Getting Away With Murder /// Part 1 /// 551 | Forensic Files

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[Music] crime don't feel the [Music] same don't [Music] feel [Music] this week's True Crime case takes us to
the Tiny Town of wam Pennsylvania Our Story begins on the morning of Friday February 20th
2009 tree workers are busy working at a cattle farm on wam New Galilee Road they
are on day two of a a job that consists primarily of cutting down trees and splitting and stacking for
firewood around 9:40 a.m. one of the workers spotted a little girl maybe 4 years old standing in the doorway of The
Farmhouse the screen door was open and the girl was crying then the little girl shouted to
the worker my mother is dead the worker stopped what he was doing and told the girl to stay right
where she was was he picked up his cell phone and called 911 he reported to Emergency Services
exactly what the child had told him that her mother was dead minutes later he and the men
working with him were assisting by flagging down the responding state police officers troopers were on the scene at
10:13 a.m. two Troopers entered the home they tried to calm the girl as they started
Ed to search the home almost immediately they saw what the little girl was talking about in a
downstairs front bedroom they found a woman lying lifeless on a bed under her there was a large pull of blood she was
clearly dead and even more horrific the dead woman appeared to be pregnant the Troopers cleared the scene
and quickly ushered in paramedics they confirmed the officer suspicions the woman on the bed had been
shot in the back of the head right where the head and the neck meet she and her baby were both
deceased this is true crime garage and this is the case of Kenzie Hal and Jordan
Brown [Music] feel [Music] this week we go to the tiny rural town of wam in Lawrence County this is
Western Pennsylvania about 40 or so miles Northwest of Pittsburgh on the morning of Friday February 20th Chris
Brown is at work he works in the shipping Department of a local table wear company called steel light while at
work that morning he received a phone call from the police this is around 11:00 a.m. an officer told Chris come
home something happened Chris Brown rushed home when he gets there he's greeted by a State Trooper in the front
yard of the property officer Jeffrey Martin told Chris that his fiance 26-year-old Kenzie Hal was dead from a
shotgun blast and the News got much worse Chris and keny's son who was to be born in just a matter of weeks did not
survive the fetus a 34 or 35 weak old boy died within minutes due to oxygen deprivation after his mother was killed
Chris collapsed on the ground in the yard obviously he was devastated at this horrific news he was then taken to the
state police barracks where he could be interviewed by police he told them that Kenzie had been alive and well when he
left for work that morning police are going to need to find out everything that went on at that house on this
morning they are going to have to figure out who shot this 26-year-old mother callously cutting short her life and in
the process ending the life of her unborn baby and why was she collateral damage maybe a victim of a house burgary
gone wrong or was she the target all along before we go through the events of the murder let's give a little
background information on the family yes a little background information is in order and we need to introduce the
members of this household as we said Chris Brown is the man of the house he and his former partner Mildred Krauss
were the parents of 11-year-old Jordan Brown when Chris and Mildred split Chris got custody of Jordan Chris dated
another woman for 7 years from 2000 to 2007 and after that relationship Chris started dating a friend he met years ago
in middle school and this is Kenzie Hal when they reconnected Kenzie was working
as a hairdresser Kenzie already had two young daughters of her own this is four-year-old Adeline and 7-year-old
Janessa Chris and Kenzie got engaged and rented the wam Farmhouse together 4 months before Kenzie was shot Chris
Brown's son Jordan lives at the house as does Kenzie's two daughters Adeline and
Janessa Jordan the son would be 11 at the time because of the emminent arrival of the baby there is going to be some
bedroom shuffling that's going on at this house Jordan's upstairs bedroom was being taken over by the parents Chris
and Kenzie because it had a smaller room off of it that would serve as a nursery
you want to be close to the baby Jordan was moving into the downstairs front room bedroom currently being used by
Kenzie and Chris so we have five people living in the house there Captain two little girls Jordan Brown who's 11 and
then we have Kenzie and Chris who are now engaged they're going to join forces join families here and they're moving
upstairs when the baby comes along and Jordan Brown's going to be switching bedrooms with his father and soon to be
stepmother on the day of the shooting Jordan's clothing and some of his personal items had already been Reloaded
located into this downstairs room although Chris and Kenzie were still using it and Jordan was still sleeping
upstairs at this time remember Kenzie unfortunately was killed lying in her bed in the downstairs bedroom the front
bedroom located on the ground level or main level of the home and Chris said that Kinsey was alive and well when he
left for work that morning Christopher Brown said he left for work at 6:45 a.m. he backed his vehicle out of its parking
spot which is behind the two-story Farmhouse Chris recalled that there was fresh snow on the ground his vehicle
made the only tire tracks down the long driveway to the main road Chris got to work around 700 a.m. and was there and
accounted for all morning until receiving that terrible phone call from the state police at 11:00 a.m. seems as
though Chris has a solid Alibi but obviously law enforcement will have to check him out
and then the tree workers were at their property that day yes we know that the tree workers were there and they were
there the day before as well the six workers arrived on this morning at 9:15 a.m. to gather and stack firewood even
though there was a fresh coating of snow on the ground which was about a/4 inch deep now they parked their three trucks
near the woods line in front of the house and got to work when arriving the workers weren't there too long because
one of them spots the crying girl which was 4-year-old Adeline around 9:40 a.m. this is when the workers called the
police and during this time Captain they actually discussed the two sets of small
footprints that they could see in the snow dotting the driveway between the house and the road Troopers Guston and
Trooper Bowser arrived on scene at 10:13 a.m. they entered the house through the
front door after searching the home the officers noted that the house had four entrances and that none of them were
locked when the police arrived while the Troopers and paramedics were still working on Kenzie to see if they could
possibly save her baby Kenzie's cell phone rang Trooper guson answered the phone and it was the school nurse from
Mohawk Elementary the nurse told him that 11-year-old Jordan Brown who's a fifth grader at
this time was in her office with a stomach ache and he wanted to go home the trooper told the nurse that you need
to keep Jordan there until we can make some kind of arrangements for him right not telling the nurse exactly what has
gone down four-year-old Adeline the youngest daughter and the only other person in the home other than the
deceased when the police arrive was questioned at the house that morning by Trooper Janice Wilson but she was deemed
to be in a State of Shock and not able to provide coherent answers Wilson said in her report that she was able to make
out that Adeline woke up that morning went downstairs watched cartoons for a while and ate some food in the kitchen
she said she was up for a while and heard her mom's phone ring and went into her mom's room to look for her when she
saw her mother she started crying and went to the screen door seeing the wood cutters working outside and that's when
she shouted at one of the workers that she believed her mother was dead she also told the officer that she did not
see anyone else in the home that morning and I think it's important to point out
that Jordan and Janessa are not there that morning cuz they took the school bus to school yes and one thing I want
to hit on here too Captain before before we move on too far is for those of you out there that are familiar with this
case many years after the events of that day this case was on it was featured on
2020 and Adeline gave a different version of the events of that morning on 2020 than what we just reported here now
I want to be completely clear about something I don't I'm not trying to to accuse Adeline of changing her story we
need to keep in mind she was 4 years old when this happened she finds her mother
dead she's got to be in a State of Shock we know that based off of what Trooper Wilson's report says I want to point out
here that we don't have any incorrect information what we are reporting here is what was in Trooper Wilson's report
from that day and then later we have Adeline giving giving a more simple different version in her statement on
2020 so that out of the way before we move along now after Trooper Janice Wilson finished questioning Adeline now
she's going to go to Mohawk Elementary to talk to the two older kids Jordan Brown and Janessa H during his interview
Chris Brown told investigators that the family never used the front door but the
state police Corporal Andrew panel noted that blood was on the front door frame the Corporal also found a blue blanket
on the floor near the front door of the home he entered it into evidence when he
noticed it had a hole in it which appeared to be consistent with a shotgun blast now consistent with the shotgun
blast is very important to our case as later Dr James Smith a forensic pathologist determined that Kenzie was
killed by a single gunshot wound to the back of of her neck and he found the presence of shotgun pellets in and
around the entry wound which was the shape of a large slanted oval the size and shape of the wound told him that
Kinsey was asleep in bed lying on her left side when she was shot in the back of the head and neck to make sure that
we don't leave anything out here the following is a statement from Dr Smith quote hot gas from the shotgun blast
entered the wound through the skin and muscle of the victim's neck and caused the skin to bulge out and rupture near
the point of entry this phenomenon known as blowback formed a tract or laceration
in the skin the nature of this type of damage indicated that the gas from the shotgun blast was mostly contained
within the entry wound and did not have time to dissipate this Factor coupled with the presence of powder in the wound
and suit around the surface of the skin near the point at which the pellets entered the skin caused me to conclude
that the shotgun was very very close to or maybe even touching the back of the neck when it was fired Dr Smith
estimated that the shot was fired from a distance of closer than 2 in from Kenzie's neck Chris Brown remember told
police that Kenzie was alive and well when he left for work that morning the cops very quickly confirmed Chris's
Presence at work all morning and a swab of his hands detected zero gunshot residue Chris was basically cleared very
early on in this investigation so our key window of time is getting small and more manageable right the shooting took
place sometime after Chris Brown left for work at 6:45 a.m. and sometime before Adeline found her and 911 was
called around 9:40 a.m. so less than 3 hours time to work with here now the tree guys arrived at
9:15 and they said that they had not seen or heard anything to further narrow down the window of time cops needed to
talk to the two older kids Janessa and Jordan who were at school that morning Trooper Janice Wilson arrived at Mohawk
Elementary around noon she found Jordan asleep in the nurse's office so she started by questioning Janessa and when
they call Janessa to the office she assumes at first like most kids would that she's in trouble yeah the dreaded
call remember when we were young I don't know how they do it nowadays but they would announce your name over the the
louds speaker Captain to the office yeah Captain to the office and you're like oh
no what did I do well she gets to the office and very quickly she's realizes that she's not in trouble of course and
the officer is going to inform her of that now Janessa calmed down and upon questioning quote didn't have much to
offer about what happened that morning end quote that's from Trooper Wilson Trooper Wilson at that time did
not tell Janessa that her mother was dead we do need to point out something here too that is really kind of
disappointing I understand why it didn't happen but again it's still disappointing looking back on this case
these interviews so far that we've discussed have not been recorded there's not a recording of them anywhere it's
simply we have an officer writing down statements and taking notes based off of a meeting the nurse then took Jordan to
meet Trooper Wilson in a conference room a school guidance counselor was present
for this interview as was for Janessa Trooper Wilson later acknowledged and this is kind of key here when we get
into technicalities and the law and and witness statements and things like that Trooper Wilson later acknowledged that
she had not contacted the father Chris Brown for permission to for permission to
interview or at least to inform him that he that she was speaking with the children now Trooper Wilson said quote
at that time Mr Chris Brown was possibly a suspect in the incident and that's why
that phone call or notification wasn't made so while the state claims that the children were free to leave and not
answer questions well we all know that no seven or 11year old is going to stand up and March out
of a meeting with a police officer and a guidance counselor it doesn't seem reasonable right anyway Jordan told
Trooper Wilson that he was awakened that morning at 8 a.m. by Janessa yelling at
him after she in turn had been awakened by Kenzie just a minute or two before that Jordan said he went downstairs and
got some clothing from the room Kenzie was sleeping in in which of course would soon be his room one day and got dressed
in the bathroom he said Kenzie was awake at this time but in bed then he watched
TV with Janessa in the family room which is adjacent to Ken's room on the first floor he said the only people in the
house at that time to his knowledge were the three kids in Kenzie whom he was calling Mom by this time but
that he never saw Adeline the little girl as she was still asleep his father had already left for work by this point
at some point he and Janessa heard Kenzie yell to them that they needed to leave or they would miss the bus this
from Trooper Wilson's report quote when I asked what time it was Jordan Brown stated that they usually leave the house
at 8:12 but since his mom was telling them they needed to go or they were going to be late he stated that it was
probably 88:13 or 8:14 end quote the older kid's bus would come between 8:12 and 8:15 every morning according to
Jordan Kenzie was awake when they walked out the door Trooper Wilson asked if he
had seen any vehicles at or near the home and Jordan said that as they left the house through the side door which is
important remember the father saying earlier that they never used the family never used the front door Jordan said
that as they left the house through the side door he noted a large black pickup truck parked by the garage of the home
and he said it was the same kind of truck that was driven by the guy who would come to the farm to feed the
cattle not the same truck but the same kind of truck right then Jordan and Janessa got on the bus and they went to
school I'll just back up a little bit Kinsey is a mother of two soon to be a mother of three one on the way she's
laying down I would assume that she was asleep it's almost like she was executed
in her sleep that's what the pathologist would tell us in his report and basically what I see here Captain is a
situation where the timeline is very crucial to this case more so than a lot of other cases out there and we are
really talking about a short window of time here when this murder occurred and then you try to piece well who could
have been there at that time when the murder took place that's got to be your suspect or your suspects right and so
what we have here is a very simple time frame and timeline of Chris Brown leaving for work at 6:45 a.m. if we are
to believe Chris Brown his his soon Tobe wife is alive and well at that time it seems like that's probably the situation
because later we have the the kids saying that she was alive and well later before they leave for school right now
they're getting on the bus about 8:15 at the very latest We have tree workers arriving at 9:15 and then by 9:40 we
have the littlest kid 4-year-old Adeline who's at the door crying and she shouts
at one of the workers my mother is dead we're talking about a window of 3 hours when this execution style murder took
place we also have this unidentified vehicle so this case has a lot of moving pieces and parts and every minute
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when you Angie that [Music] feel [Music] don't all right we are back Shear to everybody in the front
back to the sides to the windows to the walls and all the unfortunate people in the middle yeah of it all smelling the
goodness Cheers Cheers meanwhile Captain back at the house around midday on Friday investigators are still
processing the murder scene Corporal panel searched the upstairs of the home and went into Jordan's bedroom in the
front left corner between a dresser and the wall stood six long guns partially covered by an orange blanket Parnell
began to remove individual guns from this group one at a time and he handed them to Sergeant Mark Linsky for him to
examine and determine if they were loaded the first gun removed by Corporal panel was a flint lock rifle which which
sergeant melinsky examined and noted nothing unusual about it the second weapon Corporal panel handed to Sergeant
marinsky was a Harrington and Richardson youth model 20 gauge shotgun Sergeant marlinski opened the breach of the
shotgun and smelled burnt gunpowder in the breach which he pointed out to the Corporal who also smelled the odor the
sergeant also observed gun powder residue in the breach and in the barrel So based off of their personal
experience with Firearms they both believe that the shotgun was recently fired however they could not opine with
any degree of scientific certainty exactly when the shotgun had been fired just that it had been fired recently
yeah meaning it could have been fired that morning or sometime within that week now in the first floor bedroom
where the victim body was found Corporal panel noted that the television which sat on top of an armoire located in the
right hand side of the room was still turned on observing the doors to the arm wire were closed he opened them now
inside the armoire he saw a locked gun safe on the bottom shelf which was later determined to contain two handguns and
ammunition on the top shelf Corporal panel saw a work helmet and two boxes of shotgun shells one
opened and one closed the open box contained 16 unfired Federal Premium brand 20 gauge shotgun shells okay so
people are trying to figure out why so many guns in this home we already pointed out this is a a small tiny rural
town this was it was common in this area for people to be gun owners and not uncommon for people to be Avid hunters
and in fact we know that Chris Brown and his son Jordan Brown they would go hunting together so Chris Brown owned
several guns and one gun was actually owned by his son Jordan Brown well again going back to the footprints in the snow
we only have two Footprints leaving we don't have other Footprints coming into this house so makes you almost want to
rule out and intrud Theory yeah you're starting to see where this case is going here everyone we have a situation where
as the captain pointed out we don't have any signs or evidence that someone came
into the home and then killed this young woman what we do have though is potentially underline that word
potentially signs that maybe someone inside of the home shot and killed this poor young woman right but at this
moment they can't scientifically prove that no all we have is a bunch of guns and ammo and we have guns that are also
consistent with the the weapon that was used to kill her we have ammo in keny's room and we have guns in Jordan's room
the shells that were found in keny's room well these shells fit into the so-called Smoking Gun that was found in
Jordan's room the one that the officers both smelled and said hey this thing was
L fired right and we also need to remember too that panel had already found a blue blanket which had burn
marks on it and a hole the size of a quarter remember he found that near the front door they also found Blood on the
door frame Chris Brown acknowledged that the gun found in Jordan's bedroom belonged to Jordan he
said it was a Christmas gift from Chris Chris said the two enjoyed hunting together and in fact Jordan won a turkey
shoot competition just 6 days earlier on Valentine's Day even beating out some of
the adults Chris adamantly denied that there was any way that Jordan would have shot Kenzie he said and told the police
the boy was excited about the upcoming wedding and he was excited about the new baby brother well basically what that
statement to me the the way my brain reads that statement is that that Jordan wouldn't kill her but that doesn't mean
that he didn't kill her by accident well and of course after finding these guns and finding the ammunition we're going
to have to have a second round of interviews with everybody that was in that household specifically they wanted
to reinter Jordan so they went to the home of his grandmother this is where he was staying since she had picked him up
from school that day Chris Brown was there as well this is about 1 p.m. at this point Jordan has yet to be told
that Kenzie was murdered so Chris sat down with him at this point and broke the news that something bad had happened
and she was in heaven right Jordan became emotional and started crying at this news according to him he cried
throughout this short interview uh the interview again with Trooper Wilson now from the record quote
Trooper Wilson asked Jordan for more details about the black truck and when he had first seen it Jordan recalled
that he first saw the truck as he exited the house when he reached in his pocket
to see if he had ice cream money for school and in the process he dislodged a mass of fuzz from his pocket which fell
to the ground he said he bent over to pick it up and that is when he noticed the truck parked by the garage Trooper
Wilson asked Jordan if Janessa had possibly seen the the truck as well to which Jordan replies that he mentioned
it to her but she didn't respond and he believed that she was at this point too far ahead of him to hear Jordan also
informed Trooper Wilson that he had seen a person in a white hat ducking over inside of the truck Trooper Wilson
inquired of Jordan why he had not mentioned that when she talked with him that morning he then explained well he
first glanced at the truck he didn't see anybody Jordan also recounted his observation that the lights were on
inside of the truck and when Trooper Wilson stated that he did not tell her that during their first interview Jordan
after hesitating these are her words after he hesitated then described the lights as being sort of halfon which I'm
not certain what that means right after acknowledging that he owned a 20 gauge shotgun Trooper Wilson asked Jordan if
he had fired the gun that morning to which he answered no so let's unpack that a little bit basically in this
report and in this second interview we have one major thing that has changed right yeah he saw a person well we got
to frame this with Jordan's 11 years old and that's what I want to really hone in
on because when I said that one major thing has changed here I didn't mean that Jordan's story has changed what I'm
pointing out is according to the adults in the room at this point we're being told that Jordan was just
told seconds before this interview that his soon to be stepmother was killed that day murdered that day and she's now
in heaven that's the major thing that has changed between when he was first interviewed earlier that day around noon
at school and now at 10: p.m. at his grandparents house that's a major change right when you're asking me about my
morning well the events of my morning don't seem so important and then you tell me oh my soon to be stepmother was
murdered inside of our home guess what now the events of my morning seem to be much more important and maybe I'm
telling you some more details because you've now told me something different right you're questioning me why I'm
telling you something different you just told me something majorly different from
the first time we sat down yeah again if he was 30 years old and he mentioned the
truck before and then started adding details you would question if he's misremembering or if he's lying to
protect himself or maybe maybe to protect somebody else but he's 11 years old so then you have to start
questioning the detectives not saying that they're bad but what questions did you ask differently exactly the second
time around yeah they may not be bad I actually think they're probably pretty good at their job the problem here is
they seem to lack a certain thoroughness to the job right this is where I really
am disappointed that the interviews are not recorded because by this point it is
clear to me that Trooper Wilson along with the other Troopers have already decided that 11-year-old Jordan Brown is
on their suspect list this is why we're having this second interview and this is
why in the course of that interview she is asking him specifically if he had fired the gun that we now know that he
owns that morning right but you have zero evidence so far that has been presented that day that we know of of an
intruder so you you you start going through the reasonable suspects and I think you start with the the husband
right mhm and then you go well there that Alibi is solid my issue is with this time frame and and when when was it
that Jordan got to school and could they narrow down when she was murdered is it
possible that it was an accidental shooting before he took off to the bus I mean I guess it's possible but we don't
have him admitting to anything and we're only talking about a a window of look at at the at the greatest amount
of time possible according to all of these stories if we are to believe these stories they're on the bus by 8:15 and
by 9:40 somebody's calling the police because a little girl said her mother's dead so we have less than an hour and a
half that take takes place and then if we're to back that up on the shorter side of it the tree
workers say that they arrive at 9:15 that morning or around 9:15 that morning and they don't see or hear anything
strange while they are they're working so now we are down to an hour a window of of Simply an hour so either something
happened before Jordan Brown left for school that day or if it happened afterward he's he's not responsible
because we know he was on the bus and we know he was at school another thing that
I find interesting and perplexing of this case is when you say tree workers what kind of equipment are they working
with that day because if I have my headphones Ling some music and then I have my my noise canting headphones on
top of that and I'm just using my like leaf blower if the neighbor shot his wife I probably wouldn't hear it yeah
that's a good point and that's something that's difficult to wrap our heads around here because just because they
say they didn't see or hear anything strange or unusual doesn't mean that something strange and unusual didn't
happen during that time frame right and they were just unaware of it for whatever reason but here's the other
thing I want to point out now again I'm going to go back to I'm curious why we're not recording this interview right
again you are going to this scene you're now going to the grandparents house with
the knowledge that a suspect one of your suspects is an 11-year-old boy and you're going to interview him there it
seems to me like you would want to record that interview and here's the reasons why right it's it's some of the
reasons that you already pointed out captain why are my answers different why is my story different well are your
questions the same as they were earlier today because if you're now asking me different questions and I wasn't
questioned on certain things I may not have just brought them up magically on my own especially if I didn't know that
anybody was dead and that my mour had any importance on the loss of life so it's all very confusing to me and then
here we have the trooper giving her opinion when she says that well well I asked him this question and after he
hesitated when I asked him why you didn't tell me earlier in the first interview that the light was on inside
of the truck Jordan hesitated and then described the lights as being sort of halfon well that's her opinion and that
might go a long way to Leading someone to believe that this guy this kid might be guilty of something where if it were
recorded we could all view it and give our opinion on it and go well yeah he did hesitate or maybe she's completely
wrong again there's a lot of different things here what's interesting to me is the things that have changed in his
story are not just the I might have tried to tell my soon to be steps sister about the truck oh I did see somebody in
the truck and the lights were on not only did that change but also we have the added detail of well I checked to
see if I had ice cream money and I this big piece of fuzz fell out of my pocket and I bent down to pick it up there's
multiple things that are changing here and we say changing but to me it could also just be the same story with
additional details that were left out for whatever reason the first time is there anybody else other than Jordan
other than the 11-year-old son that that claims to see this black truck no there is not and when Trooper
Wilson asked Jordan if he had fired a gun his gun that morning and Jordan answered no at that point is when Chris
Brown the father stopped the interview Troopers Wilson and McGraw who was also there informed him that they believed
that Jordan was the one who had murdered Kenzie well obviously if your 11-year-old son did this you want to
protect him because he he obviously has some mental issues going on it's interesting to me that law enforcement
jumps to the conclusion right away that if it is Jordan that it's as simple as he didn't like his stepmom and he
murdered her I think there's another possibility where you have 11-year-old kid maybe walking around the house with
a loaded gun and maybe just goes to Poker and then somehow the gun goes off I think there's an angle here where
where you have firearms in the possession of a of a child where you could argue you accidental death well
we're getting ahead of ourselves here a bit because currently they're not looking for technically a murderer
they're just trying to figure out who shot this woman regardless of how it went down right and we can get into
those details as we go so accident or no accident murder or no murder that's not
their concern at this point as an investigator you were simply trying to figure out how why and who shot and
killed this woman Jordan won't be the only person that is interviewed again for the second time that night that same
night Troopers reinterviewed Janessa as well now she tells them the same story that she told before about getting up
for school around 8 watching TV in the living room and then leaving for the bus with Jordan according to Jordan at
police request Janessa was taken by her grandparents to the police barracks for a third interview that same night this
is at 11:30 p.m. now keep in mind the ages I'm I'm glad that you pointed out the ages a second ago Captain with
Jordan let's remind everybody the age of Janessa this is a 7-year-old girl whose
mother was just killed that day she's been up by her own admission by 8:00 a.m. that morning this is now 11:30 p.m.
and she's being interviewed for the third time by police according to to the Pennsylvania State Police in the third
interview Janessa started to tell a very different story she said that she still
did not see who shot her mom she didn't see anyone at all that morning other than Jordan Jordan she said was carrying
two guns down the stairs she asked him what he was doing and he told her his father asked him to move the guns this
would make some sense to a 7-year-old girl because remember they are in the process of switching
rooms and these guns were stored in his room and he's switching rooms with Kenzie and his father so she says
according to the story she asked him why he's carrying the guns down the stairs he says my father asked me to move them
a few minutes later she said that she heard a very loud boom and then Jordan went back upstairs and then came back
down empty-handed she later asked Jordan about the noise but he would not answer
her then they walked out to the bus and she saw Jordan Chuck something into the snow next to the driveway these
detectives aren't stupid but it seems on some level that they're acting stupid because Janessa changes her story Jordan
changes his story and we're completely suspect of him Janessa changes her story and we don't bat an ey if I were to have
to make an argument for these children and I guess I don't have to but I will right here my argument would be
completely different than that Janessa's story absolutely changes to me there's a
chance that Jordan story is the same story just with additional details I agree so it's it's very bizarre to me
that they're treating two children very differently again I cannot emphasize enough and I know everybody in their
cars listening or are sick of hearing me say this but I really wish all sick of hearing you talk these interviews with
children should be recorded yes now Pur several of the officers statements regarding Janessa's statements about
seeing Jordan carrying the guns and possibly a gun covered by a blanket and then hearing a loud boom and then seeing
Jordan later throwing something onto the ground chucking something as they're running out to the bus these statements
absolutely led to what happened next and that was was 11-year-old Jordan Brown being arrested for the death of Kenzie
Hal Jordan's inconsistent statements to police about the truck he saw that morning of course were problematic for
Jordan whether or not the lights were on in the truck and the changing his story
to seeing a man inside wearing a hat in the second interview these are of course
Nails in the coffin I wonder something here Captain about what the boy Bo said about the lights being sort of halfon
and this just occurred to me you know in in your vehicle you have the ability to
turn the overhead lights on and you can hit one or two I wonder if that's what he meant by that statement that it was
kind of a dim light and he suspected that only one light was on in the truck if in fact he did even see a truck now
the gun in his room that quote smelled as though it had been fired recently this and Janessa's statements basically
give police what they were looking for and that is probable cause Jordan Brown was arrested at 3:00 a.m. Saturday
morning for the murder of Kenzie Hal and his unborn half brother he was taken to
Lawrence County Jail where he was kept in isolation away from the other inmates for obvious reasons they are adult men
and this is a little boy guards checked on him every 15 minutes at dawn on Saturday morning State Police resumed
their investigation at the wam Farmhouse this time their focus was on the exterior of the home they performed grid
searches of the property during these searches they found a shotgun shell that was clearly weathered it was rusted and
had evidently been outside for quite a long time so this won't be of any use to them in this investigation but then the
officers walked further down the driveway in the direction of the road to where they discovered a second spent
shell this shell a federal number six brand 20 gauge was found approximately 100 ft away from the house on the left
hand side of the driveway at the beginning of a fence line that ran the entire length of the left side of the
driveway The Spence shell was located near the base of the wire fence a few feet from the middle of the driveway and
it was lying underneath leaves which were frozen and covered by ice and snow this shell was not rusted like the other
one they recovered when asked a state police Sergeant characterized this shell as quote prestine I can tell you why
they did the grid search because of Janessa's story when you when you when she says that she saw Jordan throw
something that's what they were looking for that's something now is this bullet casing
that possibly you're exactly right Captain this shell casing was consistent with the open box
of ammo that was found in the armoire in Kinsey's room and was suitable for use in Jordan's youth model 20 gaug shotgun
lot of little pieces stacking up against Jordan now the burning question here Captain is Jordan is a little boy so why
wasn't he sent to a juvenile facility Well the answer is that in Pennsylvania the law required that any child aged 10
and older accused of a homicide to be charged as an adult because the criminal courts handled homicide cases in the
Commonwealth since he was technically a juvenile he was not eligible for the death penalty but if found guilty by the
criminal tribunal he would receive a mandatory sentence of life without parole and at just 11 years old he would
be the youngest American ever to receive that sentence this reminds me a little bit of our Eddie O'Brien case that we
covered not terribly long ago the trail of Blood episodes number 46 and 417 on your true crime garage radio dial Chris
Brown reeling over the murder of his fiance and unborn child now needed help for his son so at 6:30 a.m. on February
21st he was recommended to two local attorneys this is Dennis alesco and Dave Aker who immediately went to work trying
to get the case transferred to juvenile court and to possibly arrang for a bond so that Jordan could return home to his
father rather than staying in the adult County jail but in Pennsylvania most homicide defendants are not allowed out
on bond pending trial and so Jordan wasn't either but keeping Jordan at the adult jail wasn't going to work Lawrence
County District Attorney John bong Veo was in charge of Prosecuting the case and had three young boys of his own and
he told the Post Gazette newspaper quote Yeah it's enough to make me throw up I'm
not necessarily sure I want him sitting in jail while we figure all this out end
quote the Lawrence County Jail Warden agreed he told the Post Gazette that he stands ready to go on record as saying
the 10ft x 10 foot jail cell is definitely not the right place for Jordan quote I've got to keep him in
isolation he has to be checked on constantly but he's also got the right to be able to get out for a bit he's got
the right to a shower it's really tough the warden said the price tag for the constant security needed to ensure
Jordan's safety at the jail was estimated to be about $4,500 a week Jordan was eventually
moved to a juvenile facility on February 27th and then to the Edmund L Thomas adolescent Detention Center in Erie
Pennsylvania on March 2nd where he stayed for the next several [Music] years don't feel the
[Music] same don't feel so much more to get to we want to hear from you check out our blog at true
Crim garage.com and Colonel until tomorrow be good be kind and don't litter [Music]
[Applause] [Music] you can live out your Master Chef dream when you find a professional on Angie to
tackle your dream kitchen remodel connect with skilled professionals to get all your home
projects done well visit angie.com you can do this when you Angie that

Getting Away With Murder /// Part 1 /// 551

Part 1 of 2

www.TrueCrimeGarage.com

February 20, 2009 - Wampum, Pennsylvania. A 26 year old mother of two is found dead in her home. She was found to be shot in the head laying in her bed. State Police quickly determined that she was found a very short period of time after having been killed, maybe just minutes. More than in most cases, the timeline of the events and movements of persons closest to our victim will be the key element in this week’s true crime story.

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Brief Summary

The episode details the murder of Kenzie Hal and her unborn child, focusing on the investigation and arrest of her fiancé's son, Jordan Brown.

Key points

A Heartbreaking Tribute. The hosts honor a listener who passed away, pouring out a drink in remembrance.
A Tragic Discovery. Tree workers find a little girl claiming her mother is dead, leading to a shocking scene.
The Case of Kenzie Hal. The episode introduces the tragic case of Kenzie Hal and her unborn child.
Timeline of Events. The timeline is crucial in piecing together the murder case, with a narrow window of time for the crime.
A Child's Revelation. A 4-year-old girl shocks workers with the news of her mother's death.
Jordan's Emotional Response. Jordan learns of his mother's murder, leading to an emotional breakdown during questioning.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

My mother is dead.

A little girl cries out to a worker.

5:21WatchNov 16, 2023

Tension

75/ 100High tension

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