Crystal Bradshaw ////// 764 | Forensic Files

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[Music] [Music] no matter how many times life knocked Crystal Bradshaw down she always got
back up she survived a rough and impoverished childhood after escaping a painful childhood Crystal ended up in a
marriage Rife with allegations of abuse Crystal's last straw in her marriage was when she and her husband
filed for bankruptcy and the family lost their home Crystal was back living in poverty
and uncertainty a future she hoped that her son would never experience but then Crystal got back up she filed for
divorce earned her GED and was attending class classes at a community college she
had successfully navigated a 180° life turn from bad to good and somehow she stuck The Landing because of
her actions and strong will through years of adversity Crystal could finally see the light now shining brighter than
ever at the end of that dark tunnel she did it Crystal Bradshaw had put herself on the path to better days she was on on
her way to a better life for both herself and her son unfortunately someone or someone's
were get in the way of that path Crystal would not live to see her son's eighth birthday a day of Celebration led to
murder a house fire and the many Mysteries that remain this is the still unsolved homicide case of Crystal
Bradshaw and this is true crime garage [Music] this week we are off to a location
called Boiling Springs Boiling Springs is in Spartanburg County South Carolina Boiling Springs was named after a small
spring in the center of town that appeared as if it were boiling and would sometimes shoot water about 6 ft into
the air once the land in this area became more developed and a shopping center was built people started to
arrive they built up the area and the spring ceased to boil the spring was eventually cleaned up and a small Park
was built around it but that's how this area this town got its name in current day the population is over 12,000 people
our case this week takes us back to 2007 and the population then in Boiling Springs was closer to 7,000 ,500 people
Crystal Dawn Kennedy Bradshaw was born September 22nd 1979 to Danny Kennedy and Myra leadford in time Crystal's parents
marriage would dissolve and end in divorce Crystal was raised poor and suffered abuse at the hand of a family
member Crystal grew up in a blended family with half siblings from both her parents additional marriages despite all
of her childhood hardships she still had the strength to pick herself up and to try to make a good life she dropped out
of high school thinking entering the Working World full-time would allow her to find the happiness that was so
elusive to her in her childhood she worked a number of jobs and then after a while crystal found herself working at a
place called Big Daddy's she was holding down a waitressing gig there and making
decent money Big Daddy's was a local restaurant a mom and pop casual joint while working there Crystal Kennedy met
David Bradshaw Jr David liked Crystal immediately he worked hard to get Crystal's attention and triy to convince
her to go out on dates with him eventually wearing her down she finally agreed they started dating and things
seemed fine until at some point in this relation ship captain David's anger and jealousy issues reared its ugly head and
this wasn't just something that was kept on wraps within the four walls of their
living situation this is something that people outside of those four walls were aware of Crystal and David moved into a
small house they started life together with David's son from his previous marriage and living with David was
becoming more and more difficult for crystal this mainly due to David's temper and from how others perceived
their relationship to be at this time those people did not think that David was treating Crystal very well at all
crystal hoped things would change when she became pregnant and in July of 2000 Crystal gave birth to a healthy baby boy
that the couple would name Jacob what's old saying you can [ __ ] in one hand wishing the other one and see which one
fills up first even though Crystal wanted things to get better things were not going to get better just because
they had a child there are many allegations that David was an abusive person an abusive father and husband and
years passed and the family would eventually move to a larger house this comes with larger bills and as it would
turn out the couple could not afford the extra bills the extra expenses or the large house this would be the beginning
of the end of Crystal and David's marriage perhaps it was the final nudge that Krystal needed to finally end
things with David as the bills were piling up Crystal asked family for help but everyone knew that helping to pay
one month's mortgage would only prolong this problem eventually the bradshaws filed for bankruptcy and they lost the
their home in foreclosure this was too much for Crystal to take she grew up in poverty and wanted a better life for her
son Jacob as a result Crystal ended the marriage with David and she moved into her own apartment Crystal was trying to
make some changes not just for herself but now for her family and she was going to take a new job at the peach blossom
Diner Chrystal was determined to rebuild her life after this marriage she wanted
a better life for herself and for her now now seven-year-old son Jacob the new job at the peach blossom Diner proved
advantageous for crystal for a couple of reasons it gave her the needed Financial
Freedom from her ex-husband David it also brought a new man into her life his name is Johnny petris the owner of the
diner he was one of the more well-to-do men in Boiling Springs at this time making his money from real estate
transactions as well as running the successful Diner there was an age gap between Crystal who's a young woman and
this older successful man so Crystal at this time when they started dating would
have been 28 years old Johnny was 65 but regardless of this age Gap they became an item Johnny had a foster son his name
is Shawn and and it's been said around town loud and clear that Shawn was not happy with his
father new dating situation especially after Johnny purchased a house for Crystal so she's dating this older guy
who's pretty well off well too and as a nice gift as a nice gesture of their new
newly budding romance he buys Crystal a small house where she and Jacob can live
which obviously there's G to be some people that think that she's using him for the money and he's using her because
she's young and attractive but my my grandma used to tell me you can love a rich one as much as you can a poor one
yeah the when money's involved everybody has an opinion Outsider opinion of situations whether it's doing right or
doing wrong I say leave that up to the person spending the money and the person accept the gifts yeah but you know he
has wrinkly balls but these two were an item whether Shawn liked it or not these
two were moving forward with their relationship Crystal and Shawn knew each other well because Shawn ran the diner
most of the time in the evening shifts he was married with a daughter and he had a successful career as a firefighter
so he's a firefighter and he runs this Diner on his off days Shawn did not hide his dislike of crystal or maybe it was
just the relationship that he did not like but as said it was clear to everyone that knew Crystal knew Johnny
knew Shawn that he was not approving of this relationship well it brings up a lot of questions was he jealous of his
father because the father was with a this young attractive woman did he want to be with Crystal or did he view it as
crystal is just using my father and trying to steal his his money and the more money he spends on her the less
money I'm going to receive one day that brings up a lot of questions yeah Sean had his own wife and family and house
and he he had his own successes but I'm guessing he's thinking that his father's
not spending his money appropriately later in life Crystal's sister worked at the diner as well and she would be one
that would later point out that look it was clear that Shawn did not like my sister for like you said Captain there
could be a lot of different reasons or problems with the reason that he had a problem with Crystal but again it was
clear to everybody now Crystal with this new job but old balls new boyfriend new
housing situation she's landing on her feet pretty well here she's starting to gain
some stability in her life with her life moving forward as we said in the trailer
she earned a GED she was enrolled at a community college she's studying to be a dental
assistant so she veered off the path for a while maybe it was her ex-husband's fault maybe it was hers maybe it was
both of them combined but she's now on the right path as good as her life was going her friends lives and these are
two people that are very were very close to Crystal at the time years prior and then leading up to Crystal's death this
is her friends Annette and Ashley these two their lives are heading in the complete opposite direction so they're
not getting their lives together they're not on a path to better days in fact they're on the path to darker and harder
times it's reported that in 2007 both of them were struggling with drug addiction
and they were starting to become involved in criminal activity a lot of this is pretty petty crime type stuff
now as their paths went in different directions it's been said that jealousy and anger and accusations grew between
Crystal and her friends Crystal had had enough of her friend Ashley and she was going to start taking control to end
their relationship she's going to break off this friend ship as several people have said Crystal was even telling
people that Ashley was stalking her Crystal had told people that Ashley would sit down at the end of the block
and watch to see who was going to visit Crystal who's coming and going from her house once Crystal's guests would go
inside Ashley would then call Crystal on her phone and then an argument would break out so she's
Crystal was of the belief that her friend friend Ashley was trying to disrupt her life now whether it was out
of jealousy or anger or multiple reasons it's difficult to say yeah ring ring ring I'm your baby reindeer well you
have friends that are all similar in Age and what we do know Captain is that Ashley did work at this diner with
Crystal some have wondered was she jealous that this successful man Johnny who owns the diner
didn't take notice of her the way that he did of Crystal which ended up a relationship that is financially
benefiting Crystal yeah and I don't want to speculate too much but like you said
is it a situation where she just wasn't noticed by this older gentleman with money or is it a situation that he did
notice her for a time period but then switched his attention to Crystal so the thought there
is from all the outsiders looking in their speculation has always remained that spit it out Ashley was jealous of
Crystal because she has this new boyfriend who not only buys her this house that she can live in with her son
but it's pretty well known that he's handing her cash walking around money regularly yeah maybe she's into old
balls she likely could have been very jealous of that as well now we have her other friend Crystal other friend
Annette she's wrapped up in addiction as well and it's believed that jealousy was
destroying her friendship with Crystal as well and this is a little bit thicker than the situation with Ashley so this
may have been motivated her jealousy may have been motivated by money but it also
sounds like it was pretty well understood around town that Annette's husband had a thing had a crush on
Crystal and that in public Gatherings around other people where people took notice he had made passes at her yeah
that's not good that's that's what we call nasty it seems like Crystal had no interest in him so there's no conflict
of there being a relationship between This Woman's husband and Crystal it just seems like she's probably aggravated at
the situation that her husband has a thing for her friend and is not so subtle about it yeah it's a real douche
bger move so it's been said by several people around town that Crystal would have a decent amount of cash on
her at any given time and this is because again her boyfriend Johnny's regularly handing her
cash and it sounds if people who knew Crystal and knew Johnny and knew of their relationship and knew of the
situation they all seem to be under this idea that Crystal likely had several hundreds of dollars of cash on her at
any given time CH ching and that Johnny was regularly giving her let's call it an an allowance if you will but he's
giving her cash almost daily yeah I think they call this situation a sugar daddy and sugar baby situation because
of this situation we have several people that are saying Annette was always asking Crystal for money Crystal
sometimes would give her friend the money most times not because Crystal feared that Annette was using that money
to pay for her drug addiction well and her friends are probably going hey you didn't earn this money you're just being
handed this money why can't you just give me this money so I can get my fix and you can go back to your boyfriend
and ask him for more money later and I feel like we should be clear here because my understanding after assessing
the situation is that yes while these these friends are on clearly different paths I believe Annette and Ashley at
the time if they were addicted they were functioning addicts they were they were
holding down jobs and relationships if you want to call it that but the main strain on any relationship that we have
here is the strain between their friendships right Ashley and Annette versus Chris Crystal and others have
said that when she would deny giving money to Annette or helping out her friends this was creating
a driving a wedge you know there's already a divide in their relationship but this just kept driving a wedge
further and deeper into that divide of the relationship and do you think these two friends were kind of ganging up on
her hey you're you're cutting a out you're not giving either one of us money so so now we're going to have this
hatred towards you but it's a collective hatred that's the way it sounds to me I
can't say 100% that that is the case but that's the way that it sounds to me because the three of them were all
friends together this was this was a group a little pack of friends here and at some point two are going the opposite
way of the one right and they just keep getting further apart the other thing too what it appears to me Captain is
like that Crystal's walking this tight wire of in trying to do this Balancing Act of how do I how do I tell them I'm
not you can't expect certain things of me just because of our friendship I'm not just going to hand you money even if
somebody is just handing me money I'm not handing it to you right but also like trying to keep the door open
because they go back like is there some hope that we can keep this friendship maintain this friendship are my friends
just stuck in a rut and going through a phase and one day they'll clean up or get out of this and we can still be
friends so that's a anybody that's had to kind of do that they know exactly what we're talking about here it's a
balancing act that is incredibly difficult because you're looking at friends going I don't know if I want to
keep being friends with you because of a b and c but I don't having a difficult time fully closing that door slamming
that door shut because we go back way back I say cut those greedy [ __ ] off but it looks to me and several people
have told us this here captain and it only seems to make sense that I think that Crystal knew while she probably
still held a a place in her heart for her two friends right I think that she knew that if she was going to have the
life that she wanted the path that she was C ly on for her and her her son that she might have to completely sever ties
with her old life and that would mean at some point likely ending the friendship
with Annette and Ashley well they've done studies on this you you kind of become the sum of the five people you
hang out with the most and so maybe chryst will got to the point where hey I'm trying to get my stuff together
you're not trying to do anything you hang out with coconuts you get nowhere let's get to the day in question here
Captain the day in question that we're going to be talking about and where the mystery remains this was in 2007 it's a
typical Saturday typical Saturday in the life of Crystal Bradshaw she Rose early she so she could
arrive at work for her morning shift that started at 5:00 a.m. remember this is a diner that's one of the best things
about a Diner you go there you get you a beautiful delicious greasy breakfast to
start your day and everybody loves it and a she's there for the 500 a.m. shift she always took that morning shift a lot
of that was based upon her life right her her dayto day and her dayto day her main concern is her son Jacob she wants
to be able to be the mom that can pick her son up from school at the end of each school day now the time period
we're talking about is in the summer so on this day Crystal drops Jacob off at his father's house the night before this
is not a perfect situation this is not ideal remember we talked about the allegations against her ex-husband my
guess is Crystal's only doing this out of necessity I have an early shift in the morning drop him off at his dad's
house and then I will see Jacob the next day was the plan she didn't at this time have anyone
else in her life to watch him when she was busy working so at around 2 o' 2 p.m. that afternoon after
her shift she goes and he she goes and she picks up her son from her ex's house she stopped at a grocery store this was
to purchase snacks and drinks for a small gathering so she's hosting a little gathering with some of her
friends and this will be at her newly acquired house that was gifted to her from her boyfriend
Johnny she had only lived in this house the addresses 107 North Brook Street for
a couple of months and she's still trying to balance her new life and her old friends she knew these were not
people that if you ignored them that they would just go away so again trying to walk that tight wire of do I end this
friendship or try to maintain it she's going to invite her friends over that we've already discussed Anette and
Ashley to hang out that day some of these items we can put a Tim stamp on and we know happened by later findings
and details that would be made public so one of these details that we can surmise
is that after returning from the grocery store at some point she's going to get cleaned up so she can have her friends
over and Host this little gathering she throws her work clothes that she wore the at the diner that day into the
washer around 5:00 p.m. her guest start to arrive and this from my understanding
Captain it's going to be a rather small gathering I don't have every name of every person that was in attendance
loser we may or may not have that information I should clarify right but it was a small group of people the
people that we do know that attended that evening was Crystal's friend Annette and her
husband Jean and we also have her friend Ashley and her husband Allan but remember it's a very small town so most
likely everybody at the party knew everybody the other thing that the reason why I'm trying to to lay this out
properly here Captain is there's a lot of information to suggest that it was only the five of them present at the
home for this small get together what's been reported is that there was stress in the air immediately remember there
these this group of friends they're already having their problems now they're all at the Johnny gifted home of
Crystal hanging out and I I guess trying to be friends or or maintain this friendship by this point
we should be clear too Crystal and David have been separated for almost a year at
this point and they were things were better between the two of them but they were still trying to sort out some the
details of their divorce and like anybody that's gone through a separation or even people that have remained
married will tell you when you go from school to no school for your children that first couple of weeks is a
balancing act itself you're trying to to keep the kids on their schedule while maintaining your work schedule at the
same time and not having the added benefit of school for your your kids to attend at this time but if I'm law
enforcemen in this case a question that comes to my mind is did Crystal's friends view this as a friendly
Gathering to rekindle their friendship or do they look at this as an opportunity
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/ garage and we are back cheers mates cheers to you Colonel cheers Captain tall cans in the air to everybody out
there in listener land we do have David and Jacob who are at the house so David is Crystal's ex and Jacob is her son and
David comes to pick up Jacob but he doesn't have to just like you know pull up and honk the horn and the the little
boy comes running out he goes inside he's inside for a period of time and then takes Jacob with him and then those
two are on their way Jacob was going to be spending the night at his father's house that evening so now this is when
you go from PG mode to adult time in your gathering at your home well I just want to point
something out people that would know that Crystal would be home alone probably her
boyfriend obviously her ex because he's taking their child and now her two friends that she's been in disagreements
with for the past little while all those individuals know that she's going to be
home alone there's it's been reported that there was a little pot smoking some beer and
some wine at this Gathering after Jacob left but nothing hardcore it's also been
said that Crystal would not allow anything above and beyond that in her new home the report that I read said
there was nothing hardcore or parkour the thing here is though as the night drags on or even the the early part of
the night Crystal's face with with another issue she works again the following morning at 5:00 a.m. at the
diner fun times so when you are on that that schedule on that cycle you are a you're going to turn in early because
you have to be up earlier than most so at some point Crystal will ask the guest to leave and this was approximately at
700 p.m. she had to work the early shift at the diner the next day likely wanted
to relax for a while for having to go to sleep that night Crystal's company was about to leave when there was an
argument Ashley started an argument with Crystal over her boyfriend Johnny and said that she did not like the way that
Crystal had been treating her lately then Annette asked Crystal for some cash okay so you have a disagreement that
breaks out between the two friends and then the other friend is openly asking Crystal for cash hey can I borrow some
money in front of the other guests and this hints to what you were talking about before the break was this supposed
to be just a friendly get together hey show me your new place we can have good conversation and catch up or did Annette
or Ashley or both view this as an opportunity right let's get friendly with our friend again and maybe she will
give us some cash or we could borrow air quotes borrow some cash from her Crystal
denied this and was frankly insulted and says you know what everybody needs to leave she she doesn't deny this event
happening she's denying giving the money to the fr the story that has been told since that night is that cash was asked
for Crystal did not give it to them in fact she was upset by this enough to just ask everybody to leave so she asked
everyone to leave the group does leave probably a little angry don't let the door hit you now we have Crystal on the
other side of the door empty house she's probably relieved that her guests have left for the evening probably exhausted
she's been up since the early morning hours and she's probably trying to unwind and get ready to go to sleep at
some point so she she moved her work clothes that we she had previously put in the washer and she put them into the
dryer and we do know that she put on her pajamas this part of the story is incredibly significant especially if it
holds true for every single night that she had lived in this house remember she's only been in this house captain
for a couple of months leading up to the night in question right several people this is not just one
person several people had said because she lived there her and her son alone most nights or even without her son some
nights her by herself she was uncomfortable with the living situation and she would always
turn on not just leave on lights we're talking about actively turn on some lights before going to bed well Crystal
lived with it a man for a very long time and even if he wasn't the best in the relationship there was probably some
sense of security or some sense of safe that she felt with her ex-husband being in the house one thing that we do know
that Crystal was in the habit of doing every day that she was in this new house was that she would turn on the light to
the living room and the light to the kitchen before going to bed this was something that was also noticed by
neighbors right you could see when you look out and it's dark outside you look across the street or you walking down
the street or going outside for any reason it's pretty obvious when a neighbor has a light on these neighbors
would later say that these two lights the house was always lit up on the inside at
night and again this is coming from the kitchen in the living room one thing that would be different
and this is key because we're trying to key in on the time of death here in Crystal Bradshaw's
case she did not turn on those lights never came on that night like they would every other night someone can make the
argument that something happened to Crystal before that time period right and I think this shrinks the window
quite a bit right because we know she put on her pajamas so she's in the Act of her routine leading up to going to
bed but part of that routine was always turning on the light in the front room and the kitchen or they're already on
and leaving them on however that portion of her routine she did not get to before
whatever happened happened that night before the horeshit went down we do know too another thing that is key here
that's been said by all that knew her is that she always locked her doors she wasn't one of these types that would you
know it's not that kind of town it's a small place I never lock my doors no she was a always lock your door kind of
person the reason why this case is so fascinating to me is one we have so many people close to her that would know that
she's going to be at home alone so if they have some Vendetta against her but necessarily don't want to hurt her and
her child here's an opportunity and and then on top of that number two is you have a lot of people with maybe they're
not the strongest motives but you could make an argument ex-husband mad that things didn't work out maybe wants full
custody maybe doesn't want to uh pay his support maybe he's jealous that she's now getting ahead with the help of this
older gentleman the older gentleman there's motives there maybe again doesn't like the situation regrets
buying the house he's somebody you got to look into you got to look into the friends with their drug addiction and
then you got to look into the boyfriend's son that works with her did he have some kind of jealousy issues is
he worried about how his father is paying for things and maybe losing some kind of inheritance down the line
there's a lot of moving pieces a lot of moving Parts a lot of questions that that one could ask let's do a quick
bullet point timeline before we get into the next portion of this story so roughly at 300M she stops at the grocery
store to buy items for the Gathering 3:30 she's at home with her son we know that the washing of the clothes starts
at this time by 5:00 p.m. her guests have arrived to her house at 5:30 we have David her ex-husband who
arrives to pick up their son Jacob within an hour so by 6:30 David leaves the house with Jacob after that it's
just her with her friends and as stated earlier it's believed that around 700 p.m. Crystal asked the guest to leave
because she has that early shift at the diner and there's that exchange of can we borrow some money no you can't and
they are for a lack of better term almost escorted right show the door so at some
point after 700 p.m. Crystal switches her clothes from the washer to the dryer changes into her pajamas we talked about
the lights that she would always purposely leave on or turn on before turning in for the night herself another
part of her routine was she had a dog named Rocky now Rocky would always stay outside that's no way to treat a dog
tethered during the daytime she's busy with her son and with work and she's coming and going he stayed
outside during the daytime but just like turning on those lights or making sure those lights were on before going to bed
Rocky never stays outside overnight she always brings him in to the house once she's settling down for the night so
that he can go to sleep and fall asleep inside the home as well I do want to note some things here too that sunset on
the night of June 2nd 2007 in this area the night question was at 8:37 p.m. this
is where we go to an eyewitness's account of that evening this is eyewitness Michelle who is one of
Crystal's neighbors Michelle's account of the night in question is as follows she says
that she came home around 11: p.m. she stated that she noticed right away that there were no lights on
at Crystal's house Michelle thought that this was unusual but she goes into her house and she has you know her own
family and she goes to bed it sounds like everything remains silent until around 1 a.m. so now we are
at the next morning June 3rd Michelle said that she was awakened by the sound of a car horn blaring she rushed to her
door to see what this car horn was and she doesn't see a vehicle but instead saw smoke filling the
street then she spots a vehicle and there's a couple inside the car that yelled at the
house on the street they're yelling at Crystal's house which is engulfed in flames that's where the Smoke's coming
from so Michelle tells her son to call 911 she goes out side to try to flag down the couple in the car the couple in
the car had seen the smoke from down the block and when they came to investigate
they found Crystal's house smoldering because Crystal's car was in the carport the couple and Michelle they're seeing
the car right Captain they're like oh she's probably in there they rushed to the house and they started looking in
the windows to see if Crystal and or her son is inside of the home right as Michelle went to turn the corner right
so she's running around the corner she's now entering Crystal's backyard she hears Crystal's dog barking near the
carport this is how we know that the dog wasn't let in for the night as said it was common for Crystal
to tie up the dog but bring the dog in that evening and she would always take the dog and leave the dog outside when
she was having guest over so however the the neighbor shelle finds the dog still
outside she turns and now she's worried about the dog she's trying to tend to the dog when she says that she sees a
man standing in the carport there she says that there was nowhere that this man could have come from except for in
the house again this is just her opinion and she's rushing to a scene that's already a little chaotic it's dark out
but it is her opinion that this man the only place he could have come from was from inside of Crystal's home and
because of Michelle's eyewitness account we're going to get a sketch of this individual the first thing I noticed and
I'd like to know some of your thoughts on this but to me if somebody said that's a sketch of a man or that's a
sketch of a woman I I would agree both ways yeah the sketch is not helpful in that regard
however we have the eyewitness saying that that's a man yes the the person I saw was a man and he's standing in the
carport area on Crystal's property Michelle says he was standing right outside the door to Crystal's house this
was the door everyone used to enter and leave the house many people will be familiar with this type of setup your
front door is not always the door that everybody uses to go in and out of your home some people like people to come in
the their garage or come in the side door I've lived than a home with a carport and it was the side door under
the carport that everybody used because that's it was the closest to where the vehicles would arrive some people use
the chimney so she's saying this was the door that everyone used to enter and exit Crystal's house she also says that
this is the door that she would have brought the dog in for the night that Crystal used this door for practically
everything as well Michelle is of course she's startled by this whole situation the the
fire the dog she's tending to the dog the man that's standing in the carport she hands the the leash for the
dog to that man and ask him if he would take the dog away from the house get the
dog to safety makes sense so this person this unidentified man takes the dog walks the dog safely across the street
hands the leash to to a member of Michelle's family and then this member of Michelle's family says that last that
they saw the man he had left the area on foot by way of a large church parking lot that was
behind Michelle's family's house so the person spotted in the carport at the time of the fire was now
gone the fire department was on the scene quickly and started to extinguish the Flames the fire was spreading to
different parts of the house as firefighters entered the kitchen of the house they found Crystal's lifeless body
lying next to the refrigerator near this side door that we've talked about it appeared that Crystal put up a fight and
that she had been struck in the head with a heavy object at first inspection it w it appeared that the fire started
behind the the refrigerator while firefighters and police were on the scene the neighbor Michelle again saw
the suspect who was in the carport earlier now he's standing in the crowd watching the firefighters Michelle
approached the Boiling Springs police that were there and to one officer she says look that man in the crowd there I
saw him earlier he was up here in the carport area as if he had just come out of the house
right unfortunately Michelle would say that the officer ignored her that she at no point that evening saw an officer
approach this man interview this man put him in the back of a squad carard none of that happened according to Michelle
obviously this is somebody that law enforcement would want to talk to but it's not clear to us if this person was
somebody passing by and was just trying to help or were they there for nefarious
reasons it would be easier to figure that out if an officer would have went and spoke to this man yeah or but I
think it I think it's unclear to me and and maybe you could clear this up we don't know if law enforcement ever
contacted this individual or if they have a name so it it does not appear like we said we have a sketch it doesn't
appear that this man has been identified you know they've not given a name to this person yeah cuz this sketch
would not matter at that exactly exactly so what role he played in this is all very difficult to
decipher but part of that too as said is if if and when you were interviewing people that night if he would have been
somebody that you spoke to you would at least know this man's name I don't want to get too aggressive with everybody
because this is a very chaotic scene and at the at the center of it police too are First
Responders they're responding to a scene where they're hoping that if by chance anyone is trapped inside of this home
that First Responders can get them out to safety that's your number one goal when responding to this scene the other
part of this is that sha Petraeus is in the crowd as well we're talking about this crowd that's gathering in the
Street Watching the firefighters attempt to put out fire we know that in the end they're
going to find Crystal's lifeless body inside the home near that side door that we've discussed but in this crowd this
growing crowd one of those persons is Shawn the son of Crystal's boyfriend Johnny now we
said earlier that Shawn was a fire chief he's actually the fire chief of a neighboring fire department so this is
not his jurisdiction however it's believed that he likely heard the call on his department scanner
and knowing the property right they're responding to an address right knowing the property and knowing that his
father's girlfriend lives there likely responded to the scene the reasons for that you would have to ask Shawn well
again this is now the second person in the story where you go is Shawn there to help or is Shawn there there because he
did something bad exactly that is exactly it was he there to observe there to potentially help or his just his
appearance there has led to speculation that he is somehow involved in either the Fire or the murder or both after the
fire was put out and the investigation started a sketch was made of the suspect that appeared in the carport the
detectives asked the couple in the car to help with details of the suspect the couple in the car only saw this person
at a glance however Michelle was with this person directly in front of her for a very short period of time she
gets to see a face to face with this guy she hands him the leash he walks the dog to safety across
the street then disappears into that church parking lot reappearing in the crowd that's growing in front of the
house as the firefighters are attempting to put out the fire we will say this though Michelle has been vocal about
this there is that sketch that's out there Michelle when she sees the sketch that was put together produced by the
police department she says that she immediately told the officer there that there were a number of things incorrect
with this sketch the officer informed her that they were using the sketch anyway Michelle also had seen the
carport suspect one other time she says the morning after the fire while she was
at work her coworker was dropped off by the person that she says is the man that
she saw in the carport the night before that's pretty freaking weird so she calls police immediately what did she
call them and says look that man who I was wondering who he was standing in the carport just dropped off my coworker
this morning at work so it's never been released here Captain but if this person is one in the same
right we don't know for certain 100% certainty that this man is the man that she saw in the carport but Michelle says
that it is so if this man is one and the same it sounds to me like Michelle and the police know this person's identity
let me get Captain Obvious for a second during the their investigation do they find this to be an accidental fire or do
they believe this was arson 100% arson winner winter chicken Di and the other thing that's tricky about this fire is
that it's been stated and I want to be clear about something here there is information in this case like every
other case that we review but this case specifically there's information in this
case that either a the police do not know or B they know this information and they're choosing to not make it public
you are putting a sketch out there to the world asking for people to come forward and assist you the public to
assist your department in this case we know that to be fact because you've released a sketch this case it I don't
care what local police are calling it this is a cold case this is an old case there's no purpose in withholding any
information you need to if you have information that you've built a case against somebody take it to a grand jury
or if you're not going to do that release that information hoping that you get better and more
information on your case the difficult thing I think here with Crystal is she would have came in contact with a lot of
individuals we already stated that there's kind of a stalking situation between her and one of her friends
and also when she was attending school did she meet anybody else and is there a possibility that she was having her cake
and eat it too I mean I know there's no hardcore evidence that we were able to uncover but is it possible with having a
relationship where there's a big age Gap that she was using that relationship as
a financial gain and possibly seeing somebody else these are questions that I think are not out of bounds for law
enforcement to be thinking about or asking about exactly and because they've not released certain information in this
case we do not know where their investigation took them if anybody's been cleared the thing that is obvious
to me though Captain is as said there's no reason for them not to know the name of the person in the carport if in fact
Michelle was correct the following day when she says the person I saw last night twice I saw again a third time
when he was dropping off my coworker the next morning at work so that person the
police know that individual's name what does that mean it's hard for us to say have they interviewed this person is
this person considered a person of interest or is it somebody that they've dismissed completely with either a not
looking at him or having looked at him and have having cause for dismissing him as a good suspect what we do know is
they're still asking about the person in the sketch so that's a little bit difficult that's a that's a hurdle that
is difficult for us to clear here well it makes you wonder if she thinks the person that was dropping off her friend
at work if that was a dead end lead and it was not the same guy it seems like why would they keep bringing up the
sketch if they knew who he was and they already talked to this individual but I think we both agree on some level you
have to start going hold back information that's responsible but at some point when the investigation's not
going anywhere when is the hold back information irresponsible to keep away from the public well and this in its
most simplest of forms is as follows this person Michelle has stated I saw this guy the only place he could
have come from was the home that was burning with the dead body inside of it makes sense that is her opinion yeah her
other opinion is the guy that I saw on the carport was the man that dropped off my coworker the next day this just
really bizarre and police are still asking the public for help with that sketch yeah weird it this seems this
seems like an easier an easier road to a a solution than what I think some people might be
making it but we've heard heard this a million times from law enforcement we know who did it we know why they did it
we just don't think we have enough evidence to prove it in a court of law and that's what matters because you need
to get this scumbag piece of [ __ ] off the streets get him off the streets with her
friends in regard to Crystal's friends Ashley and Annette have they've been in trouble with the law prior to Crystal
Bradshaw being murdered have been in trouble with the law after and some information that has come
out in this case that I find to be very intriguing is a rumor and we've seen we've seen
this work in some cases where eventually they get solved and some of the rumors that were first out on the streets in
the town shortly after a murder turn out to be true one of the those rumors is that the
object that Crystal had been killed with remember she was beaten to death somebody had struck her with a heavy
object yeah piece of [ __ ] leading to injuries and then leading to her death the local rumor was and has been since
early on in this case that it was a clock one of those like small clocks that you put on the shelf or you you
hang on the wall I don't know the exact details about this clock but the other rumor that goes along with that clock
being what was used to hit to strike Crystal with is that some believe that that's where she stashed cash and
remember it was always said that her boyfriend was giving her hundreds of dollars in cash weekly daily well this
adds up after a while and if she's stashing cash around the house and then we have friends are over prior to her
being killed and the house being set on fire and part of that story and that visit is that one of them either for
themselves or collectively for the group asked to borrow some money and they were
denied and they were denied did they decide to come back at some point and just take the money
anyway was there a struggle over that clock that concealed the cash was I I if both things are true
it's really difficult for me to believe that that money has nothing to do with her murder either there was money there
and it was taken because what's been reported is that there was no money found inside the house no cash money
except for a roll of quarters that was found inside that house after the fire the tough thing becomes here though the
more people involved the more likely somebody is willing to talk at some point and as far as I know they're not
talking and if they have their statements have not been made public what we're left with is a woman who is
killed inside of her home and then the house is set on fire the fire and the onlooker of Johnny's son Shawn the
neighboring fire chief being present there who worked at the diner himself being in the crowd that night is always
going to tie him to this case as a potential Person of Interest her friends all four of them that were there that
evening have to always be linked as a potential Person of Interest or Persons of Interest who could have acted
together right and maybe when this went down my the way that I Envision this Captain is if this was about the money
and I have no reason to think that it wasn't if this was about the money there was some kind of fight some kind of
struggle over the money one that the perpetrator or perpetrators may not have intended or believed would happen maybe
they thought they would just be handed cash and they would go on their way but something happened and they may the
person responsible or person's responsible may not have intended to kill Crystal that evening maybe didn't
leave their house going to Crystal's house thinking that they would kill her that night but whatever happened led to
her death and then later they got a problem they got to cover up and their their way
of covering this up is by setting the house on fire it's believed everything that I've seen shows me that
the the fire started near this refrigerator or behind the refrigerator I've wondered does this show some kind
of knowledge of fires you have electrical fires you have appliances that start fires would this
be something that somebody has experience with fires attempt to do hoping that maybe well the house and the body would
be burned beyond recognition and so they might maybe the authorities would just think she died in the house fire that
was caused by faulty wiring or a bad Appliance and I hate when the cases get to this point because in my
mind if somebody said Captain what's your thoughts which probably nobody would ask me my thoughts CU they're
smart enough to know that I'm just going to ramble but i' go your guess is as good as mine I see multiple people that
have motives multiple people that have means I think the one that possibly you could rule out is the ex-husband they
were separated for a time period he had his son we haven't had anybody come forward saying I was watching his son
that night and he disappeared for an hour yeah I think because he comes off well and if everything if all the
allegations are true he's not a good guy and because of the close relationship with the deceased and him not being a
good guy he's obviously somebody that is openly discussed as a potential suspect
here amongst the public but this case as we said is a cold case and there is a new Cold Case
Investigator in the area his name is Sergeant Tony Brown he was on the scene the night that Crystal was murdered the
night that she was discovered in that burning home in 2021 we get this announcement it's the announcement of a
$25,000 reward in this unsolved homicide case and I want to read for you their statement it says Crystal Bradshaw was
found murdered in her home on June 3rd 2007 at 107 North Brook Street in Boiling Springs this is located off of
Highway 9 between Northbrook Baptist Church and Raceway the fire department was called by someone that noticed the
fire coming from the home in the early morning of June 3rd we believe the murder took place in the late evening
hours on June 2nd she had only lived in her home for 4 months with her young son
after separating from her husband he was keeping their child that night at his home since Crystal had to get up early
for work she was 28 years old and working as a waitress at the Peach Blossom Restaurant she worked the
morning shift and also attended Spartansburg Community College the night of the homicide an unknown person was
seen in the carport of the home when it was engulfed and the neighbors were gathering trying to help this person
left the scene before the fire trucks and police arrived we have a composite of this person and believe they may have
useful information for this case we would like to announce for the 14y year anniversary a 25
reward that has been donated anonymously we hope this will encourage those that have information to come forward the
reward money is being offered for one year for the person that gives information that leads to the arrest and
prosecution of the suspect we feel confident that others know details that will solve this case
that to me is a is the statement that I want to hear right there now mind you this reward was offered up $25,000 for
one year that year came and went they did not reward this money to anyone currently Captain if anybody has
information in this case please reach out to Tony Brown of the Spartanburg County Sheriff's department at tbrown
Spartanburg count.org and we will include this information in our show notes or you can call the
unsolved homicide unit at 86453 4556 I also want to point this out too you know the the victims here it always
goes beyond the person that was killed right I review a case like this and it's very difficult for me to walk away and
say Ashley knows nothing Annette knows nothing it's very hard for me to say that I'm not willing to say that in this
case I think one or both of them know something I think the police are of that belief as well the statement in that in
that reward offering we feel confident that others know details that will solve this case how did that person seen in
the carport get to her home were they already there for a gathering or for other
reasons how were they traveling alone or with somebody else did they leave by themselves or with somebody else these
are all questions that have answers and those answers could lead to the truth about who killed Crystal Bradshaw after
his mother's murder Little Jacob went to live with his father in a nearby Town Jacob has never had any contact with his
aunt or other family members on Crystal's side beyond the interaction that he had a few months after his
mother was murdered so this family Crystal's Family not only did did they lose Crystal but
they lost Jacob as well the family would welcome the opportunity to speak to Jacob if Jacob is listening please
contact this podcast for their contact information as they miss you very much anybody with information about the case
about the murder of Crystal Bradshaw should contact Tony Brown of the Spartanburg County Sheriff's Department
[Music] [Music] you could be anywhere in the world but you're here with us that makes you
awesome sauce Colonel do we have any recommended reading for the beautiful beautiful listeners yeah everybody loves
our other show off the record on Apple subscription podcast and on patreon and just days ago
we released a bonus off the Record episode on the missing date the date that Lauren Superior College student
went missing so this week captain we're featuring and recommending to our great and beautiful listeners college girl
missing the true story of how a young woman disappeared in plain sight and this is by Sean Cohen who we interviewed
for off the Record college student Lauren spier was pursuing her dreams joining her boyfriend at a party school
800 mil from home social and gregarious studying fashion and rooming with friends Lauren embraced her new
adventure with the Zeal of a young woman who suddenly had everything she desired
but there was a dark side that she and her Inner Circle kept secret to learn about these secrets check out Sean
Cohen's book college girl missing the true story of how a young woman disappeared in plain sight you can find
that recommendation and many more on our recommended page at truecrime garage.com
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Crystal Bradshaw ////// 764

Part 1 of 1

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In 2007 twenty eight year old Crystal Bradshaw was murdered in her home in Boiling Springs, South Carolina. Unfortunately, this case has remained unsolved. The night of the homicide, an unknown person was seen in the carport of the home. This person left the scene before police arrived. There is a composite sketch of this person. Anyone with information should email TBrown@SpartanburgCounty.org OR call the Sheriff’s Office at 864-503-4556.

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Brief Summary

Crystal Bradshaw's murder remains unsolved, linked to her troubled past and complex relationships with friends and family.

Key points

Crystal's Journey of Resilience. Despite a painful past, Crystal Bradshaw fought for a better life for herself and her son.
The Tension in Friendships. Crystal's friendships began to strain as jealousy and addiction took hold.
Crystal's Morning Routine. Crystal starts her day with a morning shift at the diner, juggling work and motherhood.
The Gathering. Crystal hosts a small gathering with friends, but tensions rise during the evening.
A Night of Unusual Silence. Neighbors notice something is off when Crystal's house remains dark at night, unlike usual.
Cold Case Status. The investigation into Crystal's murder remains unresolved, with ongoing inquiries.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

She was on her way to a better life for both herself and her son.

Crystal's determination to improve her situation.

5:01WatchJun 5, 2024

Tension

75/ 100High tension

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