Episode 311

Summary

Sword and Scale: Episode 311 Summary

Introduction

In Episode 311 of Sword and Scale, titled "The Cowboy in the Green Truck," the host delves into the harrowing true crime case of Brittany Ulicke, a 16-year-old from Spring Creek, Nevada, whose disappearance and subsequent murder shocked her tight-knit community. This episode meticulously chronicles the timeline of events, the investigation, the unraveling of deceit, and the profound impact on Brittany's family and friends.

The Disappearance of Brittany Ulicke

The episode begins by introducing Spring Creek, a small town in Elko County, Nevada, boasting a population of just over 15,000. Brittany Ulicke, a vibrant and determined teenager, was known for her love of ranch work and rodeo participation. On Sunday, March 8, 2020, Brittany's routine life took a tragic turn.

Timestamp [05:02]: The narrative shifts to Brittany's last known activities. She was expected to spend the night at her father Jim's home after attending her dad's band practice. Brittany was diligent about checking in with her parents, assuring them she'd call every hour. However, shortly after leaving band practice around 3:30 PM, Brittany's phone went to voicemail, raising initial concerns.

Initial Investigation and Bryce Dickey's Role

As Brittany's absence grew concerning, her mother Alicia contacted Bryce Dickey, an 18-year-old family friend who had last seen Brittany. Bryce provided a detailed account of the afternoon, claiming he dropped Brittany off at Spring Creek High School to meet a new friend — a description that would later prove pivotal.

Timestamp [11:25]: Detectives began their investigation by interviewing Bryce, whose statements initially aligned with Brittany's family's account. Bryce described Brittany getting out of his truck and offering to walk to the high school parking lot, where she supposedly met a stranger in a green Ford F150 truck.

Discovery of Brittany's Body

Three days after Brittany was reported missing, on March 11, 2020, police made a grim discovery near Berner Basin, a remote area between Elko and Spring Creek. The partially clothed body of Brittany was found, showing signs of a violent struggle, including ligature marks around her neck and a fatal stab wound.

Timestamp [25:54]: The forensic evidence included a condom wrapper, a used condom, a pair of AirPods, and a lanyard with Brittany's name. These findings pointed to a sexual assault as part of the crime, intensifying the investigation.

Evidence and Interrogation of Bryce Dickey

As the investigation progressed, inconsistencies emerged in Bryce's account. Surveillance footage from the high school parking lot contradicted his timeline, showing that Brittany entered the green F150 truck two hours later than he had stated. Additionally, Snapchat geolocation data placed Bryce near the location where Brittany's body was found, undermining his initial innocence.

Timestamp [49:39]: Detectives confronted Bryce with the evidence. Despite initially maintaining his innocence, Bryce's story began to unravel under pressure. Key revelations included:

• Condom Evidence: A used condom matching both Bryce's and Brittany's DNA was found near the crime scene.

  Bryce Dickey's Quote [50:56]: "I've never had sex with Brittany. I swear."

• Inconsistent Timelines: Surveillance showed Bryce's truck passing the high school without stopping, contrary to his claim of dropping Brittany off.

• Confessions Under Duress: Faced with mounting evidence, Bryce eventually admitted to having had oral sex with Brittany, contradicting his earlier denials and strengthening the prosecution's case.

  Bryce Dickey's Quote [56:14]: "Brittany and I had... a blowjob. It was almost didn't seem real..."

Trial and Conviction

Bryce Dickey was arrested on March 19-20, 2021, for the first-degree murder and sexual assault of Brittany Ulicke. During the trial, testimonies from Bryce's parents revealed troubling aspects of his behavior, including prior abuse allegations.

Timestamp [67:01]: Alicia Ulicke expressed her disgust and disbelief at the trial proceedings, highlighting suspicions about Bryce's parents and their potential involvement in covering up the crime.

Timestamp [73:01]: Ultimately, Bryce was convicted and sentenced to 20 years to life in prison, with an additional 50 years for the use of a deadly weapon, ensuring a life sentence devoid of parole opportunities.

Impact on Brittany's Family and Community

The tragic loss of Brittany deeply affected her family and the Spring Creek community. Alicia Ulicke, Brittany's mother, shared her enduring rage and grief, emphasizing the lasting trauma of losing her daughter.

Timestamp [68:49]: Alicia reflected on her emotional journey, stating, "The murder of my daughter brought those two back together. It was quite disgusting to watch," referring to Bryce's parents during the trial. She also highlighted Brittany's legacy of kindness and the importance of maintaining a healthy level of distrust to ensure safety.

Insights and Conclusions

Episode 311 underscores the peril of misplaced trust and the deceptive facade that acquaintances can present. It also critiques the overreliance on technology like Snapchat, which, despite promises of privacy, left digital traces that ultimately aided in solving the case.

Key Takeaways:

• Trust cautiously: Even those closest to us can betray our trust.
• Technology's double-edged sword: While apps like Snapchat offer privacy, they can also leave critical evidence.
• Parental intuition: Alicia's instincts about her daughter's disappearance were vital, emphasizing the importance of heeding parental concerns.
• Community vigilance: The spread of awareness and community involvement was crucial in Brittany's case, though not initially enough to prevent the tragedy.

Timestamp [71:56]: The host concludes with a poignant reminder inspired by Brittany's life: "Flowers make everything better... be humble, be kind, and make somebody smile... always remember, a healthy dose of distrust is a very good thing."

Notable Quotes

• Bryce Dickey [50:56]: "I've never had sex with Brittany. I swear."
• Alicia Ulicke [55:28]: "The murder of my daughter brought those two back together. It was quite disgusting to watch."
• Alicia Ulicke [68:49]: "What I can say is don't ever dare to show your face in this town again."

Final Thoughts

Episode 311 of Sword and Scale serves as a chilling reminder of the darkness that can lurk beneath seemingly ordinary lives. It highlights the importance of vigilance, the complexities of trust, and the enduring pain inflicted by such heinous crimes. Brittany Ulicke's story is a testament to the devastating impact of betrayal and the relentless pursuit of justice within a community striving to heal.

Transcript

[Jordan Harbinger]

Sword and Scale contains adult themes and violence and is not intended for all audiences. Listener discretion is advised.

[Bryce Dickey]

You've been sitting in this language without seeing anybody? Because I've had the entire town of Spring Creek asking me if I've killed Brittany. And who might is 1/2? If you didn't see Evan.

[Jordan Harbinger]

Well, it's another one. You knew it was coming, right? This is Sword and scale, episode 311. A show that reveals that the worst monsters are real. Why did I say that so fast? I still have a little time. You wanna. You wanna hang out? This episode was written and produced by Elena Thomas, one of our senior producers here at jordanscale. I keep meaning to give credit, but I keep getting bogged down and forget because I have to mention how awesome our plus service is. If you haven't checked out the app lately, we've made all sorts of improvements. Check it out.

[Bryce Dickey]

Sam.

[Jordan Harbinger]

Teenagers live in a world of contradictions. They crave independence, but they lack experience. That's why they say so many really stupid things on Instagram and Snapchat. Oh, and that Chinese spying app, TikTok. They trust too easily. Their instincts are still underdeveloped. It's a stage of life defined by growth, curiosity, and vulnerability. A time when friendships feel unshakable, but they are shakeable. They'll probably end in most people you talk to right now as a kid won't be around in a couple years. It's a time when the world feels safe. But somehow, danger lurks around every corner. These days, technology is the sun we all seem to orbit around, myself included. And teenagers are uniquely susceptible to both the wonders and the perils technology brings. Apps like Snapchat promise the allure of privacy, letting users share photos and messages that disappear. It's no secret this technology seems maliciously marketed towards underage users. Why would a kid need access to an app with vanishing messages and photos? Think about it. It's a disaster waiting to happen. Your kid buys drugs from someone over Snapchat and overdoses. Well, too bad those messages are gone. Your kid agrees to meet up with someone in the middle of the night. Well, you may never find out where they went. Kids tend to view Snapchat as infallible unless someone takes a screenshot of what you've sent them. And Snapchat does notify both users. When that happens, teens can sleep easily knowing the photos they've sent are gone forever. But this is how Snapchat used to work. Its new features have opened doors for law enforcement. This hasn't changed how kids interact with the app, though. I mean, we've said it here a million times. Kids are dumb. They don't know any better. It's interesting when something designed to make things disappear ends up the only witness to a heinous crime.

[Bryce Dickey]

SA.

[Jordan Harbinger]

Spring Creek, Nevada is a small town in Elko county near the base of the Ruby Mountains. It's located in the northeastern quadrant of the state. With a population of just over 15,000. It's a place like so many others we've talked about in past episodes. Everyone knows each other, everyone looks out for each other, blah, blah, blah. All that to the people of Spring Creek, danger is something that exists in other towns, not theirs. For 16 year old high schooler Brittany Ulicke and her family, Spring Creek was home. Brittany was a bright, social teenager who loved working on the ranch almost as much as she loved hanging out with her friends. Her mom, Alicia, worked as a nurse, often pulling long shifts, while her dad, Jim, a local musician, played shows with his band. Though Alicia and Jim were divorced, they stayed connected through their kids, sharing a sense of pride in Britney's growing independence. But on Sunday, March 8, 2020, the routine predictability of Spring Creek life shattered. The day started. Like many others, Brittany spent the morning in nearby Elko at her dad's band practice, a regular event. She was supposed to be spending the night at his place. Brittany was good about checking in with her parents regularly. Jim said, no matter what, Brittany called me every hour. It was a little after 3:30pm When Brittany left band practice. She told her dad that she had caught a ride and they laughed about how Brittany would end up beating him home. Later on, when Jim got in his truck to head back and called his daughter to let her know he was on his way, Brittany's phone went straight to voicemail. At first, Jim tried to stay calm. Maybe Brittany's phone battery died, or maybe she was home napping or watching tv. But when he arrived and found the house empty, he called her again. And again and again. By the third time, the unease was hard to ignore. Meanwhile, Alicia was experiencing her own growing panic. By the next morning, Alicia assumed Jim had called the police and made a report himself. But she discovered that he hadn't.

[Alicia Ulicke]

He's just very friendly. You want to come and sit down?

[Bryce Dickey]

Sure. Okay. So is it son or daughter? Daughter. Daughter, yeah. Okay. What is daughter's name?

[Alicia Ulicke]

Brittany. You wanna get a picture? Her name's Brittany.

[Bryce Dickey]

Okay.

[Alicia Ulicke]

She was supposed to be going home yesterday. She was in town with her dad.

[Bryce Dickey]

Okay.

[Alicia Ulicke]

And she got her. She told Him, I'm gonna get a ride home with a friend. I'll beat you home. And he says, you better beat me cause I'll be there in an hour. And she goes, we're going right home.

[Bryce Dickey]

Talking about coming here.

[Alicia Ulicke]

You know, her dad lives in South Fork. We're split up.

[Bryce Dickey]

Okay.

[Alicia Ulicke]

And her friend that had her, I talked to him, he dropped her off at the high school down here at 4 o' clock with some guy. And I go, what guy? And he goes, I don't know. She just said, my new friend, tall white, cowboy looking guy with a green truck. And now nobody can find her, none of her friends.

[Bryce Dickey]

Her phone's not on. Okay? I don't know where to find. So I have to ask the glaring question. When did you guys become extremely worried that she was missing? I mean, because we're talking about now quite a long period of time between when she got dropped off with this.

[Alicia Ulicke]

Male and I was on it last night. Her dad was supposedly calling. And then I. And then I asked him this morning, did the cops, could you make the report? And he goes, no. So I've been up all night.

[Bryce Dickey]

Okay, so you assumed that dad was doing what you're doing now.

[Jordan Harbinger]

Okay, There are a million different possibilities. In a situation like this, law enforcement has to get a good picture of what kind of teen they're dealing with so they can decide whether this is a runaway or whether they're in Amber Alert territory. Either way, they were desperate to find Brittany.

[Bryce Dickey]

Does she go here to Spring Creek High School?

[Alicia Ulicke]

She's actually doing homeschool.

[Bryce Dickey]

Okay.

[Alicia Ulicke]

She's got a lot of enemies and.

[Bryce Dickey]

I'm scared she has a lot of enemies. Why would you say that?

[Alicia Ulicke]

She just does.

[Bryce Dickey]

Especially if not in school.

[Alicia Ulicke]

Everybody wants. The last time she went to a.

[Bryce Dickey]

Rodeo she got jumped by four girls. And I just, I'm just worried you guys weren't in a fight or anything like that recently. There'd be no reason for her to rebel or stay out.

[Alicia Ulicke]

No, I mean, I got lots of problems with her anyway because she's 17 almost. But yesterday, in the last few days, we've been in a really good lull. I talked to her FaceTime for an hour at like 1:30.

[Bryce Dickey]

Everything was just fine.

[Alicia Ulicke]

She was just happy. Go lucky. Everything was good.

[Jordan Harbinger]

Alicia's mother and grandmother wondered out loud whether there were any security cameras in the parking lot when Brittany was dropped off and got into that green pickup truck. The 18 year old boy, a close family friend, said that he had left Brittany in the Spring Creek High School lot. At her request.

[Bryce Dickey]

And all we know is that it was a green truck. We know nothing else about the individual?

[Alicia Ulicke]

No, the boy said it was an ugly green F150 from the early 2000s. They had dropped her off. Christ, Dinky is the kid that dropped her off. So that's the last person that we know of that's seen her.

[Bryce Dickey]

I'm gonna take this, I'm gonna get her entered and then I'm gonna go speak with my supervisor and see what the next course of action is going to be. Okay? Okay.

[Jordan Harbinger]

The next day, police worked to track down all of Brittany's friends, including the one who had dropped her off at the high school parking lot. 18 year old Bryce Dickey. Bryce was out of town with his mom for some doctor's appointments. So detectives first spoke with him over the phone and later met up with him at the same parking lot that he left Brittany at the day before.

[Bryce Dickey]

Hey, Bryce, how's it going?

[Jordan Harbinger]

Good. I appreciate you meeting me here.

[Bryce Dickey]

Yeah, no problem.

[Jordan Harbinger]

So kind of tell me, run me through it so I can understand what's going on.

[Bryce Dickey]

So I'm gonna stand in the shade over here if you don't mind your phone. All right. So Sunday around 11, I started texting. Got a few texts from Brittany and just asked if I wanted to hang out. I said sure, got ready and stuff, told me she could meet me at angel park. Cuz she said her dad was doing band practice and then went to town. Called her when I got in Town on 5th and then picked her up at Angel Park. Kept driving around and then we were over in the Horse palace section and my dad called me asking if I could come back home. So I told her I needed to go. Asked her if she wanted me to just drop her back off at Andrew park. And she said that she wanted to me to drop her off at the high school to meet her new friends and said her dad was gonna pick her up later. So then came over here, pulled in right over there, gave her a hug and stuff, and then she got out. I pulled out and then started heading that way and the F150 was over there, but I didn't know that was where she was going at that time. They were both standing outside the truck and then. And I got to the turnout right over there by the middle school and then the F150 was in motion. So you said what was the F150? Yeah, it was the Tritons. The ones that are really ugly looking, have the sidestep in them. Okay. Like that Wintergreen, Dark forest green. Like a dark forest green.

[Jordan Harbinger]

Bryce's account matched what Brittany's family had recounted from their conversation with him. He talked about a green truck, an ugly one from the early 2000s. A toolbox and stickers on the rear window.

[Bryce Dickey]

It looked decently dirty, but just like about as much as that truck is right there.

[Jordan Harbinger]

A typical truck.

[Bryce Dickey]

That's. Yeah, Typical Spring Creek truck at this time meter. Okay. Yeah. And then had a silver toolbox in the bed. It had stickers on the back window, but I didn't see what any of them were.

[Jordan Harbinger]

With such a clear and descriptive lead, this case was about to move very quickly. But no one was less prepared for how everything would pan out than Britney's mother, Alicia.

[Alicia Ulicke]

Brittany was always a very fiery, full of energy, funky little girl. And she was always so full of passion right from the get go, you know what I mean? She was just this little ball of fire light and just fun, you know. She's a very good girl. She was born in Colorado Springs, and we lived there for a while, and then we made the move over here to Elko because her dad got hired at the gold mines over here. She would have been eight. So we made the move over here, which was exciting for me at first because I grew up over here. I went to high school over here. We went to the same. I went to Spring Creek High School. So it was kind of exciting. And I thought, oh, this will be fun. This is such a safe place and the opportunities are going to be great over here for us. And we came over here with a lot of high hopes.

[Jordan Harbinger]

The activities Elko county had to offer spoke to Brittany. She loved being surrounded by the mountains and the desert.

[Alicia Ulicke]

She instantaneously grabbed onto the buckaroo cowboy lifestyle of this place, you know, and that was her lifestyle. That was her friend group, you know, just all a bunch of the kids that like to ride horses and participate in rodeo and, you know, Brittany was a real deal cowgirl out on the ranch. And there was no trophies, there was no judges, but there was, you know what I mean? She was a little bit more. She wasn't an arena cowgirl, we'll just put it that way.

[Jordan Harbinger]

Britney had a big personality, but deep down she was steady and determined. She had plans for her future and worked hard to make them happen, surprising people with how driven she could be. But public school wasn't easy for her because she had severe dyslexia and some issues with bullying. Britney's parents decided to pull her out just before her junior year and homeschool.

[Alicia Ulicke]

Her, and she was thriving. She was on track to graduate early. The Navy recruiters had definitely got to her, which I was not winning that argument with her because she was full steam, ready to go. But I'm telling you, she was, she was so strong, you know what I mean? And like, she would come and do more pull ups than the recruiter, and he was just like, holy cow, kid, you know? So she was on track. She was going to graduate a year early. She was going to join the Navy, and, you know, she, she was doing it.

[Jordan Harbinger]

Despite the hurdles, Brittany wasn't one to give up. Staying on track to graduate early while dealing with severe dyslexia is no small feat.

[Alicia Ulicke]

I, I feel like we were handling it really well. We were, we were adapting to the situation. Things were going good, and then that day happened. You know, it just blew everything up. We were a very normal, whatever you want to call normal. We're a very average family. You know what I mean? And then to have something like this come and happen is just unbelievable.

[Jordan Harbinger]

Everyone depended on Bryce to recall every detail of that day. From Alicia's perspective, if Brittany had been abducted and was taken out of state, his description of the man and vehicle could be their only shot at finding her.

[Bryce Dickey]

So I got a little bit of the story as to what your involvement was, but I'm not clear on a lot of things, and I'm just trying to do the best job that I can do, so. So hopefully you can ask any question that you would like. Perfect man. Thank you very much. Now, what was kind of the nature of that conversation?

[Jordan Harbinger]

What's your relationship with her?

[Bryce Dickey]

Britney's been one of my closest friends since probably my seventh or eighth grade year. Oh, you've known each other for a while? Yeah. Okay, okay. No. And that was one of the issues we had with the cop previously, is that we were going over. Cause her phone in my. Her name on my phone is little sis, because she's called me big brother since, like freshman year. And then he kept asking me, well, if she's your little sis, why didn't you know her better? Because there was questions that I didn't know the answer to.

[Jordan Harbinger]

We won't make you sit through the whole story again. But Bryce recalls picking up Brittany at Angel Park. They drove around for a while, and he details her routes and stops for detectives. He says his dad called, telling him to come home. Brittany was on the phone in the passenger seat. Before asking Bryce to drop her off at the high school to meet a friend. She gave Him a hug, walked towards the green truck, and Bryce drove away.

[Bryce Dickey]

And right before I got out, I looked back over, and I just saw her over at the F150. Met with someone. That was it. Could you see any type of clothing or anything on them when you got out? Nothing specific that I could just. Was it a white hat, black hat? It didn't look light, so I don't think it was a straw hat. But, I mean, they do make black straw hats, stuff like that. So.

[Jordan Harbinger]

By this point, Bryce and some of Brittany's other friends had been out searching for one of the officers, actually crossed paths with a vehicle of kids as they drove around, scouring the town and surrounding desert. Bryce was the only one who knew what this guy looked like, though the line of sight he had from the gas station across the street gave him a vague picture of who was now known as the mysterious cowboy in the green truck.

[Bryce Dickey]

Was there any conversation when you. And I'm sure there was conversation, but.

[Jordan Harbinger]

Was there any conversation that kind of.

[Bryce Dickey]

Sticks out in your mind. Mind when you picked her up? We had a ton of conversations. There was a few because the cops had previously asked me if she was. Said anything about going anywhere besides, she said that she was planning on going to Texas after the summer with her friend. You keep in contact with her pretty regularly even though she wasn't at school, or is it just kind of talked to her a couple. Couple times a week. Okay.

[Jordan Harbinger]

Now then the reason I'm asking, man.

[Bryce Dickey]

Is did she say anything about anyone that she was having problems with or any. Any people that she was interested in or anything like that? We all knew she was talking to some guy that we think was in New York, but, I mean, she'd be talking to him for a while. Okay. Besides that. And then like I told everyone else, a lot of people had problems with Brittany, but nothing that we would see with this outcome. Sure. Sure. Well, hopefully, yeah. Okay.

[Jordan Harbinger]

It sounded like Brittany might have been talking to a stranger online, One that she may have actually met up with. Luckily, Spring Creek High School was right in town, and though there were no security cameras on the building itself, there were numerous businesses with a view of the parking lot. Surely one of them had some helpful footage. Brittany's friends and family tried not to lose hope, but the signs weren't looking good. To make matters worse, her phone had been inactive this entire time.

[Alicia Ulicke]

And it's interesting that that's when me and Jim, both. Our alarm bells started going off and we were starting to, you know, and for Brittany, her phone was Never off. She was a little social media junkie, if you will. You know what I mean? It was all about Snapchat selfie. So it just got really, really, really scary that her phone, you know, kept going off and then added into the fact that Dickie had told my son, well, I dropped her off with somebody, you know what I mean? So my brain is going, holy shit, somebody grabbed my daughter. You know what I mean? And they are. They trafficked her there. What? Something. You know what I mean? That's the thought that went through my head. And because I was like, I don't care if she didn't run away. If putting her as a runaway puts her in the system, fine, she ran away. Just get her in the system. Something is wrong, you know, something is wrong.

[Jordan Harbinger]

A parent's intuition is very real. It was just after 5pm on March 8, the day Brittany disappeared, when her phone pinged off a cell phone tower for the last time. Investigators chose to keep this crucial information to themselves, withholding it not just from the public, but even from Brittany's parents. This final ping gave detectives a defined area to search. Then on March 11, two days after Brittany was officially reported missing, they found something. Summer's here.

[Bryce Dickey]

Get ready for backyard barbecues, trips to.

[Jordan Harbinger]

The pool, and COVID 19.

[Bryce Dickey]

That's right.

[Alicia Ulicke]

Covid isn't taken this summer off and.

[Jordan Harbinger]

Can actually spread year round.

[Alicia Ulicke]

I am Dr. Simone Wiles, and as.

[Bryce Dickey]

An infectious disease expert, I know this fact surprises a lot of my patients. The good news is options exist to.

[Alicia Ulicke]

Help treat the COVID virus.

[Bryce Dickey]

Talk to your doctor about whether prescription.

[Jordan Harbinger]

Medication for Covid may be right for you.

[Bryce Dickey]

Learn more at pfizerforall.com covid19.

[Jordan Harbinger]

This message is sponsored by Pfizer. When 16 year old Brittany Uliki went missing, Spring Creek, Nevada was suddenly a town full of questions. Her parents, Alicia and Jim, were desperate for answers. And as word spread, the search for Brittany pulled in nearly everyone in the town. She was tough, outspoken, and more at home on horseback than anywhere else. But on March 8, 2020, she wasn't on the ranch. She was in town spending the afternoon with a friend, Bryce Dickey. According to Bryce, he dropped her off at Spring Creek High School so she could meet someone. Cowboy in a green Ford F150. Pretty generic description if you ask me. Then again, I live in Texas, so there's that. That was the last time anyone saw her. Three days later, at 1:50 in the afternoon, two men called 911. They had found what they thought might be a body near Berner Basin, a remote stretch of land between Elko and Spring Creek.

[Bryce Dickey]

It looks like a human head to me. It looks like a chest cavity. I'm pretty sure that's their drag marks there. All right, well.

[Jordan Harbinger]

I stopped right here. He parked right there where he's at. I stopped.

[Bryce Dickey]

I backed up right there. So. I don't know, guys, do the tire print and all that or if that's all? Yeah, we'll get a statement from you guys here a second, so. All right, we'll find out here in a minute, but first glance doesn't look good. Drag mark right there. Oh, yeah, that's not good. Oh, that's a 1092. That's a body. Yeah. Let's get out. Yep, I can see enough right now. Looks like a girl's hand. Let's back out.

[Jordan Harbinger]

Nobody needed autopsy results to know who this was. Britney's partially clothed body was found lying in the desert sand and brush. Someone had tried to cover her up with a tarp, but they didn't do a very good job. There was blood evidence and even drag marks leading from the roadway to her final resting place. Police collected a condom wrapper, a used condom, a pair of airpods, and a lanyard of keys with the name Brittany on it. Just like the information about the phone ping. Detectives decided to keep these discoveries to themselves aside from Britney's family. After all, their interview process was far from over.

[Alicia Ulicke]

But I got a call that on Wednesday that, you know, I needed to go down for my interview. You know, they were gonna dump my phone. You know, it's a full on forensic interview at this point, partly too, because that's when I got that scam phone call about, we've got your daughter, We've kidnapped her, she's not doing well from the drugs that we used, and she's gonna die. And if you don't send me $2,500, I'm gonna feed her to my dogs.

[Jordan Harbinger]

What kind of sick person messes with the mind of a grieving parent like that? I mean, Jesus Christ, is the Internet toxic? Some of you people need to just be put down.

[Alicia Ulicke]

I think it's because I had put the missing poster out on some of these social media groups that I had that I knew would be more far reaching than the posters I just had here in Elko. Because like I said, I figured somebody had grabbed her, was on the road with her, and somebody got a whole other poster and got my number. Yep. And it was awful because as these messages are coming in, part of you is telling yourself this is completely illogical. You know what I mean? This isn't. But the other part of you is just panicking, going, you know, So I remember the detective stake, and I want to say FBI agent was at my house that night, trying to tap into this number or whatever. And the next morning when I was in there waiting for my interview to start, they started texting again, saying, I told you, you know, that whatever, and we're going to kill her now. And I'm just panicking in the. In the waiting room. And so they said, well, we're gonna take your phone anyway. You know, they were gonna do what they do with the phones anyway. Then I went into the interview room, and, yeah, that's when he was just asking tons of questions. And then he got up to leave, and he'd been gone for way too long. And I was. I remember sitting there thinking to myself, God, I do not have time for this police interview tactics where you're trying to leave me in here to make me nervous. Dude, I need to get out there and find my kid. Could you hurry this along? I remember thinking that. And then that's when he came back in and had told me, hey, you gotta talk to you. You know what I mean? And he told me that they found a body. He didn't even say, my daughter's body. He just said, we found a body. And that's the last thing I remember. To be honest, I didn't remember anything about that until I watched the footage that they had of that. Because I just. I do remember going to the ground. And then the next thing I remember, I was sitting in the parking lot outside of the sheriff's station on the ground. And I just remember just sirens and cop cars just flying past me on both sides. And then fire department running up to me and putting me in an ambulance. And I was telling him, no, no, no, no, no. I gotta go. I gotta go. I gotta go find my son. And they tapped the blood pressure thing and they said, no, no, honey, you're trying to have a stroke on me. And they hit something in my arm, and I woke up seven hours later.

[Jordan Harbinger]

When the tarp was removed, it was clear that what Brittany had gone through was horrendous. She was face down in the dirt with her hair splayed around her head in all directions. Her pants and underwear had been pulled to her ankles, and her sweatshirt was pushed up above her chest. An autopsy revealed ligature marks around her neck and a fatal stab wound in the center of her neck, just above her collarbone by this point, footage of the high school parking lot was in and had been scrubbed for evidence. And one clip showed a dark colored truck with a silver toolbox in it. Detectives printed out photos of all the vehicles that even loosely fit Bryce's description and lined them up in front of him. Then, sitting in the same interview chair that Alicia was interviewed in, Bryce took them back through the whole story once again.

[Bryce Dickey]

So when you're with Brittany on the 8th, just talk me through that from the beginning to the end. Okay. Probably around 11 or so, started texting and she said she was in town for her dad's band practice and then asked the phone to hang out. So got ready, went to town around 12:1, I think. And then when I got on the right over the Fifth street bridge, I turned on the silver and called her because she wanted me to pick her up at Angel Park. So she said she was going to walk down. So I called her, got to angel park, picked her up, and then drove around town because we had no idea what we were wanting to do. And then my dad texted me asking if I would come home. So I asked her if she wanted me to drop her back off at angel park or take her back to her dad at band practice. And then she got on her phone for a minute or so and then just asked her if I could drop her off at the high school and then pulled into the high school. And that's when I actually drove right past that F150. Didn't realize that's where I was dropping off with Bryce.

[Jordan Harbinger]

Had not mentioned this part before.

[Bryce Dickey]

So pulled in front of high school, I gave her a hug, dropped her off, and I was already pulling back off. And then she was walking back over there from 50. And then right about here is when you look back in your rearview mirror and you saw Brittany standing over here. And you said he was outside too? Yeah. Okay, and this is about where the truck was? Yeah. And what time did you say this was about that you dropped her off? I think it was 4:30, we think. I literally just looked in my rearview mirror when I got up there and I just saw him and burning outside the truck. So when you saw both of them standing next to the truck, did you see the truck too, or. Yeah, I could see the truck, but also my mirrors on my Chevy are pretty worn, so it's not the best of views. If I recall, you said something about your dad had called or something? He texted me. Okay, so he texted you and that was to go back home or something? Yeah. Okay, so what what happened after that? I just went straight back home. And then that's why timeline after that for me, like, because when I went into El copd, because he called me in there to question me after I left the high school, I think I got on my phone probably once in the next two hours. I was just at my dad's for about an hour and a half, I think, and then went over to my mom's house. My parents were split.

[Jordan Harbinger]

Even though everyone else had been through the same rigorous interview process, being asked to retell his story so many times made Bryce feel like he was in the hot seat. In a Snapchat message thread with a mutual friend of his and Britney's, he shared his fears. Remember, at this point, nobody but her family knew that Britney's body had been found. I just got interrogated.

[Alicia Ulicke]

For what?

[Jordan Harbinger]

The Britney shit. What they ask you Literally everything. Like every goddamn inch of that day.

[Alicia Ulicke]

Damn. You're not in trouble though, are you?

[Jordan Harbinger]

Not right now. But he was really digging, like I did something to her. It was a legit interrogation, had me freaked out.

[Alicia Ulicke]

Dude, you and her are like dumb and dumber. There's no way you would ever hurt her.

[Jordan Harbinger]

Yeah, he saw that her name in my phone was Little Sis and he kept questioning me about it. And it seemed like he was making it sound like I wasn't close to her and that it was suspicious.

[Alicia Ulicke]

Did you have an alibi for after you got home?

[Jordan Harbinger]

Sort of. But I don't even remember what time I got home. I wasn't on my phone at all.

[Alicia Ulicke]

Do you think she would run away?

[Jordan Harbinger]

Honestly, no. But I don't know. I'm at a loss right now.

[Alicia Ulicke]

We all kinda are. Nothing seems to make sense at all. My mom's friend is a sheriff and she's asked him if he thinks that when she gets found, if she'll be found alive. And he said yes, I believe very much so.

[Jordan Harbinger]

Well, that's relieving.

[Alicia Ulicke]

Yeah. I don't think she's dead somewhere either. Someone's holding her somewhere, or is she really just up and left? I'm sure she'll turn up. It'll just take time.

[Jordan Harbinger]

I sure hope so.

[Alicia Ulicke]

He probably came into the picture where I can really remember it, probably about eighth, ninth grade. He had been in my house multiple times. And I remember my first impression, which I don't think now, but as I used to just think, oh, look at what a shy little kid he is. Because he just kind of look at his feet. He'd never really look up, you know, it's not so different with some of these little cowboy kids. Those, you know, a little shy cowboy guy kicking his boots, looking down, you know, and that's kind of what I thought it was. He always had her home when she was supposed to be home. Like there, there was. There was a. A weird pattern of trust, I guess, because so many times he would be. He would make sure that she was home exactly when they said they were going to be home. And you know what I mean? So there was a. There was a trust there. Britney was not a boy crazy girl in any way, shape or form. She just didn't have time for that yet. I'm not saying that wouldn't have come, but again, there was nothing special about Dickie. She was just a sweet soul and she would do things for people that. Like he couldn't even be in the main building at school. He had to be in the trailers because, you know what I mean? He couldn't get to school. He was having all these troubles. So he was all on his own, isolated out in these trailers to go to school. And Brittany would feel bad about it and she'd be like, oh, man, mom, can you get me a blue Gatorade and some. And a pizza so I could take it to him so that he can have a good day? You know what I mean?

[Jordan Harbinger]

But that was just Britney behind the scenes. While keeping Britney's death, the findings of the surveillance footage and other key pieces of evidence secret, police were also using Snapchat, of all things, to paint a picture of Brittany's final moments. Geolocation data showed both Brittany and Bryce at the Burner Basin Spot, a location off of Boyd Kennedy road at around 4.30pm Bryce had not mentioned this trip during any of his interviews. Soon enough, the discovery of Brittany's body was publicized and her friends and family sat with the reality that she was gone forever.

[Alicia Ulicke]

I can't believe this. I don't know what to think or say or do. I'm so sorry, Bryce.

[Jordan Harbinger]

I just found out. I love you. If you need anything, text me. I'm so sorry this happened. I have a lot of regrets that I can't take back and that's on me. But I hope you guys don't blame me. If so, then you have the right to. But thank you for being here for me. It means the world.

[Alicia Ulicke]

Bryce. We definitely do not blame you one bit. None of this is your fault. None of it. The only one who is at fault is whoever did this to her. We love you too, bud. Keep your head up. We're here for you no matter what. If you need anything, you know how to get ahold of us. Stay strong. They'll find who did this.

[Jordan Harbinger]

Yeah, I'm not letting my girl go anywhere alone. I'm having her friend at work walk her to her truck at night because I trust him. On Facebook, where the cattle run free. Bryce posted this Yesterday, we all received news that made us hit the floor at around 8 in the morning. We all started meeting up at my house to grieve and mourn Brittany's life, which was taken far too soon that day. I had tears of pain and joy. I wish she could have seen the amount of us that came together to honor you, sis. We love you so much. Just know you won't ever be forgotten.

[Alicia Ulicke]

Me and Jim had actually we took the dress and the boots down to the funeral home that she was going to be cremated in. And we had just dropped them off and we were driving home and Nick called me and he said, alicia, there will be an arrest within the next three hours. He goes, whatever time it was right? And he goes, can you meet me at the station in, you know, such and such time? And still didn't tell me anything. Still did not tell me anything. I had no idea he had been arrested until I got down there to the station that day. I had no idea they had arrested him.

[Jordan Harbinger]

No one did. Not yet, anyway. She was mourning, trying to hold on to what little she had left of her daughter. But as they drove toward the police station, drawing closer to that cramped interview room, Bryce Dickey was losing his grip. Every lie he told was turning against him, suffocating him. He tried to hold the story together, but much like the rest of his life, it was already starting to fall apart. It 18 year old Bryce Dickey had spent days weaving a story. A good one too. He lied effortlessly, which is amazing on those interviews, convincing Brittany's friends and family that he was just as desperate to find her as they were. But behind closed doors, detectives weren't buying it. And they had this feeling since the very beginning. Snapchat geolocation data had placed him near Berner Basin, the place where Brittney's body was found. At the time, he claimed, he had already dropped her off with a cowboy in a green truck. Surveillance footage contradicted his timeline, and one by one, his lies collapsed. After hours in the interrogation room, his explanations were no longer cutting it. He wasn't dealing with the Elko PD anymore either. He had entered into the big leagues. And now Bryce Dickey had nowhere to Run.

[Bryce Dickey]

If you could say something to Brittany, what would you say? Easy, I love you. That'd be the first thing I would say right about the second. Sorry. Cause I kind of blame myself for others. Even though you blame yourself. I mean, I know that I didn't know what was gonna happen, but I'm the last one that saw her before she was dead. No. Just out of curiosity, and we promise we won't tell your girlfriend, had you ever been. I got that question the last two times. Brittany and I have never been intimate in any way. I mean, like, a lot of people get the wrong attentions because, I mean, do with all my friends, but like calling females my female friends. Love and stuff like that. But that's just kind of the way I was raised, in a sense, the grammar wise. But Brittany and I have. And I have never had a relationship where had been intimate in any way. That's why my girlfriend was comfortable with her, is because she never flirted with me or anything like that. Did you really want to be? No, never. No, I never had that want or urge or anything. I literally saw Britney as my little sister.

[Jordan Harbinger]

Then they confronted Bryce with the discrepancies between his statements and what surveillance footage revealed. An image is worth a thousand words and possibly a conviction or two. He had repeatedly told investigators that he picked Brittany up at angel park at 1:30pm but the cameras told a different story, showing her getting into his truck two hours later at around 3:30pm not only that, but surveillance footage showed that Bryce's truck, with Brittany still inside, never stopped at the high school parking lot, where he claimed she got out and got into that green F150. Instead, the truck drove right past the school and continued down Boyd Kennedy Road. What was at the end of that road, you might wonder? Well, Burner basin.

[Bryce Dickey]

What if I told you we had surveillance footage that appeared the truck kept going off before the Kennedy Road? Okay, well. And here's the thing, though. People are sitting here talking. I just want to clear this up, okay? And I just want to kind of clear everything up and get your explanation for this, okay? Because you seem like a decent guy. We've been sitting here chatting and stuff like that, okay? And I just want to kind of help you through this so that way we can kind of explain this though, okay? So with these, you can kind of see from my perspective when I'm looking at this what that looks like, right? I can see 100%. I got stuck, startled after the. The third cop I talked to, the one that called me down to the high school. Cause called me a liar about three times and kept asking me if I killed Brittany. So somebody asked you if you killed Britney? I definitely did. Okay. And it honestly startled the shit out of me. And I don't want to. I know him. I mean, only been 18 for a little bit now, but I know I'm 18 now, so even changing a little bit on the story isn't a big thing. Well, it is what it is. Okay. That's why I'm trying to sort through it. Okay. So when he had talked to me, and I went down void a little bit, but not far. And then I took that first left off of the Boyd Kennedy, which goes straight back to the right to the bottom of the trailer section, and then went back to the high school. But being at Kennedy at the same time, which I missed, it worried me because I didn't want. I. I lied because I was scared of people thinking it was gonna be, which a lot of people. That's understandable. It was the last person to see her. Yeah. Which honestly scares me. But I see that there's issues with me. You need to be 100% honest, and you need to let everything out.

[Jordan Harbinger]

Bryce looks uncomfortable at this point. He's picking at his fingernails and looking down at his feet. If we couldn't see that he's sitting inside of an interrogation room, you'd almost think he's one of those shy cowboy types.

[Bryce Dickey]

I kind of have, like, a set little thing of loops that I do when I get more driving on Spring Creek. And that's one of the ones that I do a lot of. And both being so close to being on Floyd Kennedy. And as soon as people were saying that's where she went missing, I kind of got scared. I have one other concern. Okay. Okay. And like I said, I'm just trying to figure out what's going on. And I just want to ask him. Okay. You located some items or an item. Okay. Do you have any idea what that item might be? Okay. What if I told you that it had both yours and Brittany's DNA on it? What would that be? Time to have any idea? No. Now's the time to be the truthful. I'm being 100%, sir. I don't know what you're referring to. Now, you told me before that you and Brittany had never been intimate in a sexual way. No. Okay. What if I said I had evidence that shows that that might not be accurate either? I'm not lying. I've never kissed. I've never had sex. With Britney? I. Besides hugging and I've never had sex or any intimate relationship with Britney. Have you ever watched TV and seen DNA comparisons? No. I mean, I've watched farm shows, but haven't really paid attention to it. So you gave a DNA sample, right? Yes. Okay. We found a condom and we found Britney. And we have Britney's DNA. We have your DNA, and we have a condom. That can be. It has. I've never had sex with Britney. I swear. I've never had sex with Britney. Okay, so then explain to me. I don't. I don't know. I'm freaking out right now because I've never had sex with Britney. Okay? I've never had sex. Explain to me how a condom has your DNA on the inside, her DNA on the outside.

[Jordan Harbinger]

There could be no other explanation for something like that.

[Alicia Ulicke]

I'm gonna say. The evil that he is. I think he thought about it for a while. I think that's why they got him on premeditated too, because I think that. I absolutely think he thought about it. I had heard some weird stories about his journals. I never continued to ask or push for them, but no, I think he's a sick son of a bitch. And I think he sat and probably thought about it and fantasized about it a lot.

[Jordan Harbinger]

You want to hear one of these sick puppies poems? Of course you do, because you're also a sick puppy. And that's probably why you're here. This lovely passage is called the Sick Truth. Okay, so you ready? Here we go. I'm laying in the dark of night. My mind is fighting. Turning my thoughts into a game like Russian roulette slowly pulling its triggers. Waiting for the moment the fight will end. I hate the way I feel Tonight I open my eyes, yet nothing changes. I hear him screaming in my dreams. That dream in my head. But wait. I'm awake. It's me. I am screaming. The gun didn't kill me. It only stirred the pot. Now the demons have awoken. They will no longer lurk in the dark. They crawl out of my dream and into day. A predator hunting my actions. I turn my cheek to pretend it's not there. He's waiting for me to slip. My weakness feeds the beast. For each step I take is filled with fear. Help me, please. I'm begging. I know you can't hear me screaming. I can't startle the demons, but I'm leaving you a trail of breadcrumbs. You won't see it, though, will you? I'll have to fight this day. By my own persistence. My silence is not a phase. It's me hiding. Thank you for teaching me what it's like to feel. To have nights screaming like I'm dying. Learning how to put a mask over my drained body. Without you, I wouldn't know pain. But while everyone's moving on, I still hold my sights on the back of your skull Slowly squeezing the trigger Waiting for the moment the pain will unfold. They will not understand why I pulled it. I was not an action of easy consequence. In the end, your breath was far too much to take. I hope it was worth it. Cause now we shall both be on our sentence to hell. And some of you call me edgy.

[Alicia Ulicke]

The closest thing that we could compare him to is Dahmer. He's that sick. He's that twisted. He's necrophiliac. He's a control freak. You know, okay, so maybe he liked girls. But the level of disgusted twistedness is Jeffrey Dmore level with that kid. I know. You know, I know other mother, you know, I. I think backwards in time. And when she would see things on tv, she would tell me, I just want you to know that if anybody tries to rape me, they will kill me, because they'll never rape me. And he absolutely desecrated her dead body, which blows the defense's theory out of the water. And I think that. I think actually that's what happened, because the defense was running with this theory of, well, there was no tearing or there was no, you know, the. The normal signs of rape. And our phenomenal DA because he is amazing. I think he stood up and he's. And he asked one question, and he goes, my question is, if the, you know, the person is deceased, would those kind of things happen? She's like, nope, absolutely not. So absolutely, I will peg him to the world as a necrophiliac.

[Bryce Dickey]

Can I ask a question? Are you guys trying to get a confession? Killing Britney? I'm trying to figure out how your DNA got on a condom on the inside that has her DNA on the outside. I need to figure out what happened with that condom. Our job is to work as hard to prove innocence as it is guilt. If you didn't do this. No work to the end of the earth to prove that you didn't do this. But that requires 100% honesty on your end, because the stuff we have indicates it hasn't been there.

[Jordan Harbinger]

Bryce ends up telling detectives that Brittany performed oral sex while they were in the truck. And when she was done, she threw the condom out the window. This was Another lie. Of course.

[Bryce Dickey]

When I was at the scene with Brittany, I found a condom. Or one of our people found a condom that was near where Brittany was at. And there was also a condom wrapper that was on the roadway as well. Okay. And that condom that I told you about was much closer to where Brittany was found. And this is not where Brittany was found. Okay? I just told you. I just want the truth. I'm telling the truth. That is where I. That's where it happened. What happened? Brittany and I had. I don't know. Does that count as sexual acts? It's a sexual acts. So that is where Brittany and I had sex. And then straight after, I went straight to the trailer section and that was. That was it. Okay. And did you ever have any sort of. Of intercourse, oral or otherwise, anywhere else with Brittany? Just. Just the blowjob that was besides like two, maybe three kisses. And that was about it. Honestly, there wasn't much. It was almost didn't seem real in a sense because she literally just asked if I wanted a blowjob. It did not quite seem real almost.

[Jordan Harbinger]

That's because it wasn't real. Duh.

[Bryce Dickey]

Her texting her friend actually did happen and she asked me to drop her off with somebody that don't know who it was. And he actually met us on board. And I didn't actually meet the guy or anything.

[Jordan Harbinger]

How could you be so stupid? How could you be so stupid? How could you be so stupid?

[Bryce Dickey]

How could you be so stupid? You and I will get through this together. So just take this. Tell me the truth. Okay? Everything that I've told except mess ups on the timeline is true. Was the exact same truck that I saw. I honestly couldn't tell you how the golem was that close to Brittany's body. I don't know how that happened because Brittany was still alive by the time I had dropped her off on the road with everybody. The guy was. I just wasn't thinking at all. I dropped her off and I just drove off. Bryce. Okay, I want you to look at it from my perspective, okay? You've told us several different versions. Okay? So do you really expect me to believe that you met a guy after.

[Jordan Harbinger]

You guys had had sex.

[Bryce Dickey]

And you just dropped Brittany off with him and you don't know who that was? You're a smart guy. I'm a smart guy. I have met him, but I honestly don't know who he is. I need you to be honest with me. Okay? You guys, think about it from my perspective. When we started out today, I just Wanted the truth from you. Okay? And then the story changed. The story changed again. The story's changed again.

[Jordan Harbinger]

Even after being called out for changing his story so many times, Bryce was about to do it again. What a fucking idiot. He points his guilty finger directly at an innocent kid named Chaz Randall. Poor Chaz.

[Bryce Dickey]

Didn't even know the kid was back in town. It was the Jazz Randall kid is the one who picked her up. But I swear. I swear it was Jazz Randall because that kid's kind of distinguishable by the dude. So you're telling me Chaz Randall met you on the road? I told you what? And you've known that Chaz Randall killed Brittany all this time? And you're just waiting to say something? You let yourself. Because I don't to see her alive. You expect us to believe that? I'm like, I was the last person.

[Alicia Ulicke]

To see you alive.

[Bryce Dickey]

I put myself in that position. And I'm gonna sit here for a.

[Alicia Ulicke]

Week and a half letting everybody think.

[Bryce Dickey]

I was the last one to see.

[Jordan Harbinger]

Her alive when I know who the.

[Bryce Dickey]

Last person to see alive. You think we're gonna believe that? You're smarter than that. Okay, you guys are just looking for a confession. No, sir. I'm looking for the facts to match up. What facts don't match up right now? Okay. I think you know. I don't. I'm lost. Do you think we've been doing nothing for the last week? No, I think you guys have been working your asses off. We talked to a ton of people. Your name has come up a lot. And the conversations they've had with you get your stories to ask. And I don't know how that is. So you're still expecting us to believe that you dropped her off and her body lancrously appeared where the condom and condomin were by some strange frequency? I did not kill Britney. But I imagine being in my position trying to explain this. And we're trying to figure out how she up dead. But I realized she disappeared on the 8th. You've been sitting on this knowledge without saying saying anything to anybody? Because I've had the entire town of Spring Creek asking me if I've killed Britney. And you might as well have if you didn't see Aggie. Sorry. I'm sorry. Yeah. So this is the story that you're gonna stick with? Yes, sir. Okay, Go ahead. Stand up and face that one. Separate your feet and put your hands behind your back.

[Jordan Harbinger]

It was March 19, 20, 2011 days after Brittany's disappearance and her killer was finally in handcuffs. The people closest to Brittany had trusted Bryce. They trusted this kid. He had been part of their lives, part of their search, and part of their grief. But looking back, perhaps some had felt it, that something just wasn't right.

[Alicia Ulicke]

Jim tells me that he was instantly suspicious of him. I don't know why I wasn't, but just. Guess I just lived in this fantasy world. Which is maybe partly why I want to do her story so much, is people need to understand that you need to have a little bit of healthy dose of reality and fear, you know what I mean? And maybe question people more than I did because I didn't think he had it in him.

[Jordan Harbinger]

Most people were blindsided by the arrest, especially Bryce and Brittany's mutual friends. Bryce couldn't read his Snapchat messages behind bars, but his phone was dinging away with an onslaught of verbal attacks. If words are violence, which they're not, by the way, then this was an outright execution.

[Alicia Ulicke]

You're a serious piece of shit. We were all there for you. Cried with you, and all you did was play us all like a fucking puppet master. All I can say is don't ever dare to show your face in this town again. I think I didn't. I think I didn't know what to say. I think I probably sat quiet for that whole night because I just couldn't. I just couldn't fathom what I had just been told. You know what I mean? Because first off, you should have seen that little girl throw a hay bale. And I don't know if you picked up a hay bale, but them things suck heavy and she could throw them, you know what I mean? He probably truly had to think about how he was going to come at her so that he could get the upper hand. Because this little girl was no weak little girl. And Dickie was a geek that would get his ass kicked by anybody. I still don't understand. His body type is unathletic and doughy and weak. I still don't understand. The only thing I can think of is it was she was taken by such surprise. And I guarantee you he came from behind, you know, because she had his DNA under all 10 of her fingernails, as you know that all 10 of her fingernails had his DNA under them. So she fought, but he managed to keep out. Like sometimes I wish that we could go back and make him take his shirt off in those first couple interviews with. You know what I mean? Because I would love to have seen where she got him, because she got him, you know what I Mean, she got him.

[Jordan Harbinger]

Bryce Dickey was booked and charged with first degree murder and sexual assault with a deadly weapon. There was no bail set. Bryce, who was almost certainly cooking up another story to explain away Britney's death, pleaded not guilty. No surprise there. Why would you take accountability, you fucking psychopath? At trial, Bryce's mother, Cynthia, was served with a subpoena to testify against her son. She shared that Bryce had been seeing a counselor for bipolar disorder and depressive tendencies, but he wasn't on medication. It's hard to feel sympathy for the killer's parents, but, I mean, what else could you do? You're seeking treatment for your son. You're doing all the right things, and sometimes that's just not enough. Bryce's ex girlfriend also testified that he choked her during sex without consent on multiple occasions. So there were clues, but they were scattered and probably kept private. Though it was probably uncomfortable for Bryce to sit through his former loved ones making a case against his character, no one was more unhappy about having to endure a trial than Britney's parents. Jim and Alicia sat in the courtroom every day, forced to watch Bryce's parents fan the flames of romance as prosecutors showed photos of their daughter's bloodied corpse.

[Alicia Ulicke]

The murder of my daughter brought those two back together. It was quite disgusting to watch. They had been divorced. And then when we were going through the trial, those two disgusting humans sat there loving on each other and cuddling like it was a movie date. I wanted to rip their hair out. I'm not gonna lie. Sitting in that courtroom for that trial was probably one of the hardest things I've ever done in my life. It had been pounded into my head so much, don't do anything that could, you know what I mean? So I didn't. But I tell you what, I had a friend, though, that let her have it when the verdict got red, you know, the bailiff even came after my friend and was like, you need to be quiet, you know, but. Because, yeah, you can't, you can't say anything. You can't have any emotion, which is really hard in a trial. Everything had happened, and then I have my own questions, you know, I still have my own questions about his mother. I'm not sure that anybody will ever convince me that she didn't help him clean up. I don't think that she knew about it. I don't think anything like that. But I, you'll never convince me that she didn't help him clean up and get rid of things. I, I, you'll never convince me of.

[Jordan Harbinger]

That the jury's verdict was a resounding guilty. Initially, he received 20 years to life in prison with the possibility of parole. But that was before the court tacked on an additional 50 years for the use of deadly weapons. Bryce Dickey had a life sentence that he very much deserves. But what many people forget is the life sentence suffered by the families of the murder murdered victims. When all the hoopla goes away, you're left with the reality that your loved one is never coming back.

[Alicia Ulicke]

That's been actually a huge journey for me because he did sentence me to a lifetime of rage and anger. And it is intense. And I remember a couple years ago, I just was looking in the mirror and I'm like, okay, self, you know, this rage and this anger that you're feeling, We've got to find a more healthy way to do this because your heart is pounding out of your chest, your adrenaline is busting so much that all you do is shake. And thank goodness he is not where I could get my hands on him. I'm not like him. And I don't think, I guarantee you I wouldn't take his life, but, oh, I would beat him silly with a shoe. Okay, I know the rage is really hard to deal with. Actually, it's something that I fight daily, and it affects every aspect of my life. Brittany's key phrase is flowers makes everything better. Go ahead and take the extra five minutes out of your day to be extra nice to somebody, because that's what Brittany was about. She was about taking the extra couple minutes that it might take to make people smile and make people feel loved and make people feel safe in a very unsafe world. So if you're going to ever be like Brittany, take five minutes and be humble, be kind, and make somebody smile. Because that was Brittany's life. And you would have never found a better advocate for somebody to love people as Brittany and just everybody, just be nice, emulate Brittany. Make people feel safe. And always remember, a healthy dose of distrust is a very good thing.

[Jordan Harbinger]

And what does a healthy dose of distrust look like in a situation where there are no red flags?

[Alicia Ulicke]

I've thought about that, and the only thing I could come up with, the only thing that I could come up with is be insistent on more than two. If there would have been one more person there. Okay, three or more. That's the only thing. Because believe me, for the last, what, almost five years, I've gone over that almost daily in my head. And the only thing I can think of is really push that issue that groups are where it's at, not two people. If one more person would have been in the truck that day, I promise you, that wouldn't have happened. You know? So I'd say that's the only thing I've been able to come up with, is never be too. Unfortunately, the world sucks, especially for kids nowadays. It's sad, but never be so comfortable with somebody that you think you can just take off down a dirt road, which is you and one other person. Always make sure there's three or more.

[Jordan Harbinger]

We grow up being told to watch out for strangers, to be wary of the dark alley, the unknown number, the unfamiliar car pulling up to the curb. But the truth is, danger doesn't always look like danger. You know that, right? And trust. Well, trust is a dangerous thing. Brittany trusted Bryce. Her family trusted Bryce. And in the end, that trust was misplaced. She also turned to Snapchat. She, like so many others, believed what the app promised. That messages, locations, and memories could vanish with the tap of a button that no one could ever trace where you had been or who you had been with. But Snapchat doesn't make things disappear. Not really. Because when Britney went missing, the app she relied on to erase her footsteps became the very thing that exposed them. The digital trail she thought was gone was still there, waiting to be found. Kids are dumb. If you don't realize that in 2025, you have no privacy whatsoever. I don't know what to tell you other than you're dumb, too. Sorry. It is what it is. Nothing really disappears. Not in life, not in death, and certainly not in truth. You can obfuscate it all you want, but truth finds a way of revealing itself. Technology changes, laws change. But human nature, the stuff we talk about here, that pretty much stays the same. We trust because we want to believe the good in people. We want to believe that people around us are inherently good. Makes life easier. In fact, we trust because it's easier than considering the alternative. Nobody wants to live in paranoia. Believe me, it's exhausting. But trust is also a choice. And as Alicia said, a healthy dose of distrust just might be the thing that keeps you safe. You ever finish an episode and feel emotionally exhausted? No. Of course you don't. You don't have a podcast. It's lonely here anyway. We say this every week, but I mean it. Stay safe. And please, please, please take that extra effort to keep your kids safe. They may seem real independent and real mature and real adult like, but do not be fooled. It's a very, very scary world out there. And kids just don't know any better. They're dumb. It's not their fault. They haven't figured it out yet. It's up to you, the parent, to do it for them. All right. See you next week.