Death In The Desert - Congress, Arizona

Summary

Small Town Murder: "Death In The Desert – Congress, Arizona"
Podcast Hosts: James Pietragallo & Jimmie Whisman
Episode Date: July 31, 2026

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Episode Overview

In this episode of Small Town Murder, James and Jimmie dive into a grim and bizarre 1995 murder in the tiny town of Congress, Arizona—a place so forgotten, even lifelong Arizonans barely know it exists. Through equal parts deep research, dark humor, and incredulous commentary, the hosts explore the murder of 84-year-old Frida Brown by drifter Philip Allen Bucharski. Along the way, they paint a vivid picture of a town in decline, delve into the traumatic upbringing of the murderer, and highlight the failings (and farce) of both law enforcement and the justice system in rural America.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

Introduction to Congress, Arizona

• Town Background (05:00–10:00)

  • Congress is described as an “even more secluded than Wickenburg,” tiny central Arizona town with around 1,548 residents.
  • "Imagine needing to be more secluded than Wickenburg, Arizona... This is an hour 25 to Phoenix. About an hour to Prescott, the other way." — James (05:21)
  • The town is mainly known for having little to do, a sad crafts/farmers market, and depressing rock formations like Frog Rock and Skull Rock.
  • Online reviews highlight rundown trailers, searing heat, virtually no amenities except Dollar General, and police labeled as “worthless.”

• Demographics & History (06:00–08:00)

  • Median home cost: $320,000 (“way too much to live in the middle of the goddamn desert”).
  • Once a mining town (Congress Mine—struck gold in 1884, boom until the 1930s) before long decline.

The Victim: Frida Brown

• Profile of Frida Brown (12:31–13:10)
  • 84 years old, owner of Copper Basin Riding Stable, beloved local “old lady” with children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren.
  • Winters spent living out of a trailer outside Congress with her animals (cats and a dog), returning to her house in summer.

The Perpetrator: Philip Allen Bucharski

• A Childhood of Nightmares (14:00–24:00)
  • Bucharski’s upbringing is described in excruciating detail—abandoned by a violent, alcoholic father (who once kidnapped two state troopers at gunpoint) and abused by a severely alcoholic, neglectful mother.
  • Both James and Jimmie react with a mix of disgust and incredulity to stories of starvation (“They lived with a biker gang!”), sexual abuse by family, and sustained foster care trauma.
  • Early, severe alcoholism: started drinking at 10, blackouts by teenage years.

"These children were the most seriously neglected children I have placed in a long time... They were like, 'Wait, we can eat this and still have food for the morning?'" — James, quoting a caseworker (18:30)

• Adult Life

  • Became a “drifter” (moved to Arizona with another transient, Frank Sukas).
  • Lived in a tent in the desert.
  • Did odd jobs, mostly “freeloading.”

• Connection to the Victim

  • Met Frida through Frank Sukas; was paid to drive her on errands as she didn’t drive due to poor eyesight and arthritis.
  • Described as generally helpful, and their interaction seemed non-threatening initially.

Events Leading Up to the Murder

• The Last Days (27:00–38:00)

  • In May 1995, the transient group is living off food banks and handouts in the desert—Frida’s camp is positioned nearby.
  • Bucharski is given a KA-BAR knife (his “pride and joy”).
  • On May 10, after a day of heavy drinking with Sukas, Bucharski is described as “three sheets to the wind.”

• Disturbing Conversations

  • Bucharski makes several cryptic remarks about “offering to get rid of Frida” since she always complained about her ailments.
  • "Maybe I should offer to get rid of Frida on account of her arthritis...She might just want to die." — James, recounting Bucharski’s comments (29:00)
  • Most friends brush it off as drunken hyperbole.

The Murder

• Killing & Immediate Aftermath (40:36–45:00)

  • Frida is found dead in her trailer, covered but decomposing; an inept sheriff’s deputy presumes "natural causes"—even as he notes blood and major trauma.
  • "The cats were eating her face... that was, this guy just took a look and he was like, oh, the kittens must have been eating her." — James (42:08)
  • He immediately releases the trailer and all property to Frida's friends before an actual autopsy.

• Autopsy Findings (45:10–47:00)

  • Over 24 overlapping knife wounds to Frida's head (all on the left side of her face); one wound instantly fatal.
  • Crime scene is compromised: friends disinfect and empty the trailer before investigators realize it was a homicide.

“If he does not cop to this, they have nothing on him other than he told a guy that he did it.” — Jimmie (55:14)

Investigation and Arrest

• Investigation Fumbles & Confession (47:10–51:00)
  • Police find some circumstantial evidence (burned clothing) but little direct evidence due to the bungled initial response.
  • Bucharski confesses to stabbing Frida, initially claiming only two stabs in a “snap” over her “animal neglect,” trying to stage it as a robbery after the fact.
  • "Where there is injustice for canines, I'll be there. I will kill an old lady in a heartbeat if a dog gets wrapped around a tree." — James, mocking Bucharski’s justification (49:25)

The Criminal Trial

• Jail Violence (51:00–54:30)

  • While in jail, Bucharski leads an attack on another prisoner over perceived “snitching”—used as aggravating evidence at sentencing.

• Trial Details (55:00–59:00)

  • Multiple witnesses confirm Bucharski was heavily intoxicated the night of the murder.
  • Defense tries for a “diminished capacity” claim based on intoxication and traumatic upbringing; prosecution counters these points, highlighting his calculated actions to cover the crime.
  • Found guilty of first-degree murder and burglary; initially sentenced to death.

• Sentencing Appeals (59:01–74:00)

  • Death penalty is reversed on appeal due to inadequate defense funding.
  • New sentencing proceedings focus on aggravating (brutality, jail assault, lack of remorse) and mitigating factors (trauma, alcoholism, remorseful letters).
  • Eventually, sentence is commuted to life without parole.

"You sir may fuck off. Death penalty...They found aggravators and not really anything on the mitigators except for a bad childhood, which they said, tough shit." — James (67:46)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “If you're such a filthy scumbag that when you shower, everybody notices.” — James (34:20)
• “The police never find the shoes or shorts... but when they search the campsite, they discover a Levi's button and three eyelets in the campfire. So he burned a shirt, burned the pants.” — James (45:48)
• "The cop was such an idiot. He couldn't tell a decomposing body with knife wounds from kitten bites." — James (73:08)
• “Sedona people are going to jury duty... The Supreme Court of the United States also issued a decision that the judge, a jury rather than a judge, must determine if a criminal defendant deserves the death penalty as well." — Jimmie and James on systemic bias and appeal reasoning (70:47–72:00)

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Timestamps for Important Segments

• [05:00–10:00] — Setting the scene: Congress, Arizona, demographics, reviews, and history
• [14:00–24:00] — The tragic biography of Philip Bucharski
• [27:00–38:00] — Frida’s routine, the community of desert drifters, drifting toward disaster
• [40:36–45:00] — Discovery of the body, initial law enforcement failures
• [45:10–47:00] — Autopsy reveals brutality; property and evidence destruction
• [47:10–51:00] — Investigation details, confession, crime scene reconstruction
• [54:31–58:00] — Jailhouse assault, trial, and arguments over intent and intoxication
• [59:01–67:00] — Sentencing, mitigation, appeals process, and social commentary

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Tone & Style Highlights

• Language: Blunt, candid, and unfiltered with vivid, often darkly comedic asides.
• Humor: Frequent irreverent riffs on small town life, criminal justice incompetence, and the sheer absurdity of human behavior (“ever seen a five-pocket shirt?”).
• Empathy: Clear condemnation of the murderer’s actions while recognizing, without excusing, the roots of trauma and cycles of abuse.

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Summary Takeaways

This episode is a classic example of Small Town Murder’s ability to blend true crime with social satire and shocking detail, exposing how rural poverty, trauma, and inadequate policing create fertile ground for tragedy. The Frida Brown case is both a critique of systemic neglect (for both the victim and perpetrator), and a cautionary tale about the failures that can emerge when a town lets itself fade into obscurity and dysfunction.

The case receives limited attention outside this podcast—a point James and Jimmie are keen to highlight. Their comedic touch does little to diminish the horror, instead offering listeners some catharsis as they process a story where every system (family, society, law enforcement) seems to have failed.

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Listen If You Want…

• To hear how communities on the margins implode.
• To learn about a murder that’s almost been forgotten.
• For sharp, sometimes savage banter between two hosts who confront tragedy with unflinching candor and wit.

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End of Summary

Transcript

[A]

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[B]

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[C]

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[C]

1-800-contacts. Hello, everybody, and welcome back to Small Town Murder Express.

[B]

Yay. And choo choo.

[C]

Yay indeed, Jimmy. Yay indeed. My name is James Petregallo. I'm here with my co host.

[B]

I'm Jimmy Wissman.

[C]

Thank you folks so much for joining us today on another absolutely crazy edition of Small Town Murder Express. As they always are, as we know. Crazy story told in just an hour. So we're gonna do this and we got a whole a wild one for you in the weird middle of nowhere, Arizona. It's gonna be a fun one. Can't wait for it. Before we get to that though, head over to shutupandgivemerder.com. get your tickets for live shows, everybody. Let's do it. They are coming up here in September, so We're almost there. September 18th at the Pabst Theater in Milwaukee. It's one of the nicest theaters in the country, so get your tickets. Only a few tickets left for that one, so you want to grab those. Then the next night, September 19th at the State Theater in Minneapolis will be there.

[B]

The rivals, the Pabst.

[C]

It's beautiful again. Beautif place, great town. Can't wait for that one. So get your tickets for that. Then also in October, we're in Dallas on the 3rd, in San Jose on the 16th, Sacramento on the 17th, and then in November, Tarrytown on the 13th and Boston on the 14th. Shut up and give me murder.com get your tickets, come out, laugh, have a good time and hear a crazy murder story. We can't wait. So do that. Also listen to our other shows, crime in sports, which we promise. You don't have to like sports. You just have to like hearing an idiot fall from grace when they didn't have to. That's all it is. And then also definitely listen to your stupid opinions where you can hear all sorts of people's opinions about things you don't care about from people you don't care about also. So that's also fun. Get in there, do that. Get yourself Patreon though. That's the important thing. That's huge. Patreon.com CrimeInSports Just like the name of that show and what you get there is anybody $5 a month or above. You get everything. We put out everything. As soon as subscribe, you're going to get almost 400 bonus episodes that you have never heard before. They're immediately on your feed and you can binge those and then you get new ones every other week. One crime in sports, one small town murder. This week is no different. This week for crime and sports, we are going to talk about death on skis. Outstanding sports, skiing accidents. It's the craziest sport I've ever heard of. I don't know why anybody would do this. Doesn't matter. Death on skis, everybody. Let's do it. And then small town murder. It's love. After lockup time, it is that. Oh my God, glorious time again. Goes hand in hand with the prisoner dating game. You can see what happens if you actually play that game for real. And it's scary. So get in there and do that. Patreon.com CrimeInSports in addition to all of the material you get, you also get everything we put out. Crime in sports, your stupid opinions, both small town murders all ad free with your Patreon as well. Ad free. And then on top of that, you get a shout out at the end of the regular show. You can't beat it. Get it? Patreon.com crimeinsports that said, I think it's time everybody. What do you say? Sit back here, clear the lungs. There we go. Arms to the sky. Let's all shout. Shut up. Give me murder. Let's do this, everybody. All right. We're going to Arizona.

[B]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[C]

It's only 114 degrees. Sounds great. Let's go. Brutal. This is Congress Arizona, which it's not even that far from Phoenix. I lived in Phoenix for 24 years. Never heard of this place.

[B]

Well, you drove through it if you went to Vegas.

[C]

Yeah, I must have then because you go Wickenburg that way. So.

[B]

Yeah, it must have been just outside of Wickenburg. It's between Wickenburg and Yarnell.

[C]

Didn't even notice it. That's how shitty it is. It's tiny and it's central Arizona.

[B]

Imagine needing to be more secluded than Wickenburg, Arizona, which is.

[C]

Everybody out there know where Wickenburg is. Exactly. You don't. This is an hour 25 to Phoenix. About an hour to Prescott, the other way. And three hours to Oro Valley, Arizona. Our last Arizona episode, episode 678, birthday murder present, which was a fun one. This is in Yavapai county. Area code 928. As you know, all of that up there is 928. Population here is 1548, which I was shocked it was that many. I was floored. I mean, that's the whole zip code that Congress is in. So that encompasses the town and the squatters in the desert around it. And people in a weird trailer out with no power.

[B]

That doesn't cover your.

[C]

No, I don't think it does. No, I don't think that's separate. Median household income here, 55,104, which is below the national average by about 15,000. And median home cost in Harris, Phoenix, it's really shot up the median home cost Here it is $320,000, which what seems like way too much to live in the middle of the goddamn desert because that's exactly where you are.

[B]

I don't think there's new homes out there.

[C]

I don't know.

[B]

The fuck are they paying 300 grand for?

[C]

I don't know. On Sperling's best places, which does all the rankings and the statistics and everything. They have it. In the state of Arizona, this town is ranked 1437th for places to live. I didn't even know there was 1400 towns in Arizona. I had no idea. Just in the state of Arizona, it's 1437.

[B]

That probably includes 30 different locations in Phoenix.

[C]

Oh, yeah, 10 or 15.

[B]

Tucson, 10 or 15. And Flagstaff. And they still are 1400.

[C]

Still goddamn 1400. So that's ridiculous. So history of this town prospecting began. That's how this started. This whole area. I believe that in the 1860s in what was then known as the Date Creek Mining district. I guess it's now known as the Martinez district. So there was early activity, but they were there for 20 years before they found The Congress mine with the gold in it, which was the important one. They were digging around, picking out whatever copper or silver. And then gold was discovered in 1884.

[B]

That's the Martinez mine.

[C]

Yeah, that's the Martinez Mine. That's the Congress mine. Yeah. Not the Martinez mine. By 1893, the Santa Fe, Prescott and Phoenix Railway passed within three miles of the mine to pick up the ore there. So then Congress boomed and became a big boom town. Just like Tombstone or any of these other towns. Until the mid-1930s when the mines closed. And then people realized there is no other goddamn reason on earth to be here other than mining.

[B]

That's fascinating.

[C]

Absolutely. Here's some reviews of this town. Let's find out what other people think. Because we drive through it going 85 miles an hour and have no idea anything about it. Because you already have gas from Phoenix. There's no reason to stop here. Here is four stars. Yeah. Living downtown is an adventure to say the least. Downtown?

[B]

How dare you.

[C]

What is there three buildings? It's fucking downtown.

[B]

What are you talking about? Downtown Wickenburg is a joke.

[C]

Wow. Yeah. The downsides. Noise, transient population, drunk idiots are easily outweighed by the ease of access to everything happening, which is nothing, pretty much.

[B]

By the way, this is written about somewhere else.

[C]

Everywhere we want to go and want to do, it's about Congress, apparently. Current residents.

[B]

Wow.

[C]

And finally, one star. A horrible place to live. Exclamation point. I think a lot of people here are rude and crazy. Double exclamation point.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

Some nice neighborhoods, but too many rundown and junky trailers and homes. Weather in the summer is scorching hot. All caps. Lots of crime, Police are worthless. No amenities except for Dollar General and gas station. Wow, that is depressing. Not good things to do in this town.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

Oh, man. Here it is. This is not a lot. Let's just say drive to Phoenix is things to do in this town. Probably keep going to Vegas. This is Frog Rock.

[B]

What?

[C]

Frog Rock. A natural granite boulder shaped like a frog.

[B]

Yes.

[C]

Sitting right along Highway 89 just outside town as you head toward Prescott. I do know that I've heard of that one. The old Congress Pioneer Cemetery, which is just an old. The mining town cemetery. Whoever got off the side of the road, whoever got exploded in the mine is buried there. And then Skull Rock, which is a painted skull on a desert rock face. So there we go. And also there's the Congress Arizona Crafters and Farmers Market, which is a monthly event where they all get together, crawl out from their holes in the dirt and their fifth wheels. And they fucking trade wares with each other, I guess. Here they raise funds for charity. They showcase their handmade and homegrown products. Tables full of shit, essentially. Here. The event takes place on the first Saturday of the month from October to April in the lot next to the depot in Congress, Arizona. In the lot? In the lot next to the depot and offers a fun and family friendly atmosphere for both locals and visitors. Yeah, everyone's gonna swarm to that. And I found under the Facebook post for it, someone asking, quote, who makes goat milk soap for Congress? Az market. Who out there's got goat milk soap? Anybody? Market season will be here before you know it. And I'm looking for someone who makes goat milk soap and items like that. If you know of someone, message me. Currently still have enough bakers, but there may be a slot opening. Oh, boy. Okay. Whoa. All right. That said, let's talk about. Nope, not even just a goat milk soap in my area. Near me. Goat milk soap near me. Let's talk about some murder. What do you say here? All right, let's go back in time a bit. 1995, mid-90s. All right, here we go. April of 1995. Jesus. Ace of Bass is ripping up the charts. It's a. Yeah, it's a crazy time, man. Everything? Not yet. No. They're. They're like. They're like 12 still. All the Wu Tang solo albums come out that year. It's good stuff. All right, so April of 1995, let's talk about a lady, Frida Brown. F R E E D A Frida. Oh, Freda Brown's an 84 year old woman. She lives in Congress and she owns the Copper Basin riding stable. Oh, okay. Yeah, so she's got that. She's born in Denver. She has a daughter named June. She has three grandchildren and seven great grandchildren.

[B]

God damn.

[C]

She's living her old lady life. What she would do is during the winter, she travels to the desert and lives in a trailer in the desert.

[B]

In Congress or outside of.

[C]

Outside of Congress. I have no idea why she does this. She has a house.

[B]

That's a very popular thing that people do.

[C]

She stays in the summer in the house, I guess, for ac. But then in the winter comes. She lives outside, basically. Not outside, but in a trailer, which I don't understand why you'd have a house and go, oh, time to move into the trailer for a while.

[B]

There's a lot of old people that do this shit.

[C]

So weird. I could see people. I'm gonna Go move my trailer to Oregon or something. But outside the town you live in. It makes no sense.

[B]

Yeah, these people go to like Quartzsite and there's another town out there that it grows huge because of a bunch of people that bring their trailers down there.

[C]

That's so fucking weird. I don't understand it. So anyway, she travels out there and during the winter and camps out with her animals with her trailer and all that shit. Now, soon after she arrived, she was introduced to a man named Philip Allen Bucharski. B O C H A R S K I Philip Allen bucharski. He's born February 22, 1962. So he's in his mid-30s at this point. Now, I guess she needs help. She's 84. She can't do everything. And she doesn't drive, I don't think either. So that's another thing. So she was introduced to Philip Bucharski and paid him on numerous occasions to drive her to do errands or cash checks in Wickenburg and go to the stores in Wickenburg. So he'd drive her to Wickenburg and back and they would. And she would give him a few bucks. Basically, that's how it worked. Now, this November of 1994, so five, six months earlier is when Philip kind of blew into town here. He left Michigan where his family was living. And we'll find out leaving his family is not much of a sacrifice.

[B]

Not difficult, huh?

[C]

No, it's a mess. Yeah. He left Michigan and traveled to Arizona with an acquaintance named Frank Sukis. S U K I S they came out together. Now, Frank, Philip is fucked up. Philip's got problems. So in his family, it's. Both families have problems with alcohol, with violence. His father was crazy, first of all, by the way. His father never was around and actually left shortly after his birth and denied that he's his son. So his father won't even admit that he's his son. His father at one point threatened to shoot his own mother in front of others at another point. And I don't know how he did this, by the way. This is kind of impressive. He kidnapped and held at gunpoint. Two on duty state troopers.

[B]

The cops.

[C]

I don't know how you kidnapped two state troopers.

[B]

He kidnapped the cops.

[C]

I don't get how you do it with two.

[B]

I didn't know that was an option.

[C]

Well, you point the gun at one of them and then the other one takes a gun out. Like, what are we doing here? What the hell? You got to be mighty Convincing.

[B]

That's a big gun.

[C]

That's a big gun. And her parents. His mother said that her parents beat her and that she was molested by all of her brothers while she was young, resulting in a pregnancy, a teenage pregnancy, incest. Pregnancy from rape from one of her brothers and attempted suicide. Severe alcohol abuse. Both parents of Philip are severe alcoholics. Dad with the state troopers. You got to be drunk to think that's going to work. You know what I mean?

[B]

This life makes Congress, Arizona, seem appealing.

[C]

Right? This would make you run to live in a trailer in the desert. You'd be happy to. People say that the mother frequently inflicted violence on the children and was really, really, really extra neglectful. Just terrible. Philip's sister said that the mother would leave them alone for days without food. She'd just leave for days and leave the little kids alone without food. And would constantly bring home new sexual partners.

[B]

Yeah. Yeah.

[C]

This is quite the life, man.

[B]

Why not?

[C]

What the hell? They have no food anyway. Did the guys bring food? If they brought food, did you bring some clown dog? Yeah, if you bring some clown dog, you can come. Neighbors reported seeing Philip and his sister rummaging through garbage cans looking for food during the winter in New York when they lived there for a couple years.

[B]

Oh, God.

[C]

For a time, they lived. This is crazy. For a time, the children lived with a motorcycle gang in New York. Hell, yeah. So from the dumpsters to some biker gang where him and his sister were exposed to filthy living, you know, bikers and.

[B]

I can't imagine.

[C]

And drugs and sex and this is during the 60s and early. This is like Hell's Angels. Hunter Thompson, Charger. Charlie the Child molester. Fucking times of biker gangs. This is crazy shit. A Children's Services Division caseworker in New York filed a petition charging Bucharski's mother with neglect of her children in that she failed to provide food, education, and medical care, although financially able to do so. Just didn't care about her kids.

[B]

She could and just wouldn't.

[C]

Just didn't give a shit. Didn't care to. Had other shit to do. This petition resulted in Philip and his sister being placed in foster care for a second time. Okay, and then it gets worse. By the way, that's the good part of his life.

[B]

That's cheery times.

[C]

This is when he thinks back and goes, man, remember the good times. That's living in a biker gang's clubhouse and rubbishing through garbage cans. Okay? Now considering whether to return the children to their mother, you know, after the whole deal, there okay, this is crazy. The caseworker said, quote, these children were the most seriously neglected children I have placed in a long time. I still have some pangs of conscience for not letting these or for letting these children suffer the emotional stress of drinking, fighting, poor supervision, and open immoral conduct for as long as I did before I acted. Besides this, these children were really hungry. And it was an amazement to them when they were first placed with the foster family that they could have all they wanted to eat at night and still have food for the morning. They were like, what a gal. They were like, we can eat this, but then we won't have any food tomorrow. And they're like, no, no, no, we're going to make breakfast too. And they were like, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. I get a pork chop, then I

[B]

get lucky Charged this Nanner.

[A]

Yeah.

[C]

Like, they're like, I don't understand how this fucking works at all.

[B]

There's plenty of food in the morning, too.

[C]

There's food for everything. So they lived in foster care for about two years and then were returned to their mother. Why? Let's pull you out of this safe environment where you're fed and clothed.

[B]

It's going great.

[C]

It's going fine. And put you back with your mother who doesn't give a shit. Now, his sister, Philip's sister Carol Ann, said that their mother, Mary Rose, beat Philip frequently. She said, quote, she'd cuff him in the head, use boards on him. She used electric cords. She used Hot Wheels, racetracks, which is old school fucking.

[B]

It's a common hillbilly children rearing.

[C]

Yeah, well, Eddie Murphy talked about it in Raw. That was the Hot Wheel track. Whoop your ass with that thing. Belts, mirrors, brushes. She said just whatever object was around close enough.

[B]

Glass hand mirror, take it off the

[C]

fucking armoire and hit him with it. She also said that his uncle, Philip's uncle, who lived with them for a time, quote, beat Philip frequently and was always picking on Philip and smacking him around. This is before the age of 12. Age 12, the family moved in with his mother's cousin. Now, according to the mom, Mary Rose, her cousin, a convicted child molester, because that's who you bring your kids to live with, later admitted that he sexually molested Philip as well. When he was a young teenager, now 13, 14, his mother sent him to live with Chuck Below was his name. Just like Below ground, like that.

[B]

Chuck Below.

[C]

Chuck Below. And even accepted money from Below to allow her son to go live with him. Why do you think that happened? Well, Philip lived and Traveled with old uncle Chuck, who was a long distance trucker and basically below, who later on will be serving a 50 year sentence for multiple child molestation convictions. 50 years? 50 years. When they talked to him in prison, he admitted that he beat Philip often and forcibly raped him for years.

[B]

Yeah, and he can admit that because he's already admitted he has 50 years. He's done way worse than that.

[C]

And the statute of limitations is over on that. That by then.

[B]

Well, there's that too.

[C]

I'm sure he's already been convicted of a shitload. He's got no other. He's not like, I don't want this person to think I'm a scumbag. It's already over.

[B]

We know he's got 50 years of penalty for child molestation. That's a long time.

[C]

What a piece of shit. Well, good. I'm glad he's got 50 years. Fuck that guy. So the evidence later on also says that Philip suffered extreme mental, physical and sexual abuse by basically everybody he came in contact with besides that foster family and the social worker. He was exposed to alcohol at a very young age. Started drinking at 10. You know, the pressures of the fifth grade really get to you get down with some like a slow gin fizz after the day, you know, he liked it classy.

[B]

Let's try on some Johnny Walker after the multiplication table.

[C]

But he didn't fuck with like that red label or black label though you had to get him at least the green, the 15. He's real. He's discerning something nice to go with the social scene. So nice. He began drinking alcohol at 10 and then increased until he was drinking basically regularly, like every day. By 16. His later wife described him as a serious alcoholic who drinks until he blacks out.

[B]

Oh, he does that too.

[C]

Not passes out. No, blacks out meaning I don't know what the fuck I did for hours.

[B]

That's when your body goes on autopilot and do the worst things that it can do.

[C]

And usually just from what I've read, usually that only happens to alcoholics. Like if you have that set up in your system to be an alcoholic, that's that like, wow, I'm not like an alcoholic. So if I drank enough, I'd fall asleep. I wouldn't black out. I just, I'd throw up and fall asleep. That's all I would do. That's what normal people do.

[B]

I mean, I fucking drink heavy, but I don't do it every day. So I'm able. I've never blacked out ever in My life.

[C]

That's. There you go. That's good. That's a good sign.

[B]

I've always been terrified of people that do.

[C]

Gets scary. That's. I don't remember what I did. Like, whoa. So Philip marries in his early 20s and has three children. Perfect. Let's continue the cycle. But eventually his alcohol abuse destroys this relationship. In spring of 1988, after about five years of marriage, he and his wife separated. So that's Philip. That's the guy doing the old ladies errands and shit.

[B]

That's the guy that's helping.

[C]

That's the helper. Yeah. So when someone says, sure, I'll give you a ride here, I'll do whatever, you have no idea who that person is. It's a bad guy. Or at least someone from a troubled background. You know what I mean? That doesn't make you a bad guy, but it could make you. This guy is a bad guy. That's the problem.

[B]

Certainly.

[C]

So Frank Sukas, by the way, initially Philip and Frank lived together when they get to Congress. But after a few months, that is when Philip moved to Congress and set up a tent where he lived alone in the desert. A tent. Nice moves. And that's where he meets the old lady and all that. Now Christmas of 94, before she even arrived, Frida even got there, Frank Sukas gave Philip a KA Bar knife for Christmas, which is like a common style knife.

[B]

Those are the big. Those have become very popular. Common knowledge now. Thanks to Moscow.

[C]

Yep. Thanks to Coburger. That's what he was wearing. It's a combat knife. Basically it's a military knife. Military knife, yeah. And this was described by Philip as, quote, his pride and joy.

[B]

He loves it.

[C]

A knife that his other, you know, drifter friend gave him.

[B]

Not my children.

[C]

No. He has three kids. Three. Pride and joy. Always seen with it. That is his jam. Now how do they live? That's a good question here. How do they survive these guys to eat?

[B]

What are they doing for money?

[C]

Well, Sukhas lives on a disability pension, so he's got a check coming in. Whereas Philip never has any money. He just doesn't have money. Once in a while he would do odd jobs or yard work and that kind of shit. But as Frank Sukas put it, he also did quote a lot of freeloading, as he put it. Some mooching, some bumming, some bumming around. So at Frank's suggestion, another guy here hires. I'm sorry. That's when the whole reason Philip started helping Frida was Frank suggested it. Why don't you need help? I got a guy who could use a couple of bucks. Maybe this is a good matchup.

[B]

There you go.

[C]

She has poor eyesight, arthritis. She's, like, partially blind. She's 84.

[B]

She needs so much help.

[C]

She needs a lot of help, so. And he often did help out Frida. And the two of them appeared to have a nice relationship. Probably the first adult he's ever encountered who hasn't tried to rape him. So, yeah.

[B]

Hasn't treated him as prey.

[C]

Exactly. So as an older person. So, April of 1995, this is when Frank Sukas moves to a location near Philip, just in the middle of the desert there. So now a little bit more about Frida. She has a campsite. Basically, she's between Philip and Frank. Her campsite's in the middle of those two.

[B]

She's sandwiched in between them.

[C]

Yeah, she's got a trailer, a truck, a dog, and a shitload of cats. What? Yeah. All in a trailer. That's weird as fuck.

[B]

Cats in the desert.

[C]

Cats and dogs in the desert. In the trailer. So when she first arrived, Frank Sucas sold her some gas. And he noted that she reached in the backseat of her truck and retrieved money to pay for the gas and from a plastic Ziploc bag with a little clutch purse inside of it.

[B]

The bank.

[C]

Her bank. Yeah. The money smelled of cat litter, he said, so he spent it to get rid of it as soon as possible to get other bills because he didn't want the cat litter smell in his pocket. May 10, 1995. Frank Sukas picks up Philip. His middle name is Alan, and I want to call him Alan. Picks up Philip at Philip's tent. The two of them see Frida polishing her truck. So she works. She does it.

[B]

She keeps her shit nice in the

[C]

desert, which five minutes later, covered in dust. Doesn't matter. Stupid thing to do. Polishing her truck so they don't stop to speak with her. Instead, Philip and Frank then drive to the local food bank and obtain three boxes of food. One box was for their friends, Richard Towell and Mary Beth Anglin, who lived in a remote campsite and had no transportation. You know, fucking. I don't even know what you call that.

[B]

Leaving themselves for dead.

[C]

Yeah, I don't know what you even call that. What do you call that? Stranded in the desert, I guess. I don't know. I mean, the fucking. The Donner party had the same thing going on. They were sitting there with no transportation.

[B]

Crossing your fingers for luck. What do you do? Wow.

[C]

So if they don't bring the food box, they eat each other. They just draw straws for who gets eaten first.

[B]

Or they die.

[C]

Or they die. Now Sukhas later said that while on the way to the campsite to give those two the food that Philip suggested that maybe he should offer to get rid of Frida on account of her arthritis. Maybe I should offer to kill her for. Maybe she wants to die. She might just want to die because of her arthritis. He says complain. Because she was complaining all the time. She was praying that God would take her out of her misery. So maybe I'll just do it.

[B]

Hyperbole. I do this every day.

[C]

You know how often I wish for death? Do you have any idea how often I wish for death? It is 15, 18 times a day. I'll count. I'll count tomorrow. It's a lot.

[B]

Too much salt in my food and I go fuck. I may as well just die.

[C]

Might as well just kill myself. That's it. Yeah. I'm telling you. Anything. I wish for death. So often we had technical problems before we started recording I wish for death 8, 10 times during the course of that. Anyway, so that's what he said. Now this guy just kind of ignored it as eh. He's talking out of his ass. Whatever. So Alan or Fakasy want to call him Alan Burcharsky travels with Sukhas to Richard Towell's camp where he consumes enough beer that he was pretty drunk when they got out of there by 4 or 5 in the afternoon.

[B]

Nice work.

[C]

Got it in. On the way back from the camp Frank and Philip stopped at the Arrowhead bar where he had, the way he put it later, a couple of bourbon and Cokes and a beer or two. Which means I had 14 drinks in my.

[B]

I had a lot to. You think that they're pouring a single at the Arrowhead in Congress?

[C]

A couple bourbon and Cokes and maybe a beer. You know that just sounds real light. It was more. So they drive to the bar. Now at the bar apparently Frank loaned Philip $10 so he could get a drink. And Philip said he needed to call a man in Wickenburg about a masonry job in Prescott for which he was to receive $500 in advance for. So Frank Sucas says that Philip appeared to make two attempts to call this guy, the guy with the job. Thereafter they discussed a hiding place for the money. When I get the 500, where am I going to put it? Can't leave it in my tent.

[B]

I got to squirrel this away.

[C]

That's the other part here, they have to act like they're like they just scored some gold from a train in the 1880s or something and hide it in the desert because they don't have a secure place to put anything. These people.

[B]

You got to bury this.

[C]

So, yeah, they're discussing it. Frank suggested how about a spot underneath a big rock by my TV antenna.

[B]

He literally is talking about burying.

[C]

Burying the money. Yeah. By the time they leave the bar, it said that Philip was three sheets to the wind. He's shit faced. Yeah. He didn't get $10 worth of drinks. He got a lot more than that. So Frank drives Philip back to the area where they were camped and drops him off down the road from his campsite. The next morning he's supposed to pick Philip up. And Frank Sukas is a little late picking him up. He meets Philip as Philip is walking toward him along the road like he's walking out to where the car would put in. Well, we'll get to showers in a minute here. As a result here, he just picked him up there. Didn't get all the way to the campsites, picked him up and then they drove out. Philip said that since they'd last seen each other, he'd gone back to town. Called the guy, had him drop the money off over at the library or quote in back of the library, underneath the propane tank.

[B]

I'll meet you under the propane.

[C]

What the fuck are you doing? Because Philip had no vehicle. So Frank takes him places. And the nearest phone was about a mile and a half away from the place last night. I dropped you off after the bar. Shit faced. You somehow got to a phone, got a hold of this guy and got him to bring you money before I got here in the morning. How the hell did you do that?

[B]

And meet me under the propane tank.

[C]

And meet me by the propane tank, which is the most romantic place to meet. When they get to the library. Philip returned some books and then went behind the building for five to 10 minutes. Oh, he reads. That's nice. He reappears with $500 and $50 bills wrapped in a piece of newspaper. Classy.

[B]

Gotta hide that.

[C]

Wow. He immediately gives Frank Sukas $150 to fix his truck. You need this for your truck. Okay. And he's driving him all over, so he better pay him. And then he bought some beer and some tobacco for a friend of his named Jerry Stanberry. By the way, according to Sukhas, this money does not smell of cat litter, by the way. Okay, so the two men then drove over to the Stanberry guy's house. A guy named Dwayne Staley was there also. Dwayne Staley said that Philip had his shirt and shoes off and looked like he had recently taken a shower, which was something of note for Philip. That's why when you said that, I was like, it's actually of note when he looks like he showered.

[B]

It's very important we understand that he was clean at this moment.

[C]

He was clean. And that's something that's noticeable by people who don't even see him very often. Oh, wow. He must have showered recently. Think about that. If you were such a filthy scumbag that when you showered, everybody noticed.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

So anyway, this Stanberry guy says that Philip told him that Frida Brown, they're just hanging out. And he says Frida Brown was feeling kind of blue and useless because she was crippled and couldn't get around very much anymore and she was planning on shooting herself.

[B]

Jesus.

[C]

So he said, crippled or had some arthritis, a little sore in the wrist from all that polishing, you know, wax all the way up, a little arthritic.

[B]

And they're calling her fucking useless.

[C]

Yeah, yeah. So. And he said that basically Philip said that he felt sorry for her, which this guy said they all did. But then he said that she might be better off if someone would, quote, knock the old biddy in the head.

[B]

Good Lord.

[C]

Jesus. According to Stanberry, Philip also said that he wanted to borrow money from Freda Brown because she wasn't paying him enough and she'd get angry if he kept on her about it. In addition, the Stanberry guy said that Philip indicated that Freda Brown kept money in a bag behind the truck seat in her pickup, as we know about. So from there, they go back to the campsite. After Stanberry's house, they drive from Stanberry's house to the Towel Anglin campsite. The people, the stranded people,

[B]

the forever campers.

[C]

Yeah, that's forever camping. According to Frank Sukas, Philip told him that the money he picked up wasn't actually for this job that he told him about. It was actually for, quote, a hit job in Prescott. So he said it's a hit job. Frank replies that, I don't believe you. I've been across the country with you. You're full of shit. I think. Are you drunk? After they get to the campsite, Frank and Anglin leave to get groceries, leaving Towel and Allen there by themselves. According to Towel Alan. Damn it. Philip was. Philip was, quote, in a very high pitch of Excitement and twitchy.

[B]

What is that?

[C]

Sounds like he's on meth. Sounds like he's got some meth from all that money he had. When this towel guy inquired, what's wrong? What up? You know what I mean. Why are you so twitchy?

[B]

What's the deal with your weird shit?

[C]

What's up with that? Philip said that he was, quote, in serious trouble because he had, quote, robbed and killed an old lady at her trailer in Congress. He explained. He said I was in a panic and needed money and needed food. He said that he got $500 from her and that no weapon or fingerprints would be found. So he should be fine. Everything's fine. It's 95. They're not thinking of DNA or anything yet. Finally, he asked this towel guy if Frank Sukhas, who he came all the way here with, could be trusted with a secret. Like, could I tell Frank about this?

[B]

Why are you. Why do you want to tell everybody?

[C]

And I guess this towel guy, you figure, who's he gonna tell? He lives in the goddamn desert with no transportation. I could tell him anything. He's, you know, whatever. Yeah. And he said that no towel said no and made a reference to Sukhas being an alcoholic. And you never know when he'll get drunk and start running his mouth.

[B]

Yeah, he may not even know that. He told. He blacks out.

[C]

And that's the other guy Sucas they're talking about. Can I tell Frank Sukas? And he said he's an alcoholic. I wouldn't tell him anything. So later that day, Philip asked towel to provide an alibi for him. And this guy said, no, I'm fucking giving you an alibi. I don't want to get involved in this. I moved out to the middle of the goddamn desert with no transportation. You want to know why? Avoiding shit like this.

[B]

That's why I'm daring the universe to take me.

[C]

Just take me away. I don't give a shit. Aliens, fucking anything. Coyotes, whatever comes, man, I don't give a shit.

[B]

Band of ants. Wolves don't say shit.

[C]

I don't know. A lost moose even. I don't care. He's down too far. He's angry now. When Such and Anglin returned to the campsite here, that's when Filip announced that he'd be staying at the campsite for a while. And if a man came looking for him about a job, Sukis should let that person know where he was. Because when I want to hire someone, I want to go searching the desert for them. That's How I look for my employees.

[B]

Hello. I don't know what address this Coleman tent is.

[C]

I'm not sure you could possibly help me out with that. So then Philip agreed to, or, I'm sorry, later gave Towell and Anglin $250 for the purchase.

[B]

He's damn near broke.

[C]

That's 500. I mean, he gave 150, some tobacco, this and that, 250 here for the purchase of food and drink. Towel said that Philip indicated this was part of the money he got when he killed the old lady. He said Towel said that he didn't fucking believe him. He was like, you didn't kill any fucking old lady and get money. Who knows where you stole it from? But whatever. So now, on his second night at camp, he just decided, I'm staying at your camp for a while. I'll be here. Oh, boy. Towel awoke to find Philip, quote, crying, setting on the side of the bed, setting on it.

[B]

Setting on the side of whose bed?

[C]

I guess there's a bed here. I don't know. Crying, he said. Then he said that he was, quote, in serious trouble. What was he gonna do? And he said he was worried about himself. Very worried about himself. So over the next few days, Dwayne Staley here, this guy from around, he drove up by Freda Brown's trailer a couple of times and on a third occasion of driving by, noticed that her dog was wound up around the tree. So it was tied to a thing and it was wound up. It wound itself up. Dogs don't know how to go backwards to get out of that.

[B]

Right? The dog is stuck.

[C]

They never do. So he knocked on the door of the trailer, got no response. So he unwound the dog. Then the next morning he found the dog all wound up again, did it again, and he's like, God damn it. So he became a little concerned about why she letting her dog do that all the time here. May 13, 1995. Now, this is three days after we started this whole narrative here. Frida hasn't been seen for a few days. No one's seen. So Staley and Frank Sukhas go to investigate where she is. Sukas pops open the trailer door and finds her in her bed just dead. Sitting there dead. Yeah, decomposing, by the way, pretty good, but just.

[B]

It's not good in there.

[C]

Dead in her bed, which she's 84. 84 year olds. You go, wow, look at you. You did it. You made it 84. You died in your sleep. Fucking congratulations. You know, that's great.

[B]

I Mean, what did you expect in a trailer in Congress?

[C]

That's what happens. So Staley goes back to his place and calls the sheriff. A sheriff patrol deputy for Yavapai county responds to the call. They enter the trailer. No signs of foul play, no break ins, nothing overturned or rummaged or anything like that. He removes the blanket that was covering Frida, and he said he found a body in a state of decomposition and noticed what he thought were she had a lot of blood on her face and all around her. And he said that was. The cats were eating her face.

[B]

Oh, God damn.

[C]

That was. This guy just took a look and he was like, oh, the kittens must have been eating her. Oh, this is bad.

[B]

That is the. They say it will happen.

[C]

Oh, yeah.

[B]

They get up, they say it.

[C]

Yep. They'll do it. Yeah. So the cop believed that she died of natural causes. Now, because this complete dipshit hick cop fucking comes in and says natural causes, he turns her trailer and property over to her friends, that she had notes all over the trailer saying that if anything happens to me, these people get all my shit. Right?

[B]

Okay.

[C]

So he just saw those, called those people up and were like, come get your trailer. And he's got all her shit, just turns it over to them. Doesn't look into it, doesn't keep it as a crime scene, doesn't do any of that. Just turns it over to their friends. This is the Hadlocks are the family. They come and get the trailer and they take it to Courtsite. Hey, there you go.

[B]

Fucking told you so.

[C]

Told you. They park it in courtsite on May 14. Now, also on May 14, while the trailer's being put in court site, the medical examiner examines Frida's body and in about two seconds says, this is not a natural death at all. There's injuries all over her. This is a murder.

[B]

Cats did not stab her like this.

[C]

No, that's the thing. And then. So now the next morning, the police called the Hadlocks and left them a message saying, don't do anything to the trailer. Don't touch anything. It's already compromised, guys. Once it pulls away, you have no idea what happened to it. It's compromised. So who gives a shit?

[B]

Too late.

[C]

By the time they received the message, they had already sprayed Lysol all over the trailer and emptied its contents into garbage bags. So everything that was in there is now completely disinfected and also empty. So there's no idea how to reconstruct anything.

[B]

We're still trying to get the decomp out of it. But as of now, it's covered in

[C]

lemon fresh, so good luck with that. Now, in a previous letter to Mrs. Hadlock, Freda Brown explained that she kept her money hidden inside her.38 holster underneath the bed inside the camper. She had looked Mrs. Hadlock and found $500 there. So she had $500 in there. On May 16, the police examined the trailer and its belongings. They do find blood in the trailer, and they test it, and it is Freda Brown's blood, which is what you'd expect. The same day, the sheriff executes a SWAT team raid on the Towel Anglin campsite. They're like, God, we just wanted to be left alone. That's all we wanted. Just leave us alone. And an officer asked Towell whether Philip Bucharski ever mentioned anything about an old lady in Congress. Towel said he was surprised because he didn't think it was true and said, yeah, he said he killed an old lady for 500 bucks. I can't believe it's true. He also told the police that Pecharski was wearing khaki shorts and tennis shoes on May 10th and then jeans and boots on May 11th. I have a feeling he doesn't change every day

[B]

when it's notable to an investigation that in two subsequent days you

[C]

have different clothes on and he showered also, and that's a big deal. So that's a lot to deal with, isn't it? The police never find the shoes or shorts, the tennis shoes or shorts. But when they search Becharski's campsite, they discover a Levi's button and three eyelets in the campfire. So he burned a shirt, burned the pants. I meant to say pants and said shirt.

[B]

It's a sweet shirt.

[C]

It's a sweet shirt, man. It's a sweet five pocket shirt you got there. Based on statements made by Frank Sukas and Towell, officers search around a mine and a nearby cemetery in hopes of finding the KA Bar knife, which was last seen by witnesses about three months ago. So it hasn't been around for a while. The knife is never located, by the way. Now, subsequent tests show that blood found on his belongings was his own. But two of his fingerprints were found on the door of the trailer that Frida lived in, but they could not be dated, and he's known to frequent there.

[B]

Yeah, he worked for her.

[C]

He worked for her. So May 15, 1995 is the autopsy, and then we find out what really happened. They found at least 24 overlapping knife wounds to her head. Knife wounds, overlapping, stabbed the shit out of her head. Eight injuries resulted from deeper penetrating stab wounds which with the exception of one small stab wound on her right index finger, all the wounds were confined to the left side of her face. The doctor described one of the wounds as a fatal wound that would have rendered her unconscious within a matter of seconds. And he said that all wounds occurred fairly close together and could have been in seconds or maybe even a minute between them, but absolutely brutalized. I can't imagine brutalized so obviously. 84 year old woman, 84 years old, just that many times, stabbing in the face for no fucking reason for $500. I mean, come on, for 500 bucks. Police suspected that Philip had used his Ka Bar knife, which was his favorite possession and hasn't been seen for three months. That's what they were thinking. So they go back and they talk to Philip. Now they bring him in because people have said that he said he did it and shit. So he's a suspect. Frank drives him back to the area which he was camped and this is what he said happened. Frank dropped me off that night after the bar and all that, and down the road from the camp on the way back to his site, he noticed that the light in Frida's trailer was on and that her dog was tangled up in the bushes outside the trailer. He said that he continued to consume whiskey and beer at his camp while preparing dinner for himself, which whiskey and beer, which I see as just beans on a metal plate.

[B]

It was brown and hot, you know what I mean? Yeah, that's what I pictured.

[C]

I didn't tell what it was sitting around the campfire. After 10 or 15 minutes, he decided to go to Frida's trailer to let her know that her dog was tangled up again. He testifies later on that around 9:30 at night he knocked on Frida's door and that she, as she always did, stepped back to let him inside. Now once inside, he said they had a discussion about whether Frida wanted him to unhook her dog from the bushes. Want me to get your dog out of the bushes or what? Here. He said he was so concerned with the way that she treated her animals because he had observed her dog tangled on four or five previous occasions and this sometimes prevented the dog from reaching its food and water. So he said that he doesn't remember what Frieda said, but quote, he just snapped. He said he snapped. Whatever she said, it was enough to go, I'm gonna stab the fuck out of an 84 year old woman who's he telling this to the police? Homicide detectives. They're sitting across guys with ties on.

[B]

I'm a. I'm a dog superhero.

[C]

Yeah. Badges on their belts, those guys.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

Yeah.

[B]

Where there is injustice for canines, I'll be there.

[C]

I will kill an old lady in a heartbeat if a dog gets wrapped around a tree.

[B]

Wow.

[C]

So she said that he said he snapped and stabbed her twice in the head, after which she, quote, sat back on her bed and leaned over to the side. He said he then lifted her feet onto the bed and gently covered her with a blanket. He says all he remembers is two stab wounds. Meanwhile, we know there's 24 he missed. Yep. He says that he panicked and wanted to make it seem as if it was part of a robbery. So that's why he stole money from her purse that was hanging on the door. That wasn't the initial thing. He was just like, oh, oh, shit. I'll cover my tracks by robbing her.

[B]

I did this in honor of that pop, but I had to.

[C]

Well, I had to make it look

[B]

like you guys would understand something else.

[C]

Because they'd never suspect the scumbag who never showers in the next campsite as someone being capable of robbery. Right?

[B]

Right.

[C]

So he said that he locked the door of the trailer and returned to his campsite down the road. He says that he only stabbed her twice. But then when they show him evidence of, hey, this is the autopsy report. He then says, well, I don't remember causing the arrest, but I don't dispute that if the evidence says it happened, no one else went in there and stabbed her 22 more times, obviously. So I guess that's what I did.

[B]

If they were there, then I did

[C]

it, Then I did it. So he's in jail, okay? Now he's in jail. And with him in jail is a guy named Don Fields. Don fields was arrested Jan. 15, 1996, for not paying a traffic ticket. Keep that in mind. So they put him in jail with murderers, which makes perfect sense, obviously.

[B]

Yavapai.

[C]

Yeah, he was taken to the Prescott jail, which you know exactly where that is. We've been to that. I got my process server's license at the courthouse there.

[B]

Did you?

[C]

Yeah. Because in Phoenix, it was like a six months wait to get the test and all this shit.

[B]

Prescott.

[C]

Prescott the next week. And it's not like a. In Phoenix, it's like a big formal thing. And put your pencils down. There's times and all this shit. In Prescott, I went, the lady, the girl, she was like, A young girl that worked there at the clerk's desk. I went up, she was like, yeah, okay. Gave me the test. And I was like, do you have to watch me or where do I go? She goes, just go over there and do it. I could have been on my phone. She never looked up, never looked at me. I went back and go, how long till I find out? She goes, I could do it now. Normally it's like three more weeks. You have to wait in Phoenix. And she just went, yeah, you did great. Well, you passed. I was like, okay, that was it.

[B]

Looks good.

[C]

Like, this is tremendous. What a great day.

[B]

What a fun little old Westy town.

[C]

Yeah, that's what it is. I was walking around, I ate at that burger joint there in the square by the park there. Place is delicious with the Fixin's Bar there. Yeah, good. So anyway, not paying a traffic ticket.

[B]

She asked you if you wanted to get a prostitution license or anything while

[C]

you're in town, anything like that. You want to maybe sell your ass around a little bit. You never know. Whiskey row. So now, by coincidence, this guy was put in jail with a person he helped capture the previous September.

[B]

Oh, what?

[C]

Okay, this person that he helped capture had taken a lady's purse at an Albertsons in Prescott. And this guy had helped chase him down and tackle him and get this poor lady's purse. To me, that gives you a pass on one part on a fucking traffic ticket you haven't paid. You know what I mean? You tackle the guy for some lady's purse. You did the cops job for them, they can pay you in a free.

[B]

You know, you ran so they didn't have to. That's pretty amazing. Also, the cops in Yavapai, specifically Prescott, are fucking wild. They are reckless with the ticket book. They hate.

[C]

Oh yeah, they don't give a shit. That's how they make money.

[B]

That's how they pay for everything around there.

[C]

They pull you over all the time. Now, Fields had helped to catch this person that became known in the jail. So this guy's like, oh, that's that motherfucker that caught me. So now everybody hates this guy who's in jail for a fucking traffic ticket. Okay? Now Philip is in that area of the jail and he approached Fields and tells him, I'm in here for murder and there's nothing they can do to me. If it was up to me, you'd be dead right now. Oh, because he helped. I don't think even in prison, someone who likes help stop the mugging of an Old lady would probably wouldn't be, like, considered a rat. You know what I mean? That's a different thing. He didn't rat anybody. He just said, don't steal from old ladies, you scumbag.

[B]

And you're also imprisoned for murder because you fucking ratted yourself out.

[C]

Well, he got talked to because someone else told on him. And he said, I'm in here for murder because of a snitch like you.

[B]

Okay?

[C]

That's what he said. He made these statements to Fields in a serious and threatening manner. According to Fields, then he, Bucharski and a bunch of other inmates attacked him and beat him with weapons and beat the shit out of this guy. Okay? So much so that Philip is charged with and pleads guilty to kidnapping and aggravated assault with a dangerous instrument.

[B]

Oh, my God.

[C]

Because of this. So a lot of charges. So then he goes to trial for the murder because I think he figured, fuck it, I'll just plead guilty because I gotta have a murder trial. Now, during this trial, Sukas here says that about Frida brown. Quote, She's 84, 85 years old. She was laying on the side more in a fetal position on her right side, arms between her knees in somewhat of a fetal position. I seen all the wounds on her head and face, which were on the left side. So a drunk who lives in the desert could see wounds. But a cop coming in, there goes her. Kittens must ate her face. Take the trailer. Take the crime scene. Go ahead.

[B]

That is unbelievable.

[C]

I mean, if he does not cop to this, they have nothing on him other than he told a guy that he did it. Which if he shut the fuck up and never said anything to anybody, there's no way they can catch him for this.

[B]

They gave away the trailer. They gave away the crime scene, for Christ's sake. And it was mobile. The other thing is he. I'm so flat. I'm so mad.

[C]

This is wild, right?

[B]

So he had to have pled not guilty then.

[C]

Oh, for murder. Yeah, he pled not guilty. Yeah.

[B]

After he said all the. So he thinks. He thinks you get to do that on behalf of a German shepherd.

[C]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. No, that's. And he's admitting it, too. He's admitting it. He's just saying that he didn't do it to rob her. That wasn't the point.

[B]

Right. I did it. So it's not because she's mean to dogs.

[C]

Yeah, because she's a bitch. That's why she's an old B, as he put it. Now, medical testimony, they used a Chart to describe the injuries identified in the autopsy. They showed 17 incised wounds, eight of which were deeper penetrating stab wounds in which the knife entered perpendicular to the surface. With the exception of the small root, like we said, the index finger one, everything else is on the left side of her head and face. And she was laying on her right side, which makes sense. The fatal wound entered Brown's left ear and penetrated deep into the brain cavity where it contacted the foramen magnum of the base of the skull and would have rendered her unconscious within seconds.

[B]

Like the brainstem.

[C]

Yeah, brainstem. Four to five minutes after sustaining this, her brain would have become non functional. Another deep penetrating wound entered the brain cavity and touched the base of the skull, but was not necessarily fatal or immediately incapacitating. The doctor described four other stab wounds that penetrated deep into the cheek muscle as not immediately fatal. Another stab wound broke her nasal bone. Wow. Another eight wounds were caused by slashing or slicing motion made when the knife was nearly parallel to the surface of the skin. Wow. Wow. On cross examination, he said he suspected all the wounds occurred within seconds, maybe minutes between them. He said that more than likely all the injuries were caused in less than one minute. Each of the frenzy. Yeah, just a frenzy. You wouldn't go back and go, stab her more. Each of the wounds identified as associated blood in the tissue, meaning her heart continued beating while they were inflicted. Oh, my God. The doctor could not tell in which order the wounds were inflicted, but testified that the fatal wound, which would have been instantly incapacitating, probably occurred early in the sequence. Now, one of the things he is going for is diminished capacity. He's trying to say he was super drunk. And, you know, things happen when you're drunk. I mean, if you're drunk, that's okay. I'm sorry, you didn't say you were drunk. Well, let me loosen those cuffs for you. You didn't tell us you were drunk.

[B]

They oftentimes forgive drivers when they're drunk.

[C]

Oh, yeah. They go, he's drunk. Of course he's driving like this. Yeah, get him home. Of course he plowed into a bus full of nuns. Look at him, he's shit faced.

[B]

Who could expect him to handle this machine?

[C]

Yeah, of course he smashed into that van full of special needs kids. Of course he did. Obviously. So several witnesses corroborate his testimony that he is very intoxicated on the day of the murder. The towel guy testified that he and Philip drank beer at the campsite on the day of the murder. And Frank Sukas verified they stopped at the Arrowhead bar on the night of the murder and that he ordered bourbon and Coke and then a pint of whiskey. He said a couple of drinks, maybe a beer. A pint of whiskey is what he was drinking.

[B]

He ordered a pint of whiskey in a bar. I didn't know that was the measurement.

[C]

Can I get a pint? So that's how it goes. The verdict comes in, and they find him guilty of burglary in the first degree and first degree felony murder.

[B]

Okay, okay.

[C]

Now they're going for the death penalty here. I think they're like, he's pretty useless. And I don't think there's any rehabilitating him because he was never at a point where you could say, we got to just get him back to that point. He's always been a scumbag. So sentencing. Big thing in sentencing is will they allow the jail assault to be a factor in sentencing?

[B]

Well, he did tell them, they can't take anything from me.

[C]

Yeah, he did say that. Part of the thing that they say to argue against life without is that there'll be a danger in prison. They're going to attack other people. They're going to attack staff members. They need to be held isolated in death row and then killed. And that's it. We can't even. Even in jail. They're too much. That's part of it. So the jail assault would help prove that. Apparently they said that the evidence was relevant to rebut the claim that he snapped and murdered Freda Brown. That's how they're gonna allow this in, because they say, he's saying the only violent thing I did. I snapped. And they're going, well, he was pretty. He came up to this guy and told him what he was gonna do to him and then did some shit to him. The state also argued the evidence rebutted the mitigating circumstance that he was intoxicated at the time of the murder because the assault on Fields occurred while he was incarcerated and not under the influence of anything. So it's not only when he's drunk or when he snaps. He just is a dick and likes to murder people or at least try to. Also, they said that he's probably gonna put people up there saying he's a nice guy. So we're gonna rebut that with this. Now, his defense attorneys argued, saying that the evidence should not be admitted because the state lost a document that identified the witness to the Fields incident, making it difficult for Philip to investigate the statements made by those who witnessed the incident. So the trial judge concluded that the state gets an opportunity to present the field's information in the penalty phase due to the missing document. However, the trial judge held an evidentiary hearing to determine the proper scope of what evidence will be admitted. Poof. So the state was going to be limited to explaining his role in the incident. And that's it. Not that he started it or that he said all this shit, just his role in the actual beating. They're allowed to say, but not anything else. So the defense would continue to object to that, but they said no. Basically. There's also a psychiatrist who says that Philip's mental state continued to deteriorate over time given his lack of psychological resources, appropriate psychosocial supports, and his worsening alcoholism. And that when he moved to Arizona in 94, he was at the end of his tether. And he also testified that he was pretty depressed at the time of the offense. Oh, that's. Oh, he's depressed. Oh, well, then never mind. Hey, everybody. He's depressed. He's not feeling so nice.

[B]

Feel free to dice up elderly.

[C]

Yeah, just kill an old woman because of that. And also, her dog was wrapped around a tree. So if you put those two factors together, he had no choice but to murder her.

[B]

Who would think he wasn't depressed living his life? Describe that man's life to anyone. Oh, Betty pretty depressed.

[C]

Betty's fucking depressed. So they said that the doctor said a guy like him in a depressed and inebriated state would have been much more limited than most people in his ability to control and manage his feelings and reactions. He said there's evidence to suggest that his emotional and alcoholic condition around the time of the murder affected not only his interactions with investigating police, but likely played a substantial role in the events that led up to the arrest for the murder. And also that the doctor said that Philip was concerned with the way that Frida treated her animals and that during childhood he experienced a traumatic event when his uncle killed his pet hamsters. That's Uncle Touchy the molest.

[B]

He also. You're not a child anymore.

[C]

No.

[B]

So the fuck what?

[C]

And that's what the state Sundays. That was 30 years ago or 25 years ago. That doesn't explain why you'd kill an old lady. Now, as part of the rebuttal of that. So the doctor also testified that the people suffering from PTSD tend to lack the ability to control their impulses in very emotional or highly charged situations, and that alcohol leads. And adds to that limitation here. He said that his ability to conform his Conduct to the requirements of law were impaired. And he said he was all fucked up, basically. But a voluntary intoxication or substance abuse can be a mitigating factor that supports certain findings. A defendant's claim of alcohol or drug impairment fails where there is evidence that the defendant took steps to avoid prosecution shortly after the murder or when it appears that the intoxication did not overwhelm his ability to control his physical behavior. So he's got to be so fucked up he has no idea. He could have just stumbled out, left the door open, left a trail of blood with like 20s behind it. That would have been. He's so fucked up he didn't know. But he took money, locked the trailer door carefully and went back to his house, then burned his clothes that he was wearing.

[B]

And if you're that drunk, you shouldn't even be really that capable of walking.

[C]

That's the thing. Exactly. So he said that he didn't. But he said he stabbed her and wanted to cover up the crime. So he considered burning the trailer. And then he just said, no, that's not a good thing. I won't burn the trailer. I'll steal money from her purse and make it look like a robbery. So that's. And the next morning, then he also lied about the source of money. So he wasn't just out of his mind. So they said he did not prove his statutory mitigating factor with the intoxication. Also, the doctor said that his past obviously severely emotionally, physically and sexually abused as a child never had an opportunity for normal growth and development. And that the forcible rapes and beatings by Chuck Below, with whom he lived during his teenage years caused significant emotional trauma, as it would obviously, particularly because Bellow was one of the only adults who had ever provided for him. So he would feed him and make sure he had food and shit, but he'd also beat him and rape him. So God damn. He also explained that Bucharski was given no resources to cope and deal effectively with the severity of abuse and neglect that he suffered throughout his upbringing. And you know, he's got PTSD basically. Both his parents were alcoholics, as were his grandparents. His father kidnapped state troopers. Need I go on? So his mitigators that he's trying to get are state of mind, physical, mental and sexual abuse that happened to him, history of substance abuse and alcoholism, dysfunctional family of origin, including multi generational violence, criminality and substance, sexual, emotional and physical abuse, abandonment, severe neglect, starvation and foster care placement. The impact of the execution on his Family as well. His sister Carol Ann, who had lost contact with him after she died during the Poltergeist movie or after it.

[B]

Weird lady couldn't bring her back after

[C]

she was sucked into the television, said that she lost contact with him and that she testifies that she wants more than anything to develop a relationship with her brother and is corresponding with him. And their letters show that they express love for each other and also love for their father somehow.

[B]

Yikes.

[C]

Oh, no, no. Not I'm sorry. Letters written by his children showed they loved him. Love for their father, for what reason? I don't know. And they said the love of a defendant's family is mitigating evidence, the defense says, and also remorse. And he's gonna prove he's remorseful by speaking. Oh, he says, quote, I would like to say to Frieda Brown's family that I'm sorry for the pain that I've caused your family by taking the someone you love so dearly. If I could change one night of my life, it would be the night that I took Frida's life. If I could give up my life so Frida could live again, I would gladly do that. She didn't deserve to die. And I truly am sorry for the pain and grief I've caused you and your family. Also, the mitigation specialist testifies that he does express remorse and has even attempted to write letters to Brown's closest friends to apologize.

[B]

That's nice.

[C]

Then the judge said, you, sir, I got this gavel to you, sir, may fuck off. Death penalty.

[B]

Wow.

[C]

They found aggravators and not really anything on the mitigators except for a bad childhood, which they said, tough shit. Basically, you're 39 years old or whatever.

[B]

Yeah. Also, a lot of murderers have kids, so.

[C]

Yeah, that's the other thing, too. They have families so quickly here. 2001, he appeals, and one of the major appeal points is the incident at the jail getting allowed in during the sentencing. So the court affirms the convictions, but reverses the death sentence that concluded that they reverse it because he had inadequate funding for mitigation investigation. So they didn't give them enough. They didn't give the defense enough funding for that. Oh, so it's not fair if the state has an unlimited open fucking checkbook to get whoever they want there. And you say, well, you got 300 bucks to put together your case. It's not fair. It's not. And that's one of the problems of the court system is it's gotta be fair. And it's not. And some states have made laws. And I think it went to the Supreme Court because I remember 20 years ago or something, they were talking about it in Texas where the prosecution had, like this crazy open checkbook on death penalty cases and the defense had like a limit of some crazy small amount of money where you couldn't get any experts or really fight the case at all. It was just your fault.

[B]

You can't put up a decent defense against all of this.

[C]

No. And that goes against, obviously, your right to counsel. If they're counsel that can't actually fight the case. So anyway, there's a big new Times article talking about how the Yavapai county in this area also there was court cases about the fact that they don't get the shittiest. The poorest people from Yavapai county, they say a lot of them don't show up anyway, so they just stop asking them to come to jury duty.

[B]

These people aren't showing up to jury duty.

[C]

No. So they're basically saying, we stopped getting them. So the defendants were like, well, you can't just have people that are upper middle class or middle class. You need to have more people in. Exactly. It's not a matter of. But then the state said, well, we're not doing it on racial basis, so there really isn't a difference. But let's be realistic. Class is even bigger than race. You know what I mean? Class is everything.

[B]

As you get up there, starts to be less minority.

[C]

Yeah. No. If you're at a yacht club and you're a member of the yacht club and a black guy pulls up in a Rolls Royce and gets out and has his fucking sailor hat on and his yacht club membership and goes in there, you don't look twice at him. But if some fucking white trash guy pulled in there in an 87 fucking VW Sirocco, you'd say, get this scumbag the fuck outta here. Period. So there is that. So they said, it's no secret that defense lawyers, including myself on the particular case, would like to have a sufficient number of jurors from the lower economic class. Since affluent communities like Prescott and Sedona tend to dominate the jury pool.

[B]

Sedona people are going to jury duty.

[C]

They're going to. The Supreme Court of the United States also issued a decision that the judge, a jury rather than a judge, must determine if a criminal defendant deserves the death penalty as well. And he was given it by a judge. So obviously that's going up for something. So now he has A new sentencing before a jury now. So this is before a jury. He wanted to re empanel the original jury and they said no. The judge denied that. So he now before sentencing, Philip urges the court to limit the state's presentation of evidence related to guilt. And the judge ruled with respect to the aggravation part of this that the only testimony, exhibits and evidence that are going to be admitted will be those that are directly relevant to one of three aggravating circumstances that have been alleged fields in jail, you know. Yeah. Monetary gain and especially heinous and cruel. So those are the things. There's also risk assessment reports from jail that he puts forward mitigating circumstances. He says that dysfunctional family origin, all that shit. They say, you sir may fuck off. Death again.

[B]

Got it. Again.

[C]

Got it. Again. 2008, he appeals contending that his constitutional rights were violated because he was sentenced before a jury that did not hear all the evidence that was admitted at the guilt proceedings. Now all of this goes fine to talk about the death qualified jury, which we've talked about a million times and that's the dumbest thing I think ever. The death qualified jury. Because to me, if you did something really, really, really bad and I'm not a huge death penalty guy and I even say fuck that guy, that's a death penalty. You know what I mean? To get a bunch of people who are like I love the death penalty and then apply it. That's a hammer looking for a nail at that point, isn't it?

[B]

Seems like it, yeah.

[C]

Yeah. So Sukhas testifies and all this type of shit, they talk about mutilation, the heinousness and depravity refers to the mental state and attitude of the perpetrator. But they're saying this wasn't mutilation. The court decided this wasn't mutilation. This was all in one act. He didn't go back and like cut pieces off her and do shit like that. That's mutilation.

[B]

But they said he the cats did the mutilation.

[C]

The cats didn't touch her. By the way. Those were all nightmares.

[B]

Oh, what?

[C]

The cop was such an idiot. He couldn't tell a decomposing body with knife wounds from kitten bites. He thought they were kitten bites.

[B]

Get the fuck out of here.

[C]

Yeah. No, there was no kitten bites. The wounds on the face were the kitten bites.

[A]

Wow.

[C]

Yeah. That's fucking nuts. So again, same old mitigation evidence. There's 22 appeal points. It goes through everything. It doesn't matter. They reduce his sentence of death to natural life without the possibility of parole. And that is where he sits today. Forever in Arizona prison so that everybody is Congress, Arizona, and a goddamn insanely weird, gross story. That was just insane.

[B]

It's terrible.

[C]

And not a story that gets any play really too. It's one of these things. Well, because there's nothing goes underground. There's no sex involved. It's an old age.

[B]

There's no way to relate to it.

[C]

Exactly. So we do it for our show. Why? Because we want to compete, damn it. Because I think it's a good story, that's why. I don't give a fuck if I like to compete. We always say that. So anyway, real quick here, if you enjoy that story, definitely get on whatever app you're on. Give us five stars. Netflix thumbs up means a lot. So thank you for doing that. You guys are awesome. We appreciate that shit. Do that. Follow us on social media at Smalltown Murder on Instagram, Small town Pod on Facebook. Very easy to do all of that. You can certainly shut up and GimmeMurder.com get your tickets for live shows. That's what you need to do. September 18th at the Paps in Milwaukee. It's a beautiful place. Come on and see us. Only a few tickets left. The next night, September 19th at the State Theater in Minneapolis. Get your tickets for that too. We can't wait for that. We're excited. Then in October, Dallas, San Jose, Sacramento, November, Tarrytown, Boston. Shut up and givememurder.com is where you do that. Patreon.com crimeinsports is where you get all the bonus material. Anybody $5 a month or above, you get every damn thing we put out. Everything, including. As soon as you subscribe, you get almost 400 back bonus episodes immediately available for you to binge new ones every other week. One crime and sports. One small town murder and you get all of it, baby.

[B]

All of it.

[C]

This week, crime and sports, death on skis, people skiing and dying. It's crazy shit in like a sporting way. Not just, you know, if me or you went skiing and died, that would be pretty.

[B]

Doing it for Standard, for fun, for competitive nature.

[C]

And then small town murder. Love after lockup time again, baby. Oh, we can't wait. That's going to be so much fun. So patreon.com crimeinsports is where you get all that. And you get a shout out at the end of the regular show. And you get every damn show. We put out ad free with your Patreon as well. It's the best value going. So do that. And if you want to find us on social media, definitely do that. By the way, patreon.com CrimeInSpot Sports want to find us on social media? Shut up. And givememurder.com has all the available information that you could possibly need about us or any of our shows. So keep coming back and seeing us. And until next week, everybody, it's been our pleasure. Bye. Hey, everybody. Listening to small town murder out there. Hi.

[A]

Hello.

[C]

Good to see you out there. I'm here with Jimmy, too. And this is an ad, but not an ad for a product. This is an ad.

[B]

This is the best. Yes.

[C]

Come see a live show. The 2026 Tour. All the tickets are for sale right now, starting out with February 21st in Nashville, March 6th in Durham, March 7th in Atlanta. Phoenix is sold out. We do have tickets, though, to your stupid opinions. On the 21st of March, Salt Lake City, sold out. Denver has tickets. Be there on May 2. May 29, Buffalo, sold out. Royal Oak, Michigan. May 30, we have September 18, Milwaukee. September 19, Minneapolis. October 3 in Dallas. October 16 in San Jose. October 17 in Sacramento. November 13 in Tarrytown. November 14 in Boston. Come see us. The live shows are spectacular. Come join all of the other STM people. You're going to meet so many people. You're going to have fun. Make some new friends like crazy. And make some new friends. Come out and see us. Shutupandgivemerder. Com is where you go for those tickets. Get them right now while they're hot.

[B]

See you on the road.