Original subtitles

[keypad clacking]

[cell phone chimes]

NARRATOR: Twenty-year-old Brandy Stevens-Rosine

loved messaging her family and friends.

She loved staying connected.

SARA VAN ALLEN: We texted a lot.

She was very glued to her phone.

♪

CARRIE ROSINE: It was all day, every day.

NARRATOR: But then one day,

the messages stop.

[cell phone chimes]

KRYSTI HORVAT: I'm thinking, "Holy shit,

something bad has happened here."

♪

NARRATOR: Hours turn into days,

and Brandy's still missing.

SGT. JOHN R. O'DAY JR.: At that point,

we had reason to believe that this is something

more than just a run-of-the-mill missing person.

NARRATOR: No one knows what happened

or where she went,

until... a clue is discovered.

A text from Brandy's phone,

and it could mean the difference between life and death.

- I truly believe that that was her way of telling us,

"If something happens to me,

this is your way of finding me."

♪

[cell phone chimes]

♪ theme music playing ♪

MAN 1: She solved her own murder from beyond the grave.

MAN 2: The fitness app on the phone,

it was overwhelming evidence.

♪ I've been haunted by the visions ♪

♪ That I've seen with my own eyes ♪

♪ And the only way to find you ♪

♪ Is to go beneath the lies ♪

♪

MAN: She did help catch this killer.

♪

♪

NARRATOR: May 17th, 2012,

Youngstown, Ohio.

It's a blue collar town

that's seen its fair share of hard times.

For 20-year-old Brandy Stevens-Rosine, life in this town can be lonely,

so she spends a lot of time on her phone

and uses it nonstop.

Texting every day to connect with her friends and family.

So when the messages suddenly stop

on a sunny spring day in May 2012,

they quickly know something isn't right.

♪

KRYSTI: I am Brandy's friend, Krysti Horvat.

♪

By the end of the day,

nobody in our immediate circle have heard from her.

♪

[keypad beeps]

[phone line ringing]

I called Brandy's phone and no answer.

I was calling, it was nothing.

It was like her phone had been turned off,

and that's odd.

She never turned her phone off, never.

♪

NARRATOR: Small chance she would avoid

talking to a friend.

♪

MAN: Carrie interview, take one,

AB common marker, soft sticks.

NARRATOR: And zero chance

she would avoid talking to her mother.

- Not being able to get ahold of your children,

you don't wanna think the worst.

♪

I wanted to believe that my daughter was okay.

How could she not be?

Brandy was a strong individual.

♪

But, yeah, something's not right here.

♪

♪

NARRATOR: Like most teenagers,

Brandy's still trying to figure life out,

and leans on her friend Krysti for support.

♪

- She was nervous about being gay.

She felt judged, and she would get upset about rumors

that were forming as a result of it,

so that sparked our friendship

because I'm like, "Let's talk about it,"

and then our friendship evolved.

♪ Bitemarks by Paul Ressel feat. Jessica English playing ♪

♪ I've become something else ♪

♪

♪ All out of pain and chaos ♪

CARRIE: To be gay in Youngstown,

you were kind of pushed to the back,

you weren't accepted,

and... it devastated Brandy.

♪

♪

♪ Do you ever feel like no one's ever listened to you? ♪

NARRATOR: But by the time Brandy's in college,

she's living her best life.

♪ I promise I will, I'm here ♪

SARA: When I met her, she was blooming.

She was very confident in herself and ready to date,

and she was a hopeless romantic,

so she wanted to find, you know, the great love of her life.

♪ The bright and the dark ♪

And she wanted somebody to be good to.

She had a lot to give.

♪ Take your time ♪

♪

[birds chirping] [dog barks]

NARRATOR: Brandy uses her phone

for more than just texting her friends.

Like a lot of us, she uses it to find love.

- She definitely was kind of exploratory in dating.

SARA: She was a free spirit.

I wouldn't put it past her to go and meet new friends

that she had met online, be it out of state,

or a couple hours away from home.

♪

KRYSTI: Some of the girls, she would drive out

by herself to meet.

It was sort of a red flag.

Why are you doing this?

You don't know these people.

Like, I wanted to warn her about potential dangers.

♪

♪

♪

NARRATOR: So when Brandy stops communicating

on May 17th...

♪

[line ringing]

her family and friends naturally start to ask questions.

[line ringing]

Where did she go?

[keypad clacking] [cell phone chimes]

[line ringing]

Who did she meet?

[line ringing]

- I went into investigation mode.

[line ringing] I called Brandy's best friend Reannon,

because Brandy said she was going to Reannon's.

She told us that Brandy never came over.

Said she had talked to her, but she had never come over.

[keypad beeping]

I called everybody...

[line ringing]

and nobody had seen her.

Went to her Facebook page,

went to her Myspace page,

no activity.

Something's not right here.

♪

NARRATOR: The day she disappears,

Brandy is staying with her grandparents,

so Carrie calls her mom, and she gets troubling news.

♪

CARRIE: She says, "Well, Brandy didn't come home last night,"

and she says, and when Brandy left the house,

she did not take her backpack

with her medical supplies in it with her insulin.

♪

That was strange...

♪

Because she was type one diabetic.

KRYSTI: Every time she'd go anywhere,

she had to bring her insulin.

If she would go without her insulin, she would not survive.

♪

So we knew that Brandy was in trouble because she didn't have that insulin.

♪

NARRATOR: A type one diabetic can't go

more than a day without taking insulin.

Her mom Carrie contacts the Youngstown authorities.

Now missing without her medication,

Carrie files a missing person's report with police.

♪

MAN: Joe Streyle interview, take one.

TROOPER JOSEPH STREYLE: I'm Trooper Joseph Streyle.

When we get a missing person's case of an adult,

it's not too big of an alarm for us initially,

because they're an adult.

They're allowed to move, come and go as they please,

not tell anyone where they're going and it's totally legal,

and they can do what they want.

So there was no knee-jerk reaction of we have to find her,

except the one issue was the fact that she was a diabetic,

and it was unknown if she had access to her medicine at the time,

so something to be on the lookout for.

♪

[siren wails]

♪

NARRATOR: Even though a missing person's case

has officially been opened,

because she's an adult,

local police don't actively search for Brandy.

Brandy left her grandparents' residence in her own car,

and could be anywhere.

All her loved ones can do is wait for a break.

- All these thoughts go through your mind, you know, did she go off a road?

[siren wails]

Did she go into a, you know, a ravine?

♪

Did she go in a lake?

Maybe no one's just seeing her car.

Your mind does crazy tricks on you

when something like this happens in your life.

It-it was bad.

♪

NARRATOR: Three days pass

from when Brandy goes missing.

[line ringing]

Calls and texts to Brandy still go unanswered.

♪

♪

Then a break in the case.

[cell phone chimes]

On May 20th, an alarming text from Brandy is uncovered.

- I got a text message from Brandy's friend Reannon.

♪

She says Brandy had texted me on Thursday and said

that she had gone to Cochranton.

♪

♪

NARRATOR: Reannon received several texts

and a request to not share the info with anyone,

so she covered for her friend,

but after it becomes clear something has happened to Brandy,

she breaks her promise and shares the text with Krysti.

- Reannon said here's the address...

♪

That she had texted me,

and said that she had a funny feeling,

and then later saying that she didn't get where she was going.

♪

[car engine starts]

♪

NARRATOR: Krysti decides to take action

into her own hands

since the police won't.

♪

KRYSTI: I knew at that point

that she had gone to Pennsylvania,

which was about an hour away from us,

so I decided that I'm gonna go to that address

that Reannon had texted me

and try to see if I could find answers.

AUTOMATED RESPONSE: In a half a mile, turn left.

♪

NARRATOR: There's finally a trail

pointing to where Brandy had intended to go

the day she disappeared,

and now,

her friend is in pursuit.

♪

But is Krysti or anyone else prepared for what may happen next?

♪

♪

♪

May 20th, three days after Brandy Stevens-Rosine goes missing,

her last text reveals a possible final destination.

Local police are not looking for her,

so Brandy's friend Krysti chases down the lead.

♪

♪ Where we go ♪

♪ When darkness falls ♪

KRYSTI: When I got the last text

that Brandy had sent to Reannon,

that made me nervous.

So, not only had anyone seen my friend,

but she had a bad feeling before she left.

So I knew that I was gonna have to go out there

to the address and search for Brandy

and see if we could find where she was.

♪

NARRATOR: While Krysti drives towards the address,

Brandy's mother keeps searching for anything

that will help her find her daughter.

CARRIE: We knew that she went to Cochranton,

but we're still trying to figure out why, why, why?

You know, what's in Cochranton?

The only thing that I can come up with was Jade lived in Cochranton.

♪

- One of the girls that Brandy said that she had met

on the dating app was named Jade.

♪

And what I first heard about Jade was,

"I can't wait for you to meet this girl."

It was butterflies for Brandy.

♪

CARRIE: There was a lot of emotion

for Brandy with Jade.

I saw the sparkle in her eye when she looked at Jade.

♪

KRYSTI: Brandy and Jade's relationship

was on again and off again, hot and cold.

They would fight.

♪

♪

Then they would make up.

Brandy, even against the advice of her friends saying,

"Hey, it's time to stop," couldn't.

♪

NARRATOR: After about a year,

despite Brandy's best efforts to hold onto Jade,

the relationship comes to a cold and cruel end in 2011.

♪

CARRIE: Brandy comes home from work one morning

and Jade was gone,

so was $300 cash that was there,

and her iPod.

It devastated Brandy,

it hurt Brandy,

because Jade betrayed her.

Brandy was so kind to her, and that was hard for Brandy.

She struggled with that for a long time.

You know, for a couple months, she was really, really, really sad.

♪

NARRATOR: While driving out to Cochranton

to hopefully find her friend,

Krysti reaches out to Jade.

[cell phone chimes]

Maybe she can help.

KRYSTI: I texted Jade to ask her

if she had seen Brandy,

and Jade said no, she hadn't seen her.

And I said, "Okay, I'm gonna head up to the address,

see if I could see any car tracks or tires on my way there,"

and Jade's response was,

"Be careful, people around here don't like gay people."

♪

NARRATOR: A fair warning from Brandy's ex-girlfriend Jade.

Pennsylvania has seen a steady rise in violent crimes

against LGBTQ individuals over the last decade.

It can be rough out here if you're different.

♪

- Philadelphia's Office of LGBTQ Affairs says this crisis of violence

against trans people cannot be allowed to continue.

♪

KRYSTI: I guess it was a possibility

that she ran into a stranger

who maybe didn't like gay people.

♪

NARRATOR: So if she wasn't visiting her ex-girlfriend,

could Brandy have been catfished,

lured out to the country by someone she met online

who wanted to hurt her?

♪

♪

♪

KRYSTI: When I got off of the exit

and got closer to the address she had texted...

♪

It started to get a little more creepy.

♪

♪

So now I know I'm out in the middle of nowhere.

I can see the farms and sort of desolation,

and still no sign of Brandy's car...

♪

So I felt, uh,

I don't know, just very nervous.

♪

I'm driving down these dirt roads.

My GPS seems to be a little off.

I can't even see the addresses on the houses.

♪

It's just really starting to get extra eerie

as I get closer to the address I'm supposed to be at.

♪

I'd seen no evidence, no clear evidence

of an accident or her car.

♪

♪

I finally get to the stop sign to turn onto Drake Hill Road.

♪

♪

♪

NARRATOR: In the middle of nowhere,

a friend missing,

not answering her phone,

but hope rises when she hears...

AUTOMATED RESPONSE: You have arrived at your final destination.

♪

KRYSTI: I eventually got to

what looked like a church...

♪

And it was, it was ominous,

and there was nothing in that church.

There was no lights on.

I knew at that point something had gone wrong.

♪

I was lost.

♪

NARRATOR: Instead of taking her to the address Brandy texted,

Krysti's GPS leads her to an old church

in the middle of nowhere.

♪

- When I pulled into the church parking lot and realized

I wasn't going to find the address I was headed towards,

I... I felt frustrated,

and I felt helpless,

and I felt like maybe Brandy had the same sort of experience

getting to where she was headed that day.

Did something really bad happen

before she even got to the residence?

♪

NARRATOR: Brandy's last text she sent

said, "Bad address,

heading home."

♪

Did her GPS send her to the wrong location as well?

♪

- And I thought about getting outta the car, walking around,

going up to people's doors.

I realized there's no way that I was gonna find the house.

♪

NARRATOR: Is it possible Brandy knocked

on the wrong door?

♪

KRYSTI: The fact that I was lost,

and that a good friend of mine was lost and missing and...

I just felt like while I was at that church,

that's when I lost hope and became really nervous

about what actually happened.

♪

NARRATOR: Brandy's texts lead to more questions

than answers,

and the chances of finding her fade

with each second the passes,

until a phone call comes in... [cell phone ringing]

that could lead her mother straight to her.

♪

♪ I try to go without it ♪

♪ My bones won't seem to listen ♪

NARRATOR: On May 21st,

four days after Brandy sends out her last text,

police pick up a signal from Brandy's phone

in the small Pennsylvania town of Meadville,

nearly 70 miles north

of Brandy's home in Youngstown.

♪

Still not committing resources to locating Brandy...

[phone ringing]

they pass along the information to Brandy's mother.

- I couldn't grasp the concept of why they weren't searching for her.

I had a hard time with it trying to understand,

but yet we're ecstatic.

You know, her phone got pinged.

Okay, maybe she lost it, maybe it broke.

NARRATOR: So Brandy's friends and family

form a search party and go looking for her.

KRYSTI: When Brandy's cell phone

pinged in Meadville,

you know, immediately we're both like, "Yeah, let's go,

let's go there and look around."

I was imagining that could have led to Brandy,

and maybe, you know, there's still hope.

♪

CARRIE: We got into Meadville.

We went straight to the street of where her phone pinged.

The street dead-ended into a wastewater treatment plant.

♪

I called her phone...

[line ringing]

nothing.

Things just weren't making sense.

♪

NARRATOR: The ping leads to a dead-end, literally,

so they expand their search.

♪

- So we went to the hospitals,

stores, restaurants.

We went everywhere, passing flyers out.

KRYSTI: We had all separated and kind of

infiltrated the town of Meadville.

We went door to door with these pictures of Brandy.

♪

NARRATOR: But no one has any legitimate information

about Brandy.

♪

Once again, she's nowhere to be found.

♪

CARRIE: It was a very hard day.

It was hard, it was hard for all of us.

♪

NARRATOR: Their search party comes up empty-handed.

With the police still not engaging in the hunt,

it's back to square one.

♪

CARRIE: I felt like I was missing something.

You get a lot of thoughts going through your head,

but I was also very, very angry.

I need to know what's going on.

I need to know where my daughter's at.

♪

♪ They call me ♪

NARRATOR: Five days after Brandy

was last heard from,

running out of time and patience,

Brandy's mom turns to the one clue left behind...

♪

[cell phone chimes] Brandy's last text.

- I couldn't give up. I absolutely could not give up.

NARRATOR: She's determined to find the address

that Krysti failed to find two days earlier,

so Carrie and Krysti head to Cochranton, Pennsylvania.

♪

♪

CARRIE: I was nervous going there,

but something is just pulling at my heart.

I mean, there's something telling me that she's around here.

♪

NARRATOR: Whether by a mother's intuition

or a better GPS,

a road that previously led to nowhere now leads to a house.

♪

♪

KRYSTI: When we got there,

we pulled into the driveway,

and there was an older gentleman sitting on the stoop,

as well as Jade and Ashley Barber.

Ashley was Jade's girlfriend at the time.

♪

My initial reaction to Ashley Barber was,

she wants to be a badass.

♪

NARRATOR: Strange that Brandy's last text leads

to where her ex is staying

with her current girlfriend, Ashley.

♪

Stranger still, Jade failed to mention anything

about Brandy heading there when Krysti called her.

♪

- I went and approached Jade...

♪

And I asked her, I said, "Where's Brandy?

♪

"She said she was coming here,

where's she at?"

Jade said, "Well, she never came here.

We never saw her,"

and I looked at Jade and...

"I don't... This is bullshit."

I said, "I don't believe an effing word you're saying."

♪

- And then Ashley got defensive of Jade,

put her arm in front of Jade, and told Carrie,

basically, don't talk to her this way.

♪

I immediately had a bad taste in my mouth.

I felt like it was really distasteful,

acting like a tough guy to my missing friend's mother,

and not just for the sake of being a tough guy or being cool, but, like,

not a good person was

my initial reaction to what I saw about Ashley Barber.

♪

CARRIE: I went up to Jade and I said,

"Well, she sent a text saying she was coming here.

"This is the last place that we know that she was supposed to be,

"and you're telling me that she never made it here?

I don't buy it!"

♪

Soon as I said that,

Jade said she was supposed to come over there,

but they never saw her.

♪

NARRATOR: After being confronted with Brandy's text,

their story changes.

But they have an alibi backing up their new account.

♪

- They said, "We were at the hospital on Thursday

when she said she came here, that's why we didn't see her."

♪

Ashley held up her arms.

One was covered in bandages and one was a solid bruise.

♪

- Her dad was sitting on the stoop,

and he introduced himself as Mr. Barber,

and he said,

"I'm telling you, she didn't, she's not here.

We haven't seen her."

♪

It didn't make sense. Nothing made sense.

♪

But we left. [sighs]

♪

NARRATOR: All seems lost...

♪

Until a few hours later...

♪

When a call is made to law enforcement

from inside that very house...

[line ringing]

and the caller provides shocking new information...

♪

And an unexpected turn in the Bermuda Triangle

of Brandy's disappearance.

♪

♪

On May 22nd, 2012,

several hours after the confrontation,

Ashley Barber's mother makes a call to the Pennsylvania State Police

reporting a car in her garage she doesn't recognize.

♪

- By some stroke of humanity,

this woman called the police and said,

"There's a car in my garage,

and you guys should check this out."

MAN: Sergeant O'Day interview, take one.

NARRATOR: Sergeant John O'Day Jr.

Is the first to the scene.

SERGEANT JOHN R. O'DAY JR.: With another trooper,

I remember going down to look at it.

It was inside an attached garage.

It was a blue Kia Rio,

and I could immediately tell that it was Brandy's car.

♪

The garage was locked, so I couldn't look inside the car...

♪

But the exterior was very clean, and from what I could see of the interior,

it was very clean as well.

♪

- Which was an immediate red flag,

because Brandy would have her Diet Mountain Dew,

and energy drink cans sprinkled out throughout her car,

and, you know, papers and clothes, and certainly not clean.

♪

- After I located the car, I was able to interview Jade and Ashley.

I asked them why her car was at the house.

They related that she got a phone call

after being at the residence for a very short time,

approximately half an hour,

and after receiving the phone call,

she walked outside of the house

and walked down Drake Hill Road

to allegedly get picked up by an unknown actor.

♪

♪

So at one point told them, "Listen, Brandy's not in trouble.

"I just wanna know where she is.

I wanna make sure that she's not dead in a ditch somewhere."

♪

They said that Brandy didn't want anyone to know where she was,

so she asked them to cover for her while she was gone...

♪

And not to say anything about the vehicle at the residence as well.

♪

NARRATOR: Sergeant O'Day leaves the house,

satisfied that someone came and picked Brandy up.

♪

Who is this mystery person that Brandy didn't want

anyone to know she was with?

♪ Heart rate is creeping now ♪

- There is a level of fear in the LGBT community.

You make sure you don't go places alone,

but I don't think any fear crossed Brandy's mind.

♪ I've been away for days ♪

NARRATOR: Did Brandy's fearlessness

lead her down that desolate road?

- It didn't strike me as odd at the time.

NARRATOR: But it doesn't take long

before the investigation takes a decisive turn.

[cell phone ringing]

CARRIE: Next thing I know I get a phone call

from the police officer that was at the scene,

and stated that they found my daughter's car

at the Barber residence, Ashley's house,

and that it was in my best interest to come and pick it up.

♪

I said, "I'm not touching my daughter's car.

My daughter's been missing for six days now."

I said, "I was just at that house.

"They never said anything about her car being there.

♪

They told me she never made it."

I said, "Something is not right, something is wrong.

You find her car and she's not there, doesn't that bring up questions?"

- I could tell that she's very concerned,

and I'm sure as any mother, she wanted more to be done,

and there's only so many things we can do

until we learn more out of the investigation.

- After that, I wanted to put pressure on the police.

[line ringing] I called the FBI in Cleveland.

No one else would listen to me.

♪

NARRATOR: Within an hour of her call,

state police officers returned to the house

where Brandy's car was found

to dig deeper into Jade and Ashley's story.

There's just one small problem.

- We returned on May 23rd to speak with Jade and Ashley,

but when we went there, they were no longer at that residence.

♪

It started to add up that maybe there was something

more than just a run-of-the-mill missing person.

♪

NARRATOR: The Pennsylvania State Police

jumped into the case full force...

♪

But now they aren't just looking for one girl,

they're looking for three.

Were Ashley and Jade involved in Brandy's disappearance,

or did they suffer the same fate?

♪

- At that point, it started to arise some suspicion.

We didn't know what had happened.

♪

NARRATOR: To find answers,

investigators send out their names and faces

to every law enforcement agency in the state.

♪

- My shift ends, so I get in my personal clothes,

get in my personal vehicle.

♪

On my way leaving the city of Meadville,

I noticed two white females

dressed in all black goth attire,

uh, with plastic grocery bags in their hands...

♪

And they were just at that point crossing over the guardrail

from the wooded area right next to French Creek.

♪

At that time they were having a conversation with

a gentleman that was parked underneath the overpass.

As I started to pass them in my vehicle,

they bladed themselves away and almost turned away from me

so I couldn't see their faces.

♪

NARRATOR: The two girls matched

Jade and Ashley's description,

prompting the off-duty officer

to approach the parked car and speak with them.

STREYLE: Went to the passenger in the rear,

asked her name.

She provided me the name of Jade Olmstead,

and then I asked the front seat passenger what her name was.

She provided a false ID without batting an eye,

and I was like, "Are you Ashley Barber?"

She once again continued to lie until eventually she said,

"I'm Ashley Barber."

♪

My first impression of Jade,

I could tell that she was nervous, she was scared,

and she was definitely following Ashley's lead.

♪

Ashley just stared at me with these cold eyes,

and continued to lie about her identification.

♪

I had asked them if they would be willing

to come back to the Pennsylvania State Police barracks for an interview.

♪

They willingly came with their own free will,

and they were escorted back to the barracks to be interviewed.

♪

NARRATOR: Detectives separate Ashley, Jade,

and the driver for questioning.

♪

They determined the driver was only there to pick up the two girls,

and had no connection with Brandy.

He's allowed to go free,

while Jade and Ashley's interrogation continues.

♪

As detectives press Jade and Ashley at the station,

officers search Ashley's home for any evidence

that could tell them what really happened to Brandy.

♪

♪

SGT. O'DAY JR.: About three to 400 yards

away from the residence,

I came across an area in the woods

that was cleared of a lot of leaves and debris.

There was some fresh dirt.

♪

There were some small saplings on the ground.

♪

The soil was loose, wasn't compacted,

which would indicate maybe it was freshly dug.

So at that point, we wanted to see

what was under there

and investigate that further.

[camera shutter clicks]

NARRATOR: Thinking they may have discovered

something suspicious, they call in the medical examiner

to aid in the excavation.

MAN: Scott Schell interview. Soft sticks.

♪

SCOTT SCHELL: We removed the tree branches.

We had about a ten-foot-by-ten-foot area that seemed to be all fresh dirt.

♪

And you can see a little bit of an indentation in it,

♪

But it's getting dark.

Called the Cochranton Fire Department to bring me scene lighting.

♪

We just started digging a handful at a time.

We were just scooping it out of the way.

♪

And less than ten inches into the dirt,

I was finding like, green leaves,

and stuff that shouldn't be buried.

I mean, it was fresh, because the leaves were still green.

♪

And I'm like, "Well, someone purposely buried those items."

♪

As we kept on going, I got down to about 20 inches...

♪

And I found flesh.

♪

NARRATOR: As police continue to question

Jade and Ashley...

piece by piece,

crime scene investigators dig up evidence

of an unspeakable crime,

an act of violence so savage,

it's impossible to comprehend.

♪

♪

♪ In the dark ♪

♪ Far from home ♪

NARRATOR: A 20-year-old college student

has been missing for nearly a week.

♪ I found you ♪

A text leads police to an address,

and behind that address is a wooded area.

♪ Shine a light on me ♪

With something buried beneath the soil.

[camera shutter clicks]

♪

SCHELL: We were

approximately 20 inches into the earth,

and that's when I actually discovered a chin and mouth.

♪

As you can see on these pictures right here,

you can actually see teeth,

and then from there, we uncovered the nose, the eyes, and the head.

SGT. O'DAY JR.: And at that point you could tell

that it was Brandy.

♪

There was also some signs of the struggle.

♪

Blood, and other things that you could tell it was, it was a battle.

♪

I've seen a lot of different homicides and death,

but it was shocking to uncover someone in that manner.

[indistinct police radio chatter]

♪

NARRATOR: Seven days after Brandy sent her last text,

police finally discover why she wasn't returning calls.

CARRIE: Well, about 2:00 in the morning,

they told me that they found Brandy's body

in a shallow grave.

♪

It was, it's your worst nightmare.

It was horrifying.

It was horrifying that day.

♪

Absolutely horrifying.

♪

KRYSTI: My phone rang after Carrie caught word

that they had found Brandy's remains.

I slid down the wall slowly

as she was explaining that Brandy was dead.

♪

It's just unfathomable that this could have happened to

someone so sweet, you know.

So-so loving and so smart.

♪

NARRATOR: Detectives confront Jade and Ashley

with the news that Brandy's body was discovered in the woods

behind Ashley's family home.

Both girls agree to tell the truth about what happened to Brandy,

and the truth is horrifying.

CARRIE: We were told by the state police

that when Brandy first got there,

Jade met her by the edge of the woods,

and that they had invited her to see a fort in the woods.

♪

Well, the minute Brandy starts going into the woods,

Jade hits Brandy over the head with a shovel.

♪

And it was multiple, multiple hits.

[woman screams, echoes]

And if that wasn't enough,

they tied a rope around her neck.

[women giggle, echoing]

They had already dug the grave,

and they rolled her in the grave.

♪

[women giggle, echoing]

[heavy breathing]

And then they threw a rock on her face.

♪

And they buried her.

♪

[voice breaking] That's how they treated her.

♪

♪

[sighs deeply]

♪

♪

NARRATOR: Jade and Ashley admit to planning

and carrying out a vicious and premeditated attack on Brandy.

♪

But only after the autopsy is performed

do the police learn the extent

of what she went through the night she died.

♪

- We discovered that Brandy had mud and dirt

all the way down into her bronchial tubes.

♪

That indicated to us that Brandy was still alive

when they buried her.

♪

♪

[inhales deeply]

[exhales deeply]

CARRIE: She fought back.

She had broken nails, scratches.

♪

She had three skull fractures.

♪

But Brandy wasn't dead when they buried her.

♪

Brandy was still alive.

♪

[voice breaking] I think that's the hardest part for...

♪

She was still breathing and they buried her.

♪

♪

- It was brutal, you know.

It's, it was savage, and completely uncalled for.

I just want to know, why did this happen?

How did we get to this situation?

♪

NARRATOR: Brandy's family and friends

never get an answer to that question.

♪

But after Jade and Ashley are arrested for murder,

two journals are discovered that reveal horrifying insight

into the minds of these young killers.

♪

- This is Ashley's journal entry

that she dated May 21st, 2012.

♪

"Dear Miss Rosine...

♪

"I fucking murdered your 20-year-old mistake.

"I beat her head into the ground.

♪

"I've never been so alive.

♪

"I just wanna do it again and again.

♪

"Why lie?

"I'm addicted.

♪

"I don't feel guilty.

♪

I feel like I have a purpose."

♪

I'm gonna read Jade's for ya.

♪

"Yesterday was the beginning of a whole new life.

"I found my calling, a new addiction.

♪

"Do I feel guilty?

"No, not an ounce,

I'm proud."

♪

♪

♪

NARRATOR: As details of the crime spread,

Brandy Rosine's case stuns the nation,

and rocks this community to its core.

STREYLE: We're in a small town.

You know, we have investigated some homicides in the past,

but nothing to the brutality of a case like this,

such disregard for another human life.

♪

CARRIE: When the preliminary hearing

and everything got out

about what happened to her, of course, you know,

everybody's going crazy.

They need a death penalty.

They need the death penalty.

♪

SARA: Prior to this situation,

I had never believed in the death penalty,

but after it happens to somebody that you love,

with the amount of premeditated information that they had,

it altered everything for me.

♪

NARRATOR: Although it is rarely carried out,

capital punishment is legal in Pennsylvania.

To avoid any chance of receiving the death penalty,

both girls accept a plea deal.

♪

NARRATOR: On October 31st, 2013,

nearly a year and a half after Brandy's murder,

Jade Olmstead pleads guilty,

and is sentenced to life in prison without parole.

♪

Two weeks later, Ashley Barber pleads guilty,

and is sentenced to life in prison without parole.

♪

♪

CARRIE: Jade and Ashley got sentenced to life in prison.

♪

Everyone's like, "It's over."

It's not over.

It's never over.

I have no justice for my heart.

There's not a day that goes by that I don't think of my daughter.

♪

- As a father, I would've hoped for more if it was my child,

but that was the plea deal that they reached.

[cell phone chimes]

NARRATOR: What started with a text message to a friend

ended with two murderers in prison for the rest of their lives.

♪

Justice served for some,

but for those who knew Brandy,

there will always be an open wound.

♪

- There are evil people in this world...

♪

That hurt children every day.

♪

And I don't want any parent to ever feel what I've felt.

♪

KRYSTI: I guess this is the only thing

a person remaining can do

and keep her memory alive.

The best we can do is try to let her continue to have a voice.

Maybe someone can learn from this situation.

♪

NARRATOR: Brandy Stevens-Rosine

was a warm and kindhearted young woman.

She always had her phone in her hands,

texting, making plans with her friends,

staying connected with the people she loved.

♪

Ultimately, that connection helped solve her murder.

♪

- The bottom line is Brandy had her own way of letting us know,

"This is where I'll be if something happens to me."

♪ Stay strong, break free ♪

And it was all from her text.

♪

The last text that she physically sent to anybody.

♪

We found my baby.

♪

♪ I don't know where my head is lately ♪

♪ Have I lost my mind? ♪

♪

♪

♪ But I know that I have a secret ♪

♪ And it's only mine ♪

♪

♪

♪ And the only way to find me ♪

♪ Is to go beneath the lies ♪

♪