00:00:03
911. What's the address of your emergency? >> Please hurry. Please hurry. I don't know
00:00:07
what's wrong with my little brother. >> Does somebody have an AED? >> Checking the cars now. I have narc.
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>> I have a truly baffling mystery for you today. And everything centers around [music]
00:00:27
one night on a quiet culde-sac in Ohio on July 13th, 2024. What started out as a group of friends
00:00:35
at a small party [music] ends in the death of an 18-year-old. But no one knows who hurt him or where or even when
00:00:44
he was injured. Not anyone at the party, not anyone in the neighborhood. Or at least that's what everyone says. So, we
00:00:52
started talking to people, family, police, neighbors, and the strange things we found will leave you not
00:00:59
knowing what to believe. This is the story of Christian Olsen. It's a little after 3:00 a.m. on July
00:01:12
13th, 2024, when Chris Olsen Jr. gets a call about his 18-year-old brother, Christian. He'd been at a party that
00:01:20
night with some of his teenage friends and these friends say that he is now wasted and they don't know what they
00:01:26
should do with him. So Chris is like, "Okay, just bring him home." [music] Now it's a good hour before they pull up
00:01:31
even though the party was in Brunswick Hills, which is like a 20inute drive away from Christian's house in Madina,
00:01:37
Ohio. But around 4:00 a.m., a friend of Christians named Eric pulls up in his car with Christian and two other friends
00:01:43
in tow, Aiden and [music] Brilan. Aiden stays in the car the whole time, but Brilan and Eric help Chris Jr. get
00:01:50
Christian inside the house. And as his brother gets him upstairs, Christian is mumbling some stuff. It's like not 100%
00:01:58
clear what he's saying, but what they can make out is him just saying, "Ow!" over and over like he's in pain. And
00:02:05
Eric is saying like he didn't know how Christian got this drunk cuz he's like, "I drank more than he did." But he did
00:02:11
say that he had been throwing up on the [music] way back, which I mean, maybe that's why it took so long to get there.
00:02:18
Doesn't matter to Chris or even Christian's sister, who's also awake. They're just like, "We got to get him
00:02:23
sobered up and preferably without waking up their parents amidst all the chaos."
00:02:28
But that doesn't last long. Between getting him cleaned up and drinking some water, all the commotion wakes up
00:02:34
Christian's mom and dad. Everyone's still there, even the friends, and they admit that he is drunk. But Christian's
00:02:40
dad, who's Christopher Senior, he's looking at him and he's like, "Are we sure that that's the problem?" Like,
00:02:47
"Are we sure he's drunk?" He looks like he got beat up. I mean, he's like drooling some blood. He's asking for
00:02:54
help. >> He's like in this state. >> I I know, but before mom and dad woke up, it was all kids basically trying to
00:03:00
take care of the situation. And I don't think his siblings had any clue that something more serious was up.
00:03:06
Especially because you've got Eric telling everyone [music] that he's just wasted. Like he was there, right? He
00:03:11
even tells that to his parents after they get him in the bathroom where he's throwing up and in and out of
00:03:16
consciousness. At one point, Chris Senior says that he noticed what looked like a shoe print on his son's [music]
00:03:22
face and a cut on his shoulder. But still, his friends are trying to assure them no, he's just drunk. So Christian's
00:03:31
dad starts asking him over and over like, "What happened?" But Christian is still just mumbling and the only thing
00:03:38
they can really make out is him saying that he just needs to lay there. And at one point he's able to say that he wants
00:03:44
a Coke. So they try to get him to drink some soda, seeing if that'll shake him out of this, but that doesn't work. And
00:03:50
then suddenly it looks like Christian just stops breathing. >> 911. What's the address of your
00:03:58
emergency? >> Please hurry. Please hurry. He's He's not He passed out. I don't know what's
00:04:02
wrong with my little brother. >> Okay. How old is he? >> He's 18. >> 18? >> Yes.
00:04:08
>> Okay. Is he breathing? >> No, I don't think so. He just He just passed out. He just burst through the
00:04:14
door and he couldn't walk and he kept saying, "Please help me." And he started throwing up blood and it started coming
00:04:19
out his nose and then he just passed out. >> Christian's family performed CPR until
00:04:26
the Madina police and paramedics arrived. Christian's still got a faint pull, so they rush him to the hospital
00:04:32
where they try all of the life-saving measures they can. But it's not enough. By 5:56 in [music] the morning,
00:04:39
Christian is declared dead. And his family is just in shock and denial. I mean, it all happened so fast they can't
00:04:48
even wrap their heads around it. One minute, their son is leaving their house to hang out with friends, [music] and
00:04:53
now he's dead. And to add to their confusion, the coroner tells them that his death is suspicious, but that's all.
00:05:00
They don't know anything else. Not there in the hospital and not for a while after because police told the family
00:05:07
that they wouldn't be giving them a lot of information because they don't want to take them on a roller coaster ride.
00:05:13
But instead of the roller coaster, they're just in limbo. >> And I don't really know what's worse. I
00:05:20
mean, the family is calling the police often for [music] updates, but not getting much. So, without much official
00:05:26
information being put out, rumors begin to swirl. Ones that the family know can't be true, [music] like that
00:05:33
Christian's death is a suicide or an overdose. And they know because they saw him, right? Like, they knew it was more
00:05:39
than that. They had the coroner tell them it was something suspicious. And his friends were saying that he was
00:05:45
wasted. They don't know what the combo of all of that means, and they know that no one will until the autopsy results
00:05:53
come back, [music] which takes a full 2 months. But when they do get them on September 26th, their worlds are turned
00:06:02
upside [music] down. Because Christian wasn't just wasted like his friends had said. He had severe
00:06:11
internal injuries. His ribs and collarbone are fractured. His liver and lung is punctured, but there are no stab
00:06:20
wounds or anything like that. He has some bruises on his face and neck and torso and abrasions on the left side of
00:06:27
his body. And guess what? Not only was he not [music] wasted to the extent his friends let on, he wasn't drunk at all.
00:06:36
Toxicology results show that there was zero alcohol in his system. Now, it is possible that he drank something cuz
00:06:46
police said that that alcohol could have metabolized and gone through his system
00:06:51
by the time he died, but you would imagine if he was as drunk as they said he was, there would still be something
00:06:56
>> right now. There was a small amount of weed, but nothing that would have put him in that state. In the end, his death
00:07:03
is ruled blunt force trauma to the neck and abdomen, [music] and his manner of death is homicide. But
00:07:11
what the Emmy can't [music] determine is how this would have happened. I mean, there is no one easy answer that
00:07:17
explains all of his injuries. Certainly not with the story his friends had given. So, what really happened in the
00:07:25
hours after Christian Olsen left his home? [music] >> [music] >> It's quickly determined that whatever
00:07:54
happened to Christian likely happened in Brunswick Hills where the party was since that's where his friends drove him
00:08:00
from. >> So Brunswick Hills PD begins their investigation immediately like same day
00:08:06
Christian died. So, let me rewind to that. It's July 13th. While Christian was still being rushed to the hospital,
00:08:13
[music] police were talking to Eric and the other two kids who brought him home,
00:08:17
Aiden and Brilan. And they're doing that right in Christian's [music] driveway. They're trying to figure out what led up
00:08:23
to Christian being in the state he was in. Now, Eric's the most talkative, and he told detectives that there was a
00:08:28
party at his dad's house on Topaz Lane in Brunswick Hills. And he and some others had picked Christian up from his
00:08:35
parents' place in Madina earlier that night. And Eric said that they got to his house sometime after 10:00 p.m. Now,
00:08:41
there was some alcohol, specifically four locos, some weed, but he said it was pretty chill, just like this small
00:08:48
group hanging out. And he gives them a list of other names, maybe like seven in total. One of them being the girl
00:08:54
Christian had [music] kind of been dating, Becca. >> And were there any adults around?
00:08:59
>> No. Which is like kind of the key to a high school party. Usually Eric lived at
00:09:04
this house with his dad, [music] but his dad was out that night with a new woman
00:09:07
that he'd been dating for about a week. And the two of them didn't get back until like midnight. But when they did
00:09:12
get back, they went straight [music] to the basement. And the kids were upstairs
00:09:16
in Eric's room. And there's actually some photos and videos of the kids that Becca shared with us from that night.
00:09:22
I've seen them and they're all hanging out up there. Like everyone, including Christian, are laughing and having a
00:09:29
great time. Eric said that he and Christian left at some point for a bit to go grab donuts that had been thrown
00:09:35
out after the doughnut place closed. Then they come back to the house. They're all eating them, having fun. But
00:09:41
shortly before 2:00 a.m., things turned sour. or as Eric told police, quote, hit
00:09:48
the fan. Now, I don't know what prompted this now in [music] the night, but Becca
00:09:52
accused Christian of sleeping with someone else. And Eric said that this prompted [music] a giant fight. And
00:09:58
after the fight, Becca and her friends left. So, the only people left there at the house were Christian, Eric, and
00:10:05
Aiden. And Aiden backed this up with police. But Christian didn't stay much longer. They said that after Becca left,
00:10:12
his mood changed and he stormed out of the house shortly after 2:00 a.m. And Eric said he tried stopping him because
00:10:19
Christian was drunk, but Christian grabbed him and pushed him into the wall. So Eric just let him go and like
00:10:25
didn't think it was worth the fight. >> But we know now that Christian wasn't drunk, so there's that.
00:10:32
>> Yeah. But police didn't know that during their initial questioning in the driveway.
00:10:35
>> That's all like autopsy stuff that happens 2 months later, >> right? So Eric tells police this and
00:10:40
then he says a little while later around 3:00 a.m. he went to drive Aiden home [music]
00:10:44
and the two of them spotted Christian laying on the ground near the end of Eric's driveway [music] and they stopped
00:10:50
to see if he was okay and noticed that he had some like drool and vomit on his face. They asked him if he's okay, but
00:10:56
all he said was that he couldn't move his upper body. [music] So that's when they say they called his brother, got
00:11:02
him into the truck, and got him home, which is where our story began. After talking to them in the driveway, police
00:11:09
then take Eric and Aiden down to the station for a more formal interview and to get official statements. Now, it's
00:11:16
not clear to me why they didn't take Brillan given that he also brought Christian home, but it might be because
00:11:22
they do end up finding out that Brilan wasn't actually at the house party. They end up meeting up with him later, which
00:11:26
I'll get into in a minute. All I know is that Brilen ends up staying at Christian's family's house for a little
00:11:31
while after while the other two go to the station. But anyways, as police continued to question Eric and Aiden,
00:11:38
Eric's story shifts slightly. In his telling now, Christian wasn't laying near the end of his driveway when they
00:11:45
found him. He was five or six houses down at the bottom of a neighbor's driveway. Andy said the teen boy who
00:11:51
lived there was standing outside with two of his friends, [music] and those guys told them that Christian had
00:11:56
knocked on their door. Everything else though in the story stays the same, except there is one detail that stands
00:12:02
out to me. So Eric told police that he was driving when they dropped Christian off, but Aiden told police that he
00:12:10
[music] was driving. Now Aiden also told police that he didn't drink that night.
00:12:14
So maybe he was trying to cover for Eric who admitted to [music] police that he had been drinking that night. Like I
00:12:19
don't know if he was trying to make sure he didn't get in trouble or or what. But
00:12:23
okay, the my driveway versus neighbors driveway is like whatever to me. But not mentioning three other guys that were
00:12:30
outside, like that's pretty strange. >> I know. >> So, what's with these kids? Like, what's
00:12:36
their story? >> Yeah. So, obviously they go talk to them. Easy to find since one of them
00:12:41
lives on the same street, right? And the boys told them that they were hanging out, having a sleepover or something
00:12:46
when they heard someone yelling for help outside at around 3:00 a.m. They go out,
00:12:51
saw Christian laying on the ground, but they didn't know who he was or what he was doing. Do they say he looked beat
00:12:58
up? I don't know if they ever got close enough to see if he had any injuries. Like, they just assumed that he was
00:13:04
maybe high or drunk. So, they went back inside, but then there was like this knocking at the door. It was Christian,
00:13:10
obviously, and it scared them. so much that they grabbed a knife and started taking 3se secondond Snapchat videos of
00:13:16
Christian from inside the house. >> But they didn't go out and help him. >> Well, no. I mean, it's a random person
00:13:21
knocking on your door at 3:00 a.m. But like, [laughter] >> they also didn't just stand there and
00:13:25
watch. They actually tried to call 911, but for some reason, the call didn't go through. They say they watched Christian
00:13:33
go back to the end of the driveway and collapse. And then just a few minutes later, they saw two guys in a truck pull
00:13:39
up, stand over him for a second. [music] And that's when they went back outside and told the two boys what had happened.
00:13:46
And then those two teens loaded him up and left. And that story matches what Eric told police the second goound. And
00:13:54
when they check these kids' phones, everything lines up. Even though no call came in to 911, it's right there in
00:14:00
their call log. They had tried to call. and they show them the Snapchat videos that they took, which in one just shows
00:14:08
Christian laying on the ground and the other shows Eric and Aiden looking down at Christian. So, when does Brilan come
00:14:16
into the picture? Cuz he's not in Eric's story when he's taking Aiden home. He's
00:14:20
not in the Snapchat videos. We know he's there when they get to Christian's house, though.
00:14:26
>> Yeah. So, he's not at the party that night, but he is friends with Christian and Eric. So apparently Eric called him
00:14:33
when he was calling everyone else to try and figure out what was wrong with Christian or like what to do. But
00:14:38
something isn't quite adding up for me. So police actually go back and talk to Eric at his dad's house. And [music]
00:14:44
this third time he adds another detail that he previously left out. He says he didn't drive just straight to
00:14:52
Christian's house once they found him. Which could explain why the 20minut drive took an hour.
00:14:57
>> Mhm. So, first he says that him and Aiden made a pit stop so that Christian could throw up.
00:15:03
>> Eric says that he had stopped for that reason several times on that ride home.
00:15:07
And in one of those stops, they specifically stopped at this golf course. And based on what police told
00:15:12
us, it seems like Eric told Brilan to meet them there. Apparently, Eric said that they wanted him to help get a hold
00:15:19
of Christian's brother and then they all took Christian home. But do they not know where he lives? It's like I don't
00:15:26
know why they're taking time to meet up with Brilan. >> Well, no, they they know where he lives.
00:15:31
Remember, they actually started the night at his house. He picked him up. So, Eric definitely knows where he is.
00:15:36
But I guess Brilen was closer to the family than Eric was. Like, both of them are are Christian's childhood friends.
00:15:42
So, maybe they just felt more comfortable having Brillin with them. I don't really know. But either way, he
00:15:48
meets up with them and then he follows Eric and Aiden in his own car. And in all of this interaction, no one is
00:15:56
seeing how bad off Christian is. I mean, it's certainly the question police can't
00:16:00
get out of their heads. I actually have body cam footage of them standing in Eric's driveway asking about this in
00:16:06
particular. >> And through all of this, why didn't at at some point, why didn't somebody call
00:16:11
and say, "We need to get the police or at the very least a rescue squad here." >> I I just called his brother and he just
00:16:18
told me to bring him home and I I was freaking out. I didn't >> Okay. I was just calling people who had
00:16:23
first. >> Okay. >> And the ride from here to Ivy Hill, my understanding is you guys stopped
00:16:31
>> at uh Bunker Hill Golf Course on Pearl Road. >> Why did you stop there? >> He Chris was like, "I got to you got to
00:16:36
pull over. I got to He's like, I I'm not feeling good." Even though he was already thrown up,
00:16:40
>> I was like, "I'm still going to pull over." Because >> So, at that point, he was talking.
00:16:44
>> Yes. >> Okay. >> Yes. So, like if you asked him specific questions, was he just giving
00:16:52
yes or no answers? Can you >> It was No, most of the time it was just And then >> cuz I kept asking him if he needed water
00:16:59
or something to eat. I was like, I stopped to get something to eat. >> He was like, mm-m.
00:17:04
>> Okay. >> All right. >> While they were talking to Eric in the driveway, police were also inside
00:17:11
searching the home, but they didn't find anything out of the ordinary. One of the
00:17:15
officers said that the home looked a little too clean, but I mean that's certainly not a crime. And no matter how
00:17:22
many ways they ask him, the part of his story that never changed is [music] that
00:17:26
Christian left the house on foot perfectly fine at 2:00 a.m. and then they didn't see him again until 3:00
00:17:33
when they found him messed up in front of the neighbor's place. Whatever happened to Christian likely comes down
00:17:39
to that critical hour. But the data that police get, or rather [music] the data they don't get from
00:17:48
that time, only deepens the mystery. Police pulled Christian's phone data, hoping that might give them insight into
00:17:59
where he was or who he might have been communicating with within that missing hour. But the results are odd. They have
00:18:06
some data points that shows he did go out of the house, like Eric said, [music] at 2:06 a.m. Like location data,
00:18:15
>> they say yes, location data. I get a little confused. It doesn't totally make
00:18:18
sense to me, but that's what police say. >> Okay. And where were Aiden and Eric's
00:18:22
phones like around that time? Police would only tell us that their phones were inside [music] Eric's house between
00:18:29
2 and 3:00 a.m. In getting the search warrants, I know one of the things that they were hoping to see were
00:18:35
communications from that night. >> But police told us that the way that the phones are set up and teens being teens,
00:18:42
a lot of the apps that they use, like Snapchat, [music] are encrypted. So, it's not super easy
00:18:46
for them to get that stuff. In fact, Eric told police when they took his phone that they might not see regular
00:18:51
calls on his phone because he just uses Snapchat to call people. So really, the only other data point that they have to
00:18:58
work off of happens at 2:14 a.m. That's when Christian's phone goes dark. Police
00:19:05
don't know if he turned it off or if it just died or what. And did he have his phone on him when they brought him home?
00:19:13
>> Yeah, it it was on him and it was in fine condition. So, it's not like it broke or anything like that. It just
00:19:18
goes dark at 2:14. I don't know what that means. But I kind of wonder if like whatever happened to
00:19:26
him [music] happened then. So, that's what they have from the phones. >> Mhm. >> The next data set they try to look at
00:19:33
are the cameras. Because when police are looking around on Topaz Lane, it's 2024
00:19:38
and they see doorbell cameras all over. Yeah, great. Someone in the neighborhood
00:19:43
has to have surveillance footage. But when they go doortodoor asking the neighbors to see their
00:19:50
footage, they are met with what I think is a strange response. Everyone said that theirs either wasn't working. Do
00:19:58
you have any surveillance cameras that might have caught anything is what we're looking for.
00:20:02
>> No, I don't have anything that's working right now. >> Oh jeez. As you can see, they're not
00:20:06
even working right now. >> Or their cameras didn't pick anything up that would have triggered their camera
00:20:10
to start. >> It never registered anything. And did police check all that out for
00:20:16
themselves? >> Police said they quote fully investigated this and that they don't
00:20:21
have any ring cam footage with Christian on it. >> What does that really mean? Like they
00:20:27
looked at everyone's cameras on Topaz Lane. >> I don't They wouldn't tell us. Like I I
00:20:32
don't have any specifics. I'm not convinced that no one has footage. Even if it were just of Christian walking
00:20:40
away, right? It doesn't even have to be anything nefarious. Just like putting him in a place at a time would be
00:20:46
helpful at this point. And if we don't have him walking away, like also what does that say,
00:20:51
>> right? But like if he walked away and everyone's saying their cameras weren't
00:20:56
working, like are they lying? I mean, I think the interesting thing to note is this is a predominantly white
00:21:02
neighborhood. Christian is a black teen. And we spoke with someone from the area.
00:21:06
I'm going to call him James. He told us that that neighborhood and Brunswick Hills in general is not the most
00:21:12
open-minded community. And I think that's being kind of generous because Christian's sister Chrissy and their mom
00:21:19
Relle told us that last year during one of their justice walks around Topaz Lane
00:21:25
after Christian's murder, people in the neighborhood were actually yelling slurs
00:21:28
at them and yelling at them to leave. And they say residents even called the police on them, saying that they [music]
00:21:34
were on private property. Now, we obviously asked detectives about that. They said that they didn't receive any
00:21:39
complaints for [music] anyone at the march, but they did get several calls directly to the police station from
00:21:44
concerned residents worried about the people yelling and screaming on the street. So, they patrolled the areas
00:21:50
just in case, but no reports were filed. And for clarity, I'm not saying that everyone in the neighborhood is like
00:21:57
that. I mean, the neighbors that our reporter spoke to really want to help in any way they can, but it's not like
00:22:02
others in this community are rallying around the family to get answers. It feels a little more like if something
00:22:09
happened in this neighborhood, a lot of the neighbors might cover for each other. And that's something that
00:22:14
resident James told us that he wouldn't be surprised by. So, since police have no footage to go off of, they're left
00:22:22
trying to piece together a theory of what could have happened based on the injuries Christian had. But even those
00:22:29
just make no sense. Like I said, he died from blunt force trauma to the neck and
00:22:34
abdomen, and he had some bruising, but only a small cut on his shoulder. But like all of his internal injuries made
00:22:41
it seem like he had suffered some type of hard blow, like he made abrupt contact with the ground or
00:22:49
>> one big impact. >> That's kind of what it seems like, >> which brings two possibilities to the
00:22:55
forefront. Not that either is right or necessarily even the only explanation. There could be other options that we
00:23:02
don't know about. But my first two thoughts were fight or hit by a car. And honestly, hit by a car was my first
00:23:09
thought. >> That's what I was going to bring up when you said one big impact cuz like that
00:23:14
would kind of explain like even you said there was injuries like just on one side
00:23:17
of his body that would like kind of track with that, right? >> Yeah. And Christian was wearing all
00:23:21
black that night. So if he walked out of the house, maybe somebody hit him and then ran off. Our reporter got two
00:23:27
neighbors on the phone. One neighbor lived near where Christian was found and this guy brought up a suspicious blue
00:23:35
pickup truck. He said that the truck had basically been parked near their house in that Topaz Lane culdeac for almost a
00:23:42
year. >> Like broken down. >> No, like it came and went. >> Oh, okay. >> But he said right after Christian's
00:23:48
death, that truck just disappeared. [music] And this neighbor said that Topaz Lane isn't well lit. So they
00:23:56
always just kind of wondered. But we brought this to detectives and they said that they already checked it out and
00:24:01
they believed that that truck was in an unrelated wreck around the same time and
00:24:04
that the owner of the vehicle got a new one. So the truck disappearing was just a coincidence. Moreover, the police said
00:24:11
that if Christian had gotten hit by a car, there would be classic bruising patterns on his lower body that just
00:24:18
aren't there. [music] Now, a hit and run isn't totally out. They said like a very
00:24:22
specific version of a hit and run could have happened here if he was hit and then thrown over the vehicle. But
00:24:28
Christian's family maintains that they don't think it was a car accident at all. I get why. I mean, there is
00:24:35
something about the logistics of it that don't feel totally right to me. The whole neighborhood, it's just this
00:24:41
culde-sac, right? Like it's one street. I don't think anyone would be flying down it. Okay. If if a hit and run is a
00:24:47
possibility, maybe Christian walked to the main road. That's Grafton Road where the speed limit is 35.
00:24:53
>> But then if that's the case, would he have been able to get all the way back to Topaz Lane in that condition?
00:24:59
Obviously, police don't have a starting point. They don't know where the incident took place. But they do say
00:25:05
that they think whatever happened to Christian could have happened where he was found a few houses down, but they
00:25:11
are truly not sure because there was no crime scene or anything like that. And so if he's not hit by a car at a high
00:25:19
rate of speed on Topaz Lane, then that leaves option two, some kind of physical attack. Some of the body cam footage we
00:25:27
obtained showed that police directly asked Eric if there was a fight, but he's adamant that nobody got in a fight.
00:25:34
That the only one physical was Christian when he pushed him into a wall on his way out because Eric was telling him not
00:25:40
to leave. >> I tried to stop him from walking out my house cuz he was drinking. I was like,
00:25:44
"Nobody's leaving my house if we're drinking." And he walks out. I grab him and he grabs me and he like throws me
00:25:53
against the wall and then walks out. And I was like, "Okay, you can do that." But
00:25:58
a fight seemed to be Christian's dad's [music] first thought. In the original police
00:26:03
report, he said that when Christian got home, he looked quote scuffed up. >> Mhm.
00:26:09
>> Now, I've never been in a fight myself. There's still time. But the pictures I've always seen of
00:26:16
somebody who's been beaten up, majority of the time there is a lot of damage to their face, right? Like swollen eyes,
00:26:23
bloody nose, busted lip, even busted knuckles on the victim because they're trying to fight back, but so much of
00:26:29
that isn't here. I've seen the photos that police took of Christian in the hospital. Now, there's only one clear
00:26:35
shot of his left hand. I can't see his right, but like there's nothing there like he was able to fight back. The only
00:26:42
open wound is that one on his right shoulder. It's like an open gash less than an inch long that definitely bled.
00:26:49
I mean, you can tell it's open, but I mean, Christian's black sweatshirt probably absorbed it, which is why
00:26:54
nobody saw that, >> right? >> Or at least until they took off his clothes and got him in the shower and
00:26:58
stuff. >> Now, he has some scrapes and bruising on his face. >> Yeah. And did you say his dad thought he
00:27:04
saw like a shoe print? >> His dad did. Yeah. Police don't see that. And I see what he's looking at.
00:27:10
Like I think we all agree something hit his face or scraped it or who knows what, but shoe not a shoe. I don't think
00:27:18
anyone can tell for sure. So all that to say, if he got in a fight, it's almost like he got body slammed or something
00:27:26
like that. That's actually what police say, which is for real when you think about it. To slam someone so hard that
00:27:33
they die. That's not just boys horsing around. And it's definitely not just one slam and done. I don't think that
00:27:41
explains everything. >> Yeah, I wonder if he was like kicked and and stomped or something.
00:27:47
>> Yeah, I have no medical knowledge to back this up, but I don't know. I would think there would be a little more
00:27:52
bruising in that case, like especially on his abdomen, but there's there's not there's not any of that there. So, say
00:28:00
it is a fight. Say it happens on Topaz Lane. Like that makes the suspect pool pretty small. You'd think. I mean, the
00:28:09
logical place to start is with the friends that he was with. Eric says there was a big fight. Christian leaves.
00:28:15
He tries to stop them. All the pieces are there. I also can't shake the fact that Eric lied about Christian being
00:28:23
drunk, though. Like, that's not something you just get mixed up about when like he wasn't drinking at all that
00:28:30
night, right? Well, remember like he could have drank something that metabolized. We don't know for sure, but
00:28:36
it's also possible that Eric could have just assumed that Christian had drank more than he really did. [music] And
00:28:42
then when he saw Christian throwing up like right, that's the assumption. >> Put two and two together.
00:28:47
>> Yeah. I mean, especially if he's drinking, but I don't know. He he in his story, he's saying that Christian was
00:28:52
drunk even when he was like trying to get him not to leave, which I'm like, we know he wasn't. Like, it doesn't make
00:28:57
sense. But Christian's level of intoxication might not have been the only thing he exaggerated.
00:29:04
So we tried reaching out to all of the people who were there that night and the only person who talked to us actually
00:29:10
was Becca. And she said that she wasn't even really mad about him sleeping with another girl. She said that her and
00:29:17
Christian weren't exclusive or anything. So I mean she was disappointed but that
00:29:22
was it. She said she went home and police were able to corroborate that. So then why would Eric say the fight was so
00:29:30
big? Your guess is as good as mine. Maybe his perception of it was different. I don't know. What did Aiden
00:29:38
say about the fight? Did he say it was like this huge blowout? Well, no. He told police something seemed off between
00:29:44
Christian and Becca, but he didn't see a fight or anything. And then he said he was in the bathroom when Christian
00:29:49
actually left, so he didn't really know what state of mind he [music] was in. And we don't have a ton more from Aiden
00:29:54
because he lawyered up pretty quickly after Christian's death. [music] In fact, Christian's family told us that
00:29:59
they haven't heard from the boys that brought him home since the day Christian died. And they believe that they know
00:30:06
more than they're letting on. We reached out to Eric, Aiden, and Brilan, but none
00:30:11
of them returned our calls. Now, one thing Becca said on the call with us that I thought was interesting is that
00:30:19
it wasn't uncommon for Christian to just go for a walk if he needed to blow off some steam. So, him leaving the house
00:30:26
solo didn't seem out of character or anything to her. And we've got police saying that they can confirm that
00:30:33
Christian went outside and the boys stayed inside. >> Mhm. Or the their phones were inside.
00:30:40
>> Okay. But if not them, then who? Well, I do actually have an alternate theory for you. Detectives
00:30:50
told us that they're quote investigating all possibilities. End quote. Now, one of those
00:30:58
possibilities stemmed [music] from a rumor about a robbery a week before Christian's death. We got court
00:31:04
documents for said robbery that say that two people broke into a known drug dealer's house in the area on July 7th.
00:31:12
Surveillance footage from inside the guy's condo showed two masked men stealing money and weed and like
00:31:18
thousands of dollars worth of sneakers. So, the rumored connection is that Christian was one of the masked men and
00:31:27
that he was killed [music] in retaliation for the robbery. If this is the case, it might explain one of
00:31:34
Christian's injuries. So, remember the the thing that Christian's dad thought was a shoe print?
00:31:40
>> Detectives said that it didn't look like a shoe print to them, but they thought
00:31:45
it actually looked like maybe Christian was pistolhipped because there is a mark
00:31:49
on his cheek and a small cut in his hairline that you wouldn't be able to see unless you look closely. But even
00:31:56
though this is their theory, they're open. They don't know for certain. Now, one of the mass robbers has been
00:32:02
arrested [music] and convicted. The second person has never been arrested in connection with the robbery, and
00:32:08
charging documents [music] for the convicted person don't say anything about Christian.
00:32:12
>> Okay, that's what I was going to ask. They have one of them. In theory, the first robber knows the other robber,
00:32:17
too. >> You would think, but these documents say nothing about them. Now, Christian's
00:32:21
sister Chrissy said that she'd heard these rumors. More specifically, she heard that allegedly the guy whose house
00:32:29
was robbed said that he was able to ID Christian as being part of the robbery based on his eyebrows that were shown in
00:32:37
camera footage from inside the house. But Chrissy says that there's no way Christian was part of that robbery. He
00:32:43
was not that kind of kid [music] and she doubts that he was mixed up in anything
00:32:47
like that. There would be one way to know for sure, though. [music] The charging documents said that one of the
00:32:54
people involved in the robbery left a wave cap [music] at the scene that had DNA on it. Now, that got tested. It got
00:33:03
compared against the guy in jail. Not a match to him, so it has to be the second
00:33:10
robbers, >> right? We tried getting more detail from the Brunswick Police Department,
00:33:14
different agency from Brunswick Hills Police since the robbery happened in their jurisdiction. We asked
00:33:20
specifically if that DNA on the cap has been compared to Christian's DNA, but they told us they weren't allowed to
00:33:26
comment on the robbery case since Christian's case is still an open investigation in a neighboring
00:33:31
jurisdiction. >> Even if Christian had nothing to do with the robbery, that doesn't mean that the
00:33:38
guy whose house was robbed didn't think that Christian was involved. >> Yeah. Right. Like he doesn't have DNA
00:33:42
evidence. Chrissy said if the rumors are true and it was retaliation for the robbery, she still thinks it's a case of
00:33:49
mistaken [music] identity. Well, for him to like recognize his eyebrows. He had to have known him kind of well
00:33:58
though, right? Possibly. Chrissy says that the whole family knows of this guy. It's just like a small
00:34:04
community, a place where everyone knows everyone type of thing. But whether Christian knew him deeper than that, we
00:34:11
don't know. No one has ever been able to give us anything to to [music] show that
00:34:14
he does. But you know, one of the thoughts that I [music] like kept coming back to was Christian's phone. So, we
00:34:21
know right all the kids are using Snapchat to communicate and so many kids let their location be seen on Snapchat,
00:34:29
which is like Donald, >> but what if that is why he turned it off? Like what if he knew someone was
00:34:38
trying to find out where he was that [music] night? But by the time he shut it down, it was like too late and maybe
00:34:45
somebody already made it to him. >> I mean, I feel like this is a wild goose chase, but can police not tell that
00:34:52
based on his Snapchat data? They're still trying to like all this time later. And not just for Christian's
00:35:00
phone, like for a lot of the phones that his friends had too. But this is what I'm talking about with encrypted data
00:35:04
and subpoenas, like it takes so much time. But I think those communications will
00:35:11
hold the answers. Becca told us Eric called her that night panicking, saying that Christian wasn't looking good. He
00:35:18
even told her that Christian needed to go to a hospital. They were on the side of the road when he called and she told
00:35:26
us she asked Christian directly if he needed to go to the hospital. And all he was saying was mhm or okay. She told
00:35:33
Eric they should go to a hospital. and he said okay and then hung up >> and then didn't take him to the hospital
00:35:41
>> and then made a pit stop to meet up with Brilan on the way home who then followed
00:35:46
him in his own car to Christians. >> I mean, yeah, the encrypted data is the key to everything. Whether his friends
00:35:54
are hiding something or if this drug dealer could be involved, who by the way is actually in prison now for unrelated
00:36:00
drug and gun charges. Or maybe it's none of them. Like I said, Brunswick Hills isn't a very diverse neighborhood. What
00:36:07
if he encountered somebody on his walk in the middle of the night? Like, here's this black teenage boy walking by
00:36:15
himself. Maybe he came across the wrong person. I mean, in any of these scenarios, I think someone on that
00:36:22
street knows something or saw something or we're missing a piece of the puzzle. One thing that really trips me up is the
00:36:31
neighbor we talked to said that he'd had his windows open that night [music] and
00:36:36
his dogs didn't bark and he didn't hear anything. The teen boys didn't mention hearing
00:36:42
anything either until Christian started calling for help. So, did whatever happened to him happen inside somewhere?
00:36:51
Did it happen so fast that he didn't have time to make noise? I mean, I'm tripped up on the fact that he could
00:36:58
talk. He could ask for like a Coke to drink, but he couldn't say what had really happened to him or or who did it,
00:37:04
which I think could be a result of his injuries. I actually looked like some of this up and there are ways that his
00:37:10
brain could have been affected by what happened to him. Like not getting enough oxygen to the brain due to the punctured
00:37:15
lung or low blood pressure from his internal injuries that affected his brain. He was probably even having
00:37:20
trouble breathing from the punctured lung, too, and more trouble talking. I mean, I told you there are still so many
00:37:26
questions about Christian's death. >> And maybe the truth lives somewhere in the encrypted phone data. If that's the
00:37:34
case, the clock is ticking because police are getting close to unwinding that. And I have a feeling if anyone is
00:37:42
hiding anything, they might fare a lot better if they go to police before police have to come find them. So if you
00:37:49
were on Topaz Lane on July 13th, 2024, or you have camera footage from that area and day, now's the time to come
00:37:57
forward. If something didn't happen inside that party, then it had to have happened nearby. And if you don't know
00:38:03
the whole story, maybe you know pieces of it. Pieces that will help bring this picture into focus. Chrissy says that
00:38:11
the person who murdered Christian didn't just take one life that night. They took
00:38:15
six cuz her family has not been the same since his death. And more than anything,
00:38:20
they just want justice for the boy that they so lovingly referred to as Fat Man.
00:38:24
He just graduated and had big future plans to pursue a trade. But all of that was stolen from him and his family. The
00:38:31
police chief at Brunswick Hills Police Department actually made a website specifically for Christian's case. It
00:38:36
includes the number to their dispatch, a [music] link to send info straight to investigators, and information on how to
00:38:42
share a tip anonymously. So, we're going to put a link to that website in the show notes. This is solvable. It's only
00:38:49
a matter of time. So, you can come forward now or you can wait for the knock on your door. You can find all the
00:38:55
source material for this episode on our website, crimejunkie.com. And you can follow us on Instagram, CrimeJunk
00:39:01
Podcast. We'll be back next week with a brand new episode.