Brittany McDowell /// Off The Record /// Episode: 64 | Forensic Files

[Applause] [Music] [Applause] So, everybody knows Fourth of July, Fourth of July weekend is always a big
weekend for things like camping, boating, fishing. Mhm. So, north of Columbus, we have Alum Creek, which is a
big lake as well as a state park. And on the 4th of July in the evening, they believe they being law enforcement
believe that they found a body in this this state park area. So, the way that this goes down is at 6:30 p.m. Thursday,
July 4th, an officer with the Ohio Department of Natural Resources was on foot patrol when he observed or she
observed, sorry. Mhm. What appeared to be a shallow grave near the pooloff area in the 6 the 640 block of State Route 37
near Alum Creek State Park. Well, not to cut you off, but we have a big celebration. one of the biggest in the
country called Red, White, and Boom, which normally happens July 3rd. Mhm. I'm assuming it happened on July 3rd. Again,
I I haven't gone to it in years, but uh Oh, yeah. Yeah, I think it's I think it's every year on July 3rd. So yes,
there's family celebrations and stuff like that, but as far as Columbus, Ohio or this area is concerned, the big
fireworks is normally on the 3, and that's like downtown, hundreds of thousands of people. Then normally the
suburbs of Columbus will have like local fireworks around the 4th. Mhm. Well, this turns out to be it was on
Friday, the next day that they identified the victim and her name was Britney McDow.
She was a resident on the west side of Columbus or that according to her last address address listed, right, was in
West Columbus. And her relatives say that say that they had not seen her for a while. Now, I don't know what that
means. um you know cuz that doesn't give us much of a time frame there. No, but what investigators are saying is
they do not know how McDall died, but said that the injuries she had led them to consider this a murder. So now
they're moving forward with a homicide investigation. They wouldn't comment on her injuries as to what they were.
28-year-old Mhm. Yeah. And so that it's going to go to the coroner's office and then they
should be coming out with some kind of report after that. Yeah. So where the body was placed and just just the
placement of the body itself, even when we talk about her injuries and and clearly there's
something that shows them that this is in fact a homicide rather than something else. But
um yeah, just just concealing the body in that way, driving, you know, just the distance
from from that location to her home and then now you're inside the woods a little bit and you're buried in a
shallow grave. I mean, those things not only point to homicide, but to me also kind of point
to somebody went to a lot of effort to try to conceal this body. Thankfully, they were unsuccessful.
And usually what what we found when we talk about cases similar to this is that this would be somebody the the likely
perpetrator would be somebody fairly close to her. somebody on her inner circle, somebody that wanted to go to
great lengths to conceal the body because we need a situation where she is not found, where she is just a missing
person or or you know, somebody could believe or relatives could possibly believe that maybe she just took off.
So, I think the the the weird thing for me here, though, is on on my way in this
morning, I actually drove by the location, the general location. I didn't I didn't get out and try to trump
through the woods or anything, but um well, I guess this it would be a spot that was used by a lot of
fishermen. So, I wonder I I'm not questioning the officer, but you know, where I live,
there is a there's a park and there's a lot of these pulloff service roads that people use to park their car and then go
fishing or whatever. And so, I I just wonder, you know, I wonder was there a reason that the cop was out there? Did
somebody tip Well, it wasn't a cop. It was a um Oh, did I mishar you? Yeah. So, it's actually somebody that that's
that's part of their job description is to walk these areas. So, this is it was an officer. That's where it gets
confusing. Okay. But it was an officer with the Ohio Department of Natural Resources who was out on foot patrol.
Now, this area in particular, the reason why you would have an an officer from the natural resources uh
department out there is there, you know, there's all kinds of illegal activity that could happen or take place in these
areas. But then on top of that, it's as simple too as checking fishermen to do they have their fisher license, you
know, right? Do they carry are they carrying the proper license? Sometimes people go out and you have your fisher
license. So some you got your fisher license. Well, whatever it's called. Um it's actually called something. I used
to purchase one every year, but haven't done so in a while. Um, but you also have people that this is a little more
rare, but it does occur that that people will go out there and illegally hunt. Yeah. And so you got to protect these
areas. And then on top of that, with it being by the lake, so where her body was
found is near the bridge that goes over the lake. There's two or three there. I think there's three
bridges that go over the lake. And this one would be the northernmost one. I believe.
And you have a situation out in that area too where people that are out there partying or
uh people just out having a good time will jump off the bridge or off of the little cliffs and the rocks there into
the water, which they do not want people to do in that area. And I know this to be true with with most bodies of water
where people go to a party and hang out and just have a good time. On occasion, you'll see like a little cross somewhere
and it typically would be on a bridge or on one of these little cliffs and that's
where somebody who was thought they were out having a good time was going to jump
in the water from that spot and had a terrible accident didn't survive the jump. So, this is just an officer out
doing doing their thing, doing their job. Finds this to what looked must have looked
obviously to the officer that it was in fact a shallow grave because the report is that then this officer decided to
feel around in the area to make sure that that they weren't just calling in something bogus. They originally
thought because it's more probable that it would have been the grave of of an animal. And so they phoned it in and
kudos to to all of our good smart people here in Ohio because the the team that actually dug up the body was our Bureau
of Criminal Investigation. So they they got the right people out there. This is an attempt to keep the scene clean and
preserve the scene and try to collect any evidence that may have been left behind during the course of trying to
conceal the body. It's all real still new here. I mean, we're talking about the the body
was found on the 4th and identification wasn't made until the 5th. And I I don't know how far this
investigation will have to go before they talk to the the person or persons responsible. I I personally feel this is
somebody on the inner circle of this young woman. And we also have a situation too where it does not appear
or at least nobody's stating as such that she was ever reported missing. Again, we do not know how long. Uh well,
yeah. Yeah, she's 28. Seems like she still lived with her grandmother. Yeah, she was Yeah, she was living with some
relatives. Yeah. So, she was raised by her grandmother and uh and her grandmother says that she just kind of
got into um was falling into a into a bad lifestyle and that's coming from her her her grandmother. And she said that
uh uh she's going to miss her. Uh, she always knew that that that I loved her and she'd always tell me when she left,
I love you, Grandma. So, what's so sad about some of these is again once once somebody says bad
lifestyle, we don't know exactly what that means, but but that normally pulls attention away from cases like this. And
the fact of the matter is here's a 28-year-old that had a lot of life to to live and maybe some bad choices were
being made, but that's a lot of time to correct those choices and um and that's cut short and that opportunity is cut
short by something. Now, you can get to Delaware from Columbus, you know, any number of ways, but would do you think
so? So, her body was found near the uh Route 37. Yeah. And I know that's a a route that you've traveled several times
because I've got to believe that most people going from Columbus up to that area or to the Delaware area. That's
right. Off of 71. Right. Right. That's what I'm getting at. That they would take 71 north and then then get off on
the 37 exit. So, yeah. My guess is she wasn't even hanging around there, right? That
to me this seems like maybe happened somewhere elsewhere and hey, let's go up to Delaware there, you know, or maybe
not even let's go to Delaware. Let's get in the car and drive to a spot that, you
know, just keep driving until we we're out of the city and then one and then we think we're far enough out of the city.
Let's go somewhere where we think that nobody's going to be looking for anything, right? And but the unique
thing to me about this is if in fact the person that tried to conceal her body, if they did go up 71 north, again,
that's the route that I would argue that most people would think to take, I they would have had to turn
around to get to this actual pulloff here because it's not a um it's not like a two-lane road, one going east, one
going west. This is separated, you know. We got we got lanes going two lanes going west, two lanes going east. So
this this person if they went up to 71 north, they would have made a left heading west on 37 and then at some
point turned around to head back to head back east, right? And get off on pull. You could pull off. I'm I'm a little
familiar with this area cuz I've drove past this spot uh countless numbers of times and you can see there's a little
pulloff and it's not uncommon to see a car pulled off there where somebody has parked their vehicle, their truck or
whatever and they've walked a bit of ways down to the lake so they can go fishing, right? And so this person would
have had to have pulled off and then there's a trail there and I can't from the crime scene.
Well, this isn't crime scene photos. This is the news news station photos of the outside of the crime scene area. But
if I in fact have the right spot, one thing you can see from the road immediately
there is there's like a an orange sign held up by some wooden post. And I've seen a lot of people that will trump
back through there. Right near that sign, there's a trail head. And I it's not like an official state park trail.
It it looks to me to be more of people have trampled over that area for years to get down to the lake from there cuz
it's kind of the quickest spot from the parking area. And so it looks to me like
somebody just went in there with the body and then buried it off of off of that trail
there. So the person I mean, it just the only thing that makes sense is that that the body was
transported by car. I know we're keep saying referencing the lake and Alum Creek there, but you
wouldn't it would be much more difficult to try to move this by boat and then get
up into that area. Yeah, unless they're partying. I mean, it's Look, they find the body. Again, the autopsy is going to
tell us a lot of things. I mean, the rig and mortise, how long do they think that
she was there for? Um, because it's not impossible that she was party on a boat with somebody. Was there an accident on
the boat? Was there an accident with these quote unquote bad lifestyle decisions? It's hard to say. I think the
issue becomes Well, but I think the injuries to the body, we're we're treating this as a homicide is telling
in itself. No, no, I agree. But again, uh that's pretty vague statement, right? There's some injuries, so we're going to
treat this as a homicide. Well, but that doesn't mean that they're not going to come out and say, "Well, we actually
think those injuries happen postmortem or whatever." Right? So, we're just going to find out more
about this. But again, with the quote unquote bad lifestyle choices, uh, you know, is this
going to be something that that they actually highlight within the news stories or is it just going to kind of
be swept under the rug? Um, I think the difficult thing for law enforcement is whether boat or car. And I I I I agree
with you and you know that area way better than I do, but I agree with you that chances are
right car, right? Well, seems to make more sense. Well, and I say that for a whole bunch of reasons. one to get to to
carry something of that weight to get to that area from a boat would be extremely
it's already going to be difficult to do it from a car, right? But it would be 10
times more difficult to do it from a boat. There's not really there's not great spots over there to to dock the
boat either, right? And then on top of that, those waters are patrolled better than the roads in that area. Yeah. And
but and we're talking about a, you know, there are people that live in that area that used to own boats or will
never own boats going forward because the water's just too busy. There's too many people on the water all the time.
So it it I would guess that somebody drove up there probably under the cover of night was looking for what they
thought to be a good spot. Who knows? Maybe they knew this area for some reason, right? And that's why I brought
up this big shindig on the 3 because whatever happens happens on the third happens at night. The body's
not found until, you know, the the early evenings of the next day. You see what I mean? Like she's 28 years
old. Was she partying with some people? You know, h how many days was she's missing from? And and then you
think cell phone records would at some point and they they don't say if she was found with any cell phone records, but
if the family can get the cell phone records, then you you might know who she was trying to hang out with on the
third. And did that have anything to do or she was even alive on the third? Right. Agree. Yeah. I mean, because
again, we we also don't know how long she was missing because when people say, "Well, I haven't seen them in a while."
That's two days. It's also surprising to me, not just for the turnaround purposes
of of having to turn the vehicle around when you're traveling that direction and
then to access this this um pulloff area. That is a little surprising. I when I saw it on the news to begin with,
I actually thought it was on the other side of the road because it would take less effort to get there, right? But the
other thing that was surprising to me too is this that portion it especially that portion of that road of that state
route. There's almost always I can't think of one time that I drove past there and there wasn't a highway patrol
car just chilling on one side or the other of the road because that's one of those spots, Captain, where you know the
the speed limit drops down from 65 to 35. Yeah. in a fairly short range. And so that's a great spot to to catch
people speeding because a lot of people go, "This seems like a country road. I was going 65 a few minutes ago. I'll
just keep going 65." So yeah, that's a a surprising uh location uh for for a number of I but
I think the other difficult thing here with law enforcement is going to be that like I said we have these big events,
hundreds of thousands of people coming into town on July 3rd. So people from all over the state. So, not saying that
she was, but that could put her um hanging out with people that aren't super close to her, her inner circle,
you know what I mean? Cousins come to visit, you know, next thing you know, you're you're hanging out with a um you
know, your your group has grown a little bit larger and you don't know some of the people. So, I think that makes uh a
little bit more difficult for law enforcement being on the third and finding her on the fourth. But I also
think it makes it more challenging whether it's travel by boat or or travel by car where both of us believe that the
crime probably didn't happen there and they never said that there's evidence that the crime happened where this
shallow grave was. But that then it becomes did you the locals that might see something suspicious? you're
probably not going to take notice so much on the third or the fourth because you got a lot more people traveling on
those roads and a lot more people out of town visiting family. You see what I mean? So, I just think that becomes
um a battle that law enforcement is going to have to [Music] face. Stop the presses. How did Unsolved Mysteries used
to do that? They did the update update and then the music and you'd get all excited like oh
because sometimes the updates were about cases that they were currently covering
like you just watched missing kid. Yeah. Boom update. And they'd be like we found the
missing kid and you're like oh but sometimes it'd be like boom update and it'd be about some
episode two years ago. Right. Right. And I'm guessing that a lot of that was because they're filming these things way
in advance and determining what cases are on what episode way in advance. And if something takes place between the
production of that episode and the release of it, they're able to quickly update it. So, we're kind of doing that
today. What you just heard is a conversation that the captain and I had a week ago, and that was when this case
was very new. And there has there's just been one week since that conversation and there's been some big updates. So
there was an arrest made. Uh they arrested John Bartholomew uh aged 24. I guess he was a pretty good kid though.
Yeah, he had no criminal record. Uh according to the local Channel 6 news here, right now this is still in the
very early stages. So more could come out and they they could be wrong about some of this information. But basically
what they are saying is and that's all we have is the very basics because last I saw John was not required to enter a
plea but he was brought before a a judge or or brought to a court appearance anyway and he was this court appearance
took place he was via video from the jail and he is being held on $1.5 million bond.
for the death of Britney McDow. And as we said, her body was discovered on July 4th at a state park here in
Ohio. We you can't really gain anything from his court appearance because there wasn't there wasn't really anything need
needed to be said on his behalf since he wasn't required to enter a plea at that
time. Mhm. But he is charged with murder, tampering with evidence, and abuse of a corpse. And then there is a
probable cause affidavit, which if you read that, it shines some light on what actually took place or what they believe
to have taken place. Uh Bartholomew told investigators that he picked up Britney
McDow on Sullivan Avenue and paid her $60 for sex. And apparently after sex, she demanded more money from him. This
caused an argument and at some point he decides to win the argument or lose the argument or just be a total [ __ ] and
he shot her once. This is with a 22 caliber handgun, but then he shoots her again a second time with a 9 mm firearm.
So he's wherever they were. This affidavit doesn't really say where this murder took
place, but wherever that argument occurred, he has two loaded firearms on his person or near him, and
he shoots her twice. Once each time with a different gun. Now, apparently the way that this guy
got busted, he told his father, so there was like blood in his car. So the the the
murder may have taken place in the vehicle. Yeah. But we know that even if it didn't, he transported her body miles
and miles and miles away and buried her in a shallow shallow grave up at the state park. So he tells his father that
that he had left a dead squirrel in the back of his car. So Bartholomew's father
hires a cleaning company to clean the vehicle, get rid of the blood. So the cleaning company shows up and they see
the blood in this dude's car. They don't clean the car. They call Delaware County
Sheriff's Office and report the vehicle to them. Good. Good for them. Yeah. So, um, this led them to him. He's 24 years
old. Cuz I I don't think it seems like a situation where the dad was trying to cover this up. No, I think the father
just didn't have any clue what was actually going on. And he he even says to the news, he's like, "Look, we were
super blindsided by this whole thing and and even more floored that their son admitted to this.
uh this is not something that they expected or or ever thought would be right. And and who knows how much blood
was actually in the car and he might have just saw a little blood and then when the crew came to clean it up they
went whoa what happened here. Well, he says his son is um I mean he stood up for him saying that look he's got no
prior record and he's I always thought he was a good kid. He was going to college. Oh, he graduated last December
from Columbus State Community College. Mhm. With an associates degree. But he he did say in the last few months his
son was behaving differently and was um not really social the last few months. And
so this is what I wonder about here because I've often thought that if you are hiring a a working girl, whatever you
want to call it, there's many different terms. Some of them are less flattering than others, a sex worker, right?
So, I've always thought that that could be a dark place for some people. You know, not everybody, not all the time,
but you have to wonder what's going on inside this individual that they're choosing to to have a relationship this
way, if if you want to call it that. this is what they're choosing to go out and do rather than what most other
people would do with with meeting people in public places and and you know uh there's a million different ways to meet
your significant other. This this paying for $60 for sex, remember I said just last week when we
were talking about this, I wouldn't be surprised if this was somebody close to the victim and I thought it would be
solved very quickly. I was right that it that it looks like it's going to be solved quickly, but it doesn't appear
that this this man John Bartholomew age 24 that he was a part of her social circle. Yeah. But it also didn't look
like there was any knowledge by her family that she was um or had became a sex worker. Well, she had she had been
charged with soliciting in the past. Did she? And I didn't know that. And I didn't I don't think I got into that
when you and I had our first conversation because she also had some jug some drug charges. I can't can't
talk today. Um drank too much. But sometimes you can get uh when they don't clarify what the soliciting charges for,
it gets a little difficult because you can get charged for soliciting drugs, right? So, I didn't want to jump to any
conclusions in my own mind that it was for sex work or prostitution or whatever. And so, it it seems like
that's probably the situation. They may not have been aware of this. But the other thing that I wonder about here is
I I don't think I'm entirely wrong on saying that this guy might have been on her social circle, one of her social
circles. And what I mean by that is there's a chance he could have been a repeat John. Well, I can't call him
John. That's what his damn name is. But well, he was a repeat John. Yeah. And every day he was a John. No, but I this
just makes you wonder a couple of things here. So every day I'm hustling. If it seems to me very strange that the
result is to murder her over this argument. I almost wonder if there was there's something else going on there.
Yeah. Well, I mean, it could be drugrelated on Jon's end. It could be drug. It could be some kind of mental
break that he was having. But you very easily could have, let's say this argument takes place or she is demanding
more money or whatever. I don't want to say that that's the facts of the case. That's what he says. That's what the
murderer says is his side of the story, right? I don't know. I don't I'm choosing not to believe. Well, he also
claims that, you know, she did she demanded more money and then she threatened him with a taser. Now, if
that's true, if if she was found with a taser or they found a taser in his car, maybe that
story is a little more true. That makes more sense cuz I the story I got was shorter than that, briefer than that.
And I was thinking, I'm like, there has to be something else going on because if
she's demanding more money for sex and that part's all over with, right? Bought paid for all whatever, it's it's very
easy to just go get the hell out of my car or or or flee from from that person, right? Yeah. It the the murder seemed
like a big jump, but I guess yeah, if she was if in fact she was threatening him. John looks very young. He does. It
makes me feel old. This dude's 24. And I looked at him. I'm like, "This dude's a
kid." He looks like a middle schooler. And he's wearing You You see that uh turtle suit he has. Yeah. That is the
Suicide Watch turtle suit. That was back when I told you they put me in a turtle
suit. That's what it looks like. Well, so I what I think is going to happen here is I don't think we're going to get
what may be the real story unless they make him because I have to believe if he's already told investigators what
they wanted to hear that he would be willing to plead guilty if in fact the prosecutor will allow him to do so and
and have some type of plea agreement. They're not going to give him like self-defense or anything though. No. No.
But what I mean is sometimes in a plea agreement, part of the plea agreement is to uh sign a sworn statement of the the
actual events of everything that took place. Well, and unless they do that, we may never know more of the story if
there is in fact more to the story. I tell me if you agree or disagree, but I'm going to lean on the side that John
is actually telling the truth that he that he was threatened with a taser. And the reason why I'm going to lean to that
being true is that if you are trying to make your crime seem less or possibly get charged with something
less, say she threatened you with a gun. Say she threatened you with a knife. Now
it's self-defense, taser. No, you know, that'd be like him saying, "Well, she threatened me with pepper
spray and and and a taser." So, I I lean to that possibly being more true. And I actually lean to the fact
that I think if what his parents are saying is correct, this kid is going through
something that does not make the murder right at all. M he he stopped the potential of
Britney. Look, everybody in her family said that she was going through some stuff, but that doesn't mean she wasn't
going to get out of it, and that doesn't mean that she wasn't going to live a beautiful life. He stopped that
opportunity, horrible person. But if he was just a horrible person during this time and wasn't beforehand and maybe is
not going to be after and what if what his parents were saying is correct, we have at least a chance of John saying,
"Look, this is what happened." Whether people believe him fully or not, um, you know, obviously he didn't go to
his parents and confess or he didn't go to the police and confess, right? Um, he
tried to cover it up, right? But uh but there's a lot of times where people have
done really bad things when they get caught, they go here, let me tell you everything, you know, and I I will do
whatever time I have to do. Well, I mean, he's Yeah, he he Okay, so he tells investigators what happened, but he's
kind of already [ __ ] at that point, right? I mean, he's her blood's in his car. They found her body. This would be
a whole different story if they would have found her body two months later, right? This this whole connection of the
blood in the car may have never been connected or reported, right? So, this is uh this is one of those
things I think what will probably happen here if the prosecutors are willing to work with him and if he is willing to
talk and say everything that uh you know his side of the story or whatever you want to call it. I think what will
probably happen is he'll still get the murder charge and they'll probably drop these
lesser charges as a way to wheel and deal with him without giving up too much. You
know, we'll drop the tampering with evidence. We'll drop the abuse of a corpse and you'll get the murder charge
probably 25 years. Mhm. Maybe not get life on this, but uh he he's probably going to
get 20ome years before they even consider him for parole. Yeah, I do like the fact that they said the bond so
high. Um I think that's a good thing. 1.5 million is is pretty high in the state
of Ohio. Mhm. And hopefully they take this uh case very serious because uh I um I was trying to find the other case
of the girl that was found in the park to see what the bond his bond was set at.
Um, I just hope hope that um the system, the court system doesn't take this lightly because Britney was
going through something uh and was not in a great place in her life. I don't think they will. I think I think this uh
1.5 million bond points out that the prosecutor's office is taking this very seriously, as they should.
[Music] [Applause]

Brittany McDowell /// Off The Record /// Episode: 64

Nic and the Captain discuss: The Brittany McDowell case.

www.truecrimegarage.com

Brief Summary

Britney McDow was murdered; John Bartholomew arrested for her death after a violent argument.

Key points

Body Found on July 4th. Law enforcement discovers a body believed to be Britney McDow in Alum Creek State Park.
Arrest Made. John Bartholomew, 24, arrested in connection with Britney McDow's murder.
Murder in the Argument. An argument escalates to violence when he shoots her twice.
Burial in a Shallow Grave. The body is found buried in a shallow grave at a state park.
Shocking Confession. The suspect confesses to his father about the murder, revealing the blood in his car.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

That's a lot of time to correct those choices.

Comment on Britney's potential for change despite her struggles.

10:13WatchApr 8, 2025

Tension

75/ 100High tension

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