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[Music] our episodes deal with serious and often distressing incidents if you feel at any
00:02:16
time you need support please contact your local crisis center for suggested phone numbers for confidential support
00:02:22
please see the show notes for this episode on your app or on our website [Music]
00:02:34
on the morning of wednesday february 8 2006 wyoming resident bonnie burns sat by her telephone willing it to ring
00:02:44
minutes ticked by but the phone remained silent with each passing moment bonnie's
00:02:50
growing sense of unease increased further she was waiting for a call from her daughter 41 year old tami rhea who lived
00:02:59
interstate in the small south dakota city of pier every single morning without fail tammy
00:03:06
would call bonnie for an early catch-up sometimes the calls were brief other times they were long but not a morning
00:03:14
went by without one this was the first morning that tammy hadn't called unable to contain her concern any longer
00:03:24
bonnie picked up the receiver and dialed tammy's home number she sat listening as the call rang out
00:03:31
with no answer bonnie hung up and tried tammy's cell phone this time the call went to voicemail
00:03:42
bonnie informed her husband and other two daughters that she was unable to get a hold of tammy and they too began
00:03:49
taking turns trying to reach her but no matter how many times they tried every single call went unanswered
00:04:01
[Music] [Music] there was a one-hour time difference between bonnie's home in lander wyoming
00:04:28
and tammy's home in pier south dakota when bonnie realised it was almost 9 a.m where tammy lived she decided to try her
00:04:38
daughter at work tammy was employed part-time in the shoe department of a kmart store
00:04:44
bonnie soon got a hold of one of tammy's colleagues who paged tammy over the store's loudspeaker system
00:04:52
bonnie listened closely as her daughter's name echoed throughout the store but there was no response
00:04:59
tammy wasn't there bonnie's concern swelled into panic there were approximately 550 miles
00:05:08
between her and tammy and she had no way of searching for her daughter from such
00:05:12
a distance wondering what to do next bonnie suddenly remembered the name of one of
00:05:18
tammy's work colleagues brian clark tammy had recently told her mother that she and brian had become good friends so
00:05:27
bonnie thought he might have some insight as to where tammy might be bonnie dialed the kmart's phone number
00:05:35
again this time asking if there was a brian there [Music] brian clark had just started his shift
00:05:43
when bonnie's call came through he picked up the phone and listened as bonnie introduced herself and asked if
00:05:50
he knew where tammy was brian said that he didn't he had last seen tammy at about five
00:05:58
o'clock the previous afternoon however he did offer one new piece of information
00:06:06
tammy was supposed to be starting a new job at a nearby pharmacy that day brian offered to call the pharmacy to
00:06:13
see if tammy had arrived bonnie gratefully accepted and waited eagerly for the phone to ring
00:06:21
within a few minutes he called back but not with the news bonnie wanted to hear there was no sign of tammy at the
00:06:29
pharmacy either bonnie's anxiety peaked she decided it was time to call the police
00:06:39
brian offered to make the call himself he hung up then dialed 9-1-1 when the operator answered brian told
00:06:49
them he needed to file a missing person's report he gave them a brief description of what
00:06:55
tammy was wearing the previous afternoon a black turtleneck he then added foul play could be suspected here
00:07:08
the operator asked brian why he would think such a thing brian answered hopefully this is discreet but me and
00:07:17
her have been having an affair and apparently her husband has found out about it
00:07:26
earlier that morning when 12 year old hayley rhea sat down to eat breakfast something was off
00:07:33
her father brad raya was milling about but her mother tammy was nowhere to be seen
00:07:40
tammy was usually bustling about in the kitchen and preparing for the day ahead but on this particular morning the house
00:07:48
was strangely quiet hayley headed to her mother's bedroom the bed was unmade and tammy's cell
00:07:56
phone was on the dresser but tammy wasn't there hayley went into the garage and saw that
00:08:04
her mother's car was still parked there confused she walked back into the kitchen
00:08:10
she noticed that tammy's purse and keys were sitting on the counter haley wasn't sure what was happening
00:08:18
her mother was always home in the morning and it made no sense that she'd be out without her car purse phone or
00:08:25
keys the two had spent the previous evening together while brad had been working
00:08:31
late it had been a normal uneventful evening tammy had watched hayley play volleyball
00:08:38
at her middle school then they'd gone grocery shopping and grabbed some mexican takeaway for dinner
00:08:44
at no point did tammy mention anything about going anywhere the next day baffled as to where her mother might be
00:08:53
haley asked her father what was going on in a quiet voice brad replied honey she's probably at her boyfriend's
00:09:03
house she'll be back in a couple of days [Music] tammy burns had met her future husband
00:09:12
brad rhea when she was a 27 year old living in billings montana the pair had been introduced by tammy's
00:09:19
sister who worked alongside brad at a restaurant tammy and brad immediately hit it off
00:09:26
and within a year tammy was pregnant she couldn't have been happier it had been her dream to get married and have a
00:09:34
daughter tammy and brad tied the knot and she gave birth to a beautiful baby girl they
00:09:41
named haley tammy absolutely adored being a mother she thrived in the role taking care of
00:09:48
hayley and the home while brad focused on building his career he got a job at walmart and slowly
00:09:55
climbed his way up the ranks although he was busy he always made time for tammy and hayley
00:10:04
in 2004 brad's hard work paid off he was offered a promotion to assistant manager but it required the family to
00:10:13
relocate interstate to peer although pierre was the capital of south dakota it was home to less than 14 000
00:10:22
people and there wasn't a lot of action its biggest attraction was the awahi dam
00:10:28
and its adjoining lake which was a hot spot for fishing and hunting regardless pierre offered a scenic and
00:10:36
safe place to raise a family so brad accepted the promotion the news wasn't well received by haley
00:10:44
who didn't want to leave her school and friends tammy's feelings were mixed she wanted to support her husband's
00:10:53
career but was reluctant to leave her life in billings behind regardless the move went ahead and
00:11:00
within a few months of the ria family's arrival in pier things started looking up
00:11:07
hayley joined several sporting teams which opened at the doors for her and tammy to meet new people
00:11:14
things improved further when tammy applied for a part-time job at kmart it was there that she met brian clark
00:11:26
when hayley couldn't find tammy on the morning of wednesday february 8 2006 she was shocked when brad said she was
00:11:34
likely at her boyfriend's house this was the first haley had heard about her mother having a boyfriend although
00:11:41
she was aware that her parents relationship was in trouble two weeks earlier brad and tammy had sat
00:11:48
her down to break the news that they were getting a divorce brad had been working incredibly long
00:11:55
shifts sometimes up to 100 hours a week and it had taken a toll on their marriage
00:12:02
brad and tammy assured their daughter that everything was going to be ok and they would do their best to ensure
00:12:08
things didn't change too much the couple planned on staying together until the end of the school year so that
00:12:16
the transition didn't impact hayley's education brad would then move out while tammy and
00:12:22
haley continued living in the family home tammy had already found a full-time job
00:12:29
doing medicare billing for a local pharmacy so she could provide as a single mother
00:12:35
the news of the divorce caught hayley completely off guard her parents never fought and she had no
00:12:42
reason to believe that a divorce was on the horizon she was devastated with brad now revealing that tammy had a
00:12:50
boyfriend hayley didn't know what to think why hadn't her mother mentioned anything
00:12:58
the two were incredibly close and shared similar personality traits tammy was a strong athlete who'd earned
00:13:06
a volleyball scholarship as a teenager hayley had inherited her mother's love of sports as well as her fun and
00:13:13
outgoing manner the two had never kept secrets from one another before haley continued getting ready for school
00:13:23
but all she could think about was her mother after dropping hayley off at school brad
00:13:32
ria made his way to work he hadn't been there long when two detectives suddenly entered the building
00:13:38
and asked to speak with him they had received the missing person report from brian clark and hoped that
00:13:45
brad might have information about tammy's whereabouts when brad heard that tammy hadn't shown
00:13:53
up for work and police suspected she was missing he was visibly shocked he explained that he hadn't seen tammy
00:14:01
since the day before brad had arrived home from work just after 10 p.m to find haley asleep in bed
00:14:10
but strangely tammy wasn't at home several hours passed with no sign of her [Music]
00:14:20
then at around 1am brad heard a car pull up outside he peered through a window and saw tammy
00:14:28
park her car a black dodge durango suv another car then pulled up behind her and tammy got out of her durango and
00:14:38
into the other vehicle brad had recently learned that tammy was seeing another man so he assumed that's
00:14:47
who the other car belonged to acting on impulse he hopped into tammy's durango and attempted to follow them
00:14:56
however after driving a short distance the durango broke down and brad had to pull over to the side of the road
00:15:04
a passing highway patrol officer noticed him and pulled over to provide assistance
00:15:11
by the time brad got the car started again he'd long lost sight of tammy so he drove back home and went to bed
00:15:20
when he woke in the morning to find tammy still wasn't at home he just assumed she had taken off with her
00:15:26
boyfriend and would be home in a couple of days [Music] the detectives listened attentively to
00:15:34
brad's account of the previous night's events at just five foot seven and 115 pounds
00:15:41
he didn't look like a dangerous man and there was nothing in his demeanor to suggest he was lying
00:15:48
the detectives asked whether it was possible that tami had since returned to the family home
00:15:54
perhaps she decided to pack some belongings knowing her husband was at work brad offered to escort them to the house
00:16:02
in case tammy was there what he didn't know was that the detectives had already stopped off at
00:16:10
his home before going to visit him at work one of them had peered through the garage window and noticed something that
00:16:18
caught his eye [Music] and the detectives drove to the residence where brad signed a form
00:16:26
consenting to a search of the property he waited outside while one detective entered to look for tammy and the other
00:16:34
went to search her vehicle upon entering the garage the detective saw a reddish-brown stain on the door of
00:16:43
tammy's durango this is what he'd noticed earlier when looking through the window and had
00:16:49
suspected it was blood as he moved closer he also saw what appeared to be blood dripping from the
00:16:57
vehicle's side running board each drop fell in a small pool on the concrete floor below
00:17:04
at a rate that indicated someone had lost a significant amount of blood the detective opened the durango's back
00:17:12
door and was overwhelmed by the strong stench of bleach he noticed swells on the vehicle's
00:17:19
upholstery that suggested someone had tried to wipe something up everything about the situation suggested
00:17:27
fair play but the detective didn't want to alert brad to what he'd found brad could withdraw his consent for the
00:17:35
search at any time and the detective wanted to secure an official search warrant before the homeowner changed his
00:17:42
mind instead the two detectives asked the brad to join them at the station to answer some questions
00:17:50
while he was away from home they would covertly apply for a search warrant meanwhile hayley was sitting in class
00:18:01
worrying about her mother when a message suddenly bled over the loudspeaker summoning her to the front office
00:18:09
hayley's mind started to race she nervously walked to the office and was greeted by a police officer who
00:18:17
wanted to ask her some questions about her parents relationship haley said that her mom and dad didn't
00:18:25
fight and there had never been any violence between them because of this the recent news of their
00:18:32
divorce had been very unexpected when she had gone to bed the night before tammy was at home and nothing
00:18:40
seemed out of the ordinary while hayley was being questioned police contacted some of tami's friends and
00:18:49
family to see if they knew where tammy could be there was a reason why tammy's mother
00:18:55
hadn't contacted brad when tammy missed their early morning phone call during the recent christmas break tammy
00:19:03
had visited her family in wyoming and told them she planned on leaving her husband
00:19:09
tammy's family suspected she might have been seeing someone else as she had mentioned brian's name several times but
00:19:16
they had impressed her on the matter brad had even called tammy's mother bonnie asking for her help to save their
00:19:24
marriage but it was clear that tammy had already made up her mind back at the peer police station brad was
00:19:35
cooperative as detectives sat him down for a chat he told them that tami had recently
00:19:42
revealed she was dating another man and wanted a divorce but brad didn't know who the other man was or where he lived
00:19:50
he said that he didn't want to know and wasn't curious to find out brad strongly denied having anything to
00:19:59
do with tammy's disappearance and insisted he had no idea where she could be when the detectives told brad that blood
00:20:08
had been found on the running board of tammy's durango he was visibly shocked he admitted he was the last person to
00:20:17
drive the vehicle when attempting to trail tammy the night before repeating his story about breaking down and a
00:20:23
highway patrol officer offering assistance brad insisted that after restarting the
00:20:30
car he drove straight home he didn't recall hitting an animal or anything else when he got home he parked the durango
00:20:41
in the garage if tammy or anyone else had returned to retrieve the vehicle he didn't know
00:20:49
about it while brad was questioned the search warrant for his house was approved
00:20:57
police examined each room but nothing appeared to be out of place the beds were all made and the washer
00:21:04
and dryer were filled with clean laundry there was no sign of tammy and no indication that anything untoward had
00:21:12
happened other than the blood in tammy's vehicle it appeared to be a warm and loving
00:21:18
family home yet when investigators swabbed the durango for forensic evidence they realised
00:21:28
there was much more blood than they initially thought samples were sent to a forensic lab
00:21:34
along with some of tammy's personal belongings to confirm whether it was a match for her dna
00:21:42
the interviewing detectives were at a loss brad didn't have a criminal record and
00:21:48
there was no evidence to suggest he was responsible for tammy's disappearance however the amount of blood found in her
00:21:57
car indicated she had been seriously harmed and most likely killed if this was the case brad was the most
00:22:06
likely suspect he had access to tammy's car and her desire for a divorce suggested an
00:22:13
obvious motive the problem was without a body they couldn't even be certain that tammy was
00:22:21
dead brad was interrogated for five hours with detectives slowly increasing the pressure
00:22:30
despite their persistent questioning brad continued to deny having any knowledge of tammy's whereabouts
00:22:38
desperate for answers the detectives flatly accused him of lying this accusation was the final straw for
00:22:47
brad he asked for a lawyer now the detectives were faced with a difficult decision
00:22:56
they still couldn't be 100 certain that tammy was dead but all science pointed to homicide
00:23:04
if brad was responsible and they let him go it would give him an opportunity to destroy any potential evidence
00:23:12
under pressure to make a call they abruptly arrested brad for first-degree murder setting bail at one hundred
00:23:19
thousand dollars brad was incredulous and staunchly maintained his innocence haley was placed in foster care
00:23:32
overnight as tammy's family in wyoming were brought up to speed with what was going on
00:23:39
unable to bear the thought of haley being on her own tammy's father got in his car and began the nearly nine-hour
00:23:46
drive to be with his granddaughter brad's friends were stunned to learn he'd been arrested for murder
00:23:55
brad was a gentle family man and they couldn't imagine him ever raising a hand to his wife let alone launching a
00:24:03
vicious and deadly attack however they weren't surprised to hear that he hadn't pushed tammy for information
00:24:12
about the other men she was seeing brad was a mild-mannered person hounding tammy wouldn't be in his nature
00:24:23
with brad in custody the next step for detectives was to question tammy's boyfriend brian clark
00:24:31
he was summoned to the police station and arrived with a lawyer by his side like tammy brian was also married with a
00:24:40
daughter the two co-workers had initially hit it off as friends but their friendship had
00:24:46
slowly become physical and blossomed into a romance brian told detectives the last time he
00:24:54
saw tammy was on the afternoon of tuesday february 7 the day before she went missing
00:25:01
the two had met at the thorn motel in pier afterwards brian dropped tammy home at
00:25:08
around 5 pm from there he attended a local basketball game with his wife and daughter
00:25:16
when the game finished he went home with his family and didn't leave the house again until going to work the next
00:25:23
morning brian said his wife could verify his alibi the only problem was that she didn't
00:25:31
know about his affair with tammy and he didn't want her to know he was reluctant for police to question
00:25:39
her as there would be no way to do so without revealing this information once again the detectives weren't sure
00:25:48
what to think brian seemed genuine but the fact that he'd already retained and brought a
00:25:55
lawyer with him seemed suspicious if he was innocent why did he feel compelled to seek legal counsel from the
00:26:04
get-go the fact that brian's wife didn't know about his affair with tammy also gave
00:26:11
brian a strong motive for murder perhaps after tammy came clean to brad about her relationship with brian she
00:26:20
had pushed brian to do the same with his spouse maybe she wanted brian to get a divorce
00:26:27
but he wasn't prepared to do so tammy might have threatened to approach brian's wife herself which could have
00:26:35
pushed him over the edge the blood pointed towards brad who undisputedly had access to tammy's
00:26:43
vehicle however if brad was telling the truth about trailing tammy and her boyfriend
00:26:50
in the early morning hours of wednesday february 8th it was possible that brian had killed tammy and then planted blood
00:26:58
on her vehicle in an attempt to frame brad both men had a motive but only one of
00:27:06
them could be telling the truth [Music] inquiries were made with the highway patrol unit to check brad's claim that
00:27:16
he'd broken down while trailing tammy dash cam footage confirmed that at 1 40 am a state trooper had found the durango
00:27:26
pulled over on the side of the road with brad ria behind the wheel the trooper asked abrad for id but he
00:27:35
said he didn't have any as he was just ducking out to grab something from the store
00:27:40
he willingly provided his full name and the trooper didn't notice anything suspicious about his behavior
00:27:48
nor did he see anything strange in or on the car once brad got the car started again he
00:27:56
drove off in the direction of his home the detectives now had a confirmation of the story he had consistently told them
00:28:06
from the beginning with so many unanswered questions the case couldn't progress any further until
00:28:14
tammy was found when morning broke on thursday february 9 a search party made up of police
00:28:22
officers firefighters and local volunteers gathered to comb the vast countryside surrounding pier
00:28:32
time was of the essence the hills around the city saw very little foot traffic except for the
00:28:38
hunters who flocked to the area between october and january hunting season had just concluded
00:28:46
this meant that if tammy was lying undiscovered in the area it was highly unlikely that anyone would come across
00:28:54
her body until the next hunting season began in eight months time by that point wild animals would have
00:29:02
likely found her first on foot and with the help of cadaver dogs the search party covered mile upon
00:29:11
mile of the rolling hills and prairies law enforcement managed to secure a helicopter from the national guard to
00:29:19
cover the area overhead but even with the advantage of a bird's eye view there was no sign of tammy anywhere
00:29:29
as the sun began to descend for the day the helicopter pilot decided to do one last sweep of an isolated prairie
00:29:37
approximately 10 miles north of pier as they passed over a spillway running off the awahi dam they noticed something
00:29:46
in the rugged terrain below it was the naked body of tamira [Music] tammy had been stabbed upwards of 35
00:29:58
times and her throat had been slashed it appeared that some of the injuries had been made after she was already dead
00:30:07
sometime after the initial attack her hands were covered in knife wounds indicating she had attempted to fight
00:30:15
off her killer one cut was so deep that the bone had been exposed as though tammy had taken
00:30:22
hold of the knife during the attack it was the most extreme case of overkill that attending detectives had ever
00:30:31
witnessed yet there was no blood on the scene meaning that the attack itself had
00:30:38
occurred elsewhere officers searched the area for clues and found a t-shirt shredded with knife
00:30:46
carts as well as a pair of blood-stained gloves nothing was found that identified the
00:30:52
killer [Music] tammy's father don was nearing pierre on his drive from wyoming when his cell
00:31:01
phone rang and a police officer broke the dreaded news that tammy's body had been found
00:31:08
to save him the pain of seeing her injuries don was told he wouldn't need to formally identify his daughter
00:31:16
haley had been hoping with all her might that her mother would be found alive when she received the terrible news she
00:31:24
refused to believe that brad could be responsible there was no way that the father she
00:31:31
knew could be capable of such a heinous crime tammy's body was autopsied but it didn't
00:31:40
reveal any forensic evidence tying either brad or brian to her murder police returned to the rear property and
00:31:48
conducted another search this time testing surfaces around the house with luminol
00:31:55
once again they found nothing tammy and brad had been sleeping in separate bedrooms and both their beds
00:32:03
were microscopically examined but there was no trace of blood anywhere investigators began to wonder if they
00:32:12
had arrested an innocent man the evidence simply wasn't adding up against brad rhea
00:32:20
instead they turned their attention to brian clark they had no choice but to question
00:32:26
brian's wife kerry not her real name in turn forcing brian to break the news to her about his affair with taming
00:32:36
kerry was obviously crushed but when the detectives asked her about brian's whereabouts on the night of tuesday
00:32:43
february 7. she confirmed that he had been with her and their daughter at a local basketball game
00:32:50
afterwards they spent the rest of the night at home but there was one problem although carrie and brian shared at the
00:33:00
same bedroom kerry suffered from ongoing back pain and sometimes slept in a recliner chair downstairs
00:33:08
the night tammy was killed she had slept in the recliner this manta was possible that brian had
00:33:17
sneaked out in the middle of the night without his wife's knowledge brad remained in custody while the
00:33:25
investigation continued haley hoped the police would find the evidence to clear her father so that she
00:33:32
wouldn't have to live without both of her parents but investigators still didn't have any
00:33:39
evidence to charge brian and there were no other suspects however with no crime scene and no hard
00:33:47
proof who the killer was the case couldn't proceed to trial until the prosecution could build a solid case
00:33:54
against brad then on march 9 one month after tammy's murder an envelope arrived at the office of the
00:34:04
attorney general that contained some startling revelations [Music] case file will be back shortly thank you
00:34:23
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episode's ads by supporting our sponsors you support case file inside the envelope was a letter written
00:40:38
by one of brian clark's cousins he had information that he needed to get off his chest
00:40:45
according to the letter brian had confided that on the afternoon of tuesday february 7 he and tammy had met
00:40:52
at the fawn motel where they had sex they wanted to meet up again later so that night brian drove to tammy's house
00:41:00
for a second rendezvous the couple took some blankets and drove tammy's durango out to a remote area
00:41:09
they laid the blankets down and tammy removed all of her clothes except for her t-shirt
00:41:15
she then asked brian to use a condom but brian didn't want to tammy insisted which triggered a surge
00:41:23
of rage in brian they began fighting and brian forced himself on tammy raping her
00:41:31
she tried to fight him off losing her wedding ring in the process during the attack the condom came off
00:41:39
inside of tammy's body in a violent frenzy brian took out a knife and began stabbing tammy she tried
00:41:48
to get up and run away but brian chased after her and fatally stabbed her in the
00:41:53
back he then wrapped her body in the blankets they had brought and loaded her into the
00:41:59
durango after dumping tami's body he drove the vehicle back to her house and parked it
00:42:06
in the garage brian had subsequently confided the details of this attack to his cousin who
00:42:13
helped him get rid of evidence the information provided throughout the letter matched several known aspects of
00:42:22
the crime that hadn't been released to the public there was no way the letters author
00:42:28
could have known these details unless they had intimate knowledge from the killer themselves
00:42:35
but there was one detail that didn't quite make sense tammy's body had been autopsied and
00:42:42
there was no condom found inside her as brian's cousin claimed determined to find out the truth
00:42:50
investigators called for a second autopsy upon re-examination the pathologist discovered that there was indeed a used
00:42:59
condom lodged inside tammy's body a crucial piece of evidence that had somehow been missed during the first
00:43:06
post-mortem examination it appeared that brian's cousin was telling the truth [Music]
00:43:17
the condom promised to be the major breakthrough the investigators had been waiting for
00:43:23
it was forensically tested in the hopes it would identify tammy's killer once and for all
00:43:29
unfortunately due to the amount of time it had spent inside tammy's body all traces of dna
00:43:36
had degraded and couldn't be identified what had looked like a promising piece of evidence was now raising even more
00:43:46
questions whoever wrote the letter clearly had insider knowledge of tammy's murder but
00:43:53
there still wasn't any physical evidence to back their claim that brian clarke was the killer
00:44:00
the biggest problem was that investigators still had no idea where the murder had been committed
00:44:07
police returned to the rear home to conduct yet another search hoping to find even the smallest of clues
00:44:16
as one officer rummaged through brad's dresser drawers they came across something of interest
00:44:23
it was a small digital audio recorder as they pressed play a static noise filled the air
00:44:33
the officer waited but nothing else followed finally after about 15 minutes of static
00:44:41
tammy's voice filled the room it sounded as though the recording had captured her side of a phone
00:44:48
conversation the officer listened as tammy asked to speak to brian clark when brian presumably picked up the
00:44:58
other line tammy told him it's just me i just needed to hear your voice they chatted for a few minutes before
00:45:07
tammy said i love you very very much from the beginning of the investigation brad had maintained that he didn't know
00:45:19
who tammy was dating but the recording clearly featured brian's first and last the names
00:45:26
if the audio recorder belonged to brad then this was irrefutable proof that he'd been lying
00:45:34
however the officers were aware that just because the device was found in brad's drawer it didn't necessarily mean
00:45:41
it belonged to him or that he knew what was on it investigators got to work trying to
00:45:48
figure out when the phone call in question had been recorded they discovered that the recording was
00:45:54
made just four days prior to tammy's murder the police were also able to recover
00:46:02
some deleted digital files when an investigator hit play on one of the files a voice spoke over static
00:46:10
airspace testing to see whether the recorder worked by slowly saying [Music] one
00:46:18
two three four it was brad ria it was clear that brad had been the one to record tammy's phone conversation
00:46:31
with brian with police now able to prove that he was lying about knowing who tammy's
00:46:38
boyfriend was they had to consider what else he could be lying about the transcripts of his initial police
00:46:45
interrogation were reviewed and one investigator noted something that stuck out as odd
00:46:53
when the heat was placed on him for tammy's murder brad said all this evidence points at me but i'm
00:47:00
hoping that the body is found because there'll be something to set me free maybe dna
00:47:08
something like that investigators believed this suggested brad knew the used condom would be found
00:47:16
inside tammy's body most likely because he had planted it there in an attempt to frame brian clark
00:47:25
but if this was the case how would he have obtained a condom with brian's dna on it
00:47:33
investigators questioned brian and learned that he would sometimes dispose of used condoms by throwing them out of
00:47:40
his car window investigators began to suspect that brad had tailed tammy and brian on more than
00:47:49
one occasion he had already admitted to having done so on the night of his wife's murder
00:47:56
police believed he had most likely followed them before and saw brian throw away the condom prompting him to hatch a
00:48:03
plan to frame brian by planting his dna on tammy's body he likely didn't know that the dna could
00:48:11
disintegrate over time when exposed to bodily acids brad had probably been confident that
00:48:19
the condom would exonerate him for some time investigators had been recording brad's phone conversations in
00:48:31
jail in the hopes they might hear something that would finally solve the case brad had a twin brother named brett rhea
00:48:39
whom he spoke to regularly during one conversation between the brothers brad had told brett to bring a
00:48:47
notepad next time he came to visit detectives thought this seemed suspicious so they set up a covert video
00:48:55
camera to capture the meeting [Music] brett sat down opposite brad in a meeting room separated by plexiglas
00:49:05
brad told his brother that he wanted him to send some letters on his behalf then he pressed a piece of paper up
00:49:12
against the glass brett examined the paper and took out a yellow notebook quickly scribbling down
00:49:20
some notes brad said there's a reason behind it do you see where i'm going with this
00:49:28
stuff after brett left the jail police trailed his car they watched as he posted some letters
00:49:38
later that day they eventually pulled bread over three hours west of pier in the south dakota town of spearfish
00:49:46
they searched his car and found the yellow notebook in it were notes containing the same
00:49:54
details that appeared in the letter that eventually arrived at the office of the
00:49:58
attorney general claiming to be from a cousin of brian clark brett rhea was arrested and charged with
00:50:06
being an accessory to a felony brad denied asking his brother to write a letter framing brian
00:50:15
he claimed the visiting jail was simply because he owned some valuable baseball cards that he wanted brett to secure for
00:50:22
him given that the letter contained details only the killer could know investigators now knew for certain that
00:50:32
brad was the real perpetrator however from a legal standpoint there still wasn't any physical evidence tying
00:50:41
him to tammy's murder if the case went to court state prosecutors couldn't be sure there was
00:50:47
enough for a jury to find him guilty then investigators came across another letter
00:50:58
this one was written by brad to his twin brother brat in it brad described some good fishing
00:51:06
spots near pier he drew a map directing brett to several locations around the awahi dam
00:51:14
with brad facing charges for murder investigators thought it unlikely that he was focused on something as trivial
00:51:22
as fishing they were convinced that these locations held some other kind of significance
00:51:29
with the help of sniffer dogs a search team went to check the locations brad had pinpointed on his map
00:51:37
at an area near the awahi dam power station they foraged through the scrub and came upon a cluster of juniper
00:51:44
bushes hidden among them were three black garbage bags inside were several items of bedding
00:51:53
including sheets blankets quilts and pillowcases all were soaked with blood one of the bags also contained a pair of
00:52:05
bloody rubber gloves women's underwear and an open box of condoms one was missing
00:52:13
the bedding and blood were confirmed to be tammy's amongst the linens was another
00:52:20
particularly interesting item a large blood-stained tarpaulin given there was no blood evidence found
00:52:28
inside the rear home the tarp allowed investigators to piece together a probable scenario
00:52:35
[Music] they deduced that brad had likely fitted the tarp over tammy's mattress without
00:52:41
her knowledge then lined it with several sheets so she wouldn't be able to feel it was there
00:52:48
after she went to bed on the night of february 7 brad walked in and launched a brutal attack
00:52:55
stabbing her five times in the back and slitting her throat while she slept [Music]
00:53:02
the amount of blankets on the bed would have instantly soaked up the blood and prevented any spatter
00:53:08
explaining why there was no blood found at the crime scene afterwards brad had wrapped tammy's body
00:53:16
in the blankets and tarp then carried her out to the garage which was only five feet away from her bedroom
00:53:24
he loaded her into the durango and planted the used condom inside her either while they were in the vehicle or
00:53:32
when they arrived at the awahi dam spillway brad decided to launch another attack
00:53:39
inflicting multiple stab wounds to tammy's chest finally he disposed of her body and the
00:53:46
garbage bags full of evidence as for brad's story about breaking down on the side of the road and having a
00:53:55
conversation with a highway patrol officer investigators theorised that this was
00:54:01
likely a close call brad had been driving in the direction of brian clark's house and it was
00:54:08
possible that he had been heading there with the intention of planting evidence he'd likely assumed the condom would be
00:54:16
found and dna testing would link it back to brian thereby framing him for the murder
00:54:24
but once brad realised this key piece of evidence was missed during tammy's autopsy he hatched a scheme to write
00:54:32
false confession letters and enlisted his twin brother's help to send them from outside of jail
00:54:40
at the time of brad's arrest traces of vegetation were found on his shoes these were tested and confirmed to match
00:54:48
the juniper bushes where the blood-soaked evidence was dumped furthermore the garbage bags used to
00:54:56
dispose of the evidence were the exact same kind as others found inside the rear home
00:55:02
this undisputedly placed him at the crime scene and the existence of the tarp indicated premeditation
00:55:11
with all of these elements combined the prosecution finally felt they had a strong enough case to take brad to trial
00:55:23
the trial commenced in january of 2007 with brad raya pleading not guilty to first-degree murder
00:55:32
considering the death penalty wasn't being sought south dakota law dictated that if brad was convicted he'd
00:55:39
automatically receive a mandatory life sentence the prosecution anticipated a short
00:55:46
trial for what they believed to be an open and shut case but brad made a rare decision for a
00:55:53
defendant he agreed to take the stand in his own defense no one quite knew what to expect when it
00:56:02
came time for him to testify what he said shocked the courtroom especially members of tammy's family
00:56:11
[Music] unable to conceal the lies any longer brad felt he finally had to come clean
00:56:20
it wasn't him who killed tammy but he's now 13 year old daughter hayley he testified that the trouble began when
00:56:30
he and tammy told hayley they were getting a divorce haley was devastated she liked her house
00:56:37
and her family and didn't want anything to change she was furious that her parents didn't
00:56:44
want to work things out and had been depressed about the impending divorce for days
00:56:50
on the night of tuesday february 7 brad came home late from work to find both tammy and hayley already asleep
00:56:59
he went to bed himself only to be awoken around midnight by the family's cat he heard some noise from tammy's room
00:57:08
and went to see what it was to his shock he saw hayley standing over tammy's body
00:57:17
she was covered in blood and holding a knife her nose was also bleeding as a result
00:57:23
of being hit by tammy as she fought back brad cried out asking hayley what she'd
00:57:30
done but hayley didn't respond she was catatonic brad jumped on tammy and tried to give
00:57:39
her mouth-to-mouth resuscitation but it was no use she was already dead hayley showed no emotion or reaction and
00:57:50
seemed barely conscious it was then that brad realised she was sleepwalking in a panic he carried hayley back to bed
00:58:01
and wiped all the blood off of her then he tried to clean up the crime scene he bundled up the blood-soaked bed
00:58:10
linens through their bloodied clothing in the washing machine and carried tammy's body into her car
00:58:18
wanting to protect his daughter he made the snap decision to plant the condom in
00:58:23
an attempt to blame the man tammy was dating when hayley woke the next day she acted
00:58:31
completely normal and it was clear to brad that she had no recollection of what had happened
00:58:38
his initial plan had been to take hayley and flee to mexico but he was arrested before he could act
00:58:44
on it brad said hayley had always exhibited some troubling behaviors claiming that when she was a child she
00:58:54
used to stab her stuffed animals brad knew his daughter needed psychological treatment but didn't think
00:59:01
she'd get it if she was sent to prison so he decided to lie to authorities to protect her
00:59:09
he acknowledged that he'd broken the law and should be charged accordingly but because his lies were based on the
00:59:16
desire to protect his daughter he urged the jury not to find him guilty of murder
00:59:26
brad's lawyer argued that because hayley was unconscious when she stabbed tammy she couldn't be held legally responsible
00:59:35
telling the jury there's a lot that could have been going on between haley and tammy without us
00:59:41
knowing about it he referenced haley's strong athletic abilities with particular focus on her
00:59:49
volleyball skills indicating that her overarm serving style was similar to the downward
00:59:55
stabbing motion used in tammy's murder the defense lawyer said if brad ria is telling us the truth
01:00:04
shame on us all brad watched intently as hayley was put on the stand she vehemently denied his accusations
01:00:17
hayley spoke of her deep love for her mother and said she would never have done anything to hurt her
01:00:24
this contrasted with her relationship to her father haley had never been very close to brad
01:00:32
and was now afraid of him on the night of tammy's murder haley went to sleep with her bedroom door open
01:00:42
at around midnight she woke up to find it was closed her father opened the door and was
01:00:49
holding an arm full of clothing haley asked what he was doing to which brad replied
01:00:56
nothing he put the clothes down and laid down in hayley's bed telling her he loved her
01:01:06
hayley fell back asleep and when she woke the next morning her mother was gone and her father was doing laundry
01:01:15
when she had asked him where her mother was brad had initially claimed she was in her room
01:01:22
but haley had checked the entire house and there was no trace of tammy as for the lawyer's inference that she
01:01:30
was capable of stabbing her mother based on her volleyball serve haley said she didn't use an overarm
01:01:37
serve at all but an underarm one the prosecution was outraged by brad's claim that haley was the killer
01:01:48
the stab wounds on tammy's body were incredibly deep some two inches longer than the blade of the weapon itself
01:01:56
the sheer force of the knife wounds alone couldn't have been afflicted by someone of hayley's size
01:02:02
nor did she have any history of sleepwalking during cross-examination brad said that
01:02:10
he and tammy had a happy marriage but his long work hours had ultimately driven her away
01:02:17
arguing against haley's claim that she wasn't close with him brad claimed they were so close that he
01:02:24
was willing to go to prison for her brad's testimony only served to hurt his defense as he gave inconsistent answers
01:02:35
to facts that had already been established he claimed he didn't know tammy was having an affair until after he was
01:02:43
arrested even though he'd already admitted this fact to detectives when tammy was first
01:02:49
reported missing he also claimed that the blood haley was covered in was predominantly from her
01:02:56
bloody nose not tammy's injuries given how many wounds were inflicted this seemed highly unlikely
01:03:06
similarly he said that when giving tammy mouth-to-mouth resuscitation he didn't notice any stab wounds just blood
01:03:16
given the amount of injuries to tammy's chest the prosecution argued it would have been impossible not to notice the
01:03:23
wounds if brad really did attempt to revive her brad's attempt to place the blame on his
01:03:31
daughter was fruitless his brother brett had already admitted to writing the letters aimed at framing
01:03:38
brian clark after his arrest brett had cooperated fully with investigators agreeing to
01:03:45
testify against his twin in exchange for being released from jail after serving 172 days
01:03:54
brett said he was genuinely sorry for the part he played and regretted trying to help brad
01:04:01
brett told the court his brother deserved to be sent to prison he was released immediately after
01:04:08
testifying the judge believed he had already suffered enough the twins mother had recently passed
01:04:16
away from an aneurysm after visiting her sons in jail it was also revealed just how brad had
01:04:25
figured out who tammy was dating he'd bugged her car with the audio recording device and then placed a bunch
01:04:33
of flowers in the vehicle along with a letter that read i'm sorry let's make up just as brad had hoped tammy thought the
01:04:43
flowers were from her boyfriend and called brian to thank him thus revealing his identity to brad
01:04:54
it took the jury just three hours to find brad ria guilty of first degree murder
01:05:01
his attempt to place the blame on haley had made him look more guilty and only served to anger members of the jury
01:05:10
the prosecutor stated brad was one of the best witnesses i had his testimony hurt him a bunch
01:05:20
following the verdict tammy's family released a statement that read justice was finally served and all the
01:05:28
lies can stop tammy was such a wonderful person with such a zest for life unfortunately
01:05:36
she was not given an opportunity to make a better life for herself and hayley despite the mandatory life sentence for
01:05:46
first-degree murder an official sentencing date was set so that tami's loved ones could have their moment to
01:05:52
speak about the impact the murder had on their lives haley chose not to speak instead
01:05:59
providing the judge with an undisclosed written statement as tammy's mother bonnie addressed the
01:06:06
courtroom brad rhea stood with his eyes glued to the floor bonnie said we trusted you for so many years and you
01:06:17
deceived us you have taken all you can from this family on this earth you will not receive
01:06:24
enough punishment for your heinous crime she added that brad should be ashamed of
01:06:30
himself for trying to blame his own daughter quipping i'm surprised he didn't try to blame
01:06:37
their cat a video slideshow celebrating tammy's life was played but brad showed zero
01:06:47
emotion at no point did he apologize he seemed intent on sticking to his story that haley was the real killer
01:06:57
telling the cord i gave up my life because i love her the judge concluded that brad was a
01:07:05
calculated cold-blooded murderer motivated to kill tammy out of revenge for her having an affair and wanting a
01:07:13
divorce she told brad he had unsuccessfully attempted to paint himself as the victim
01:07:21
quote you are not a victim you are a predator along with a life sentence the judge
01:07:30
ordered that brad be forbidden from having contact with haley or tammy's family ever again
01:07:38
brad tried to appeal the conviction and called for a retrial he argued that haley's dna was never
01:07:45
compared to dna found at the crime scene and that his defense lawyer had failed him by not pursuing any other dna
01:07:53
evidence he also claimed that investigators had falsified evidence against him his appeal was unanimously rejected
01:08:09
hayley rhea lost to both parents on the day her father made the decision to murder her mother
01:08:16
she went to live with tammy's family in wyoming and never saw brad again in the wake of the crime tammy's sister
01:08:25
holly told nbc reporter josh menkewicz quote the best you can do is try to stay strong for hayley
01:08:34
it's really like having someone cut your arm off i mean it's a piece of you that
01:08:39
you never get back and thank goodness we still have hayley because she is so much like her mum
01:08:49
tammy's family successfully filed a wrongful death lawsuit against brad for 5.3 million dollars
01:08:56
while brad didn't have that much money the ruling allowed them to sell off his personal property and give the proceeds
01:09:04
to haley growing up without tammy was incredibly difficult for hayley but she refused to
01:09:12
let the tragedy define her after graduating high school she studied criminal justice at university before
01:09:20
getting married and having a son of her own the unconditional love her mother gave
01:09:26
her has been an ongoing motivator for haley who continues to look up to tammy and aspire to be the type of parent she
01:09:35
was looking back haley now realises that just because her father wasn't physically violent it doesn't mean he
01:09:44
wasn't abusing tammy in other ways brad was known to constantly hover over tammy
01:09:51
often not letting her out of his sight his controlling behavior bordered on obsessive
01:09:58
when he wasn't at work he'd often show up unannounced wherever tami was when the couple would visit tammy's
01:10:06
family in wyoming tammy's sisters and mother noticed that brad would sit so close to tammy that no one else could
01:10:14
come near her while brad had sulked and barely ate for days after the couple told hayley they
01:10:21
were getting divorced tammy had appeared unaffected it was as though a weight had finally
01:10:28
been lifted wanting to make sure her mother didn't lose her life in vain hayley has used
01:10:36
her experience to educate others on the early warning signs of domestic violence
01:10:42
she has worked with various charities and organizations traveling the united states to speak about victims rights and
01:10:50
the red flags to look out for haley shares her journey on a facebook page titled in memory of tammy bernsrea
01:11:01
in a 2016 ted talk hayley said people always ask me how i am doing and how i go on living
01:11:11
it is hard but i do it in honor and memory of my mum i want my life to be a reflection of the
01:11:18
person she would want me to be it is my mission that people will continue to spread the word about
01:11:25
domestic violence and to raise awareness my mum will forever be my hero and i miss her terribly but i can't bring her
01:11:34
back however what i can do is be her voice i will speak out for her and so many others who did not get the chance
01:11:45
just because my mum didn't have physical scars that everyone could see she had emotional scars
01:11:52
ones that never go away not every situation has to end the way ours did but i will continue to be my mum's voice
01:12:02
because silence will not break the violence [Music] i've been writing about real police
01:12:28
cases for nearly three decades now and they're a few more tragic than the case of sarah mcdermott with sarah's
01:12:36
disappearance there's an element of patience of being collected she was always a very good
01:12:43
daughter if she was out someone going to be late she would ring and let us know she was
01:12:49
seen by several witnesses walking toward the car park and then sarah mcdermott was gone when she's come down the bottom
01:12:57
of the stairs and walked towards the car park she's virtually walked into the darkness when sarah's family reported
01:13:03
her missing police mounted an extensive search i could see blood on the bitumen underneath the car that
01:13:10
was parked at the driver's side of her car the the blood on the ground it sort of indicated to everybody that there'd
01:13:16
been foul play a couple of suspects emerged ahead of the rest and he said well when i do get out you'll be one of
01:13:23
the first people i look for and i said why is that and he said because i just like to kill you
01:13:30
she said you know that murder that was up at the cannanook station i was there with two other blokes and i'm worried
01:13:36
because i don't know how staunch they are who knows what he did if he killed sarah and disposed of her body maybe he
01:13:42
thinks i can get away with this they don't know where she is they don't know who did it just how many other women
01:13:47
were followed from the canonical railway station will never know so i was walking along there and i could
01:13:54
hear footsteps behind me and they were getting closer and they yelled out to me don't take the shortcut take the bridge
01:14:02
i just think those men at the dotto saved my life the evidence is out there so pulled out a couple of the cards and
01:14:11
looked at the name and it said sarah mcdermott searching for sarah mcdermott out now for free only on spotify