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Fatal Car Crash: Accident or Murder? Secret Recording Holds Clues | Brittney Brashers

62m 11s

Fatal Car Crash: Accident or Murder? Secret Recording Holds Clues | Brittney Brashers

Brittany Bersier, a vibrant Air Force dental technician, died in a car crash in Denver on November 17, 2009, after a night out with Robbie Walters, a married man she was secretly dating. The crash occurred on a dead-end street, and Robbie claimed Brittany, who had been drinking, lost control of the vehicle. However, investigators grew suspicious due to inconsistencies, including Brittany’s lack of a seatbelt and injuries that didn’t match the accident. The autopsy was inconclusive, but Robbie’s estranged wife, Elena, later provided recordings of Robbie confessing to murdering Brittany. He admitted to punching her, strangling her with his forearm, staging the crash, and putting on a show of grief to cover his tracks. The medical examiner changed the cause of death to homicide, leading to Robbie’s arrest. At trial, Elena testified against him, and prosecutors presented evidence of Robbie’s violent threats and even a plot to kill Elena. Robbie was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to life without parole. The case highlighted the dangers of drunk driving, domestic violence, and manipulation, but Brittany’s family found little solace, as their vibrant daughter was gone forever.

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It all started with a horrifying 9-1-1 call. "Danger, 9-1-1 where is your man?" "I don't know if my hair color is correct or if you're people in the car, I think." "How can you tell if anybody injured?" "Yeah, that's a really tough guy, but I've been relating like shit." "No, he's freaking out, he's playing in his arms, okay?" "Okay, she's dead, I think." Hi everyone, and welcome back to my channel. And if you've never been here before, I'm Kimberlya. Nice to finally meet you. Now, let's get into the case for today. A car had crashed on a dead end street on November 17, 2009 in West Denver, Colorado at 140 in the morning. The witness, Steve Sanchez, heard what he thought was a loud bang outside and he quickly jumped up and ran outside to see what it was and as he looked toward where he heard the noise, he saw a car and he knew right away that something terrible had happened. It was a bad accident. He immediately dialed 9-1-1. A woman had been driving the car and now she was laying in the male passenger's arms. He was shaking her and desperately calling out her name over and over again, Brittany, Brittany. The passenger was Robert Welters. He was by her side. Robert was looking right into Brittany's eyes and there was so much blood. And he just kept yelling at her to breathe. The driver of that car was Brittany Bersier's. Brittany Renee Bersier's was born May 6, 1987, priori at Illinois to Barry and Suzanne Bersier's. Brittany had two siblings, a sister Sarah and a younger brother, John. They were all very close. The Bersier's family were an active bunch of people. They loved to play sports and spend a lot of time outdoors. Brittany did it all. Water sports like tubing, basketball, hiking, swimming, skiing, even hunting with her dad. If it was outdoors, she was down. But it was even better if her mom Suzanne was with her. Especially as Brittany got older, the mother and daughter could pass as sisters or best friends. They were attached to the hip and they had so much fun together as her best friend and Brittany's most trusted confidant. Her mother, Suzanne, was closer to her than most daughters and mothers are. Brittany was known as a very incredible person and friend. She was easy to get along with and she had a very vibrant and free spirited personality. Suzanne was very similar, a vibrant, beautiful woman who taught Brittany so many things in life. They shared the very same passion for being outdoors. But sadly, Suzanne was diagnosed with cancer and she lost her battle and passed away when Brittany was only 17 years old. Brittany's life was a never the same after she lost her mother. A huge piece of her heart was gone, her best friend. She was more affected by Suzanne's death than most people that were close to her. They just had a special bond that could not be replicated. And this is when Brittany's wild side came alive. She was more reckless. She even began going out more, partying, drinking and Brittany struggled to find meaning in her life without her mother's constant presence. And over time, Brittany changed into a different person. She started to hang out with people her dad really did not like. However, the bond between her and her brother John got stronger. They were close in age and they were both going through the loss of their mother. John looked up to Brittany as a role model. But of course, she wasn't perfect. And that didn't matter. Her closest friends and family knew who she was on the inside. Brittany continued to party after graduating from Farmington High School in 2005. She really didn't have any particular direction that she planned on going in. But by the time Brittany entered her 20s, she decided to slow down on her partying and start to take her life more seriously, which was a relief to her father, who really just wanted the best for her. She began talking to him about making positive changes in her life. One day in 2007, she tells her dad, she's going to enlist in the Air Force. This would give Brittany a sense of belonging and discipline and a family of new people on the same mission, which would help her find herself again. So her dad, Barry, was thrilled and excited for his daughter. He was delighted to see Brittany returning to her old self after so many years. His pride in her could not have been greater, and he had high hopes for her future. She met some of her closest friends from the military, including her best friend Tiffany Peoples. Brittany, as I said, loved the outdoors and anything that raised her adrenaline. So the Air Force worked out perfectly. She wasn't the type of person to talk to talk without walking the walk. Instead of just dreaming about doing things, she did them. That is who Brittany was. She was stationed at Peterson Air Force Base, which is now called Peterson Space Force Base and Colorado Springs. But back when Brittany was stationed there, she was working in a dental lab as a dental technician. And Brittany was loved by so many of her patients and everyone she met. Master Sergeant Art Figueroa was Brittany's boss at the dental office. And he described her as an excellent worker. She always went above and beyond to help people, regardless of her duties. In February of 2009, Brittany was deployed to Iraq, where she worked in a non-combat security position. And after serving in the Middle East, Brittany achieved a medal for her dedication to the Air Force. And just a few months later, she was back living and working on the Air Force Base in Colorado Springs. So how did she end up in a horrible car accident all the way out in Denver, over an hour and a half from the base on that fateful November night in 2009? Brittany's dad, Barry, awoke to a phone call at around 2 o'clock in the morning. An officer was calling to inform him that his daughter had been in a car accident and that he should get to the hospital as fast as possible. This is the type of phone call that no one wants to get, especially a parent. He's all the way in Illinois. It was a 13 hour drive to Denver Health's Rocky Mountain Regional Trauma Center. He called the hospital right away, hoping to get a little bit more information about his daughter. The trauma doctor delivered the terrible news. Brittany was already gone. Barry was absolutely stunned. He was shocked. It was unbelievable. He was sitting there calling to learn about her condition. And he finds out the worst news possible that there's nothing he can do, that she's already deceased. Sadly, another loved one was sitting by Barry's side. Brittany's younger brother, John. Both of them were in a state of disbelief, so much so that they were unable to even form an emotion. It hadn't hit them yet. It just could not be real. They were informed that Brittany had been drinking the night of the accident. Her toxicology report came back and she was above the legal limit. Yet, she still got behind the wheel. There were so many questions that were left unanswered. One thing that really remained a mystery was why this road is dead and road, a road that she had no reason to be going down. The theory was that they had gotten tragically lost on their way back from a photoshoot. Sadly, drunk driving accidents are all too common and totally preventable. Every single day, 29 people in the United States die in motor vehicle crashes that involve an alcohol impaired driver. This is one death every 50 minutes. Drunk driving kills more than 10,000 people a year on average, and it's so devastating to think that this one decision to get behind the wheel can change so many lives. And I'm sure that none of those people intended to cause any harm, but they made that choice. And it's unbelievably tragic. When friends heard that Robbie Walters was with Brittany when the accident occurred, they knew there was something more to the story. And to understand their concerns, we have to go back in time. Back to the beginning of the year in February, when Brittany was deployed to Iraq. It was at that time she met the strikingly handsome California boy named Robert Walters, who's affectionately known as Robbie. Have you ever met someone that you just feel you've known your whole life? Someone that just instantly feels like they're connected with you. You laugh together, you even cry together, you can fight in each other, and you feel like they bring out the best in you. That is what it was like when Brittany and Robbie met. Nothing but laughs in a good time. And also didn't hurt. The Robbie was very good looking, at least in Brittany's eyes and actually many other women's perspectives as well. He was popular. He had the movie star good looks, the deep piercing blue eyes, the big white smile, and the charm to go with it. Brittany's best friend Tiffany, she liked Robbie. He was really funny and charming and charismatic, just very likable. And she watched as he and Brittany really hit it off. It seemed like a match made in heaven. But Brittany soon learned it was more of a hell to like Robbie so much. She found out he was married. I can't help but think the Alanis Morissette song isn't an ironic. There's a line in there. It's like meeting the man of your dreams and then meeting his beautiful wife. That's exactly what was happening here. Brittany was crushed. When you feel that connected to someone, you usually hope to see where those feelings will go. Those plans were pretty much grounded before they got off the ground. Getting involved with a married man was not something Brittany was interested in and as a matter of fact, it's forbidden in the Air Force. The price you pay for having an affair is a big one. It's not taken lightly and it shouldn't be. Robbie had a lot to say about his marriage, but it wasn't about professing his love to his wife quite the contrary. He explained to Brittany, that the marriage was more of a formality. The main reason he said he got married was because of the military benefits, things like the family separation pay, and there's tons of incentives to get married. It's too tempting not to be hasty sometimes and make this decision for all the wrong reasons, especially when you're young. Whatever the reasons, marriage is marriage, and Robbie chose to make that commitment, and it's a two-way street. It's not as though his wife, Elena, is able to give her take on the marriage, and Brittany was left feeling empty. And Brittany left it as that. However, over the next couple months, Robbie was too hard for her to resist, and he insisted it was fine that he wasn't in love with his wife. So soon, the pair was becoming intimate. They were dating, but since adultery is punishable by a severe degree in the Air Force, they kept their relationship a secret. After just a few months, another red flag went up when it came to Robbie. If, cheating on his wife, wasn't enough to steer clear from him altogether, in July, he gets kicked out of the Air Force for disciplinary reasons, which were unrelated to the affair with Brittany, and he was dishonorably discharged. Brittany stayed in Iraq for four more months, and then returned to her job at the base at the dental lab in Colorado. It wasn't long before she and Robbie reconnected. Brittany had always been very responsible, and she took her position as an Airman very seriously, but as she spent more time with Robbie, everything else in her life took a back seat. It's not uncommon, especially when you fall head over heels for someone. They can be all you think about. You want to spend every waking and sleeping moment with them by your side. But let's not forget, Robbie isn't just by Brittany's side. He's still married to Elena and splitting his time between two women. Brittany's dad, Barry met Robbie as he did with many of Brittany's boyfriends over the years, and none of them really meant that much to Barry. He clearly didn't think Robbie was the one, but he'd only met him once. So perhaps hindsight was 20, 20 here, and not all fathers or thrills with the man that their daughter starts to date. Brittany wasn't that close to her father either, not like she'd been with her mom. He wouldn't have even known how much Robbie meant to Brittany. He was more observing things from a distance. It was Suzanne who held that special place in Brittany's life. The person she trusted the most with her heart, the one she confided in, and it seems like Robbie had filled that role now. It was he that Brittany confided in, shared her dreams with, and wanted a future with. At first, Tiffany was happy for Brittany, but when she started to see sacrifices that Brittany was making to be with Robbie, she was pretty disappointed and it made her dislike him. It's a good thing when someone special comes into our lives, but they should make us better, be a teammate. And it seemed like the more time Brittany spent with Robbie, the less she had time for her friends and even her job. She started calling out of work all the time and not taking the Air Force seriously. Plus, their relationship was a rocky one. It seemed like they would be on and off all the time. I'm not sure if someone tipped off Brittany's boss, but he's someone she respected. And he came to her one day and said, "I found out about Robbie's marriage." And I don't know how serious this thing is with you too, but he tried to give her some advice. He told her that if she cared about him, that was fine. It was okay that they had feelings for one another, but it was in her best interest to wait. Let Robbie show you his intentions, let his marriage play out. Because if he truly loved Brittany and really did just marry for benefits, he would get a divorce, especially now that he was no longer in the Air Force. Figueroa wanted the best for Brittany, so he strictly advised against getting into a relationship with Robbie. The maximum punishment for infidelity in the Air Force is a dishonorable discharge, forfeiture of all your allowances and pay, and one year imprisonment. But no matter how much the people who loved Brittany tried to reason with her, Brittany's feelings for Robbie were too intense for her to walk away. I see these pictures of them together, and I can see the fire between them. Most of us have been in this type of relationship somehow some way, and they can last for sure. But starting off with the wrong foot, with not breaking off his current relationship, is not good for the long term. Brittany's friends would try to convince her not to continue until he divorced Elena, but Brittany couldn't resist. She said she loved him, and she was willing to risk whatever the consequences were. Besides, it had been almost a year, and they were still together. But it was at that eight month mark, when the storm cloud started to roll in, over their already unstable relationship. So much of both of their true colors shine through, just like a rainbow after a storm, but it wasn't bright and joyful. But the prize at the end of it was their first heated argument. It happened at Brittany's house on October 24th, 2009, and it escalated into the front yard, where they were both physical with one another. It wasn't good. Brittany was hurt, both emotionally and physically. She had visible marks on her face, and elsewhere in the cops were called, and Robbie was arrested and put in jail. After such a tumultuous time, Sergeant Figueroa had no choice, but to put a strict no-contact order in place. And if they were to be in contact of any kind, Brittany could get discharged from the Air Force. It was tough, but it was the right decision to break it off with Robbie. Apparently, things were not working. And I'm not sure what the argument was about, but the fact that he was still married is enough to break it off. If he has no intention of divorcing his wife, Robbie was planning to move back to California after he was discharged from jail, and that distance would be good for them. As sad as it was, Brittany was at the point where she needed this breakup. She had to make this choice for herself in her future, and her friends and her loved ones were supportive. They really wanted the old Brittany back. About a month later, Brittany was living a new life in so many ways. She had thrown herself into sports, and she began playing for an all-female football league, and she was really dedicated to it. It was an eight-on-eight full-on tackle football team, and she gave it her all. She was committed to her sport and really good at it. She was tiny, but she was a force. She was strong and fierce, and her team captain, Brittany Austin Goin, was surprised when Brittany played their first practice. She was excited to have Brittany on her team. It was around that one month mark of them being separated, that Robbie reached out. He missed her, and they started talking again, and he asked her what her plans were for that week. He would be in town and wanted to see her, even though they both knew they weren't allowed. And sometimes honestly, it makes it more intense, knowing that it's forbidden. And things were going well for Brittany, her spirits were high, she was happy, and she let him know she was open to meeting up, but she was really busy that week. If he wanted to see her, he was gonna have to tag along at the events that she had planned. It was November after all, and lots to do between Thanksgiving coming up, and then Christmas. And the first thing she had on her agenda was a team photo shoot for the football league. On the night, on November 16th, out in downtown Denver at a strip club. Should be a fun time. All the ladies getting together, looking their best, getting their pictures taken for promo items to fundraise for their team, but they're also gonna be doing a little drinking and a little partying. As part of the concept for this photo shoot, the girls would pose semi-topeless. They'd be completely nude on top, but covered up by either a pair of footballs or someone's body hiding them. So they weren't totally exposing themselves, however, they were exposed to everyone at the photo shoot, some of which were men, who were supposed to be part of the shoot, and also boyfriends and friends of the girls that were there. However, the strip club was closed off to the public. Since Robbie was with Brittany, he was allowed to come inside and hang out. This was a fundraiser. The photos were supposed to turn heads. And besides, Brittany wasn't with Robbie. She was single, and he was married to another woman. But after watching the shoot, getting increasingly more and more sexy, with the girls taking their tops off and Brittany being a part of it, Robbie could inhandle it. He physically started to shake, and he looked like he was going to cry. He was clearly uncomfortable with what he was seeing, and he started to cover his eyes and look down at his phone. Then, people actually witnessed him, not just crying, not just a tear, but bawling. He was so upset that tears were falling out of his eyes onto the floor. He was sad. He didn't see how this was ever going to work out between them. And it seemed like Brittany had a new life, new priorities. So he did something to try to get back at her for making him feel this way. In his mind, it was only right. He had to suffer, so why not her too? He texted Sergeant Figueroa and told him that he and Brittany were together that night. This was against the rules. He knew what the ramifications could be for Brittany, and it didn't matter to him. Because just a month ago, he had to be put in jail on account of their altercation. So he figured it was tip for tat. He would get her in trouble, they would be even, and then he could move on, move to California, and never look back. They left the event at around 12, 30 in the morning, and both of them had been drinking. And hour later, Brittany's car had crashed right into a parked car on a dead end road. You heard Steve Sanchez in that 9-1-1 call at the beginning of this video. This is how Brittany ended up dying in Robbie's arms. Here's that call again. "Danger, 9-1-1. Where is your baby?" "I don't know where her car is just wrecked. There's no people in the car I think." "How can you tell if anybody injured?" "Yeah, they really checked out, but we were waiting to see it." "No, he's thinking how she's playing in his arms, okay?" "Okay, she's dead, I think." As Steve Sanchez approached the vehicle, he saw a conscious man in the passenger seat, and the man was holding the body of a young woman covered in blood and repeatedly screaming "Britney, Brittany!" However, the woman did not respond. He saw this man shake her, and because it looked like this man in the passenger seat was going to injure the woman more, Steve Sanchez told him to stop shaking her because she was clearly not waking up. I was able to find some pictures of the accident, and I want to show them to you up on the screen, if you're interested. This is what the vehicle looked like. She was driving a silver 2004 Pontiac vibe. After hitting the parked vehicle, her car spun around and ended up with the back of it facing the dead end road, right next to this wooden pole. I'm showing you the vehicle the way it looked following the crash. Majority of the damage to the vehicle was to the front driver side. You can see the fender here is demolished, the hood is pushed up on the driver side, and you can see that the windshield is visibly cracked. Steve Sanchez said that Robby had a seatbelt on, but it looked like Brittany did not. And it appeared that both of the airbags were deployed at the time of the accident. I can definitely see the driver side one, and it looks like the one on the passenger side was also out as well. After the 911 call, authorities were dispatched to the location, and as officers arrived on the scene, it was pretty straightforward. Brittany had somehow lost control of the vehicle, presumably because she was drinking, and this terrible accident occurred. Brittany was transported to the Denver Health Medical Center, where she was later pronounced deceased. Robert Walters, who we now know as Robby, was transported to Denver Health Medical Center as well, but he only had minor injuries. While he was there, he did tell an officer that Brittany was driving, but shouldn't have been, because she was too intoxicated. Brittany was then transferred to Denver coroner's office for a post-mortem examination. Robby had also informed the officers at the hospital that he had been drinking as well, and that his eyes were closed, and he was dosing off on their drive back home, while there was music playing. He said that somehow Brittany had gotten off of the highway on the way back, and made her way down this random dead end street. He said he had no idea where they were, or how they ended up there. He just woke up from the force of the accident, and that is when he saw Brittany in his lap, and she was unconscious. He looked over and saw that she had hit her head on the windshield right in front of the steering wheel, which we can see matches the cracks in the glass. Robby's statement made sense of the first responders, because he didn't seem to have any severe injuries. The information was consistent with him wearing a seatbelt, and Brittany not. Brittany's injuries were significant, because she didn't have her son. So at the post-mortem examination, because of the fact that Brittany was a member of the United States Air Force, agents from the Air Force Office of Special Investigations attended this exam as well. And there was an agent named Sherman Brooks on scene. He informed police that the individuals in the crash, Brittany and Robby were in a relationship with one another. A relationship that had a history of turmoil, physical in nature, and that Robby had just gotten out of jail. That was very important, and it definitely stood out during this examination. There were things that looked off about the accident. There were things that weren't exactly consistent with her injuries, which we will talk about in depth in just a moment. So because of that, on November 17th, that approximately 12, 15 pm, so the same day that the accident occurred, just later in the day, Detective Troy Bizgard, who's a police officer with the Denver Police Department, was assigned to investigate this fatal car crash, because there were detectives within the traffic investigation bureau that were interested to understand whether any foul play had been involved. By around once 20 pm, that day, Detective Bizgard was reviewing photographs of that scene, and his job was to determine how this accident happened. And he had to base this determination upon the photographs and the reports from the traffic investigations bureau. And after looking through everything, he determined with confidence that Brittany's silver Pontiac Vibe was traveling northbound on the 100 block of South Uma Street. I'm showing you right here. This is that dead end street. This truck, a red Mercury sable, which was legally parked facing the opposite direction shown here in this picture. This was not a head-on collision. Her car hit the side of this vehicle right here. After she hit this vehicle, she continued to pass that area and struck a white Dodge van. Presumably parked on that same side, but we don't see this vehicle because it was pushed, passed the dead end road, and down a hill. This is what caused Brittany's vehicle to spin in the opposite direction and come to a stop facing South on Uma Street. There's actually a drop down here, and you can see, from looking down at those pallets below that I'm circling right here, that is a drop, and that is where the van ended up. The main issue that officers and detectives had was that the crash was bad, but they didn't think it was bad enough to cause someone to lose their life. Now detective Bizguard ascertained that they were driving back to Colorado Springs on I-25 prior to the crash. I'm going to show you it up on the map. Here's I-25. Here's downtown Denver right here. Then all the way down here would be Colorado Springs, where the Air Force bases, and you can see that Uma Street is on the way, but it's still out of their way on the way home. You would actually have to get off the highway and then make your way down to this exact street. I took Google Maps and I went on the exact path that Detective Bizguard presumed they did too. It was very odd to me. I kept thinking, "How would they have ended up here?" What landmarks were there? Had they ever been in this location before granted, Britney played sports, and there was a big park here that had multi-use purposes. There were sports that would gather there for different events, but it wasn't our door and a half away from the base, so I don't know why this would be a designated area for someone like Britney. I couldn't really make sense of it, and I think detectives were feeling the same way, that the street is just too out of the way, especially when their goal was to get home that night. The next thing that had to happen was Detective Bizguard wanted to interview anyone who had been with Britney and Robbie that night at the strip club. He wanted to get information about what the atmosphere was like and how Robbie had been interacting with Britney. This is where we find out how he was shaking and crying because witnesses, several of them, said that Robbie did not seem thrilled with the fact that Britney was taking off her top. They were also able to confirm that both of them had been drinking and that they were seen leaving together around 12.30 in the morning. Since I don't know which strip club they were at, I can't tell you exactly how long it would have or should have taken them to get from that venue to Umystreet. However, I did read the affidavit with the supporting information and I found out that this strip club was north of Umystreet. So I went ahead and found the furthest one north that I could find and done fur. And that would be this one. I did this because I wanted to know what was the furthest place that they could have been at and how long would it have taken them from that location to Umystreet. And there's a reason why I wanted to know this. You would have taken them approximately 27 minutes if they were at the venue that was the furthest from Umystreet. The reason this is important is because the crash happened at approximately 140 in the morning. Remember, when is this said they left the strip club at 12.30? So that means it would have happened over an hour after they walked out those doors. Detectives were starting to realize that something wasn't adding up. Why did it take them an hour to go a few miles? He wants to talk to Robbie, so we call him up on the phone and he wasn't able to shed much light on the cause of the accident. He says he just nodded off prior to the crash. He told him he didn't even know what strip club they were at before the accident. However, he did say that he was sad that Brittany took off her top during the photo shoot, but that they did not argue about it on the way home. Brittany isn't alive to tell her story. The scene isn't providing much and Robbie says it was an accident. So for now, everyone's waiting for the autopsy report to come back. The medical examiner, Dr. John Carver, conducted Brittany's autopsy. Brittany did hit the windshield and that did cause the windshield to crack, but neither Brittany's neck or her spinal cord were injured. And she wasn't suffering from a brain injury, either. Since Brittany did not have injuries in any of those areas, Dr. Carver was concerned since those were the type of injuries that were typical in an accident like this. And he hoped that the toxicology report would prove to be of significance. It turns out like I said that her blood alcohol was over the legal limit, but not by much. And he found no other drugs in her system. She had no injuries to her internal organs, no broken bones in the base of her body. neck that was all intact, nothing was wrong with her spinal cord or her skull and no brain damage to what caused Brittany's death. What Brittany did have was severe bruising around her right eye on the orbital bone, her right temple, and her right cheek. What also stood out to him were some broken blood vessels in her face in the whites of her eyes and on her cheeks, and these were pinpoint hemorrhages, which are usually caused by prolonged exphyxiation. They're called petechial hemorrhages, and this is usually a telltale sign of strangulation or exphyxiation, but there's something very different about Brittany's anatomy, genetically. And that made this case almost impossible to solve. The doctor could not concretely say that Brittany had been strangled, simply by an internal exam because Brittany was born without the piece of cartilage in her neck that's usually broken during strangulation. And in general, it's found to be fractured in 50% of cases of manual strangulation. It doesn't always break, so doctors usually look for other signs like the blood vessels in the eyes or even fingernail marks on the neck. And the doctor could not rule this death a homicide just because there just wasn't enough evidence to show it was. So what did the report say? Causing manner of death, both undetermined. Wow. This is the equivalent of him saying, "I don't know what happened." And without a conclusive cause of death of homicide, there's no crime. And therefore, no investigation would be warranted. This really frustrated detective vizgard because he just had this feeling that foul play was involved, and he just had to prove it. Variable shares was even more concerned after the medical examiner's findings. The fact that Brittany wasn't wearing her seatbelt really bothered him. He was a mess over her death. He had just lost his wife a few years before, and as the family was doing their best to move on from that, they lost another loved one, who they adored. And it was almost too much for them to take. However, the sadness turned to anger when very found out that detectives think that foul play might have been involved. Something he told them right away was that she never got into a car whether she was driving or not without putting on a seatbelt. And the fact that she didn't have one on the night was a red flag, however, she wasn't sober either. Sometimes people act differently and make different choices when they're under the influence. It's really truly hard to tell, and I know like I always wear my seatbelt always, and I even buckle other people's or remind them to because I'm terrified of driving. I don't even own my own car, and I rely mostly on Uber, so unless my boyfriend wants to drive me around. But my eyesight is so terrible that I'm afraid to go long distances even the way I wear contacts. I always put my seatbelt on after losing two of my friends in a terrible car accident in college. I didn't drive for over a year after it occurred, and people close to me know this, so maybe it's true. Maybe Brittany's family would know too, right? Barry felt that Brittany was dead because of Robbie in one way or another. To what extent he was not sure. He just wanted more information. He didn't want investigators to stop looking into his daughter's death. There was an issue though. Homicide detectives can only work on homicides. They can't just investigate and undetermined death because their heart tells them to, or their mind thinks that there's something suspicious that went on. They have to rely on the autopsy report. However, Biscard was determined to find something in Robbie's past that may lead him to uncovering more. Brittany's best friend, Tiffany, was interviewed, and something significant was stated when she said that Brittany and Robbie had a rocky relationship to the point of hatred. She said she knew this because she actually heard a message that Robbie left on Brittany's phone. He was yelling at her after their altercation, and he said that he hated her, and he wished she was dead. And that's pretty intense. But of course, this is hearsay. They didn't actually have proof that it happened, but Tiffany was a responsible and credible witness. So it did cause Detective Biscard to pull up the facts that he did have, the police report from back in October. Something in that police report stood out. After that altercation with Robbie, Brittany told police that he had threatened to crash the car with both of them in it, hurting both of them. I couldn't help but think of if I can't have you no one can, kind of mentality, and that's terrifying. Biscard is even more determined to find a link, and they get a break when they're going through Brittany's phone. They were being as thorough as possible as they should be, and they decide to play each and every one of her saved ringtones. If you don't remember to back in the day when we had ringtones, I don't even know, do we still have ringtones? I don't know. But you could download them and save them to folders and then use them. Why were they doing this? Well, honestly, sometimes it goes towards victimology. Who is your victim? Even the music that they listen to matters. Because you're profiling your victim to piece their life together and their death. But what they found was kind of pure luck. It appeared to be just another ringtone, but it's almost as though Brittany was speaking to them from the grave. It's the voice message that Robbie left on her phone right after he was put in jail. The one that Tiffany had heard. Brittany saved it, but it was saved as a ringtone on purpose to disguise it. And thankfully, Brittany did this because it gave detectives insight into another side of Robbie in a factual way, not just, he said, she said, "Hey, you! God! I'm tired of vetting you. You beat over at the hate you." The recording said, "I hate your effing guts. I'm tired of defending you. You effed me over. I effing hate you. I hope you effing die. I hate you." That's pretty bad. But detectives also know that people say things that they do not mean when they're passionately angry. I've witnessed it. I've actually heard people say these exact words to someone that they say they love. It's sad and it's not right, but it does happen. Does it mean Robbie really hoped that Brittany was dead? Who knows? But it doesn't 100% prove that he did anything. Going back to Tiffany for more information, detectives wanted to know if she knew anything that Robbie had done to Brittany that was violent in nature. And Tiffany said that he would do all sorts of crazy things. Like one time, he parked her car on a four-lane road, turned it off, took out the keys, got out, and left her inside in the middle of traffic. Wow. Again, they didn't have proof of this, but it wasn't looking good for Robbie. However, you have to keep in mind that her friends disliked him, and now Brittany is dead. So detectives have more to go on, but that's not concrete. What was more concrete was Robbie's marriage records. Detectives combed over all the information they had hoping that they would get in touch with his wife, Elena. Did she even know that he was having an affair? The way Robbie had spoken about Elena to Brittany, you would have thought that they'd been married for a long time, but that wasn't the case. However, the couple was together for a very long time as boyfriend and girlfriend, at least since high school. But get this, it was only earlier that year, the same year. In January 2009, the Robbie and Elena got married. It was right before he was deployed to Iraq. They exchanged vows in the middle of a freezing cold winter night in a parking garage. Yes. It's not something you hear very often, or at all, a parking garage winter wedding, but that is where Elena became Mrs. Robbie Walters. According to what others relate to detectives, Robbie told Elena he was leaving for Iraq, and then he said, "Listen, if we get married right now, before I go, we can get a lot of benefits." And Elena was hesitant. She had been with Robbie a long time. She did want to marry him, but she didn't want to marry him for money. She wanted to marry him because she loved him, and he told her, "Well, I love you too. This is just something extra." But it didn't seem like the truth because just a week later, when he was in Iraq with Brittany, he was carrying on a new relationship that would ultimately turn intimate and more. All behind Elena's back, was it true then? Did he only marry her for the money and truly left Brittany? Well, one thing's for sure, Robbie had both women wrapped around his finger. Elena had found out about the affair. This is when Robbie was sent to jail. She found out he was cheating, and this can tear a relationship apart. I can't know for sure how Elena took it, but cheating could be one of those unforgivable betrayals. It definitely did not help their marriage, but it didn't lead to divorce either. When Robbie moved back to California after the car accident, Elena took him back despite everything he had done to her. Plus, she was even true to her own vows and would not speak to the investigators about Robbie. She stood by his side, but about four months later, in March 2010, an explosive fight erupted in the Walters household. Elena and Robbie were going at it with one another. And Detective Bizgar got word of this, and because he was desperate for help on Brittany's case, he called Elena hoping in her anger she would turn on Robbie, and he hoped that she would say something about Brittany's death. It turns out Elena does want to talk. Now granted, she is very mad. She's been cheated on, lied to, put in the middle of investigation, her life was turned upside down. So how credible is an angry wife in this position? Well, detectives don't care. They're all ears. She doesn't even have to be asking questions. She just went off. She said, Robbie killed Brittany, and he confessed everything to her. On March 29, 2010, at approximately 2.25 pm, Elena spoke to Detective Bizgar. over the phone. I actually have some of this conversation I want to play it for you in just a moment. The gist of it was that in the days after returning to California following the accident, Alana and Robbie had a number of intense conversations regarding Brittany and what happened that night. It was in one of these conversations and several others that Robbie started to confess that it wasn't an accident. That he actually killed Brittany and then staged the scene to look like she died in the car crash. Hi, is Alana? Hi, Alana, this is Detective Troy Bizgar, I'm an detective with the Denver Police Department. He said that he never planned to kill Brittany. It was when she took off her top that changed everything. I can't even imagine hearing all of this as his wife. And Alana told them Robbie was different in the head. They had been together for so long and it was difficult for her to accept that the person she loved this much was capable of such a horrible thing. He's always had a imagination. He's always been different in the head. So it's hard to think that this is this person that I know who I've known my whole life. After telling Detective this bombshell, she just keeps going and she ends up talking to them for two hours. She even admitted that she had actual recordings of the times that Robbie confessed. When I had my phone, I was in my boots and I turned it on. I hit the record and it's about about a good 20 minutes of him talking about the whole thing. One time she tucked her phone into one of her boots with the video camera on. And although you can't see Robbie, you can only see a ceiling fan from the phone's vantage point, which I'm going to show you here. You can hear very clearly those silently Robbie's voice. But I will also tell you exactly what was said. I'll warn you, this is heinous. He told his wife that he and Brittany were driving back to Colorado Springs on the highway. And they were arguing about her taking off her top during the photo shoot. That's when he punched Brittany in the face. Then he grabbed the steering wheel, forced the car to exit the highway. Then he got out and got in the driver's seat and moved her to the passenger side. Then he drove to an unknown area and parked the car. Brittany was calling out his name and trying to scream. So he began to knee her in the face. He then stopped and he couldn't believe what he just did. He wanted to take her to the hospital, but at that point he knew that she would tell on him. So he decided to finish her off. Wherever they were at this point, the car got stuck in the snow. So we had to get out and he began to push on the bumper. And that was when he realized that his hands and now the bumper of the car were bloody. He told Helena that this is when he got back into the car and the driver's seat again. And he realized that Brittany was still breathing. And he told Helena that he started to scream at her. Why don't you die? That's just incredibly disgusting. He then got on top of her and using his forearm, he began to push down her throat, stopping her from breathing and attempted to break her neck. And as she laid there lifeless, he gets back into the driver's seat. It goes down a dark residential road. This was Zuma Street where he pushes her back in the driver's seat and made sure not to buckle her seatbelt but to buckle his own. Then he proceeded to accelerate the vehicle and swear this year in will so that the car would hit the parked cars. The impact caused Brittany's head to hit the windshield. When the crash happened, Robbie said he purposely put on a show by screaming for help and crying out for people to help his dying girlfriend. Not only that, he confesses to Helena multiple times according to her and on several of those occasions she was able to record him on her phone. That is how we got these recordings. She also let investigators know that there had been two attempts on his own life saying that he didn't want to go to prison. So why record these confessions? But stay with this man and not go to the police. Well that was a big question that Bizguard had for her because he knew that she knew this was wrong but they assumed it could also be because she wanted to get back at him at some point like a moment like this where they're now separated. Those were some cold words, some very cool statements that came out of Robbie's mouth and I wish I had never heard them. I didn't know what to think as I'm sure detectives didn't either. He said I looked over and just took a shot in the dark where I thought her head would be and boom I punched the girl with all of my might. She felt it. She felt it like a F and how strapped on her. I hit her hard. I couldn't stop. Boom boom boom boom boom then she let out a small squeal like Robbie and that she goes ah like she's trying to scream. How can someone even be so hardless? Now I don't know the context which is that one part of the recording but detectives want to know is this true and if you really thought it was why didn't you come to police before? Well Lenna explains there was no one looking for Robbie as far as committing a crime was concerned. She even told some of her friends and they were kind of like hmm maybe he's blowing smoke trying to act like a cool guy maybe even trying to make Elena dislike Bernie or believe that he disliked Bernie so that she would forget about the pain that he caused from cheating on her. Maybe Robbie wanted to paint Brittany as a slut with the top of the story making it look like the cheating had been her fault and it's true. Men do this women do too. Her friends told her listen no one is going after Robbie for murder so it must not be true and it would be a big deal if Elena were to come forward first. So after this confession comes out detective Bizgard speaks with a medical examiner Dr. Carver on March 30th and he tells them about the statements that Robbie made. The medical examiner looks back over the autopsy report and now he's able to seemingly make sense of his initial observations that were confusing for him like the bruising around the eye and the temple in the cheek area. Her face would have been facing him if you were in the passenger side. It made sense that these injuries would be caused by Robbie punching her while they were driving in the car and with him also saying he put his forearm across her throat so instead of fingers around her neck that made sense because there were no signs of fingernail marks or anything that resembled a hand. Well that was that. Dr. Carver had enough additional information in the form of Robbie's actual words to change the manner of death to homicide. Now what your investigation could begin and I had so many thoughts up to this point but with such a detailed confession there really doesn't seem to be any question about what happened right or was there. Three days later detective Biscard flew out to California with a warrant for Robbie's arrest. They brought him in for questioning and when asked if he knew why he was there this is what he said. He said that the very last thing he said to Bernie was "I love you, Britt" and she said "I love you to Robbie" but this we talking wasn't working on Detective Biscard. He had seen her injuries. He knows how they were on the right side of her face. He has heard the recordings of Robbie admitting what he did and Robbie doesn't know this. So the detective starts to call his bluff by explaining he's an experienced homicide detective and something doesn't add up. "I'm a homicide detective and I look at when you know I've seen all that stuff before. The stuff under neck, the stuff under face, all the right side." Right? Because you're sitting on the right side. He tells Robbie about hearing the crazy things he did like leaving Bernie in the car in the middle of the road but he denied it. Then detective Biscard tells Robbie they heard that voice message on Britney's phone. Does he want to explain? When he was asked why he would leave such a bad message, Robbie said how he couldn't believe Britney would call the cops on him and put him in jail and he was upset but he didn't mean those words. But wasn't he upset on the night of the crash too? Because he did purposely mention Britney taking off her shirt when he was questioned the night of the accident. It seemed like that was so significant to him and he was a really upset but how upset was he? Well we know it was enough to make him cry but what about kill? That was the question. While Biscard goes one step further and admits they have a recording from his own estranged wife in his own words, confessing to killing Britney. All of a sudden Robbie went silent. He just stopped after saying "I don't know what the F to tell you anymore." Well this won't be the last time Robbie speaks. Because he decides to do interviews with the media from his jail cell. Robbie was incarcerated in Denver until his trial began August of 2011. When journalists came to speak with Robbie about what was said in Elena's videos, Robbie's defense was that Elena was the one that would hound him regarding what happened to Britney as though she wanted him to say that he killed her. So sometimes to quiet her down, he kind of starkastically would go along with it saying "Okay Elena, you're totally right. I broke her neck, Elena. You got me." Not knowing. She was recording the conversation. He's kind of insinuating that she was setting him up to get back at him. And he actually called Alena Evil for what she did. It's unreal. - She would come over to these accusations and then there were times where I just agreed with her to get the conversation and if I just was like, yeah, I'll tell you, you're totally right. Totally right, Alena. I broke her neck. Totally my fault. Little did I know she was recording the conversation. (laughing) So evil. When questioned about the taped confession and crashing the car himself from the passenger side of the car, he kept asking reporters if they actually thought that sounded like it was even possible. Well, I looked up Robbie's height. He's six foot one. So yeah. I do think it's possible to use your leg to press the gas pedal hard enough to cause the car to crash, but he denied it. Prosecutors Phil Geigel and Helen Morgan were assigned to Bernice Case. And despite Detective Bizzgard's opinion that he provided enough information for the state to prove that Robbie murdered Brittany, the state wanted Alena to testify at Robbie's trial. However, she remained devoted to her husband. Even after his arrest and everything else that she knew about him, in fact, she helped Robbie plan his defense. It is unbelievable, but you have to remember Alena married Robbie not for the Air Force benefits, but for love. She was committed to standing by her husband no matter what. Because they had been together since they were teens, Alena knew nothing else but Robbie. However, the prosecution had evidence that Robbie had put a hit out on Alena to shut her up. And that's when she changed her mind and decided to testify against him. When Brittany's dad walked into that courtroom and saw Robbie, he wanted to hit him. Just like Robbie had said, he had hit his daughter and using Robbie's own words against him during the trial, prosecutor Geigel repeated the chilling statements from Alena's recording for the jury. He did this in his opening statement. They had their theory of what happened that fateful night in November. Prosecutors believed when the couple left that strip club, Robbie confronted Brittany about taking off her shirt. They believed that the couple sat somewhere talking which turned into arguing. And that's why it took them so long to travel to the destination where they ended up where the crash happened. They theorized knowing Brittany's personality, how independent she was, how strong she was as a woman, she most likely took the position of mind your own business when it came to Robbie getting upset over her photo shoot. They weren't dating, so what gave him the right to tell her what to do or to judge her? They believed that this is what set Robbie off. On top of the fact, he had lost her as a girlfriend. He was a controlling narcissistic man. He was used to getting women to bend at his command. When Brittany didn't, he became enraged. Whatever words were exchanged, prosecutors think it set him off, and in his own words, he said he was on a mission to kill her once that top came off. Why? No one knows. But they think it began by hitting Brittany while they were on the highway on I-25. Apparently, 2911 calls had come in that night from someone driving alongside them. It concerned citizen called the police when they saw a car that stopped abruptly in the middle of a busy highway. From the description that the caller gave, they think that this was Brittany's vehicle. We already know from Robbie's own words what happened next. As he took the wheel and eventually got into the driver's seat and moved the car somewhere, he continued his evil plan. Now here is one of my favorite pieces of evidence. A blood expert came in and they said it was evident by the blood evidence in the car that Brittany was already bleeding before the accident happened. Reason being, there was blood found on the airbag and I'll hear me out. It might seem like, okay, wait a minute. We know that her head hit the windshield. We see the windshield is cracked however because the airbag is so quick to come out and then deflate afterward. According to the blood analyst, it wouldn't have been able to gather as much blood as we see on it. When it came out, it would have prevented some of that impact, right? They said because this happened so fast, they theorized she was already bleeding. However, the defense had their own blood analyst that said the exact opposite. They said nope, the airbag came out. She was laying on it for some time after the injury to her head, but we know that the injuries weren't as significant from her head hitting that windshield. According to the professional who did the autopsy, we know that the injuries happened on the right side of her face. And it is confusing because here I am looking at the airbag. We can see the mark on it right here. It looks like it's on the left. So this leaves a lot to question still. And the case really hung on Elena's testimony. She knew Robbie best. And when she was interviewed about Robbie confessing to her, she said, though while he was doing that, he was also threatening her life. Telling her if she said anything, he would kill her. So now we know why she didn't say anything. But guess what? They didn't just have to rely on Elena's words because during the recording, he actually says to her, he's so close to killing her right now. He just wanted to punch her. One of my younger sisters sent me this picture the other day and I want you to look at it. It has it really upset me when I saw it. It might be hard to tell, but if you look closely, there's a young boy and girl. You know, maybe they're in middle school, elementary school, and the boy is teasing the girl. Maybe he's hitting her and sometimes parents may say the same thing that the parent in this meme or graphic did. Oh, he just likes you. That's why he does it. That's why he hits you. That's why he teases you because he likes you. Well, what message does that ultimately send to a woman? Because later in life, if you look at the bottom of this graphic, this woman is clearly hurt. She's crying and it looks like she might have bruises on her eye and yet she's still saying he loves me. Is that what women like Elena thought? So they stick by their man's side. Because even while this man's a waiting trial and he's incarcerated, she would talk to him and take his calls and she actually believed him when he said, "Oh, I was just saying that to you. None of it really happened." Elena said that she loved him and he actually said, "If you really do, then you have the opportunity to prove that." Oh my god, I cannot stand him. He wants her to lie for him to say he was drunk when he confessed and that it wasn't real. What was even more damning comes from the time that Robbie was in jail. Even from behind bars, he was scheming and Robbie thought he had Elena under his thumb and that he could guide her testimony and it would actually benefit him. But the more time he spent in jail, the more time he realized she was a reliability. So he sought the assistance of a fellow prisoner. He was trying to find someone to kill his wife. Robbie, who I told you was narcissistic and proud, believed that the hit would happen, not realizing that the co-conspirator had turned him in. When Robbie asked the enmate to help him find a hit man to kill Elena, the prisoner turned into a state witness for a lesser sentence. Not only was Robbie charged with murder, but now he was also facing charges of conspiracy to commit murder. After Elena found out that Robbie wanted to hire someone to kill her, she decided to testify against him. That didn't stop Robbie. He still thought he could win Elena over with his charm and he would passetically plead to her not to fall for the prosecution's lies. But Elena told him she was done believing anything that came out of his mouth and I'm so proud of her for that. So she went on to become the state's star witness. Robbie later told a journalist with 48 hours that Elena was the cold-hearted one. He literally said and I quote, "The second most painful thing I've ever had to go through was watching her get on the stand and just cold-blooded, cold-blooded with no emotion, totally heartless without even looking at me, not even once. Even when they said point out Mr. Robert Walters, she didn't even look at me. She just said he's over there. She was just like a puppet. She just wanted revenge on me because I fell in love with someone else and I broke her heart." End quote. The jury would make the final decision. Barry was at the point where if Robbie got off on the charges, he would take justice into his own hands as crazy as it sounds and he said one of us is gonna do a life sentence. But thankfully after deliberating for only two days, the jury returned a verdict and found Robert Walters guilty of the first degree murder of Brittany for years. When Robbie heard the verdict, he later said that he felt hopeless and sickened. However, the state did do him one solid. They dropped the charges of conspiracy to commit murder. So at least there's that as some kind of consolation prize. And I had to laugh because he was sentenced to life in prison without parole. So what does it even matter? He made his bed. A couple other noteworthy things that I thought you might want to know. Despite Robbie's guilty verdict, Barry Brashear said that he didn't revel in it. Brittany was never coming back no matter what. Brittany's brother, John, believes justice hasn't been served because his sister is dead and Robbie is still alive. Brittany's sister Sarah addressed the court on behalf of the Brashear's family at Robbie's sentencing hearing. She wanted everyone in the courtroom to know how incredible Brittany was. John, Brittany's brother, says Brittany taught him to enjoy life because tomorrow might be the last. Robbie believes the detective Bizguard is the villain and has a long list of things that Detective did wrong during the investigation. According to Robbie, the detective twisted everything. And he also forced the medical examiner to change their report. Robbie claims that Detective Bizguard flew to California and persuaded Elena to testify against him because he knew that she was low. to him. In California, recording someone without their knowledge is illegal, and Robbie said he didn't think that the Colorado judge who presided over his trial should have allowed it as evidence. Because the state uses illegal recording during his trial, Robbie believed he had a high chance of winning an appeal. Without that recording, even the prosecutors admit they would not have been able to put Robert Walters behind bars for Brittany's murder. Elena and Robbie soon divorced, and Robbie appealed, but it was denied in February 2016. Robert Walters is currently incarcerated at Lomoan Correctional Facility in Lomoan, Colorado, and lo and behold, he's got a prison dating profile, I select to call them. On writerprisoner.com, Robbie has a pen pal profile, and is about section reads, "I'm Robbie, 6'1, 180 pounds, fit AF," and then he puts in parentheses, "I'm pretty sure AF stands for as a fiddle and nothing more crass than that." Oh my god, he really thinks that's funny. I guess he doesn't get out much. "I never will," he goes on to say, "Did you ever see the painting that Vincent Van Gogh did of me? I use it as my profile picture. I made the skull myself. In a vocational welding program they have at this facility, I call it self-portrait and stainless steel. Up until recently, I spent most of my time welding. Now, I'm a little bit more focused on working out and writing. I made all kinds of clever creations and carpentry before I started welding, but I still love woodworking. I just enjoy creating poem statues, coffee tables, collages, whatever. I've been down for over 12 years now, and I wanted to see if I still had any kind of appeal to anyone out in the real world. If I've sparked interest, then shoot an address on right to your back. Take it easy." "Yeah, that's a hard pass for me. Sorry, no thanks." Barry Bersier wants everyone to remember his daughter as vibrant and beautiful and full of life. We aren't promised tomorrow. I hope each and every one of us lives our lives to the fullest and never encounters anyone as horrible, as Robert Walters. Thank you all so very much for being here. I will see you in my next video. Bye.

Podcast Summary

Key Points:

  1. Brittany Bersier, a 22-year-old Air Force member, died in a car crash on November 17, 2009, in Denver, Colorado, after a night of drinking at a photo shoot.
  2. Robert "Robbie" Walters, her secret boyfriend and a married man, was in the passenger seat and claimed the crash was an accident.
  3. Initial autopsy results were inconclusive, with no clear cause of death, but revealed suspicious injuries like bruising and petechial hemorrhages.
  4. Robbie’s wife, Elena, later provided recorded confessions where Robbie admitted to killing Brittany, staging the crash, and covering up the murder.
  5. Investigators uncovered evidence of Robbie’s controlling and violent behavior, including threats and a prior altercation with Brittany.
  6. Robbie was charged with first-degree murder after the medical examiner changed the death to homicide based on his confessions.
  7. He was found guilty and sentenced to life in prison without parole, with appeals denied.

Summary:

Brittany Bersier, a vibrant Air Force dental technician, died in a car crash in Denver on November 17, 2009, after a night out with Robbie Walters, a married man she was secretly dating. The crash occurred on a dead-end street, and Robbie claimed Brittany, who had been drinking, lost control of the vehicle. However, investigators grew suspicious due to inconsistencies, including Brittany’s lack of a seatbelt and injuries that didn’t match the accident.

The autopsy was inconclusive, but Robbie’s estranged wife, Elena, later provided recordings of Robbie confessing to murdering Brittany. He admitted to punching her, strangling her with his forearm, staging the crash, and putting on a show of grief to cover his tracks. The medical examiner changed the cause of death to homicide, leading to Robbie’s arrest.

At trial, Elena testified against him, and prosecutors presented evidence of Robbie’s violent threats and even a plot to kill Elena. Robbie was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to life without parole. The case highlighted the dangers of drunk driving, domestic violence, and manipulation, but Brittany’s family found little solace, as their vibrant daughter was gone forever.

FAQs

Brittany Bersier died from injuries sustained in a car crash on November 17, 2009, but the autopsy initially listed the cause and manner of death as undetermined. Later, her boyfriend Robert Walters confessed to killing her, and the manner of death was changed to homicide.

Robert Walters, also known as Robbie, was Brittany's boyfriend. He was married to another woman, Elena, and had a secret relationship with Brittany while both were in the Air Force.

Robert Walters confessed to his wife Elena multiple times, who secretly recorded some of these confessions on her phone. In these recordings, he detailed how he punched Brittany, moved her to the driver's seat, and staged the crash to look like an accident.

Key evidence included Elena's secret recordings of Robbie's confessions, the voicemail he left threatening Brittany, and his behavior on the night of the crash. The medical examiner also noted injuries inconsistent with a typical car accident, such as bruising on the right side of her face.

The medical examiner could not conclusively determine the cause of death because Brittany was born without the piece of cartilage in her neck that is usually broken during strangulation. Without this, and with no other definitive signs, the cause and manner of death were initially listed as undetermined.

Robert Walters was found guilty of first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. He is currently incarcerated at Lomoan Correctional Facility in Colorado.

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