Who Knew Brittany McGlone Was There That Night? | Forensic Files

Hi Crime Junkies, I'm your host Ashley Flowers. >> And I'm Brit. The story I have for you
today takes place in small town Winnsboro, Texas, where everybody knows everybody, or at least they think they
do. You know who's trouble, you know who's got a temper, who to tell your teen daughter to stay away from.
So when a 19-year-old is found dead in her boyfriend's bed, it doesn't feel random. You can practically hear the
gossip at the gas pump, the church parking lot, echoing through the checkout line. There are men with
motive, men with violent past, men the town already talk about. But here's the thing that I'm hung up on. Only a
handful of them even knew where she would be that day. And when the circle is that small, someone inside knows
exactly what happened. This is the story of Brittany McGlone. It's mid-afternoon on May 4th, 2007,
when mom Patricia gets a call from her daughter's boyfriend, Jeff Stogner. And that alone is kind of strange, because
Patricia's not exactly Jeff's biggest fan. So they've never been like on casual calling terms. But she answers
anyway to a concerned Jeff asking, "Have you heard from Brittany?" And Patricia's
like, "What do you mean have I heard from her? She's supposed to be staying with you." But he's saying that he left
early that morning to pick up his grandma a couple of hours away, and every time he tried to reach Brittany,
she hadn't been picking up her cell. Whatever is happening feels wrong to Patricia. So they hang up and she tries
Brittany's cell over and over, but she's not answering for mom either. So she ends up calling Jeff back, and as she
does, it sounds like he's pulling up to his house. And he gives her the last moment of relief she may ever have, cuz
he says, "Never mind, her truck is still outside the house, she must just sleeping really hard.
>> And this is at what time? This is like 3:30 in the afternoon. >> Oh. But Brittany just had worked an
overnight shift at the Lowe's distribution center. So, like normally when she gets off sometime before like
5:00 a.m., she would like go home, shower, sleep, maybe see Jeff later. But this day was different. So, instead of
going home first, she went straight to Jeff so that they could hang out a little bit before he had to go pick up
his grandma. So, it seems like it would be normal for her to like sleep in. So, yeah, cuz she worked overnight. I
guess why is he calling her mom so soon then? Well, so yes, normal for her to sleep in because she could have used the
extra sleep, but she rarely got it. So, in addition to her overnight job, she also had one at this place called Alco,
which is a discount store. And she was doing both jobs because she planned to save up money for nursing school. So,
again, could have used the sleep, but it was pretty unlike her to be asleep like
that all day, which it seems is maybe what made Jeff concerned enough to call her mom to begin with. And it turns out
he had every right to be concerned. Because when Jeff walks into his bedroom, Brittany is still in his bed
where he says he left her. But she is not sleeping. Brittany is completely naked, and there
is blood everywhere. On the sheets, on the pillow, cast off on the wall behind the
bed. Like the kind of pattern you would see when someone is struck over and over
again. But the thing is, whatever she had been beaten with, something that they later determined to possibly be
like a tire iron or a crowbar type thing, that isn't around anywhere. In fact, nothing other than Brittany's
seems out of place. Her jeans and boots are still right there on the floor where
she left them when she changed out of her work clothes earlier that morning. Now, interestingly, Jeff says that she
was wearing a T-shirt and underwear when she hopped into bed with him. The shirt
not on her, but still there. But, the underwear she had on, that's gone. And here's the thing that really stands
out to Wood County Sheriff's deputies once they arrive. In the bathroom, there are signs that the killer took a shower.
Oh, that's kind of like someone who was comfortable there. >> My thoughts exactly. Everything so far
points to this being close and personal. Someone who could keep composed enough to clean themselves up while Britney lay
bludgeoned to death in that bed. In that bed, in her boyfriend's bed, the one night she broke her routine and went
there instead of home. And that part is really important. Like you said, this wasn't routine for Britney. I told you
she would normally go to her house first. And apparently, Jeff's mom didn't like her very much either. Britney
wasn't close with the family. She and Jeff had only been dating like 6 months, and they'd been on and off in that time.
So, to Britney's mom, Patricia, it sort of felt like too much of a coincidence. Like, okay, the one time that Britney
does this, this happens. So, who all knew that she was going to be there? Well, I mean, it
sounds like Jeff and his family would have been some of the only few people privy to her plan to crash there.
But, here's the thing. This wasn't Jeff's own personal pad. I mean, he's 21 at the time, still living at home with
mom, stepdad, and younger brother and sister. And this is a small one-story home.
Now, that morning, brother went to school, sister had stayed over with her boyfriend, so she's not there, and I
guess she just went straight to school from his place, and stepdad drops mom off at work, but he's back at like 7:45
or so. And then, he, Jeff, and Britney are all there until stepdad and Jeff leave together to go to grandma's at
around 9:00 a.m. So, when they arrive back home that afternoon, and Jeff makes this horrific discovery.
Supposedly, stepdad is just right around the corner, close enough to hear him yell.
But here's where something caught my attention. Wood County 911. What's the problem right now? What's
exactly? >> his girlfriend's dead in the bed. She's dead? Yes. Okay. It looks like somebody come in and hit
her in the head with something. Mhm, that sure doesn't sound like Jeff or his stepdad.
>> Yeah, cuz it's Jeff's mom. Well, isn't she supposed to be at work? She was, but
somehow around the same time Jeff and stepdad are finding Britney, Jeff's mom is either already back home and just
like didn't like notice Britney, maybe she didn't go in the room, or she just so happens to show up like at the same
time they did to call 911. And if that's the case, the timing is kind of wild because I don't think she normally got
off work early enough to be there at 3:30. But apparently on this day, she wanted to leave early because she needed
to clean the house before Grandma got back. Again, they're going to pick up Grandma, Grandma's coming over for a
visit. And I don't know, this could be absolutely nothing. There's just nothing in the reports that explains when mom
got there, how she ended up getting home because she would have needed a ride. >> Right, cuz stepdad dropped her off.
>> They only had one car. I know our reporter Madison wanted to ask all of these questions, but Jeff's mom and
stepdad have both since passed away since 2007. In old police reports though, stepdad does vouch for Jeff.
They were together the whole ride to and from Grandma's. So, if Jeff did something, that really only leaves the
short time they were like home alone when his mom was getting dropped off at work.
>> Right, well, not even that because his stepdad vouches for him there, too. He
says that he saw Britney for himself sleeping, but definitely still alive and well before they leave at 9:00 like
after he comes back from dropping mom off. And apparently they have to actually like pass through Jeff's
bedroom on the way out the door. >> But are we are we buying stepdad's story? Like he could be covering for
Jeff. Say something happened, Jeff comes to him for help. They make up this whole
road trip thing to throw off suspicion. That would explain more of why Jeff started calling her mom. Like
they're trying to establish this alibi. >> sound This is the thing. It sounds like
the road trip was planned all along. Like it's the whole reason why Britney was even sleeping there to begin with
because they knew that he was going to have to go get grandma. So they wanted to hang out a bit before that. So if
you're going to theorize that the road trip was a staged alibi, that has like far-reaching implications.
>> much bigger than that. >> Right. So before we get carried away with kind of I think far-fetched
theories, first things first. Detectives need to verify Jeff and his stepdad's shared story. Was this trip to get
grandma even real? Now the story was that they stopped at a convenience store along the way, picked up grandma, and
then they made their way back home to Windsboro. So investigators checked that route. They pulled surveillance footage
from their stop, and the timestamps line up. Everything checks out according to detectives. That feels like too simple.
Well, it's just one piece. I mean this rules out the possibility that they were lying about the trip, but there's still
a possibility that something happened to Britney before they left. And how is Jeff reacting to all of this? Like when
the deputy show up and during all of the aftermath? Devastated. I mean distraught. I guess how you would
expect. But they still took him down to the sheriff's office and went in on him because according to Britney's family,
there's real motive there. You see, we've talked to a lot of families of the murdered. And usually when a cop shows
up at their door telling them that their loved one is dead, most of the time their first thought is like some sort of
accident, right? Like because that is just so much more likely. >> Right, like a car crash or something.
>> Right, but that was not Patricia's first thought. She told Madison that the deputies who showed up would only tell
her that her daughter was deceased at first. They would not tell her how or when, like zero details.
But she was sure that her daughter had been murdered. And her immediate suspicion was her boyfriend, Jeff. So,
what's the history there? It's not deep, but Patricia told us that Jeff was just like on a completely
different path than Britney. Not as responsible, no stable job. And like the way she describes it, she thought he was
kind of dark, like emo vibes, but not in like the cute boy band kind of way. So,
she actually discouraged Britney from dating him. But even more than that, I mean it's the timing of it all. You see,
Britney and Jeff had just gotten back together. According to Britney's mom, Jeff was Britney's first love, her first
of a lot of things, but they had been broken up the month before and during that time, Britney ended up sleeping
with another guy. Britney actually told Jeff about it, so it's not like he found out from some
other place, but people had wondered if maybe like that could have been the thing behind this. Though when
detectives asked Jeff about this, he tells them absolutely not. They were broken up when this happened. It was
like fair game. Britney did nothing wrong. >> Was there any abuse in the relationship?
>> No. No abuse that her family ever knew of. So, then what? The thinking is that
he had sex with her like one more time and then made sure no one else could? Well, this definitely not that actually
because Jeff told police that they didn't sleep together when she came over that morning. Which like I'm sure
investigators probably find a little hard to believe or maybe they like believe that they didn't have sex right
away when she came over, but they do think that this crime is sexually motivated. I mean, Britney is naked, her
underwear is missing. >> Yeah. They're probably pretty confident that they're going to be able to tie
someone, Jeff or otherwise, to this crime through forensics. And honestly, him saying that they didn't have sex is
great for detectives because if they do find DNA, like he has taken away any excuse for his to be there, right? But
Britt, they get the shock of their lives when an autopsy is done, lab tests are run,
and there is no semen found. The sheriff told us, according to the medical examiner, Britney actually was not
sexually assaulted after all. So, maybe Jeff's telling the truth. Well, they wanted to put that to the test,
literally, and polygraph both Jeff and his stepdad. They couldn't do it right away though because
Winsboro, this is out in the country kind of, so they're going to have to bring in a polygrapher from another
city. That's going to take a minute. So, in the meantime, they do what they can to go down other paths, like checking
out this guy that Britney has supposedly slept with, right? This like in a month
ago or whatever. Now, the guy cooperates, he sits down with them and says the same thing as everyone else.
Their hookup was just this like one-time thing. They've been drinking, no hard feelings, like it didn't become more.
And that's it, they cross him off the list. I mean, let's go back to the fact that hardly anyone knew that she would
be over at that house. Like, who who are those people again? That's like Jeff, his family, like I guess her mom, but
like who else? Well, that was one of the questions they first asked Jeff. And Jeff brings up this guy named Cody. He
admits that Cody is his weed guy, and he says that morning before he left, he'd put cash under this garden gnome outside
their house. This was like their little system. Leave the money there, Cody would swing by later, drop off the weed.
Except, he says this day was different because by the time Jeff got back that afternoon, the money was gone, but there
was no marijuana. So, detectives go and track this Cody guy down, and his story complicates things. Yes, he admits that
he sold weed to Jeff, but he says he didn't that day. He says that Jeff was like blowing up
his phone, texting him, like, "Did you drop it off yet, dude? Like, did you go by the house?" And Cody admits he like
got annoyed, so he just texted back, "Yes." But, he says he didn't actually go over to the house. So, either Jeff's
telling the truth and he left the money, Cody went there and took it, putting him
at the scene, which means he's lying about being there. >> Mhm. Or Jeff could be lying when he says
the money got picked up because he's trying to place someone else there. Or option C, whoever else in this small
circle of people who knew Britney was there alone maybe also knew about this garden gnome
arrangement. Now, within about a week after Britney's murder, her family and friends gather for her funeral.
And if you've ever been to a small town funeral, you know how they feel. The whole place shows up. People you haven't
seen in years, people you barely know, people whispering about who may have done it.
>> And probably people you don't even want to be there. >> Uh-huh. And although detectives seem to
be moving farther and farther from Jeff the more they dissect his alibi, Britney's family makes it clear. Jeff
and his family are not welcome. Emotions are high. Nobody knows what happened yet. All the trust is thin for good
reason. But them showing up anyway isn't actually the only drama that sticks with
Britney's sister Hope at the funeral because there somebody else shows up. Someone she actually might be more
concerned about in this moment. And that is their grandfather, James McGlone. Now this isn't their grandfather by
blood. It's their dad's adopted father. And Hope told us that at one point he walks up next to her, like puts his arm
around her, and says, "Have you gone to see the body yet?" And she froze because this wasn't
just a grieving grandpa asking an awkward question. See, no matter how many people are there at the funeral,
she knows something that no one else does yet. A secret that Britney had been keeping that was big enough to be motive
for murder. Quiet coastal towns may seem peaceful, but they can harbor dark secrets. I'm
Kylie Low, host of Dark Down East, a podcast that tells true crime stories from my own New England community to
help victims and families get justice. Listen to Dark Down East wherever you get your podcasts.
Britney had confided in her sister Hope before she died that their grandfather had been sexually abusing her.
This went on from the time she was young up until fairly recently. It was devastating for Hope to hear, but at the
time she didn't push Britney for more details. And trying to be a loyal younger sister, Hope hadn't told anyone
right away. She wanted to leave that up to Britney to do when she was ready. But now that Britney's not there to
speak for herself, now that grandpa is over here talking about the body like it doesn't belong to someone she loves,
Hope felt compelled to come forward thinking that there might be a chance that he had something to do with what
happened to Brittany and she was right to do so because other family members were able to fill in more of the blanks
and it comes out that Brittany had told her aunt about how grandpa would make her feel uncomfortable like he would
show up at her work and stuff and it seemed to be getting worse once she started dating Jeff.
>> Like he was triggered by her having like her first real boyfriend? That or like
now that she was getting older now that she has a boyfriend maybe he was worried
that Brittany was going to start telling people what he'd been doing. I mean we know now she already was.
>> if he'd been showing up at her work and stuff do we think he may have been following her too? So here's the wild
part. James McGlone actually lives in the same community as Jeff like right across the lake. So maybe he didn't know
Brittany was going to spend the night that night. >> But he could have easily seen that her
truck was there. And seen that everyone else had left. When this revelation makes it to
investigators they find out that even Jeff knew about the grandfather's abuse. Apparently Brittany had confided in him
too. >> So grandpa's biggest fear is becoming a reality. >> Yeah. Now the question is did he know
that or not or did he think that she still held his secret and getting rid of her might make it go away. I mean you
want to talk about motive this is motive. So they check grandpa out and pretty quickly they come to one
conclusion. He couldn't have killed Brittany. I guess time card showed that from 7:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. on the day
she was murdered he was at work. Now James ended up dying in 2009 but detectives feel pretty confident that he
didn't commit this crime murder against Brittany. But the whole ordeal coming to
light so suddenly made the family realize that Britney may have been surrounded by more than just one person
capable of pure evil. That's a hard pill for them to swallow. And the mystery only deepens once polygraphs are
administered. Weed guy, Cody? Pass. Jeff's stepdad? Pass. Jeff? They say he passes with flying colors.
So, what now? Police are probably shocked and a lot stumped. I mean, I know polygraphs aren't perfect, but these,
combined with other verification that they've been able to do with people's alibis,
it really is looking like none of these people were involved. So, detectives go back. What had they missed? Who had they
missed? And it turns out there was just one more person. Someone easy to gloss over because his
role in Britney's life seemed so insignificant and almost non-existent. But he was the only other person that
for a fact knew Britney was in the home alone that day. Someone who was close enough to the family to know that there
might be money under the garden gnome. And his name is Chad Carr. I mentioned that Jeff had two younger
siblings, a brother and a sister. Well, his sister, Velva, is dating Chad. And included in the original timeline that
Jeff gave deputies of the day that Britney was murdered, he mentions that around 8:30 in the morning or so, as him
and his stepdad are fixing up their car to leave, Chad stopped by to pick something up for Velva. And the
interaction they have is like pretty brief. Like, he didn't even go into the house. They actually told him not to
because Britney was there sleeping. So, he gets what he needs from them and leaves. Oh, why isn't he also at school
at 8:30 in the morning? Oh, because Chad is a grown ass man. He isn't in school anymore. He's 25 years old at the time
dating Jeff's high school sister. >> I'm sorry, absolutely not. >> To make it even worse, people we spoke
to told us that it wasn't just her age. She also may have been mentally vulnerable, too.
So, Chad wasn't there when they left the house. And like I said, he has almost no
connection to Brittany other than the fact that they're like dating siblings. They don't even really hang out and
there's no beef between them. Like, there were people with far more motive. But now, they're realizing that maybe
he's the only person who checks a lot of most of all of the boxes. >> did he have a key to the house? He
didn't. And like there was no forced entry, but he would have known that the family
didn't usually lock their doors out there in the country where they live. So, now that they're looking at Chad in
a new light, they're going back through every page of the file that they have. Did we like miss anything else? Like,
does he show up anywhere else? And they do find this one report that stands out. It's from a deputy who was
there on scene right after they had found Brittany. And sometime after school, Velva and Chad show back up at
the house. And Chad is acting straight-up weird. He is shaking. He's visibly nervous. He's all fidgety. So
nervous that Velva actually tells him to chill out, that the deputy's a nice guy.
And maybe they chalk it up to the stress of the situation. Like, this is a situation most people don't find
themselves in. So, they didn't do anything with it at the time. But now, now they want to have another
conversation with this Chad guy. He's reluctant to comply at first. But when he does, he gives detectives a
play-by-play of his entire day. Like, he's extremely detailed about every stop that he made. Almost like he's trying to
establish an alibi before anyone even asks him for one. And here's what Chad lays out. He says that after he stopped
by the family's house that morning, he drove to Alcoa where his aunt works and she asked him to pick up breakfast for
her at Sonic. But instead of going straight there, he says that he went home first to change clothes for what
law enforcement later remember as being like some weather related reason. Like maybe it was like too hot or something.
Then he goes to Sonic. Then he goes back to Alcoa to drop off the food. And then
after that, he says he arrives 15 minutes early to his 10:00 eye appointment. And then he left the
doctor's at around 11:40 or so. From there, he picks up Velva from school at 11:55. They go to the bank, they go to
lunch, and then after lunch Chad and Velva go back to the eye doctor's at 1:30. Why did they go back? I don't
know. It's probably It's not in the report so we say I'm I'm assuming to like pick up a prescription or glasses
or something. Whatever. But after the eye doctor, they go to the insurance office and then a flower shop,
then another store, back to Alcoa. >> That's a lot of stops. I know. And then finally, that is when Chad and Velva end
up at the crime scene shortly after law enforcement. So let's call that somewhere between like 3:30 and
4:00-ish. >> Okay. And when investigators start trying to verify his timeline, it does check out.
Sort of. So Chad did go to his eye doctor appointment that was scheduled for 10:00 a.m.
However, he's saying he got there early. But according to two staff members, Chad
actually showed up late at 10:20. And they remember this clearly because he even called to give them a heads up that
he was going to be late. Said that he was having car trouble or something, which like
weird. I don't think he mentioned any car trouble to detectives. Well, like maybe he was just like using excuse at
the doctor's office like to like make up for the like, you know, just to get out
of it, you know. >> Sure. But then why was he really late if he didn't have car trouble?
Great question. And remember how Chad said that he went home and changed his clothes that morning cuz it was like too
hot, whatever. >> hot. Well, sure. Maybe that was the reason, but we pulled the weather
reports and it was fairly mild for Texas that May morning. High 60s, low 70s. So,
detectives told us that they found that excuse for why he might have been in different clothes when people saw him.
And when he showed up on surveillance footage, weak. And they know Britney wasn't just
killed, right? She was beaten to death in a small room. Chances are that her killer was covered in her blood. Like,
you can't be walking around like that. And don't forget, one of the earliest flags to detectives was that the shower
in the house appeared to have been used. >> Right. And as they keep digging into
Chad's story, they realize that even though he is accounted for for a lot of the day, either by people or with
surveillance video, there is this small window of time where he wasn't. From around 9:21 when he shows up on
surveillance footage leaving the Alco store until about 10:20 when the doctor's office says that he finally
shows up for his appointment. >> So, he would have had to do all that driving, commit the murder, and clean himself up
in like an hour? Yeah, but all the stops, I mean again, it's it's just like the stops he made in that that that
little window, they're like in a super close radius. Like, from the Alco to the crime scene, it's like 6 minutes.
>> Oh. So, they give Chad the same treatment that they do everyone else. Bring in the polygrapher.
And finally, they get their first big fat fail. Obviously, this doesn't mean everything, but along with the other
circumstantial evidence, it is something. >> Yeah. They just need something more cuz
I think the thing that was partially haunting everyone was why. Because when they talked to Britney's
family, they say didn't know this guy from Adam. This was the first time they were ever even hearing the name Chad
Carr. And according to Britney's mom and sister, he and Britney seemed to just be
like ships passing in the night, like orbiting each other from time to time, maybe, sure, but like simply
acquaintances. He was just Jeff's sister's boyfriend. And this isn't just coming from them. No one they talked to
could connect Chad to Britney in any meaningful way. And even in all our reporting, the only thing we were able
to dig up is that Britney had mentioned Chad before to an aunt. Not even by name, just calling him Velva's
boyfriend. But she said that he gave her the creeps. And listen, when you talk about motive, like we know nothing from
the house was stolen, so it's not like he went to the house to try and take things while she was sleeping and then
she surprised him. Someone went to that room to kill her. That was the goal here. I mean, to me there has to be some
kind of sexual component though, like with her being naked and her underwear being missing.
>> I agree, but it's just that no one can point to anything that Chad ever said or
did that would be a precursor to this. At least not to Britney, but when they did look into Chad's past, there was
something hard to ignore. You see, years earlier, in 2001, a woman reported to deputies that Chad
assaulted her by hitting her in the head with a jack handle, which I don't know if you're familiar with that, but
>> Yeah, it's a like a tire iron. >> Yeah, the kind of weapon that Britney was possibly killed with. The weapon
that they've never been able to find. And listen, once you hear the details of this other attack, it's hard not to draw
some chilling parallels. According to the report we have, it's a couple of days before Christmas in 2001,
in the same small town of Winnsboro, Texas. a woman we're going to call Debbie was working the second shift at
her parents' video store in town when Chad Carr drops by with his wife. >> wife? Yeah, he'd been married before.
He's obviously divorced by the time he was dating Velva, by the time that Britney was murdered, but apparently he
had gotten married pretty young, like when he was 18. Now, Debbie knew Chad. He was good friends with her soon-to-be
ex-husband. So, they get to talking and she mentions how her parents have a bunch of people in town staying at her
place for the holidays. Space for her and her daughter was getting tight, so she was actually going to spend the
night in The report just says "the trailer", so I don't know if this was like her old place with her husband or
if her family owned it or what, but her and her daughter were going to go there so that they didn't have to sleep on the
couch. So, there's nothing to this. Chad and his wife leave. Debbie gets off work
at 10:00, picks up her daughter and her pup from her mom, and then goes to the trailer at around 11:00.
Now, Debbie says she puts her daughter down in bed and then she stays up watching movies and she was kind of like
dozing in and out. So, finally at like 5:30 in the morning, she went to the bedroom to sleep next to her daughter.
But, shortly after laying down, her dog starts barking. That's not normal, so she kind of like
sits there still for a second and then she hears leaves crunching, like footsteps,
and then knocks on her front door. So, Debbie gets up and as she's making her short walk to the front door, she
could see who was standing outside. It's Chad Carr. He's like looking through the
glass and she could tell that he spotted her. So, she goes to the door and opens
it and asks Chad the obvious question, like, "Why are you here >> this hour?" And he says, "Oh, I was just
in the area picking up a coworker." Okay. But, her spidey senses go off. Like, she knows this coworker that he
mentioned, like, he gave her a specific name, and that person doesn't live around here. So, she says the name kind
of skeptically, like, "You're picking up that guy?" >> Him? Yeah, and that's when Chad like
backtracks. Oh, like, no, not that guy. It was actually one of that guy's friends. Like, it doesn't matter. He's
not home anyways, but that's neither here nor there, he says. I stopped by because I saw someone outside your
trailer. And as I pulled up, this small car sped away. Now, this obviously worries her, so she's like, "Okay, can
you just like stay here on the front porch, keep an eye out. I'm going to like get my daughter together, get our
stuff. We're going to go back to my parents' house." So, she goes to the bedroom to get her
things, and when she comes back to the living room, she sees Chad standing there, very much not on the front porch
like she asked. But still, she doesn't seem concerned because Chad's there to help, right? So, she
told him again, like, "Listen, I'm just going to get my things together." And she goes to like move past him, and she
kneels down on the floor for something. And then Chad asks her this chilling question, "Are you sure there's no one
else here?" Like, of course she's sure. Like, what do you mean? >> Yeah. And then came the blow to her
head. This didn't knock Debbie out, but it stunned her. So, she like jumps up and yelled, "You just hit me in the
head." And when she flicked on the light, she saw Chad with a red jack handle that had a rubber grip. And Chad
seemed stunned, too. He was saying, "Oh my god, I'm going to jail. Please don't tell anybody."
>> What? >> And I don't know if she meant it at the time or if she was just in shock or
survival mode, but she told him that she wouldn't. She just needed to get her daughter. But when she went to the room
and like bent down to pick up her daughter, she felt blood dripping down her neck. And so, she like reaches back
with both hands, touches the spot where she'd been hit, and when she looks at her hands, they are covered in blood.
>> when Chad saw it, he just began apologizing. There wasn't time for apologies, though.
She told him she needed to get to a hospital now. He needed to drive her. And he did. She had to get three staples
in her head to close the wound. Now, I don't know what exactly she told staff at the hospital or if Chad went in with
her, but I think that she was still trying to make sense of what had happened. So,
before going to police, she actually went to Chad's wife first. And she's told by her that when Chad got home that
day, he was acting really off, upset. And when she asked what was wrong, at first he would say that he had just done
something really bad. But she like kept pressing him. I'm not going to let my husband be like, I did something really
bad. >> like, "Okay, cool. Thanks." >> What was really bad? And he finally told her. Though what his exact words were to
his wife, I don't know. I just know that the day after Christmas, Debbie finally
worked up the courage to report what had happened to police. But when they go to
Chad, he says, "This was all a big misunderstanding." And he has like this whole story.
So, he says that on some previous date, he had met some guy at a gas station where he normally eats breakfast. And
that guy wanted to talk to Chad's boss about a job. So, Chad was going to pick this guy up the morning of the 22nd and
take him to his work. But this guy, who by the way, he can't even name, he couldn't find his house.
So, he took this rural road that went by Debbie's house like back to wherever he
was going because it was a faster way. Now, he says that he saw a small car parked in front of her place. So, he
went to see if she was all right. And is he stopping at like every house with a parked car? Cuz like
>> Okay, there's a car there. She's there. We know that. But he's like, "So, I got
to the door see if she's all right." And she's like, "Oh, you scared me because I
heard somebody walking." So, he says that she was scared. She was going to follow him back into town, so he waits
in the living room while she went and gathered her things, but then at some point he gets startled by some person
walking by and hits them in the head with the jack handle and realizes, oh my god, I accidentally hit Debbie.
Debbie, the person that you're there specifically for, you've talked to, you know is there.
>> in the This is a trailer. We're not in like a 5,000 square foot home. We are in
a small trailer. You know it's her there. Well, and also like the jack handle? Why do we have it to
begin with? I don't know if he like showed up at the door with it. It's like there's nothing mentioned in
operate with like a jack handle in his hand. So I don't know if he like came to the door with it. Again, his whole
thing, at least according to Debbie's story, is like, oh, I saw someone around, so I don't know if he like had
it initially. I don't know if he went back out and got I have no idea where this thing came from as far as like him
bringing it into the trailer. I do know that it comes up that his wife says he actually borrowed this thing from a
friend. So it's not even his, which I don't know if it's just like a coincidence that he
has this thing or or he's using it because it like like as a weapon because it's not his.
>> Like this, yeah. And also like, why was he there in the first place? Like I I don't I don't understand why he
would stop why he like why he exists in this like space at all. Well, so here, plot twist. I originally thought it
seemed like there wasn't a motive for this. Like kind of like in Britney's case, right? Like it's like, why Why
this person? Right, because there's nothing in the police reports that goes to motive. Is it just because you knew
she was going to be alone? Is it like you're her almost ex-husband's friend, like
whatever. But then we learned from a couple of people close to the situation that what was in the report may not be
the actual full story. Surprise, surprise. Allegedly, Chad and Debbie had been having an affair. And apparently, Debbie
was about to spill the beans to Chad's then wife. And obviously, he was not happy about that. Which
that makes way more sense why she took a minute before filing any kind of report.
>> if that's true, it all kind of clicks into place for me. But, it actually is the one thing then that really
differentiates this attack from the attack on Britney because >> he has a connection here. Right. And we
we asked and nobody thought cuz I cuz the first time I heard this I'm like, "Oh my god, do you think there was
anything with Chad and Britney?" And we asked everyone. Nobody thought they had anything going on. His connection to
Britney is still pretty much nada. Now, Chad doesn't commit any more offenses for the next 4 years. But, that's
because he ends up serving time for this attack on Debbie. He pled no contest to
the assault charge he was eventually hit with, and he stayed in jail until early
2006. But, just a few months after getting out, he's accused of sexually assaulting
his ex-wife. Ex because she had obviously moved on while he was in jail and for all the Debbie stuff. And then
less than a year after that, Britney is brutally murdered. And he becomes the main suspect. With
that past, a shaky alibi, and a failed polygraph, detectives have enough to get a search warrant for his aunt's place
where he'd been living. They're looking for anything to physically link him to the crime. Bloody
>> clothes, a murder weapon, Britney's missing underwear. Yeah. And they do find and take some interesting items
into evidence. Like a pair of white shorts with what appears to be drops of blood on them. And a white t-shirt that
also appears to have blood on it. A gray ski mask. And women's underwear. Two pairs. One is pink, size seven.
The other is white, size five. There's no blood on either pair or anything like that. And we know Chad is dating Velva
then, right? Like could be hers. So they go to Jeff's mom and she says the pink ones, the size seven ones, those are
Velva. She knows that. But the size five, no one in that house seems to claim those.
So then they go to Britney's mom and sure enough she tells them that the size five is the exact size that Britney
wore. So they've got Chad. Not quite. This search didn't happen until more than two weeks after the murder and
according to law enforcement it seemed like the underwear had been washed by the time that investigators got a hold
of them. So even though they do send them off for testing, nothing comes back that would definitively link Britney to
the underwear. Okay, did Jeff remember her underwear being white that morning when she got into bed? Like could could
he have ID'd them? >> This This was my question too, but in all of the documents we have there is no
record of anyone specifically asking Jeff this. So I don't know. And Madison tried reaching
out to him to ask about this along with a lot of other things, but as of this recording, we haven't heard back from
him. Okay, but there was other clothing like the shorts and the shirt. Like whose blood was on those?
>> I don't know. It sounds like the testing didn't come back with anything useful on
those either. Like either it was inconclusive or maybe it was Chad's, but like it didn't give them anything to go
on. What about all the stuff at the actual crime scene back at Jeff's house? Like
this was a violent scene. I I think that there would be something there. Like maybe under her
fingernails, just Well, >> the fingernails, so we asked about those. Apparently Britney's were too
short. So like nothing helpful there. But to your point, yeah, you think there would be something somewhere at that
scene especially because they think that this is a killer who apparently sticks around long enough to take a shower
before leaving. And that's one of the reasons that they actually test the shower including the drain.
But here's the catch. According to the sheriff, there's only one bathroom in that whole house. So, it's a really
shared space then. Even if they can place Chad in that bathroom, it kind of means nothing.
>> Well, except for the fact that it it kind of might if they can place him there because apparently Chad makes a
specific statement to authorities that I find really interesting. When they tell
Chad that they're in the process of testing evidence, he says something like, "My DNA will not be on that girl
or in that room." I honestly was expecting him to like preemptively explain why his DNA was
there. >> that's why I was like surprised, but he doesn't do that. In his original
statement, Chad says that he never went inside that house. Is he talking like just that morning or
ever? I I mean, I think he's just talking about the day of the murder, but like still. So,
assuming like that, I have to wonder like come from like the confidence from being so
meticulous about cleaning up after yourself or from being innocent? I mean, I know what a defense attorney would
argue because in the early days, most of what they find at the scene seems to belong to Britney or people living in
the house. Nothing that clearly identifies an outside attacker. Okay, but would Chad technically count as an
outside attacker if he'd been at the house at some point? I mean, I know Like I feel like I'm like dancing
around. So, I feel like I'm being a little cryptic here and that's because investigators were tight-lipped with us
surrounding DNA stuff. But from what I could gather, if they did have anything early on, it
was either inconclusive or too limited to point to like a sure suspect. So, in that early time frame, like the
investigation starts to slow way down. You're kidding me. Like they have so much.
>> No. And where is Velva in all this? Like this is her boyfriend they're accusing
of murder. You know, I don't I don't think she's saying a lot initially. I mean it sounds like they're really only
talking to her at the scene that day because like she was in school when this happened, right? And then after they're
like focused on Chad, it doesn't seem like they circle back around to her at least like in any real formal way. Maybe
she was still with him for a little bit and they thought that she would take his
side. I don't know. But she doesn't stay with him like long-term. Like I know that for sure.
And sometime after they break up, she does actually seek out police because she wants to talk to them because she
thinks that she has information that could help them. About 8 months after Britney McGlone's
murder, Velva asked to have a conversation with police about Chad. She tells them
there were things about that day that now looking back don't sit right with her.
She says that when Chad picked her up from school that afternoon, something was off. Like he seemed
nervous and there was this distinct smell that she remembers. It was her body wash, Softsoap Ultra
Rich Shea Butter. And this is chilling to her because to her knowledge, Chad hadn't showered at
her house that day. There would have been no reason to because by the way, I told you she hadn't even stayed at her
house the night before, remember? The two of them spent the night together at his aunt's house. She went straight to
school from there. And when he dropped her off, he didn't smell like that. So she asked him, like did you take a
shower? And he says yes. So then she asked the natural follow-up question, did you shower at my house?
And he just doesn't answer according to her. And sometimes silence speaks volumes. Now, they went to her house,
right? And the scene was unfolding. It was understandably distracting, right? So, maybe like you don't press in on it
then. And we know at least one deputy is flagging how strange Chad is acting. But
Velva says that he was acting odd the rest of the day, too. Like he didn't want to be alone afterward. And at one
point, she says that he even called his aunt to like come be with him. >> Which all of this seems like a little
bit dramatic when he acts like is saying everyone agrees that he barely even knew
Britney. >> Right? Yes. And then Velva gives investigators something that they have
been struggling to find. A possible motive outside of just a propensity for violence.
She says that Chad had complained before that Britney was allowed to stay overnight at Jeff's house, but he
wasn't. Wait, that's it? That's That's the motive. >> That's all she can come up with in the
last 8 months. And look, on its own, it's not a strong motive. It might not even be the motive. And quite frankly,
it doesn't even really make much sense to me because from everything we learned from Britney's mom, Patricia, sleeping
over after the night shift wasn't even something that Britney really ever did. Wait. If he
wasn't allowed to stay over, wouldn't that take away any like innocent explanation for his DNA to be
in that like some specific places of the house if they were to ever find it? If.
But whatever they do have, it's apparently not enough to make the people in charge think that they should move
forward. So, even after Velva gives her statement, nothing much changes. For years.
And the longer it sits, the more leads dry up. The colder and colder her case gets.
Until a new sheriff comes to town. Literally. Well, kind of literally. In 2021, there is a new sheriff, Kelly
Cole. But, he'd actually been there from the very beginning, working in law enforcement in the same county where
Britney was killed. He knew the details. He knew the mistakes. And now, he has the authority
to try and make it right. So, he does try. Alongside Captain Mike Chilson, they start going back through everything. Old
reports, old interviews, old evidence. And at the center of it all is the same name they had before, Chad Carr.
Because in the years since Britney's murder, Chad hasn't stayed out of trouble. He went on to serve 10 years
for sexually assaulting his ex-wife. And that matters because now investigators aren't just looking at a
suspect, they're looking at a pattern. A pattern that frustrates Britney's family
because Chad didn't even end up having to register as a sex offender after this. And I know we've been searching
for a strong why here when there might not really be one at all. So, maybe the why is just an appetite
for aggression. And not just with women. Court filings that we got our hands on alleged prior incidents of animal
cruelty. One involving a cat and another involving multiple stray cats and kittens.
As Sheriff Cole and Captain Chilson are taking their fresh look, it doesn't appear like they uncover some brand
spanking new evidence or anything. They just ultimately believe that there had been enough to move forward with an
arrest all along. So, the previous administrations just didn't even want to try then. Sounds
like it. So, over 15 years later, it is now 2022. Chad Carr is arrested for capital
murder. While describing that moment to us, Captain Chilson said that Chad didn't
even seem surprised, but rather it felt more like he was he believes maybe relieved. And without anything ever even
coming up about DNA, we were told that Chad was already changing his story about not being inside the house that
day. He preemptively starts indicating to a Texas Ranger that he'd been in and out of there all of the time. So, he was
thinking that they found something then? Maybe, I don't know. But he's booked into jail and for the
first time in years it feels like this case is moving forward. And for Britney's family it's
overwhelming. It's hope, maybe even the start of healing. But in cases like this, we know that an
arrest isn't the end. It's just like the next step. Especially in Texas because before a
felony case can go to trial, it has to go through a grand jury. Prosecutors have to lay out what they believe
happened and why Chad Carr should stand trial for Britney's murder. A decision takes just about the full 90 days that
they're given to decide and then the grand jury returns a no bill. Meaning there will be no
trial. How is that possible? I mean, this is to me like far from a weak case. >> Listen, I especially like you're not
convicting him. You're saying there should be a trial. I agree. >> According to Sheriff Cole and Captain
Chilton, they say the problem wasn't the case itself. It's that they say the grand
jury never heard all of their case. They say >> They say that key testimony including
their own was never presented and the process ended before the full picture could really be totally laid out. But it
like it doesn't matter now. The results are the same. Like >> And Chad just walks away a free man. And
Britney's family is left right back where they started. Okay, just to be clear, double jeopardy
it doesn't apply to grand juries, right? Like just actual trials and verdicts. So
>> So Chad Carr could still stand trial for this case if it ever went to a new grand
jury and they chose to indict, which is why like this no bill didn't stop detectives from working this case.
They're still reviewing evidence. They're still looking for a way forward. And when it comes to the forensic side
of things, the sheriff is careful with his words. He makes it clear a lot has already been tested and most
of what has come back makes sense. It's either Britney's or people living in the
house, but then he says something very interesting. He acknowledges that there is DNA they're still looking at.
DNA recovered from the shower that doesn't belong to someone who lived in that house. He won't go into more detail
than that, at least not yet, because in his words, there are still things they have to protect. Still avenues that
they're going down. Still evidence that could matter. Which means this isn't over. Not for investigators and
definitely not for Britney's family. The question now isn't if something else comes. I think it's when. We tried
reaching out to Chad Carr every which way we could. Phone numbers, Facebook, even sent a letter to where we think he
might be living now. But as of this recording, he hasn't responded to us. The number one question that I wanted to
ask him directly is did you murder Britney McGlone? Because to this day, Captain Chilson
says that he doesn't believe Chad Carr has ever explicitly denied murdering Britney. Oh. He said things like, you
won't find my DNA. I couldn't have done it. Mhm. But never a flat-out denial. Britney McGlone's family was a recipient
of a Season of justice grant. I don't know if you knew that in 2025. They put up a billboard just northeast
of Winnsboro in Sulphur Springs, Texas asking for tips. It's been up for a year, but it's
scheduled to come down any day now, which is why I wanted to make sure that this episode went up right on the
anniversary of Brittany's murder so that her family's plea for help could always
be heard, not just by the people of Wood County, but people all over the world. And sure, Brittany's loved ones would be
grateful for a confession or some shiny new piece of evidence, but the heavyweight lies with everything they've
had to live without. Because while investigators can go back over timelines, maybe retest DNA, they
don't get to go back. They don't get more time with Brittany, just more missed birthdays without her.
And in a place where everybody knows everybody, you would think the truth would be easy to find.
But sometimes the smaller the circle, the easier it is to keep things in. And for Brittany's family, that close
circle hasn't given them more answers. It has just left them on the outside still waiting.
So, if you know something, you could be someone to finally get through that circle.
You can stay anonymous by calling the Wood County Crime Stoppers at 903-760-1008
or you can contact the Wood County Sheriff's Office directly at 903-763-2201. You can find all the source material for
this episode on our website crimejunkie.com. And you can follow us on Instagram at
crimejunkiepodcast. We'll be back next week with a brand new episode.

On May 4, 2007, 19-year-old Brittany McGlone was found dead inside her boyfriend’s home in Winnsboro, Wood County, Texas. There were signs of a violent attack, evidence someone had stayed behind, and a timeline that didn’t quite add up. But what makes this case even more unsettling is that only a small handful of people knew Brittany would be there that day. In this episode, Ashley Flowers and Brit Prawat break down a case where the suspect list is small and the truth remains just out of reach.

They explore Brittany McGlone’s final known movements on May 3–4, 2007 in Winnsboro, Texas, the timeline involving her boyfriend Jeff Stogner and his family, the unexplained evidence found at the scene, the man investigators believe had both access and opportunity, and why, even after an arrest, this case still hasn’t gone to trial.

Over the years, investigators uncovered a key suspect with a history of violent behavior, inconsistencies in alibis and timelines, physical evidence that raised more questions than answers, and DNA evidence that may still hold the key to solving the case.

Yet despite all of this…no one has been convicted. If you know something… you could be the someone who finally gets through it. You can stay anonymous by calling Wood County Crime Stoppers at (903) 760-1008, or contact the Wood County Sheriff’s Office directly at (903) 763-2201 -------- Follow Crime Junkie: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/crimejunkiepodcast Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CrimeJunkiePodcast/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/CrimeJunkiePod Crime Junkie is created and hosted by Ashley Flowers.

About Ashley Flowers Ashley Flowers is the top female podcaster in the U.S. and the host of Crime Junkie, the #1 podcast among women and the #1 true crime podcast globally. As the Founder of Audiochuck, she has built a top-tier podcast production company that has garnered over 2.6 billion downloads, captivating audiences with its gripping storytelling through 10+ chart topping podcasts. Ashley and her team are dedicated to creating responsible true crime content that respects victims and their families.

Follow Ashley: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ASHLEYFLOWERS/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/ash_flowers TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@ashleyflowerscrimejunkie Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ashleyflowers.af/

Check out these other great crime channels: @rottenmangopod “Pretty” 20-Yr-Old Girl Kills Her Dates For Being “Needy”, But Men Want To "Fix Her" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2f8IOUSEyMQ @annieelise Murdered USF Students, D4vd 40TB of Evidence & Influencer Dies After Proposal https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dxiWI__BPDk @kallmekris The Plot Twist Kidnapping That Exposed A Serial Killer https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QFv74NQXtAQ @bellafiori The Bizarre Case of Amy Mullis https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6rYma3Zzw_U

Brief Summary

Brittany McGlone was murdered in 2007; investigation focused on boyfriend and his sister's boyfriend, Chad Carr, who was later arrested but not indicted.

Key points

The Call from Jeff. Jeff calls Brittany's mom, raising alarm about her whereabouts.
The Discovery of Brittany McGlone. Brittany is found dead in her boyfriend's bed, raising immediate suspicions.
Family Secrets Unveiled. Hope reveals that Brittany had confided in her about abuse from their grandfather.
Chad Carr's Alibi. Chad claims he was busy running errands during the murder, but inconsistencies arise.
Chad's Past. Chad's history of violence raises red flags as detectives investigate his connection to Britney.
Debbie's Attack. Debbie recounts a chilling encounter with Chad that leaves her injured and confused.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

Everything so far points to this being close and personal.

Discussion about the nature of the crime.

4:10WatchMay 4, 2026

Tension

75/ 100High tension

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