the Red Justice Project podcast, 302 00:15:21.200 --> 00:15:24.279 eleven percent of Hope County is comprised of members of 303 00:15:24.320 --> 00:15:27.159 the Lumbee tribe at this time, and the figure is 304 00:15:27.200 --> 00:15:30.279 even higher in some of the adjacent counties. Now, we'd 305 00:15:30.279 --> 00:15:31.919 be here for weeks if I tried to fill you 306 00:15:31.919 --> 00:15:34.399 guys in on the full history of the Lumbee tribe, 307 00:15:34.399 --> 00:15:36.000 but you should at least know this. 308 00:15:36.639 --> 00:15:38.720 They show up. 309 00:15:39.360 --> 00:15:42.919 They were almost single handedly responsible for driving the KKK 310 00:15:43.120 --> 00:15:45.639 out of the area in the late fifties, and that 311 00:15:45.720 --> 00:15:47.759 was at a standoff that came to be known as 312 00:15:47.799 --> 00:15:51.159 the Battle of Hayes Pond. And just as they came 313 00:15:51.159 --> 00:15:53.639 out in drove to protect their community in the fifties, 314 00:15:54.000 --> 00:15:56.080 they come out in droves to honor Brittany. 315 00:15:56.720 --> 00:15:56.879 Now. 316 00:15:56.919 --> 00:16:01.320 Investigators are placed strategically in the crowd to observe the mourners, 317 00:16:01.320 --> 00:16:04.399 looking out for any odd behavior, but it doesn't seem 318 00:16:04.440 --> 00:16:07.399 like they spot anybody of interest, although Sheriff Bird does 319 00:16:07.440 --> 00:16:10.039 ask the local TV stations for copies of their footage 320 00:16:10.039 --> 00:16:11.519 of the event so that it can be reviewed for 321 00:16:11.600 --> 00:16:16.000 anything they might have missed in the moment. Later that day, 322 00:16:16.159 --> 00:16:19.200 two more brown pickup trucks are pulled over and their 323 00:16:19.279 --> 00:16:22.039 drivers are brought in for questioning. But just like the 324 00:16:22.080 --> 00:16:24.679 guy from the day before. They're released when investigators are 325 00:16:24.679 --> 00:16:28.279 satisfied that they weren't involved. Then there's another truck that 326 00:16:28.360 --> 00:16:30.799 ends up being a wild use chase too, one that 327 00:16:30.840 --> 00:16:32.919 they got a tip on saying that it was abandoned 328 00:16:32.919 --> 00:16:36.240 in the woods in Lancaster, South Carolina. But Sheriff Bird 329 00:16:36.320 --> 00:16:39.159 personally makes the two hour trek to check that out himself, 330 00:16:39.240 --> 00:16:42.399 and yet again it's determined not to be involved. All 331 00:16:42.440 --> 00:16:46.840 the while, investigators continue interviewing registered sex offenders in the area, 332 00:16:46.879 --> 00:16:51.039 even considering a possible link to a few recent unsolved abductions, 333 00:16:51.120 --> 00:16:54.320 one in North Carolina and one as far away as Texas. 334 00:16:54.960 --> 00:16:58.559 It seems like until they rule something out, every possibility 335 00:16:58.720 --> 00:17:03.799 is in. Britney's mom and stepdad, Connie and her husband Charles, 336 00:17:03.879 --> 00:17:06.920 know that they're basically suspects by default, and they ask 337 00:17:07.039 --> 00:17:09.480 to sit for polygraph so that they can be ruled out, 338 00:17:10.000 --> 00:17:12.920 and they also provide voluntary hair and blood samples, and 339 00:17:13.039 --> 00:17:15.640 Night Chamberlain reports for The News and Observer that this 340 00:17:15.799 --> 00:17:18.000 is enough for Sheriff Bird to knock them off his 341 00:17:18.119 --> 00:17:18.880 suspect list. 342 00:17:19.079 --> 00:17:21.839 You said they provided voluntary hair and blood samples. Does 343 00:17:21.880 --> 00:17:25.440 that mean investigators might have a DNA profile of their part. 344 00:17:25.680 --> 00:17:29.359 I don't think they have the profile yet, but the 345 00:17:29.440 --> 00:17:32.359 SBI tell Sheriff Bird that they got enough material from 346 00:17:32.400 --> 00:17:34.480 the Emmy's office to build one, so it's like a 347 00:17:34.519 --> 00:17:35.400 work in progress. 348 00:17:35.960 --> 00:17:37.079 So I think they're just kind of. 349 00:17:37.039 --> 00:17:38.599 Ruling them off based on the polygraph and the fact 350 00:17:38.599 --> 00:17:40.240 that they were even willing to you know what I mean. 351 00:17:40.400 --> 00:17:42.920 Right, They're like asking to be ruled out right now. 352 00:17:42.960 --> 00:17:47.000 Meanwhile, the FBI has compiled a suspect profile outlining some 353 00:17:47.119 --> 00:17:50.519 behaviors that people should be on the lookout for, and 354

00:17:50.559 --> 00:17:52.559 I mean they're mostly common sense things. I mean, you 355 00:17:52.559 --> 00:17:56.119 can probably guess them from watching enough Criminal Minds episodes. 356 00:17:56.119 --> 00:17:59.519 Right, like changing appearance, drinking more or less than usual, 357 00:18:00.000 --> 00:18:04.119 being stressed out for no reason, like just odd off behavior. 358 00:18:04.319 --> 00:18:07.160 Yeah, missing worker school, getting the heck out of Dodge, 359 00:18:07.680 --> 00:18:10.119 is selling this vehicle that everyone's looking for, especially if 360 00:18:10.160 --> 00:18:12.480 it's a brown truck. So I mean they're putting this 361 00:18:12.519 --> 00:18:14.640 out and if someone who knew the guy was paying attention, 362 00:18:14.720 --> 00:18:18.319 it might help. But I mean it is a little vague, 363 00:18:18.319 --> 00:18:20.920 and it's possible that no one is paying attention because 364 00:18:20.960 --> 00:18:24.759 investigators aren't having any luck zeroing in on a potential suspect, 365 00:18:25.559 --> 00:18:28.680 until that is, they catch wind of a rumor that's 366 00:18:28.720 --> 00:18:32.599 been making its way through town, a rumor involving someone 367 00:18:32.839 --> 00:18:35.839 entrusted not only with Britney's care, but with the care 368 00:18:35.920 --> 00:18:39.400 of countless other children as well. And this rumor has 369 00:18:39.440 --> 00:18:42.240 everyone asking if there is a wolf in sheep's clothing 370 00:18:42.359 --> 00:18:46.319 hiding among them in plain sight. The person at the 371 00:18:46.359 --> 00:18:49.680 center of this rumor is none other than the principle 372 00:18:49.799 --> 00:18:55.640 of Britney's elementary school, a man named George Marston. George, who, 373 00:18:55.839 --> 00:18:58.480 by the way, was even quoted in early reporting on 374 00:18:58.519 --> 00:19:01.440 the case saying he passed to Brittany at the bus 375 00:19:01.440 --> 00:19:04.240 stop every morning as he drove to work. 376 00:19:04.799 --> 00:19:07.079 Dude, way to place yourself at the crime scene. 377 00:19:07.559 --> 00:19:08.559 It gets worse. 378 00:19:09.160 --> 00:19:12.759 Foonery reports for the Charlotte Observer that the rumors started 379 00:19:12.799 --> 00:19:15.960 soon after Brittany was found when quote a front page 380 00:19:16.000 --> 00:19:19.240 story in the Fayetteville Observer Times about how her school 381 00:19:19.279 --> 00:19:23.839 was coping mentioned that Marston sometimes picked up Brittany and 382 00:19:24.039 --> 00:19:29.279 brought her with him, which is super sus Yet now, 383 00:19:29.640 --> 00:19:34.160 to be fair, George swears he was misquoted in the 384 00:19:34.200 --> 00:19:37.480 same article. He explains that he wasn't saying he did 385 00:19:37.680 --> 00:19:40.480 take Brittany to school. He was saying that he quote 386 00:19:41.079 --> 00:19:44.079 often thought of taking Brittany to. 387 00:19:44.039 --> 00:19:47.119 School and quote I don't like that one either. 388 00:19:47.559 --> 00:19:49.519 I don't either, Also, because like, how many other kids 389 00:19:49.519 --> 00:19:51.119 were you passing on your way to school? And maybe 390 00:19:51.119 --> 00:19:53.039 he was thinking about taking all of them, But all 391 00:19:53.079 --> 00:19:55.200 that's mentioned is Brittany. 392 00:19:55.400 --> 00:19:58.240 The context, I know, it sounds great. 393 00:19:58.400 --> 00:20:00.240 He says that he never did it, though, be because 394 00:20:00.240 --> 00:20:01.519 it's against school policy. 395 00:20:01.960 --> 00:20:04.640 Uh, yeah, obviously, I know. 396 00:20:05.039 --> 00:20:08.440 Well either way, I actually do think he's telling the 397 00:20:08.440 --> 00:20:11.160 truth about being misquoted. I still don't like the real 398 00:20:11.240 --> 00:20:13.799 quote he's saying or whatever. But Connie says there's no 399 00:20:13.920 --> 00:20:17.039 way he could have taken Brittany to school because she'd 400 00:20:17.200 --> 00:20:20.200 always watched Brittany get on the bus except for those 401 00:20:20.279 --> 00:20:23.160 few minutes in the morning she was taken, and Sheriff 402 00:20:23.200 --> 00:20:26.359 Bird says that while everyone is considered a suspect, George 403 00:20:26.759 --> 00:20:29.160 isn't at the top of their list. So he I 404 00:20:29.160 --> 00:20:30.480 think what she's saying is like he could have never 405 00:20:30.559 --> 00:20:32.079 taken her to school in the past because she's like, 406 00:20:32.079 --> 00:20:33.640 I watched her again on the bus every single day. 407 00:20:33.839 --> 00:20:36.680 I'm always there. Yeah, this one time, I wasn't et cetera, 408 00:20:36.720 --> 00:20:39.759 et cetera. So does this George guy have a brown truck? 409 00:20:40.160 --> 00:20:43.359 No, not a brown pickup, not any pickup for that matter. 410 00:20:43.759 --> 00:20:46.000 But Jriff Bird and his team obviously took the rumors 411 00:20:46.039 --> 00:20:50.480 somewhat seriously because investigators did interview him not once but twice. 412 00:20:51.240 --> 00:20:53.759 Though again they landed at George isn't at the top 413 00:20:53.799 --> 00:20:56.759 of their suspect lists. For the next few months, it's 414 00:20:56.799 --> 00:20:59.440 more of the same. They get a couple of leads 415 00:20:59.480 --> 00:21:02.839 about sex offenders driving trucks that potentially match the one 416 00:21:02.880 --> 00:21:05.799 seen by witnesses. One guy who lives about an hour 417 00:21:05.799 --> 00:21:08.480 and a half north in Alamance County actually ticks a 418 00:21:08.519 --> 00:21:12.000 lot of boxes, except it's determined that he wasn't anywhere 419 00:21:12.039 --> 00:21:15.039 near Hope County the morning that Brittain was taken. By 420 00:21:15.079 --> 00:21:18.799 May of that year, investigators have worked roughly two thousand leads, 421 00:21:18.839 --> 00:21:22.400 including a false confession out of South Carolina, but all 422 00:21:22.440 -->

00:21:24.960 in all, they have little to show for it. Then 423 00:21:24.960 --> 00:21:27.519 there's a tip that comes in that month about someone 424 00:21:27.599 --> 00:21:32.440 specific that actually gets everyone pretty excited. Sheriff Bird says 425 00:21:32.480 --> 00:21:36.400 this person is their best suspect so far. He's a 426 00:21:36.440 --> 00:21:39.039 white guy the right age between twenty five to forty. 427 00:21:39.359 --> 00:21:42.880 He drives a brown pickup truck. He even lives nearby, 428 00:21:43.000 --> 00:21:46.240 although not in Hope County. In the News and Observer, 429 00:21:46.400 --> 00:21:49.519 Sheriff Bird says he quote fits four of the six 430 00:21:49.640 --> 00:21:53.680 criteria we have developed as a suspect profile for this case. 431 00:21:54.440 --> 00:21:55.039 End quote. 432 00:21:55.440 --> 00:21:56.839 And then he goes so far as to say that 433 00:21:56.960 --> 00:22:01.839 quote if he fits just one more, I'll charge him. 434 00:22:02.400 --> 00:22:06.799 And this gets everyone's hopes up, including Britney's family. But 435 00:22:07.160 --> 00:22:10.599 yet again, either there was no fifth characteristic that lined up, 436 00:22:10.759 --> 00:22:13.279 or they found something that excluded him, because he is 437 00:22:13.400 --> 00:22:17.440 never charged, and the reporting on that suspect, whoever it was, 438 00:22:18.119 --> 00:22:21.319 kind of just drops off. Sheriff Bird said in June 439 00:22:21.319 --> 00:22:23.000 that he asked SBI to take the lead on that 440 00:22:23.039 --> 00:22:26.079 suspect because he lived outside the county, and then that's 441 00:22:26.119 --> 00:22:28.440 the last we hear of it. Now there is a 442 00:22:28.480 --> 00:22:30.640 big shakeup for the case at the end of the 443 00:22:30.759 --> 00:22:33.960 year because that re election bid. You know that Sheriff 444 00:22:34.000 --> 00:22:36.599 Bird made well, he ends up losing. 445 00:22:36.960 --> 00:22:39.599 So you're telling me his strategy of dropping major case 446 00:22:39.640 --> 00:22:42.599 developments that campaign events didn't actually pay off. 447 00:22:42.759 --> 00:22:45.839 Yeah, didn't work for him, and so on December eighteenth, 448 00:22:45.880 --> 00:22:49.480 a new sheriff named Jim Davis is sworn in, and 449 00:22:49.519 --> 00:22:52.160 similar to it often happens when there's a new sheriff 450 00:22:52.200 --> 00:22:55.279 in town, there can be like this, like cleaning of house, 451 00:22:55.319 --> 00:22:58.000 if you will, like all new people brought in, which 452 00:22:58.119 --> 00:23:01.119 means a bunch of people who know nothing about the 453 00:23:01.119 --> 00:23:04.559 cases that are open and active. By January of nineteen 454 00:23:04.640 --> 00:23:07.920 ninety nine, the entire investigation is turned over to and 455 00:23:08.079 --> 00:23:10.559 run by the SBI, though by the end of the 456 00:23:10.680 --> 00:23:13.559 year HGSO will be looped back in on the investigation. 457 00:23:14.319 --> 00:23:18.680 But now SBI's Special Agent Fred McKinney isn't exactly subtle 458 00:23:18.720 --> 00:23:21.680 about his opinion of Sheriff birds management of the case. 459 00:23:22.480 --> 00:23:25.839 He says that all Sheriff birds boasting about potential persons 460 00:23:25.839 --> 00:23:28.720 of interest scared off some people that they've been hoping 461 00:23:28.759 --> 00:23:31.519 to interview. He also says his team is reviewing all 462 00:23:31.559 --> 00:23:33.440 of the work that's been done so far and doing 463 00:23:33.440 --> 00:23:37.559 their own evaluations of what and who is credible and 464 00:23:37.759 --> 00:23:40.920 just how deeply they're digging becomes apparent in April of 465 00:23:40.960 --> 00:23:44.319 that year when they basically tell the public to disregard 466 00:23:45.039 --> 00:23:48.960 everything they've heard so far about that guy in the truck. 467 00:23:49.680 --> 00:23:52.240 What do you mean, disregard everything like the guy in 468 00:23:52.279 --> 00:23:53.640 the truck didn't really happen. 469 00:23:54.039 --> 00:23:57.279 Well, the initial witness reports describe a white guy and 470 00:23:57.359 --> 00:24:00.759 a brown truck, but Lee Dyer reports in the Charlotte 471 00:24:00.759 --> 00:24:04.960 Observer that that might be wrong, that the guy could 472 00:24:05.039 --> 00:24:08.480 be white, or he might not be and his brown truck. 473 00:24:08.519 --> 00:24:10.519 I mean, maybe it wasn't brown after all. Maybe it 474 00:24:10.559 --> 00:24:13.799 was tan. Heck, maybe it was blue or red. It 475 00:24:13.799 --> 00:24:16.240 seems like they're trying to get people to think outside 476 00:24:16.279 --> 00:24:19.039 of the box, maybe to get witnesses to come forward 477 00:24:19.079 --> 00:24:22.160 who were talking themselves out of saying something before because 478 00:24:22.200 --> 00:24:26.160 the information they had wasn't exactly right. But even this 479 00:24:26.240 --> 00:24:29.200 doesn't seem to bring about any new developments, or at 480 00:24:29.279 --> 00:24:31.880 least none that the public or family have been looped 481 00:24:31.880 --> 00:24:35.720 in on. So it comes as a huge shock when 482 00:24:35.960 --> 00:24:39.359 in February of two thousand and one, investigators with the 483 00:24:39.519 --> 00:24:44.319 HCSO bring Britney's family members in and accuse them of 484 00:24:44.359 --> 00:24:47.200 being behind her murder. I mean, there's a moment when 485 00:24:47.200 --> 00:24:50.920 they straight up accuse Connie of killing her daughter, and 486 00:24:50.920 --> 00:24:53.279 they up the ante with Connie's father in law, who 487 00:24:53.279 --> 00:24:55.000 was the one to driver to the school that day 488 00:24:55.400 --> 00:24:58.799 by making him look at autopsy photos and insinuate that 489 00:24:58.880 --> 00:25:00.440 he is a sexual creditor. 490 00:25:00.880 --> 00:25:02.759 Where is any of this coming from? 491 00:25:03.000 --> 00:25:06.160 To be

perfectly honest, it doesn't seem like they have 492 00:25:06.400 --> 00:25:08.720 much of anything. I mean, like I said, they weren't 493 00:25:08.759 --> 00:25:11.200 talking much to the public in those last couple of years. 494 00:25:11.599 --> 00:25:15.240 But I mean, they haven't said much about this afterwards, 495 00:25:15.279 --> 00:25:18.279 either to tell us what led them there or what. 496 00:25:18.400 --> 00:25:20.640 So they're just throwing spaghetti at the wall to see 497 00:25:20.680 --> 00:25:21.319 what sticks. 498 00:25:21.519 --> 00:25:24.319 Yeah, which I mean when you're like throwing spaghetti and 499 00:25:24.319 --> 00:25:27.240 your spaghetti is murder accusations toward a grieving mother with 500 00:25:27.359 --> 00:25:30.319 no proof, like, I don't think you get to be 501 00:25:30.559 --> 00:25:33.799 as flippant and make no mistake. It does not seem 502 00:25:34.000 --> 00:25:37.680 like much is sticking. So when a whole another year 503 00:25:37.759 --> 00:25:40.880 and a half goes by without any developments and Sheriff 504 00:25:40.960 --> 00:25:44.119 Davis is about to face his own reelection challenge, he 505 00:25:44.319 --> 00:25:48.359 decides it's time to throw the entire effing dinner table 506 00:25:48.519 --> 00:25:52.240 at the wall. Anna Griffin reports for the Charlotte Observer 507 00:25:52.359 --> 00:25:54.960 that Sheriff Davis holds a press conference in August of 508 00:25:54.960 --> 00:25:58.200 two thousand and two, saying that he has uncovered a 509 00:25:58.480 --> 00:26:02.640 giant conspiracy, one engineered from the start by his old 510 00:26:02.759 --> 00:26:07.480 rival Sheriff Bird to throw everyone off the real killer's tracks. 511 00:26:09.079 --> 00:26:12.759 For decades, some cold cases have been reduced to files 512 00:26:12.759 --> 00:26:16.720 in a cabinet, but not anymore. I'm Ashley Flowers, and 513 00:26:16.799 --> 00:26:19.200 me and my team on the Deck have been traveling 514 00:26:19.319 --> 00:26:22.880 across the country to report on these forgotten cases, and 515 00:26:23.000 --> 00:26:26.799 in some instances it's resulted in these cases being solved 516 00:26:26.839 --> 00:26:31.640 after decades. Join me every Wednesday as we revive these stories, 517 00:26:31.799 --> 00:26:33.039 one card at a time. 518 00:26:33.599 --> 00:26:37.039 Listen to the Deck now wherever you get your podcasts. 519 00:26:40.720 --> 00:26:46.279 According to Sheriff Davis, the killer is former Sheriff Bird's son, 520 00:26:47.039 --> 00:26:50.640 Robin Bird. Now Robin is in prison at the time, 521 00:26:50.680 --> 00:26:53.759 serving a twenty three month sentence for trying to burn 522 00:26:53.839 --> 00:26:57.079 down the house of Sheriff Davis's campaign manager. 523 00:26:57.359 --> 00:27:00.240 Okay, hold up, I'm not really connecting the dots here. 524 00:27:00.480 --> 00:27:03.759 All I see is a reason why Davis would hate 525 00:27:03.960 --> 00:27:04.599 Robin Bird. 526 00:27:04.880 --> 00:27:07.359 Yeah, Well, basically it comes down to a guy this 527 00:27:07.519 --> 00:27:09.759 witness named Jordash Leech. 528 00:27:10.400 --> 00:27:11.160 Jordash has a. 529 00:27:11.119 --> 00:27:13.799 Record of his own, which includes a conviction for armed 530 00:27:13.880 --> 00:27:17.400 robbery and back in nineteen ninety eight. Jordash was one 531 00:27:17.440 --> 00:27:20.119 of the witnesses who told investigators he'd seen a white 532 00:27:20.119 --> 00:27:22.640 guy in a brown truck driving near Britney's bus stop 533 00:27:22.839 --> 00:27:25.880 right around the time of her abduction. But according to 534 00:27:25.920 --> 00:27:29.720 Sheriff Davis, that wasn't his original story. I guess his 535 00:27:29.799 --> 00:27:33.920 original story was that he'd seen Robin in a blue 536 00:27:34.000 --> 00:27:35.880 truck driving nearby. 537 00:27:35.640 --> 00:27:38.240 Which makes you wonder, is this why they put out 538 00:27:38.279 --> 00:27:40.519 that whole like forget what you know about right and 539 00:27:40.599 --> 00:27:41.319 the driver thing. 540 00:27:41.759 --> 00:27:45.079 Yeah, but they never said that. We only get this 541 00:27:45.160 --> 00:27:49.480 story from Sheriff Davis. And he adds that investigators coerced 542 00:27:49.559 --> 00:27:53.599 Jordash to change his story somehow, and again like the 543 00:27:53.640 --> 00:27:56.440 details are kind of lacking around this whole thing, and 544 00:27:56.480 --> 00:27:59.759 mostly because Sheriff Davis keeps things pretty vague. He's quoted 545 00:27:59.759 --> 00:28:02.960 in that same reporting by Anna Griffin saying the original 546 00:28:02.960 --> 00:28:07.400 investigation was intentionally misdirected by local law enforcement as a 547 00:28:07.440 --> 00:28:11.160 result of a wide ranging political conspiracy end quote. 548 00:28:11.960 --> 00:28:13.720 And then he takes it a step further than that. 549 00:28:14.319 --> 00:28:16.839 He says there wasn't just a conspiracy to cover up 550 00:28:16.960 --> 00:28:20.559 the murder, the murder itself was the conspiracy. 551 00:28:21.240 --> 00:28:22.599 Anna goes on in her reporting. 552 00:28:22.680 --> 00:28:26.440 To explain that quote, David said he believes Brittany's death 553 00:28:26.559 --> 00:28:31.200 was politically motivated and its inquiry purposely bungled. He noted 554 00:28:31.240 --> 00:28:34.279 that the girl disappeared two days before candidate filing opened 555 00:28:34.279 --> 00:28:37.640 for nineteen ninety eight elections, when he ran against Wayne 556 00:28:37.680 --> 00:28:38.440 burd End. 557 00:28:38.519 --> 00:28:42.960 Quote. Okay, Ashley, you know I love a conspiracy more 558 00:28:43.160 --> 00:28:44.119 than a conspiracy theory. 559 00:28:44.160 --> 00:28:46.200 I'm like the easiest person to convince that it goes 560 00:28:46.200 --> 00:28:47.160 all the way to the top. 561 00:28:47.200 --> 00:28:49.960 Right, Like I love to jump on the bandwagon of 562 00:28:50.000 -->

00:28:53.599 stuff like this. However, am I not seeing something? Just 563 00:28:53.640 --> 00:28:57.160 because two events occurred around the same time in the 564 00:28:57.240 --> 00:29:01.680 same week or so, doesn't really mean that connected? My wrong? 565 00:29:01.880 --> 00:29:05.400 Is everyone else buying none on this story? 566 00:29:05.599 --> 00:29:06.079 No, they're not. 567 00:29:06.240 --> 00:29:09.000 No one's going out and getting their pitchforks just yet. 568 00:29:09.279 --> 00:29:12.720 Even former Sheriff Bird is like, okay, like weird flex 569 00:29:13.000 --> 00:29:15.480 because my son actually never even drove a blue track, Like, 570 00:29:15.480 --> 00:29:18.359 I don't know all this means. And the SBI basically 571 00:29:18.359 --> 00:29:21.359 does like a shrug emoji and says that they don't 572 00:29:21.400 --> 00:29:24.480 know what the Sheriff Davis is going on about. They 573 00:29:24.519 --> 00:29:28.160 notably decline Sheriff Davis's invitation to attend the press conference. 574 00:29:28.200 --> 00:29:30.359 Even the DA goes on the record pointing out that 575 00:29:30.440 --> 00:29:32.880 Jordash is an exactly a credible witness. 576 00:29:33.480 --> 00:29:36.000 And it would almost be comical if it wasn't. 577 00:29:35.799 --> 00:29:39.000 So horrific, because we are still again, you want to 578 00:29:39.000 --> 00:29:41.240 talk about all the madness surrounding this. We are talking 579 00:29:41.240 --> 00:29:44.960 about a murdered little girl. There is a real grieving 580 00:29:45.079 --> 00:29:48.680 family involved here. And Connie, I mean, she is there 581 00:29:48.759 --> 00:29:51.920 at that press conference in person, and she is so 582 00:29:52.160 --> 00:29:54.960 offended by the whole thing that she stands up and 583 00:29:55.039 --> 00:29:58.079 walks out after about five minutes and says, Sheriff Davis 584 00:29:58.200 --> 00:30:02.400 is exploiting her daughter's death for a political campaign. And 585 00:30:02.480 --> 00:30:05.480 she's not the only one to think that, Anna Griffin notes, 586 00:30:05.559 --> 00:30:08.400 quote the news conference did have the feel of a 587 00:30:08.440 --> 00:30:11.920 campaign event, from the buffet of mini donuts and juice 588 00:30:12.400 --> 00:30:15.160 to the ten minute delay as a deputy struggled to 589 00:30:15.200 --> 00:30:19.559 straighten a banner bearing the sheriff's name end quote. You 590 00:30:19.559 --> 00:30:22.440 won't be surprised to hear that this little side show 591 00:30:22.519 --> 00:30:26.480 goes nowhere. Sheriff Davis doesn't even win his reelection campaign. 592 00:30:26.559 --> 00:30:30.480 A new sheriff, Sheriff Hubert Peterkin takes office later in 593 00:30:30.559 --> 00:30:32.400 two thousand and two, and in the summer of two 594 00:30:32.440 --> 00:30:36.079 thousand and three, the investigation seemingly at a standstill. Ever 595 00:30:36.119 --> 00:30:39.920 since Sheriff Davis's press conference once again does start picking 596 00:30:40.000 --> 00:30:44.559 up steam because of an unrelated crime. Police in Carthage, 597 00:30:44.559 --> 00:30:48.480 North Carolina, about forty five minutes away from Rayford, arrest 598 00:30:48.559 --> 00:30:51.480 a guy by the name of Keith Douglas Laundry on 599 00:30:51.599 --> 00:30:56.039 suspicion of armed robbery. And this guy, Keith, he's a 600 00:30:56.079 --> 00:30:59.039 firefighter at Fort Bragg, which is about thirty minutes away 601 00:30:59.079 --> 00:31:02.039 from Rayford, or I guess I should say Keith was 602 00:31:02.319 --> 00:31:06.319 a firefighter at Fort Bragg. The whole armed robbery thing 603 00:31:06.400 --> 00:31:07.319 kind of ended. 604 00:31:07.039 --> 00:31:08.240 That right right right well. 605 00:31:08.279 --> 00:31:11.279 Following his arrest, some of his fellow firefighters are tasked 606 00:31:11.319 --> 00:31:14.440 with going through his locker on the base. I don't 607 00:31:14.480 --> 00:31:17.519 know what firefighters normally keeping their lockers, but I'm guessing 608 00:31:17.559 --> 00:31:20.880 they're expecting to find, like toiletries, a change of clothes, 609 00:31:20.920 --> 00:31:24.119 that kind of thing. What I don't think they expect 610 00:31:24.119 --> 00:31:28.599 to find are pictures of a murdered little girl, and 611 00:31:28.720 --> 00:31:30.000 yet they do. 612 00:31:30.039 --> 00:31:31.400 This guy has pictures of Brittany. 613 00:31:31.759 --> 00:31:36.000 He sure does needless to say, none of this sits 614 00:31:36.079 --> 00:31:39.039 well with the people who find this, and word of 615 00:31:39.079 --> 00:31:41.799 what they find makes its way back to the sheriff 616 00:31:41.920 --> 00:31:46.799 and Hcso before long they're executing a searchworn at Fort Bragg. 617 00:31:47.240 --> 00:31:50.720 Hoe County Chief Deputy Troy McDuffie tells Cindy George. Quote, 618 00:31:51.319 --> 00:31:54.359 we did conduct a search hoorn on Fort Bragg in 619 00:31:54.400 --> 00:31:57.759 regards to a subject. He's a firefighter on Fort Bragg, 620 00:31:57.920 --> 00:32:02.119 but we have not identified him as a suspect. End quote. 621 00:32:02.359 --> 00:32:06.079 So he's a subject, not a suspect. 622 00:32:06.440 --> 00:32:06.960 You got it? 623 00:32:07.240 --> 00:32:09.519 Okay? Why do I feel like I've been having a 624 00:32:09.640 --> 00:32:11.720 little bit of danjevu right now? Didn't we cover another 625 00:32:11.799 --> 00:32:15.240 case like kind of recently where some random dude was 626 00:32:15.240 --> 00:32:17.000 found carrying on a picture of a little girl who'd 627 00:32:17.039 --> 00:32:17.519 been murdered. 628 00:32:17.880 --> 00:32:19.799 Yes, but I don't think it's a picture. I think 629 00:32:19.799 --> 00:32:21.759 it was a newspaper clipping. But it was in our 630 00:32:21.799 --> 00:32:25.079 episode on the Alphabet Murders, which was like from the 631 00:32:25.079 --> 00:32:26.839 seventies in Rochester, New York. 632 00:32:27.519 --> 00:32:30.160

Yeah, but like this guy was someone who got arrested 633 00:32:30.240 --> 00:32:32.599 like on the other side of the country. 634 00:32:32.319 --> 00:32:34.079 Or something for like something else, and then when he's 635 00:32:34.079 --> 00:32:37.200 in custody, he's like carrying on newspaper clippings from about 636 00:32:37.240 --> 00:32:39.559 Carmen Cologne in her case or whatever. 637 00:32:39.920 --> 00:32:43.039 Yeah, but he like wasn't their guy. He just had 638 00:32:43.119 --> 00:32:44.680 these newspaper clippings. 639 00:32:44.799 --> 00:32:46.440 Yeah, And if I remember, it wasn't even a case 640 00:32:46.480 --> 00:32:48.240 of like, oh, he looks good for it, but we 641 00:32:48.279 --> 00:32:50.880 can't definitely put him in Rochester, like he hadn't been 642 00:32:50.920 --> 00:32:55.279 anywhere near Rochester when Carmen was killed, or in California 643 00:32:55.440 --> 00:32:57.319 or the United States for that matter, like he had 644 00:32:57.359 --> 00:32:59.240 been on deployment in Vietnam. 645 00:32:59.160 --> 00:33:03.720 Which makes it like worse or weirder at least strange. 646 00:33:04.000 --> 00:33:05.480 Yeah, yeah, I'd like I don't. 647 00:33:05.920 --> 00:33:07.519 That's the thing that never got explained in that case 648 00:33:07.640 --> 00:33:11.079 is like why did you have it to begin with, 649 00:33:11.480 --> 00:33:14.039 which brings us back to Keith. Why do you have 650 00:33:14.279 --> 00:33:17.039 this picture of this murdered girl? 651 00:33:17.720 --> 00:33:17.839 Now? 652 00:33:17.880 --> 00:33:20.880 Cindy George mentioned something in her reporting that I don't 653 00:33:20.880 --> 00:33:24.160 think is ever confirmed, but it does seem important or 654 00:33:24.200 --> 00:33:27.920 at least relevant. Do you remember how the original shriff 655 00:33:27.920 --> 00:33:30.000 Sheriff Bird brought a whole bunch of searchers in from 656 00:33:30.039 --> 00:33:33.319 nearby agencies when Brittany was still just missing. Yeah, there 657 00:33:33.400 --> 00:33:35.880 was like hundreds of them, right, Well, a lot of 658 00:33:35.920 --> 00:33:40.839 them were firefighters, including I think firefighters from Fort Bragg, 659 00:33:41.200 --> 00:33:44.119 M And has Keith been a firefighter, I was just 660 00:33:44.119 --> 00:33:46.119 gonna say. And he's been there a long time. He'd 661 00:33:46.160 --> 00:33:49.920 been with the department since ninety two, so there's. 662 00:33:49.359 --> 00:33:52.160 A really good chance he was involved in that ground 663 00:33:52.200 --> 00:33:53.279 search exactly. 664 00:33:53.519 --> 00:33:56.759 So again I don't know anything about the Carmen Colon 665 00:33:56.799 --> 00:33:59.640 case or why that guy had her newspaper clippings. There 666 00:33:59.720 --> 00:34:03.920 is it at least a chance that maybe he has 667 00:34:04.000 --> 00:34:07.200 pictures of Brittany because he searched for her, he was 668 00:34:07.240 --> 00:34:10.800 affected by the whole thing, and that might be the 669 00:34:10.840 --> 00:34:13.480 most logical or or the one that I tend to 670 00:34:13.559 --> 00:34:15.760 like jump to. The reason I tend to jump to 671 00:34:15.800 --> 00:34:17.679 because it takes a whole year. But in May of 672 00:34:17.679 --> 00:34:20.559 two thousand and four, the HCSO decides to go get 673 00:34:20.559 --> 00:34:23.639 a DNA sample from Keith when he's in prison, And 674 00:34:23.719 --> 00:34:25.719 by doing that, I mean by this time they've been 675 00:34:25.760 --> 00:34:27.840 able to test their sample and get something to compare 676 00:34:27.840 --> 00:34:30.639 it to, and he's ruled out that he was not 677 00:34:30.800 --> 00:34:34.440 the one who left the sample Honor in Britney's body, 678 00:34:35.159 --> 00:34:38.599 and Keith is the last good lead for a long time. 679 00:34:39.519 --> 00:34:42.639 By two thousand and nine, over a decade after the murder, 680 00:34:42.679 --> 00:34:45.960 Sheriff Peterkin and his team basically start the whole investigation 681 00:34:46.039 --> 00:34:49.400 from scratch, and though he says that this will give 682 00:34:49.440 --> 00:34:52.239 them quote a better visual of what we're dealing with, 683 00:34:52.800 --> 00:34:56.880 yet another decade passes with no resolution. He's quoted in 684 00:34:56.920 --> 00:35:00.800 twenty twenty and Michael Futch's reporting for the Asheville Citizen saying, 685 00:35:01.679 --> 00:35:03.840 it would mean so much When I think about it, 686 00:35:04.320 --> 00:35:07.159 even though it didn't happen under my administration. 687 00:35:06.840 --> 00:35:08.840 It makes me tear up. It hurts. 688 00:35:09.239 --> 00:35:11.199 I can only imagine what it would do for the 689 00:35:11.280 --> 00:35:14.880 family and the community. This community still holds this case 690 00:35:14.960 --> 00:35:17.760 close to its heart. It's always good for them to 691 00:35:17.800 --> 00:35:21.400 know we're working on it. Quote. One thing he's adamant 692 00:35:21.400 --> 00:35:25.239 about is that Britney's case is not cold. He says 693 00:35:25.280 --> 00:35:27.920 that his office continues to run down leads all the time. 694 00:35:28.679 --> 00:35:31.760 Michael Futch even quotes him again as saying what happened 695 00:35:31.800 --> 00:35:35.440 before doesn't matter. That case is just as important to 696 00:35:35.480 --> 00:35:38.679 my staff and me as if it happened yesterday. It 697 00:35:38.760 --> 00:35:41.079 is still a tremendous weight to carry with it not 698 00:35:41.159 --> 00:35:44.719 being solved. That's why I'm adamant about getting it solved. 699 00:35:45.400 --> 00:35:45.679 Quote. 700 00:35:46.480 --> 00:35:50.280 Sadly, Sheriff Peterkin passed away in twenty twenty one, but 701 00:35:50.360 --> 00:35:54.079 his dedication to solving Britney's case lives on. And maybe 702 00:35:54.119 --> 00:35:58.639 you have the information investigators are waiting for. If you do, 703 00:35:58.920 --> 00:36:02.800 please contact

the Hope County Sheriff's Office anonymous tip line 704 00:36:03.119 --> 00:36:07.320 at nine to one zero eight seven eight one two 705 00:36:07.360 --> 00:36:10.760 seven nine, or the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation 706 00:36:11.039 --> 00:36:15.840 at eight eight eight six two four seven two two two. 707 00:36:16.559 --> 00:36:20.119 Tips can also be submitted online. I mean, we know 708 00:36:20.239 --> 00:36:22.440 there are so many options with DNA now, I mean, 709 00:36:22.480 --> 00:36:25.519 if they have a full profile that hasn't gotten a 710 00:36:25.599 --> 00:36:28.760 hit in code is genealogy testing would be an option. 711 00:36:29.639 --> 00:36:32.639 So if anyone connected to the investigation or to Britney's 712 00:36:32.639 --> 00:36:35.880 family is listening, please check out Season of Justice. It 713 00:36:35.920 --> 00:36:38.480 is a nonprofit that will fund the costs of that 714 00:36:38.559 --> 00:36:42.320 advanced testing, which I know can be prohibitively expensive for 715 00:36:42.440 --> 00:36:45.480 many departments. I founded the organization a few years ago 716 00:36:45.519 --> 00:36:47.800 and it's gone on to fund testing for numerous cases 717 00:36:48.239 --> 00:36:51.000 and some that have since been sold. So again, if 718 00:36:51.039 --> 00:36:53.440 anyone in her family, if anyone with the agency is 719 00:36:53.480 --> 00:36:56.159 listening to this. You can get more information at Season 720 00:36:56.320 --> 00:37:00.920 of Justice dot org. And there is one more amazing 721 00:37:01.079 --> 00:37:03.440 organization that I want to give a shout out to, 722 00:37:04.079 --> 00:37:08.800 and that is ocmy Forensics. Ocomy Forensics is an Indigenous 723 00:37:08.880 --> 00:37:13.480 led organization that provides forensic services to Indigenous families and 724 00:37:13.559 --> 00:37:17.800 communities affected by the m MIP crisis. From field and 725 00:37:17.920 --> 00:37:22.679 excavation services to forensic anthropology, lab services and DNA testing. 726 00:37:23.119 --> 00:37:26.360 Ocomy Forensics is hard at work supporting the search and 727 00:37:26.400 --> 00:37:30.199 return of missing and murdered Indigenous people, and they could 728 00:37:30.280 --> 00:37:33.800 use your help. Audio Chuck is supporting ACMEY Forensics in 729 00:37:33.800 --> 00:37:36.760 correlation with our coverage this week by donating twenty five 730 00:37:36.800 --> 00:37:40.159 thousand dollars to support their search and recovery efforts as 731 00:37:40.159 --> 00:37:43.480 well as their work in spreading public awareness. So please 732 00:37:43.679 --> 00:37:46.559 please go learn more and maybe even donate if you're 733 00:37:46.599 --> 00:37:50.000 able to, at ocomiforensics dot com, which we're going to 734 00:37:50.039 --> 00:38:06.599 link out to in the show notes. You can find 735 00:38:06.639 --> 00:38:09.360 all the source material for this episode on our website, 736 00:38:09.480 --> 00:38:12.920 Crime Junkie podcast dot com. 737 00:38:12.239 --> 00:38:14.480 And be sure to follow us on Instagram at Crime 738 00:38:14.519 --> 00:38:15.360 Junkie Podcast. 739 00:38:15.599 --> 00:38:18.519 Don't forget, We'll be back tomorrow with a brand new 740 00:38:18.519 --> 00:38:21.239 bonus episode, or you can head over to our fan 741 00:38:21.320 --> 00:38:52.519 club to listen to that right now. Crime Junkie is 742 00:38:52.559 --> 00:38:56.280 an audio Chuck production, So what do you think, Chuck? 743 00:38:56.639 --> 00:38:57.199 Do you approve? 744 00:39:00.880 --> 00:39:03.480 Taste the Summer at Super Value makes a match three 745 00:39:03.519 --> 00:39:05.559 for ten year row on fresh Irish barbecue meats and 746 00:39:05.639 --> 00:39:08.679 fish like beef burgers, pork sausages on chicken thighs. Plus 747 00:39:08.719 --> 00:39:10.320 makes a match three for ten year row and a 748 00:39:10.360 --> 00:39:13.320 selection of fruit like strawberries, berries and grapes. 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