00:00:00
♪♪ [ Indistinct conversations ] ♪♪ -My uncle Joe's creativity
made his photography so special.
00:00:14
He had the eye of a child. His sense of humor
was unmatched, and it really showed
through all of his art.
00:00:22
-I worked with a lot
of photographers, and Joe was the best. He had such
a magnetic personality.
00:00:29
-Every picture I see,
he just looks so charismatic. -Yes.
-Bright blue eyes. -Yes. Anytime he'd see you,
"Hey!"
00:00:34
Like, his mouth, like, lit up.
His eyes went wide. -If you were judging somebody
by their appearance,
00:00:40
you'd say, you know,
"He's a jock." And then you talk to him for two
minutes and he's this deep soul
00:00:46
that was a school teacher in DC. When you were with him,
you wanted to be better.
00:00:52
♪♪ -I got a call from my dad,
and he's like, "We can't find Uncle Joe." ♪♪ -I knew right away that
00:01:03
something really sinister
had happened. [ Dialing, ringing ] -I'm Heather Snyder.
I'm Joe Shymanski's ex-wife.
00:01:23
His car was there.
His phone was there. His wallet was there. Where is he? It was surreal.
Like, "What is going on?"
00:01:36
-We all
knew Joe wasn't missing. We all knew Joe was gone. And it was just a couple
of days later
00:01:43
that they had found his remains.
-So at that point, this had gone from a missing
persons case to a homicide.
00:01:50
-Technically, yeah. -It's like I'm living
in a horror movie. -Upon questioning Heather,
00:01:58
they asked her who
her last boyfriend was, and she mentioned
Brandon Holbrook. -The police focused
in on Brandon Holbrook
00:02:06
as the sole perpetrator. -Brandon Holbrook had
no motive. -There are no forensics
linking my client to this crime.
00:02:15
-This story is not about a guy
who decided to drive 200 miles and kill a man
that he had never met.
00:02:23
-Do you think
Heather Snyder played some role in your uncle's murder?
-Yes. -I wish I had answers.
I don't know anything.
00:02:32
-It's a big twist in the story. We know each other. -We do.
-We grew up together.
00:02:38
-We did. -The Heather Snyder
I grew up with was an "A" student...
-Mm-hmm. -...cheerleader,
field hockey player.
00:02:47
-Mm-hmm. -One of the
most unlikely people to be caught up
in a murder case. -Correct.
-Did you have any involvement
00:02:54
at all
in Joe Shymanski's murder? -No. -Do you believe any of it?
-No. [ Crying ] We need to piece the
pieces of the puzzle together.
00:03:03
-We know there's more
to this story. We can't rest
until the whole truth comes out.
00:03:08
♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ -The investigation
of Joe Shymanski's murder began as a missing persons case.
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It was September 4, 2023,
at 7:47 p.m. when Sheriff's deputies
in Calvert County, Maryland,
00:04:15
were called to the home
of the well-known photographer. His ex-wife, Heather Snyder,
met them in the driveway.
00:04:29
She would tell authorities
she had arrived by car at about 7:00 p.m.
from her home in Pennsylvania...
00:04:40
...to hand off custody of their
then-eight-year-old daughter and seven-year-old son.
00:04:51
But nobody was home. Heather had checked with
the neighbors and called 911. All the signs suggested
Joe Shymanski should be there.
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His car was in the driveway.
-Joe? You home? -His keys and phones
were in the house.
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Authorities started
searching the property. [ Drone beeps, whirring ] -I answered their questions
about everything they asked --
00:05:38
you know, the situation. -Among other things, investigators wanted
to know about Heather and Joe's
00:05:44
divorce from the previous year. -I know it was
very contentious, so there was a lot of arguing.
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Specifically, the drop-off
location for the kids was their biggest argument. -Joe Shymanski's neighbors,
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Alison Stinson-Pounsberry
and Colton Pounsberry, were home that night when Heather Snyder
knocked on the door.
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-She had asked me
if Joe was here. I said no. -How was Heather acting? -So Heather was acting
a little annoyed.
00:06:11
She was annoyed
that he wasn't here for drop-off after she had already driven
four hours.
00:06:16
-The Pounsberrys went to
Joe Shymanski's home, telling authorities
they hadn't seen Joe
00:06:21
since the previous afternoon. -Yeah. -The Pounsberrys ended up giving
Heather and the kids
00:06:41
places to sleep for the night. But first,
Heather went inside Joe's house. -I didn't have any clothes
for the kids,
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so it was late at night. They let me go in
and get pajamas. -Do you remember how you were
feeling when you went inside?
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-Upset.
[ Exhales sharply ] It was surreal. -How could he not be there? Especially knowing the kids
are going to be there.
00:07:11
-It was about 2.5 hours later that Heather Snyder called Joe's
older brother, Ted Shymanski...
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and Ted's wife --
also named Heather. -I felt like I was,
like, punched in the stomach.
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-So there was no way
in the world that Joe would have missed
this meeting with the kids.
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This isn't -- This --
Something's wrong. -It fell to Ted
to deliver the news to the Shymanskis' sister Mary.
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-When I heard
that Joe was missing, I fell to my knees
and said a prayer. Because this was such
a bizarre situation,
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it felt like I needed... I needed something greater
than me right away. -And then the morning
after Joe disappeared,
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investigators noticed something they'd been unable
to see at night -- there was blood in his driveway.
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Did Joe have any enemies? -Not that we knew of. -An investigator asked Heather
Snyder to come to the station.
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But Heather told them she had
recently broken up with someone who lived near her
in Pennsylvania.
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-The name Brandon Holbrook
entered the scene quite quickly. -The Shymanskis say Joe
told them
00:08:42
he'd never met
Brandon Holbrook. Authorities then decided
to look more closely at Brandon Holbrook.
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They pulled his car registration and discovered a camera
had picked up his license plate
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near Joe's house
the very day Joe vanished. Investigators now had
a person of interest
00:09:16
and headed to Pennsylvania,
notifying police there. -This one was definitely
different than anything
00:09:22
that we've seen before. ♪♪ ♪♪ -On September 5, 2023,
Sergeant John Chester of the Mifflin County
Pennsylvania Police
00:09:41
got a call
that Maryland authorities were investigating a homicide. They wanted to talk to a person
of interest, Brandon Holbrook.
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-We've arrested
Mr. Holbrook in the past. -Over the years,
Holbrook had pleaded guilty
00:09:57
to at least five counts
of indecent exposure. They approached his house
at about 11:00 p.m.
00:10:06
This is where you walked up?
-Yes. -An investigator noted
Holbrook's eyes were bloodshot
00:10:13
and that there was a strange
particular smell both on him and the covered bed
of his pickup in the driveway.
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-This truck reeks. It smelled like death. -Holbrook told authorities
he was a driver
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for a Pennsylvania plant that processes
chicken slaughterhouse waste. -Just have a seat right there,
bud.
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-He denied being
near Joe's house or anywhere in Maryland
the day Joe disappeared.
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-We knew his truck was
in Maryland. -One police report
indicates he also denied any contact with Joe.
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Another says he was
"not being entirely truthful" and "appeared nervous." So in the early morning hours
of September 6, 2023,
00:10:57
investigators arrested
Brandon Holbrook for the murder
of Joe Shymanski. By then,
Detective Jessica Aurand
00:11:04
had reported for duty... -I was called in when they got
back to the station with him.
00:11:09
-...and helped them get warrants
for Holbrook's truck and house. -We still didn't know
the magnitude
00:11:15
of what we were dealing with.
-In the truck cab, investigators found gloves
and plastic sheeting,
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and in the truck bed, something
described as human blood. -It looked like...
a homicide scene.
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-There were firearms
in the house and plastic garbage bags,
bleach, Lysol, and wet tools
in a trailer outside.
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In the garage... -There was an open tool case. -And next to it, an open
package of power saw blades.
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But investigators
didn't spot a matching saw. Is that a tool that's powerful
enough to dismember a body?
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-Possibly. -Authorities with cadaver dogs began following
a dirt road catty-corner
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to Brandon Holbrook's house
leading into the woods. The next day,
they made a grisly discovery
00:12:12
in a clearing near a creek. -They found the jawbone
with some of the ear and some teeth still intact.
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-Incident reports show
there was also a burn barrel which smelled of decomposition.
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Scattered nearby, piles of ash. Authorities sent the material
off for testing, but they had a strong hunch
they were human remains
00:12:37
and a strong hunch whose. -It's the hope that
we can keep his memory alive. -Fearing the worst,
Joe Shymanski's
00:12:46
family and friends gathered in Washington. -He was a person that would
give you his shirt off his back,
00:12:53
even in a rainstorm. -Joe met Alton McDougle
in 2000 after coming to DC to teach middle school history
and social studies.
00:13:05
Alton says Joe became
his mentor, exposing him to new ideas
and to photography. He taught you
how to see the world?
00:13:14
-Yes, through a lens. -They eventually became friends,
says Alton, and partnered
in the photo business
00:13:22
at Eastern Market. That's where Joe first
started dating Heather Snyder. She was then a single mom
of three kids
00:13:29
and was running
a vegetable business. -He was fun, very charming. -And he swept you
off your feet?
00:13:37
-He did. -Heather and Joe
married in July 2014 and bought a house
in rural Calvert County.
00:13:44
Heather gave birth to a daughter
and a son a year later. But Joe's family and friends
say by 2020,
00:13:50
the marriage was in trouble. -Heather Snyder and
Joe Shymanski were never on equal footing
financially.
00:13:58
-The spending was
definitely a problem. -Alton says Joe wrote Heather
a check for thousands of dollars
00:14:07
to pay off a debt on a house
she owned. Then he gave her more money to
help her launch a new business.
00:14:14
-I used to tell him
all the time, "She's using you." -Heather Snyder says
that's not true.
00:14:20
She was never after Joe's money. She blames the difficulties
in the marriage on Joe,
00:14:26
saying he could behave
erratically and that he started pushing her
and her older children away
00:14:31
after their own kids were born. -Joe's attention was
just on those two children.
00:14:38
It was almost obsessive
to a degree. It was...
he cared less about what I thought
or what I was saying,
00:14:48
and it was all about those two. -She says Joe was
emotionally abusive to her, and there was one instance
she claims when he got physical.
00:14:59
-He body-checked me
into a car... and that was after...
chasing me around the house.
00:15:07
-The Shymanski family says
Heather's abuse allegations don't match the Joe they knew.
00:15:13
By 2021,
Heather says she'd had enough. -I was afraid he
was gonna snap and hurt me,
00:15:20
and then my children
were gonna see it. -You just left.
-I left. -He was devastated.
00:15:29
-Joe's friend Anneli Werner
noticed it, too. -That spark
that made Joe "Joe" was gone.
00:15:37
It was gone. -Heather had moved back
to her hometown of Newport, Pennsylvania. She told investigators
that it was a few months later
00:15:45
that she began seeing
Brandon Holbrook. All the while,
say, Joe's friends and family,
00:15:50
he and Heather were arguing
over custody and cash. It got so bad, Heather says, she began recording their
interactions around the kids.
00:16:00
Anneli says Joe was also upset and made recordings too
about Heather for their children
to hear one day.
00:16:24
-Joe was in a contentious,
ugly divorce. -But Anneli says things had
slowly started going Joe's way.
00:16:32
Though he and Heather had
joint legal custody of the kids, he had primary physical custody
when school was in session.
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He'd bought $1 million
life insurance policy, naming the children
as beneficiaries.
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And just weeks
before he vanished, the court had reduced
the settlement he owed Heather Snyder.
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-Joe had started winning. -Anneli and
the Shymanski family say, thinking back over
the former couple's problems,
00:17:00
they began to wonder if Heather Snyder could
have known more about Joe's disappearance
than she was saying.
00:17:07
♪♪ ♪♪ -In mid-September 2023, forensic experts matched
the remains that they found in that clearing
near Brandon Holbrook's house
00:17:31
to Joe Shymanski. Mifflin County Coroner
Andrea Alcalde. What was Joe Shymanski
cause of death?
00:17:40
-Uh, he had a gunshot wound
to the head. -What was his manner of death?
-Homicide.
00:17:56
-Authorities had
uncovered evidence that didn't look good
for Brandon Holbrook. -We knew the white truck
had been in Maryland
00:18:02
based on the license plate
reader had read the tag, and the tag matched the vehicle
that was sitting here.
00:18:09
-And with the saw blades
in Holbrook's garage, the cleaning supplies and tools
in his trailer,
00:18:14
and Joe's remains
in the clearing nearby, it all seemed to suggest that Holbrook had killed
Joe in Maryland
00:18:21
and brought his body
to Pennsylvania. [ Gunshots firing ] But for all the evidence
investigators had,
00:18:28
the case still contained
some inconvenient truths. Did you find any
of Joe Shymanski's remains
00:18:34
on Brandon Holbrook's property? -No.
-Did you find a murder weapon? -No. -In addition,
records show Holbrook's phone
00:18:44
had only pinged towers
near his Pennsylvania home the afternoon and evening
Joe disappeared.
00:18:50
And remember, images of
Holbrook's truck in Maryland did not show who was driving.
00:18:56
And when the blood
in the truck bed was tested, it wasn't human. It was animal. -Because he had access
to the chicken plant,
00:19:03
did he put stuff in there and cover it up
with the chicken remains? -Joe's family and friends
00:19:11
had trouble believing
Holbrook could have devised such an elaborate plot
without help.
00:19:16
-I do not believe
that Brandon Holbrook is the only person involved
in my brother's death.
00:19:20
I think he was highly inspired
by Heather Snyder. Heather Snyder is
the common denominator
00:19:25
in this entire picture. -Alton McDougle also thinks
Heather Snyder was involved.
00:19:31
A few days
before Joe went missing, Alton says they were hanging out and Joe told him
Heather was coming over
00:19:37
to drop off the kids
instead of meeting halfway between their homes
like they usually did.
00:19:43
Alton says he told Joe
that concerned him. -"I just don't want
her to come to your house, dude.
00:19:49
I just don't trust her." -He says Joe dismissed
his concern, but the conversation haunts him
to this day.
00:19:57
-I get chills right now. [ Exhales sharply ] -What are you feeling? That if he'd listened to you,
he might still be here?
00:20:11
-I mean, he might be. Right? [ Sighs ] -Joe's family and friends acknowledge their suspicion
of Heather Snyder
00:20:22
was just a gut feeling, and that the investigation
hasn't turned up any evidence
00:20:26
of her involvement. Nevertheless, Alton says
he shared his speculation with authorities.
00:20:33
-Heather at least planned it. Her boyfriend had
at least helped. -He says he
and the family find it strange
00:20:41
that Heather Snyder reported
Joe as missing before he was even an hour late. -You're jumping to...
-He's missing.
00:20:49
-...that he's missing?
-Calling the police. -I mean,
and you're going to call 911?
00:20:53
-Especially, they say,
because she had then waited more than 2.5 hours
to notify them.
00:21:00
-That seems like extraordinary
long period of time before she'd let
the immediate family know
00:21:05
that Joe was missing. -And they questioned
Heather's behavior when she went in Joe's house
with investigators.
00:21:13
-And she walks in the house
and she begins to cry, sobbing over her ex-husband that she would do anything
to get away from.
00:21:23
-They suspected it was
all an act, something Heather Snyder denies. -She just wanted to paint
a picture that he was missing
00:21:31
because she knew the plan.
[ Camera shutter clicks ] -And the Shymanskis
believe she was untruthful
00:21:38
with investigators
about Brandon Holbrook. -She told the police
that she broke up with him
00:21:46
and that they were
no longer together. Bull[bleep]. -Janine says she suspects
Heather had used
00:21:54
Brandon Holbrook
to get rid of Joe. -So she just needed it done
and she found a person
00:22:00
that would do that for her. -You think Heather Snyder
was the mastermind? -Yes. -Is there any doubt
in your mind?
00:22:06
-No. -Brandon Holbrook was
in custody, and authorities had combed
the clearing. But weeks later,
00:22:14
Mary Shymanski was visiting
the site when she found
more burnt remains. She acknowledges searchers
may have simply missed them
00:22:22
in the woods, but she and coroner
Andrea Alcalde believe there's
another possibility.
00:22:28
-I think the more likely is
that there were remains dumped after the fact. -That would mean they
were dumped by someone else.
00:22:38
-That's a bombshell.
-Yeah. -But Alcalde says Maryland
authorities seemed skeptical.
00:22:43
The Calvert County Sheriff's
Office declined our request for an interview. Still, the theory
that someone else
00:22:49
was involved in Joe's death is a point
Holbrook's attorneys will argue from the start of his trial.
00:22:55
-Only one person's life
is better today than it was before
the murder of Joseph Shymanski,
00:23:01
and that is Heather Snyder. -Did you have anything
to do with Joe's death? -I did not.
00:23:06
♪♪ ♪♪ -On March 31, 2025, the trial of Brandon Holbrook for the murder of Joe Shymanski
got underway.
00:23:27
Prosecutors wanted a conviction
on premeditated murder. They argued Holbrook fatally
shot Joe Shymanski in Maryland,
00:23:35
drove him back to Pennsylvania, put chicken parts in his truck
to cover his tracks,
00:23:40
then disposed of Joe's remains in that clearing
near Holbrook's house. And they brought
in the barrel searchers found,
00:23:47
suggesting it
was used to burn him. But Holbrook's defense team says
it was a tactic.
00:23:54
-It was there
for the emotional impact. -There were no cameras
allowed in court.
00:24:00
Defense attorney
Brendan Callahan tried to turn the jury's attention
away from Brandon Holbrook
00:24:06
and towards Heather Snyder. She was mentioned
more than 400 times at trial, though she hasn't been charged
with a crime.
00:24:14
-The only person
with an obvious motive was Heather Snyder. She was in a heated
custody fight
00:24:20
that she -- was not going well
for her. -And Callahan told the jury
Heather Snyder had
00:24:26
a million other reasons too. If Joe was dead,
Callahan said, she might stand to gain control
of his life insurance payout,
00:24:34
since her children, the
beneficiaries, are still minors. -When you throw in the $1
million life insurance policy,
00:24:41
the motives write themselves. -Heather told us
she knew nothing about Joe's life insurance
before he died.
00:24:48
Prosecutors kept the focus
on Holbrook. They introduced videos
of his truck near Joe's house in Maryland
the day Joe disappeared,
00:24:57
Holbrook shopping for cleaning
supplies in Pennsylvania the morning after, and video that's hard to see,
but that, they say,
00:25:06
shows Holbrook near his
white truck dumping something which turned out
to be burned human remains.
00:25:14
It put the defense in a corner. -There's evidence that
he is involved at some point,
00:25:21
but there's very little evidence
that he's the one who committed the actual murder.
00:25:25
-And while Brandon Holbrook's
truck might have been spotted near Joe's house that day,
00:25:30
Callahan says someone else
could have been driving it. -Brandon Holbrook had
absolutely no reason
00:25:37
to kill Joseph Shymanski. -The state contended
Holbrook did have a motive -- love for Heather Snyder
and hate for Joe Shymanski,
00:25:48
intense enough that Holbrook
took matters into his own hands. -This man was obsessed
with Heather Snyder.
00:25:57
-Prosecutors painted
a picture of that obsession, showing an image taken nearly
seven months before the murder
00:26:03
of a car Holbrook also owned
near Joe's house, and they showed a text exchange
between Heather and Holbrook
00:26:10
from January 21, 2023, also months before the murder, in which
she is complaining about Joe.
00:26:17
"I'm just tired of the abuse,"
Heather told him. "It's been years upon years." Holbrook later suggested
she see a therapist,
00:26:25
but added, "I have
other solutions in mind, but probably
not the best way to go."
00:26:33
-That could mean a lot
of things. I mean, it's very easy to read
in it the most nefarious intent,
00:26:37
and that's what the State tried
to do in this case. But it could mean just
about anything.
00:26:42
It could be a joke. -Whatever it meant, Heather didn't respond
to Holbrook immediately.
00:26:48
She later texted him,
"I'm looking for a therapist." Do you think, "How could Heather
Snyder possibly not know?"
00:26:56
-There's a lot in this case
that you could say that for about Heather Snyder, and her behavior
around the time of the incident
00:27:05
is overall... very suspicious. -Callahan's co-counsel
Thomas Mooney points to texts between Heather
and Holbrook suggesting
00:27:15
they were still involved
shortly before the murder. -She indicated to the police...
-On the outs.
00:27:21
-...that the relationship
had cooled. But the text messages seemed
to suggest otherwise.
00:27:30
-Six days before the murder,
Holbrook wrote, "I like the smell of your hair
on my pillow..."
00:27:36
And later in the day,
she texted, "Wish I was in your bed." The next morning he wrote back,
00:27:42
"You can come to my bed
anytime. XO." -Heather Snyder
is lying to the police and saying that she didn't have
an involvement with Holbrook.
00:27:52
-In another text,
Heather complained specifically about her custody agreement
with Joe.
00:27:57
"I keep thinking karma is going
to catch up with him," she wrote, "but I'm tired
of being patient."
00:28:05
-Anything that suggests that
there were other people involved makes Brandon Holbrook's
role in this unclear,
00:28:14
and therefore is suggestive
of his innocence. -But prosecutors
introduced texts suggesting
00:28:22
Heather Snyder was
surprised to find Joe missing when she got to his house. "I have no idea where he is,"
she wrote to Holbrook.
00:28:30
"The car is here." Both the defense
and the prosecutors wanted to question Heather
under oath,
00:28:37
but when she was called
as a witness, she declined to testify, invoking her
Fifth Amendment privilege.
00:28:45
What does Heather Snyder
pleading the Fifth say to you? -That a truthful answer
could tend to incriminate her.
00:28:52
-And Callahan wanted the jury
to consider something else about Heather Snyder. She had a gun?
-She did.
00:29:00
-Heather had told authorities
about a gun Holbrook had given her
before the murder,
00:29:05
but there were never
any bullets or casings found, so it would have been
impossible to tell
00:29:10
if it was the murder weapon. Still, Callahan says,
authorities were slow to collect it from her.
00:29:17
-That wasn't investigated
until weeks before the trial started,
even though they knew about it.
00:29:22
-And he says they failed
to ever search Heather's home or property. -She has acres of land that
the police are on that land,
00:29:31
and they don't even ask
to look around. They just take her word
for everything. -Prosecutors say there was
a thorough investigation,
00:29:39
and they saved what might be
the most explosive evidence for near the end of their case.
00:29:44
"There's no way Heather could
have killed Joe," they say. Why? The afternoon Joe disappeared,
00:29:50
you can see Heather on video
buying pizza in Pennsylvania about three hours away.
00:29:57
Heather Snyder has an alibi. She's on surveillance video
buying pizza miles away.
00:30:03
-Yes.
-She couldn't have physically gotten there in time. -Yes, but... there are all sorts of
different roles
00:30:10
that one can play in a crime. -He says Heather could have
encouraged Brandon Holbrook,
00:30:17
or at least known about
his plan. Holbrook doesn't take the stand,
but in closings,
00:30:22
his attorneys remind
the jury there's no proof he was even in Maryland
that evening,
00:30:27
let alone
at Joe Shymanski's house. -The burden is on the State, and we thought that
they presented a strong case
00:30:38
that he was involved
after the fact, but we're still waiting on
the evidence that he was ever
in that driveway.
00:30:47
-But it took just 80 minutes
for the jury to reach a verdict. Brandon Holbrook is guilty
of first-degree
00:30:54
premeditated murder
of Joe Shymanski. -How are you feeling? -Extremely happy. -Joe's loved ones were happy,
but not satisfied.
00:31:05
At sentencing, Anneli Werner
presented a photo montage of Joe that also included some of those
audio recordings about Heather
00:31:13
that he made for their children. And then a number
of friends and family addressed the court, suggesting
Heather could also be,
00:31:34
at least in part, to blame
for what happened. The judge gave Holbrook
life without parole
00:31:40
and said he was not closing
the book on the case. You're at the center
of this case.
00:31:46
-I am. ♪♪ ♪♪ -Do you remember
the last time we saw each other before this story
reconnected us?
00:32:08
-I believe it was
at homecoming in 1998. -It was more than 25 years ago here on
our high school sports fields
00:32:18
in tiny Newport, Pennsylvania. Heather Snyder and I
had grown up together. In fact,
I was the 1997 homecoming queen,
00:32:25
and she was my successor. I put a crown on your head,
and now here we are. -And we're back.
00:32:34
-We hadn't communicated
since then until reporting this story
brought me back to some of the most familiar
terrain of my life,
00:32:41
but it's taken me into uncharted
territory in the process -- confronting someone
from my youth
00:32:46
who has been caught up
in a murder case. Heather told me she wanted
to set the record straight.
00:32:52
She agreed to the interview
with no questions off limits. She acknowledged she was
upset with Joe
00:32:57
during their custody fight. Did you ever say
to Brandon Holbrook, "I wish Joe were dead"?
-No.
00:33:04
The most I said to Brandon was that I thought
Joe should be in jail for the way he was acting.
00:33:09
-Did Brandon tell you
he wanted to kill Joe? -No.
-Did you help him cover it up?
00:33:13
-No. No. -So what about those texts between her
and Brandon Holbrook, like when he mentions
"other solutions"
00:33:22
to help deal with Joe? -I thought it was just a joke. -It didn't cross her mind for
a second that he might hurt Joe?
00:33:28
-No. -As for her text about
karma catching up with Joe, in which she wrote she was
tired of being patient...
00:33:36
-That's how I was feeling. -Do you think a text like that
may have triggered Brandon?
00:33:41
-I don't know. -Heather, who at the time was
in that custody fight with Joe, says she ended her relationship
with Brandon Holbrook
00:33:49
about a month before the murder, when Holbrook had been arrested
again for indecent exposure.
00:33:55
What was the reason
that you told Brandon you needed to end
the relationship? -Because of his charge.
00:34:04
-The Shymanskis suspect
Heather was actually worried if Joe heard she was dating
a sex offender,
00:34:09
she would lose custody
of their kids. They believe Heather continued
to secretly see Holbrook.
00:34:15
About a week
before Joe went missing, Brandon Holbrook texts you, "I like the smell of your hair
on my pillow."
00:34:23
-He did. Mm-hmm.
-Were you with him? -I stopped by his house. -It sounds
like you're still involved...
00:34:29
-Mm. We were friends. -...that you were
intimate...then. -We were friends. -Heather also texted Brandon,
"Wish I was in your bed."
00:34:40
Weren't you and Brandon
still involved this whole time? -We weren't. We weren't.
00:34:45
-People are gonna watch
and say you're lying. -We were friends. It was hard to give up a friend.
00:34:55
-Why was there a smell
of your hair on his pillow? -'Cause I was probably
laying on his pillow.
00:34:59
-She says they
were only talking. What did you talk about? -That was the last time.
00:35:08
It was just like... It was almost like a goodbye,
honestly. -What did Brandon say?
Was he upset?
00:35:15
-We were both upset. We were both crying. -Heather told us
that even after Joe's murder...
00:35:22
-I still have love
for Brandon. -Wow. -Wow is right. -How?
-I don't... I think...
00:35:32
obviously psychologically
he snapped over something. It's not like I don't think
he should be in jail.
00:35:40
I think he did
something horrible, horrific. He hurt my family.
He hurt me. -If you could see
him face to face,
00:35:49
what would be
your first question? -Why? What happened? -And while she
hasn't seen him in person,
00:35:56
she did have a chance
to ask him. Shortly before his sentencing,
she accepted his call from jail.
00:36:06
-Heather tells Holbrook
she believes Joe's family is trying to incriminate her. Holbrook tells her...
00:36:32
And then he denies killing Joe. Heather says
Holbrook never confessed to her and she never had an inkling
of his plans.
00:36:52
She says there's nothing
suspicious about her calling 911 so quickly when she didn't find Joe
at the house.
00:36:59
She says it was
her divorce attorney who advised her to make the call and a criminal lawyer
who advised her
00:37:05
to plead the Fifth in the trial. Did you have something to hide?
-No. -If you don't have
anything to hide,
00:37:12
why not just get up there
and testify? -People twist your words. -And the words Joe used
to describe Heather
00:37:19
in those audio messages? Heather told us Joe was
twisting reality at the time. She says Joe was
the dangerous one,
00:37:30
and she created a website,
Heather's Abuse Story, detailing her side.
[ Camera shutter clicks ]
00:37:35
We also asked Heather
about that gun she says Brandon Holbrook
gave her before Joe's murder.
00:37:41
She says it was only
for target practice. Is there any chance
that gun is the murder weapon?
00:37:46
-I don't -- No. No, I mean, obviously
it was locked in my closet. -Is there anything
you're not telling us?
00:37:53
-No. -Look me in the eye. Are you lying about anything? -I am not. -Either you're
a bold-faced liar,
00:38:03
or you are
extraordinarily unlucky. -[ Chuckles ] I am unlucky. -Heather says her focus is
00:38:12
on raising her
and Joe's children, and she's sad that they'll
grow up without a father.
00:38:19
-They have very happy
memories of their father, and I try... I try to do what I can to honor
and keep that safe.
00:38:31
-She knows the Shymanskis
want to see the kids, but says Joe's relatives
can't expect
00:38:36
a full relationship with them while publicly
pointing a finger at her. -There needs to be a place
we move on other than this,
00:38:46
where they're constantly
blaming me for something that I didn't do. -Are you afraid authorities
will come for you?
00:38:52
-No. -Not at all?
-I'm not worried at all. No. -If Joe never met
Heather Snyder,
00:39:00
Joe would be alive today.
-Joe would be alive. -Calvert County, Maryland's,
top prosecutor Robert Harvey
00:39:06
declined our request
for an interview, but wrote to us
that there was "a thorough
00:39:10
and exhaustive investigation"
into Mr. Shymanski's death. "Mr. Holbrook received a fair
and impartial trial.
00:39:17
Because Mr. Holbrook's case is
under appeal...it remains open." Therefore, I'm
not going to respond
00:39:22
to questions regarding
the investigation and I'm not going to speculate
on what may
00:39:27
or may not happen
in the future." And when we asked
Pennsylvania authorities about Heather Snyder...
00:39:34
Is there a current investigation
into Heather Snyder? -I can't answer that question.
00:39:39
-Should there be? -I can't answer that question. -Do you think
Heather Snyder is involved
00:39:47
in this crime in any way? -I can't answer that. -But you do know the answer.
-Yes...
00:39:53
but I'm not allowed to say. [ Camera shutter clicks ]
-So many people watching are going to be frustrated,
00:40:02
and they're going to think
it just... logically, you have to
have known something.
00:40:06
-Right. But I didn't. ♪♪ That's the tortuous part,
because people will... It's almost
like they want to believe
00:40:19
that I was involved with it. They want
that true crime narrative... and it just simply wasn't
the case.
00:40:29
[ Exhales sharply ] [ Camera shutter clicks ] ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪