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Brandon Woodruff /// Part 1 /// 435

November 11, 2022 / 48:02

This episode covers the case of Brandon Woodruff, who was convicted of murdering his parents, Dennis and Norma Woodruff, in Texas in 2005. Key discussions include the background of the Woodruff family, Brandon's life leading up to the murders, and the investigation that followed.

Brandon Woodruff, now 31, asserts his innocence regarding the capital murder charges. He describes his parents as loving and supportive, emphasizing their good character and the tragedy of their deaths.

The episode details the Woodruff family's financial struggles and the dynamics between Brandon and his sister, Charla. It highlights the differing perceptions of their upbringing, particularly regarding discipline and family relationships.

Listeners learn about the timeline of events leading to the discovery of the murders on October 18, 2005, including Brandon's activities over the weekend before the crime. The investigation's focus on Brandon as a suspect is discussed, alongside his alibi and the circumstances surrounding his parents' deaths.

The hosts provide insights into the complexities of the case, including Brandon's lifestyle, family tensions, and the implications of his sexuality on the investigation.

TLDR

Brandon Woodruff claims innocence in the 2005 murders of his parents, Dennis and Norma Woodruff, amid family tensions and financial struggles.

Episode

48:02
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foreign [Music] [Applause] [Music] welcome to True Crime garage wherever you are whatever you are doing thanks
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for listening I'm your host Nick and with me as always he's a citizen with zero discipline here is the captain it's
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keep the suds of flowing [Music] your move all right that's enough of the business everybody gather round grab a
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chair grab a beer let's talk some true crime [Music] [Music] daddy daddy my name is Brandon Woodruff
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I'm 31 years old I was arrested for capital murder in the deaths of my parents Norman Dennis
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Woodruff and I did not commit this crime I'm innocent and I really hope that people that are watching this if you'll
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just know anything at all I hope that she'll know that I did not kill my parents I would never even hurt them
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they were really really good people to me they raised me well they loved me unconditionally no matter what they
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always would um be there for me they had they had a love for me and my sister and our whole family an
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unconditional love no matter what it was I got a grandmother that really loves me
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she's behind me I just want all of y'all to know that I did not kill my parents I
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just want y'all to know that my parents were very very good people they were very very well liked they did not
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deserve what happened to them they did not deserve to be taken away from me to be taken away from my sister
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to be taken away from our family they should still be here to this day and the real people that really did this
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should be in prison and not me I really think the investigators should really look at this case I think that
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they should reevaluate it and look at possible other people because right now they're getting away with with what
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they've done I would just want to thank everybody watching I want to thank any help that I
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could get further my cause to prove my innocence I really really really hope one day to be able to get to hug my
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grandmother to be with my family where I should be I really hope that justice prevails
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thank you [Music] the state of Texas says Brandon Dale Woodruff murdered his parents Dennis and
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Norma Woodruff inside their home in Royse City Texas on or about October 16 2005. both Dennis and Norma died as a
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result of gunshot wounds and multiple stab wounds the murders were brutal in the crime scene of course not a pretty
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one but before we get into the investigation let's give some very necessary background information
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Dennis and Norma were high school sweethearts they both grew up in Texarkana that's on the Texas Arkansas
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border the two married about a year after they graduated from high school this was way back in 1982 so they were
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married for over 20 years before their deaths and they were described by others as best friends and very lovey
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both went on to earn a degree from Southern Arkansas University Dennis in electrical engineering in Norma in
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accounting after college they moved out to the lake Hubbard area just about 25 miles Northeast of Dallas Texas where
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the two both got good jobs putting their schooling to work and they started a family their firstborn was a daughter
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Charla Annette Woodruff born in August of 1985 and then a son Brandon Dale Woodruff in September of 1986. Dennis
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lovingly most times simply referred to the children as the girl or the boy in the mid 90s the Woodruff family
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stayed in the same area but purchased and moved into a nice ranch style three-bedroom brick home sitting on a
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little more than two acres of land they had a decent sized outbuilding that they called the barn I think it looks a
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little more like an unattached garage it seems like a fair statement to say that
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a sibling rivalry developed at a fairly young age and later when questioned by police Charla and Brandon would give
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differing opinions of what they thought of each other and their relationship as big sister and slightly younger brother
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Brandon's sounds a little more polite and seems to take the Live and Let Live approach
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where on the other hand it seems like Charla had some some disagreements and some grudges held
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against her brother their mother Norma was the outdoorsy type she grew up on a ranch and did the
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ranch type things which meant raising animals working the land and getting her hands dirty Dennis seemed to prefer
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indoor activities both Charla and Brandon were involved with 4-H and Future Farmers of America
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and well let's face it it's not just the kids when you're talking about something
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so involved as 4-H and FFA it's really the whole family that is involved but Brandon really seemed to have a natural
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ability and talent for raising and taking care of animals and yes Captain they were equestrians or as we like to
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call it here in the garage they are horse people so when it came to horses or animals in
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general many have said Brandon has a gift for working with animals as Brandon got older he became a cowboy
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always outside riding horses bareback or out on the barn working when he was about 16 he got a job at a
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local Feed Store where he was not only very hard working but also very well liked
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at high school he ran with a group of kids that were referred to as the [ __ ] kickers other dudes that were involved
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in 4-H Future Farmers of America raising livestock and dressing like Cowboys yeah
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better to be called the [ __ ] kickers than the [ __ ] lickers the guys he hung around with the most were Mike
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Etherington Joe hagaman and Dusty Perry who mostly went by the nickname of Perry
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it seems like Brandon's parents didn't care much for Mike as there were some local rumors that he was
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someone that was kind of up to no good but never really caught for anything Brandon was outgoing both he and Charla
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were attention Seekers and Brandon at times could be a bit of a show-off his senior year he was voted by his
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classmates as the student with the most school spirit now we mentioned the differences in opinion between Charla
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and Brandon regarding their sister brother relationship but there was also a very difference in opinions with the
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relationship each had with their parents Charles says she had a lot of problems with her parents growing up and that her
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father Dennis had a real bad temper and sometimes discipline bordered on almost abuse right Brandon says yes they were
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disciplined like most children would be but that Not only was Charla's description not his experience he says
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Charla is a drama queen and dramatically overstating the family situation if there was trouble in the home growing
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up it may have stemmed from Charla there is an incident when the parents called police because she physically attacked
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her father and it sounds like she was quite physical with Brandon at times as well
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friends of Dennis and Norma called Charla a problem child now I do want to point something out
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here and I'm not super clear on the details of this and I don't think that they are necessary but Charlo was abused
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when she was young the abuse did not come from Mom or Dad it was sexual abuse so drama queen or Problem Child whatever
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these labels mean right keep in mind that she was a victim and there's a great deal of trauma involved and often
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with sex abuse especially at a young age there's a lot of confusion and that has
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to be even more difficult to deal with all of that as you're becoming a woman on just the punishment from your father
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maybe the son is able to take the punishment a little bit more maybe she was not going to stand for that so when
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they go while she was violent with the father I'd like to know what context that was in because if he was trying to
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discipline her would she really being violent towards him or was she really just defending herself Charla attempted
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suicide in her teen years uh this incident involved a gun now thank God the gun did not go off for whatever
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reason now for Texas folk the woodruffs were not much for guns and it looks like
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at the time of the young lady's suicide attempt that there was only one gun owned by the family
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and immediately after this event and very intelligently of this good man and father Dennis
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gets rid of the gun you can't have that situation in the house when it's putting
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people in harm right so the woodruffs had some money troubles and so did Brandon as an adult and it's
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important as we will see this is the reason that Brandon's parents were in the process of moving during the time
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when the double homicide was committed Brandon was in his first semester of college he is attending Abilene
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Christian University or ACU for short and ACU is not cheap and the school itself has quite strict rules
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as well Brandon is supposed to like even let's say they don't have class on the weekend
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right classes Monday through Friday if he is going to leave campus he has to have his parents call in and get a
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approved dismissal from campus so it's not like a normal campus where you can just come
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and go as you please yeah a lot of the colleges as you know Captain they don't even care if you show up to the classes
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as long as you pay nobody really cares what's going on here they had very strict rules as to curfew and things
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that you typically may not see on most college campuses because of this look most kids when they're 18 19 pretty
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irresponsible and when you first get out on your own away from Mom and Dad you might be exploring who you are or out
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partying a little too much Brandon was missing and failing a lot of his classes now Brandon nobody argues this he is a
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smart guy so it's not an intelligence thing I think it's more likely that it's a lack of maturity on Brandon's part or
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lack of effort right he's failing and dropping classes because he's choosing not to attend these classes he's often
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leaving whether it be excused approved or not for the weekend and there's a there's a club that he likes to go to
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that is all ages it's like 18 and up so I guess not all ages but 18 and up on Sunday nights and on Wednesdays
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he and his friends are typically going to this club late on Sunday nights party until the wee hours of the morning
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and he's therefore missing a lot of his Monday classes and he's getting in trouble for not being on campus the way
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that this works Captain is after he misses several classes they drop him from the class right and he's probably
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not telling his parents because then his parents would expect him to come home but he wants to go out and party with
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his friends and when we say party the word party has a weird you know definition depending on who you
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ask part a right yeah the captain in the colonel usually that means probably a good not just hanging out
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with friends but a good amount of drinking going on and drugs yeah yeah and whatever hookers not so much but
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anyway the the story here is that Brandon does not seem to be much of a drinker and he's definitely not into
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drugs so when we say party he's out dancing and that sort of thing so is it because he's going out partying I mean
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he's not spending money on booze so you said he had money troubles yeah I don't know an 18 or 19 year old
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that doesn't but right I'll give you the skinny of it so what they or whomever is
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calling money troubles this is what I could find in September of 2005 Brandon got a city card with a limit of two
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thousand five hundred dollars on the card he maxed it out in one week then later that same month he got a
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Capital One card with a one thousand dollar limit and maxed it out in less than two weeks okay question what's in
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your wallet do we have contacts for any of this because I think my first credit card was fifteen
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hundred dollars and it was maxed out the first day I used it but I was buying school books yeah these were not school
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books that were purchased it looks to me like a lot of this was clothing electronics and
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um restaurants he was known to be fairly generous with his friends often offering
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to pay well it's pretty easy to be generous when it's not your money right and that that's where I think some of
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this stems from it's you know it's nice to be generous but he's really just being frivolous with the with these uh
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credit cards again Abilene Christian University is expensive it's not cheap how's he going there well he has some
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help from his parents he has a 500 scholarship that he earned from 4-H and he has seven thousand five hundred
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dollars in student loans he gets a thirteen hundred dollar tuition refund this is because he's missing the classes
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so they dropped him from those classes they're nice enough to say all right we're going to refund some of your money
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since you're not taking those classes anymore again this was thirteen hundred dollars
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he spent all thirteen hundred of that cash rather than giving it to his parents and
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it seems that this caused some kind of feud between him and his father Dennis so that that's where I would go and say
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okay that's money trouble to me then the weird thing about the scholarship and this is something that
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we should note is that the 500 4-H scholarship seemed to cause a bit of a feud between Norma
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his mother Brandon's mother and Norma Etherington the mother of Mike Etherington who was
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once Brandon's friend I don't know the details of why there was this feud between the two of them
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over this 500 scholarship maybe Mrs Etherington thought her son was supposed to be
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getting it or deserved it more than Brandon I don't know but that is what has been reported
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a Dennis and Norma Woodruff they had money troubles of their own now they made pretty good money together they
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made about 125 000 a year but they had three hundred thousand dollars in credit card debt
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so they sought the help of a credit counselor in September of 2005 Dennis and Norma
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bought a double wide manufactured home at 5545 County Road 2648 in Royce City Texas
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this was at the advice of their credit counselor and this makes a lot of financial sense because their home where
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they were currently living before making this purchase was in Heath Texas and they were spending about fourteen
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hundred dollars a month plus the property tax for that home the double wide was only five hundred
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dollars a month plus the property taxes as well but given the area of the double
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wide the property tax was much much less there than in Heath Texas but as far as
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the credit card debt goes his parents have tons of credit card debt it's not maybe something that he sat down and
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taught him how to be bad with credit cards but it's something that he obviously saw his parents do and so
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that's probably another reason why it wasn't that big of a deal to him yeah this is something he may or may not
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have known anything about I find growing up my own personal experience has been when I got to be like in my 30s
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I have friends complaining my man my parents are way in debt and you had no idea growing up right you just think
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that everybody's parents makes real they make good money and they make good spending decisions
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it sounds like with their spending with Dennis and Norma what most of the friends and family say is they were all
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about being good parents and trying to give their kids whatever the kids needed or wanted and so it's generally thought
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that they spent a lot of this money on their children raising them and this is credit card debt too it's a slippery
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slope man like you start getting a little bit behind or you get high interest and that debt really starts to
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pile up very very quickly then at some point it's like you don't want to even pay for it because you know you're not
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even paying for that item anymore you're just paying for interest so this double wide is going to save
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them quite a bit of money every single month so it's a very smart move financially
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but it's also not like a penalty you know they're not being they're not putting themselves in
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financial jail here normal was kind of looking forward to this move because the property at the
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new place would be on five acres of land and plus they own horses and they're boarded somewhere else so by having this
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extra land they they'll be able to board their own horses which should save them
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quite a bit of money yes so this this whole move and everything makes a lot of sense now we did fail to set up one very
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important thing in this case maybe it's important maybe it's not to me but for the storytelling purposes
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there are a lot of people that will tell you that Brandon was convicted simply because he is a gay man
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he lived most of his life up until sometime in high school where he was not openly gay he had girlfriends he hung
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out with these [ __ ] kicker guys he was referred to as a cowboy well when he starts to change his
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lifestyle a little bit or realize who he is this [ __ ] kicker buddies don't take too
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kindly to Brandon's new lifestyle and we'll get more into this as we go but it's important to know that from now
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on and now that he's in college we kind of have two things going on here Captain
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some will say that Brandon was leaving that Brandon was living two lives that one was this secret gay life
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where from what I could see yeah it appears that he had two sets of friends and that he was doing two sets of
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activities that were different from one another but I don't know that I would say so much that he had a secret life
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right it actually appears to me that he's in the process of coming out and he's kind of doing it casually and maybe
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slowly he's still a very young man probably still figuring out who he is and what he
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wants out of his life Brandon is though weird about the new house I did find this to be quite
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strange this was something that he had stated he didn't like the location of the new house and he didn't like the
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double wide house itself he is on record having told family and friends that he would never spend a single night in that
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house he wasn't planning on ever living there in fact he would never spend a single night in the new place
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at the time of the homicide here captain the woodruffs still have both properties
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they have the new property that they recently purchased and they have their home their old home in Heath
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they are moving from one house to the other the woodruffs are the woodruffs are staying the night at
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the new house night after night slowly moving in their plan is once they're out of the house and Heath that they will
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either sell it or rent it out fun maybe you just felt bad for his parents and thought it was a little bit of a
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downgrade from what they were used to I think that he thought that it was hillbilly-ish that it was a double wide
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in what he referred to as hickville out in the middle of nowhere and he's now becoming more of this big city kid he's
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spending his weekends in Dallas out clubbing with this other set of friends the thing that we have to keep in mind
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and one thing that is very important to this case is knowing that they still have both of these properties they're in
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the process of moving yet they are staying in the new place now Brandon is helping them from time to time when he's
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not away at College he will help them move things from the heath house to the new house but when he is helping Mom and
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Dad he is often crashing and sleeping at the heath house they still have some animals there he's helping to take care
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of them as well but this is really a slow moving process of filling up Norma's truck or Brandon's truck and one
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load at a time moving to the new home we also have to keep in mind too both of their children Charla and Brandon are
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both off to college at this point so they're kind of downsizing their empty nesters for the first time in their
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marriage better things [Music] [Music] all right we're back cheers mates for those who do not like to drink just
00:27:10
shake your booty a little bit Shake Your Booty a little bit well we went through
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a lot of the events that were going on in August and September of 2005. on Tuesday October 18 2005 at about 4 pm
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Dennis and Norma Woodruff they would be found dead having been murdered inside their home in Royce City Texas let's go
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through the events that lead up to that horrific Discovery to see who might be responsible for the double homicide or
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the very least who should be on the suspect list right on the weekend of Friday October 14th
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Brandon will be on an approved leave from the ACU campus for the entirety of the weekend this is his father Dennis
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called in said hey my son wants to come home for the weekend and the college approved this leave he will need to be
00:28:12
back in time for whatever classes he may have scheduled for Monday Brandon drives an older Dodge pickup
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truck and this detail is quite important to the case as well on this Friday Brandon gives a ride to a
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fellow student that he does not know very well his name is Robert Robert is going to Denton for the weekend this is
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a suburb of Dallas so not entirely out of the way for Brandon Brandon dropped Robert off at his girlfriend's place in
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Denton on Friday night fairly late the deal was Brandon would pick Robert up at this same location on Sunday
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evening and then the two of them would go back to ACU to the campus Brandon spent most of Saturday helping
00:29:03
out a longtime friend her name is Morgan Lee Morgan Lee it said was Brandon's one-time girlfriend
00:29:14
the two stayed very good friends after the relationship was over that night he hung out until the wee
00:29:22
hours of the morning with some of his Club friends again we are on Saturday Sunday Brandon wakes up he is at the
00:29:32
heath house remember he said he won't stay at the new place right now even though he won't stay the night at his
00:29:39
parents new place he does go over there and he helps with things like unpacking and getting the new place all set up
00:29:47
a little after 6 pm Dennis Woodruff picked up a pizza for the three of them for dinner that Sunday
00:29:55
night this is Brandon and his parents Dennis and Norma they're going to have dinner
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at the new place after dinner Brandon left the new house and drove his Dodge truck to the horse
00:30:10
stables to drop off some medication for one of Norma's horses he then drove to the family's Heath house
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and that was because he says he has permission to drive his mother's truck okay the parents have three vehicles
00:30:29
I have a description of two of them one of them is a big fancy newer Silverado Chevy truck it's got leather interior it
00:30:39
sounds like it's fully loaded they also have a Toyota Camry and then the Third vehicle I do not have a
00:30:46
description for but two of the vehicles are at the new house and this big fancy nice Silverado
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is at the old Heath house his Dodge truck is not in great working order it's an older truck with a lot of
00:31:01
miles like 140 or 150 000 miles on it because he's been having some trouble with the vehicle with his vehicle he
00:31:11
says he was given permission by his parents to drive out to the heath house take care of the animals there leave his
00:31:19
truck and take the nice Silverado back to the college campus and keep it for a few days while his father Dennis figured
00:31:28
out what is wrong with his Dodge truck so Brandon is on his way to drop off the medication to the horses and I'm
00:31:36
assuming here captain that this next event takes place after that medication is dropped off so at 7 36 PM Brandon
00:31:46
calls his mother this is according to phone records there was some a message that he needed
00:31:54
to relay regarding her horse or one of her horses that's why I'm assuming that this is after he dropped off the
00:32:02
medication for the horse to the stable yeah from there Brandon has about a 30-minute drive to the heath house
00:32:11
I've seen this listed as short as 23 minutes and as long as 30 minutes the problem for Brandon
00:32:22
will become that his timeline does not match up with some of the other people's statements in regards to his timeline
00:32:31
meaning that there's some minutes and maybe hours that he is unaccounted for to give him the benefit of the doubt I
00:32:41
am going to use the longer time frames that are listed for all of these events okay so we will say we'll go with the
00:32:51
longest one that has been stated that it's about a 30-minute drive from the stable to the heath house where
00:33:01
he has the family's animals to take care of it's also been stated that they estimated that this task of taking care
00:33:10
of the animals feeding them letting them out and such at the heath house would require about a half an hour to take
00:33:17
care of all of these animals we don't know what time Brandon left the heath house in the Silverado that's
00:33:26
always been in question and that in part is why Brandon is sitting in a prison cell today right
00:33:34
now remember Robert the schoolmate that Brandon was scheduled to pick up on that Sunday
00:33:40
Brandon spoke with Robert around six o'clock saying that he would pick him up in a few hours the weird thing here
00:33:48
Captain is Brandon's already late it sounds like according to Robert that they had originally scheduled
00:33:57
Brandon to pick him up between five and six that day so we're already running late on picking up Robert right but he's
00:34:05
doing some errands for his parents so that makes sense yeah he may not have known that he needed to do all of these
00:34:11
tasks and then to top that off look Brandon loves this Silverado truck it's fully loaded it's a million times
00:34:20
nicer than his yeah he very likely did not know that his parents would be generous enough to let him borrow it for
00:34:27
a couple days while his truck that doesn't run so good would be out of commission one is a good reason to be a
00:34:34
little late oh if I'm a little late I get a way better vehicle for the next week I'll take that trade any day and
00:34:40
again the Silverados at the old house so there's no getting that vehicle without
00:34:44
going to the old house so you're you're right there lock step with me my friend where we can we can see the reasoning
00:34:51
for him being late at this time Robert calls Brandon around well not around I have the exact time 9 49 p.m
00:35:03
this is because Brandon was still not there yet to pick him up Brandon asked if Robert could catch a
00:35:10
ride and meet him at the Denny's this is not to get anything to eat it's just meet me in the parking lot at the
00:35:18
Denny's it's about a halfway point from where you are Robert and where I am we're already running late this is going
00:35:24
to save us some time around 11 o'clock 11 p.m Brandon is at the Denny's this is at
00:35:32
9009 Skillman Road in North Texas again he's running late he's been running late
00:35:38
all day long and now he's even later than expected Robert says all right I met you at the
00:35:44
Denny's but you were still late getting here what's the problem Brandon says I'm
00:35:50
late because I got lost that's as much detail as we have of an explanation as to where Brandon was right
00:35:59
before going back to the college campus Brandon and now Robert who's riding shotgun
00:36:08
Brandon decides hey I want to go out this is Sunday night I go to these clubs that are all ages or 18 and up
00:36:16
and I have my group of friends that I go with Robert do you want to go out and go
00:36:20
clubbing before we go back to the college campus Robert agrees to do this and so now they are going to go to a guy
00:36:28
named Alex's place and he is in Plano Texas and from there a group of guys including Robert and Brandon will go
00:36:36
clubbing and they leave for the clubs a touch after midnight according to everyone and they're back at campus by
00:36:43
Monday morning a Monday was a pretty typical day for Brandon he hung out with his friends at
00:36:49
College went to lunch with several of them this is followed by Tuesday which again was typical both of
00:36:57
these days normal days with the exception of a few things one Brandon's sister Charla called him
00:37:03
and said that she had been unable to get in touch with their parents she is away at College as well she's a
00:37:11
junior at Southern Arkansas University roughly a three-hour drive from the Royce city house
00:37:18
she lives on campus in an apartment with some roommates she's in a sorority she's
00:37:22
working a part-time job busy girl and she's got a horse of her own that is boarded nearby her campus
00:37:31
living situation she's calling and saying look I speak with our parents daily while away at school and I haven't
00:37:39
been able to get a hold of them this is on Monday Brandon tells her I'm supposed to have a call with them
00:37:49
sometime tonight so she's calling Brandon Monday evening been trying to get a hold of mom and dad
00:37:55
since 11 pm the night before Sunday night right which is on right she says it's even more odd because I
00:38:04
not only do I speak with them daily but this was a scheduled phone call right but you but we know that they're
00:38:12
moving and they're doing some stuff and at some point they have to get their horses moved so there is a lot on the
00:38:17
parents plate is it possible that they just fell asleep early not so weird that you can't get a hold of them during the
00:38:24
day because there'd be two different locations they could be at or obviously work but come that second day you're
00:38:32
going okay something's up here yeah and there's going to be some phone calls that were made by the wood roofs
00:38:39
and I mean the parents Norma and Dennis on Sunday night that will help us really
00:38:45
kind of hone in on what time frame we should be really looking at here but this scheduled call that was to be
00:38:55
at 11 PM on Sunday the way that this works Captain is Charlo was away visiting extended family
00:39:04
on Sunday evening she is at her grandmother's house this is Norma's mother her mom's mom
00:39:13
while she's there and the grandmother says this is right around 9pm she is on the phone with Norma with Charla's mom
00:39:23
to which she says to Charlotte would you like to speak to your mom I got her on the phone
00:39:28
Charla says no I will call them when I get home so that's the what I mean by the scheduled call of 11 p.m that night
00:39:37
right Brandon tells Charla on Monday evening don't worry about not being able to get
00:39:46
a hold of them as he is expecting a phone call from Mom and Dad between 10 30 and 11 p.m that night on Monday
00:39:55
he says I'm sure it's nothing I'll talk to them later tonight and after I get off the phone with Mom and Dad I'll give
00:40:02
you a call so that way Charlie will know everything is all right she's just unable to get a hold of mom and dad for
00:40:08
whatever reason right Charlie says that she never heard back from her brother that night he doesn't call her like he
00:40:17
said he would that's suspicious says that she went out with some friends that Monday night and she does say that
00:40:24
she kind of forgot about the call from Brandon okay so it's possible that he called and she just didn't answer no I
00:40:32
don't think that it is because they've really tracked down a lot of the phone records or but what is he saying is he
00:40:39
saying he called and it's just not registered anywhere no it's I couldn't find it to be
00:40:46
registered anywhere I don't know that he said that he was going to call her those
00:40:51
are charlo's words right but she goes on to say she kind of forgot about the call but never heard
00:40:58
from Brandon that night she goes out with some friends again she's in college and she admits she went out and got
00:41:04
pretty drunk that night when she gets home that night she's now concerned she's like oh I
00:41:13
still didn't hear from Mom and Dad and I didn't hear from Brandon so a little buzzed
00:41:19
or you know drunk as she put it she's kind of drunk dialing mom and dad at two or three in the morning trying to get a
00:41:26
hold of them she said she at this point didn't care if she woke them up or she didn't care that she was drunk and they
00:41:34
would probably know it you know from her calling it that that yeah I mean at that
00:41:38
point who cares and your parents would understand like look I couldn't I couldn't get a hold of you I called my
00:41:44
brother he was going to try to get a hold of you I never heard from him I don't want to drive all the way out
00:41:48
there so I'm calling the experience from the phone go back to bed talk to you in
00:41:53
the morning I couldn't get an exact number here Captain but it sounds like she called them three or four times that
00:42:00
night and sometime in the hours of 2 30 to 3 in the morning again no luck Mom and Dad don't pick up
00:42:08
the phone their phone system is something we should discuss as well because the way
00:42:14
that it sounds to me is that they have three numbers okay they each have a cell phone
00:42:20
and the home the new house has a telephone number as well from my understanding and they use the
00:42:27
term for this and I failed to put it in my notes but if you call let's say you call the house it will
00:42:35
ring to all of their phones all right right or if you call Mom it will ring to all of the phones and whoever picks up
00:42:42
first yeah the Rings this is called uh call forwarding okay so that makes it even a little more
00:42:51
strange Charles says and I'll back her up on this I agree with her that it's diff she should have no problem getting
00:42:58
a hold of mom and dad with that type of phone setup and it sounds like the woodruff's had that mainly because they
00:43:04
have two kids who knows what they may need and when they may need it right so you're just telling me that she tried to
00:43:10
call them once when she was drunk dialing like you say three or four times is Charlie's statement and I think there
00:43:17
are some not that I think there are phone records that back up that statement and she also called her
00:43:23
brother and and he never got a hold of him either right so now we're we're to Tuesday
00:43:29
October 18th that morning Charla does not have any classes scheduled so she's got the the
00:43:36
day free she's going to spend a good deal of the morning trying to get a hold of her parents
00:43:43
she says that at some point around lunch time she tries calling her parents at their work
00:43:50
this is when major fear sets in she learns that her parents who both had good jobs and both were very
00:43:56
professional people they were both absent from work a no-show at work both missed work on Tuesday and both of them
00:44:06
missed work on Monday as well and even more alarming neither of them notified their employer that they would
00:44:14
be absent Charla notifies her aunt of this situation now the aunt is Norma's sister
00:44:22
she's been trying to get hold of Norma as well nobody can get a hold of these people yeah the aunt's name is Linda
00:44:29
Matthews and probably at this point you're probably thinking they should call well
00:44:35
they should call a wellness check with the police right so what we have going on here
00:44:40
Captain is just that we have and this is from some court documents so forgive me
00:44:46
if it sounds a little legally uh Todd Williams told deputies that on October 18 2005 that approximately 3 15
00:44:57
in the afternoon he received a phone call from Linda Matthews the sister of Norma Woodruff asking that he go by
00:45:06
their residence and check the welfare of Norma Woodruff and Dennis Woodruff Todd Williams stated that Linda Matthews
00:45:14
had attempted to call her sister and never received an answer when she called Todd Williams stated that he
00:45:22
Todd Williams stated that Linda Matthews gave him Norma woodruff's address he asked his friend Ron Allen Merritt to
00:45:32
travel to the house with him he says that when they arrived at the house he found that all of the doors were secured
00:45:40
and there was no answer at the door when they knocked so Todd Williams calls Linda Matthews back and says hey all the
00:45:48
doors and windows seem to be secured there's Vehicles here I'm not getting an answer knocking on
00:45:55
the door what do you want me to do she tells them can you figure out a way to get inside the house
00:46:02
he decides to get a chisel from his truck and using the Chisel he pried the screen off of a window located on the
00:46:11
north side of the residence near the carport and then pry to open the window Todd Williams stated that he was able to
00:46:19
gain entry into the residence and stated that after gaining entry into said residence he walked through the kitchen
00:46:26
and into the living room and found both Norma Woodruff and Dennis Woodruff deceased
00:46:34
he stated that he exited the residence and he called The Hunt County Sheriff's Office to report their findings
00:46:44
[Music] if you're looking for more garage check out our bonus show called off the record
00:46:59
on Stitcher premium and for all of our old episodes a lot of chatter about Chris Watts you can check out our Chris
00:47:07
Watts episode you can check out our West Memphis 3 episodes or the three-part series we did on Ted Bundy and those are
00:47:16
all for free on the Stitcher app alright join us back here in the garage tomorrow
00:47:22
until then be good be kind and don't let her [Music] thank you

Badges

This episode stands out for the following:

  • 80
    Most heartbreaking
  • 75
    Biggest twist
  • 70
    Most shocking
  • 70
    Most unpredictable

Episode Highlights

  • Brandon Woodruff's Innocence Claim
    Brandon Woodruff, accused of murdering his parents, insists on his innocence and pleads for justice.
    “I did not commit this crime, I'm innocent.”
    @ 03m 10s
    November 11, 2022
  • The Love of Family
    Brandon reflects on the unconditional love from his parents and grandmother, emphasizing their good nature.
    “They did not deserve what happened to them.”
    @ 04m 01s
    November 11, 2022
  • A Hope for Justice
    Brandon expresses his deep desire for justice to prevail and to reunite with his family.
    “I really hope that justice prevails.”
    @ 04m 42s
    November 11, 2022
  • The Woodruffs' New Home
    The Woodruffs are transitioning to a new house while managing their old property.
    “They're in the process of moving yet they are staying in the new place now.”
    @ 25m 33s
    November 11, 2022
  • The Discovery of the Woodruffs
    On October 18, 2005, Dennis and Norma Woodruff were found dead in their home.
    “Dennis and Norma Woodruff would be found dead having been murdered inside their home.”
    @ 27m 26s
    November 11, 2022
  • Brandon's Alibi
    Brandon's timeline of events raises questions about his whereabouts during crucial moments.
    “Brandon's timeline does not match up with some of the other people's statements.”
    @ 32m 22s
    November 11, 2022

Episode Quotes

  • I did not commit this crime, I'm innocent.
    Brandon Woodruff /// Part 1 /// 435
  • They did not deserve what happened to them.
    Brandon Woodruff /// Part 1 /// 435
  • I really hope that justice prevails.
    Brandon Woodruff /// Part 1 /// 435
  • You just felt bad for his parents.
    Brandon Woodruff /// Part 1 /// 435
  • This is really a slow moving process.
    Brandon Woodruff /// Part 1 /// 435
  • Brandon's timeline does not match up.
    Brandon Woodruff /// Part 1 /// 435

Key Moments

  • Welcome to True Crime Garage00:41
  • Beer Fun02:07
  • Brandon's Plea03:10
  • Family Background05:40
  • Money Troubles12:45
  • New House Discontent24:13
  • Horrific Discovery27:26
  • Wellness Check44:35

Words per Minute Over Time

Vibes Breakdown