Online Stranger Danger: Breck’s Story | Murdered at First Sight | Forensic Files

Okay. Wait, don't wait. Breck? Three, two, one. Breck was born [music] on St. Patty's
Day was kind of special because you could hear everybody celebrating outside. >> [music]
>> I dressed him like a little old-fashioned English outfits and people always thought he was a girl because he
was so pretty. I was so proud of him. It was the happiest time of my life. [music]
He was super nice at home. I would sit next to him at restaurants. I know people would like wouldn't believe that,
oh, he's an older brother, he's going to be annoying, but he was super helpful in
any way that I needed. >> [music] >> I couldn't ask for a better older brother. Breck was a guiding figure for [music]
us. He would teach us things. He always come up with games. Come on, dude. I'd always be at his shoulder, just
tapping him and annoying him. [laughter] Just desperate to get his attention. He was such a cool older brother.
2013 was when Breck was first meeting this new friend. By the end of [music] that year, Breck
seemed like a completely different person. He was disinterested. [music] He didn't want to participate. He wasn't
the same at all. My mom and Breck were arguing like crazy. I just thought it was about
spending too much time on the computer. I wasn't aware of anything deeper, anything more sinister.
Good evening, sir. Please, how can I help? Um, yes, I have a 14-year-old son and I feel like he's being groomed.
The perpetrator seemed very, very young, and that was how he [music] was able to
disarm Breck. He just seemed like another one of the boys. When I took away Breck's technology, he
wasn't pleased. I [music] said to him, "Okay, do we understand now? You know, you are not to spend time with this guy
online." And he said, "Okay, Mom." He was actually enjoying time with the family, and it felt like normal [music]
again. It felt like I had fixed the problem. I had no idea the predator was still
lurking in the background. All along I had known that he [music] felt dangerous, but I never realized how
dangerous he actually was. Essex Place, Mersea. [music] Hello. Um I need police and a forensics
team to my address, please. What's happened? My friend and I got into an altercation,
and I'm the only one [music] who came out alive. The only time I remember Breck being sad
[music] was the day I was meant to go to the hospital to have the triplets. It was confusing [music] for him,
and he was crying when I was going to the hospital, which just tugged at my heartstrings. [music]
But after that, he just took on the role of big brother. I remember other children being
>> [music] >> jealous of their siblings, and he just wasn't. He was only two when they were born.
And if [music] I said, "Can you get Mommy, you know, some nappies over on the changing table?" He'd toddle over
and bring them back. I think he actually [music] liked taking on responsibility. He was quite grown up
even from the start. Like at school, he [music] pretended he didn't know who I was. You know, he's
going to be cool and tough with all [music] his friends. But at home, he was so sweet and so smart and
>> [music] >> he really did love us and he really did look out for us. Breck always [music] easily got good
grades. He did try, but he also was naturally clever. Mom, I got three merits for the history project I did.
Oh, really? WOW. I GOT THREE MERITS. I DID REALLY WELL. Well done. He wanted to [music] be a pilot, which I
thought was amazing. And so I would drive him to air cadets. That was sort of some of my favorite
memories because it was just with the two of us in the car and there were no distractions. It was just us and we
could chat the whole way and listen to music together. He was just innately good. I barely ever
had problems with that child. He was laid-back, chilled, clever, easy, fun, funny, um good.
He was special. As Breck got older, his passions were [music] were anything to do with technology. He
loved spending time on his devices, gaming, computing. I would enjoy watching Breck play games
more than I enjoyed playing them myself. Just Breck being in the middle, all the
trip lads gathered round, just at his shoulder and just peering in and watching what he was doing.
We just idolized him in everything that he did. I was just always so impressed. I was
always in awe. Unfortunately, Barry, the children's dad, and I separated when the children
were still in primary school. And it, you know, it was hard for the family, obviously.
>> [music] >> Barry and I always wanted to make sure it was the best for the children.
Things were a little bit difficult cuz we were going back and forth from my dad's to my mom's, but we were still all
very close as a family. Because of the divorce, Breck had to switch schools, and [music] the school
that I found him, it reconnected him with friends that he knew back from primary.
Breck was invited into a gaming group, and I was pleased that he had, you know, rekindled this relationship with his
friends. All the boys would hang out at school during the day, and then they'd all race
home, get on their computers, and enter their kind of second life, [music] their
virtual life. I knew where these friends lived. I knew their parents. We had a history
together, [music] and it felt safe, and I was pleased for him. He seemed to love it, and he put a lot
of money and effort into his perfect gaming setup. As Breck grew older, he started to
expand his games and played more war games, fighting games, which was ironic because he was such a chill guy himself.
When the children were young, we only had a family computer in the kitchen. >> [music]
>> And that was obviously easier to hear and see what was happening. As As got older, he earned the
responsibility and he had his own computer in [music] his room. The door was always open and I could
hear what was happening. I could see what was happening. Breck had three screens. One would be
all the players, what their names were, then you'd have the action screen and then on the other side you'd have
messages popping up and it was so cool. I could understand why Breck [music] liked to game this way.
But I didn't realize the danger that he was up against. >> [music] >> When I joined the police, I was a
standard police constable. Did that for a number of years. And then as I was working with Essex
Police, I got involved viewing images that were being shared online. And then as my knowledge and my skills
grew, I joined the Digital Forensics Unit with Essex Police in 2008. There is no accounting for what people
look at, what people are interested [music] in, what groups they will take part in. Became quite evident to me that
there's a sort of full range of how people behave and how they would disassociate themselves from what
they're doing online to how they would work in real life. I could hear what everyone was saying
and I recognized all of the voices, but I remember literally the day that I heard a deeper sounding voice.
And it did not sound like someone who was 13, 14, 15, the age of his friends. It sounded like someone older, an adult.
And I immediately in my head was concerned. I pictured some creepy 40-year-old guy behind a screen
hoping to entice some boy into doing something sexual. That was the exact image that I got from
this voice. Breck told me that this stranger was the one who ran the server, the best that
he'd ever gamed on, the fastest and most efficient. And, you know, I I said, "Okay, who is
this stranger?" Breck told me all about this new friend. He told me he was 17, he had an amazing
job in New York City, he was working for the US government on contract, and worked his own hours. He told me his
name. I never knew the name, Lewis Staines. I had no idea who that was. He was talked of as a computer engineer,
as having a very successful business, saying that he was like a covert operative, and so he was or trained
himself as this very important person >> [music] >> who was living this fantastic lifestyle.
It was obviously someone who had very similar interests, a huge knowledge of technology,
um successful, >> [music] >> and fun and funny. Sometimes I would go into the room,
and funny things would pop up on the screen. We'd laugh, and it'd be entertaining, and I'd be like, "Oh my
gosh, they're so quick." If you talked about a news story, it would flash up. If you talked about a movie, it would
flash up. But, with Breck being just 13, 14, I didn't necessarily want him gaming with
17- or 18-year-olds anyway. I'd rather have him hanging out with kids his own age.
Little things started to add up for for mom and dad, um just as to feeling uncomfortable, getting these
little clues as to this really just doesn't seem right. Whenever I tried to talk to Breck about
my concerns, Breck would just defend him. I would say, "Well, how does he have time to game with you guys if he has his
amazing career?" And Breck is like, "That's cuz, you know, he can work his own hours."
I would ask Breck if he had seen this stranger, this new friend. Breck would say, "No, he can't show his face because
of the work he does." There was an answer for everything. When I tried to speak to the gaming
group, Breck's friends that I knew would get kind of quiet. They didn't want to talk to a mom. Whereas the person that I
didn't know would speak to me openly. "Hey, Mom, how you doing? What's going on?"
And he would say, "Oh, yeah, I'm in New York City. It's great." And so, you know, "What's the weather like?" And
"Oh, yeah, it's about the same." He never really had any New York stories even though he claimed to live there.
I couldn't gather any information that would lead me to believe that he either lived there or that he was who he said
he was. As time went on, I had rules in the house. Breck had to come to dinner. I
cooked dinner because I wanted to chat with my children. So, I'd say, "Breck, you do have to come down for [music]
dinner." Well, this predator used it against me. "Oh, well, why is your mom making you
eat if you're not hungry? Why does your mom insist that you eat when she wants to eat?" I felt like I was constantly
fighting against this person that I didn't know who he was. Almost as if he was another parent.
I noticed Breck's personality changing in the summer. He stopped being easy about
doing the things that I asked him. Um, he would question them. And in a way I couldn't tell, is this
normal teenage behavior or is this something different? He always wanted to go into the air
corps training. And Breck was saying that he wanted to drop out and continue gaming. And they were like, "What? But
you've always wanted to be a pilot. You've always wanted to pursue that." And he was saying that he didn't want to
anymore. Breck would be really sullen. Like he just didn't want to be hanging out with
the family. He'd much rather be back in his room on his computer. I felt quite far away from him.
I started to pop in more often to see what I could see. And instead of funny things popping up on the screen, it
would be the Wicked Witch of the West from The Wizard of Oz would fly across on her broomstick.
And the next time I'd pop into the room, "Breck, it's time for dinner. Come on."
Uh, Hitler would goose step across the screen. He was turning me into the bad guy when all I was doing was trying to
be [music] a good parent. Lewis Daynes used multiple methods of grooming on Breck.
He will have worked out what Breck needed, what he likes, and [music] it found something in common
with him. He contacted him on the daily basis. And he created a fantasy of an individual
that Breck and the rest of the boys would have believed. Because none [music] of them knew any
facts about this individual because he didn't let them see even his face online.
Just like a face-to-face abuser would take somebody off to a different room or a different place,
that's what happens online as well. Breck was being taken to other better places to game, [music] taken to other
sites and up other channels of communication because he was special. Breck saw in Lewis
what he wanted to see over and above all these other friends. Lewis actually meant something. Lewis is what he
aspired to. >> [music] >> On the day I decided to phone the police, I was scared, but I had a gut
feeling that that things were quite wrong. Good evening, sir. Can I please help you? How can I help? Um yes, I have a
14-year-old son and there's an 18-year-old unknown Well, he says he's 18-year-old
person and I I feel like he's being turned against his family and I'm getting really concerned that this
person isn't actually who he says he is. I gave the predator's real name. I gave
his alias. I gave where he lived, lies he was [music] telling to the boys. He's grooming him for something because
he's trying to change his thinking set on everything. And what what happens when you speak to
your son about it? What does he say about it? He and the rest of the guys in this group completely look up to this
older boy. I felt a great sense of relief that I had made the report. I got off the phone and I took away all
of Breck's technology as a stance to say I'm worried and I need you to take this seriously. But
what I missed was a little MP3 player, which was how Breck was >> [music] >> able to record the intervention meeting
when instructed by this predator. It might sound like paranoia, but but it was it felt like it was even grooming
behavior. That's a hard thing to say, grooming. And that's what it That's why we're
concerned, Brooke. And the stuff that we hear scares us to death. Brooke was defending him. He's a good
guy. So, we said at this meeting, "Okay, fine. Let's meet him." They said they wanted to meet him for
coffee, and I remember Brooke saying that he he didn't want to meet them or something. Brooke said he thinks parents
are too judgmental. And so, we said, "Well, if you won't meet up with us, you know, what about
just the dads?" He said, "No, he won't." Well, then that's it. We're going to have to forbid
you from gaming, speaking, or socializing to this guy because we don't know who he is.
The predator now knew that we were onto him. So, it became that much more dangerous because everything then went
underground and became more secretive. And that was the point in which the predator sent Brooke a brand new
smartphone so they could communicate secretly. >> [music] >> So, I think as much as I was trying to
do the right thing by forbidding, it's actually a tool that predators will use to make the parents seem as if
they're the bad guys. When mom and dad try to go to the police and say, "My boy's been groomed," it is
very much a case of, "Well, where's the evidence for that?" Because you've got a child chatting with
an older male, but there's no grooming offense going [music] on as such in terms of the the legal framework that is
required to then try and progress something. Unfortunately, I found out too late that
[music] they had closed the investigation that very evening because they didn't recognize
the signs of grooming that I was telling them about. There were flags earlier on because
Louis was separating Breck >> [music] >> from the rest of the group. Breck was enamored. Louis was all that
Breck wanted to be in terms of this computer engineer. He was out in America. That's all Well,
that's great, but Breck had no way of checking that. Breck wasn't normally, you know, devious
or secretive, but he was being brainwashed. It was Christmas [music] when he had his
computers taken away from him, and it was like the perfect Christmas because he wasn't on his computer.
It was only a week off of technology, and I got to see more of him, [music] and that's what I wanted. I wanted to
spend more time with my children. I didn't want them to be each separated in their own little world.
He was actually enjoying time with the family, and it felt like normal again. After Breck [music] got his technology
back, and he started with the the new gaming group with his, you know, his old friends,
he seemed normal. He was happy-go-lucky. >> [music] >> He was chilled again. He did his chores
again. He came to meals when I asked. I felt that everything was back to normal.
I never heard that deep and distinctive voice again. Early 2014, I was so pleased and proud
of him because he was doing a Spanish exchange trip and that was something that I
>> [music] >> I didn't get an opportunity to do when I was young. I took a couple of pictures of him and
it >> [music] >> as he walked away, I remember being so proud. I guess because he was becoming
[music] a young man and I never expected that to be the last time I would see him alive.
When Breck returned from his trip, I was away. So his dad picked him up from the
airport and everyone noticed how confident he seemed. He had met a girl there and I messaged him and said, "Oh,
I can't wait to hear about your trip." And he just said he, you know, couldn't wait to tell me about it.
A few days later, Breck asked his dad to go visit a friend from school. There was something about Breck going on
a sleepover and he didn't often do that kind of thing. So I was excited for him that he had something different
going on. Breck hadn't lied before. He hadn't snuck off before. He hadn't been bad. So
Breck went with his devices to game, to compute, to learn, to laugh, to enjoy his passion.
And poor Breck would have never expected how that evening was going to go. Essex Police emergency. Hi there. Um
okay. Hello. Um I need police and a forensics team to my address, please. What do you
mean? What's happened? My friend and I got into an altercation. And I'm the only one who came out alive.
Are you telling me you've killed somebody? Yes, I am. Right, and who am I speaking to? My name is Lewis Daynes.
I remember I woke up with an impending sense [music] of doom. And I then get a message from their dad
said, "Breck didn't come home last night. He stayed at his friend's house [music] and
I can't get a hold of him and I immediately started to panic. His dad called me back and was literally
the worst phone call any parent could ever get. And it was um his dad saying, "I don't know how to tell you this, but
um Lewis has killed [music] Breck." And honestly you know, you might as well just die at
the same time. And um a huge part of me did. And [snorts] I couldn't stop screaming.
And I had to be sedated. And I just couldn't believe [music] it because I always knew from the start in
my heart that this guy was a baddie. But I had no idea he was a killer. The 999 call when I first heard it, I
very much felt that Lewis wanted to be in control. He was measured. There was no real emotion.
My friend came to stay the night with me yesterday. Feeling very down. Feeling suicidal.
And I woke up this morning. He was in a mess. I tried to calm him down. I hugged him.
Then said that I was there for him. He shrugged me off. You're telling me he is definitely dead?
Yes, I'm telling you he's definitely dead. The call handler was trying to establish
what had taken place. She was trying to understand, but Louis wanted to get over
his side of it. What's happened this morning? He was going on about how he didn't want to go
home. He was fed up with his life. He didn't want to go. All right. Okay. I had a pen knife
folded. He picked it up, opened it, and then lost control. His account of what happened is that
there was a struggle, an altercation, because Breck was apparently uncontrollable with emotion in the way
that he described it. I, in self-defense, put my left arm up to block him from stabbing me, effectively. We struggled.
I got him to the ground. He got up. I got the knife. Can you Can you not interrupt me with
this part? Okay, go on. Okay. This is being recorded anyway, isn't it? >> Yeah. It's rehearsed. Sounds rehearsed to me.
Which is why he's saying don't [music] don't stop me. Don't stop me. Uh cuz if he's if he gets interrupted,
he won't be able to remember the story he's concocted. I don't >> [music] >> remember exactly what happened, but the
fight ended with me cutting his throat. I believe I turned around and I slashed his throat.
He admitted that he'd caused Breck to die, but he was trying to say it was self-defense.
I don't remember what happened after that. All I know is I dropped the knife in my hallway.
I stripped out and just sat in the shower. Right, you've left the weapon in the hallway. Yes.
The very fact that he went sat in the shower for a while, then decided to then ring the police,
you're then starting to think, well, actually, he's trying to get his head together
before he calls the the police [music] to say, yeah, I've killed somebody. And And how long sitting in the shower?
I I I don't know. Are the Are the Are the police on their way? I can hear something.
>> They are. They are. I'm going to go and do my part. Please, thank you for your
help. Right, just listen. When the police turned up, Lewis Daynes is arrested at the scene. He was just
trying to play it down. Yes, I've killed somebody, but it wasn't my fault. He was
very compliant, almost separating himself from the actual act. I got home and there were two police
cars outside the house. And the two police ladies, they got out their car, they came up to me, and they were like,
um where's your brother? Is he home? All of a sudden, uh my dad came home, and that's when the shouting started.
And it was loud, and we were we had no idea what was going on. My dad's home like he was in pain.
Eventually, my dad comes into the living room, sits on the couch next to us, bloodshot eyes, and he tells us that
Breck is dead. And we just let it sink in, the horrible truth of it. That was the first
time we heard it. That was the first time we felt that blow. And [music] honestly, from that moment
that would change us forever. When I got to the address, it was very tidy. In the lounge, I saw that there
was a laptop [music] on the sofa, which was Louis Dinsdale's laptop. I was then asked if I could seize the
laptop from in the bedroom. I hadn't realized >> [music] >> that when I walked into the bedroom, the
brick was still on the floor. He was covered in blood. The bed was covered in blood, and the laptop was covered in
blood. I directed into the bathroom, because in the sink there were three mobile phones
and couple of hard drives and some USB sticks, which had been put into the water.
They were a priority because they needed to be dried out to a state where we could then start getting data from them.
Detectives and forensic experts would be looking for a variety of different evidence at a crime scene.
First of all, they would be looking for hair, so anything that could contain DNA, skin, [music]
looking for signs of a struggle, any breakages in the house, assessing the crime scene to see if there's anything
in that environment that could give them clues as to >> [music] >> what had happened.
There was duct tape in the bin in the bedroom, but there's also duct tape in the bin outside, and it was forensic
material that suggested there'd been some sort of sexual activity um between Brick and Louis at some point.
They found DNA on the tape which matched the hairs on Breck's legs. They found blood stained clothes. They found a tube
of lubricant with blood on it as well. And this certainly would suggest that Breck was tied up and assaulted.
Dane's account of Breck apparently uncontrollable with emotion doesn't support that at all. The evidence found
was actually that he would have been incapacitated because he was tied up. The last activity from the laptop that
Breck had was at quarter past nine the morning of his murder. Well, the 999 call went into the police
at about 11:00. So, two hours before he was killed, Breck was still doing something with his laptop. And so, I
think he would just been completely unaware. He would have been there doing what he enjoyed doing, which is playing
with his computers. Police found loads of evidence at the killer's flat. Breck had been lured
there. It was premeditated. There was evidence that they had pizza which Breck loved.
They found, [music] you know, bag of Breck's belongings and all of his devices were destroyed.
But, for some reason, one of Breck's >> [music] >> devices was in his bag undestroyed. And
so, that helped police get more evidence >> [music] >> cuz they were really struggling to get
the evidence out of the other devices. >> [music] >> We found a hard drive that had been
opened up and the the chip had been scored across the back, which stopped that working.
But, the important one was Breck's tablet, >> [music] >> which we were able to get into. And
that's where most of the communication data in relation to >> [music] >> Breck and Lewis came from.
>> In the January, all the communications showed [music] this Breck was going out
to Spain for a week. I think Louis is quite nervous about this because Breck was going to be with
another group of friends. He was going to be out somewhere else, which Louis didn't like.
He could lose [music] Breck because Breck was going to be come involved with another group of people. Um so, he
panicked and he said, "Can you research the online platform that was being developed at the time?"
Part of that communication that was taking place was that he was dying or he was ill and that
Breck was to take over this company. And the words were, "You are in a man's world now, so you
need to step up." So, we have this situation now where Louis is trying to formulate how he's [music] going to get
Breck from his home address to Louis's address in Essex. They had to speak in person for him to
be able to properly hand it over. Breck would have probably been looking forward to seeing his friend in person.
But as a 14-year-old, you wouldn't necessarily recognize some of the language as being coercive control,
[music] which is what they were at this point. You would say that's the ultimate dream
for a 14-year-old to be handed a company that's worth millions that he is going to run.
It was arranged [music] in the beginning of February that Breck would be visiting
Lewis. But the parents didn't know this, of course. Lewis has given Breck an idea as to how
to couch this trip. He's said that on the day to [music] tell his dad that that he's going to go to a friend's address,
which is two roads away. Um but not to say anything until he is actually [music]
in Lewis's address. So dad's thinking, Breck's just around the corner, but he's 30 odd miles away.
It was a month from when he was killed on my birthday >> [music] >> to when he was buried on his birthday.
On St. Paddy's Day. I did my best to try to have his funeral on his birthday because [music]
it just made it feel like it might be more special. And his birthday was always going to be
a hard day anyway. It was the most beautiful funeral and the whole town came out and we had a
procession and it was gorgeous. And then everybody goes home and then you're just left to your own devices.
It was only after the family had left and all that chaos was gone that I started having to figure out how
to live with my grief [music] and how to learn to live with that gap in my life that Breck had left.
I was in bed for a year. I only got up for meetings or anything to do with Breck.
I did get up for the triplets school events, but I was a zombie. She'd always died inside, and we [music]
couldn't do anything to help her. I saw the way that she felt her grief. Her grief was rough.
The way that it hits a a mother when she loses a child. I've never seen pain like that before.
The triplets not only lost their brother, they lost a normal acting mother. Luckily, I had my siblings who were
going through the exact same thing. So, we sort of carried ourselves through that. We were all 12. I really couldn't
have done it without them. When I saw Louis in court, he looked very young. He didn't look his age.
He was very quiet, didn't show any emotion. I was shocked because he looked like
a teenager, and he was wearing a a long-sleeved black t-shirt like Breck might have worn.
I remember just glaring at him thinking, you know, how why could you have done this?
And I thought, you could have been friends. >> [music] >> You know, you could have come over for
pizza. You could have been part of our family. Danes all the way through investigation
had maintained his story that this was self-defense. >> [laughter] >> And then he changed his plea.
I noticed my barrister looking at me funny. And then in came the killer and they asked him again what his plea was.
And he said, "Guilty." And you could have heard a pin drop because nobody expected [music] a
psychopathic liar to change his plea. The only way of him taking back control over this situation is to [music] be
honest and plead that he's guilty. It saved us from sitting through weeks and weeks of hell. But then in the
sentencing, we did still have to sit through a lot of the horrific, you know, things that Breckin endured.
When I think about that last moment, think, [music] you know, he must have said, "Oh my god,
my mom was right. My mom was right." But it was too late. On January the 12th, 2015, Lewis Daines
was sentenced to life for the murder of Breck Bednar [music] with a minimum term
of 25 years. I don't think justice has truly been served. 25 years is not enough for the
way it was planned and the torture that he gave to my brother and my whole family.
It's just it's he's truly the most disgusting human being. I just couldn't imagine that someone so young would be
so cunning and manipulative to be able to do that to a young child. He had a record. He had groomed a boy in
the states as well as boys in the UK. He had sexually assaulted [music] a boy his
own age. And he was known to have indecent images of boys in his computer. Although Dane looked very young, he was
an 18-year-old man who [music] was grooming 14-year-old. The fact that they found child pornography on his computer
isn't surprising. Dane is a paedo file at the end of the day. My mom is the most powerful woman that I
know. She's so strong. And she really had to fight to live through that pain >> [music]
>> and to get up and get out of bed and choose to live. And then she gets up and
she starts a charity and manages to find [music] some light in Breck's death. And she goes and makes sure that
what happened to Breck doesn't happen to anyone [music] else. I think if Breck had seen another boy's
story, I in a way think he would have been the typical teenager that said that could
never happen to me. So, I decided >> [music] >> I needed to set up the charity with the
help of the local community because there was so much to learn. When I teach about Breck's story, I try to make sure
that young [music] people look after each other because the parents won't see what's happening or won't recognize it.
But the friends or your siblings are the ones that see the change in the personality. They'll see what's
happening on the platforms. They'll see what's [music] being said behind the scenes.
The person that's being groomed, it's very difficult for them to see. And that's why I want to speak about
Breck's story so that other [music] parents can be better able to help their children
when they meet people online to keep safe. >> [music] >> I feel bad that Breck [music] didn't get to
reach his full potential. He was so clever. I mean, far surpass any cleverness I've [music] ever
remotely had. And just good, innately good and kind. He was just a great older brother cuz he
was so driven by his passions. He was truly someone to look up to. Whenever I do something cool,
I like to think that he can see it, too. I don't know, wherever he is, if he's looking down on me,
I like to think that he'd be proud of me. Because I am so far away from the 12-year-old that
he knew. I wish he could get to know me now. Farmer was in the kitchen popping corn
just as the animals settled in to watch The Sound of Music. The phone rang. The only thing Farmer Brown heard on the
other end was giggle giggle quack giggle moo giggle oink. Uh-oh. Duck, screamed Farmer Brown.
It's for you, Bob. And there he is, sleeping.

Breck Bednar, a 14-year-old boy in Surrey, England, tells his parents he is visiting a nearby friend who he met on the internet. Their relief at his newfound socialization quickly turns to horror when he never returns home.

Murdered At First Sight is a true crime documentary series that tells the first-hand stories of the most complex and hard-to-solve homicide cases: murders committed by strangers.

Brief Summary

Breck Bednar's tragic story reveals the dangers of online grooming and its devastating impact on families.

Key points

Breck's Early Years. Breck was a proud, helpful older brother who brought joy to his family.
The Change in Breck. By the end of 2013, Breck seemed like a completely different person, disinterested and withdrawn.
The Predator's Influence. Breck's mother became concerned about a stranger grooming her son online.
The Tragic Outcome. Breck's life ended tragically at the hands of someone he trusted.
The Call Handler's Dilemma. The call handler struggles to understand the situation while the caller wants to share his side.
The Shocking Admission. Lewis admits to cutting Breck's throat, claiming self-defense in a tense moment.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

I couldn't ask for a better older brother.

0:58WatchMay 18, 2026

Tension

85/ 100High tension

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