Dad Realizes His Daughter Is Actually The Killer | Forensic Files

What is she? She's in the ground. So there is Who is it? My mom. This man has just been told that his
wife has been murdered. However, he never could have expected that it was his daughter that was responsible.
What happened? Your wife and daughter got into an argument. He's in jail forever. Wife's dead.
I was too. On March 3rd, 2020, Ohio police responded to a 911 call at an address in Akran and found Brenda Powell
on the floor of her kitchen with 30 stab wounds in her neck. Her daughter Sydney
was in the house at the time and told police this was a home invasion turned brutal murder. But even though Sydney
was injured as well, there were still questions left unanswered. Things weren't adding up for the cops. Brenda
was on the phone with one of Sydney's college professors at the time she was attacked. And during that call, she
suddenly started screaming before the phone went dead. When he called back, the voice on the other end of the phone
claimed to be Brenda. But the college professor knew this was a lie and suspected Sydney was pretending to be
her mother. Fearing the worst, he called 911 and the first responders arrived in
no time. This scream combined with being called to the location is enough probable cause
for the police to forcefully enter the home. And this is what was waiting for him when he walked inside the house.
Echer police. and she's on the ground. Where's your mom at? Okay. No. No. There. THERE'S SO MUCH BLOOD. NO
WAY. [laughter] MAN, [screaming] NOW STOP. [laughter] STOP. We got to figure out what's going on.
Car 9, get that 32 rolling here quick. We got a female down. Blood all over the place. Started some more years. We got a
crime scene. Take her outside. She's got blood all over. Secure the scene. She looks like a 22.
She looks like she's been down for a while. There's blood all over the place. There's a knife by her head and stuff
like that. And there's a huge pool of blood. No, I think she just walked in on it.
There's a broken window in the back. So, if you can just put up some crime scene
tape. Soon as AFD gets here, they're going to pronounce her. I'm sure. It turns out Brenda hasn't just been
stabbed. She's also been hit over the head with an iron skillet, and her injuries are so devastating that her
life hangs in the balance. Stop. Stop. Hold on. We got to figure out what's going on.
Come on. Is she going to be okay? Come on. Come on. Come on. You just need to cooperate with me. All
right. I love my dad. Huh? I love my dad. WHAT HAPPENED? WHAT'S GOING ON? WHAT'S going on?
We heard a bang. We heard a bang and she told me to get out and then I heard screaming. So I
came back and she was on the ground. Okay. You heard a bang. Back. There was a big broken.
What is your name? Sydney. Are you cut? I don't think so. Yeah, you're cut somewhere.
I don't think so. Yeah, your hand. No, I was helping her. I grabbed her. All right, stop.
I grabbed the knife before the street. Yeah. What's going on? I don't know. We just got the dad.
I don't know. I don't know. Cydney appears to have been injured as well. Is suffering from shock and
struggling to hold herself together. Even the arrival of her father, Steve Powell, doesn't calm Sydney down. Police
need to lock down the crime scene and try to figure out exactly what's happened.
The back WINDOW [crying] IS BROKEN IN. SO, YOU'RE GOING TO HAVE TO INSIDE THERE. SO,
I DON'T [screaming and crying] KNOW. SHE WAS THERE WITH THE HOUSE. OKAY. She's got minor crunch.
Inside the house, there's a broken window and the knife used to stab Brenda. But something isn't quite right.
as the broken window had blood dripped on the outside of it, leading police to conclude it could have only been broken
after Brenda had been stabbed. However, Sydney claimed that the intruder used the window to enter and was broken
before the attack, leading to the first of many inaccuracies in her story. Interesting.
Somewhere that's not okay. Do we know who? Where? Which way? That is the younger guy. I'm looking through here
and I can see pictures and there's a whole basement set up for Yep. Hey, sorry. I'll call you I'll call
you right back. Bye. All right, let me go report that. Well, I'll see if we can find out who
who else lives here. With such a serious case with so many unanswered questions, the cops spend
some time talking with homeowners nearby. They have to try and collect as much information as possible. But right
now, the only person making any sense is Sydney's father. Okay. Do you live here, sir?
Yeah. Okay. That's my wife and there's my daughter. I I How old is your daughter?
She'll be 20 in March. She's 19. Is she coming out? Not No, not yet. So, just can't.
Sydney, can you tell me what happened? Huh? Sydney. Sydney on his way. Yeah, it's coming from where?
Yeah, that's him right there. I can hear him. What's up? I have a female. While trying to piece this puzzle
together, police speak to Steve Powell and one of Sydney's friends down at the station in the hopes that they may be
able to help them shed some light on exactly what happened. But unfortunately for Steve, he has absolutely no idea
Sydney is the attacker, or even worse, that his wife is in critical condition at the hospital and likely won't
survive. Something detectives will have to break to him sooner than later. Where'd you get a call from?
Yeah. Call from call from me. Oh, okay. He said there was a call went out, a distress call from the University of
Mountain Union where my daughter was going and said, "Uh, female in distress." I said, "Well, that's funny
cuz Brenda's there, my wife." So, I called Brenda and it rings and rings on her cell phone. No answer. I call Sydney
back. Rings and rings and rings. No answer. I call Brenda back. Ring ring ring. No answer. I'm pacing around. I
call Jeep back and I'm on the phone with him telling him there's no answer. My doctor
calls me back. I said, "Oh, mom's on the phone with me with uh mom union." I said, "Well, cops are on the way." And
she went, "There's going to breakin and there's" and she just started going off.
She said, "What?" She said that was there's been somebody broke into the house. There's blood everywhere. She was
hysterical and crying. So, at first when you talked to her, she said, "Your wife
is on the phone about you." Yes. And as soon as I said cops are on the way, the hysteric started.
Is she still a teddy? Well, as far as we knew up until today, yes, but apparently not for the last, I
don't know, maybe couple weeks. What Sydney hadn't told her parents was that she'd been kicked out of college
weeks before this happened and had been lying to them ever since. But she did tell her friends, including Lauren, who
lived in the same dorm. Now, we understand that that Sydney was your roommate at Mount Union.
Yes, she was for last year and then this year until she left. And so, you've been friends ever since
your s freshman year at CB. Mhm. Go over each other's houses, everything, everything like that.
Yep. Well, she started off in exercise science freshman year, her first semester, but then she didn't like the
classes, so she switched over to psychology and sociology, but then she didn't really like that. So this year
she switched to education and then she didn't like that either and that's one of the reasons she left is cuz she
really couldn't find what she liked. I think she struggled in her classes. I don't think her grades were the best but
she didn't really tell me that cuz um I wasn't really struggling. I think she kept a lot of stuff hidden because when
we were just talking with our friends, she always seemed happy. Like she seemed okay. Like I said, I couldn't tell until
the end where she was kind of just like struggling and she kind of was sad and just like bored, I don't know what to
do. I think she felt like everybody around her kind of had figured out what they wanted to do and she had it.
Establishing Sydney's state of mind leading up to the incident will help detectives find out if she simply
snapped or if this was premeditated. The issue is Sydney is going to claim that she actually has no idea what happened
throughout this entire case. In fact, she's going to base her entire defense on the fact that she blacked out and
even claim insanity using this. This means the cops still have no solid proof that Sydney is the guilty party, but
they're starting to discover she was hiding secrets from just about everyone. Well, I know she's had anxiety for a
while, but I don't think I think it was last like this last semester like starting coming back in January is when
it really started that she was kind of more like upset because she really didn't know what she wanted to do. My
friends and I were worried for her because we were just we didn't know what was going on. She didn't tell us. And
Lauren knew something was wrong and tried to help. At first, she had no reason to doubt her and was as
supportive as any friend could have been at a time like this. But even Lauren grew suspicious of Sydney's evasive
behavior. I could tell she was getting more upset, like more sad. And I told her, I was
like, "I'm here. Like, you can tell me. I'm here for you. If you need anything, I'm here." But she never really opened
up until she was leaving and saying that she was struggling with school and that
she wanted she was kind of trying to figure out what was going on. And that's when I started to try to help her.
Let's talk about this. Um, you know, you're her best friend and I know this is difficult, but to tell us about her
relationship with her parents. Her and her parents had really good relationship. Like her mom and her were
best friends probably. Like they did everything together. Like one of the reasons she went home was to be with her
mom. They were always close. She never said anything bad about her mom. She never ever talked about having an
argument with her mom. Like I can't recall every time she'd be going home, she's like, "I can't wait to see my
mom." Or when she goes home for weekends, she'd be like, "Oh, my mom wants me to come home so we can hang out
and like watch movies." And she loved like she loved being home. By this point, Sydney is becoming wrapped up in
a lie that she's going to struggle to escape from. But instead of owning up, she decided to make out as if college
just wasn't working out for her. And tried to convince her parents that they could save a lot of money on college
bills if she left to pursue other things. What's going on? Are you not going to school? She goes, I'm overwhelmed in
school and I don't really like what I'm doing and it seems like it's a waste of my time and your money. I said, well,
but that's all part of it. Nobody's going to tell you you need to do what you're doing when you're 20. you need to
figure it out. But that's not what she told her friends. So, when she's talking to you about um
you know, the problem she's having at school, uh did she mentioned that she tried talking to her parents?
Yeah, I know. She definitely, especially when she left, she talked to her mom about leaving. They kind of made that
decision together to leave Mount Lauren's suspicions were proved to be right. And Sydney was lying to her
friends. But at the same time, she was also lying to her parents who knew nothing of her problems at college until
they received a phone call from Sydney's professor. So Steve and Brenda began crisis talks to find out exactly what
was going on with their daughter. So I went back. I called my wife and found my daughter's phone. She picks up.
She was working down Children's and she goes, "What's wrong?" And I basically told her, I said, "You know, I mean,
Sydney, I I think the reason we can't get on is because she's unenrolled. She hasn't been going to school." Sydney
became wrapped up in two sets of lies. The story she told her friends and the story she told her parents. Failing
grades aren't the end of the world, and any parent would support their child through such difficult times. But it
seems she thought her parents would be mad and couldn't bring herself to tell them she'd been asked to leave the
college. Yeah, we asked what she was doing and she said she was good. Like she acted
like what we would see as normal. Like she was laughing, she was having fun. She said she got jobs cuz she worked at
the Akan Rubber Ducks. She's worked there for a couple seasons. So, she was going to go back there. And then she
also said she was looking for another job and like everything was good and she was trying to figure out like next year
and all this stuff and she was going to talk to her parents about housing, trying to come back to Mount
once she got to my union or anytime. Ashley, did uh did Sydney ever drink alcohol at all or she did?
Okay. Just kind of describe that for us. She liked to drink. Um, there was an incident in the fall of our freshman
year where she drank too much and she wasn't alcohol buzzing, but she did end up in the hospital. Her mom came and got
her at like 2:00 in the morning. Usually after that, her and I were together and
she did drink. I usually kind of like slow her down after her limit cuz she's small. Detectives suspect Cydney snapped
when Brenda was on the phone to her college professor and tried to cover up her lies by silencing her mother
forever. The issue is again Sydney is claiming that she doesn't remember a thing, but it seems that she made some
crucial and careless mistakes, then let the detectives pick up the pieces. Sydney grabbed an iron skillet and beat
her mother into submission before plunging a steak knife into her neck over 30 times. She then impersonated her
mother on the phone and staged a breakin to try and cover her tracks. We were going house at all.
I made it in far enough to see the back fit. There's when you go into the front door, you come around the kitchen, you
go in, you can see the uh there's like a pass through between the kitchen and the
family room, the back of the house. I could see the right hand there's two big sliding windows. I could see that window
was clearly it looked like it was busted. Went down the hallway probably about two feet. just don't see blood all
the way down the hallway. Sadly, Brenda didn't survive her ordeal and passed away in hospital. The county
medical examiner came to the conclusion that Brenda had died from blunt force trauma to her head and stab wounds to
her neck. They ruled her death a homicide. This left detectives to deliver the tragic news to Steve that
his wife was dead. Well, really bad news. Your wife passed away. Detectives investigated Sydney's [music]
claims that an intruder was responsible, but their findings didn't seem to match
her story, and the evidence was painting a [music] different picture altogether.
This left detectives with one final devastating task to carry out, telling Steve that his own daughter killed his
wife. What happened? I don't think someone broke into the house. I don't know if
your wife and daughter got into an argument, got physical. I mean, the window was broken, but there's no forced
entry into the house. Did your wife and daughter like really eat? No arguments. No.
This is not possible. Your [snorts] son's outside, but he doesn't. My son's here?
Yes. Would you like one of us to just go be with your son? I I don't know. and take your time.
There's no rush for me. It's simply impossible to imagine the turmoil Steve [music] must be going
through at this moment. His wife murdered and his daughter the main suspect. Finally, Steve realizes the
detectives might be right, leaving him to deliver the news to his son. Clearly, they think Sydney did this.
I was, too. He's here forever. Your wife's dead. You know, they're going to do everything
they can to make sure they find out exactly what happened. Nothing's definite as of yet. They still have to
do their investigating. Where's Andrew? You just sit out there by himself or is he with you?
Well, yeah. I don't want anybody. I just want me and him. That's legal. I don't care.
Yeah. You don't want any of that? I don't want any of you. No, I just want I just want you injured.
You just become a headache when you're ready. Okay. They don't know. They haven't told me.
They're investigating. Sydney was arrested and charged for the murder of Brenda Powell. She claimed
insanity at first, saying she had almost no memory of what happened, including hitting Brenda with the cast iron
skillet and fatally stabbing her. The jury didn't believe Sydney, and she was found guilty on two counts of murder,
one count of felonious assault, and one count of tampering with evidence. Cydney
Powell was sentenced to life in prison with a chance of parole after 15 years.

This video was made for educational purposes only. The video is presented to provide genuine footage of police incidents to promote transparency in government while providing educational, informative and newsworthy content allowing viewers to examine and assess public safety material. This is a fact-checked documentary using authoritative sources. The individuals shown in this video have not been convicted of any crime and are legally presumed innocent unless proven otherwise in a court of law. This material is intended solely for educational and informational purposes and represents personal analysis and commentary. Nothing presented should be interpreted as legal counsel, and the observations provided may not include all circumstances or reflect the final charges in each case. This video features real police-related footage shared to support public awareness and government transparency. The content is designed to inform and educate viewers on public safety matters and is presented as a documentary relying on verified and credible sources. All materials used were lawfully obtained through public records requests and are available to the public. The footage is utilized strictly for journalistic, documentary, and educational purposes under the Fair Use doctrine outlined in Section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Act.**

Brief Summary

Sydney Powell murdered her mother Brenda in a shocking case of familial violence and deception.

Key points

The Shocking Truth. Detectives uncover that Sydney, the daughter, is the main suspect in her mother's murder.
A Gruesome Discovery. Police find Brenda Powell with 30 stab wounds, leading to a shocking investigation.
A Father's Nightmare. Steve Powell learns that his wife is dead and his daughter is the prime suspect.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

What is she? She's in the ground.

WatchJun 7, 2024

Tension

85/ 100High tension

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