Interview with Rashawn Brazell's Mother ////// | Forensic Files

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life redeem your 50% off at rosettastone.com [Music] today this is one of the most brutal
murders in the history of this city rashan's gruesome murder will forever trouble a dedicated detective
who retired without solving it and will haunt rashan's mother who's had to live with it every
[Music] day good good afternoon desire thank you for joining me here in the garage today
to talk about your son's case could you tell thank you for having me you're most
welcome could you tell me and the listeners a little bit about your son ran yes I can what can I
say ran was the C type of kid where he always was there to give a helping hand I didn't find out how much of a help
hand that my child was giving out until his passing I didn't know that my child was helping out one of the
teachers that live in my building with her kids with a project of a earth project that he assist them with that
she said he took the time out he came to the school they went on these little Park
trails and he picked up things for the kids um my son used to take food out my refrigerator and give it to the people
across the street my son was very how can I say it not into fashion but he liked old clothing like the
fisherman hats and he was just a old soul and always made sure that if he could he was be he was willing to help
anyone was he as smart as he was good-looking yes yes he was the smartness is I discovered that
ran back then you know we had the video movies you know the movies that you put in the
VCR he was renting them out for a dollar had his own little business going huh had his own little business
going where he can you know get his little snacks or whatever his favorite snacks was chocolate chip cookies and
milk could you tell us about the last time that you saw ran it was Valen time day morning and I was up getting ready
to work he was a little concerned because Sean was the type of person where he always believed in having a job
like it it it was a must for him I remember when he had this job and he was going to school and working at night and
you know I didn't like it but I know he loved his independence so that morning he was up
he was getting his clothes ready he had his little bag with his resume and you know he was a little concerned because
he had been out of work not that long but a couple of months and it bothered him so I remember when I got to the
train station I called him and I said listen your phone bill and if you have any other little bills you know mommy's
here mommy's goingon to help you I don't want you stressing over the fact that no one has
called you back yet from the few interviews that you went on you will get a job until then Mommy got you
and I'll see you later because he was my Valentine date Mommy and son was supposed to get together that day and
you know have lunch and everything ran doesn't show up for this date and what can you take us through the process of
what prompted you to report him missing and how did you go about reporting him missing well I called him I didn't you
know my call went straight to voicemail and you know I kept calling I kept calling I kept calling so I left work
and I remember the last call I made to him I said can't believe you stood me up you got me worried I haven't spoken to
you when I get home you better have a good excuse when I got home he was not there I started panicking a little bit
because we talk maybe three or four times a day when I'm at work so at work I'm thinking
maybe he didn't charge his phone maybe his phone died or whatever and I was going to get home and you know he's
goingon to be like Mom this is what happened but he wasn't there and I had an issue with
that I stayed up most of the night any little noise I heard I'm thinking it was him coming in the door when Ron didn't
come home that night I immediately knew something was wrong I went to work I started calling the
hospitals to see if anyone came in when I did call the police to make a report they came out but this is what I was
told due to his age and he wasn't a special needs child there really wasn't much they can do I was
told that maybe he was just hanging out with his friends and you know he'll be home soon and what I was trying to tell
the officer was that no he wasn't that wasn't the type of child he was he didn't he didn't do that that that
wasn't his thing and he would have contacted me if you know if that was the case so the police followup was just
them coming out that day was did did you hear before the 17th of February did you
hear anything back from the police other than them coming out no your ini no now
of course it took several years with no answers with you really being the one to
lead the charge with petitioning America's Most Wanted to cover the case and keeping
tabs on even the detectives and who's working the case and and and what what if any progress they had because from an
outsider looking in desire it appears to me like they had a lot of ideas early on
they were working a lot of leads and talking to a lot of people that knew ran early on and then for a lack of better
term the case kind of went cold could you tell us a little bit about the kind of that down period in
the investigation when they had kind of run out of leads it starts to get cold and and now it's just it's just Mom and
family leading the charge I have to be honest in the beginning of my son case I did not
feel that the detectives in the very beginning was really working my sun case I I have to
be honest with that my son case didn't really start getting worked until detective aad took it over
himself I'll never forget how this detective came to me and he said you know the people that I've talked to no
one has had any bad thing to say about your son you know when it got called I decided to do a March you know to keep
his name out there to let them know somebody knows something whatever you know you know I gave my email you know I
gave numbers that you know people can reach out to I got together with this church and we used to go out on notion
Avenue where he was found on the train tracks there and we would like candles and you know certain news reports would
come out and you know I would say once again somebody knows something whatever little thing that you
think is not important talk about it tell somebody about it I it I gave Gatherings you know I sold
dinners just you know in his name there was a scholarship fund it was called the
rashan memoral scholarship fund that was started with you know Larry lions and some of his other people we got together
and we was able we we were so successful in raising money where we sent other kids to college you know with money that
was donated I tried to do everything I possibly could to make sure that this his case just didn't go cold and nobody
you know wasn't working on it and it just it just it was hard for me it was hard
because I knew somebody out there had took my son's life and the way that they did it they
didn't even allow me to look upon his face again so with all of that it just had me charg I mean in the beginning I
was so angry you know I was hurt I was so many emotions I wanted to know why and you know how could this have
happened and I even blamed myself for a while because I felt like maybe I led him to believe that you
know everybody needs help and because of the work that I do you know I wanted my
child to feel like you know the homeless the weak the people that you can help you can help maybe I made a
mistake about that but I just kept going I just kept going detectives have a term
for the category that that your son would be for an investigator and I don't know if anybody's ever shared this with
you but some detectives use the term true innocence true innocent or absolute innocence and the persons that fall into
that category you know because you you hear on the news and you see it in the newspapers oh this this person uh this
senseless act of violence uh ended this innocent person's life but as far as detectives are concerned there are
actually very small portion of the population that are true Innocents true Innocents and your son would fall into
that category oftentimes it's someone that is too young you know like a young child who who doesn't have an extended
Social Circle uh is too young to be up to anything uh that might put them In Harm's Way or running around with the
wrong crowd and your son falls into that that category of a person a good person
who was doing good things and was truly innocent and unfortunately what we did not know at the time in 2005 is that
this this person who is at the complete opposite end of the spectrum who could only be categorized as a monster was
living and had some association with your family living close and one of the most startling things and
this is something that I I I picked up in the news so forgive me if this is wrong but you know there there's nothing
easy about this case there's nothing comfortable to talk about with this case but one thing that stood out and made me
incredibly angry and I wanted to to hear your thoughts on this and and maybe if there's a way that you can
convey how you felt and what you experienced at the time after the arrest of gavon the the way that this
was reported is you're in court and he's supposed to be paying attention facing the judge and did he turn to you and say
something or or turn to you and Whisper or mouth something to you yes he mouthed
to me I love you it took every fiber of my being to not run up and try to choke the
life out of him but what I realized was this person was trying to victimize me MH and
I wasn't going to allow that because I have already been through enough it shocked me to find out that this young
man end up being connected to my son when detective model told me he was retiring I I said okay that's it it's
over there's that where do I go and you know he said but I have someone that wants your son's
case now I admit you know I was a little well why do this officer want my son's case and you know he introduced me to
Jason and you know I asked Jason why did he want this case and I remember him telling me when your son case first hit
I put that article on by my desk he said because I felt like if it did not end up
getting solved and it do end up in the Cold Case unit I wanted it he said because I I you know
I was always saying about something the family was doing you know talking to detective mod and him telling me how
passionate you and your family was about trying to find out who did this he said
I just refuse to allow this case to just go and nothing be done so with all the hard work I'll
never forget it it was around Christmas time and I had finally decided to celebrate Christmas
because Christmas was Sean's holiday and since I lost him I you know I just didn't do it and I'll never forget when
they called me and I went to meet with them and you know when they gave me this information I lost it because this
person lived right across the street from me I know this person's family when I say know the family I know the family
now me and this young man did not have a good report with one another at all and
when I discovered that there was a possibility of a connection when I sat in that court and he said that to me I
was like okay no I said I see what you're doing you want me to act out you want to see my hurt I said but I'm G be
better than you I'mma hold this and I'm going to let the system do what they need to do to get you off the street he
tried to play the victim in the courtroom at times yes and he it seems like he liked the
spotlight or to cause drama to draw attention to to himself I agree oh drama is not the word we was in the lobby when
they brought him in it was ridiculous like me my son Sean's brother and one of my son friend we were standing there I
had to hold them back because they was like look at him like look at the ass it it it it was it was something to see
it really was but that I love you thing yeah that was it for me mind you though no one told him to turn around he got
away with that the police a after the arrest it sounds like especially things that we heard from detective palamara
that the police felt pretty good about their case against gavon and and we know that
that many people felt good about the case against him because it goes to the grand jury and they
decide that yes this these charges are warranted this should go to trial how and why do these charges get dropped
against someone who has committed such heinous horrible acts and against more than one victim as well I'm confused as
you are when they did the first trial with him with the young lady that he brutally
killed and he was convicted I remember clearly what the da said to me he said now miss brazelle it's your turn
and we're going to see to it that you get the justice that you deserve Reserve now
remember Co hit then remember there was a disaster where all they evidence was and certain things they had was lost
but you know what they had so much more when I say detector a model and his partner Jason and Evelyn when the Cold
Case unit got together when I say they gave them so much more I was so angry I was angry because it was like a slap in
Jason face it was a it was a slap in the whole Cold Case unit face because it kept on it kept adjourning it kept
adjourning and I'mma tell you I'm going tell you I started getting the feeling and always ask the same question are we
good are we good oh miss bazelle you have nothing to worry about we're good we good well finally Co ends finally
we're getting court dates me and my family sat in that courtroom it was just one thing after
another after another after another and then I remember the day I watch the da his lawyers go up to the bench
there was a conversation I didn't share with my family but I said they're discussing to
let this case go after the that day they set a date I asked to speak to her she took me and my sister in a room and lied
directly to my face that this we was going to go to trial I asked her I said is everything good she said
yes we're going to trial I said to her I want to thank you for allowing it to go
to trial because even though you know y'all in the DA office feel like okay y'all lost whatever y'all lost in the
evidence I appreciate the fact that you're going to allow a jury to decide his faith you're going to
present what you have what you had that was strong enough for the grand jury to indict him
without that evidence you had being presented to them and I said I appreciate that I said whatever happens
at Tri I will accept the outcome well she called me I was getting off from work and she said to me oh miss
brazelle I'm going to need you to come into the office cuz I need to speak with you I said wow I don't like the sound of
this and she said well I just need for you to come in so her tone on the phone had already told me what was going to
happen I went into their office and a friend of mine went with me it destroyed me to hear that they was going
to dismiss the case but his his what they felt like was satisfactory for me oh but don't worry he's in jail for Life
he's never going to get out and we will see to it every time he comes up for parole that he never makes parole and I
said to her but what do that do for me because for me he didn't answer for my son's life I said and I'mma tell you
something I feel like if my son was from a different background or a different area no matter how little evidence you
had you still would have took this to trial but it sounds like to me you're saying my son case was in significant it
doesn't matter I should be happy that you know y'all got through the first trial he's not worth the money for the
second trial and he got life so there it is I left out of there disussed they had
a therapist sitting there and I'm saying to my mom what is she supposed to do for
me doing this meeting and what else all make me angry I said your boss didn't even have the audacity enough respect
for me and my family to be here after he stood in my face and said to me Miss B don't worry we're going to take this all
the way to trial no matter what I sat outside and cried for hours I couldn't believe that all the hard work that was
done I'm sure they had so much more that they didn't felt the need to say let's take it the triout it's like I told her
I've seen cases go with a little of nothing it all depends on how you present that evidence to the jury and
how strong you are but I guess my son wasn't worth [Music] it planning an international trip and
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rosettastone.com today [Music] well and with in this case in particular with with the individual that would be
on Tri gavon he's the type of individual you saw it play out right in front of you with your own eyes he's the type of
individual if you put him on a stage and give him enough rope he will hang himself exactly
the thing that's so aggravating here it's it's it's a double whammy situation right it's not only have they stopped
fighting for ran they've almost handcuffed you and prevented you from continuing to fight for your son that's
that's exactly what they did that's exactly what they did it was like yeah what's she going to
do like okay yeah she can go on the news and say whatever and then they had a spokesperson after I did that
interview on the news with Mary Murphy they had a spokesperson that lied and said oh well miss brazelle already knew
that this was going to happen that's a lie no I did not know y'all waited till the very last
minute to give me that information because I was still under the impression that no matter what you had lost that
y'all was going to go to trial with whatever you had so I didn't get the opportunity to go back and say she's a
liar no one I didn't I didn't know anything ahead of time I kept persisting that this goes to trial I kept
persisting nothing but this is what I end up with and like you said I just felt trap my
hands tied and I I I didn't frankly it's it's rude on their on their part because if they've decided
that we're not going to do anything that we are not going to advance your son's case further through the courts then
when you talk to the news when you talk to the media if they've already decided they they've given up they shouldn't
even offer up a rebuttal they shouldn't even put spokesperson or woman up there to or man to to have a comment on what
your comments are they've decided not to do anything so sit down and be quiet is
is my feeling and and you dear if you want to shout out from the mountain tops you should and you you you had the
unfortunate experience of of witnessing this firsthand and witnessing the action
and then lack thereof action by their office you have every right to say what it is
that you experience and what you feel and and what they did or didn't do in your son's case and I am so sure I am so
sure I guarantee you that there's other cases that this da has done the same way
you're in New York I'm in Ohio and unfortunately I've I've I've witnessed cases and and spoke to family members in
cases that are similar here in Ohio where it just feels like there is a not just a lack of urgency to
prosecute but but even in some cases a lack of effort to investigate further and unfortunately I've seen I can count
him on up to two hands now the number of times that I've seen where we have an individual locked up for one thing and
he's done a bunch of other horrible things and the powers that beego well that's that's good enough he's he's
Behind Bars he's going to be there for a long time and that's going to have to be
good enough and that's what this was here and I know we've we've we've talked about it already quite a bit but but in
the early stages middle stages and how could your son's in your opinion from what you saw what you experienced how
could your son's case have been handled differently and is there anything that can be done now I feel like whatever
evidence that they lost whatever they needed off of that that should have been already handled that should have been
already taken care of and on the side I felt like in the beginning when they was
given certain information they should have followed through with that information in the
beginning see the DA office don't realize how much I do know how much the people from the street have talked to me
and I just feel like they didn't they didn't do it like they took everything that Jason did handed to them and said
okay well yeah you gave us this but because we lost whatever it was there then the other things that you gave us
and it's it's strong but we're just not going to do it it's like they had this attitude of well if we lose this case
there'll be a loss on our record I everything that came into their office they should have followed through with
it in the very beginning you allow Co to hit you sat back I remember reaching out
to them and saying to them I feel like that my sun case is going to end up in your drawer in your file cabinet and
forgotten and that's just how my son case ended up in they file cabinet filed under
dismiss and that's that everything should have been done differently and like right now the only thing that I can
hope for if we get a new DA and I can pre present once again my son case to a new DA that's sitting
there and say look at this go back and read this go back and look at that and hopefully maybe something could be done
being that it never went to trial and there was no verdict it was just dismissed but maybe with a new DA
sitting there and that new da said no you know what we going to take the chance and we going to take this to
trial with what we have right here because this was good detective work being that it was a cold case we're
going to take all of this and we're going to use it and we're going to see what the jury comes back and like I said
I would have appreciated appreciated that so much because I feel like if a jury had a setb back and heard
everything other than this piece of in evidence that they lost I don't know why but I just feel like a jury would have
been like no no we're GNA convict I I it it just goes back to like I said it all
it's all about how you present what you have the passionate that you show and your determination when it came down
this the lack of determination suck I can tell you though there was one person that was sitting in that room with us I
can tell it hurt her to her soul that the person that was handling my sun case was sitting over from me telling me that
they was going to dismiss it and to add insult to injury you know they ask me she emailed me to ask me oh I'm unsure
are you going to be in court today why would I be in court why would why would I have been there for that if it it was
just plain disrespect even the therapist was sitting there was looking like like this is all wrong this is so
wrong but because of the person that had the case the person under her couldn't speak and like I told her you you let
your boss send you in here to do this which me and and she told me she said well I agree with him we just didn't
have enough and I was like wow so everything that Jason had gave y'all wasn't enough but
you didn't have that evidence that you lost that's not what was presented to the grand jury
and they still indicted him and it's all just comes down to like I said they decided okay we got a guilty verdict on
the first trial Let It Be he's never getting out and that's was their main thing of comfort from them to me oh he's
never getting out don't even worry about it go home relax forget it it's done well and the thing here is your your son
was a good to say good upstanding citizen is just the tip of the iceberg and in some ways he was a night in
shining armor for some of these people that he was trying to help and people in the area people that he knew the the
only Heroes that you had seemed to come from the Cold Case Squad and that's it there
was no night and shining armor for you or your family or for ran for that fact from the DA's office and to me all this
says and and I want to be clear because somewhere there's going to be somebody listening and they're going to say Nick
hang on pump the brakes a little bit buddy but I want to be clear this this is a situation that has end up as you
said and as has been reported as dismissed your your son's case dismissed it's not they didn't come to you and say
this is pending further Evidence or or we're going to continue to work this case and continue to build a case
against gavon no it's it's we we can't do anything is we've we've we've put our hands up in the air and we go I don't
know we can't do there's nothing left for us to do here and to me that that shows an extreme lack of character on
behalf of the district attorney and it shows it's a big sign of weakness because as you said earlier a concern
for having a loss on their record who cares if you have a loss on your record the general public the public that you
represent the families that you represent the people that want bad people off of the streets violent
horrible people off of the streets and locked up and put away because they don't deserve to live in our society the
people that want that they don't care about your losses we yes we care about your wins rack up some wins we want wins
for the good people for the citizens we don't care about the losses as long as you try that's it every Sunday every
Sunday the worst team in in the NFL marches out on the field and they may play the best team in the NFL and you
know what secretly inside the locker room they might say themselves I don't think we have a very good chance of
winning today do they just pack up and get on the bus and go back home no they go out and they play the game and they
give it their all and they bust their butts to try to climb that mountain and David beat Goliath
and here I it's just to me it's just a lack of character it's a sign of weakness nobody cares man if you lose
just go out there and try and give it your all and instead no they closed the book and said we've we can't we can't do
anything here so if when when they when they seem to care about losses guess what this is a huge loss for them a huge
loss for them well I can honestly tell you clearly as a fact the case was dismissed due to lack of evidence or
however they want to put it no one came to me and say oh but we're GNA further investigate we're gonna keep digging we
none of that my son case ended up just where I didn't want it to end up in their foul cabinet shut done they've
moved on but they're moving on in their mind saying oh but we got that win that first
win he's in jail for life so that should cover everything Miss brazelle should feel comfortable and happy with the fact
that he was never getting out because that's what her words to me was oh but you don't have to worry just keep this
in mind he's never getting out he and I'm looking at her like wow so this is your way this is this is the Olive
Branch that you're handing to me right now this is I should be grateful I should be
thankful that he's never getting out and that every time he come up for parole y'all are gonna make sure he never
receives it okay okay I hope you sleep very well tonight okay all right right yeah it's dismiss as far as
they're concerned that was it they did they quit they did they quit on me they quit on my son it never crossed their
mind there was never a thought in their mind that they victimized me and my family just how it was when his life was
taken how we felt shattered lost no answers confused that's how I felt sitting at that table listening to that
that's how I felt when I read her email trying to find out am I going to court I
was so messed up to where I found myself it was no need me sitting at home sitting at home was going to do what
mess with my psyche I went to work I helped my client I cried coming home the next morning I
just repeated that process cried going into work help my clients cry coming back home talk to my husband here
who just talk it out just CED but how much talking can I do when I realize that I've been l out it's it's been shut
down now I just have to heal myself now every Valentine Day I have to go through
a little something on his birthday April 15th I have to go a little something you
know I do have bad days I I have days where I wake up and I'd be like wow what would he have been doing
in his life today like would he have still been working at the hospital because days after his death I got a
phone call from a woman that Sean had went through an interview in New York Presbyterian Hospital just serving
food he got the job I had to tell her what happened to him that woman had only met him on an interview and she cried
she said no that's that's that's that's not right that no and I said I'm sorry and she said I just met with him like we
she said after the interview they sat there and talked for hours she said like she had
to put like say okay I got to get back to work now and she already knew through her other interview she was going to
give him the job she just hung up that job was right across the street from the men's shelter
that I was working at at that time desire I'm so sorry for your loss I'm I'm so sorry that this that they didn't
that this wasn't handled differently I'm sorry that they the DA has given up the
fight when you never gave you you you had every look beaten down grieving the way that you you had to have been you
had every reason to give up the fight yourself you didn't you didn't give up the fight and they should have never
have done so either is is there any is there anything that we that we missed or that we didn't that we didn't talk about
that you want to express what I would like to make a statement is to anyone that lose a family
member to such a violent Act never give up just keep trying to fight the good fight and if it does come down
to where your hands are tied hopefully someone will reach out to you in order for you to be able to say
what you need to say remove some of the anger that you was holding on to because
you didn't get what you thought you was going to get seek therapy and maybe just start Jing down
some notes and you might look up and be surprised that you know you have a little book that you could put out there
for people that do go through this and just keep hoping and praying that our system our justice system in New
York get some [Music] guts this is one of the most brutal murders in the history of this
City rashan's gome murder will forever trouble a dedicated detective who retired without solving it and will
haunt rashan's mother who's had to live with it every [Music] day and if you'd like to hang out with
us live we're going to be at crime con UK and crime con USA crime con USA is going to take place in Nashville and
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garage until next week be good be kind don't you [Music] litter [Music] [Applause]

Interview with Rashawn Brazell's Mother //////

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In late February of 2005 a crew working in the A line subway tunnel in Brooklyn New York found dismembered body parts in trash bags. Later the victim was identified as 19 year old Rashawn Brazell. Rashawn had vanished three days earlier. The New York City Police Department searched all over the country for clues. Rashawn’s murder case was profiled several times on America’s Most Wanted. This week True Crime Garage is joined by Rashawn’s mother Desire to discuss the case and where it stands today.

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Brief Summary

Desire discusses her son Rashan's brutal murder and the failed justice system.

Key points

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Rashan's Gruesome Murder. A dedicated detective's unsolved case haunts a mother.
A Mother's Fight for Justice. Desire's relentless pursuit of justice for her son.
The Pain of Dismissal. A mother shares her heartbreak over the dismissal of her son's case.
The Fight for Justice. A mother reflects on the dismissal of her son's case and the fight for justice.
A Call to Action. Encouraging others to never give up in the face of injustice.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

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0:14WatchMar 6, 2024

Tension

75/ 100High tension

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