All language subtitles for Murder.In.The.Wicked.West.S01E04.1080p.WEBRip.x265-RARBG

Yakima is central
in the state of Washington.

We are a high desert community,

a lot of ranches.

But we're in the top 10
in homicides

per capita
in the United States.

It's sad when there's a lot
of evil out there

that you don't even have
a clue about.

I get a call
from my dispatch.

There was an injured female

found on the Parker
Bridge Road

in Yakima County.

It was attempted murder.

The person who did this,
we didn't know anything more

beyond a first name
and the fact

that he was sort of a cowboy.

But that is all we knew.

It quickly became apparent

that there were
many more women.

This cowboy just has
one thing on his mind.

The one thing was murder.

People think
that because our area

is so close to Portland

that there's not
a rural sense.

But, you know,

there's many cowboys
and cowgirls.

People that have animals
and livestock

very close
to the city of Portland.

For so many people
in Clackamas County,

in the rural areas,
that is their culture.

I got a page
to go out on a call.

It was human remains
that had been discovered.

Some children playing
located what they believe

was a human, um, skull.

You know, as soon
as that pager goes off,

there's an adrenaline rush.

This is where
the remains were found, um,

scattered over
a pretty large area.

We saw that there were, uh,

fragments of bone all over.

And in fact,
as I'm standing there

while, uh, people
were searching the area,

I start to see
small fragments of bone.

And we realize
that they're just everywhere.

Do we have a natural death
or could this be a homicide?

Every bone
has a tale to tell.

Based on the size
of the skull,

we were dealing
with female remains.

And so we ran
any missing person.

And one that became interesting

was a woman
named Velina Larson.

I met Velina in a bar.

I was playing pool.

And when I got up
to go shoot,

she grabbed my beer,
and was drinking my beer,

and she said, uh,

"Where are you
buying me dinner?"

It was love at first sight.

She was all smiles.
And, you know, she was pretty,

always had her nails done
and her hair done,

and she always wore cowgirl
type shirts and ropers, boots.

That was just her.
That was her...

That's the way
she dressed, you know?

She got pregnant.
Then we got married.

She made an excellent wife,
but her habits

and addictions
started getting in the way.

You know, everybody
has a breaking point.

And we got a divorce.

But she would come around

when she wanted
to see the kids.

The kids loved her a lot.

A few months
go by after that.

I remember she'd told me
that she'd met this man

named Mike.

He was kind of a cowboy.

He had a real act
for playing the guitar

and singing,

which a lot of ladies
like that.

It's one way to get
in a lady's pocket, I'd say,

you know, singing
and playing the guitar.

A couple of weeks
went by and she says,

"I'm gonna have
to go get my stuff,

it's in the storage."
And we both have...

And Mike had the keys.

She told me that, uh,
she's afraid for her life,

that, uh, if she told me
that what he might do to her.

She wanted me to go with her.

I didn't really
wanna go with her,

so I dropped her off
right here at this bus stop.

She said she'd be back
by 5:00.

And this is the last time
I seen her.

She never showed up.

I mean, I sat there.

I waited for that phone
to ring

day after day after day.

I called anybody
that she possibly

could have known.

I can't even describe
what it put me through

just having to answer
to the kids,

you know, they,
"Where's Mommy?

When's Mommy coming?"
You know what I mean?

Uh, and all I could say
was, "I don't know,

you know, I don't...
I don't know.

I don't know."

About four months
had been by,

they found something
that they believe

possibly could be my ex-wife,
Velina.

It was just something
I didn't wanna hear.

Told the kids
something had happened

to their mom
and it wasn't good.

I remember that day.

You know, it's...

It was, uh, it was a long day.

And it was a sad day.

And the girls were so young,
but they still,

you know, they knew what

"You're never gonna see
your mom again" meant.

You know what I mean?
They knew what that meant.

I remember there were TV,

like, news crews at our house

asking about
what had happened,

asking about everything
that my dad knew.

That was my first memory
of she's gone

and she's not coming back.

A lot of times, I feel angry.

A lot of times,
I feel very sad.

She was my mother,
but she wasn't my mother

because I have nothing,

you know,
just pictures and stories.

When you work
with suspicious death

or a homicide,
you're gonna work

from the inside out,
the people closest to someone.

And just because someone
reports someone missing

doesn't preclude the fact
that they might have,

in fact,
done this person harm.

When they first found her,

I was, like,
their first suspect, I mean,

they even took me in
and did a lie detector test.

They told me that,
uh, it was inconclusive.

Well, of course it was.

Even though we were divorced,
we remained friends.

You know,
being with the kids,

still to this day,
there's not a day that goes by

that when I wake up
in the morning,

she's not the first thing
that crosses my mind.

I know that my dad's

never been able
to move past her.

He's had a lot
of relationships.

And, you know, none of them
have matched up to her.

We never... We never
talked about it at home.

It was just a big question
that no one asked.

Moving forward in my life
has always been tough

because there's no resolution.

You're just kind of in this
weird limbo all the time.

When Velina Larson's
bones had been autopsied,

there was no cause or manner
of death really found.

Made me feel terrible.

And that's very difficult
to prosecute.

The information
that we got from Brian Larson

was that she was going
to kind of call it quits

with this relationship
with Cowboy Mike.

And we learned
that right next

to where her body was found,

literally where you could look,

there was the storage locker

where she had kept
her things in.

You know,
it was difficult to imagine

exactly what might
have occurred.

This one area
that's very well-secured

with over a six-foot tall fence,

that's topped with razor wire.

So, to get someone
over the top of that

would be very difficult.

Also, you know,
there's cameras, you know,

people going in and out.

If someone's
trying to carry out a body,

they're going to see that.

But there was certainly
strong suspicion

that if, in fact,
her death was a homicide,

that cowboy Mike
would certainly be

the prime person
of interest in this case.

I worked very hard
following up.

I worked the case for years

and tried to keep track
of Cowboy Mike.

But he was on the loose.

During that time,
I became very concerned

that there were
many more women

who were associated
with Cowboy Mike.

My biggest concern
was that he was

a potential serial killer.

In Yakima back then,
people were wearing

cowboy boots, cowboy hats,

living the cowboy lifestyle.

I even had a couple
of pairs of cowboy boots

and a couple of hats.

Most of the bars
were cowboy bars.

Karaoke,
Country Western was hot.

It was a good way
to attract women.

It was a fun time.

We both like
to go out and have fun

and dance or watch people.

Karen was like 15
when I was born.

- Mmm-hmm.
- Yeah.

She's my baby sister.

I remember
my sister called me

and asked me
if I would like to come

and meet her
at Susie's Saloon.

They were gonna be having
some karaoke.

Always fun
to watch people sing.

That night, there was quite
a few people there.

It was pretty full.

When I got up
to go walk to the bar,

I noticed a cowboy

sitting on another table
behind us.

He had a cowboy hat
and like a dress shirt.

He got up and said,
"Well, my name is Mike."

And then so I'm like,
"I'm Wendy."

And then he's like,
"Could you come outside

and talk with me?"

And I told him, "No,

why would I go outside
and talk to you?

I don't know you."

And I literally
walked away from him.

And then Mike came and sat
beside my sister.

When he came over
to the table and sat with me,

he told me his name
was Cowboy Mike

conversed with him,
I guess.

I told my sister
that he's bad news.

And I just
like, "I'm out of here.

I'm leaving."

We went over to his table

where he was sitting
with a girl,

drank my last drink,
and then I left.

I drove home
and parked my car.

I didn't see anybody
following me or anything.

When I went to open my door
and he was behind me,

he shoved my door
all the way open,

came into my bedroom,

picked me up by my neck,

and, he strangled me
in the bedroom.

The next morning,
I woke up

and I was making her coffee

or something like that
for her.

And then I'm, I could hear
my mom yelling from the room.

I ran over there
to go open the door

and I couldn't open the door.

When I finally got in there
and seen her

kind of like laying
on the floor next to the bed

with a blanket over her
and she was just screaming

and crying
like she couldn't breathe,

and, to me,
it seemed like she thought

he was still on her.

And I just remember

she had marks
all over her neck,

a complete handprint
of fingerprints

and a big thumbprint.

My mom realized
she had been raped

by the time
we got to the hospital.

The doctors or someone
at the hospital said

that she blacked out
from lack of oxygen

when he was strangling her.

She's never been the same.

It was really scary
for me as a kid.

You know, I was only 14.

I fear in the back of my head

that cowboy Mike
would come after me.

This is where
Karen Peterson lived.

Michael followed her
into her apartment,

hit her in the back
of the head,

choked her out
till she was unconscious,

then he escaped
through the bedroom window.

After talking to Karen
and her sister, Wendy,

a few things that were odd,

didn't seem
too worried about witnesses.

No regard for getting caught.

Must think he's smarter
than everybody else.

Karen had been stripped naked

and she had been posed.

He probably posed her

thinking that he murdered her.

Karen came
into the sheriff's department

to give a statement.

Yeah, I think
she's just glad to be alive.

Karen met the wrong cowboy
at the wrong time,

going through
the wrong place.

Just talk about bad luck.

I feel
that she was honestly

very lucky that she was alive.

That night,
she had angels or something

looking over her because
she obviously came through.

The mystery was,
who was her attacker?

Cowboy Mike didn't have
any connections to Yakima.

He tried to kill
for no reason.

He didn't rob anybody.

He didn't take their money,
didn't take their car.

It was just out of pleasure

of trying to hurt somebody.

It's like a puzzle.
And it was a complete mystery

why anybody
would do this to her.

I was assigned
to the Detective Division

at the Lacey
Police Department

at the time.

It was a little
after 8:00 at night

and I got a call
from my sergeant,

the homicide of Lori Jones

at an apartment complex
not far from my house.

Lori was a very hardworking,
loving mother.

What happened
was that her daughter

had been gone
for a couple of days

to spend 4th of July weekend
with friends.

She came back,

then that's when her mom's
body was discovered.

When I first
walked into the apartment,

we pretty much documented
everything, took photos,

and then meticulously
moved our way through.

And the last place
that we checked

was the bedroom
where her body was found.

You could not see the body

without lifting up
the bed skirt.

When I lifted it up,
um, the body was right there

and I was not ready for that.

So, it was... It was a little,

you know, sort of
it takes your breath away

for just a moment.

She's completely naked with

a pillow case
partially covering her face.

She did not go down
without, you know,

a pretty significant struggle.

Considerable bruising
and some,

you know, blood in her hair.

So certainly
things that would trigger me

to believe that there was
some type of struggle.

When the bed was taken apart,

there were no sheets,
no blankets, no anything.

All of those things
were in the washing machine,

potentially erasing DNA
evidence from the bedding.

It took us a while
to find her purse.

It was, um, hidden

underneath some clothing

in the corner of the closet.

We went through that.

We found her ID,
her credit cards,

and we found a receipt

from a, um, a bar.

We contacted the bartender.

We showed him
a picture of Lori.

He recognized her

and he told me
that she had met up

with a male

with some swagger,

and he was wearing
a cowboy hat,

cowboy boots.

And the bartender remembered
that his name was Mike.

At the apartment,
he did a good job

cleaning up,

but he didn't do a perfect job

because we had
damage to the blinds

in the daughter's room.

It turned out
that he left behind

a fingerprint
on those blinds.

It was a very exciting moment

because within a few days,

that person was identified
as Michael Braae.

Michael Braae had
a history of violence,

domestic violence, rapes.

So I knew that we were dealing

with somebody
that was very dangerous.

I worked
homicides before,

but it's not like this case.

I went back and, you know,
started doing

a little deeper dive
into his world.

Digging more into his life, thinking,

"Okay. Where might he go?"

What I found was that
he was involved

in a relationship
with Marchelle Morgan.

Marchelle and Michael Braae

had, um, had an on-again,

off-again relationship
for a couple of years.

So I believe
that that's who he,

uh, ran to after, um,
after killing Lori Jones.

Marchelle and, uh, Mike,

kind of, had
a scam system going

where they'd go into bars
and he'd hit up women

and she'd hit up men
and, kind of,

try to get some free drinks
and stuff like that.

They'd act like they were
brother and sister.

When we were investigating
Karen Peterson,

a few people called in

and told us that they had
seen him that night

at Susie's Saloon
near Yakima.

He went into the bar
with Marchelle.

Karen and her sister
were in the bar

drinking, and, uh,
Mike came over

and started flirting
with Wendy.

And, uh, then Karen
started flirting with Mike.

They said
they kind of blew him off.

Marchelle and, uh, Michael
were last seen

going to the parking lot,
they're seen arguing,

got in their vehicle and left.

And the next thing
we end up finding out

was Marchelle was, uh, shot

and dumped out on the road.

Coming up, we have
where Marchelle was found.

It was pretty isolated.

Marchelle Morgan was lying
on this side of the fence.

She was still alive,

but she had been shot
in the head.

It was another
attempted murder.

She must have been
trying to get away

'cause she crawled through
the barbed wire fence

to get on the other side,
try to save herself.

I went
to Memorial Hospital

to see if I could
talk to Marchelle.

The doctor who was working
on her told me that, uh,

she was intubated,

had a tube in there
breathing for her,

so she wasn't able
to talk at all.

He never came back
into the bar

after shooting Marchelle.

I think he arrived

just when Karen was leaving.

Felt bad
for her, you know?

So, I was lucky

he didn't shoot me in the head

like he did to her.

That's when
I was contacted

by Detective Reinhold.

She advised me, uh,

how their victim had been
found stripped naked

and she had been strangled.

She had been, um, posed.

It's the same MO

to, uh, what happened

to Karen Peterson.

With all the evidence
we got, we knew

that the two were connected.

I knew
within a single week,

he had killed Lori Jones

and tried to kill
two other women.

I knew it wasn't going to end.

And until we were able
to get him in custody,

there were gonna be others.

You know,
in the beginning,

we thought, okay,

it's Velina Larson.

She's the focus,

but there's all these women.

The common denominator
is that they were last seen

with Michael Braae.

We knew that he liked
to go to bars that had bands.

He'd sometimes
take his own guitar,

sometimes he'd borrow a guitar.

He liked to go to places
that had karaoke.

So I put together
this task force

of detectives
and then sent them out.

We, sort of,
identified all the bars

that, sort of, fit
into that profile

where they had music,
where they had karaoke.

We put out a bulletin

with Michael's picture
and description.

They hit all
the different places

I thought
that Mike might be at.

I hit the seedier motels

in town, the different
taverns and bars,

see if they recognized him.

I couldn't
find him anywhere.

Wanted across
state lines, Cowboy Mike Braae

is on the run from police,

wanted for multiple
rapes and murders.

He is considered armed
and extremely dangerous.

I was born
and raised around here,

Lewis County,
pretty much all my life.

I was just
a typical 25-year-old.

Single, I liked to drink
and have fun, you know?

I was having a garage sale,

and this truck
pulled in the driveway.

And this cowboy popped out.

He had a jean jacket
on and wore a hat

and, um, had cowboy boots.

He, uh, come up and just

started talking with us
like he knew everybody.

He asked if he could
put a horse saddle

into the garage sale
to try to sell.

And then he went
and got his guitar

and played, you know,
a couple songs.

I've always kind of been
attracted to cowboys

and then singing
on top of that, you know,

who doesn't want
someone to sing to them,

you know, kind of thing.

We decided to go down
to the little bar

and have a couple of drinks.

We just continued drinking.

And, you know,
he's a ladies man, obviously.

He knew what to say
and do, you know,

he did all that right.

Maybe a couple
kisses is what we did.

And then, you know,
back to my house.

In the morning,
we'd made coffee

and I had the newspaper
sitting on my kitchen table.

And it had his picture.

And I'm thinking, "Oh, man,

the cops
were looking for him."

And he's watching me do this.

I was... I was scared.

I got up and kind of
backed up to the sink.

All I could say
is, "You got to go,

you know, you can't be...

You got to go."

When he left, I grabbed
his license plate number

and I wrote it down.

The more I learned about it,

the more scared I was.

He had every opportunity
with me being alone.

I'm just...
I'm lucky. I don't...

I don't know what to say.

We got a call
from Brenda Keen.

I was very frank
with her and said,

"You are very lucky."

The problem was that we knew
he was, sort of, this

wandering cowboy kind of guy,

and so he could be anywhere.

Mike was a psychopath

and a clear danger
to society and the public.

So full of himself,

so, um, much of the mentality

"Nobody can touch me.

When I'm Cowboy Mike."

He thinks he can
get out of any jam.

He can get out of...
He can run away from the law.

He can escape
because he's done it before.

He was gonna try to go
down in a blaze of glory.

In my mind,
he had nothing to lose

because he knew
we were after him

for attempted murder,
for a homicide.

Sheriff's Dispatch.
This is Gina,

how can I help you?

Our dispatcher
gets us on the radio

and is explaining to us, "Hey,

Cowboy Mike has been
spotted at Exit 13.

We're at the Black
Canyon Truck Stop.

A, uh, worker here

at the restaurant
was bringing trash out

to the... to the dumpsters
out here.

And he recognized
out in this area

a vehicle that he'd seen
on attempt to locate.

He recognized that vehicle.

He called the police.

That's the guy.

The police came
and surrounded him,

started calling out
commands to him.

He failed to comply
with their orders.

He put his vehicle in drive
and took off out of here.

Standing by.

I'll be

Every cop's nightmare

is getting involved
in a pursuit

where somebody else
can be hurt.

You can see a gun
come out of the vehicle.

And you can hear
the trooper saying,

"Shots fired, shots fired."

Shots fired.

We're gonna chase this guy.
We're gonna get him in custody

no matter what it takes.

Shots fired.

Law enforcement
had deployed spike strips

that had flattened
at least one of his tires.

Because he had flat tires,
he couldn't go any farther,

he stopped his
vehicle right here

in the middle of the trip.

He got out of the vehicle

and jumped
into the Snake River.

He was obviously very, uh,
desperate to get away.

As he's drifting
down the river,

the Oregon State Police
puts a boat in the water

in hopes to eventually
apprehend him.

Once we got in the boat,

we could see his head,
his shoulders.

He was kind of trying
to dog paddle

a little bit to stay
above the water.

Looking at Cowboy Mike
and I'm yelling,

"You're under arrest.

Swim to the boat
or I'm gonna unleash

my police dog at you.
He will bite you.

Do you understand me?"

Police dog,
his name was Bosco.

Started swimming
towards Cowboy Mike.

Mike reached up with two hands

and pulled Bosco right down.

I was mad. I was upset

because he tried
to drown my dog.

Bosco came back up,
shook his head,

turned, and latches
onto his shoulder.

I just reeled him
into the boat

as fast as I could.

I cuffed him up, I said,
"You're under arrest.

I told you that once,
Cowboy Mike."

He goes,
"I'm not Cowboy Mike."

"You're Cowboy Mike.

You're under arrest."

When they sent me a picture
of him in custody,

it was just such
a huge relief knowing

that there wouldn't be
any more rape and murders.

Shortly after
deputies arrested him,

I told him that, uh,
I just want him to know

that Marchelle hadn't died

and then Karen Peterson
was still alive

and, uh, his eyes
got real big.

He was, uh, surprised.

So, that made me feel
a little bit better.

That they'd caught him,

I was relieved

and I was also thinking,
"Man, I'm glad they caught him

before I did," you know?

Because, no telling
what I would have done

if I'd ever ran
into that man, you know?

Cowboy Mike Braae

had a very delusional
image of himself.

He was kind of a loser

that lived in a trailer,

and yet he had this internal
personal image of himself

as this great cowboy
western star

that could talk himself
out of anything,

or he could get himself
out of any type of trouble.

He took the stand
in his own defense.

Sat in the chair,
very confident

and relaxed and showing
all of this,

um, type of arrogance.

Cowboy Mike dug
a big hole for himself

with his evidence,
with his testimony,

and I am certain
that he said more

on the witness stand
than he wanted to.

And then he was found
guilty. Yes.

When all counts
were guilty,

I was teary-eyed

because it had finally
come to an end.

Lori Jones,

she was a brave
and fearless woman.

She fought Michael Braae,

which allowed us to collect
some vital evidence

that led to his conviction.

She certainly helped solve,

um, you know, her own murder.

Clearly,
Cowboy Mike Braae

is a psychopath.

He's clearly a person

that thinks
he is above the law.

And I don't know that anything
will ever change for him.

Karen had some issues
after her strangulation.

She just had a...
had a breakdown

so now she has
permanent brain damage.

They were not able to proceed

with those charges

because Marchelle Morgan

was unable to communicate effectively

because of her brain injury
from the shot.

I was very relieved that
he was convicted of a murder.

There's all these women
associated with Michael Braae

that, you know, are either
missing or deceased.

I certainly believe
there are more victims.

But we have no idea
who they are.