Online romance that turned into a nightmare | Forensic Files

[Music] This is one of those cases where once you hear it, you will never forget it.
Deceit, betrayal, and murder with gutting twists I certainly would have never predicted.
I'm Olivia Lavoy, crime reporter and creator of the Case File Presents podcast, The Bakersfield 3. I've teamed
up with Case File to bring you some of their most memorable cases in a visual format. Today's case is based on Case
File episode number 267, Brian Barrett. In 2005, there was a popular gaming site called pogo.com that
was a platform for strangers and friends to play a variety of online games together. And there was a chat option so
players could interact and whatnot. One day, a user named Marine Sniper was playing Blackjack when they got a
message from another player named Tallh Hot Blonde. Tall Hot Blonde introduced herself as 18-year-old Jesse. She
messaged Marine Sniper and told him that he was in the wrong place. The poker room they were in was for teens and
Tallh Hot Blonde pointed out that Marine Sniper's profile listed him as 46 years
old. Marine Sniper responded that he wasn't in the wrong room. He said he was 18 and was using his dad's account to
play. And so the two continued to chat. Marine Sniper revealed his name was Tommy. He lived in upstate New York and
had dreams of joining the Marines like his father had. But Tommy soon explained he didn't always want to be like his
dad. He told Jesse his mom died when he was 12 and after that he never felt loved. He told her that eventually he
became closed off from the world and was a loner. He also told Jesse he was occasionally suicidal and struggled with
self-hatred. When he was 17, keep in mind he said he was 18 now. He told Jesse he raped a cheerleader from his
high school. He said he felt he had hit rock bottom. It's one way to put it. Anyways, we can assume there was no
criminal case unfortunately for the victim because Tommy said his way of dealing with it was to enlist in the
Marines. He told Jesse in 2 months he would be heading to boot camp in South Carolina. Despite this horrifying
confession of being a rapist, Jesse apparently felt compassion towards Tommy and was proud of him for working to find
himself. She knew that terrible feeling of lacking direction and the stress it can cause. Jesse lived in West Virginia
in a small town called Oak Hill. She had a fairly typical life. She lived with her parents and her younger brother. She
told Tommy her family drama consisted of her often fighting with her mother. Jesse said she loved sports and was
excellent at both basketball and softball. She worked part-time as a lifeguard and was a senior in high
school preparing to graduate soon and then was heading off to college, but she was struggling to figure out what she
wanted to do with her life. But the idea of Tommy being in the picture suddenly made her future seem brighter. During
their very first conversation, Jesse sent Tommy some photos of her in a bikini. Just as her username suggested,
she was tall and athletic with long blonde hair and tan skin. Jesse continued to send more photos varying
from glamour shots taken at the mall by a professional to candid photos of her playing sports. Jesse even began making
photo slideshows for Tommy. One of them to the Aerosmith song, I don't want to miss a thing. When Tommy described his
physical appearance to Jesse, he told her he was 6 feet tall with a muscular build. Eventually, he sent Jesse a photo
of himself in his uniform, and Jesse liked what she saw. The two began to talk more and eventually started having
lengthy phone calls. When Tommy was headed to boot camp in South Carolina, his schedule got tight, but he still
always managed to find time to speak with Jesse. And it wasn't long before the two declared their love for each
other. Their conversations became racier and more intense. Tommy even told Jesse
he got a tattoo on his arm of a heart with her name in it and the words always and forever. The two longed for a future
together, but then Tommy got word that after boot camp he'd be shipped out to the Middle East to fight in the Iraqi
war. He told Jesse that internet access would be fairly restricted during this time. And so if she wanted to send him a
care package or get an urgent message to him, she could do so through his father,
Tom Senior. Tommy explained that Tom Senior's Marine contacts could get the package to Tommy faster than the US
Postal Service. Jesse sent Tom Senior letters and photos, which he then forwarded to Tommy. But being far away
from Jesse ignited Tommy's jealous streak. He accused her of flirting with other men from their gaming community,
which led to the couple's first argument. Eager to make up, Jesse sent Tommy a care package that included a
pair of her underwear and a necklace in the shape of half a heart. Jesse had the
other half, of course. So, all seemed to be well between them. But Tom Senior, Tommy's dad, did not agree with the
relationship. He tried to discourage Jesse from continuing to pursue Tommy and eventually told her he would no
longer help her send messages to his son. He told Jesse, quote, "You will hurt him and he's an idiot and will
believe your lying ass." But Jesse didn't care. She continued contacting Tommy, talking about their future, and
telling him she was worried about his safety while he was fighting in Iraq. In one message, she wrote, "I know you're
being careful, honey, and you have the best with you, but I also know anything can happen." Tommy kept replying to
Jesse, reassuring her and saying she was the best thing that had ever happened to
him. As December rolled around, the couple had been in contact for roughly 8 months. At Christmas, Tommy surprised
Jesse by proposing to her. She accepted and then sent Tommy another pair of her panties. as well as dog tags engraved
with the words Tom and Jesse always and forever. The couple planned to get married when Tommy returned home from
Iraq. The two talked about their wedding and how bright their future was. And then two months later, Jesse received a
letter in the mail. Inside the envelope was a family photo. Pictured was a middle-aged woman with shoulderlength
dirty blonde hair sitting in the center. Beside her was a middle-aged man who was
balding and wearing glasses. On either side of the couple were two teenage girls. With the photo was a handwritten
note that read, quote, "Jesse, enclosed you will find a picture of my family. Let me introduce you to these people.
The man in the center is Tom, my husband." And there it was, a bombshell. There was no Tommy, only Tom. He did not
have a son. He and his wife Sydney had two daughters. The man that Jesse was engaged to and had carried on a
relationship for almost a year did not exist. And now Tom's wife, Sydney, had uncovered their relationship and seemed
to be genuinely concerned for Jesse. She wrote, quote, "From what I am pulling from your letters, you are much closer
to my daughter's ages than mine, let alone Tom's. Are you over the age of 18? In this alone, he can be prosecuted as a
child predator. He is taking advantage of you. You need to be more cautious with your safety. You will only be hurt
by a man who has mastered the art of manipulation and lies. Do not trust words on a computer."
Now, let's dig into the real Tom. Tom had, in fact, been a Marine, but he had never been in active combat. Tom
Montgomery became a dedicated father who volunteered with his daughter's swimming
club and taught Sunday school at their family church. But in recent years, Tom was struggling. He began having issues
with erectile dysfunction, and his marriage began to suffer physically and emotionally. He found himself wanting to
get lost in another world online. Soon he found himself spending most of his free time in online gaming rooms
chatting with strangers. The first time Jesse reached out to him in Pogo's blackjack room. Tom was excited by the
thought of an attractive young woman. When Jesse asked why he was in a room for teens when his profile listed him as
46, Tom supposedly panicked. He had heard about sting operations where undercover agents went looking for
sexual predators online. Acting on impulse, Tom lied to Jesse, telling her he was 18 and using his dad's account.
What I'd like to know is did Tom intentionally go into the teen's only chat room to try to talk to younger
women? Like why was he in the teens blackjack room in the first place? Unfortunately, we don't know. Maybe it
was totally innocent and he thought the younger players were more at his skill level. I don't know. What we do know is
once Jesse sent a photo of herself in a bikini, Tom was into it. And thus he began concocting the character of Tommy
and made up stories about Tommy having a troubled past in an attempt to gain Jesse's sympathy, which is insane that
he chose to include the raping a cheerleader story. Like seriously, think about that. Anyways, the photo that he
sent to Jesse was actually a picture of him. It was just taken 30 years earlier.
Supposedly, Tom contemplated if he needed to break things off with the teenage Jesse, which is why he created
the personality of Tommy's father, where, if you remember, Tommy's father, Tom Senior, told Jesse that the pair
should end things. But ultimately, Jesse didn't, and Tommy couldn't bear to part
with his internet fantasy life. Now, let's talk about Tom's demise, his wife Cindy finding out about Jesse and that
whole debacle. Well, it started with Cindy noticing that her husband was absolutely obsessed with using the
internet. Keep in mind, this was 2005. So, in the Montgomery household, there was just one family computer. And Tom
would apparently kick off his teenage daughters so he could use the computer and would be up all hours of the night
typing away. But what blew the affair wide open was a package that Cindy found that Jesse sent to her husband. Inside
was a letter and a pair of red underwear. When Cindy realized the sender was a teenage girl, she was not
only horrified that her husband had been carrying on this virtual affair, but that it was with a child and that he had
manipulated this child who, yes, was 18, but we all know in this scenario that's
basically a child. When Cindy confronted her husband about this, apparently the two mutually decided they should get
divorced. But Cindy was still disturbed that this 18-year-old girl, Jesse, thought she was engaged to an
18-year-old man who did not exist and was in fact a middle-aged man. So, she took it upon herself to break the news
to Jesse and expose her husband's lies. After Jesse got this letter, she was not
happy. She texted Tom and told him he should be in jail and she wanted an explanation. Tom could not give her one.
He just said his plan was to eventually have Tommy's dad tell her that Tommy died in combat. But his wife Cindy outed
him before he had the chance. Jesse was furious and heartbroken. So, she did something that while may seem somewhat
odd, I also feel like it's something a hurt teenage girl would totally do. She wanted to get more clarity and more
closure, so to speak. So, she reached out to a friend of Tom's that he had mentioned also used the gaming website.
His name was Brian Barrett and his username was beefcake 1572. Brian, however, was much younger than his
co-worker and friend Tom. Brian was a college student who lived at home with his parents and worked part-time at the
same tool plant as Tom Montgomery. Brian was a hard worker. He'd wake up at dawn
and spend the day at school before heading to work where his shift lasted well into the night. So, going back to
something that may seem kind of strange, but again, seems like something a teenage girl might do. Jesse messaged
Brian and told him all about what his friend Tom did to her. And apparently, Brian was happy to lend a sympathetic
ear. And from there, the two of them started messaging more and more. And soon, Brian found himself thinking Jesse
was pretty much his dream girl. He loved that she wasn't just beautiful, she was
also an athlete, like Brian had been all throughout high school. Just as Jesse had done with Tommy, she began sending
Brian sexy photos and handwritten letters. And before long, the two were declaring their love for each other. And
with Brian swooning over Jesse, he soon joined her in her disgust for Tom Montgomery and what he did to Jesse. And
then things started to get a little nasty. Ryan and Jesse started going into the chat rooms on their gaming site that
Tom frequented and would tell other players what Tom did and call him a loser and a predator. And apparently
they actually got him suspended from that gaming website. And then Jesse and Brian decided that Tom's colleagues
needed to know about the incident as well. They debated how Brian should tell them with Brian asking Jesse, "What
should I say?" "Up to you, baby," she replied. "I have to [ __ ] with him," Brian typed back. "You are so bad,"
Jesse answered. And so Brian did tell people at the factory where he and Tom worked what Tom had done and even left
printouts of the conversations he and Jesse had just lying around the factory. And so, as you can imagine, Tom was
mortified and furious. And he messaged Jesse saying thanks to her and Brian, his co-workers now think of him as a
sexual predator and didn't want to be around him. As far as Tom Montgomery was concerned, his life as he knew it had
been destroyed. Montgomery told both Brian and Jesse to leave him alone. He would no longer talk to Brian online or
when they crossed paths at work. When Brian told other colleagues that he hoped to drive down to West Virginia to
meet with Jesse, the news made its way back to Montgomery. And this upset him even more. He knew that Jesse was a
virgin, and he had become fixated with the idea of him being her first. Now he was imagining a scenario in which Brian
would be taking her virginity. But buckle up because Jesse was not done with Tom Montgomery. After two weeks of
silence, she began messaging him again, saying that she missed Tommy, who she now knew was made up. Jesse explained
that she had truly fallen in love with the idea of the madeup 18-year-old Marine Sniper. She said she had never
felt the same way about Brian and had really only flirted with him to get revenge against Tom Montgomery.
The revelation that Tommy never existed had left her in despair and unable to believe in true love. She believed,
quote, "If he existed, I would still be holding on to him every night and sharing dreams with him every night."
Tom found himself drawn back in. He alternated between making hostile digs about Jesse's relationship with Brian
and then apologizing for having lied to her. Jesse asked if they could be friends and said the way she viewed it,
Tom was her only connection to Tommy, whom she still loved. Tom admitted that he missed Tommy, too, typing, "I still
feel Tommy in my heart." He added that he never stopped caring for Jesse, and the two agreed to start over as friends.
But things weren't peaceful for long. The new friendship had serious issues from the get-go. For starters, it was
clear that Tom still wanted a romantic relationship with Jesse. During their long late night chat sessions, he sent
her a message about how he wanted more than she could give. Whenever he caught wind of Jesse's online friendships with
other men, Montgomery's sweet tone switched in an instant. He would send Jesse a cluster of angry messages,
calling her a [ __ ] and saying he hoped she would be raped. Tom stalked Jesse's MySpace account and
grilled her about who she'd been talking to, but he reserved a large portion of his rage for his colleague Brian. Tom
Montgomery told Jesse, quote, "I hate him with a passion, and for 10 cents, I would eliminate him." Jesse replied,
"That's a little drastic, isn't it?" Montgomery responded, "Payback is a [ __ ] Jesse. I am the ultimate
weapon. I am a Marine. Brian will pay in blood. Tom also had a confession for Jesse after Brian outed his catfishing
of Jesse to their colleagues. Montgomery had seriously considered shooting him. Despite the threats and now this
admission, Jesse said nothing to Brian or the police. Instead, she merely promised Montgomery that she would not
talk to Brian again. Over the following few months, Jesse and Montgomery's relationship fell into a toxic pattern.
Sometimes they would get along and even engage in roleplay where Montgomery pretended to be Tommy again and have
cyber sex. At the same time, Jesse was still messaging other men and Tom could not handle that. He sent Jesse abusive
messages, even threatening to publish her address online. And soon, Tom was seemingly at the end of his rope. He
told Jesse that if she didn't leave him alone, he'd travel to her home in West Virginia and hurt her. Jesse backed off
and Tom got a message from Jesse's mother, Mary, demanding that he stay away from her daughter. Tom said he
would, but said he wanted Jesse to also stay away from him. A couple of weeks went by and Jesse couldn't stay away,
apparently. She messaged Tom, who responded by reminding her that her mother had forbidden the two from
talking. But Jesse shrugged it off, writing, "She'll never know." Jesse had promised Montgomery she was no longer
speaking to Brian. But in September 2006, Montgomery was looking at Jesse's MySpace page when he noticed something
that enraged him. Brian was listed as one of her friends, and the two had been messaging each other there.
Montgomery confronted Jesse asking if she and Brian were back together. Quote, "I can handle you with anyone but him."
He messaged Jesse. Jesse insisted that the two weren't together, but had just talked occasionally as friends. But
there was someone else Jesse had met, a new guy who went by the nickname Shake. And she thought the two of them had
something special. Tom didn't believe her. He was convinced that Shake was actually Brian and that the two were in
a romantic relationship. Tom also believed that Brian had plans to drive down to West Virginia to spend
Thanksgiving with Jesse. Quote, "You better be very afraid now." He warned, "I told you what would happen if you and
Brian got together." At around midnight on Wednesday, September 13th, 2006, Jesse and Montgomery began chatting
online. Jesse repeatedly insisted that Shake and Brian were not the same person and asked Montgomery to leave her alone.
She told him, quote, "I'm asking you to love me enough to let go." Jesse announced that she was going to delete
her accounts on Pogo and Yahoo. Before signing off with one final message that said, quote, "I love you and will miss
you, Tom. Goodbye, baby. I'm leaving now." At 1:36 a.m., Montgomery replied, quote, "Run to Brian, you [ __ ] He is
waiting for you." Four hours later, Montgomery checked back online to see if Jesse had indeed deleted her profiles,
and she had not. So, he sent her several abusive messages calling her a liar, and
then messaged Brian stating, "Your girlfriend is just like you. Nothing but lies. Keep her the [ __ ] away from me.
You wanted her. You got her. The next morning, September 17th, 2006, Brian Barrett's parents and younger brother
walked through the door of their home in Lockport, New York, and immediately knew
something was wrong. The trio had spent the weekend camping with family friends while 22-year-old Brian stayed at home.
But there was no sign of Brian anywhere, and it was clear that the family's cat hadn't been fed in a couple days. This
was completely unlike Brian, who was typically very reliable and responsible. Even if he had planned to go out, he
would have made sure to feed the pets. Soon after, there was a knock at the door. It was the police. Flashing back
to 2 days earlier, Brian Barrett finished his shift around 1000 p.m. And as he got into his truck to head out,
suddenly, gunshots pierced the air. Brian died instantly. Witnesses who heard the shots told detectives they saw
someone dressed in camo and a ski mask lurking in the area. The only clues left at the scene was a gun clip with what
looked like some dog hair on it and a peach pit that was discarded nearby. To the cops, the crime looked like a sniper
style shooting. Now, while Brian's family was dumbfounded at who would want to hurt their son, Brian's co-workers
had an idea and told police about the bizarre online love triangle involving Brian, Tom, and an 18-year-old girl. And
according to one colleague, Tom said that if he ever killed someone, he would use a militarystyle rifle and would not
be stupid enough to leave any shell casings lying around. This was significant given that the bullets found
on Brian's body matched this type of rifle. Investigators were eager to speak to Tom Montgomery for themselves, but
they couldn't track him down. They began to worry that perhaps Montgomery had left the state to take revenge against
Jesse as well. Using a number saved in Brian's cell phone, officers were able to reach Jesse. Jesse confirmed that she
had been involved with both Brian and Tom and that she had become increasingly concerned about Tom's erratic behavior.
And so Jesse apparently did warn Brian that Tom was making violent threats against him. And Brian asked her if he
should report this to his boss or another coworker. Jesse apparently didn't directly reply and instead told
him she was very scared of Tom. Brian responded, "Yeah, me too. He's crazy." The last Jesse had heard from Ton
Montgomery was on the day that Brian was killed. Having finally cut ties with him
2 days prior, Tom continued to message Jesse, asking her really shocking, vulgar questions that I won't say here.
Basically just calling her a [ __ ] and asking her if she's doing sexual things to her boyfriend, Brian. On this day, he
also called Jesse and apparently was screaming obscenities in a wild rage. Jesse hung up on him and he reached out
to her later that night, about an hour and a half after Brian was killed. Jesse received a message from Montgomery
asking, quote, "You waiting for your boyfriend?" Just over 2 hours later, he tried again, typing, "Come on, Brian
won't mind you talking to me." Officers in New York were worried that Jesse might be in danger. So, they contacted
police in West Virginia and asked them to visit Jesse at home. Around 6:00 a.m., Officer Lee Kirk and his partner
arrived at the address that Jesse provided. It was a quaint white house with peeling paint in the small town of
Oak Hill. A short, middle-aged woman with a bob haircut answered the door. She identified herself as 45-year-old
Mary Sheila. The officers asked if anyone named Jesse lived at the home. Mary replied that her daughter Jesse no
longer lived there as she was away at college. Officer Kirk reported this back to a police officer in New York who then
told Kirk that they had just spoken with Jesse hours earlier and she told them that she was at home. So, Officer Kirk
returned to the house and asked Mary if Jesse had been home recently. Mary said no, and she didn't have a phone number
for Jesse either. Officer Kirk found this hard to believe. He told Mary they were concerned that her daughter could
be in serious danger and they needed to talk to her right away. Mary looked nervous. Officer Kirk could tell
something was bothering her. As he continued to press her for information, Mary began to cry. "I'm Jesse," she
said. I have been using my daughter's name on the internet. As Mary would later explain in an
interview with Wired magazine, she claimed to have signed up for an account on Pogo to play games as a way of
relaxing. It was apparently only after paying a fee for a premium service that she realized that she had accidentally
used Jesse's name and details and was therefore directed to the site's room for teenagers.
Mary said she was happily married to her husband and had no intentions or desire
to be involved with anyone else. She said she only ever started to talk to Tom Montgomery's alter ego, Tommy,
because Tommy seemed like a troubled young man in need of care. Mary offered no explanation why she sent him photos
of her daughter wearing a bikini, engaged in cyber sex with him, or agreed to marry him. After learning from Cindy
Montgomery that Tommy wasn't real, Mary said that she became concerned that Tom might be talking to other young women
online. So, she therefore decided to keep communicating with him as a way to distract him from talking to other
teenage girls. Mary said as Tom's temper flared and he became increasingly jealous, she continued speaking to him
out of fear that he might harm himself or others if she cut him off. Mary said she never had feelings for Brian either.
He was simply a sweet kid who started flirting with her. And she said she didn't know what to do without exposing
her true identity. The investigators in New York who had been communicating with Jesse were
beyond stunned to learn about this revelation. Mary had sounded just like a teenage girl during their phone
conversations. One detective was apparently in such disbelief that he actually drove down from New York to
West Virginia to meet Mary for himself. There, Mary's computer was confiscated. By this point, she had been
communicating with Tom Montgomery for roughly a year and a half. On the computer, investigators found hundreds
of photos of Mary's daughter, Jesse. Many of which were clearly taken without Jesse's knowledge. Some photos focused
on particular body parts and were taken from behind. And there was a video Mary had clearly filmed without her
daughter's knowledge or consent where she aimed the camera up Jesse's skirt. She then sent the footage to several
individuals asking quote, "Do you like it?" It turned out that Mary had been talking to more men than just Tom
Montgomery and Brian Barrett. She had sent photos of her daughter and pairs of Jesse's underwear to numerous men
online. Investigators soon found out that Jesse's MySpace page was just another tool Mary had used to talk to men. As
detectives started going through the chat logs between Mary, Tom, and Brian, hundreds and hundreds of pages
documented the countless hours Mary had spent talking to both men. And Tom's messages had made it well known how much
he hated Brian and fantasized about committing violent acts. And there were all the mentions about his time as a
marine and how he knew to assassinate people. Investigators finally managed to track Tom Montgomery down. He hadn't
gone to seek revenge against Jesse after all and was still in the Buffalo area and showed up for his shift at work as
normal. Detectives visited him at the factory and asked him if he would accompany them for questioning.
Montgomery agreed, but asked if he could go to his car to retrieve his lunch first. He explained that he had
broughten peaches and didn't want them to spoil. Detectives took note of this, fully aware that a peach pit had been
found at the scene of Brian's murder. Tom Montgomery denied any involvement in the crime, but it wasn't looking good
for him. In addition to being the obvious prime suspect, cell phone records placed him near the scene of the
crime. Oh, and there was DNA on the Peach Pit found near Brian's truck that was a match to him. Tom also had a dog
with the same fur found on the gun clip at the crime scene. So, oh, and here's the real kicker. Tucked away in a
toolbox that Tom had for work, investigators found a note that had been written many months earlier that said,
quote, "On January 2nd, 2006, Tom Montgomery, 46 years old, ceases to exist and is replaced by an 18-year-old
battlecard Marine. He is moving to West Virginia to be with the love of his life." The note went on to describe how
18-year-old Tommy had a black belt in karate, $2.5 million in the bank, and looked like a redheaded Harrison Ford.
It sort of appeared to be an attempt for Tom to, I don't know, manifest himself into an entirely different person. Now,
for the part you have probably been waiting for, the bombshell. As detectives sat Tom Montgomery down for
an interview, they revealed that the woman he had killed Brian Barrett over wasn't who he thought she was. She was a
woman around his age who had been posing as her 18-year-old daughter. In terms of
his reaction, investigators say the blood drained from Montgomery's face. Tom Montgomery was soon after charged
with the murder of Brian Barrett. His wife and daughters cut ties with him immediately and eventually Tom took a
plea deal for manslaughter, which I can't believe he was offered that. But anyhow, he was sentenced to 20 years in
prison, making him eligible for parole as of this year at the age of 65. In terms of what's going on with The Pearl,
there is nothing updated about it online, but we will probably know soon. In 2009, director Barbara Schroeder made
an incredible documentary about Brian Barrett's murder, and she called the film Tallh Hot Blonde. During an
interview for the documentary, Tom Montgomery did not express remorse for Brian's murder or even discussed the
crime directly. Instead, he focused on his state of mind at the time and his relationship with Jesse. Montgomery said
he never doubted that Jesse was anyone other than who she said she was. And this was partly because of the enormous
number of photos that Mary Sheila had sent of her daughter. Montgomery believes his problems stemmed from
seeking solace online instead of talking to his family about his issues. Mary also spoke to Barbara Schroeder, but
refused to be filmed or recorded. She told Barbara that all she ever wanted in life was to be a good mother. After her
children grew up, she became bored and lonely, leading her to seek company online. She maintained that she only
ever spoke to Tom Montgomery to prevent him from talking to real teenagers. Oh, and this is amazing. Mary also said she
intended to write a book about the dangers of the internet. Now, apparently Mary never spoke with her daughter Jesse
about any of this and she gave her husband a very watered down version. She essentially said that she had been
chatting online with two different men who work together and one had become jealous and killed the other. Mary
insisted there was nothing sexual or romantic to these conversations and it had just been chitchat about online
games and the weather. But the truth came out when some of Jesse's friends heard about the case and Jesse decided
to Google her mother's name. The search returned news stories about Brian's murder roughly 400 miles away in upstate
New York. Jesse was horrified to discover exactly what had happened and how her mother had used her identity.
Not only had Jesse's photos been shared with numerous men, they were also now splashed all over the internet in
coverage of the case. Jesse told her father, who was equally distraught, and he divorced Mary. And Jesse apparently
cut off all communication with her mother. Despite Mary's actions, she technically did not commit any crimes
and therefore cannot be charged in relation to Brian's murder. Tom Montgomery feels that Mary should be
incarcerated for her role that she played, as do Brian's parents. His parents have also advocated for laws
requiring greater accountability online. They remember their son as being shy and
quiet despite his tall stature and athletic build. At the time of his death, Brian was gaining confidence in
discovering who he wanted to be. On weekends, he spent his time volunteering as a coach for a little league baseball
team. Brian loved working with kids so much that he had decided to become an industrial arts teacher, teaching
students to work with wood and metal. This is an absolutely unreal case and I would love to hear your thoughts below.
Until next time.

In the spring of 2005, two 18-year-olds met in an online chat room and immediately hit it off. Jessi went by the username TalHotBlond, while her new friend Tommy called himself MarineSniper. It wasn’t long before the two had fallen in love and gotten engaged… But less than a year into their relationship, the romance would be destroyed by a shocking revelation that ultimately led to devastating consequences…

Based on Case 267: Brian Barrett https://casefilepodcast.com/case-267-brian-barrett/

CREDITS Narration – Anonymous Host Research & writing – Erin Munro Creative direction – Milly Raso Production and music – Mike Migas Music - Andrew Joslyn ----- Olivia LaVoice

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#OnlineLoveStory, #TalHotBlond, #MarineSniper, #TrueCrime, #OnlineRomance, #DigitalDeception, #Catfishing, #InternetLove, #TragicRomance, #OnlineRelationship

Brief Summary

A love triangle turns deadly when online deception leads to murder.

Key points

A Proposal Amidst Chaos. Tommy proposes to Jesse, deepening the emotional stakes of their online relationship.
The Shocking Revelation. Jesse discovers that Tommy is a fabrication, and Tom is a married man.
A Dangerous Obsession. Tom Montgomery's jealousy escalates as he threatens Jesse and Brian.
The Shocking Revelation. Mary Sheila, posing as her daughter, reveals her identity to the police.
A Mother's Deception. Mary used her daughter's identity online, leading to a tragic murder.
The Tragic Outcome. Tom Montgomery is charged with Brian Barrett's murder after a shocking love triangle.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

You will hurt him and he's an idiot and will believe your lying ass.

Tom Senior warns Jesse about her relationship with Tommy.

5:46WatchSep 4, 2024

Tension

85/ 100High tension

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