Shot, Burned, and Betrayed: The Chilling Pettit Family Massacre

0:06 Welcome to Unspeakable, a true crime podcast where I tell stories of real crimes with real victims, whose cases are so shocking that many are left wondering how is this even real? I use my experiences in law enforcement corrections, and combined with my years as a criminal justice educator, dig deep into complex cases of evil acts, some so evil many feel they are unspeakable. Warning. Unspeakable as intended for mature audiences. If you are easily offended, then I'm not your girl. Listening discretion is advised. Hey, y'all, it's kJ You're back with a no other episode of Unspeakable.

1:01 How's your week going. I hope it's fantastic. I have been working so hard on some new content and some new projects that I'm excited to roll out here in the future. But today's episode it's a little different, if not really, I guess, but it's a little different in people that are involved. And I'll get to that in just a second. To explain it to you, first, let me do some shout outs. So I have got three of them. I'm gonna go through today and I'm going to start in West Des Moines, Iowa. And I've got Miss Carrie is a brand that she has joined our Crime Family. So Carrie, I'm waving to you on the camera. I appreciate you so much and I'm so thankful to have you here in the Crime Family. And then I've got G now just G. That's the letter that my girl Ginger goes by. And so I don't have a last name for you, Ginger, but you know it's you, And I don't have an address on file for you either, But I want to give everybody the opportunity now to hear me out when I say, if you are on Patreon, please go in there and make sure you put your address in there acually if you are at the Crime Family level, because if I go to mail out quarterly gifts and I don't have your address or it's an incorrect address, your gift will go nowhere or to the wrong address, and I want to make sure that you get them. So please go in there update your address.

2:15 But either way, wherever you are in the world, my girl G Ginger, I'm so thankful to have you, and I know we spoke already on Patreon, and I'm excited for our friendship. And then last but certainly not least, just for today, from Prattville, Alabama. Is miss Deanna Wrenn. What is going on over there in Alabama? I hope you're having the best week. And again, Deanna, you're the difference. I'm so excited to have you on my Patreon. It means everything and your support is what allows me to keep doing what I'm doing. So if you are interested in joining, you can go to Patreon dot com, p A T PAYATEPA t R e o N patreon dot com and you can sign up. There's also a free option. Everything's not about money. You can also join for free and see certain things there, so be happy to have you there. There's also a merch link. If you go to Unspeakable theepodcast dot com, there's a merch link there, a tab you can go and you can order you some merch. Also, because I had some requests for this, I'm getting with my distributor this week and we are going to try to set up maybe a different type of ordering option on there where maybe you can build an item and make it more customizable. So stay tuned for that. Whenever I get the answers for that, I will be happy to share them with you. So some a few things to look forward to, and I want to make sure that you're all on top of that and you know what is going on. So today I didn't have any shout outs in California, but this episode is going to take place in California, So how the hell are my calipeeps. I'm waving to y'all as well on the camera because this week we will be in

3:47 the neck of your the neck of your woods, and so we're gonna be in Modesto, California for this one. Now, the murder of Lacy Peterson is really the most recent huge case that put the police apartment there on the national map, I guess you could say, But there were also some older things that were big in Modesto. For example, the Zodiac Killer. He was believed to possibly be linked to the Modesto area because there were speculations about a kidnapping of a pregnant woman and her baby back in the nineteen seventies. So that kidnapping was never officially confirmed from anything that I've ever read, but huge talking points around the community more current and also in the years that are gone by. But this case that I'm going to be doing right there out of Modesto is going to take place in twenty thirteen. But before I get hard on into this story, I've got to say something here.

4:42 I have never been somebody to shy away from topics that are uncomfortable. I'm not that person. I feel like, if something's uncomfortable, hell, let's talk about it. Let's discuss it, Let's think about it, because that's what makes a society a community that we can talk about and that we can discuss them. And we may not all have the same opinion. We all come to these stories through a different lens. We all have different perspective and experiences, and so I want to address that before I get started, because I'm gonna have some characters and this story that are a little non traditional in true crime cases, and so I want to put it out there that I recognize that this one might be a little touchy, okay, But I hope that you'll come listen to this one with me with an open mind and that no matter where you fall in your beliefs in this case. That's why I give you all the details. That's why I give you everything that I can find so that you, as a listener, can come to your own conclusions. But I'm certainly going to give you mine as well. So let's keep that in mind whenever we go back in twenty thirteen to Modesto, where this case is going to just hit the spotlight, because that was the home of Scott and Janet Pettitt. Now, Scott's first name was actually David, and that is so weird for me personally because as a storyteller of true crime, my brother in law's name is David Pettit, and so that was odd when I started looking into this one. But my sister's name isn't Janet or else that would hit too close to home.

6:11 But David Pettit in this story, he went by the name Scott, and so I'm gonna be calling him Scott in this story. So Scott and Janet had built an amazing life for themselves in Modesto. They had met in their late twenties when they were both working jobs that I find personally to be admirable. Janet was working as a pediatric nurse while Scott was working as a paramedic. And legend has it that one day, back when they were in their twenties, a baby is what brought them together. But it wasn't their own baby. Now, this was a either sick or injured baby that was being rushed to the hospital by Scott on his ambulance. And when he whipped that ambulance into the drive of the hospital, there was none other than a beautiful pace mediatric nurse that was waiting there for him to lay that baby in her arms and whisk the child off for care. And as he handed over that child, two strangers working hard in the night to save the life of a baby that they didn't even know. Well, when that happened, they also saw something in one another that they thought was worth saving. So call it like minded individuals, or call it just straight up primal attraction, whatever the case may be.

7:28 The nurse and the paramedic, well, they wanted to see each other again, but the next time they wanted it to be under much less stressful circumstances. So that chance meeting had turned into a lifetime of commitment and joy for this couple. They would eventually get together, They would date, and they would get married, and then shortly thereafter they would have two children of their own. First came baby daughter, sweet Lauren, and Lauren was the apple of her daddy's eye and her mama's pride and joy, and just whenever they thought that they could not love anyone anymore possibly than their little baby girl, Janet found out that she was pregnant again. And I'm sure all moms of multiple children probably have had that same thought at one point when they were pregnant. How could I possibly love another child as much as the one that I already have?

8:22 How could this be? But the truth she would find out, as all of us do as we have more children, is that you don't have to split your love that you give with this new baby between the new baby you know and the one you have. Your heart just actually grows and you get more love to share. And that's literally what happened here. It's just always natural that there's room for one more, no matter how many there may be. So when sweet Lauren, at two years old, walked into that hospital room and she lay eyes on her baby brother, it was nothing short of a real life fairy tale. She was in love and she would shower baby Brandon with kisses and affection and she just adored him. And maybe at that point she kind of thought of him more as a toy in all honesty, something that she could play with but as they grew up together, they were a very tight knit family whose bond just continued to grow and flourish throughout the years.

9:20 So as far as home life was concerned, this was a home filled with love, affection, and devotion to one another. Now, the younger years were much like all of ours, I guess you know, the joy of the holidays and the innocence of knowing no real trauma. Two kids with two parents who loved them with all of their heart, and they continued to grow both together as a family unit as well as the parents continued to grow professionally. So Scott would eventually decide that he wanted to change career paths because his interests, as we've all probably been through your interests kind of ebb and flow, and so he decided that he he wanted to make a change. The thing was, he loved helping others and the chance to make a difference in the lives of people that he didn't even know was still something that drove him. Now, he may not have been in an ambulance at this point that he made this change, but he was still going to help kids as well as adults. Because Scott would become the proud owner of Riverbanks Black Belt Academy, where he was not only the owner but also the instructor.

10:28 And this was a karate a karate studio. So whenever or maybe I should say dojo, y'all, I'm not sure karate dojo. I think that's what it should be. Y'all can tell me, y'all can message me in safe y'all totally jack that up. Studios sounds more like dance, all right, So we're gonna say the dojo, all right. So whenever he wasn't teaching, he was very involved in organizing community activities with the local kids in mind and matter of fact, he was the guy that started the Relay for Life in his area. And in twenty eleven he was proud to be named the Mass of Ceremonies during the town's Christmas celebration, where he oversaw the event and he did all of the announcing and just had a blast doing so.

11:08 And Scott was sarcastic, and he was witty, and there was just a joy about him that just people were drawn to him. They liked him, and he was even voted Citizen of the Year at one point. So another event though that Scott loved, and when I say loved, I mean this was his jam was the classic car show parade that was held each year, and thinking, talking and planning and everything to do with classic cars was always just a fun thing for him. So as his son Brandon grew up, Scott imparted that love and drive to learn about cars on to Brandon as well, and so it was something they liked to do together. So Scott had a few cars of his own, by the way, but his main pride and joy was his nineteen sixty one Corvette. Now let me stop here for just a cool second, because I could leave it at that, all right, But I'm going to go a step further about this car.

12:08 And you may be like why, and my answer is because car people deserve it. Okay. The truth here is that I am not a car officionado by any means. Cars are not something that I know much about. But what I do know is that the David Pettitt that I know in real life, well, he would be scoffing at me right now if I just left it as a nineteen sixty one Corvette. So to that note, for all the car people that are listening, this is for you, I went the extra mile. Here is the description you deserve of Scott's Pride and Joy nineteen sixty one Corvette, because this vet, well, it was pure rolling Americana, a classic mid century convertible, white body with bold red side panels, long hood, low stance, and a whole lot of chrome.

12:58 And on top of that, with red interior signature, rounded fenders, chrome accents, and wide white wall tires, all you would think to say, is it rolled by? Was? Hell? Yeah? It was a show stopper, y'all. And it wasn't just a car. It was a time machine, the kind that takes you back to when style mattered and engines rumbled with personality and a car like this it wasn't meant to be contained. It was built for cruising, for being seen, and just like the Freedom of America, it was the envy of all who saw her. How'd I do? Guys? Was that good? Did that get you in the mood? Do you understand this car? If not, damn you? Because chat GBT kind of helped me with that. But I customized it, but I did my best. I gave it all. Now, as for miss Janet, she was so proud to accompany her man and hold down the passenger seat in that beast of a car. And while that engine may have screamed brawn right everything that a man would love, missus Janet's strength, hers would have been in more quiet, yet impressive brains because she was absolutely brilliant in her respective field of expertise. So while she was fulfilled in her job as a neonatal nurse practitioner and a clinical nurse specialist at Doctor's Medical Center, she was still always craving more knowledge. And I love people like that. I think that's fantastic. You never stop learning, you always want to

14:30 know more. So eventually, even though she was working, she would obtain her PhD. She never quit learning and going to school all while working. So that would be doctor Janet Pettit to you and I. But mothering her kids was her all time greatest achievement, and Janet documented everything about them and their lives, and these scrap books that she had little notes and quotes written in all reminiscent of the memories that she chaired. So with all of this in mind, neighbors were horrified to wake up in the early morning hours of August eighth, twenty thirteen to something burning and a blaring alarm going off, So they got up and they would peek outside towards an orange glow, only to realize that their beloved neighbors home was engulfed in flames. And multiple neighbors saw this, and so they would run to the phone and nine one one calls would start coming in, one after the other, all of these people begging for help for the Petits and their home.

15:34 The blaze was huge, and no one saw them outside. Their cars were there, so that meant, my god, they've got to be inside and it's the middle of the night. Please hurry, hurry and get here and help them. So the initial callers reported, look, it's a structure fire. There's visible flames, and some callers even said that they thought they might have heard screaming coming from inside of the home. So the initial belief was that the petits may be trapped inside. They're blocked off by a wall of fire, and if they were burning and trapped inside, it was almost too much for these neighbors to even process in the moment. But regardless of all of the drama that was going on, firefighters rushed to the home, sirens wailing.

16:20 They flew up in front of it, and they jumped out. They had their gear already on, they were ready. They hooked up their hoses, and they began fighting that fire. I mean almost immediately, the massive flames growing every single minute. And with a fire like this, everything is relative and everything matters when you are trying to fight it. Now, I do have some experience in fire dispatch, obviously, but as far as actually fighting a fire, I've never done that. But I'm so proud and so honored to let you know that I have a former student that I taught in high school who has grown up. He's an adult now and he is now actually a firefighting commander, and so I actually reached out to him a form a teacher, the student teaching the teacher. It was beautiful, and I reached out to him to get a little more insight to how this scene would have played out. Now, what I can tell you is that there was a haze of smoke that could be seen all around the house, and the fire was clearly visible from a second story window. Now, the bedrooms of the home were believed to be on the second floor, which made this even worse for the petits because we all know that heat rises and the likelihood of survival dips pretty dramatically the higher up you go in levels in a building during a fire. So basically this would create what I would call a two prong effort. In that moment, one portion of the crew would be trying to suppress the fire, while a second

17:50 portion of the crew would be in the home trying to search and possibly save any living victims that might still be inside. So parts of the fire crew made their way inside and they found that the fire was mainly in this upstairs bedroom. So as they carefully made their way into that room, they found that there were people inside, and they came upon the lifeless bodies of two people, an adult male and an adult female. So both victims were assessed right there in the moment to try to figure out what's going on, but they were both found to already be beyond help. So firefighters not only found these two people that were already deceased, but they also found the couple's two dogs deceased as well.

18:40 So based on the status of the victims, the recovery turned more into preservation tactics so as to not let any possible investigative evidence burn up Any further in this file this fire. So once the fire was contained and it was eventually put out, that was when the fire investigators had their job to do. Basically, they had to determine what was the cause of the fire. That was the main question. Was it electrical or was it something else. Maybe they had left a candle burning unattended and it lit fire. Whatever the case may be, this investigation would have to take place before that could be determined. So when you're trying to determine the cause of a fire, I mean, it's gonna take a great deal of information gathering and this includes everything from analyzing the burn patterns to speaking to possible witnesses, and the goal basically to determine or classify the fire as either accidental, natural, or incendiary, which would be like arson. So to that note, speaking with some witnesses, they would claim that they thought that they may have heard gunshots prior to the fire breaking out.

19:52 Now that is obviously a huge red flag because shootings and fires together aren't usually something that we would expect to take place. So when the coroner arrived and was told where the bodies were and went to collect them, it was determined that they were in fact, the bodies of homeowners Scott and Janet Pettitt. Luckily, if you want to look at it that way, there weren't three bodies found, as their autistic son lived with them, but he was not home. He was working that night, and one of the dogs ended up surviving as well. They actually had a total of three, so their son was presumed alive because he wasn't found there and the dog, one of the dogs also made it out well. Finding the next of ken to notify of what was going on, you know, that became the mangal of the police, and they had this heartbreaking task of telling both of the children that they had lost both of their parents, and then it was in a fire on top of that. So although both were now adults, I mean, you know this, that information was still very hard for them to process. Lauren was now living almost five hours away in Los Angeles, but she would hardly pack up her things and make her way back home because she knew that there were things that she would have to handle on top of grieving, you know, just the shock of it all. She broke down and she sobbed at the thought of never seeing

21:24 or speaking to her parents again. They were close, she loved her parents, and she also knew that her brother was now going to be her responsibility to manage as well. I mean he may have been an adult, but he's still required oversight because of his diagnosis. So an autopsy of the petits would be conducted, and it turned out that some of the witnesses that said they heard gunshots, well they might have actually been onto something. See, when you're going to responding to an emergency care, if it's fire, I don't care, if it's a police hell, it can be medical. Something you'll find and people who have worked in this field will probably back me up on this is sometimes you get flat out wrong information. I know when I worked with law enforce in law enforcement that we would get dispatches to go to things and when you got there, it was not even close to what the caller had called in that you were actually responding to.

22:24 And sometimes you get weird information from people that doesn't even fit at all. Maybe they just want to be a part of something, or they're just amping up the drama. Well, in this case, when the bodies were assessed, neither Scott nor Janet were found to have died from smoke inhalation, even though they were found deceased in a fire, and they also, by the way, hadn't burned to death, so the coroner realized they were dead before the fire had even started. Scott had suffered a total of five gunshot wounds to his body. Those witnesses that said they thought they heard gunfire, they were telling the truth. This had been an all out attack on Scott Pettitt. He was shot in the right elbow, he had a gunshot wound to the chest he took around through his chin, and he also had rounds in the head. Now, the head shots were most certainly the execution shots. Janet's body showed that she suffered two gunshot wounds, one to the left thigh, and she also had an execution shot to the head.

23:37 Again that one absolutely ensuring her death. So when people die in fires, there are telltale signs of this, and this includes soot deposits. The soot will be in the nostrils, you'll find it in the mouth, but that's if you're alive in breathing. Even if you're unconscious, you're still alive in breathing, and that's why the soot is found. Sound deposited on and inside the body. Well, the couple didn't exhibit any of this. Again, backing up, they were dead before the fire started, so this meant this fire was likely someone's attempt to hide a double murder. This would be confirmed when the fire investigation was completed and they found that an accelerant had been used to start the blaze in the bedroom. So Modesto now had a double murder on their hands. And the motives and murder are usually pretty simple. Money, sex, vengeance. That's pretty much why people will kill other people. Every murder will usually fall into at least one, if not more, of those categories.

24:45 And that student that I told you about in my personal life that I called, and his name's Caleb, So Caleb, if you're listening, thank you so much for talking with me. But he told me that a lot of the conferences that he's gone to that they do case studies, because he said, you'd be surprised how many arsons are to cover up murder, and it's kind of crazy if you think about it. So they're looking here at money, sex or vengeance, right and infidelity. So the sex portion that would be ruled out as not a possible motive. The couple was very much in love. There was no infidelity, There was nothing of anything that was found to support going down that route. The couple also was checked out and they were found to have no known, verifiable enemies.

25:36 So vengeance in the for them, you know, like getting even necessarily, that was pretty much ruled out, as well as the motive for why this couple would have been murdered. So with money, the only thing really left detectives dug in to figure out who could possibly benefit from the deaths of both of the Petits. Now, the truth here is that they were well off. Okay, I'm not going to say that they were filthy rich, but they were very secure. They had made great decisions in life. They had lived very comfortably and that was because of their conscientious living. I'm not saying they didn't splurge and they didn't you know, spend money, but they were doing pretty well for themselves. They owned their home, they had several rental houses in the area, as well as seven expensive vehicles, one of which I've given you a whole lot of detail on. So the obvious heirs to their finances were their children. But Lauren, she was doing well on her own and she was also, you know, five hours away, which would have made that hard. And the Petits took care of their now adult son with his special needs in terms of his autism, So Brandon a little more about him. When he was younger, he did almost everything with his dad. So Brandon was absolutely smart, but he struggled immensely, immensely in social settings, and in early childhood

27:09 that had become very obvious that he was different. He was stubborn, almost to a fault. It was very hard for him to make friends. He did not fit in and as a result, he was a very lonely person as a result of this, and so his parents lovingly took him to see numerous specialists, and when he was in high school he was diagnosed with as Burgers. Now I'm going to address this real quick because I know I have a lot of listeners that have children with autism or maybe have autism themselves. I understand, and I want to be clear. I know it does now fall currently under what we would refer to as the autism spectrum disorder. But back when this took place, his diagnosis was as Burgers. So in a nutshell, just for listeners to kind of get a grasp of this. There's three levels of autism and it is certainly not linear. And what I mean is a very good friend of mine who happens to be a detective. She and I spoke in depth in terms of law enforcement and you know, autism, and her child. And she said, you know, the saying is that when you've met one person with autism, you've met one person. And I was like, okay, we'll tell you what you mean by that, and she said, there's no you can't meet one person with autism and think that you know what they're all going to be like, because it's just not linear. It's it's different for every single person. It affects them differently. And I mean things

28:40 like social differences, their interests, whether they have repetitious behavior, sensory sensitivities, emotional regulation will be different, perception, executive functioning. All of this is you cannot make it black and white. It's ebbs and flows based on the person. So the basic way you would look at this is there's autism spectrum. You'll have level one, level two, level three, Level three being the most severe and requires substantial support. Level two they still require substantial support, but they can still function pretty well, and not pretty well is not even the right word. But they can still function on a behavior, but sometimes they have repetitive and restrictive behaviors that are more frequent, and then level one just is requires support.

29:32 So maybe they have difficulty understanding and following social rules, like they're socially awkward, and they may appear just flat and uninterested even though they are intelligent, just their responses are a little a little different from the rest of us. So while I'm not a specialist and I don't claim to be an expert, and I don't want anyone to think that I am, I think that this information is important because Brandon was going to need support in his life and that was going to be continuous, and now his main caregivers were gone. So with all of this in mind, who the hell would want them dead because both of their children have very different situations, but just were not in you know, in the in the field of suspects at this point. So Lauren was an absolute wreck.

30:23 Her emotions were all over the place. She was in this this jumbled up mix between suffering but also having to handle what had to be done. You know, she has a lot of responsibility now on her plate. And when the news was broken to Brandon, his response was flat, but it was not anything out of the norm for him, because flat affect autism is something that I've seen actually quite often and when I was a teacher. But having a flat affect is not the same thing as lacking emotions, okay, because autistic individuals may struggle to show emotions because of that flat apple, but they still feel them. Don't get it twisted. So after the news was broken, police gave these siblings time to reconnect and gather themselves and kind of process what was going on. And then the following day the police wanted to speak with both of them and see if they could find out anything that may send them in a direction to figure this out, maybe get some answers to what could have possibly taken place, you know, in the last twenty four hours, even that could have caused this to take place. So the siblings had one small but very bright light to cling to, and her name was Bailey, an old, gray faced, bug eyed Boston Terrier that their parents both just adored and sweet Bailey that was that pup that had survived this

31:53 horrific fire, And in a way, this left both of them feeling like not all was lost. They could at least hug this dog and gave them some solace that it was going to be okay. They could love on this dog and through that it might help them with some healing, and then they would be able to go talk to police and try to solve this. So it was the next morning, like I said, when police spoke to both siblings to gain insight into the family dynamic, work life, et cetera. So in terms of motive, what could have possibly been the motive here, neither sibling had a clue. Now, they talked a long time, and Brandon did tell police that he had an ex girlfriend named Susan Carter and maybe they should look at her, he said, because she had ties to the Nicaraguan cartel. So he was convinced that this Nicaraguan cartel, they could have somebody killed within four hours, you know, very short timeframe if they were asked. And so it was kind of odd what he said, but then again so was Brandon. And I say that with all due respect, Brandon was just you know, he processed and said things differently. He even said that Susan herself may have been the one to sneak in the house and kill his parents. Now Lauren, on the other hand, she was very clear that one of the things about her brother was that he would make up stories to feel like he belonged. Sometimes he

33:26 wanted so bad to be accepted or to be a part of things that he had a history of saying things that people knew weren't true, but it made him feel cool telling the stories like it was real, And sometimes he would live kind of in a fantasy, a kind of a fantasy world of sorts, and tell these stories. So the question now was is Susan real and if so, did she have anything to do with the petit parents that would have caused any type of rift to make her do this. Well, turned out, guess what, Susan was real and he really did have an ex girlfriend. Learning more about her, it became clear that she and Brandon had been in a real relationship. That was in twenty thirteen, so that same year, and they had even moved in together at one point. Now the home that they shared together it happened to be a rental home owned by Scott Pettitt, Brandon's dad, so there was a link here.

34:26 But when they broke up. That was in July twenty thirteen, Brandon moved out of the rental house and moved back home with his parents. Now, from what I can gather, there wasn't any real bad, bad blood or anything per se. It also turned out that she was going to be having a baby. Brandon had gotten her pregnant. So she had found out that she was pregnant, and when she told Brandon, he was over the moon, excited to be a dad, even though they were no longer together. He was excited at the thought of having a child. Child. So as far as the Nicaraguin cartel claim, she said that it was Brandon who had claimed that he knew hit men. He had said that in the past when they spoke to her, So she was, you know, acting like she didn't know what exactly they were talking about. Well, when it was kind of broken down, Susan explained, Look, I already have an ex husband, and when Brandon and I were together and we were talking and we were dating, we were having a conversation one time and Brandon told me he knew a guy that could make her ex disappear if she wanted him to. And so it's like, okay, Well, who was it then? And Susan said Brandon claimed he knew a guy named Felix and he would go murder basically her ex husband for five hundred dollars. I go, that's just dumb, all right, nobody does a hit for five hundred dollars. That's dumb. So police are kind of like,

36:00 all right, we got to kind of figure this one out. Well, when Brandon had been interviewed and they asked him to list out all of his friends and who he dealt with on the daily, blah blah blah blah blah, he never mentioned a guy named Felix. So maybe Felix was again one of those fake stories that Brandon had told to look cool, like he was going to be the savior of Susan blah blah blah blah blah. So police did more digging because they're like, we got to figure out if this guy's real or not. Well, police found that he may not have mentioned a Felix, but there definitely was a Felix in his life. They were two for two on figuring out if people were real or not. And this guy's name was Felix Valverde. Now, he and Brandon had met when they both joined a group known as the Clampers CLA M p e r s. The Clampers.

36:51 So Ever curious, I looked up this group because I'm like, what are these fricking clampers? Man, I've never heard of it. I've got to know, and I won't lie to y'all. Well, I got a bit of a chuckle when I looked up this group, so I read a line. The first line that I read when I googled Clampers, it said a historical drinking society or a drinking historical society, and I started laughing. I was like, here we go. This is going to have some shenanigans attached to it. And it was true, because what I found was a group of history enthusiasts who also have a penchant for drinking. And they also love the absurd, and so they dress funny.

37:33 They make purposeful mockery of traditional groups of historical societies. So they drink beer and they like cheer loudly and when they're telling the true history, but they it's just a goofy type take on it. They love the gold Rush era and it's like a brotherhood founded in fun, some history and a good time one thing that tickled me to was, you know the pompous historical societies that dress nicely and they have like you know, the names and their like fraternal orders, whatever you want to call it. Well, the Clampers they dress up like almost like I guess the old timey neighborhood drunks or something like top hats that don't look right. And then they use ten cans and they cut out little badges from ten cans and pin those on their shirts and they're just a mismatch of just I found it hilarious. I thought it was great. Okay, so I see what the fun in this would be. Okay, and this brotherhood and this good time that's where Brendan and Felix had met was when they both joined that group. Now, Felix, he struck me as looking like someone when I first saw a photo of this guy. And I want y'all to know I'm not being mean by any stretch of the imagination, but he looked familiar to me, and I couldn't figure it out. And then it hit me like a ton of bricks yesterday. He looks like Milton from Office Space, those thick glasses and that kind of goofy

39:04 air about him. That's what he reminded me of. And listen, I'm not being mean, guys, I just want to give you a visual here of it just kind of made me kind of chuckle a little bit. So police decided that since there really was a Felix, that they wanted to follow up on this possible lead, and they went over to Felix's apartment. Not only they wanted to talk to him, but they also were able to secure a possible search warrant or not a possible to secure a search warrant to see if there's any possible evidence of any type. Now, during that search, they did actually find things that were extremely alarming. They found things like a box of gun ammo in his kitchen on the kitchen counter, and they also found a gas can that still had gasoline in it in the kitchen. So they are now those let's be real, those aren't items that I would think are that crazy to find in a house. If you went in my house right now, you will find bullets galore, and you'll find gas cans galore, because we just have a bunch of it. But they decided, you know, we've got to be meticulous here, that's great circumstantial stuff to find, I guess, but we've got to we've got to keep looking. So they were very meticulous and searched any small places that you might get hide items. They left no stone unturned, and this included a hall closet which they located a rolled up brown paper bag hidden inside of some other items. So they pulled that out, unrolled it, and what they found inside were wallets and

40:34 some keys. So they're like, what the hell, right, So they open up the wallets to look inside, and there were the IDs still in them, staring back at them, and it was none other than Scott and Janet Petted. So I don't know if they were actually expecting to find that, but this was wild. So the keys that they found, they decided to go over to the Pettit's house what was left of it, and try the keys in the locks, and guess what they worked. One key was for the house and one was for the garage. It opened the house. No gun, however, was located in Felix's apartment. So eventually a neighbor would see police searching Felix's house and he would come over, and you'd want to talk to them because he said, look, I don't know exactly what's going on. I know these two people were murdered. Now you're searching this house, and he says, look, Felix had been acting kind of strangely moving around that flower pot planter right there on the porch, and they look and there's a planter with dirt and plants now like over here. He's like, yeah, it was kind of strange.

41:47 He was like digging in there and moving the plants around, and he's not really a gardener. I mean, it's kind of strange. So the police go over to the planter and they kind of start digging through it, and then they see something, so they dig some morely they would locate seven spent bullet casings buried in the dirt. Well, it doesn't take a genius to figure out that there's a pretty big problem here, right, So Felix was arrested on suspicion of murder and Brandon was now brought back in for questioning, and this questioning was videotaped. Now, the questions at this point were much more pointed in the interview, and Brandon was basically confronted by detectives who flat out told him that Felix had been talking to them, and Felix said that Brandon was the one who gave him those keys to his parents' house. Now Brandon's looking at them and he's wholly denying this. Absolutely not, you know.

42:44 So he's denying, denying, denying that he ever did that, And they say, okay, well, let's go to your phone records then, because you have never mentioned that Felix was a friend of yours. Ever, we directly asked you that, we asked you for all of your friend's contact information. You never gave us that. But yet in your phone records we can see where y'all speak on the phone. Why is that, Brandon? And Brandon's response was that, well, we're not like real friends like that. He's more of like someone I just met. We're not friends. But then the police added on to that and they said, well, if y'all aren't friends like that, we have proof in your phone records that y'all spoke to each other the very night that your parents were murdered. What do you have to say about that? And Brandon looks them straight in the eye and goes, well, yeah, I called him because we were going to make plans for the weekend.

43:42 We had plans, we were going to go do something, but he fully denied knowing anything about his parents' murder. Now, Brandon's sister, Lauren, she was the one that had driven him to the police station, not realizing that he was actually now being looked at as possibly involved somehow in what had happened to their parents. But when she realized this, her helpful personality shifted to immediate defense mode, like, She's like, what in the actual fuck is going on here? Are you serious? My brother with autism, that's who you're really going after right now? Are you serious? Right now? And you can't help but align with her in her thought process.

44:22 She's lost everything. Lauren has lost everything. She has lost her father, she has lost her mother, she's lost the beloved family pets minus Bailey, and now her brother who's got diagnosable issues, is being hounded in an interrogation room. I don't blame her that she is now not feeling so nice towards the police. But police felt like and they explained to her Brannan had said some pretty incriminating things. But Lauren was not having it. She was not having it. She kept trying to explain to the police that her brother does not process information the same way and that while his personality may be different compared to others, that doesn't make him a killer. You know, he just doesn't say things the right way. He doesn't pick up on social cues to know that the way he says things may not be the way that you should considering the circumstances that are at hand. Had she known that they were in there treating him in an accusatory way, she would have not brought him and she would have hired an attorney. This is serious. But Brandon was now already in there for his second questioning session, and that was shifting obviously now into more of like an interrogation. So as more information about Felix was given to Brandon, Brandon did seem to open up more and start to kind of expand more. And he now explained to police, well,

45:54 about a month before the fire, Felix threatened to kill my parents, and he said, if I don't pay him ten thousand dollars, then he's going to kill my parents. So the police are like, did you ever go to the police about this? Did you ever call and let us know that? And his answer was simple, He said no, okay, you never went to the police station and someone threatened to kill your parents? And he said, yeah, I didn't go to the police station. I went home and I told my dad so that my dad could handle it. And he's like, that's what I am supposed to do. I go and I tell my dad and they're like, okay, what's your dad gonna do? He's like, I don't know. When I told my dad, my dad didn't take it serious.

46:35 He just thought it was some kind of you know, bs and the guy was want some money or something. But Dad didn't think it was a serious threat. Why would I you know, I didn't call the police. Dad should have done that, if you know, if but we didn't think it was a real threat. We just thought he was being stupid. But police were not accepting that explanation. And their reason they wouldn't accept it is because they're like, why would you wait until now to tell us this when you are directly confronted with possibly being involved. It had been nine days since his parents' death, and he never thought in that timeframe that this might be important to mention. So the questioning continued, and things that Brandon would say only seemed to get worse. Brandon admitted, Yeah, I do own a gun. I have a gun, he said, but the bolt is missing on my gun, and since the gun doesn't work, I gave bullets that I had to felix. And so the police are like, dude, you don't think that at this juncture and where we are, that that's not you don't think that's odd And he said, well, I mean, and then I didn't. Now, in hindsight, it looks like it was a bad idea, and you didn't think to mention that any of this to us the police in the last nearly two weeks. That's what the police were thinking. Make it make sense. And Brandon's further explanation again was odd as hell because he said that

48:11 he wasn't sharing everything with the police because he wanted to solve it himself. So real quick, I want to give I want to talk about that for a second. Autistic individuals often perceive and process reality differently due to a multitude of reasons, things like sensory differences, a preference for literal interpretation, and they can have distinct cognitive processing styles. And so for example, all right, if you ask someone with autism if they want to wave their rights. They may take that as a literal wave, like waving their hand.

48:54 And if they like to wave, they know what that means. They may agree, yes, I would like to wave my rights. But that explanation aside. Some people with autism can also live in a dual reality world, and part of this includes where they have been conditioned to respect and look to authority to make life's important decisions for them. So in Brandon's case, for example, his parents would have been the authority for him or to him, and even as a grown man, he recognizes that his parents were still calling the shots for him. And since Brandon was seeing the police now as authoritative, was it possible that Brandon really did think that he could solve it himself, And then the reward would be that the police, who he looked up to, would accept him as quote unquote one of them, you know, like a hero, and now they would be his friends for doing so. And while that sounds kind of odd and complex, we're talking about someone with autism here, and as someone who didn't make friends easily, and as someone who wanted to be a part of something, you can kind of see how he may have really truly believed that he was going to try to solve it himself. So the questions are being asked and you're trying to understand his answers and how through his lens of life and why he might say what he might say.

50:19 But another way that it can be problematic when you're introgating someone with autism is that you know the person. For example, you know the person might think if the detective thinks I robbed the bank, maybe he's right because he's in an authority position. So sometimes you can also confuse someone with autism legitimately confuse them and so, you know, because they're taught to yield to authority, and if they've been accused of something, then they might start thinking, oh, maybe I did do it because the authority person is saying that I did it. Because at one point the Brandon never blindly was agreeing with the interrogators. Have to tell you that ever, he was saying no, no, no, no no, he was vehemently, vehemently denying when they eventually shifted, because they did start doing pointed accusations towards him that he had something to do with this and that he knew about this, and they even gave some posed scenarios. Okay, Now, at this point in the interrogation, they had been advised of his autism diagnosis. They knew this, and even with that knowledge to the police, there were just still things that weren't seeming right to them. For example, after the murders, Brandon admitted that he did go over and he gave Felix one hundred dollars. So the police follow up that statement and they're like, okay, so he threatened your parents and you told your dad. Your parents actually end up dead shot the exact amount of times as the spent

51:53 casings that we have found in a flower pot at Felix's house. You remain friends with him, and then you also give him one hundred dollars after their death. Please make this make more sense, dude. We're trying to listen to what you're saying, but that is not driving. And Brandon's explanation was Felix said he needed some money. After paying his bills, he needed more money, and Brandon said he never thought that Felix was serious about killing his parents. So was he thinking black and white or was he trying to lie and cover up and with the possibilities of his reality being skewed. Police hadn't just like stopped with Brandon in terms of investigation. They were asking all these pointed questions of him, but they were still investigating, okay.

52:43 And a couple people had actually come forward at this point contacted police themselves to provide additional information that they thought the police may want to know. And this was starting with a woman named Sarah Wilson. Now, Brandon and Sarah had met in high school. Originally, they reconnect online in twenty thirteen, just some months before the murders of his parents, and she could tell that Brandon seemed to have a bit of a crush on her, but Sarah was not interested in dating Brandon. Now, Brandon, they still became friends and they had reconnected and they were talking all the time. And Brandon, although she was not interested, he wasn't easily deterred by the fact that she wasn't wanting to date him. And he was very excited to share with her that he was about to be moving to Georgia his parents. He explained to her, Look, my parents have plenty of money. They're going to be buying me a house there and I'm going to move to Georgia. Now, she was going through a lot of things in her personal life at that time and having some struggles, and she thought that that sounded really cool to just be able to up and move away from drama, or to be just able to up and move and start your life somewhere new. That sounded really exciting. And he told her, well, look, if you want to go with me and move in with me, I'd love that. That would be great. And so he started sending her email correspondence and texts that were from this realtorm in Georgia. They were communicating back and forth about houses to look at information on these listings in the houses, and he was trying to pick

54:14 his house that he wanted to buy. The thing was these homes were expensive, like million dollar homes that he was communicating with this with this realtor about. So while she had never met the Petits, it still seemed pretty crazy that they were just going to buy him this house in Georgia and a million dollar home, like wow, and he was just going to move out and start doing his thing. Well. The closer that they got to the summertime, they continue to grow closer, and that's when Brennan gave her some more amazing news. He had told his mother Janet, that his friend Sarah that he had reconnected with she was going to be moving to Georgia with him and that they could kind of depend on each other lived together in the new house. And because she was willing to go and be helpful to Brandon, Brandon told his mom Janet, Look, my friend wants to open a boutique. That's her dream blah blah blah blah blah.

55:13 And Janet said, well, if that's going to be the case, I want you all to be successful. And Janet was willing to help her do this and would help financially with her opening her own boutique. And although this was wildly exciting, she almost couldn't believe it, Like everything is just falling right into place, and this is amazing boat. It almost seems too easy. Well, right before the Petits died, they had purchased plane tickets for both she and Brandon as well as themselves, to fly to Atlanta to go look at these houses together in person. And she was super excited about this, I mean, this was going to be a monumental change. And the flight tickets were for August the ninth, two days before that trip was supposed to take place on August the seventh, and this was late at night. This is like ten forty five at night.

56:11 Brandon texted her and he said, quote, You're gonna get a boob job for Christmas end quote. So she was like, what, you know, that sounds awesome. You'll you'll pay for that. I guess they'd had a discussion. She wanted to do that, and he was like, yeah, I'm going to make it happen. And she's like, wow, now I have to say this. I have nothing to base this on. I want to be clear. This is my own personal opinion. This is not fact any way, shape or form. It's just my opinion. While Sarah wasn't romantically interested in Brandon, you get the feeling that financially for her, he was looking pretty good. So I'm sure that she was flattered and she was excited for all the possibility of you know, self improvement and all this kind of stuff and getting to go live in a million dollar home. While was benefiting because he wanted to be with her, and he was kind of walking in because he was going to be able to do it with this money. Well, it was then tragically the very next day that his parents were killed.

57:14 So when Brandon called and told Sarah the news about his parent's death, she was in total shock. She didn't know what to do, she didn't know what to say. In August eighth, that was the day of the second interview police had had with Brandon, and when Brandon left that interview, Sarah went and met up with him at a friend's house because she wanted to share her condolences and just be there for him because that this is tragic, you know, this is huge. She wanted to also help take a load off of him in any way that she might could help. And so she's like, Brandon, listen, I know you got a lot going on. Would you like me to go cancel all of the plane tickets so that you don't have to worry about that? Don't you know there's no you know, we need to save that, you can save that money whatever, you know, we don't want to waste those tickets. But he told her, no, don't worry about it. It's already been handled. He said that his aunt had canceled the tickets, but he followed up with please don't mention the flight to anyone. The flights, including the police, just don't bring it up. It just was weird. All of it was weird to her, and so that's why she called the police to tell them about it. It may be nothing, but it was just odd.

58:25 So when they got that information, detectives then showed up at Sarah's house and she told them everything anything they had questions about. She laid it all out there for them. But while Brandon's sister was just adamant that this is just how Brandon is. He makes up stories to keep friends. You know, this is just one of his fantasies he built to impress Sarah. Police found some issues with that stance because Brandon had actually called a real realtor a real person and was having real discussions about homes in Georgia.

59:06 That's not just building a fantasy. That's acting on it. And it's more complex than just you know, creating a fantasy world. But you, as my listener, I want to let you know that study show which I have cited for you in the show notes if you want to go check. But the study show that some high functioning autistic folks do act on their fantasies. They just build up these complex worlds around a fantasy to help them feel included and important and accepted, like I told you, and Brandon knew that he would keep Sarah's interest with the promises of a lavish life. That said, this meant nothing in relation to his parents' murder. It just meant he lied, But it was mitigated by his diagnosis, as understandable because y'all, there were no plane tickets to go to Georgia. There was no doubt at this point that Brandon did not physically kill his parents. He was working as a security guard at the time of their shooting deaths, and when the fire started and his boss was contacted, verified this alibi. He saw him with his own eyes, and this was an indisputable fact. But the police believed that Brandon did, however, hire Felix to do this murder for him. But why and was he actually capable of it?

1:00:36 Became the questions. But that's when another person came forward to police, a family friend, and this guy was actually a friend of Brandon's dad, Scott, whom he was very close with. This guy's name was Mike Anderson. Now, Mike and Scott had been friends for a while, and Mike knew Brandon because of his dad. Mike was very aware of Brandon's struggles, but he was one of those guys that was still willing to help out friends, and so at the request of mister Scott, he had even given Brandon a job once in twenty twelve to try to help them out, because Scott needed a job. You know, he's an adult. He needs to be busy. So, as you already know, Scott had a number of cars, some of which he kept at Mike Anderson's property, including that Corvette, and it was common between twenty twelve and the middle of twenty thirteen for Brandon to go over to Mike's property to tinker on the Corvette, and he would always brag to Mike that the Corvette was his. This was his car. Now, truth be told, if you look into this, Brandon was actually the co owner on the pink slip of this Corvette, but his dad was the one who bought the car as a joint dad's son venture, hobby and bonding time. Now, Brandon had made comments to Mike about his parents during that time, including at at one point telling Mike Anderson he would be better off if his parents weren't here, and he had told Mike this story,

1:02:07 which Mike echoed to the police that Brandon was telling him he was going to move to Georgia. So while it may have been a fantasy that he was building, at at the parents' vigil that was held after their death, Brandon was talking about wanting to get the cars and sell the Corvette before he moved to Georgia. I mean, this is right after his parents were murdered and he approaches Mike about I need to get the cars so that I can sell them, and something about that conversation bothered Mike because it just wasn't appropriate. It wasn't it wasn't right, It was just not appropriate for what was going on, and he felt like he just had to contact police and tell them about it. Well. Susan, Brandon's ex and baby mama, remember her. She also had spoken to police during some questioning, and Brandon had told her that he couldn't wait for his dad to be dead so the Corvette would be all his matter of fact, in April, before their deaths, they had gone on a road trip where Brandon reiterated this, and after they broke up, Brandon was still texting her and they were still talking and he was telling her how he was irritated about the way that his parents were treating him. They treated him like a child, and he was saying that he wished that his dad was dead. And then right before the murders, he told her, look, I'm about to be

1:03:39 coming into a lot of money soon. So police now had to figure out, you know, are these the words of a jaded woman. But then again, two people that were completely unrelated had come forward, and we're saying the same thing. I mean, what are the chances of all of these people that are not related to each other in any way saying the same things at different experiences with this guy. So looking more into people that knew Felix, police got some wind of something else that they didn't know. Felix had a neighbor friend. The guy's name was Matthew Wells, and he told police that around late July of twenty thirteen, he knew that Felix had gotten a new gun, and this was just days before the Petits murders, and specifically he was able to describe the gun. He said it was a Western style twenty two revolver with a pearl grip, and he said Felix had been practicing with it. And what was kind of weird was that like he was practicing from a variety of positions. He did it standing, taking a knee, and even lying prone on his stomach with this gun. That weapon was never found during any searches of his of Felix's home. But it just so happened that the bullets that Brandon had admitted to giving to Felix right before the murders, those were for a twenty two forensics you know, can never be compared to the casings or with the weapon because the weapon was

1:05:11 never found. But come on, guys, seven casings found of the same caliber bullets given to Felix by the victim's son of whom was shot seven times. Like y'all know, I don't believe in coincidences. How do you feel about it right now? While the physical evidence really only linked Felix, the circumstantial was really piling up against Brandon. So as thinkers, you know, the question obviously becomes can an autistic person consciously develop intent and understand outcomes with regard to criminality? And this had be really curious. I'm serious, y'all, Just as a thinker, I really wanted to I weighed this heavily, so I did as I do, and I did a little bit more research and what I find. I'm gonna summarize it for you in brief, but I really want you to think about this as a listener. Off the top, most people with autism spectrum disorder do not commit crimes, generally great people. This disorder, however, does impact a person's individual reasoning process. And the key here would be intent and potential gain from the criminal act. Could he have done this? So intent and criminal intent with regard to autism, it changes a little bit. And I'm gonna give you a weird example here, but just to make the point.

1:06:39 If there was a dog that was barking and wouldn't stop and it was annoying someone who had this high level functioning autism. Okay, and again this is not everybody with autism. Just in this instance I'm giving you if that person has intelligence, right, they're smart, they want the dog to stop barking. They know vocal cords are how dogs make noise. So the person might think and white and say, I want the dog to stop barking. So if I cut the vocal cords, that will accomplish the goal. That I want. Okay, that's intent, but the suffering of that animal may not even cross the minds or the consideration of the person on the spectrum. And the suffering is what, to me would make it even more criminal, right, because you're doing something criminal and then the suffering is what makes it just just over the top. But this is where it gets muddy, guys, and I hope you can follow what I'm saying here. It gets really muddy because police believe Brandon was absolutely the mastermind of his parents murders and his motive was his inheritance. But based on what we're just talking about, could they convince a jury of the same. Well, this would be something that they were going to find out soon enough, because Brandon Pettitt was arrested and charged for the murder of his parents.

1:07:54 So initially Brandon and Felix were supposed to be tried together, but it would take nearly seven years before Brandon would have his day in court, and there would be multiple continuances, multiple delays for a million other different reasons. But then something would happen so big that this would then become a public issue. Felix would be found by a judge to be incompetent to stand trial. So while medical records in this situation are not going to be public, okay, I can't tell you what happened that would cause him to be found incompetent, but where he was sent tells me that there was not an intelligence issue as to his incompetence. Okay, So what I'm saying is the judge sent him off to a state mental health hospital. So it's probably and this is my opinion, this is not something I'm stating his fact, but it's more possible to me that he maybe had a mental break down of sorts.

1:09:01 It's not he was incompetent to stand trial based on intelligence. And I'm going to explain. Okay, So if he was sent to a psychiatric hospital, and per documentation, it says quote until competency could be restored end quote. What I'm saying here is that if competency can be restored, then it's not a permanent issue like an IQ deficet or something like that. Obviously this is just a guess, but there was something that I found in my research that makes me believe this, because one witness said something during the investigation that would probably support a breakdown happening with Felix because this person said they saw Felix right after the murders. I believe it was in a bar and he was completely and totally disheveled. And this person did not know Felix to drink in like excess, but he was chugging alcohol. He was sweating profusely, so much so the witness said that his glasses were even fogging up.

1:09:57 And so this person went up to Felix and was like, hey, man, are you okay. You don't look all right. You look like you're struggling. And he was like, I'm fine, it's a kidney stone. I don't know, man, Would you just take up excessively drinking because you have a kidney stone? That seems kind of weird of a It seems more like you would take up drinking whenever you may have murdered two people and you're realizing, holy crap, this is what I've done. So again, I don't believe in coincidences, but you can decide what you think there. Eventually, I'll let you know that Felix would be back to competency standards. But when Brandon went on trial, which was in September, first of twenty twenty. Felix at that time was still not considered competent, and so he was not available to testify for either side of the case. He couldn't testify for the prosecution or the defense. The thing was, even without the hitman available to speak, Brandon's own statements, combined with his actions, we're going to be really hard to defend, even without the hitman pointing the finger at him. Case in point, Brandon claimed to not know Felix right until he later on would admit that they were friends. Brandon said he didn't have any clue how Felix could possibly have gotten into his parents' house, but then later in that recorded interview, would be heard saying that he admitted he gave the keys to Felix, and then when he was asked to expand on that, Brandon said that Felix was quote just supposed to scare his parents end quote

1:11:27 proof for me that there had been a discussion. So after his parents' memorial service, that's when he then drove to Felix's house and gave him one hundred dollars and police believed prosecutors believed too, that that was a down payment until the rest of the money would come in. Another friend would come testify at the trial too, named Arlen Traster. Brandon had told him that he wanted to quote unquote off his parents because they were being quote unquote dix and they had money. And he also said that Brandon told him that Brandon had given someone five hundred dollars as a down payment to kill his parents.

1:12:11 Another witness Korin Cazares. She testified that in June of twenty thirteen, Brandon told her boyfriend that he was about to come into a large sum of money in a couple of months, and he was interested in buying her boyfriend's vehicle. Brandon gave the bullets to Felix. Brandon gave the keys to Felix. Brandon called Felix after he arrived at work the night of the murders, and something huge that stood out to me and I could not get over was the fact that Brandon never asked the police how his parents were murdered, not once, and towards the end, the police eventually confronted him with that, you know, you've never asked us what happened to your parents. Don't you think that's kind of odd? And he told him Oh, I just don't want to know. What he did want to know, though, was what his insurance payout would have been from his parents' life insurance, which he was found would be a million dollars, as well as wanting information so that he could sell his father's most prized possessions within days of his murder. With all of this and more brought before a jury, after one and a half days of deliberations, the jury came back with a guilty verdict for Brandon Pettitt and he was sentenced to two life sentences without the possibility of parole. Eventually, Felix Valverde's competency would be restored and so he would be scheduled

1:13:42 to start go to trial, But in February of twenty twenty three, he decided to take a plea deal. He pled no contest to two counts of first degree murder and arson as part of that deal, and he was facing a sentence of thirty three years. So in the end, based on what you now know, the face of the killer wasn't some stranger in the shadows, was it. It's the person that was sitting at the dinner table right next to the victims, the one who knew their routines, the locks, and exactly how much trust was sitting there in the parents' home, just waiting to be weaponized. The least expected person, but clearly the most prepared. Because capability doesn't always have to look impressive. Sometimes it looks underestimated, and it gets the benefit of the doubt made behind lowered expectations. And then when people who love that person beyond words are firmly saying he couldn't possibly have done it, he's not capable, the evidence in this case has shown that quietly and methodically, he absolutely could, and he did.

1:15:10 Those so called shortcomings they weren't barriers, and in this case they were camouflage, a built in alibi, wrapped an assumption, letting him move right under everyone's noses. But the truth always has a way of showing up, even when it's sad, or it's ugly, or at the jumpet may feel unfair in a way. So no, Brandon wasn't the least likely. He was the only one whose society continues to educate us on that he isn't less, he is just different, and in this case that's exactly right. The real surprise when it was all said and done. Wasn't that he was able to do it. It was that everyone around him was naive enough to think that he wouldn't m