All language subtitles for Dont.Date.Brandon.S01E03.1080p.WEB.h264-EDITH_track3_[eng]

- Brandon was
the full package.

- You like that, baby?

- Oh, yeah.

Charming.
- That's good.

- You like that.

Charismatic.

[tense music]

- [laughs]

- But sadly,
it was too good to be true.

- The person that I thought
he was, he didn't exist.

- Just stop. Stop. Stop!
- You need help.

- I wake up to a text message,
"Your time is coming, bitch."

- We found out Brandon
was in California.

And there's a new woman
that's being preyed upon.

- He was following her.

His behavior started
becoming more possessive.

- He was sneaking around
her house at night,

looking through her windows.

- He's gonna kill her.

- Brandon has multiple charges
stacked against him.

The resisting arrest,
the police chase

with my daughter in the car.

- Why isn't he being arrested
for all this stuff?

- She finally answers
the phone,

and I can hear panic
in her voice.

- And he's got what
appears to be a gun.

It's like a predator
going after his prey.

[glass shatters]

[relaxing music]

♪ ♪

- Rachel and I
were next door neighbors.

- We actually did it.

- I can't believe we did it.

- She was definitely
more than just a friend.

Rachel was like family.

[screams]

- Newly single, she hadn't been
dating for a very long time.

So she was working through it.

- She was looking for a guy
who was family-oriented,

who was a good person.

- So when Rachel
came to me and told me

she found a guy that was
perfect, I was very excited.

- See? Look at that.

All opens up.

- He had a daughter,
and his name was Brandon.

- He had a PhD.
He dressed nice.

And he looked
really good on paper.

I thought
this could go further.

- I knew that her
new boyfriend was gonna be

my new best friend and my
husband's new best friend,

and so I was really excited
to go out with them.

[suspenseful music]

- A little bit later,
we went out axe-throwing.

We had a couple drinks there.

Yeah, throwing axes
while drinking, that's fun.

- Take it!

[laughs]

- The first half of the night
was so much fun.

- Good job!

We had a great time.

Then Rachel and I
found a girlfriend,

and we were dancing
with our new friend.

- The girls are dancing,

and I'm just having a beer
at the bar.

Brandon had been there,
keeping an eye on her.

And then next thing you know,
it's like, where'd he go?

[upbeat music]

- We had to go
to the bathroom.

We were there
for a couple of minutes,

and then the door slams open.

And I look up there,
and there's Brandon.

His eyes were blacked.

They were glossed over.

He looked like he wanted
to murder somebody.

And he started
yelling at Rachel.

"How dare you disrespect me?

How dare you dance
with this other girl?"

He had a glass cup.

He smashes it down,
smashes everywhere,

and just walks out.

I was terrified because
I did see the devil.

I saw the devil in his eyes.

[tense music]

I was just very grateful
that my husband was there.

And Rachel came home with us.

- I told Nikki that I just got
a really bad feeling about him.

He's going to chop her up
into a million little pieces.

He's--he's gonna kill her.

- After the incident,
after the axe-throwing,

I thought that that
was gonna be

the end of Rachel and Brandon.

[uneasy music]

- If it was up to me,
that would have been

the last time
we ever heard from Brandon.

[all yelling]

- But he turned
the entire situation around.

He told Rachel he did not
throw the glass down.

- He manipulated her
into believing that

she was in the wrong, not him.

And she felt sorry for him.

But I didn't trust him.

I thought Brandon
was gaslighting her.

- Rachel and I had been
really close friends

for about 11 years.

[camera shutter clicks]

Rachel was just getting back
into dating after her divorce.

And we were online dating
at the same time,

and I actually came across
Brandon's profile, I think,

before she did,
and I swiped left on him.

I thought he looked
like a serial killer.

There were just
a lot of things that

he was doing with Rachel that
was making me very cautious.

He said that he had
a degree in psychology.

I never saw him do
any type of psychology work.

Never saw him have a job.

- He said that his ex-wife was
pretty much out of the picture,

and he spent a lot of time
with his daughter.

- To me, that was a red flag,

because why is he living
in California

with no child that I ever saw.

- In the beginning,
Brandon only told

Rachel he had one ex-wife.

He did not tell her
that he had two ex-wives.

- And then Amber and Athena
reached out to Rachel.

- No one ever saw this coming,
but here we are.

- My name is Athena.
- And I'm Amber.

And we are
"Ex-Wives Undercover."

- We found out Brandon
was in California now

and there was a woman named
Rachel being preyed upon.

We knew that
we needed to get her

up to date on the real Brandon.

We were scared
of what he might do.

We were able
to get a phone number,

and we crafted a well
thought-out text message.

- Hi, Rachel.

We were given your
information recently,

and we wanted
to reach out to you

and tell you the truth
about the guy you are dating.

He is not the person
you think he is.

But we knew that
she might not believe

everything that we were saying.

- She did open the door
a little bit with us.

And I got on the phone
with her and definitely

let her know that I understand
where she's coming from.

I was in her shoes.

- With Athena and Amber
reaching out,

Rachel confronted Brandon,

and Brandon had
an entire sob story.

- He was basically telling her
he had done some things

that he wasn't proud of,
like cheating,

so they had done this podcast
as kind of their revenge.

- He was adding yet another
woman to his harem of chicks.

- He told Rachel his ex-wives
are not very stable.

- He's a fucking liar.

- And out to get him.

- I think we got a bad one.

- And did not want him
to be happy.

- Oh, man, that is
embarrassing shit.

- Rachel had this dilemma
of who do I trust.

Do I trust Brandon,
or do I trust these

two women that I don't know?

- And when
you're with someone,

you wanna take their side.

You wanna believe them,
you know.

She was a very loyal person.

That's one of her
great qualities.

- He had a story
for everything.

He told her that
he is a new person.

He is doing all the things
necessary for him to heal.

- Rachel was
a very kind person.

If she felt that somebody
was sorry and repentive

over the situation,

she would give you
another shot.

[suspenseful music]

♪ ♪

- By 2022,
I didn't know if

Rachel and Brandon were
together at this point,

but he is still in my life.

[police siren wailing]

After the crazy experiences
with Brandon,

with my daughter Sydney,
and the police chase with him,

I remember just going
to bed completely exhausted.

♪ ♪

One night I wake up
to a text message.

And it says,
"Your time is coming, bitch."

Receiving the threat

and seeing
a phone number that,

you know, I didn't recognize,

it completely
threw me off-guard.

I just felt very panicked.

As soon as I get that text,
I'm locking my doors.

There's nothing that would
make me believe that

Brandon wasn't just, like,
standing outside in my backyard

or my front yard just waiting,
waiting for me.

- I got a phone call
from Athena.

We did not recognize
the phone number that

texted that message,
but without a doubt,

we knew it was
Brandon Johnson.

- I want to go
to the police about this,

but what did we have?
An anonymous threat?

- We knew that police would
not be able to do anything

unless we had 100% proof
that we could connect Brandon

with that phone number.

It was gonna
be very difficult,

but Athena came up with the
idea of, maybe Rachel knows.

Maybe he had used this number
speaking with Rachel.

We were hoping
she would respond,

but we really didn't know.

- My text to Rachel
was just simply,

"Does this phone number
look familiar to you?"

To my surprise, she said yeah.

But from my prior
experience, I knew that

I had to get
solid evidence of this.

Then I just asked if
she could take a screenshot

and she didn't hesitate.

As soon as I got that
screenshot from Rachel,

my thought was, "I got you."

I knew that death threat
was going

against Brandon's probation,

and I am fully aware
that Brandon has

multiple charges
stacked against him.

The resisting arrest,
the police car chase

with my daughter
in the vehicle,

the violation
of the no-contact orders.

- And he also had
13 felony counts pending

because he was embezzling
money from an employer,

and this is another check
on his list of offenses.

- I'm just hoping that this
takes us over to the next step.

Maybe jail time.

- I just thought,
why isn't he being

arrested for all this stuff?

That's the million
dollar question.

We had talked about it
on our podcast,

but the problem was that
now he's in California

and the jurisdiction
don't match.

So all the things that were
going on in Washington,

you know, no one's
gonna be driving down

to California to arrest him.

[suspenseful music]

♪ ♪

- Brandon's behavior started
becoming more possessive,

and Rachel believed he was
reading her text messages.

He was following her.

His behavior was erratic.

- I didn't want Rachel
to be with Brandon,

and I tried to help her
get out many times,

but I could understand
why it was so,

so hard for her to get out.

I'm a forensic nurse examiner
for rape and strangulation,

sexual assaults, and I have
a lot of experience

of coercive control and abuse.

The abusers pick victims
that are usually

very kind-hearted,
that they know

are gonna have
a hard time leaving.

They twist things around
to control

and manipulate their victims.

They have gaslit them.

They have confused them.

They'll often do things
like threaten suicide.

Brandon did this as well.

They do many, many things
where it is so hard

for the victim to get out.

I could see all of the signs
that Rachel was

in this type of relationship.

- Brandon knew Rachel's group
of friends did not like him.

Brandon especially knew
I did not like him.

- One night he approached me
and started talking to me

about Nikki
and how controlling she was

and how she was
basically ruining

his and Rachel's relationship.

- He told Lauren,
the only thing in the way

between Rachel and me is Nikki,

and he will do whatever
it takes to get Rachel.

It was a huge turning point
for all of us.

We all got together
and did tell her

that we did not think
he was good for her.

- And he lied about it all.
- Oh, my God.

- And she realized that
the podcasts were true.

- Girl, don't do it.

Don't be me. Don't be me.

- And everything she was told
was one lie

after another lie
after another lie.

And so she was done
with the relationship.

- And that's when Brandon
started to really get angry,

and things started
to escalate.

- I knew that if
Brandon was gonna hold

anybody responsible,
it was gonna be me.

[soft music]

♪ ♪

By the beginning of 2022,
we are so proud of Rachel

for breaking it off
with Brandon.

No Brandon, no drama.

And we were able
to live our lives

and not look over our backs.

[ominous music]

But one day, I noticed that
the side of my car was keyed.

- Her car wasn't parked
at home or at her job,

so I just went, oh, well,
what did you do?

Did you cut somebody off?

I felt that it was
a random act of vandalism.

- Not long after that,
my tire was slashed.

And a couple days later,
I walk out from work again

and the other side of my car
is keyed, every panel.

And that's when
I got really scared.

And that's when I knew
someone was targeting me.

- Nikki and I and Rachel
all talk about it,

and the only conclusion
that we come to is Brandon.

- We can't prove that.

But Rachel did reach out and
text message Amber and Athena.

♪ ♪

- Rachel asked if
this was something

Brandon could have done,

and immediately
our response was yes.

In our opinion, this had
Brandon written all over it.

♪ ♪

- We knew from our own
experiences, as well as

other women that dated
Brandon, that the minute

they tried to break free

that this type of thing
would happen.

And if he's
vandalizing this car,

that could mean
there was a tracker on it.

So we were very adamant
that you need to get

your car checked right now.

- I checked the fuel filler
and under the hood.

Then I got underneath
the vehicle

and just worked my way around.

And was about to give up
when I reached up

and found a magnetic device

about the size
of a hockey puck.

Oh, my gosh, there's a GPS
tracker on my wife's car.

It was scary, you know,
somebody--

somebody's tracking us.

Somebody is watching us.

- After I text Rachel and
told her about the tracker,

about 20 minutes later,
I get a picture

of the exact same tracker
on her son's car.

- As soon as I hear that, I--

I couldn't be more serious.

I told her, you need to go
to the police right away.

- We knew that if Brandon
was putting a tracker

on Nikki's car,
that he was really escalating

and becoming
more and more aggressive.

- Brandon wants to be
your one and only.

- The woman had given us
a video of an incident where

a man appeared
to crouch behind a car

parked in front of her house.

- The brake lines were
cut on that vehicle.

- We certainly couldn't
prove that it was Brandon,

but we were
incredibly suspicious.

- I was worried about
Brandon was capable

of doing far worse to Nikki,
to Rachel.

- We didn't know
where he was gonna hit,

how he was gonna hit,
when he was gonna hit.

But it was just
a matter of time.

And I think he just
took it beyond anything

that was even imaginable.

[eerie music]

- After we found the tracker,
Amber and Athena said

Brandon's actions is
a part of his playbook.

Brandon has been known
to do whatever he could do

to isolate the girl that he
is dating from her best friend.

I called the police,
but we were told that

because we couldn't prove
that it was Brandon

that it would be difficult
to qualify as stalking.

And all they could do
was take a police report.

- I wasn't really surprised
because these types of abusers

get very clever
and know exactly

what they can and cannot
get away with.

- I felt fearful for myself
and the safety of my family.

- We're pretty vulnerable.

It's like, what--what is he
willing to do at this point?

You know, kind of looking
over your shoulder.

[gunshot]

We purchased
a couple of handguns.

We took a firearms class.

And we were--we were gonna be
ready if he showed up.

[tense music]

- Brandon wouldn't go away.

He would go wherever
Rachel went.

He would stalk her.

He followed her at work,
yoga studio.

He was everywhere.

She felt fearful.

- Things were getting
very creepy.

Brandon would send Rachel
text messages

quoting exact sentences
that we said in private.

♪ ♪

We--we were all
really confused.

We didn't know where the
information was coming from.

- Rachel had texted me.

I just kept saying, he's got to
have your phone, like, bugged.

He probably has spyware.
That's gotta be what it is.

Rachel kept reassuring me
that she absolutely

had her phone checked,
her computer checked,

and that they found nothing.

I'm kind of dumbfounded
and absolutely clueless

as to how he is
finding out all of this.

- I was scared for Rachel.

We don't know where
his eyes and ears are.

It's like a predator
going after his prey.

♪ ♪

- Because of
Brandon's behavior,

Rachel planned
a Valentine's Day girl weekend,

and she wanted
a fun good time.

Unfortunately, I was too scared
to go, so I stayed home.

- Our friend Erin
had come to visit,

and we were having
a lot of fun together.

But then Brandon started
texting Rachel things

that we were saying,
like almost in that moment,

as in to like respond to it.

[eerie music]

♪ ♪

He would contact her on,
like, many phones,

so it's not like
you could block him.

We were all kind of
getting freaked out.

I'm like, we need
to check the house

because he has a bug in here.

So we start, like,
looking around.

We checked everywhere.

And then Rachel finds
this box kind of thing...

Tied to under the bed
with her hair ties.

And it ended up being the
camera and listening device.

♪ ♪

It turns out he had been
listening under her bed

for God knows how long.

It's creepy.

And it's just, like,
all kinds of wrong.

- Rachel called me and it all
came together at that moment.

A lot of our conversations
took place in her bedroom.

It must have been transmitting
to his phone directly.

We felt violated.

Rachel reported it
to the police.

They were concerned,
but the police did say

that it would be
difficult to prove that

it was Brandon who put it in.

I know that several people
actually touched the camera,

and so it would be difficult
to dust it for fingerprints.

They took a report,
but we felt defeated.

- We started to wonder,
like, how did he

put the camera under the bed?

- My guess is,
he broke in through a window

and planted it
when she wasn't there.

And that made us
very scared for her safety.

One of us mentioned that
she should reach out

to Amber and Athena
and get their advice

because they've already
lived through this.

- I thought, wow,
camera under her bed.

Oh, shit.

- Hearing that he was hearing
her private conversations,

we immediately thought,
oh great, like,

he's gonna know
what we've been telling her.

- We spoke on the phone while
she was seated on her bed,

and now we were all at risk
for Brandon's retaliation.

♪ ♪

- We said, you need
to catch him red-handed.

So the only way we knew to
make sure that she had proof

was installing cameras both
inside and outside her home.

♪ ♪

- At that point, it's not
if Brandon will do something,

it's when and what
will Brandon do today.

- She had placed
cameras in there,

and he was sneaking
around her house at night.

Looking through her windows.

And one night, she called me
and told me that he had somehow

broken into her place again
and turned all the cameras

in her bedroom off.

- Rachel did reach out
to law enforcement.

They took a report, but we
had no idea where he was at.

I panicked.

I told Rachel,
whatever it takes,

you need to get that camera
back working ASAP.

Then we made a pact that we
would check in with each other

several times
throughout the day,

just to make sure
we were safe.

- I mean, he was gonna stop
at nothing.

[eerie music]

♪ ♪

- That following Tuesday,
she worked

a very, very long shift.

It was dark. It was nighttime.

I called her several times
and she wasn't picking up,

and I was terrified.

[line trills]

My heart rate's
probably at 150.

I am debating about
calling the cops.

And she finally
answers the phone,

and I can hear panic
in her voice.

♪ ♪

Rachel told me Brandon
came out of nowhere

wearing a black sweatshirt

with zip ties
around his wrist.

He tried to pull her
in the van that he was driving.

[line trilling]

And at that point,

I was calling
over and over and over,

and Brandon did hear
her phone ringing

and let go of her wrists
and allowed her

to escape to her car.

- We advised Rachel to go
get a restraining order ASAP.

This is an
incredibly scary time

because the minute he knows

that you're going
to that extreme,

he will flip on you.

- However, in California, in
order for a restraining order

to be valid, not only do
you need all the evidence,

but you actually have to serve

the restraining order
to the individual.

- When we didn't want him
around, he was everywhere.

And then when Rachel
got a restraining order

and tried to get him
to serve him, he was gone.

[suspenseful music]

♪ ♪

- On March 1st,
Rachel told everybody

she wanted to stay at home

because she had a hot date
with her laundry.

And then Brandon called Rachel
and she answered.

- Since Rachel wasn't
able to find him,

she basically sat
on FaceTime with him

while she was doing laundry
so that she could

try and find out where he was
so that she could serve him.

- By the end of the call,
you know,

he's trying to flirt with me.

Like, he's complimenting me
like, oh, you look

really cute in that tank top.

You know,
I'm still talking to him,

just trying to have some type
of information on

where he's staying in order
to try to get him served,

but he's like,
let me come see you.

It's like, no,
we're not doing this.

This is not a relationship
anymore by any means.

And so I hung up the phone
and then I just went to sleep.

- The next morning,
Rachel called me

and it was a phone call
I will never, ever forget.

[eerie music]

♪ ♪

[knocking]

That night, she was asleep.

Brandon broke into her house.

Next thing she knew is,
Brandon was in her room.

- And he's having sex with her.

- And she was telling him no
and he did not listen.

- I mean, he's a huge guy too.

I mean, he's like,
I don't know, 6'2".

He's built.

You know, it was heartbreaking
to hear that

from your best friend.

[somber music]

♪ ♪

- It was very shocking
that after that night,

Brandon acted like he did not
think he did anything wrong.

But he did.
He went in there unannounced.

She told him no,
and she was incredibly scared.

I truly think Brandon
had everything mapped out.

But the camera that was
in Rachel's room

that captured the assault,

Brandon thought he disabled,
and he did not.

- I tried to like, talk to her
and asked if she wanted

to contact law enforcement.

She didn't want to at the time.

I think there's
a lot of shame, you know,

with sexual assault victims
of even going forward.

A lot of people feel
like it's their fault.

It was just really sad.

- The next day, Rachel had
to go to the police station

for all the documentation
for the restraining order,

and she started receiving
text messages from Brandon.

He was worried.

And once she receives
all of these text messages,

it's very apparent that
he was still tracking her.

[suspenseful music]

♪ ♪

I got pissed, and so I
told Rachel, you know what?

This is how
we're gonna get him.

You tell him,
you text message him

that he needs to come
in person to take

that tracker off your car,
and he needs to meet you now.

♪ ♪

So once Brandon
agreed to meet Rachel,

she got a friend to serve him
the restraining order.

I was relieved
that he was served,

but I knew that
it would make him more mad.

On March 11th, Rachel and I
had to go to court

to get that
no-contact order ratified,

and we were expecting
Brandon to show up.

Brandon was not there.

He was on a Zoom call,

and also,
Brandon's camera was off,

so we didn't know if he was
in Washington or California.

And then he requested
for the court date

to be changed to a later date
so he could obtain a lawyer.

And that is what happened.

But he knew that
there was no going back.

And since he knew that,
what now?

- It's March 11th,
I'm downstairs,

talking to Amber on the phone.

As we're talking,
I receive a text message

from a close friend
of Brandon's.

- Brandon had texted him.

This is it. I'm gonna end it.

Bitches pushed me too far.

Who were the bitches?

Me? Athena? Rachel?

All of us?

[tense music]

And then I get a video,
and it shows him driving

in a truck or some rented car,

and he's got what appears
to be a gun in his seat.

- That was the scary part.

I've never seen him
with a gun.

He is not legally allowed
to carry a gun.

The fact that he would
risk doing that in a car

and sending a video means that
the man is cracked.

- He clearly had serious
intentions with that gun.

Something bad
is about to go down.

♪ ♪

- After everything
going on with Brandon,

Rachel and I decided
to go have a drink.

Randomly, an old friend,
Austin,

reached out to her for the
first time in quite some time.

- I didn't actually know she
was going to court that morning

for the restraining order,
so I called Rachel that day

asking her, are you
available later that night?

- Austin is a very mellow,
chill kind of guy.

He's the complete opposite
of Brandon,

and I thought it was perfect.

- She had a stressful day,
so I think

it was relieving for her that
she wanted company to come over

and she was happy.

- We went back
to Rachel's house.

I think Austin showed up
about 30 minutes after I left.

I had no idea that that
could have been the last time

I ever saw my best friend.

[soft music]

♪ ♪

- Okay.

- Are you sure you're ready
for this?

- Yeah.

Yeah, let's try.

Okay.

- Okay.

- You never think that
something like this

is gonna happen to you.

And you do, you think, this is
just the stuff I see on TV.

And...[chuckles] I was wrong.

[eerie music]

That night, Austin and I
were just over at my house,

and it felt like a great way
to just forget

about everything
that was happening.

- We're in her room.

She wanted somebody
that she knew

she could trust to be around.

- Austin and I are just
having casual conversation,

and then all of a sudden,
I noticed this light

appears on his forehead.

- And then all I see
is a big light

just walking through the door.

- Austin's expression
abruptly changed.

I knew when I was
about to turn around

that it wasn't something good.

- I knew who it was.

Brandon had appeared
out of nowhere,

and it looked like
a gun in his hand.

- He had a knife in his hand.

I was really scared.

- There was this just negative
dark energy coming from him.

- There was no exit.

Rachel was sitting next to me.

I felt trapped.

- My mind attempted to protect
me, to tell me to stay calm.

And there isn't really
a man in here with a gun

pointing at you
who's here to attack you.

So my instinct was
to attempt to talk to him,

to bring him out of it
in a way.

What are you doing here?

Give me that.
- No.

- But there was no
getting through.

- You're looking
at her right now?

- Yeah.
- Brandon!

- So you're looking at her now?

- He put me into a headlock.

It became clear that as
I attempted to struggle,

he was not gonna be
letting me go.

- You're looking
at her right now?

- Yes.

- This man has a strength
that I don't possess.

And he pinned me down
with his forearm.

- You know who I am?

- [grunts]
[thud]

- And then he hit me
straight on the forehead.

And the gun or the knife
split my forehead open.

You just cut my head
with a knife.

It was a pretty good amount of
blood dripping down my face.

- I'm gonna fucking
shoot you right now.

- And then was just screaming
and yelling, you know,

I'm gonna blow your head off.
I'm gonna kill you both.

- Do it and I'll shoot you,
little fuckers.

- Are you serious right now?

Throwing her against the wall.

That's what made me freak out.

- I'm fucking shoot
your fucking head off.

- I jumped up off the bed.

There was no thinking.
There was no thought.

It was just go.

[Rachel yelling]

- Fuck out of my way, man.

[both grunting]

- He had that gun in his hand.

I had grabbed him,
and he had shot it off

and it had missed me.

But after I heard
that first initial pop,

that's when I figured out
that, oh, this isn't a gun.

Seeing the cords coming
out of the tip of it,

I found out this is a Taser.

But he still did have
that knife in his hand.

Hey! Calm the fuck down!

- They were wrestling
and fighting

and things were moving fast.

Brandon! Stop it.

[overlapping yelling]

- I had to seize
whatever moment I could

to grab my phone
and call the police.

- Calm the fuck down!

- And then actually
holding my phone,

the fear and overwhelm was
really starting to come in.

- Calm down now!

Calm down!

- And I just froze
and was like,

what--what phone number
do I dial?

Where's the phone button?

It was just so overwhelming.

- Calm now!

You done?

He was a lot bigger than me,

but I had trained
in jiu jitsu,

so finally I choked him
unconscious.

- Finally, I was able
to pull myself back in

to actually make
that phone call to the police.

- Please, walk out.

At that point, I started
taking him out of the house,

and that's when
I heard the sirens.

[sirens wailing]

- Hey, Brandon. Come here.

- The cops kind of swarmed in.

- Stop fighting!

- Don't fight me.
Stop! You're gonna get tased.

You're gonna get tased!

- Get down on the ground now!

Get on the ground!
- Okay, okay.

- And it looked like
they started to subdue him,

putting one handcuff
around his wrist.

- Get on--
- Hey, Brandon.

Come here.

- And he took off
down the street.

[indistinct radio chatter]

- Pop that fence.

24-40. Go back to his car.

He's working his way
back towards that.

He's right there to your right.

- He was just in here.
- Hands up.

- Brandon! Come out!

- Get down on the ground now!

Get down on the ground now!

- Get down on the ground,
Brandon!

- You're gonna get tased.
Taser.

- Oh, God damn, stop.

Oh, fuck.

- Here, I got him.

Yeah, we're good.

[indistinct radio chatter]

- Taser, three times?

- Five.

[sirens wailing]

- Finally, when they arrested
him, took him to jail,

we just went,
what the heck just happened?

[tense music]

♪ ♪

- Once Brandon was arrested,

the police
collected the evidence.

And I noticed that on
the inside of the sweatshirt,

there's strips of duct tape.

Why?

Why would there be
strips of duct tape

on the inside of the sweater?

And then I started to just
look at the officers' faces,

watching them pull things
out of the truck.

I remember watching one of
the deputies pull a wig out.

There was a huge shift
where everyone was quiet.

But I remember looking
at that wig and thinking,

why does he
have a wig of long hair

that happens to be the
opposite color of my hair?

♪ ♪

- When the police
talked to Brandon,

I knew that he was a person
that was gonna try to

change the story, to flip the
script, to try to get out

of anything he could.

- This is kind of
your one time to give us

your side of the story.

This is your time to--

to tell us how
everything makes sense.

- I couldn't really
tell you what story

he would come up with,
but just that I could

100% tell you that
he would not tell the truth.

- Rachel and Brandon
were together

for four or five months.

I mean, Rachel and I
didn't have any communication

out of respect
for that relationship.

- So she asked you to place
this device on her son's car?

- I would never ask Brandon to
put a tracker on my son's car.

[tense music]

♪ ♪

Did she ask you to
put the camera there?

- It felt very violating.

Absolutely disgusting.

It's violating in every way.

- The DA told me
that Brandon had

a completely different story
of what happened that night.

But what they didn't know is
that this was all on videotape.

♪ ♪

- I only remembered
the next morning

that I had that camera
on my dresser.

And when I informed
the detective

that I had a recording
of everything that happened,

he was surprised
and very much elated

that they had
everything they needed.

I knew that Amber and Athena
were concerned,

so I reached out
to let them know

that the event had actually
been caught on camera.

- When we learned there was a
camera that caught the attack

and everything, it was just,
like, jumping up and down.

Like, we got him, we got him.

And I cannot wait to see them
play that video for him.

I cannot wait.

- Would it surprise you
if Rachael had a camera

set up in her bedroom?

Because she does.

- Yeah, she has a camera
in there that captured

Friday night's incident.

- And it paints
a different picture

than what you're telling us.

- I'm gonna go grab a file
real quick.

- Sure.

- He was clearly surprised
it was a working camera

because he had
made an attempt to disable it.

- There we go.

- The beauty of the video
is that it shows that

he clearly puts me in
a headlock and pins me down.

Yeah, I mean,
does that several times.

- What are you doing in--

- I'll fucking shoot you.
I'll shoot you.

Shut the fuck up!

- I heard when Brandon
was shown the video,

he can't handle it.

- Because there's no
getting out of this one.

- Gotta do it.
Gotta shoot you.

- No.
Are you serious right now?

- Shortly after, the DA
came over, sat me down,

and showed me a picture
they had of all the things

he had in his truck.

In addition to this wig,
there were handcuffs,

and there were zip ties,
and there was tape.

And it was in that moment
that...

I looked at the picture

and it was like something
out of a scary movie.

- It didn't make any sense.

And I believe
the only intention

behind having
something like that

would be to disguise somebody.

And then following up
with the thought of,

why would he need
to disguise me?

- It was conveyed
to me at that time,

his plan was to kidnap
and rape me at minimum.

But at what point do you
get kidnapped and set free?

♪ ♪

- It's Rachel, right?
- Correct, yes.

- Are you okay?
- Sorry.

I didn't believe it.

There's a person out there
that claimed to love me.

I didn't believe that
they were also capable

of also having the intention
to kidnap and rape me.

It was--it was gut-punching.

[eerie music]

♪ ♪

But then when I discovered
that his plan was possibly

even worse than I thought.

A short while after the
attack, I was in my garage,

and I stumbled across
a shopping bag

that contained ammonia
and bleach

that I knew
I had never purchased.

Clearly, somebody else
had placed it there.

Why?

And then that got me thinking
that his plan was

possibly even worse
than I thought.

And having to have that
conversation with my son,

and just see the fear
in his face

and his voice about--

so Mom, like,
really there was a chance

that like, I wouldn't--

there's a possible chance
that I was

never gonna see you again?

You know, so to have
to hear him say those words,

that's when it was--
became really devastating.

[tense music]

♪ ♪

- My main concern was,
he's extremely manipulative,

he's well-spoken,
good looking, he's charming.

I worried if he gets
in front of a jury,

how is he gonna come across?

- Even though I had the video,
my worry was

what his side was gonna be.

♪ ♪

I remember Amber and Athena
offering me advice

on how to proceed legally,

and to do it in a way
that creates a paper trail,

because he had a way
of flipping things

within the legal system
and creating false documents

to support his side of things.

[phone rings]

- My phone rings,
and a detective

with the El Dorado Hills
Police Department is calling.

- At this point,
Brandon was in custody

and Detective Chris Macres

was really trying
to build his case,

and he reached out to myself
and Athena to get our help.

- Thankfully,
because of the podcast,

we had documented all
of Brandon's criminal charges,

even just timelines,
events, women.

- Having the two
ex-wives school them

on Brandon Johnson was
kind of eye-opening for him.

- All the evidence painted
a very clear picture

for those detectives
to see that, wow,

this is so much bigger than
just this incident

here in California.

But by the end of this,
Amber and myself

were never subpoenaed
to go to court

because the case
against Brandon

was so strong it wasn't needed.

[soft music]

- I receive
the phone call that

there's a deal on the table,
a plea deal of ten years.

And I remember asking,
do you think this is fair?

And my representation said yes.

And then I was like, okay,

that seems valuable enough
to me.

- He's going to jail
for 10 years.

- Solid?

- No option to dispute it,

ten years in the slammer.

- Oh, my God.

- I feel like I should cry,
but I can't.

I think I'm just in shock.

- Yeah.

This was the moment
that I've been waiting

probably 16 years for.

It's just a very long time to
wait for justice to be served.

♪ ♪

- In all honesty,
he deserves so much more.

He really does.

But there was just relief
that now he was

going to start
his prison sentence.

- Our mission statement on the
podcast at the very beginning

was that women had
each other's back.

And I did very much
feel that...

that this was vindication,
so to speak.

- I'm definitely very
grateful for Amber and Athena,

for their support
and their guidance.

Without that,
we wouldn't have taken

a lot of the protective
measures that we did.

And I think they're important
as to why Rachel's safe.

- After everything
that had happened,

I realized that someone's kind
of taken something from you,

but you can take it back.

And that's been
really important for me.

[wind chimes tinkling]

Sadly, Brandon will
never change his ways.

He is who he is, and this is
just an evil person.

There's another woman
out there who's potentially

his next victim, and I just
don't want anyone else

to have to ever
go through that.

Brandon Johnson will never win.

I won't allow it. Mm-mm.

[hopeful music]

- The big change I would make
is to have a database,

a system put into place to make
sure that if you are entering

a domestic relationship,
no matter where you were,

you would see that person's,
all of their criminal activity.

We could lobby.
We could make a change.

- Brandon Johnsons exist
all around the world

in different sizes,
shapes, names.

They--they're out there.

So we're not gonna allow them
to terrorize women anymore.

[soft dramatic music]

♪ ♪