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Hey everybody. Just gonna take a quick break from the show to tell you a better way to start a business. That's right. That idea you've got cooking, you can get it started with Shopify. Is that shopify.com it is shopify.com you know it. Starting a business is a big deal, but Shopify makes it simpler. All the tools you need to launch are already included and ready from day one. Shopify's got templates and AI tools that get you a stunning site set up. You can get up running fast, no coding needed, none, that sort of thing. You don't need any of that. It's great. It's simple. This is what you want. Shopify checkout means more customers actually buy and the returning ones can do it in a single click. So you can set up your business like that. And if questions come up, Shopify's built in AI assistant sidekick is ready to help them build, troubleshoot and keep moving. And that's what you got to do here because Shopify also handles the setup and checkout. You're going to have more time to focus on growing your business and the tools and all that kind of thing. You want more time for your family. You want more time to listen to true crime podcasts like we have here. And all of this you need to do it. You don't need anyone's approval to make a living. You can build your own business with a free trial@shopify.com Smalltown murder Every self made person started somewhere and yours starts free right here@shopify.com smalltownmurder it's the only thing standing between you and your income getting started. So do it. Get in there. All you need is the idea. Shopify handles the rest. Start your free trial at shopify.com SmallTownMurder start your free trial at shopify.com Smalltown
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Murder now back to the show.
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Insurance isn't one size fits all. That's why drivers have enjoyed Progressive's name your price tool for years. Now with the Name youe Price Tool, you tell them what you want to pay and they'll show you options that fit your budget. So whether you're picking out your first policy or looking for something that works better for you and your family, they make it easy to see your options. Visit progressive.com find a rate that works for you with the name your price tool, Progressive Casualty Insurance Company and affiliates Price and coverage match limited by state law. Hello everybody and welcome back to Small Town Murder Express.
B
Yay and choo choo.
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Oh yay indeed. Jimmy. Yay indeed. My name is James Petregallo. I'm here with my co host.
B
I'm Jimmy Whisman.
A
Thank you folks so much for joining us today. All aboard the Murder Train pulling away from the station. We have a wild show for you as usual today. Just a weird one of those. We'll get into it, don't worry. It's a weird one, so it'll be a lot of fun. Can't wait to get into that. Before we do, head over to shut upandgivemerder.com get your tickets for live shows. They are available right there. Next live shows that we have available to get are September 18th at the Pabst in Milwaukee. Not a lot of tickets left for that one. If you want to get in there, get those tickets right now. Then the next night, get your tickets for the State Theater in Minneapolis. Get those right now. We are excited about those shows a lot. We're going to that area of the country in a nice time of year. Going to be beautiful. Come on out and see us then. October, Dallas, San Jose, Sacramento, November, Tarrytown in Boston. So get your tickets right now. Shut up and givememurder.com Also, you should check out our other shows because if you like this, I don't see why you wouldn't like that. We'll put it that way. Yeah, crime in sports is one. You go, well, I don't like sports. That's you don't have to like sports. We're just talking about the whole thing is someone's fall from grace. Here's a person who didn't have to screw up and chose to anyway. It's a lot of fun.
B
And they did it.
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And they did it. We just finished up a big Yahweh Ben Yahweh murder cult series too. So check that out. And also listen to your stupid opinions because it is just hilarious. It's just hilarious. I love listening to people's complaints and grievances. It's fun. It's a good time. It's so good. Then get yourself Patreon, because that's where it's at. Patreon.com crimeinsports Just like the name of that other show that you don't listen to. Check that out. Anybody. $5 a month or above, that will get you everything that we have. Everything that we can give the blood from our veins. That's all there. First of all, as soon as you subscribe, you're gonna get almost 400 back bonus episodes you've never heard before. It's a whole separate feed there. Then you get new ones every other week. One crime and sports, one small town murder. And you get. This week is no different. This week for crime and sports we're going to do Hostage Situations Part 2. Just because the first one was so much fun. Honestly, it went so much better than we thought. We were like, well, we need to do the part two here then for small town murder. It's back again, everybody. It is that time. I feel like we're McDonald's announcing the McRib or some shit. Like when we do this, the prisoner dating game is back. Everybody. There it is. You know how that goes. I line up for bachelors, four bachelorettes in front of Jimmy. And the only thing they have in common is they are all incarcerated violent felons. And what we do there is Jimmy picks one of each based solely on the profile they present. Just what they say about themselves. And then we get to find out what they did and how wrong of a decision that he made. It's great. It's a lot of fun. Can't wait for it. Patreon.com CrimeInSports is where you get all of that. And there's more. Oh, you get everything we put out. Crime and sports, your stupid opinions. Small town murder all ad free with that Patreon as well. Ad free. Just take it ad free, damn it. And then you also get a shout out at the end of the regular show too. So you can't beat it. Get in there and do it. Patreon.com crimeinsports that said, I think it's time everybody. What do you say? It's time to sit back here. Gotta clear the lungs here. What do you say? Arms to the sky lets all shout. Shut up and give me murder. Let's do this everybody. Okay, let's go on a trip, shall we?
B
Yeah.
A
We are going to South Carolina this week. Going down to Coward, South Carolina with
B
a D or no D, D, C,
A
O, W, a R, D. Coward, South Carolina.
B
What the fuck?
A
There you go. And the way it's what it's named, there's a lot of, a lot of contention over how the name came too. So that'll be interesting next week.
B
We're in Chicken shit, North Dakota.
A
Yeah, yeah, yeah. We're in Pussy, Minnesota. After that it's gonna be good in Yellow Belly. Yeah, Yellow Belly, Montana is where we're going next. Eastern South Carolina. This is about an hour and 20 to Myrtle Beach. So not too far from there. About two and a half hours to Charlotte if you Want to go up that direction. And about 3 hours and 15 minutes to travelers Rest, South Carolina. Our last South Carolina episode. Episode 671. Baby Faced and deadly. That was a bad guy.
B
Pretty remote shit, huh?
A
Yeah. Yeah, that was pretty remote. Traveler's Rest.
B
Oh, no, this one.
A
This is remote, too. It's not really remote, but it's very small, as we'll talk about. This is in Florence county area code 843 and 854, which seems to be a lot of South Carolina population here. 612. So tiny.
B
Tiny.
A
Pretty damn small. Median household income here. Way under the national average, 40,537. I don't know. And then the median home cost is way lower than the national average, $134,600. So basically it's like 1991 here. You make 40 grand. Your house is $130,000.
B
What's happening?
A
I think they're just caught in a time warp. I really do. A lot of these places, that's what it seems like. They're just behind everybody. The housing prices, that's a pretty good thing to be behind in, I guess, history of this town. Okay, it's going to be all about the name that we're going to talk about. The most likely account, according to the historical society here, is that in 1831, Captain Solomon Coward was granted 126 acres spanning a section of the Lynches River. Jesus, that's a bad one for South Carolina. In southern Florence county, which at the time was within the Williamsburg district then. It wasn't until the early 20th century that they actually adopted the name Cowardly. Some other records indicate that the town was named in honor of Colonel Asbury Coward, who was a Confederate colonel and later became commandant of the South Carolina Military Academy. Other records indicate the town was named for John Wilson Coward, a member of the committee of 50, which was responsible for petitioning the state of South Carolina for charter for the charter which incorporated the county.
B
How do you run around with that as your last name?
A
This many people and like military men, too. A captain, a colonel.
B
Yeah. How do you go into the military?
A
Follow the Coward, everyone. We're going.
B
Follow Corporal Coward. He shouldn't advance beyond private, for Christ's sake.
A
I love how it's colonel and captain, which is hilarious because it's just illiterate. It's great. I love it. So they also. Coward became a farming community. It's real rural out here, so, I mean, tobacco and cotton and corn were the primary cash crops back in, like, the 40s and its lumber industry was supported by the railroad because they needed their lumber. So that's how it worked. It also was home to a sawmill that was operated and kind of the whole town employment for a long time. Town wasn't incorporated until 1963 and they have some problems. In recent years the town has been troubled by rising water levels in the Lynches river and increased flooding.
B
They're the ones that have it all.
A
Yeah. If it keeps going, they might not be a town anymore because it might just flood out.
B
There's a couple of places that are like that right now.
A
It's happening a lot. Here are reviews. There's only one review of this town that exists with 600 people. It's not a surprise. It's four stars. Coward is a good place to live in. It's a good place to start a small business. But you do have to know the people around in order to work with them. It's a nightmare.
B
They won't allow it. Huh?
A
It sounds like a nightmare. Yeah, you have to kiss a bunch of yokels asses if you want to open a fucking ice cream stand.
B
Is it a small business?
A
No, I don't think so. Things to do in this town. Here we go. The Coward Harvest Festival. Yeah, that is about it. It's got a parade. Starts at 10:30am Followed by a day. Oh, yeah. Followed by a day of family fun.
B
I believe this is gonna be fast.
A
With inflatables, face painting and a balloon artist for the kids. Oh, boy. Delicious food vendors, art and craft vendors. And the third annual car show. That's the big one.
B
That's where everybody loves it.
A
And that's a whole separate thing. They say it's judged by a panel from 9am to 3pm the show.
B
Oh, this is a whole deal.
A
This is like the whole day. Yeah, I mean, there's a parade and all that, but then you go back to the car. So they will recognize the top 35 entries, the top five rat rods, and the present best in show awards for both classic and modern vehicles.
B
You're telling me in 900 people there are five rat rods?
A
600. 600. The whole county's got to come out for this. But even I don't think there's five rat rods in a goddamn whole county down there.
B
That's unbelievable. They have the top five of them.
A
Must be a big deal. Well, you know what you get if you win? This is why this is the thing. I mean, you'd come from far and wide for this. Winners will receive state plaque Awards.
B
Oh, yeah.
A
So like a plaque.
B
Plaque. That's the shape of South Carolina.
A
Piece of Lucite in the shape of South Carolina.
B
My uncle had a 67 dart that was. It was. I mean, the Dart, that's not a very soft. You'd think it wouldn't be very. It was a beautiful car, though.
A
Yeah.
B
And he had a trophy room. James was just pieces of wood cut out in the state of Arizona all over his fucking room with whatever car show it was.
A
He's got state plaques, baby.
B
Yeah. And of course his name was Ricky, so likely. You know what I mean?
A
Yeah. Well, yeah, obviously Ricky can't live long. Ricky's don't live long. As we know Ricky. Ricky buys it on a dirt bike. That's just how it works. We all know that.
B
So you bought it in the sun, James.
A
Oh, that's not good. There's also another thing separate of this. Explore the treetops.
B
Oh, what is that? Zip lining walk.
A
The 147 foot high suspension canopy walk. No, thanks. At Lynch's River county park for sweeping bird's eye views of the river and cypress trees. Suspension canopy walk.
B
Who the fuck.
A
That sounds like one of those bridges that, like, moves and you know in every movie tethered to a fucking. Get the fuck out of here. I'm not doing that down there.
B
I'm not going up there.
A
Jesus. I'd rather do one of those bouncy things in Mexico than fucking do that. That sounds crazy.
B
I want to see from up there. I'll fly a fucking drone.
A
Yeah, I'll fly a drone. I'll get in a plane and fly over this place. Because I'm not stopping here. So that's good. Anyway, that said, let's talk.
B
Don't be a coward.
A
Let's talk about a murder, everybody.
B
Here we go.
A
Here we go. Let's start out with the main players here. All right? Let's talk about Brenda Miles. Okay? Brenda is born in 1964 here. Now, she is apparently married and divorced and by the early 2000s has a teenage son that lives with her. And she ends up getting remarried to a man named Randy Delyn. D, E, L, Y, N. Dylan Dellen. I don't know. Bratsky is his name. B R A T S C H I. Bratsky. Okay, he's born November 1, 1950, so a little bit older than her. His parents are Alfred and Dorothy and his dad's name is Alfred Gilbert and goes by Ag Hell yeah. And his real middle name is Hawkeye.
B
What?
A
His dad's real middle name is Hawkeye. How cool is that?
B
Alfred Hawkeye Gilbert.
A
Alfred Gilbert Hawkeye Bratsky. That's his name. Ag Hawkeye Bradley Bratsky. That's what he goes by. That's awesome.
B
I would drop that last name and just go ag Hawkeye.
A
Ag Hawkeye. That sounds awesome. That's a cool name, man. So he meets Brenda, Randy does, and they get married and live in a trailer together and everything else as we'll talk about. Randy works at a place called Smurfit. Smurfit, like smurfit. One word, smurfit, which just sounds like a smurf. That's had enough. Oh, smurf it. That's it, man. Smurf.
B
It's the end of his robe.
A
Yeah, at the end of his robe.
B
End of his little blue robe.
A
Ah, smurf it, man. Never mind. I've had it. No, no.
B
Smurf.
A
Smurf. You smurf this all. I'm done.
B
So tired of Smurfette just brushing me off.
A
Nah, she smurfed him good. I'm not doing it. I'm not. No. She cheated on me. Smurfing this guy. Smurfing that guy. I've had enough. She smurfed papa. It's enough.
B
Now smurf me to tears.
A
Ah, smurf my life. This is bullshit. I've had it. This is bull. Smurf. I'm done. I'm done. So Smurfit stone container is the place he works at, which sound some sort of industrial thing. They work something with stones. I don't know. Brenda's 17 year old son as of 2004, lives with them also in this trailer. So he's got a 17 year old stepson, Randy does, and his wife all living in a trailer here in rural South Carolina. So they have a couple of friends who'll come up a little later. So we'll introduce them now. Kathy Merrill and her husband Russell Merrill. Also they were longtime friends with Randy. They were friends for years and years with Randy. And then Brenda came into the picture and they became friends with Brenda too, as couples do. And. Yeah, so they started. They were friends with them when they started dating and one of the couples they hung out with, type of thing.
B
Love it.
A
Now things in this marriage, from what I understand, were a bit rocky between Randy and Brenda. A little rocky from the start, and then they kind of got a little worse. Brenda is a little bit possessive. A little bit possessive.
B
And she's the one, huh?
A
She's the one. Yeah, for sure. Now, 10-21-2004. Let's jump to that. There is an incident. 911 calls from both Brenda and Randy at the same time. Yeah.
B
Competing nine one happy with the other
A
dueling nine one one calls that day.
B
Love it.
A
Now we'll go Brenda's first and their accounts completely. They're talking about the same thing that just happened five seconds ago. And their accounts couldn't be more different of what happened. Neither agrees already it's already we got some problems. We got some acrimony here. Now Brenda screaming at the dispatcher says her husband just attacked her with a garden tool. But she managed to get away with a garden tool, which is. That's nice and rural.
B
Did she say which one or just that?
A
Oh yeah. No, she'll get into it. She said he hit me and then screams under the. She's screaming and yelling and a lot of it doesn't come out on the tape. And she says I ran away and got in my vehicle. I hit him several times. He tried to kill me. Okay, now she's saying he tried to hit her with a hoe. Yeah, he's attacking her with a hoe. Brenda says that she left the residence and is on her way to the town hall to report the incident. That's where the police department is in a small town. So on the way to the coward town hall to report this incident. But then Randy's also on 911 as well and he's got a completely different story. He says my wife's trying to kill me. That's his lead.
B
Uh huh.
A
It's a strong lead. I would say. He's breathing heavily the whole time. He said we were on the way to my work and she said she had to use the bathroom. So I turned around and went home. Said she didn't feel good. Shit. Bathroom, not pee. Bathroom, can't hold it. Bathroom horrible. Bathroom not good. Yeah, I was just going to the car and she started hitting me with a club. I don't know what happened. She just hit me and kept on hitting me. Oh, we'll find out what kind of club because it's fucking crazy in a second.
B
The club from the car?
A
No, no, no, no way crazier. So Randy goes on to say that he has and is going to shoot Brenda if she comes back to the house. He said she took off. She comes back, I'm shooting her.
B
Can you just say that?
A
He said, quote, if she comes in, I'm gonna kill her. I mean that's as straightforward as you can be. He said, I'm Gonna have to help myself. I'm afraid of her.
B
Okay.
A
Now, Brenda does not return to the residence that day, which is nice. Gunplay averted. That's good. When officers arrive, they find Randy there bruised and blee. And really fucked up. I mean, not doing well. Looks like he got hit by a car. I mean, he's really fucked up. They also recover the weapon that was used to beat him, which is what they call an Ozark Thumper. You know what that is?
B
The fuck is that?
A
An Ozark Thumper is a big fucking wooden thing that truck drivers use to thump the tires to check their air pressure. You ever seen him doing that back in the day?
B
No.
A
It's a big heavy.
B
That's not how you check tire pressure.
A
That's how you do it. If you're a hillbilly. Yeah. If you don't have a gauge, just go boom, Boom. That's about right. Not sure, but that's.
B
What's the number that registers and wear.
A
I think if you do it long enough, there's a specific sound you're looking for. I think. I don't know. I think it's like a divining rod for truckers. You know what I mean? They just bang, bang. That's about. That's 42 pounds per square inch right there.
B
That's the craziest pressure gauge I've ever.
A
That's gonna be perfect. That is.
B
What was it, a log at one point. Now they've just got a piece of wood that. It's a universal thumper.
A
Some sort of cudgel. Yeah, it's a big stick with, like a thing on the end so you can, like, whack, whack, whack, whack on it. Yeah, it's fucking heavy. It's a big club. I mean, it's a thumper, James.
B
Yeah.
A
The Ozark Thumper, which. That is crazy. That sounds like a boxer's nickname that they pulled out of a fucking swamp somewhere. The Ozark Thumper.
B
Some shit biscuit from fucking Hot Springs, Arkansas. Yeah.
A
Called me the Ozark Thumper. So that's the club. And they recover half of it because it's broken.
B
She broke a thumper.
A
She broke an Ozark thumper on this man's head. No. We'll find out. Maybe he did something to deserve getting half of Fucking Ozark Thumper broke off. But now. More on Randy's 911 call, by the way, because about four and a half minutes into the call, the 911 operator informs Randy Brenda is not outside the trailer. And she's not coming back because she's here. I'm looking at her. She's at the police station right in front of me. Randy said, I don't know. He went, I don't know. He didn't believe her. I don't know. He said he was still bleeding and he needed help. And he insisted he didn't know where Brenda was. And the operator said, I'm telling you, I'm looking at her.
B
I don't know.
A
She's standing here saying the opposite of what you're saying. So I'm pretty sure it's her. So please put your gun in the closet. The cops are on the way.
B
Yeah.
A
Please don't be holding your gun when the cops get there. Thank you.
B
You are clearly Ozark thumped, and you need to put the gun down.
A
You need to put it down. And he just kept going. I don't know.
B
I do know.
A
That's what he said. She said, I am looking in her face right now. I'm looking at her like I can hold on to her physically, and she's not there. Put the fucking gun down.
B
I need you to understand. You've been thumped.
A
Yeah. Where? You've been thumped. So the operator also asked him what kind of car Brenda drove. And he answered back, a black Isuzu Rodeo that belongs to him.
B
Nice.
A
He's been letting her drive it. Now, after some silence and no question by the operator, I don't know if they're typing shit or what, Randy just says, she started hitting me. She's trying to kill me. He said he had to break the door to get into the trailer because he dropped his keys running away from her.
B
Oh, Jesus.
A
Which is the nice part about living in a trailer. If you absolutely have to get in, you can lean. You could probably Ozark thump your way right through that door. Those things aren't made of shit in a trailer.
B
That's the beauty of a trailer. You don't even need a nose arc.
A
Thump, boom. If the door doesn't break itself, the whole frame will come out. I feel like just the frame will shoot out into the living room. So Randy said all of that. He dropped his keys. So the 911 operator told him, put your gun away and step out onto the porch. And Randy said, well, I'm going to go back inside and put my shoes on then. And she's like, I just. Jesus Christ, these people. One's yelling at me from in here. This guy won't stop, won't listen to me. What is happening? He says, that he's going to go put his shoes on. And then shortly thereafter, then help arrived. The cops arrived. So the call ended. She said Randy breathed heavily and sounded distressed throughout the call, as he should because he's bleeding from like six different places. Investigator Michael Rhodes responds to this domestic violence call. He was on the way to the scene and he was redirected to the Coward Police Department where Brenda was located. So they said, no, no, come on back and grab a statement from her first. Now, Brenda tells this investigator that she and her husband Randy were at their home walking to their car to go to a credit union in Coward, which is at his job. According to Brenda, when she looked behind her, she saw Randy approaching her with a garden hoe in his hand. She said that he struck her on the hand and she grabbed a wooden tire thumper, the old Ozark thumper that's just laying around in the yard at the ready. Well, you never know when you gotta check your tires out in the driveway, Jimmy.
B
You know, it's a nice thing to do before every trip.
A
You should always check your tire pressures, give it a little thump thump and see how it goes. And began hitting him with the thumper just to get him away from her. Now all she has is a very small laceration on her thumb and his
B
head is just beaten.
A
His head, his body, he's all fucked up. Now, the thing about it is. So if she's telling the truth, wow. She responded quickly.
B
Oh, thusly. Very impressively.
A
But they're also a little suspicious because if a guy is attacking you from behind with a garden hoe, you should have more damage than a nick on your thumb.
B
Perhaps she was wearing those glasses with the mirrors on the attack. She saw the attack coming.
A
She saw it coming.
B
Thank God for that thumper.
A
Oh, thank God for the thumper.
B
She spun on her heels and went to work.
A
So they're like, that's weird. And she said, well, then I just beat him with the thumper. I mean, that's what you do at that point.
B
She's situationally aware, James.
A
They're both taken to the hospital her for a very min. I mean, they like, literally, for a band aid, clean it out and put a fucking band aid on it. Basically, Randy is in, in deep shit, though. He goes to Lake City Hospital for treatment. The doctor who treated Randy after the incident said that his injuries were pretty severe.
B
Sounds like it, yeah.
A
Quote, he had multiple contusions and pretty severe facial injuries. She's beating him in the face with his fucking. In the face. In the face. The doctor also said the injuries were not life threatening, but could have been. Could have very well been.
B
She continued, yeah.
A
He said, no, no. Even wearing she hit him is the key. She said, looking at the injuries sustained here, they were pretty strong blows. So if it had the right place, yes, it could have killed him.
B
Holy.
A
Basically said if he was hitting the back of the head as hard as he was hitting the front of the head, it probably would have crushed his skull.
B
Shit.
A
So she was fucking wailing on this guy with basically a hillbilly baseball bat, which is.
B
Yeah, home run blows every time.
A
Fucking crazy. His face is very swollen. He has severe facial injuries. Lacerations all over the place, bruising on his chest, a skull fracture, and several injuries to his other parts of his head. He's fucked up. He's not doing that.
B
Lucky to be alive.
A
Very lucky. Now, the county sheriff investigator, Kathleen street, she went over to the hospital after the attack and met with both Brenda and Randy. And she said that Randy had obviously been beaten very badly. And Brenda also claimed to have injuries. Hey, everybody. Just gonna take a quick break from the show and tell you a better way to buy your gifts with Zazzle.
B
Z A Z Z L e dot com.
A
I'm telling you, gifts are so hard. They are so hard. I got a little brother's birthdays in a few days and it's hard. I've been trying to figure out what to get him, and you know that feeling. You're a few days away, it's someone's birthday, and you're like, oh, this is bad. You have no idea what to get for him. So you get something generic here, I'll just get you that and. Oh, great. I'll put that on a shelf and never look at it again. Thanks a lot. That's. You don't even know if you like it. See, this is the problem that Zazzle is here to fix. Zazzle is a custom marketplace where you can take basically any product, a mug, a tote bag, a card, a phone case, and make it mean something. You're not buying a gift. You're making a gift, and people are going to appreciate the personal nature of it so much more. You can browse millions of designs or start from scratch and build something completely your own way. Either way, you're the designer, so it really feels like it came from you, because it did. You know, that's the way it is. You're making this gift, browsing millions of designs. Everything is made on demand. There's no out of stock. You pick it. You customize it. It's done. That's that. Over 30 million customers have trusted Zazzle with their most important gifts. Yours is next. It's really cool. Get somebody, think about it. Who doesn't want a mug with their dog on it. That's pretty cool. I kind of want, I think everybody
B
that has a dog wants their dog on their coffee mug.
A
You feel good taking a sip with that. You can't go wrong with. That's a very simple gift right there. The person will be thrilled. It's personalized. It's awesome. Just something simple like that and you can make it complicated, simple. Either way, it's really great. And right now save 25% on your first order@zazzle.com that's 25% on your first order with zazzle.com. go make something zamazing zazzle.com now back to the show. Hey everybody. Just gonna take a quick break from the show and tell you a better way to shop with Thrive Market.
B
Thrivemarket.com Absolutely.
A
You know it. Thrive Market is a membership based online grocery. For just $5 a month you get access to a curated selection of organic and non GMO brands. 90 plus dietary filters, weekly sales, free gifts, and the peace of mind that 1,000 plus ingredients are already restricted. One annual fee. Priceless. Peace of mind. This place is awesome. There's Thrive Market. There's so much cool stuff here. Some of the things the tru fruse, the chocolate covered fruit stuff, that's tremendous. Right up my alley. Really, really love their sea salt chips too. The Thrive Market. Oh my God, they're so good and crunchy and delicious. Just love Thrive Market. It's fantastic stuff and you're gonna love it too. Put it that way.
B
It's hard to decide because all this food has so much stuff in it that's that you don't need. And Thrive makes sure they curate what's good for you.
A
Absolutely. Doesn't have to be expensive to be healthy. Just has to be good stuff. They have a lot of pre vetted things here. Thrive market restricts 1000 plus ingredients. No stressing over labels or googling. Every additive, every product is curated organic and non GMO brands vetted before they ever hit the site. 90 plus dietary filters means that the label readings are already done for you. High protein, low sugar, glp, one friendly gluten free, dye free and more. The gluten free is a big deal in my house with Sarah and everything. So it helps a lot. The in app barcode scanner finds a healthier swap for almost anything in your pantry. That's cool, too. I like this. What can I get? That's not poison. Okay, good. And you find it. It's awesome. You can scan something from your pantry. It shows you a cleaner version right there. I was like, this is the coolest thing ever. I'm into this. This is great. And member pricing up to 30% off, which is amazing. 30% off plus weekly sales, free gifts, price matching, free delivery on qualifying orders. It's all right there in the membership. At $5 a month, the membership pays for itself. Most members make it back in their first. First two orders. No per order delivery fees, service charges, or tip math to do one annual cost. Summer sales equals stocking a better cart for less. Think snacks, pantry, staples, and brands you already love. It's excellent stuff. Now is a great time to join Thrive Market with their biggest sale of the summer. Get 25% off select items, plus go to thrivemarket.com smalltown murder for an extra $20 off your first three orders. But hurry, the sale ends July 19th.
B
Now back to the show.
A
She said, quote, she told me that she had a cut on her finger and also a knot on her head. I saw the cut on her finger, but I didn't touch her to see if she had a knot on her head. She's kind of gross. No, that's not what she said. That would have been a great quote. Didn't touch her. She's gross, a little ugly. She said she had been hit with a garden hoe. Randy said, quote, he never hit her with a garden hoe. According to the police report here, he said he'd gotten the hoe when he was trying to get away from her and used it to bust out the window to get inside of the house. Oh, that's what he got the hoe for. Just to try to bust in the house. He used that as a key. So the investigators recover the part of the tire thumper, which basically looks like a small baseball bat. Yeah. Outside of the old Georgetown Road residence the day of the incident. Now this street. She said she conducted research on the tool to determine if they often break. Are they real breakable now? They do. And according to those she talked to, basically when they break, they sling wooden shrapnel when they split those shrapnel. So she said that led her to believe that Brenda most likely cut her finger when the tire thumper broke.
B
Get the fuck out of it.
A
That's how she. Because when she hit him, it broke this way and got splinters in her hand and cut her that way. So that's how she got it. Her own weapon didn't hit her at all. Beating, I mean, that's what they think. Now, Randy said that she said, tell me from the top again. And he wrote that she had a stomachache, wanted to return home. There, Return home. And out of the blue, I felt a blow to the back of the neck that brought me to my knees. Oh, my. With a thumper in the back of the neck from behind. Wow. I managed to turn around but was kind of in and out of consciousness at this time. Brenda was beating me repeatedly about my body with a wooden club. Truck drivers used to check the air in the tires. Good lord. I was continuously beaten until the stick broke. She just beat him until it broke. She'd have kept going. That's crazy. The police officer said she felt Randy's life was in danger and encouraged him to seek a protective order from a judge. Randy's statements were further used to convey his danger, saying, I have several broken bones in my face, cracked ribs, and several bruises and lacerations. I do believe Brenda was attempting to kill me and I'm afraid for my life.
B
What did he do? Wow.
A
Well, we'll find out. He's not much, put it that way. Now, there's an investigator with the county sheriff's office crime scene unit investigates the Brenda and Randy's home and yard. He collects six guns and multiple boxes of ammunition from the home, as well as another gun from Randy's boat. Now, I'm hearing seven guns and a boat, but you live in a fucking trailer. This is an issue. This is something she had.
B
She attacked him with a club. When there's that many guns at the ready.
A
Yeah. How? Guns are expensive. Boats are pricey. 2004.
B
2004. Pretty expensive.
A
Pretty expensive. Boats are pretty expensive, but you live in a fucking trailer. What are you doing? Guys? Everybody. What are we doing?
B
Living backward. Yeah.
A
Yeah. What the fuck is happening? So at the time of this incident, by the way, Randy also found out that his bank account was overdrawn due to withdrawals by Brenda. So he's laying in bed and he's poor and they took all his guns.
B
But he's got a boat.
A
But he's got a boat, so that's something. Now Brenda is going to be arrested and charged with assault and battery with intent to kill, which is a pretty good charge. Pretty hefty.
B
It's not good.
A
No. Randy eventually recovers from this attack pretty quickly, I guess. Brenda is prohibited by a family court order of protection from contacting Randy in any way. So he's got a TRO on her at least so they said. Later on, somebody asked one of the cops, was Randy scared of Brenda after that attack. And the cop who talked to him in the hospital said, terrified is a better word.
B
Right.
A
Yeah. So after the protection order hearing, Randy visited Brenda once with police presence there to retrieve his black Isuzu Rodeo that he had previously allowed her to drive, one that she was driving that day. Now she pretty quickly violates this protection order.
B
Oh, really?
A
Pretty quick. Yeah. Two separate occasions, at least that we know of. One of them here is after this, a little time goes by and Randy begins dating another woman.
B
Okay.
A
Somebody less quick to the club, I hope for him. Now, there's one occasion here where this is. We'll go back to Kathy Merrill, their friends that know both of them. Kathy Merrill said Randy and another friend, Susan Hill, began dating after Randy and Brenda's altercation. He said, I'm moving on. Kathy also said that sometime after the altercation, Brenda told her that she had hired a private investigator who took pictures of Randy and Susan.
B
Why?
A
Why? Yeah, he'd probably tell you, yeah, I'm seeing someone, you crazy ass fuck. Yeah, you beat me half to death. I'm moving on. What are we talking about?
B
You hit me with a tool that most people have never even heard of.
A
No, you have to be like an old timey truck driver to know what the fuck this is.
B
It's crazy.
A
Kathy further said that Randy previously had guns stolen from his home as well. Oh, so there's that. Now, Susan, Susan Hill, the lady he's dating, she said that they started dating right after the altercation. And she indicated that after she and Randy began dating, she returned to her house one time and found a light on a door ajar and her inside dog outside. So someone was in her house. She had left the doors locked and the light off. So that's weird. Now, Kathy and Susan also both said that shortly after the incident, they went to Randy's trailer to clean it for him, and they found the door locked even though Randy had left it unlocked for them. So Brenda is snooping. This is pretty possessive shit that's going on right now.
B
Letting dogs out, locking doors. She's not even trying to not be found.
A
No, she doesn't care. She wants you to know. Yeah, be scared of me. Yeah, there's always an Ozark thumper right around the corner. You never know. That would be a good nickname for her if she went to prison for what she was charged with. Everyone to Call her the Ozark Thumper. That'd be awesome.
B
I don't know who wouldn't. If you find out what she did, you'd certainly do.
A
That's gonna be the name of this episode, I'll tell you that much. The Ozark Thumper. How do you not? So, November 22, 2004. Shit escalates. All right, this is at the home of Susan Hill, Randy's new girlfriend. Now, Susan said that she had met Randy many years ago when they worked together at Stone Container. She said they hung out in the same group of friends, but they started dating after the domestic dispute when he was single. Susan said that she and Randy eventually were dating, but only alone together for the first time. This is the first time they've been alone at a. Like they're gonna fuck tonight, I think is what this means here. November 22, 2004. She said Randy came to her house this day. It's a Sunday. And near Susan Hill's house there's a dirt road. And Brenda was on the dirt road by the house. And Susan said, Brenda was sitting out on my dirt road. He was a little nervous, meaning Randy. Minutes later, he said Brenda called her house and said, have fun with my husband, and hung up.
B
Oh, boy.
A
Yeah. Hill said that she and Randy continued their date, heading out to a local nightclub and also spent time together the following day. And she said she didn't hear from Brenda again, but Brenda was stalking them to at least going to the house and calling. And you know, that's crazy. If that was a guy doing that, it'd be very scary. You know what I mean?
B
Frightening.
A
Jesus Christ. So November 26th, now, four days later, this is the morning. This is the Friday after Thanksgiving next day. Now, Randy, I think, I guess he had to work the overnight, I believe Thanksgiving night, which sucks because he checks out of work at 7am he had plans to go on a turkey shoot with some friends that day, that Friday. So he clocked out of work before 7am and his friends arrived the day after Thanksgiving.
B
We're going to hunting.
A
Yeah. Day after day after.
B
People are off, don't need the fucking bird anymore.
A
Yeah, they don't care. I don't think the turkey is the goal there. I think beer in the woods and shooting guns is the goal there. Getting away from your collective Brenda, I think is the goal there.
B
While being armed to the teeth. She can't fuck with me.
A
Yeah. This is a guy.
B
So one day he feels safe.
A
This is just a guy thing. I'm sure he told everybody, hey, look, if Brenda comes, we're all opening fire on her. This is crazy.
B
Yeah, I'd like to be armed. And if you're all armed, then it makes me feel a little better.
A
Feel better about everything.
B
Just carrying around a 12K.
A
So his friends arrive to pick him up for turkey hunting. He doesn't answer the door. So like, what the fuck? Randy's reliable. Randy's Isuzu Rodeo was there. However, Randy's truck and boat were gone.
B
His boat's gone.
A
Boat and truck that he tows it with are gone.
B
He chose to go fishing instead of bird shooting.
A
Weird. So Randy's dog is inside the trailer and a makeshift alarm system. A makeshift alarm system that Randy set up after the incident with Brenda was not set because they know about the alarm system he has. Yeah, I don't know if it's like an elaborate thing where a ball goes down a thing and falls and a bucket comes over and drops a bird. Exactly. Some Rube Goldberg contraption that fucking does.
B
It fries an egg for you.
A
Yeah. At the end. There you go. You have an egg and the dog's fed. So the following day, Randy didn't come to Russell and his friends there. Russell and the other one there, Kathy, didn't come to their house for oysters like they had planned. They had a big oyster date planned. Randy was also scheduled to work special shifts on Saturday and Sunday, but never showed up at work.
B
He skipped turkey shoot, oysters and both work shifts. This is not double time. Something's wrong.
A
There is not a redneck on earth.
B
No.
A
That would do this.
B
Skip all four of those.
A
Skip no hunting and work. No. You might skip work for hunting, but you're not skipping both. That ain't happening.
B
Yeah.
A
So both Brenda and Susan called Russell's home looking for Randy that weekend. And Russell contacted the police on Sunday about Randy because he hadn't shown up for anything. And Brenda also contacted the police to report him missing. I don't know why you would report anyone missing who has a fucking restraining order against you. That's crazy.
B
Why do you know that exactly?
A
You shouldn't know anything about where they are now. Frankie miles is Brenda's 17 year old son who lives with them or lived with them before the altercation. Now, Russell, the friend believed that Frankie had borrowed the truck and boat to go fishing. That's what he thinks. He doesn't even think that Randy has the truck and boat. And later on, an investigator verifies that Frankie was on a fishing or hunting trip several hundred miles away since Friday. So he's gone. Now, investigators believe that Randy made it home from work the morning he clocked out of work on Friday morning because they found his work clothes and lunch container there. So he made it at least to the house. So they search his property, they search his trailer and they find Randy's. He's a diabetic by the way. Randy.
B
Yeah.
A
They find his blood glucose meter at the home, which was last used on Thanksgiving at 5:47pm Ah, right after that
B
big old fucking meal.
A
That's right. Making sure he's good.
B
But that's gonna need some insulin.
A
Yeah, that is telling. Because a diabetic would never go four days without using their glucose meter if they normally use it. They didn't find anything in his trailer that was suspicious or anything like that. But that's the last time that he used his glucose meter and it's still there. The police use. They take cadaver dogs all over his property just in case they don't find anything. So then they are. Several people saw a dark colored Isuzu rodeo at a public boat landing on on the Pee Dee river in Pamplico over the Thanksgiving weekend beginning on Friday afternoon and thought it looked like it hadn't moved for days. Oh, okay. One officer testifies later that he ran a tag on the vehicle at the landing on Saturday night at 8:03pm but it doesn't come back stolen, so he just leaves it there. Another sheriff's office person said that someone stopped by his farm on Sunday afternoon and told him of rather than calling the cops, just stop by the cops farm and let them know about it. Wow, this is a small fucking town.
B
Small town.
A
Do I just call? Well, I'll just go over to his house. I mean it's right over there.
B
I mean it's right there.
A
Why not? He's out there hoeing right now. So now he tells him a suspicious looking black SUV is on the landing. So he calls into the sheriff's office to have someone check out the vehicle, you know, cause he's at home on his farm. So the investigator says he observed the black vehicle on the. Another investigator said he observed a black vehicle on the landing on Sunday at 5pm and ran the tags. Okay, okay. Again, so just to make sure it's still not stolen. Now, the Monday after Thanksgiving. Now, another investigator observed the Isuzu rodeo on the landing Monday morning and ran the tags. Again, not stolen. So tags have been run three times in four days. It's just abandoned at the Bluff landing off Old River Road in Pamplico So
B
it's not his truck. It's his Rodeo that's out there.
A
It's the Zuzu Rodeo that's out there. Yeah. So the Tuesday after Thanksgiving, we're five days now, almost a week. The investigator that talked to Randy in the hospital, investigator street, she entered the Isuzu into the National Crime Information computer, the ncic, and it comes up as belonging to a missing person because Randy's been reported missing since Sunday, so now it's a thing. So the Wednesday following Thanksgiving, they ran the plates. That's when they ran the plates, and it indicated the car belonged to him. Wow. They searched the car. And an envelope containing $900 in $100 bills was found on the driver's seat during a search of the vehicle.
B
Vehicle.
A
Okay. Small spots of blood are found on the steering wheel, steering column, dashboard, and gear shift.
B
That's a lot.
A
That's more than was on in OJ's Bronco, by the way. So that's a lot. The blood spots were later determined to be several days to a week old. No usable fingerprints found in the vehicle, and it doesn't appear that a body has been transported in the back of the vehicle at all.
B
Okay.
A
Okay. Now, the car did not appear to have been hotwired either. So nobody broke into it, Cracked the column. The police searched the area around the vehicle and river and found nothing. Nothing at all. So now Brenda's nephew says he saw Randy driving the Isuzu on November 28. But several law enforcement officers and a few hunters who went by the bluff that weekend said the Isuzu had hadn't moved since November 26th until it was found.
B
Yeah, $900 just sitting there.
A
900 bucks. But somehow, Brenda's nephew saw differently. I don't know. Yeah, 900 bucks. So they search his vehicle. They searched his home. They have no leads to nothing. No clues of where the hell he is. So investigators start to get worried when they see the blood pressure medication and diabetes monitor have been left behind. They're like, this is bad. Something has to have happened to him. Now, another guy here, a friend of Brenda and Randy, saw Brenda leaving Randy's property during the daylight hours on either the Friday or Saturday after Thanksgiving, saying that Brenda was driving a little brown tannish car. She has a restraining order, shouldn't be near that property, which is interesting. Another friend said he visited Randy to get some life jackets from him on the morning of Thanksgiving or the next day, and he was there and fine. So we assume that's Thanksgiving. Then there's a witness named Jerome Eady. He lives near the boat landing where the Isuzu's found. He said the Friday after Thanksgiving, he returned home from work sometime after 11pm Everybody works real odd hours in this town. He observed someone walking alongside the road wearing camouflage. That someone went to his neighbor's house and then came to his house. That someone is Brenda wearing camo. Camo at 11 o' clock at night. Coming from the area of where the Isuzu is parked.
B
Wow.
A
Not good. Brenda told him she needed a ride home. How'd she get here? In her camo?
B
Yeah. Where's your car?
A
So this guy Jerome and his mother gave Brenda a ride to Coward. They dropped.
B
Yeah.
A
Yeah, they dropped her off at a trailer home development near Randy's trailer. Same area, same neighborhood. She knew better than to have him pull up in front of the trailer. He said he was not certain which night around Thanksgiving he gave Brenda a ride, but he was pretty sure it was Friday. Now, Jerome Eady did not believe that Brenda was nervous, angry, crying or bleeding. Nothing wrong with that.
B
It's calm and casual. Yeah.
A
He said he thought she seemed calm. So after police hear about that, they're very suspicious of Brenda, certainly. Obviously. So they go and they search parts of Brenda's family's farm because it was near where Jerome took her in that area. It was between the two places. What they find is a recently dug rectangular hole near a deer stand that was about a quarter mile from Randy's house. And the investigator said, that's a grave. Someone dug a grave. There's nothing in it.
B
Very clearly a body fit in there.
A
But obviously that's what you put in there. That's what fits in there. Yeah, like a glove. So that's what went on there. Now then they do tests of the spots of blood all over the car, and they belong to Brenda.
B
Oh, wow.
A
Steering wheel, gear shift, dashboard.
B
Why is she bleeding in his car?
A
Why is she bleeding in his car? I mean, she was driving it for a while, but still there's blood that only seemed to be less than a week old when they got it. So she shouldn't have been anywhere near that car. Cause he's had possession of it for the last week. So why is her blood in the fucking car? This is a good piece of evidence, especially with the. Combined with the camouflage. Yeah, that story sucks coming out here. But it's still not enough to know what's going on. It's not arrestable. You can't get a warrant for that. No, no, no, no. So February 2005, a couple months have gone by. Now several searches are conducted, including one where about 100 volunteers take part in an in depth, acre by acre search of two tracks of land in Lower Florence County. I guess there'd been a tip saying there possibly a body there. Then three years goes by. What? Three years go by.
B
We haven't even bothered with that rectangular whole thing.
A
She's got a grave dug, blood on his steering wheel and fucking coming away from his car after he was missing, wearing camouflage in the night and needing a ride home from a place that. How the fuck did she get there?
B
It's a real head scratcher.
A
Who knows? But April 3, 2008, now Brenda is arrested. Not for murder, though.
B
What for?
A
She's arrested for 13 counts of forgery.
B
What's she doing?
A
She was accused of taking two checkbooks from a Lake City resident sometime between February and March and use them to spend $5,200.
B
That's a shopping spree.
A
Yep. Then May 21, 2008, she's arrested again, also not for murder. She's arrested and charged with forgery of a value of $5,000 or more. She's accused of cashing checks belonging to someone else without permission at various locations, again, twice. She's a scam artist. So, July 16, 2009, somebody buys Randy's property at a tax sale. Apparently it owes back taxes, so they auction the property. Marty McDonald is his name. He purchases the property and he's having the trailer removed from the land. It's an old trailer. It's been sitting there for years. And get rid of it.
B
The door's broken.
A
Get the windows busted out. He noticed something under the trailer and he says it was. This is fucking crazy. Wow. It's wrapped in a tarp. And he said. At first I thought it was a gourd, but then I found out real quick that it wasn't.
B
He thought there was a pumpkin under the.
A
Wrapped in a tarp. It's a head.
B
Oh, that's why I.
A
It's a fucking head. It's just a head. Just sitting there.
B
First I thought somebody wrapped up their Halloween pumpkin from years ago.
A
Nice big squash or something, you know,
B
I thought maybe some kids threw some seeds under there and one sprouted.
A
It sprouted. Hey, look at this. It's a miracle. Even in the absence of sun and water, it still sprouts. It's a miracle.
B
I got me a. I was ready
A
to go to church squash. Yeah, I was ready to go to church that weekend. Thank the Lord.
B
He found A human head.
A
He found a human skull under his. Yeah. So.
B
Holy.
A
He obviously freaked out, called the cops. Cops come and they find. Not only that, they find underneath that, in a shallow grave anywhere from 8 to 18 inches deep, not even very far, they find a skeleton, clothing and a pair of boots. Just a human without the flesh, essentially.
B
Wow.
A
And the head was off and wrapped in a tarp separately.
B
So. Yeah, that was off before. Yeah, well, before that didn't tumble off and wrap itself up.
A
Wrap itself up separately? No. No. So is it Randy? Let's find out. It's under his trailer. A forensic DNA analyst from the North Texas Health Science center said the bones sent to her office matched Randy.
B
Uh.
A
Oh. Based on DNA samples from his relatives. Cause of death? Can we find that out? They sent it to the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston, and all of those tests are unsuccessful. They are unable to find out a cause of death.
B
I mean, the head was off.
A
The head's off. That's part of it. I assume that's helpful. But they didn't know if that happened afterwards or what. But it's just a skeleton at this point. They don't really have anything to go on. So December, that's 2009. Months go by, six months go by, almost. Then December 7, 2009, here, Brenda is pulled over and she thinks she's ran a stop sign or something, and she's pulled out of the car and arrested for murder instead. Not only murder, but also burying a body without notice, which is hilarious. Without notice. You have to announce it. Because I believe the law in a lot of states. I just heard this recently, is. It's not cities, but towns like this, a lot of them are basically, if you get all your neighbors to okay it, you can bury. You can have a something in your yard. You can bury a relative in your yard or something, but you have to,
B
like, post notice, and then, yes, you
A
have to, like, someone has to have the chance to say, no, you can't do that. Basically, I believe that in some municipalities, that's how it works. I don't know about all of them. So that's what she's arrested for. She has a bond hearing. And this isn't good because listen to the quote the judge said here. Quote. The Bratsky family has been through a long, long, hard, torturous journey to get to this point. Randy had a big heart, and all these people here have big hearts. But in the courtroom, looking at this woman, our hearts have shrunk to nothing.
B
What does that mean? She's the antithesis of a heart.
A
She's just. Yeah, you have no heart for her, I guess.
B
Okay.
A
Randy's sister Sandra talked after the hearing and said it was very difficult. But again, I want to thank the Florence County Sheriff's Department, the solicitor's office, or anybody who had a part in this case. We feel that the judge made a good decision today holding her without bond, and we're happy with his decision. We've had a lot of confidence in the people that are handling this case. How it's been four years, right? It's been five years now. Once they arrest her, how do you have confidence in them? He said, we've been doing this for the past five years, and we're gonna see it through. We just want justice for our brother. The judge said he wants to bring closure to Randy's family and said, I feel so sorry for them. They have so many questions for so long, and now some of the questions have been answered and we're gonna work very, very hard to answer the remaining questions they have and bring justice in this case. Now her son Frankie. Frankie, who's 23, is also arrested.
B
Oh, what'd he do?
A
He is charged with misprision of a felony, which is a legal term that refers to the concealment of a serious crime, like a felony by someone who is not an accomplice or the neglect of an official duty by a public official. Hey, everybody, just gonna take a quick break from the show to tell you a better way to start a business. That's right. That idea you've got cooking, you can get it started with Shopify.
B
Is that Shopify.com?
A
it is Shopify.com. you know it. Starting a business is a big deal, but Shopify makes it simpler. All the tools you need to launch. Launch are already included and ready from day one. Shopify's got templates and AI tools that get you a stunning site set up. You can get up running fast, no coding needed, none of that sort of thing. You don't need any of that. It's great. It's simple. This is what you want. Shopify checkout means more customers actually buy, and the returning ones can do it in a single click. So you can set up your business like that. And if questions come up, Shopify's built in AI assistant sidekick is ready to help them build, troubleshoot, and keep moving. And that's what you got to do here because Shopify also handles the setup and checkout. You know you're going to have more time to focus on growing your business and the tools and all that kind of thing. You want more time for your family. You want more time to listen to true crime podcasts like we have here and all of this, you need to do it. You don't need anyone's approval to make a living. You can build your own business with a free trial@shopify.com Smalltown murder Every self made person started somewhere and yours starts free right here@shopify.com smalltownmurder it's the only thing standing between you and your income getting started. So do it. Get in there. All you need need is the idea. Shopify handles the rest. Start your free trial@shopify.com Smalltown Murder Start your free trial@shopify.com SmallTown Murder now back to the show. Hey everybody, just going to take a quick break from the show and tell you about the safest sponsor that we ever have had here. SimpliSafe.
B
SimpliSafe.com S I M P
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B
Now back to the show.
A
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B
Okay, so that's. I mean that's accomplice after the fact in most places, right?
A
He didn't help with anything. He just knew about it. So they're calling it that. And he's released on personal recognizance like they don't even hold him. But the prosecutor or a lieutenant with the sheriff's department said we think he knew about the murder and didn't report it. Period. That's it.
B
You would have to, right?
A
You'd have to. She couldn't have done any. All this without help, you know what I mean? So at some point in here, Brenda confesses.
B
Why?
A
At some point she confesses. I don't know what they did to Cracker, but she confesses at some point.
B
That's some piece of evidence, huh?
A
Had to have. But the problem is, however they got it and this is not detailed in any of the fucking court documents. And it really drove me crazy trying to find it somehow. Her confession is not going to be allowed into trial. I don't know if they didn't Mirandize her properly. I don't know of what the details of it are. I'd love to know. But her confession is not allowed at trial. Which is a big blow to the prosecution, they get to trial. It's a jury of nine men and five women. There's two alternate. I'm sorry, nine women and five men. Two alternates there. 12 and two. Her confession can't be used. The cornerstone of the state's case became the domestic dispute that happened six weeks before he disappeared. The Ozark thumper incident. Yeah. So the State introduces the 911 calls. Brenda objects to Randy's call being played, arguing it violates the confrontation clause of the Sixth Amendment and was unfairly prejudicial. Confrontation clause is to confront your accusers. Yeah. So if someone's dead, even their voice coming from a thing that can't be cross examined, but they're saying it's a previous thing. You can't cross examine a tape anyway. You wouldn't maybe be able to cross examine Randy about what he said on the tape, but it's really not. We're letting the tape in. You can't kill someone and then say, we're not letting a 911 tape in of them being scared of you. Think about that. That doesn't work. You can't just kill them to shut them up. So that's overruled. Brenda's son. Now, Brenda's attorney, in opening statements, implied that her son might have had something to do with Randy's disappearance. Her lawyer's throwing her son under the bus. Then they call him to the stand,
B
like, he's gonna want to talk to you now and help you.
A
He said, I invoke my Fifth Amendment right. I do not wish to answer questions. What did you do for. He answered that to every question asked of him.
B
Why does anybody think that looks.
A
Doesn't matter how it looks. Legally, it's a preshield. It doesn't matter how it looks.
B
It looks good, though.
A
No, no, no. But it's better than charges. Perjury charges. I mean, think about when Mark Fuhrman did that in the O.J. trial. It destroyed the entire case, but he went, that's one less perjury charge I'm going to get because I got. I perjured myself earlier. So that's why he did it.
B
Lived till he died, too.
A
No shit. That's one of those cases where if you're on the jury, if you see what the jury saw, it's completely understandable why they. If I'm sitting on a jury and the guy that found the fucking evidence that they're touting as the biggest piece of evidence, and he's asked directly, did you fabricate or plant any Evidence in this case. And he takes the fifth. I'm acquitting, period. Right. Aren't you?
B
Yes. Do we need to do that? And rest. Everybody rest. We're going home. It's over.
A
That's it. Yeah. And the judge even would say, well, then what are we talking about here? Yeah, like, that's so other brothers.
B
I wish Nathan Lane was really Effley Bailey.
A
I do, too.
B
He's so much. He's so much better than fun.
A
So much fun in that series. We've watched that, like, 10 times. Oh, he's great.
B
I love him so much.
A
Fucking David Schwimmer going juice, juice, juice for 10 parts. Oh, God, he sucks. I hate him. He sucks so bad.
B
Nice and lame. Like, spinning on his heels going, pardon? What'd you say?
A
Yeah. Now, other Brenda family members testify her nephew testifies Brenda moved in with his mother, I guess probably Brenda's sister and his father. Once Randy obtained the restraining order, he testified he heard Frankie talking to Randy on the phone the Saturday after Thanksgiving when they were returning from their hunting and fishing trip. He estimated the call lasted three to four minutes. No phone records can be found of that, though, unfortunately, on cross exit, because it was years before this. On cross examination, he indicated he only had met Randy once, but had talked to him on the phone before. Dennis Matthews, another nephew of Brenda, testified he saw Randy driving his Isuzu between 3 and 3:30pm the Sunday after Thanksgiving.
B
Oh.
A
Now, Dennis said he'd never met Randy before but had seen him. Now, this contradicts. There's, yeah, tons of strangers who have no horse in this race at all.
B
There's no way. Hunters, cops, a man that's unfamiliar with a guy saw him definitively and what
A
day and what day. And also years ago, cops had seen it there before that, so it had not moved.
B
Impossible.
A
It's impossible, literally. Brenda's Uncle William also testified he saw Randy the Sunday after Thanksgiving driving the Isuzu.
B
Impossible.
A
Impossible. Randy's girlfriend tells about the time when Brenda showed up at their house four days before that whole incident, when she showed up and said, have fun with my husband. The cross examination, they're like, this is wild. Cross examination of Susan Hill. They said, did Randy come running inside screaming, oh, my gosh, she's here calling the police. She's gonna hurt me. Did you hear any screaming or raised voices outside? And she admitted that Randi didn't seem too alarmed by the encounter and said that she didn't hear any arguing. They said, isn't it true that Brenda approached Randy Shined a flashlight in his face and said, I wonder how long this has been going on? Then simply turned around and walked away. Susan Hill said she was inside when the encounter took place and couldn't comment on what the hell happened there, there. So I don't know, but think about that one. Flip the fucking. Flip any of this around. Yeah, Guys stalking. Wonder how long this has been going. That's terrifying. It's the same thing.
B
You can't do that.
A
No, it's just he's less physically afraid of her if she doesn't have a fucking thumper in her hand, probably. By the way, the prosecutor several times called her manly during this case as well. She's not a dainty one. She's like five. Five, heftier woman. Not a giant woman or anything like that. She's not a big strapping woman or anything like that.
B
Did you call her manly?
A
I don't think manly is the right word for it. That's weird. So the defense, before closing arguments, asks for a directed verdict, which is when you tell the judge, take this out of the jury's hands and call not guilty. Right now, the judge has the right to say not enough evidence has been presented to possibly find this person guilty. So I'm dismissing the jury and giving a directed verdict of not guilty.
B
Oh, God.
A
They can even do that after the jury. A jury can come back with a guilty verdict and a judge can throw that out and say. And give a directed verdict. So they said they spent. This is the defense's case. They spent two days talking about the assault and battery with intent to kill case that Brenda hasn't even gone on trial for. This has been a trial within a trial. The only thing they can establish is that. That's the only thing they can establish, and it looks bad. Okay, the judge says, no, we're gonna let this go to the jury. Thank you. That is evidence that she was beating him and stalking him four days before. After six weeks after a beating. That's all evidence in closing arguments here. The prosecution said that Brenda attacked Randy that day because he was about to discover she'd been withdrawing large amounts of money from his bank account. Because that's what they found. Once he was in the hospital, she was about to get caught spending all the money. That assault and battery with intent to kill case was her first attempt to kill Randy. Here's what I think happened. Randy came home that day, and before he could get his boots off, before he could let his dog out, Brenda ambushed him. That morning at 7am the verdict comes in here, she is found guilty of murder and poor disposal of a corpse or whatever it is.
B
And no hear you, hear you.
A
No without notice. Yeah, so that's interesting. Now, during sentencing, this is when more information comes out. Shit that wasn't known during the trial for evidentiary rules that couldn't be let in. One of those things is the members of the court audience learned that Brenda confessed to the murder at that point.
B
Oh, shit.
A
They learned about the confession. But she claimed it was in self defense. That was her claim. Her claim was he came at her or she came at him and she killed him by self defense injury. So the confession was suppressed on legal grounds and was never heard by the jury. But, but just so everybody knows, we know she did it.
B
He must have put up a fight and whipped her ass when she took his car. Possibly let in it, you know what I mean?
A
But only a few little drops of blood. She wasn't bleeding that much.
B
Maybe he didn't whip her ass. Maybe he just got her in the nose or something.
A
Maybe you never know. Or she cut herself. Maybe she could have stabbed him, cut her hand. I mean, anything could have happened. So for mitigation, they bring in her son, sisters, family members. Two of her sisters spoke to the judge, her sister, one of them said, Brenda's guilty of a lot of things. The forgery. She's cleaned my bank account out more than once. What, this is from mitigation? This is the lady on her side. I mean, I know she's robbed me blind more than once, but Brenda is not a violent person. Well, we know she is. She beat the man with an Ozark thumper.
B
Never even heard of it.
A
Never even heard of it. There's just no way she did this. Brenda's older sister expressed sympathy for Randy's family, but said her sister's no killer. Also, she said, I've never doubted for one minute my sister's innocence. And begged the judge for mercy and leniency and said, until the day I take my last breath, I'll believe in her innocence.
B
That's crazy.
A
Brenda sobbed uncontrollably as her family members spoke. Basically did the same thing that Corey Richards did. Whereas only cried when someone was saying good things about them.
B
Them.
A
When her brother went up and said how wonderful she was, she had tears.
B
It's touching.
A
Touching. But when her kids were saying what a piece of shit mother she was and how they never want to see her again, she was mugging. She was like rolling her eyes, rolling her eyes, elbowing her attorney. So Anyway, Brenda's sobbing uncontrollably. They're saying that she might not ever see her elderly mother again and all that. She eventually had to sit down in a chair as sentencing continued and. And indicated through her attorney she could not compose herself enough to address the court.
B
It does hurt.
A
The judge, on the other hand, is plenty fine to address the court. He's deposed and he said, you, ma', am, may fuck off. Life in prison I'll address. That's gonna be without parole, by the way.
B
Yeah.
A
She's also convicted of the burying the body, which she gets a three year sentence for. And she's given credit for time served on that sentence too. A little bit of time served. Randy's sister said, quote, it's indescribable. I couldn't be happier now that it's over and we can go on with our lives. I know Randy's smiling down at his little sister. The day we got the call, he had disappeared. I promised him that I'd never give up and I would see this through. And I didn't give up. She'd really, really given herself some pats there.
B
I did this.
A
Well, she didn't investigate this case.
B
I did.
A
This is me. I did all of this. I'm the judge. Yeah. Not to shit on the victim's sister or nothing, but I mean, this is pretty self congratulatory and I didn't give up. I didn't give up. Randy can rest in peace now. And so can we. There's a lot of eyes in there.
B
You're welcome, Randy.
A
You're welcome, Randy. She also said, we knew she had confessed, but it couldn't be used. That was hard, but we had to have faith. Faith in the justice system. She appeals in 2015 a little bit here. She appeals saying the court should have given her a directed verdict. And they said the court did not err in denying her directed verdict motion. Unlike in these other precedent cases that we have no time for, Brenda's blood was found somewhere unexpected with no reasonable explanation provided. So that right there is enough to go to the jury. Brenda had not had access to the Isuzu in several weeks. However, the undisputed evidence that was that her blood was found in the car was at most a week old. Brenda's argument that the blood on the steering wheel of the Isuzu was from the argument five weeks earlier is not supported by any evidence or testimony presented at trial and was directly contradicted by the uncontested scientific evidence.
B
She's saying the shit from her thumb got all over.
A
No, that's what happened. And five weeks ago. And they just can't tell the difference between six week old blood and fucking week old blood. So there's that part. They said a directed verdict is not required merely because the state cannot conclusively show the defendant was at the crime scene at the relevant time. Also, the evidence, Brenda says all the evidence is circumstantial. Circumstantial, including. They said, here's all the evidence there is though. Brendan Randle, Randy fighting violently. Brenda charged with assault. Brenda getting a restraining order against her that she violated on several occasions. Confronting him and others about his dating Susan. Hiring a private investigator. His Isuzu found away from the home. Small amount of her blood found in it. Brenda got a ride from a stranger near where the isuzu was at 11 o' clock at night while she's wearing camouflage, for Christ's sake. She was seen at Randy's trailer around the time of his disappearance. Despite the restraining order and the grave like hole that was dug on Brenda's family's property less than a quarter mile away.
B
She was gonna do that and she changed her mind and put him under his own trailer.
A
Yeah, just put him under here. Fuck it. Don't put him on the family farm. But didn't fill the grave back in, unfortunately.
B
That's fucking nuts.
A
Wow. Also, she's talking about the confrontation clause. Shit.
B
She was gonna go back and get
A
him at some point, but then she couldn't. How was she gonna do that? Wow. And then she didn't own the property anymore. I think she just put it there and like she's. Any of those thief people. They're like gamblers. Those people who clean out people's shit. There is no tomorrow.
B
No.
A
It's like a junkie basically. Whatever it is, it's going in my arm today and I'll figure tomorrow out tomorrow. And that's what gamblers do and that's what these thieves do. And that's what she did. I'll put that there. We'll figure that out later. For now he's away. Good.
B
Got a hold dog. I'll figure out how to get him in it some other time.
A
Also the 911 call thing. And they said, you know, you can have somebody from the grave if they've been murdered, that's fine. So affirmed. And there was an episode of snapped about her that aired on December 22, 2015. Season 8 or Season 16 episode 8. You can see that. And currently she is at the Graham facility. Whatever that is. Her ID is 00350569. If you want to look her up. There she apparently is. Her projected release date is not eligible.
B
Projected release date, never.
A
Life without babe. And she has shaved her head. Pretty close down now too.
C
Really?
A
Yeah. Manly. Maybe you could say prosecutor. So there you go, everybody. Coward, South Carolina.
B
Yeah.
A
There it is. What a fucking wild case. Is that wild or what?
B
I'm shocked, man.
A
Jesus. Well, at least we know what an Ozark thumper is now. Something came from this. That's good.
B
I'm shocked. They got her. That's a dude. He may have gotten away with it.
A
Possibly. It's crazy shit.
B
So it's pretty amazing.
A
There you go, everybody. If you enjoyed that, please get on whatever app you're on and give us five stars at Hell helps so much. Really helps drive the show up the charts. If you're on Netflix, those thumbs up help a lot. So thank you for doing that. You guys are awesome that do that. So appreciate all you do for us. You can definitely follow us on social media. MallTownMurder on Instagram, SmallTownPod on Facebook. Definitely head over to ShutUpAndGiveMemurder.com and get your tickets for live shows. Holy shit, we can't wait. The second half of the year is kicking off on September 18 at the Pabst in Milwaukee. It's a great theater. That is a good place to watch a show. Then the next night, just as great of a place to watch the show, the State Theater in Minneapolis. We will be there on the 19th of September. And get your tickets now because Milwaukee's beating you right now. You can't have that in Minneapolis. Get in there. Then October 3rd in Dallas, October 16th in San Jose, 17th in Sacramento, and then November 13th in Tarrytown 14. So get your tickets right now. Shut upandgivemerder.com Then get yourself Patreon. That's where it's at. Patreon.com CrimeInSports. Just like the name of this show. That is where you get all the bonus material. Anybody $5 a month or above, you're going to get everything we put out. I'm talking everything. As soon as you subscribe, you're going to get almost 400 back bonus episodes you've never heard before, which is awesome. That's great. And then you get new ones every other week. One Crime and sports, one small town murder. And you get them all this week, which you're gonna get. For crime and sports, we're gonna do Hostage Situations Part two. Because part one was a blast. So we're gonna do part two then for small town murder prisoner Dating game everybody.
B
Damn it.
A
It is back by popular demand gonna line up four men and four women, four bachelors, four bachelor bachelorettes in front of Jimmy and the only thing they have in common is they are all convicted incarcerated violent felons. Jimmy's gonna pick one of each based solely on the profile that they present. And then after he picks somebody on each, we are gonna find out what they did and how terrible of a decision he's made. So I hope it's a lot of fun. Oh, it's a lot of fun here. So that is patreon.com crimeinsports just like the name of our other show, which you should also to listen to and check out your stupid opinions as well. So yeah, you get that. Then you get all the shows we put out ad free with your Patreon too. And then on top of that, you also get a shout out at the end of the show, the regular show. So do that and keep coming out and hanging out with us and do all that good stuff. And you also get everything ad free, which is incredible. So that's awesome. There you go. Do that. If you want to follow us on social media, shut up and givememurder.com as drop down men menus. That'll take you anywhere you need to go. Well, not anywhere but our shit anyway. For us, for us. So do that, grab that stuff, get in there, get your tickets, come hang out with us. And until next week, everybody, it's been our pleasure.
B
Bye.
A
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Podcast: Small Town Murder
Hosts: James Pietragallo & Jimmie Whisman
Episode: The Ozark Thumper – Coward, South Carolina
Release Date: July 3, 2026
In this episode, James and Jimmie dive into the eccentricities and dark secrets of Coward, South Carolina—a tiny rural town with a population of about 600. Against this backdrop, they detail a tragic and bizarre true crime: the vicious murder of Randy Bratschi, a local worker, and the twisted aftermath involving family betrayal, stalking, and a macabre discovery years later. With their trademark blend of in-depth research, sharp wit, and comedic banter, the hosts guide listeners through a case defined by confusion, rural weirdness, and an unforgettable murder weapon: the Ozark Thumper.
[06:24–13:38]
[13:41–16:46]
[16:47–19:29]
[17:53–27:27]
[35:00–36:58]
[39:12–48:14]
[52:48–56:01]
[57:16–60:00]
[66:32–76:32]
[73:19–77:29]
Jury finds Brenda guilty of murder and improper burial.
Brenda is sentenced to life in prison without parole; a separate three-year sentence for illegal burial (credited for time served).
Judge’s statement:
Randy’s sister:
| Segment | Timestamp | |-------------------------------------- |--------------| | Welcome and Town Introduction | 02:40–13:38 | | Victim, Suspect, and Case Intro | 13:41–17:03 | | The Ozark Thumper Attack | 17:03–27:27 | | Hospital and Police Investigation | 27:27–35:00 | | Protective Order, Stalking, Escalation| 35:00–39:12 | | Disappearance and Initial Search | 39:12–48:14 | | Isuzu Found, Brenda's Blood | 47:48–51:28 | | The Empty Grave, Camo Sighting | 51:28–52:48 | | The Skull & Remains Discovered | 54:11–56:01 | | Arrest, Charges, and Legal Maneuvering| 57:16–76:32 | | Verdict, Sentencing, and Appeal | 73:19–81:51 | | Closing Banter | 82:04–84:03 |
James and Jimmie wrap up this jaw-dropping case by marveling at its strange twists (“What a fucking wild case. Is that wild or what?” [82:05]) and the tenacity necessary for rural crimes to get solved. Brenda Miles-Bratschi, now known as the “Ozark Thumper,” will spend the rest of her natural life behind bars. The hosts leave you both informed and amused—with clear takeaways about domestic violence, rural justice, and just what the hell an Ozark Thumper really is.
End note:
Listeners are encouraged by the hosts to leave five-star reviews and buy tickets for live shows. As always, the distinctive mix of research and irreverence makes this a Small Town Murder episode not to miss.
(All credits and quotes attributed to James Pietragallo [A] and Jimmie Whisman [B], timestamps in MM:SS from unedited episode audio.)