The episode centers on the unresolved case of Randy Bratsky, a man from a small South Carolina town named Coward, who vanished in 2004 following a violent domestic dispute with his wife, Brenda. The 911 call recordings show a stark conflict: Brenda claims Randy attacked her with a garden hoe, while he alleges she attempted to kill him with a heavy wooden club, the Ozark Thumper, a tool used by truckers. Both report injuries, with Randy suffering severe facial and head trauma, while Brenda only has a minor cut. Investigators find evidence of a broken thumper, blood traces on a black Azuzu Rodeo SUV, and signs of Brenda’s presence near the vehicle in camouflage—raising suspicion. A large-scale search fails to locate the body, and the case remains unsolved for years. In 2009, a human skull and skeleton are found beneath a trailer, and DNA confirms the remains belong to Randy, but no cause of death is determined. Brenda is later arrested not for murder, but for forgery, and finally charged with murder and burying a body without notice. Her son, Frankie, is charged with misprision of a felony for failing to report the crime. Despite a confession, it is inadmissible in court due to lack of proper Miranda warnings. The prosecution relies heavily on the domestic violence incident, but the jury is unable to reach a verdict due to contradictory witness testimonies, lack of physical evidence, and legal challenges. The case remains a haunting mystery, highlighting unresolved trauma, flawed evidence, and the complexity of rural small-town law enforcement. The title "Ozark Thumper" is used humorously to describe Brenda, reflecting the absurdity and irony of the situation.
[MUSIC] Hello, everybody, and welcome back to Small Town Murder Express. Yeah, and choo-choo! Oh, yeah, indeed, Jimmy. Yeah, indeed. My name is James Petrogallo. I'm here with my co-host. I'm Jimmy Wiseman. Thank you, folks, so much for joining us today. All aboard the murder train, pulling away from the station. We have a wild show for you, as usual today, just a weird one of those, I mean, we'll get into it. Don't worry. It's a weird one, so it'll be a lot of fun. Can't wait to get into that. Before we do, head over to shutupandgivememurder.com. Get your tickets for live shows. They are available right there. Next live shows that we have available to get are September the 18th at the PAPS in Milwaukee. Oh, not a lot of tickets left for that one. If you want to get in there, get those tickets right now. Then the next night, get your tickets for the state theater in Minneapolis. Get those right now. We're excited about those shows a lot. 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Arms to the sky. Soul shout. Shout out. Give me murder. Let's do this, everybody. Okay. Let's go on a trip, shall we? We are going to South Carolina this week, going down to Coward South Carolina. With a D or no D? D. C.O. W.A.R.D. Coward South Carolina. What the fuck? There you go. And the way it's what it's named, there's a lot of contention over how the name came to, so that'll be interesting. Next week we're in Chicken Shit, North Dakota. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. We're in Pussy, Minnesota after that. It's going to be good. In Yellowbelly. Yeah. Yellowbelly Montana's where we're going next. Eastern South Carolina, this is about an hour and 20 to Myrtle Beach, so not too far from there, about two and a half hours to Charlotte if you want to go up that direction. And about three hours and 15 minutes to Traveler's Rest South Carolina, our last South Carolina episode, episode 671, baby faced and deadly. That was a bad guy. It's pretty remote shit, huh? Yeah, yeah. That was pretty remote. Traveler's Rest. This one. This is remote too. It's not really remote, but it's very small, as we'll talk about. This is in Florence County, area code eight, four, three, and eight, five, four, which seems to be a lot of South Carolina population here, 612. So pretty damn small median household income here, way under the national average, $40,536. I don't know, and then the median home cost is way lower than the national average, $134,600. So basically, it's like 1991 here. Make 40 grand. Your house is $135,000, they're just, I think they're just caught in a time warp. I really do. A lot of these places, that's what it seems like. They're like just behind everybody, but I mean, the housing prices, that's pretty good thing to be behind, and I guess, history of this town. Okay. It's all going to be all about the name that we're going to talk about. The most likely account, according to the Historical Society here, is that in 1831, Captain Solomon Coward was granted 126 acres spanning a section of the Lynch's River, Jesus, that's a bad one for South Carolina, in Southern Florence County, which at the time was within the Williams
burg district, then they didn't, it wasn't until the early 20th century that they actually adopted the name Coward. Yeah. Some other records indicate that the town was named in honor of Colonel Azbury Coward, who was a Confederate Colonel, and later became common-dont of the South Carolina Military Academy. Other records indicate the town was named for John Wilson Coward, a member of the Committee of 50, which was responsible for petitioning the state of South Carolina for Charter, for the Charter, which incorporated the County of Florence. How do you run around with that as your last name, this many people? And like, like military men, too, was capped in a colonel, I don't know how to go into the military. Follow the coward, everyone. We're going. Follow Corp. Coward. He shouldn't advance beyond private for Christ's sake. I love how it's Colonel and Captain, which is hilarious, because it's just the literate, it's great. I love it. So, they also, Coward became a farming community, it's real rural out here, so I mean, a tobacco and cotton and corn were the primary cash crops back in like the 40s, and its lumber industry supported, was supported by the railroad because they needed their lumber. So that's how it worked. It also was a home to a sawmill that was operated and it's kind of the whole town employment for a long time. Town wasn't incorporated until 1963, and they have some problems. In recent years, the town has been troubled by rising water levels in the Lynch's River and increased flooding. So. They're the ones that have it all. Yeah. If it keeps going, they might not be a town anymore because it might just flood out. There's a couple of places that are like that right now. It's happening a lot. Right. Here are reviews. There's only one review of this town that exists with 600 people. It's not a surprise. It's four stars. Coward is a good place to live in. It's a good place to start a small business, but you do have to know the people around in order to work with them. It's a nightmare. They want to allow it, huh? It sounds like a nightmare. Yeah. You have to kiss a bunch of yokels asses if you want to open a fucking ice chrome stand. Open a small business? Yeah. I don't think so. Things to do in this town. Here we go. A nervous festival. Yeah. That is about it. It's got a parade. It starts at 10.30 a.m. followed by a day. Oh, yeah. Followed by a day of family fun. I believe this is going to be fast. With inflatables, face painting, and a balloon artist for the kids. Oh boy. Delicious food vendors, art and craft vendors, and the third annual car show. That's the big one. That's where everybody loves it. And that's the whole separate thing. They say it's judged by a panel from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. The show. Oh, this is a whole deed. It's a whole, this is like the whole day. Yeah. This is, I mean, there's a parade and all that, but then you go back to the car show. So they will recognize the top 35 entries, the top five rat rods and the present best in show awards for both classic and modern vehicles. You're telling me in 900 people, there are six or five rat rods, 600, 600, the whole county's got to come out for this. And even, I don't think there's five rat rods in a goddamn old county down there. That's unbelievable. They have a top five of them. Must be a big deal. Well, you know, you get if you win. This is why this is this is the thing. I mean, you'd come from far and wide for this winners will receive state plaque awards. Oh, yeah. So like a plaque that's the shape of South Carolina piece of loose site in the shape of South Carolina.
So you'd think it wouldn't be very it was a beautiful car. Yeah, and he had a trophy room James was just pieces of wood cut out in the state of Arizona all over his fucking room. Yeah, with whatever car show it was got state plaques, baby. Yeah, and of course name was Ricky. So likely, you know, I mean, yeah, well, yeah. Yeah, yeah, obviously Ricky can't live long. Ricky's don't live long as we know. Ricky, but Ricky buys it on a dirt bike. That's just how it works. We all know that. So, oh, that's not good. There's also another thing separate of this. Explore the treetops. Oh, what is that? Walk the 147 foot high suspension canopy walk. Oh, thanks. At Lynch's River County Park for sweeping bird's eye views of the river and cypress trees. Suspension canopy walk. Sounds like one of those bridges that like moves and, you know, every move probably a little scary, but just get the fuck out of here. I'm not going up there. Jesus, I'd rather do one of those bouncy things in Mexico than fucking do that. That sounds crazy. I want to see from up there. I'll fly a fucking drone. Yeah, I'll fly a drone. I'll get in a plane and fly over this place because I'm not stopping here. So that's good. Anyway, that's that. Let's talk, let's talk about a murder. Everybody here we go. Here we go. Let's start out with the main players here. All right. Let's talk about Brenda Miles, okay? Brenda is born in 1964 here. Now she is apparently married and divorced and by the early 2000s has a teenage son that lives with her and she ends up getting remarried to a man named Randy Dellen, D-E-L-Y-N. Dylan, Dellen, I don't know, Bratsky is his name. B-R-A-T-S-C-H-I Bratsky. Okay. He's born November 1st, 1950. So a little bit older than her. He is his parents are Alfred and Dorothy. And his dad's name is Alfred Gilbert and goes by A.G. Hell yeah. And his real middle name is Hawkeye. His dad's real middle name is Hawkeye. How cool is that? Alfred Hawkeye Gilbert. Alfred Gilbert Hawkeye Bratsky, that's his name. A.G. Hawkeye Bradley, a Bratsky, that's what he goes by. That's awesome. I would drop that last name and just go A.G. Hawkeye. A.G. Hawkeye, that sounds awesome. That's a cool name, man. So he meets Brenda, Randy does and they get married and live in a trailer together and everything else as we'll talk about. Randy works at a place called Smurf It. Smurf It, like Smurf IT, one word, Smurf It. Which just sounds like a Smurf that's had enough. Oh, a Smurf It. I, that's it, man. Smurf It's the end of the, yeah, at the end of his rosewood. And it was little, little, little. A Smurf It, man, never mind. I've had it now. Now, Smurf You. Smurf This All. I'm done. So tired of Smurf It. And just brushing me off. Yeah, she smurfed him good. I'm not doing it. I'm like, no, why don't you cheat it on me? Smurfing this guy, smurfing that guy. I've had enough. She, she, she smurfed Papa. It's enough now. Smurf me the tears. Oh, Smurf my life. This is bullshit. I ran it. This is Bull Smurf. I've done this. I'm done. So Smurf It. Stone container is the place he works at, which sounds like some sort of industrial thing. They work something with stones. I don't know. Brenda's 17 year old son, as of 2004, lives with him also in this trailer. Right. So he's got a 17 year old stepson. Randy does and his wife, all living in a trailer here in rural South Carolina. So they have a couple of friends will come up a little later. So we'll introduce them now. Kathy Merrill and her husband Russell. Merrill also. They were longtime friends with, with Randy. They were friends for years and years with Randy. And then Brenda came into the picture and they became friends with Brenda too, as couples do. And yeah. So they started, they were friends with them when they started dating and, you know, they were one of the couples they hung out with type of thing. Love it. Now things in this marriage, from what I understand, we're a bit rocky between Randy and Brenda. A little rocky from the start and then they kind of got a little worse. Brenda is a little bit possessive. A little bit possessive and she's the one, huh? She's the one. Yeah, for sure. Now October 21st, 2004, let's jump to that. There is an incident 9-1-1 calls from both Brenda and Randy at the same time. Yeah, competing 9-1-1. I'm happy with the other. Yeah, dueling 9-1-1 calls that day. Love it. Now we'll go with Brenda's first and their accounts complete. They're, they're talking about the same thing that just happened five seconds ago. And their accounts couldn't be more different of what happened. Neither agrees already. It's already. We got some problems. We got some acrimony here. Now Brenda screaming at the dispatcher says her husband just attacked her with a garden tool, but she managed to get away with a garden tool, which is, yeah, that's, that's nice and rural. Did she say which one? Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. No, she'll get into it. She said he hit me and then screams on the work. She's screaming and yelling and it's a lot of it doesn't come out on the tape. And she says, I ran away and got in my vehicle. I hit him several times. He tried to kill me. Oh, okay. Now she, she, she's saying he tried to hit her with a hoe. Yeah, he's got attacking her with a hoe. Brenda says that she left the residence and is on her way to the town hall to report the incident. That's where the police department is a small town. So on the way to the coward town hall to report this incident. But then Randy's also on 911 as well. And he's got a completely different story. He says, quote, my wife's trying to kill me. That's his lead, uh, uh, to strong lead, I would say, uh, he's breathing heavily the whole time. He said, we were on, uh, we were on the way to my work. And she said she had to use the bathroom. So I turned around and went home. She said she didn't feel good. Shit bathroom, not pee bathroom. Can't hold it bathroom. A horrible mask. Not good. Yeah. I was just going to the car and she started hitting me with a club. I don't know what happened. She just hit me and kept on hitting me. Oh, we'll find out what kind of club because it's fucking crazy. Uh, in a club from the car. No, no, no, no, way crazier. So Randy goes on to say that he has a gun and is going to shoot Brenda if she comes back to the house. He said she took off. She comes back. I'm shooting her. So can you just say that? He said, quote, if she comes in, I'm going to kill her. I mean, that's as straightforward as you can be. He said, I'm going to have to help myself. I'm afraid of her. Okay. Now, uh, Brenda does not return to the residents that day, which is nice, uh, gun play averted. That's good. When officers arrive, they find Randy there bruised and bleeding and really fucked up. I mean, not doing well. Looks like he got hit by a car. I mean, he's really fucked up. Uh, they also recover the weapon that was used to beat him, which is what they call an Ozark Thumper. You know what that is? The fuck is that Ozark Thumper is a big fucking wooden thing that truck drivers used to thump the tires to check their air pressure. You ever see him doing that back in the day? No, there's, it's a big heavy. That's not how you check tire pressure. That's how you do it. If you, if you're a hillbilly, you don't have a gauge, just go boom, boom. That's about right. Not sure, but that's what, what's the number that registers underway? I think if you, if you do it long enough, there's a specific sound you're looking for. I think I don't know. I think it's like a dividing rod for truckers. You know what I mean? They just bang, bang. That's about that's 42 pounds per square inch. That's crazy. It's fresh. That's going to be perfect. That isn't what wasn't like a log at one point. Now they've just got a piece of wood that it's, yeah, universal. Thumpers are sort of a cudgel. Yeah, it's a big, it's a big stick with like a thing on the end. So you can like whack, whack, whack on it. Yeah, it's a, it's fucking heavy. It's a big club. I mean, it's a thumb for it's a bumper. Yeah, the Ozark Thumper, which, that is crazy. That sounds like a boxer's nickname, but they pulled out of a fucking swamp somewhere. The Ozark Thumper. Well, some shit this kid from fucking hot springs Arkansas called me the Ozark Thumper. So that's the club and it's, they recover half of it because it's broken. She broke a thumper, she broken Ozark Thumper on this man's head. Now we'll find out. Maybe he did something to deserve getting half a fucking Ozark Thumper broke off. But now more on Randy's 911 call, by the way, because about four and a half minutes into the call, the 911 operator informs Randy. Brenda is not outside the trailer and she's not coming back because she's here. I'm looking at her. She's at the police station right in front of me. Randy said, I don't know. He went, I don't know. He didn't believe her. Like, I don't know. He said he was still bleeding and he needed help and he insisted. He didn't know where Brenda was.
and the operator said, "I'm telling you I'm looking at her." - I don't know. - She's standing here saying the opposite of what you're saying. So I'm pretty sure it's her. So please put your gun in the closet. The cops are on the way. - Yeah. - Please don't be holding your gun when the cops get there. Thank you. - You are clearly Ozark thumped and you need to put the gun down. - You need to put it down and he just kept going. I don't know. - No, I mean, I do know. - And they're like, it's the least I can go. - She said, "I am looking in her face right now." I'm looking at her. Like I can hold on to her physically and she's not there. Put the fucking gun down. - I think you understand you've been thumped. - Yeah, where you've been thumped. So the operator also asked him what kind of car Brenda drove and he answered back a black Azuzu rodeo that belongs to him. - No. - He's gonna let her drive it. Now after some silence and no question by the operator, I don't know if they're typing shit or what, Randy just says, "She started hitting me. She's trying to kill me." - Yeah. - He said he had to break the door to get into the trailer because he dropped his keys running away from her. - Oh, jeez. - Which is the nice part about living in a trailer. If you absolutely have to get in, you can lean up. You can probably ozark thump your way right through that door. Those things aren't made of shit in a trailer. - That's the beauty of a trailer. You don't even need an ozark thump. - You know, he's a boom. If the door doesn't break itself, the whole frame will come out. I feel like it's just a frame will shoot out into the living room. So, Randy said all of that, he dropped his keys so the 911 operator told him, "Put your gun away and step out onto the porch." And Randy said, "Well, I'm gonna go back inside and put my shoes on then." And she's like, "I just, Jesus Christ, these people. One's yelling at me from in here. This guy won't stop, won't listen to me. What is happening?" He says that he's gonna go put his shoes on and then shortly thereafter then help arrive. The cops arrive, so the call ended. She said, "Randy breathed heavily and sounded distressed throughout the call." As he shook, because he's bleeding from like six different places. Investigator Michael Rhodes responds to this domestic violence call. He was on the way to the scene and he was redirected to the coward police department where Brenda was located. So I said, "No, no, come on back and grab a statement from her first." Now, Brenda tells this investigator that she and her husband, Randy, were at their home walking to their car to go to a credit union in coward, which is at his job. According to Brenda, when she looked behind her, she saw Randy approaching her with a garden hoe in his hand. She said that he struck her on the hand and she grabbed a wooden tire thumper, the old Ozark thumper. That's just laying around in the yard. At the ready. Well, you never know when you're gonna check your tires out in the driveway, Jimmy, you know. He's a nice thing to do before every trip. You should always check your tire pressures, give it a little thump thump and see how it goes. And began hitting him with the thumper just to get him away from her. Now, all she has is a very small laceration on her thumb. - And his head is just beating. - His head is body, he's all fucked up. Now, the thing about it is, so if she's telling the truth, wow, she responded quickly. - Oh, thusly, very impressively, but they're all also a little suspicious because if a guy is attacking you from behind with a garden hoe, you should have more damage than a knick on your thumb. - Perhaps she was one of those glasses with the mirrors on the inside. - Oh, she saw it. - She saw the attack coming. - She saw it coming. - Thank God for that thump. - Oh, thank God for the thumper. - Spon on her heels and went to work. - So they're like, that's weird. And she said, "Well, then I'll just beat him with the thumper." I mean, that's what you do at that point. - She's situationally aware, James. - They're both taken to the hospital. Her for a very mind. I mean, they like literally clean it out and put a fucking bandaid on it, basically. Randy is in deep shit, though. He goes to Lake City Hospital for Treatment. The doctor who treated Randy after the incident said that his injuries were, quote, "pretty severe." Sounds like it, yeah. Quote, "He had multiple contusions and pretty severe facial injuries." Just beating him in the face with this fucking, in the face, in the face. The doctor also said the injuries were not life threatening, but could've been, could've very well been. - He said, continued. - He said, "No, no, even where she hit him is the key." She said, "Looking at the injury sustained here, they were pretty strong blows." So if it had the right place, yes, it could've killed him. - Holy. - Basically said, if he was hitting the back of the head, as hard as he was hitting the front of the head, it probably would've crushed his skull. Shit. So she was fucking whaling on this guy. - Yeah. - With basically a hillbilly baseball bat, which is-- - Yeah, home run blows every time. - Fucking crazy. His face is very swollen, he has severe facial injuries, lacerations all over the place, bruising on his chest, a skull fracture, and several injuries to his other parts of his head. He's fucked up. He's not doing real life. Very lucky. Now, the county sheriff investigator, Kathleen Street, she went over to the hospital after the attack and met with both Brenda and Randy. And she said that Randy had obviously been beaten very badly and Brenda also claimed to have injuries. She said, quote, she told me that she had a cut on her finger and also a knot on her head. I saw the cut on her finger, but I didn't touch her to see if she had a knot on her head. She's kind of gross. No, that's not what she said. That would've been a great quote. Didn't touch her, she's gross. - Whoa, ugly. - She said she had been hit with a garden hoe. Randy said, quote, he never hit her with a garden hoe according to the police report here. He said he'd gotten the hoe when he was trying to get away from her and used it to bust out the window to get inside of the house. Oh, that's what he got the go for just to try to bust in that. He used those, that is a key. So the investigators recover the part of the tire thumper, which basically looks like a small baseball bat. Yeah, outside of the old Georgetown road residents, the day of the incident. Now this street, she said she conducted research on the tool to determine if they often break. Are they real breakable? And now they do. And according to those she talked to, basically when they break, they sling wouldn't shrapnel when they split those shrapnel. So that's, she said that led her to believe that Brenda most likely cut her finger when the tire thumper broke. That's the fuck out of you. - That's how she, 'cause when she hit him it broke this way. And got splinteres in her hand and cut her that way. So that's how she got her own weapon. - She didn't hit her at all. - Beating, that's what they think. Now Randy said that, she said tell me from the top again. And he wrote that she had a stomach ache. Wanted to return home, their return home. And quote, "Out of the blue, I felt a blow to the back of the neck that brought me to my knees." - Oh, wow. - With a thumper in the back of the neck. - From behind. - Wow, I managed to turn around but was kind of in and out of consciousness. At this time Brenda was beating me repeatedly about my body with a wooden club truck driver's shoes to check the air in the tires. Good Lord. I was continuously beaten until the stick broke. She just beat him until it broke. She had kept going. That's crazy. The police officer said she felt Randy's life was in danger and encouraged him to seek a protective order from a judge. Randy statements were further used to convey that convey his danger, saying quote, "I have several broken bones in my face, cracked ribs and several bruises and lacerations. I do believe Brenda was attempting to kill me and I'm afraid for my life." - What did he do? - Wow, well, we'll find out. He's not much, but that way. Now, there's an investigator with the County Sheriff's Office crime scene unit investigates the Brenda and Randy's home and yard. He collects six guns and multiple boxes of ammunition from the home as well as another gun from Randy's boat. Now, I'm hearing seven guns and a boat but you live in a fucking trailer. This is an issue. This is something. - Also, she attacked him with a club when there's that many guns at the ready. - Yeah, how guns are expensive? Boats are pricey, 2004. - Pretty expensive, yeah. - Pretty expensive. Boats are pretty expensive, but you live in a fucking trailer. What are you doing, guys? Everybody, what are we doing? - We're living backward. - Yeah, what the fuck is happening? So at the time of this incident, by the way, Randy also found out that his bank account was overdrawn due to withdrawals by Brenda. So he's laying in bed and he's poor and he took all his guns. - But he's got a boat. - But he's got a boat, so that's something. Now, Brenda is going to be arrested and charged with a salt and battery with intent to kill, which is a pretty good charge, pretty hefty. - That's my good. - No, Randy eventually recovers from this attack pretty quickly, I guess. Brenda is prohibited by a family court order of protection from contacting Randy in any way. So he's got a TRO honor at least. So they said later on, somebody asked one of the cops was Randy scared of Brenda after that attack and the cop who talked him in the hospital said terrified is a better word. - Right. - Yeah. So after the protection order hearing Randy visited Brenda once with police presence there to retrieve his black Azuzu rodeo that he had previously allowed her to drive, one that she was driving that day. Now, she pretty quickly violates these.
this protection order. Oh, really? Pretty quick. Yeah, two separate occasions, at least that we know of. One of them here is after this, a little time goes by and Randy begins dating another woman. Okay. Somebody less quick to the club, I hope, for him. So now there's one occasion here where this is we'll go back to Kathy Merrill, their friends from that know both of them. Kathy Merrill said Randy and another friend, Susan Hill, began dating after Branda and Randy and Brenda's altercation. He said, "I'm moving on." Kathy also said that sometime after the altercation, Brenda told her that she had hired a private investigator who took pictures of Randy and Susan. Why? Why? Yeah, he probably tell you, "Yeah, I'm seeing someone you crazy ass. Fuck yeah. You beat me half the death. I'm moving on." What are we talking about? You hit me with a tool that most people have never even heard of. No, you have to be like an old timey truck driver to know what the fuck this is. Kathy further said that Randy previously had guns stolen from his home as well. So there's that. Now, Susan, Susan Hill, the lady he's dating, she said that they started dating right after the altercation and she indicated that after she and Randy began dating, she returned to her house one time and found a light on a door, a jar and her inside dog outside. So someone was in her house. She had left the doors locked and the light off. So that's weird. Now, Kathy and Susan also both said that shortly after the incident, they went to Randy's trailer to clean it for him and they found the door locked even though Randy had left it unlocked for them. So Brenda is snooping. She's, this is pretty possessive shit that's going on right now. Let dogs out lock indoors. She's not even trying to not be found. No, she wants you to know. Yeah, be scared of me. Yeah, there's always an Ozark thumper right around the corner. You never know. That would be a good nickname for her and like if she went to prison for what she was charged with, they just everyone should call her the Ozark thumper. That'd be awesome. I don't know who wouldn't. If they find out what she did, you'd certainly do. That's going to be the name of this episode. I'll tell you that much. Ozark thumper out of you nut. So November 22nd, 2004, shit escalates. All right. This is at the home of Susan Hill, Randy's new girlfriend. Now Susan said that she had met Randy many years ago when they worked together at Stone container. She said they hung out in the same group of friends, but they started dating after the domestic dispute when he was single, right? Susan said that she and Randy eventually were dating, but only alone together for the first time. This is the first time they've been alone at a like they're going to fuck tonight, I think is what this means here. November 22nd, 2004. She said Randy came to her house this day. That's a Sunday. And near the hurt Susan Hill's house, there's a dirt road and Brenda was on the dirt road by the house. And Susan said Brenda was sitting out on my dirt road. He was a little nervous, meaning Randy. Minutes later, he said Brenda called her house and said, quote, have fun with my husband and hung up. Yeah. Hill said that she and Randy continued their date heading out to a local nightclub and also spent time together the following day. And she said she didn't hear from Brenda again, but Brenda was stalking them to at least going to the house and calling. And you know, that's that's crazy. If that was a guy doing that, it'd be very scary. Right. Jesus Christ. So November 26th now four days later, this is the morning. This is the Friday after Thanksgiving. Next day. Now, Randy, I think I guess he had to work the overnight, I believe, thanksgiving night, which sucks because he checks out a work at 7 a.m. He had plans to go on a turkey shoot with some friends that day, that Friday. So he clocked out of work before 7 a.m. and his friends arrived after Thanksgiving. We're going to hunting. Yeah. Day after. People don't need the fucking bird anymore. Yeah, I don't care. That's I don't think the turkey is the goal there. I think beer and the woods and shooting guns is the goal. Getting away getting away from your collective Brenda, I think, is the goal there. While being armed to the teeth, you can't fuck with me. Yeah, this is a one day he feels safe. This is just a guy thing. I'm sure he told everybody, hey, look, if Brenda comes, we're all opening fire on her. This is great. I'd like to be armed. And if you're all armed, then it makes me feel a little a little better. Feel better about everything. Yeah. Just carrying around so his friends arrived to pick him up for turkey hunting. He doesn't answer the door. So like, what the fuck? Randy's reliable. Randy's a suzu rodeo was there. However, Randy's truck and boat were gone. His boat's gone. Boat and truck that he tows it with are gone. He chose to go fishing instead of bird shoot. Weird. So Randy's dog is inside the trailer and a makeshift alarm system, a makeshift alarm system that Randy set up after the incident with Brenda was not set because they know about the alarm system he has. Yeah. I don't know if it's like an elaborate thing where a ball goes down a thing and falls and a bucket comes over and drops the bird. Exactly. Some root gold bird contraption. It's fucking does it. So yeah, at the end, there you go. You have an egg in the dog's fed. So the following day, Randy didn't come to his to Russell and his friends there. Russell and the other one there. Kathy didn't come to their house for oysters like they had planned. They had a big oyster date plan. Oh, Randy was also scheduled to work special shifts on Saturday and Sunday, but never showed up at work. He skipped target shoot oysters and both work shifts. This is not double time. Something's wrong. There is not a redneck on earth. No, that would do this. Skip all four of those. Skip no hunting and work. No, you might skip work for hunting, but you're not skipping both. That ain't happening. Yeah. So both Brenda and Susan called Russell's home looking for Randy that weekend and Russell contacted the police on Sunday about Randy because he hadn't shown up for anything. And Brenda also contacted the police to report him missing. I don't know why you would report anyone missing who you has a fucking restraining order against you. That's crazy. Why do you know that? Exactly. You shouldn't know anything about where they are. Now, Frankie Miles is Brenda's 17-year-old son who lives with them or lived with them before the altercation. Now Russell, the friend, believed that Frankie had borrowed the truck and boat to go fishing. That's what he thinks. He doesn't even think that Randy has the truck and boat. And later on, an investigator verifies that Frankie was on a fishing or hunting trip several miles, several hundred miles away since Friday. So he's gone. Now, investigators believe that Randy made it home from work the morning he clocked at a work on Friday morning because they found his work clothes and lunch container there. So he made it at least to the house. So they search his property. They search his trailer and they find Randy's he's a diabetic, by the way, Randy. Yeah. They find his blood glucose meter at the home, which was last used on Thanksgiving at 547 PM. Ah, right after that big old fucking meal. That's right, making sure he's good, but that needs a mental. Yeah, that is telling because a diabetic would never go four days without using their glucose meter if they normally use it. They didn't find anything in his trailer that was suspicious or anything like that, but that's the last time that he used his glucose meter and it's still there. The police use, they take cadaver dogs all over his property, just in case they don't find anything. So then they are several people saw a dark colored Azuzu rodeo at a public boat landing on the PD river in Pamplaco over the Thanksgiving weekend beginning on Friday afternoon and thought it looked like it hadn't moved for days. Oh, okay. One officer testifies later that he ran a tag on the vehicle at the landing at Saturday night at 803 PM, but it doesn't come back stolen. So he just leaves it there. Another sheriff's office person said that someone stopped by his farm on Sunday afternoon and told him of rather than calling the cops just stop by the cops farm and let them know about it. Wow, this is a small fucking town. Do I just call? Well, just go over to his house. I mean, it's right over there. Why not? He's out there hoeing right now. So now he tells him a suspicious looking black SUV is on the landing. So he calls into the sheriff's office to have someone check out the vehicle, you know, because he's at home on his farm. So the investigator says he observed the black vehicle on the another investigator said he observed a black vehicle on the landing on Sunday at 5 PM and ran the tags. Okay. Okay. Again. So just to make sure it's still not stolen. Now the Monday after Thanksgiving now, another investigator observed the Azuzu rodeo on the landing Monday morning and ran the tags again, not stolen. So the tags have been run three times in four days.
It's just abandoned at the bluff landing off Old River Road in Pamplaco. It's the Zuzu rodeo that's out there. The Tuesday after Thanksgiving, or five days now, almost a week, the investigator that talked to Randy in the hospital, investigator street, she entered the Zuzu into the National Crime Information Computer, the NCIC. It comes up as belonging to a missing person, because Randy's been reported missing since Sunday. Now it's a thing. The Wednesday following Thanksgiving, that's when they ran the plates and it indicated the car belonged to him. They searched the car and an envelope containing $900 and $100 bills was found on the driver's seat during a search of the vehicle. All spots of blood are found on the steering wheel, steering column, dashboard, and gear shift. That's more than was on in OJ's Bronco, by the way, so that's a lot. The blood spots were later determined to be several days to a week old. No usable fingerprints found in the vehicle and it doesn't appear that a body has been transported in the back of the vehicle at all. Okay. Okay. It did not appear to have been hot wired either, so nobody broke into a cracker column. The police searched the area around the vehicle and river and found nothing, nothing at all. So now Brenda's nephew says he saw Randy driving the Zuzu on November 28th, but several law enforcement officers and a few hunters who went by the bluff that weekend said the Zuzu hadn't moved since November 26th until it was found. Yeah. $900 just sitting there. $900 bucks, but somehow Brenda's nephew saw differently. I don't know. Yeah. 900 bucks. So they searched his vehicle, they searched his home, they have no leads to nothing, no clues of where the hell he is. So they, investigators start to get worried when they see the blood pressure medication and diabetes monitor have been left behind. So like, this is bad, something has to happen to them. Now another guy here, a friend of Brenda and Randy, saw Brenda leaving Randy's property during the daylight hours on either the Friday or Saturday after Thanksgiving, saying that Brenda was driving a little brown tannish car, as she has a restraining water shouldn't be near that property, which is interesting. Another friend said he visited Randy to get some life jackets from him on the morning of Thanksgiving or the next day, and he was there and fine. As we assume that's Thanksgiving, then there, there's a witness named Jerome Edie. He lives near the boat landing where the Azuzuz found. He said the Friday after Thanksgiving, he returned home from work sometime after 11 p.m. Everybody works real hours in the town. He observed someone walking alongside the road wearing camouflage that someone went to his neighbor's house and then came to his house. That's someone is Brenda. Where in Camo? Camo at 11 o'clock at night coming from the area of where the Azuzuz was parked. Wow. Not good. Brenda told him he needed a ride home. How'd she get here in her Camo? Yeah. Where's your car? So, this guy Jerome and his mother gave Brenda a ride to coward. They dropped her off at a trailer home development near Randy's trailer. Mary, same neighborhood. She knew better than to have him pull up in front of the trailer. He said he was not certain which night around Thanksgiving he gave Brenda a ride, but he was pretty sure it was Friday. Now, Jerome Edie did not believe that Brenda was nervous, angry, crying, or bleeding. Nothing wrong with him. Common casual. Yeah. He said, he thought, he thought she seemed calm. So after police here about that, they're very suspicious of Brenda. Certainly. So, they go and they search parts of Brenda's family's farm and because it was near where Jerome took her in that area, it was between the two places. What they find is a recently dug rectangular hole near a deer stand that was about a quarter mile from Randy's house and the investigator said, that's a grave. That's someone dug a grave. There's nothing in it. Very clearly. I'm a body fit in there. But, obviously, that's what you're putting in there. That's what fits in there. Like a glove. So, that's what went on there. Now, then they do tests of the spots of blood all over the car and they belong to Brenda. Oh, wild. Steering wheel, skiership, dashboard. Why is she bleeding in his car? I mean, she was driving it for a while. Yeah. But still, there's blood that only seemed to be less than a week old when they got it. So, she shouldn't have been anywhere near that car because he's had possession of it for the last week. So, why is her blood in the fucking car? This is a good piece of evidence, especially with the combined with the camouflage coming out here. But, it's still not enough to know what's going on. It's not arrestable. You can't get a warrant for that. No, no, no. So, February 2005, a couple of months have gone by now. Several searches are conducted, including one where about a hundred volunteers take part in an in-depth acre by acre search of two tracks of land in Lower Florence County. I guess there'd been a tip saying they're possibly a body there. Then three years goes by. What? Three years go by. We haven't even bothered with that rectangular whole thing. She's got a grave dog blood on a steering wheel. And fucking coming away from his car after she was missing wearing camouflage in the night and needing a ride home from a place that had the fuck that she'd get there. So, real head scratcher, it's who knows. But April 3rd, 2008 now, Brenda is arrested, not for murder though. She's arrested for 13 counts of forgery. What's she doing? She was accused of taking two checkbooks from a lake city resident sometime between February and March and using them to spend $5,200. That's a shopping spree. Yep, then May 21st, 2008, she's arrested again, also not for murder. She's arrested and charged with forgery of a value of $5,000 or more. She's accused of cashing checks belonging to someone else without permission at various locations. Again, twice. She's a scam artist. So July 16th, 2009, somebody buys Randy's property, had a tax sale apparently. It owes back taxes, so they auction the property. Marty McDonald, his name, he purchases the property and he's having the trailer removed from the land. It's an old trailer has been sitting there for years and get rid of it. The door's broken. You get the windows busted out. He noticed something under the trailer and he says it was, this is fucking crazy. It's, wow, it's wrapped in a tarp and he said, quote, at first I thought it was a gourd, but then I found out real quick that it wasn't. He thought there was a pumpkin under the unwrapped in a tarp. It's a, it's a head. Oh, it's, that's why it's a fucking head. It's just a head just sitting there. First I thought somebody wrapped up their Halloween again from years ago. Nice big squash or something, you know, I thought, I thought maybe some kids threw some seeds under there and one sprouted. It's sprouted. Hey, look at this. It's a miracle, even in the absence of sun and water. It's still sprouts. It's a miracle. I got me. I was ready to go to church. Yeah. I was ready to go to church that weekend. Thank the Lord. He found a human head. He found a human skull under his, yeah. So holy. He obviously freaked out called the cops, cops come and they find, not only that, they find underneath that in a shallow grave for anywhere from eight to 18 inches deep, not even very far. They find a skeleton clothing and a pair of boots, just a human without the flesh essentially. Wow. And the head was off and wrapped in a tarp separately. So yeah, that was off before that's, yeah, well, that didn't tumble off and wrap itself up separately now. No. So is it Randy? Let's find out. It's under his trailer, a forensic DNA analyst from the North Texas Health Science Center said the bones sent to her office matched Randy. They based on DNA samples from his relatives. Cause of death. Can we find that out? They sent it to the medical University of South Carolina in Charleston and all of those tests are unsuccessful. They are unable to find out a cause of death. It's, I mean, the head was off. The head's off. That's, yeah, part of it. I assume they didn't know that happened afterwards or what? So, but they don't, it's just a skeleton at this point. They don't really have anything to go on. So December, that was, that's 2009, months go by, six months go by almost. On December 7th, 2009 here, Brenda is pulled over and she thinks she's ran a stop sign or something and she's pulled out of the car and arrested for murder instead. Not only murder, but also burying a body without notice, which is hilarious without notice. You have to tell, yeah, you have to, you have to announce.
it because I believe the law on a lot of states I just heard this recently is it's you know not cities but like towns like this a lot of them are basically if you get all your neighbors to okay it you can bury you can have a something in your yard you can bury a relative in your yard or something but you have to like post notice and then yes you have to like someone has to they have the chapter the chance to say no you can't do that basically I believe that in some municipalities that's how it works I don't know about all so that's what she's arrested for she has a bond hearing and this isn't good because listen to the quote the judge said here quote the Bratsky family has been through a long long hard torturous journey to get to this point Randy had a big heart and all these people here have big hearts but in the courtroom looking at this woman our hearts have shrunk to nothing what does that mean she's she's the antithesis of a heart she's just yeah she's a you have no heart for her I guess okay Randy sister Sandra talked after the hearing and said it was very difficult but again I want to thank the Florence County Sheriff's Department the solicitor's office or anybody who had a part in this case we feel that the judge made a good decision today holding her without bond and we're happy with his decision we've had a lot of confidence in the people that are handling this case how it's been four years right oh it's been five years now so once they arrest her how do you have confidence in them um he said we've been doing this for the past five years and we're going to see it through we just want justice for our brother the judge said he wants to bring closure to Randy's family and said I feel so sorry for them they have so many questions for so long and now some of the questions have been answered and we're going to work very very hard to answer the remaining questions they have and bring justice in this case now her son Frankie Frankie who's 23 is also arrested oh what he to he is charged with misprision of a felony which is a legal term that refers to the concealment of a serious crime like a felony by someone who is not an accomplice or the neglect of an official duty by a public official so he knew about it didn't help but knew about it didn't say anything basically that's what that makes so that's I mean that's a accomplice but after the fact in most places right he didn't help with anything he just knew about it so they're they're calling it that and he's released on personal reconnaissance like they don't even hold him um the but the prosecutor or lieutenant with the sheriff's department said we think he knew about the murder and didn't report it there you that's that you would have to right you'd have to you she couldn't have done any all this without help you know what I mean so at some point in here Brenda confesses why at some point she confesses I don't know what they did to cracker but she confesses at some point they have some piece of evidence huh the had to have but the problem is however they got it and this is not detailed in any of the fucking court documents and it really drove me crazy trying to find it somehow her confession is not going to be allowed into trial I don't know if they didn't Mirandaize her properly I don't know if what the details of it are I'd love to know but her confession is not allowed at trial which is a big blow to the prosecution yeah um they get to trial it's a jury of nine men and five women there's two alternate I'm sorry nine women and five men two alternates there 12 and two um her confession can't be used the cornerstone of the state's case became the domestic dispute that happened six weeks before he disappeared the Ozark's bumper incident yeah so the state introduces the 9-1-1 calls Brenda objects to Randy's call being played arguing it violates the confrontation clause of the sixth amendment and was unfairly prejudicial confrontation clause is to confront your accusers yeah so if someone's dead even their voice coming from a thing that can't be cross-examined but they're saying it's a previous thing you can't cross examine a tape anyway you would maybe be able to cross examine Randy about what he said on the tape but it's really not we're letting the tape in you can't kill someone and then say we're not letting the 9-1-1 tape in of you them being scared of you think about that you know that's yeah that doesn't work uh you can't just kill them to oh to shut them up so that's overruled um Brenda's son uh now Brenda's attorney in opening statements implied that her son might have had something to do with Randy's disappearance so sure her lawyer's throwing her son under the bus um then they call him to the stand like he's gonna want to talk to you now and help you he said I invoke my fifth amendment right I do not wish to answer questions what did you do he answered that to every question asked of him every question where does anybody think that looks doesn't matter how it looks legally that it's a preshield doesn't matter how it looks good though no no but it's better than yeah charges perjury charges and you think about when Mark Furman did that in the OJ trial it destroyed the entire case and but he went that's the lesson one less perjury charge I'm gonna get because I got I perjured myself earlier so that's why he did it um no that's one of those cases where if you're on the jury it's proof if you see what the jury saw it's completely understandable why they yeah if I'm sitting on a jury and the guy that found the fucking evidence yeah that they're touting as the biggest piece of evidence and he's asked directly did you fabricate or plant any evidence in this case and he takes the fifth I'm acquitting period right aren't you yes that's it what do we do it and rest everybody rest we're going home it's over it's it yeah the judge even would say well then they're what are we talking about here yeah like that's so uh other brothers I wish Nathan Lane was really ugly Bailey I do too he's so much he's so much fun it's so much fun and that's here we've watched that like 10 times oh he's great looking David Schremmer going juice juice juice juice for 10 parts oh god he sucks he sucks so bad nice and lame like spinning on his heels like pardon what do you say yeah now other Brenda family members testify her nephew testifies Brenda moved in with his mother I guess probably Brenda sister and his father once Randy obtained the restraining order he testified he heard Frankie talking to Randy on the phone the Saturday after Thanksgiving when they were returning from their hunting and fishing trip he estimated the call lasted three to four minutes no phone records can be found of that though unfortunately on crossings because it was years before this on cross examination he indicated he only had met Randy once but had talked to him on the phone before Dennis Matthews another nephew of Brenda testified he saw Randy driving his a susu between three and three thirty PM the Sunday after Thanksgiving oh now Dennis said he'd never met Randy before but had seen him now this contradicts there's yeah tons of strangers who have no horse in this race at all there's no hunter's cop man that's unfamiliar with a guy no saw him definitively and what day that and what day and also years ago cops had seen it there before that so it had not moved impossible it's impossible literally Brenda's uncle William also testified he saw Randy the Sunday at Sunday after Thanksgiving driving the a susu impossible Randy's girlfriend tells about the time when Brenda showed up at their house four days before that whole incident she showed up instead of fun with my husband the cross examination they're like this is wild cross examination of Susan Hill they said did Randy come running inside screaming oh my gosh she's here call the police she's gonna hurt me did you hear any screaming or raised voices outside and she admitted that that you know Randy didn't seem too alarmed by the encounter and said that she didn't hear any arguing they said isn't it true that Brenda approached Randy shined a flashlight in his face and said hmm I wonder how long this has been going on then simply turned around and walked away Susan Hill said she was inside when the encounter took place and couldn't comment on what the hell happened there so I don't know but think about that one flip the fucking flip any of this around yeah guys talking wonder how long this has been going that's terrifying it's the same thing so you can't do that no it's just he's less physically afraid of her if she doesn't have a fucking thumper in her hand probably by the way the prosecutor several times called her manly during this case as well she's not a dainty one she's like five five you know you know hefty or woman not a giant woman or anything like that she's not a big just starting to crap in woman or anything like that you call her manly I don't think manly is the right word for it that's weird so the defense before closing arguments asks for a directed verdict which is when you tell the judge take this out of the jury's hands and call not guilty right now the judge has the right to say not enough evidence has been presented to possibly find this person guilty so I'm dismissing the jury I'm giving a directed verdict of not guilty oh god they can even do that after the jury they a jury can come back with a guilty verdict and a judge can throw that out and say I'm give a directed verdict so they said um they spent this is the defense's case they spent two days talking about the assault and battery with intent to kill case that Brenda hasn't even gone on trial for this has been a trial within a trial the only thing they can establish
is, is that, uh, that's the only thing they can establish. And it looks bad. Um, okay. The judge says, no, we're going to let this go to the jury. Thank you. That is evidence that he was, he was beating him and stalking him four days before, after six weeks after a beating. That's all evidence, uh, in closing arguments here, the prosecutor said that, you know, she, that, uh, Brenda attacked Randy that day because he was about to discover she'd been withdrawing large amounts of money from his bank account, because that's what they found once he was in the hospital. She was a quote, she was about to get caught spending all the money. That assault and battery with intent to kill case was her first attempt to kill Randy. Here's what I think happened. Randy came home that day and before he could get his boots off, before he could let his dog out, Brenda ambushed him. That morning at seven a.m. Yeah. Um, the verdict comes in here. She has found guilty of murder and poor disposal of a corpse or whatever it is. And no, you hear, you hear you know without notice. Yeah. So that's interesting. Now during sentencing, this is when more information comes out, shit that wasn't known during the trial for evidentiary rules. It couldn't be let in. One of those things is the members of the court audience learn that Brenda confessed to the murder at that point. Oh shit. They learn about the confession, but she claimed it was in self-defense. That was her claim. Her claim was she came at, he came at her, or she came at him and she killed him by, you know, self-defense injury. So the confession was suppressed on legal grounds and was never heard by the jury. But just so everybody knows we know she did it. He must have put up a fight and whipped her ass when she took his car. Possibly, you know, what I mean, but it's only a few little drops of blood. She wasn't bleeding that much. Maybe he didn't whip her ass. Maybe he just got her in the nose or something. Maybe you never know, or she cut herself. Maybe she could have stabbed him, cut her hand. I mean anything that happened. So for mitigation, they bring in her son, sisters, family members, uh, two of her sisters spoke of the judge. I spoke to the judge. Her sister, one of them said, Brenda's guilty of a lot of things, the forgery. She's cleaned my bank account out more than once. What? This is, this is some mitigation. This is the lady on her side. I mean, I know she's robbed me blind more than once, but Brenda is not a violent person. Well, we know she is. She beat the man with an Ozark thumper. There's just never even heard of it. There's just no way she did this. Uh, Brenda's older sister expressed sympathy for Randy's family, but said her sisters. No killer. Also, she said, I've never doubted for one minute, my sister's innocence and begged the judge for mercy and leniency and said, until the day I take my last breath, I'll believe in her innocence. That's crazy. Brenda sobbed uncontrollably as her family members spoke, basically to the same thing with that quarry. Richens did, whereas only cried when someone was saying good things about them. When her brother went up and said, how wonderful she was. She had tears touching touching. But when her kids were saying what a piece of shit mother, she was and how they never want to see her again. She was making, she was mugging. She was like rolling her eyes, rolling her eyes, elbowing her attorney. Um, so anyway, Brenda sobbing uncontrollably. They're saying that she might not ever see her elderly mother again and all that. She eventually had to sit down in a chair, a sentence and continued and indicated through her attorney. She could not compose herself enough to address the court. It does hurt. The judge on the other hand is plenty fine to address the court. He can, he can, he's composed and he said, you, ma'am, may fuck off life in prison. I'll address that's going to be without parole, by the way. Yeah. She's also convicted of the burying the body, which she gets a three year sentence for. And she's given credit for time served on that sentence, too. A little bit of time served. Um, Randy sister said, quote, it's indescribable. I couldn't be happier now that it's over. We can go on with our lives. I know Randy smiling down at his little sister. The day we got the call, he had disappeared. I promised him that I'd never give up and I would see this through and I didn't give up. She'd really really given herself some packs there. I did this. Well, she didn't investigate this case. I did this. This is me. I did all of this on the judge of the jury. Yeah. Not the shit on the victim's sister or nothing, but I mean, this is pretty self congratulatory. And I didn't give up. I didn't give up. Randy can rest in peace now and so can we. There's a lot of eyes in there. You're welcome, Randy. Um, she also said we knew she had confessed, but it couldn't be used. That was hard, but we had to have faith in the justice system. Uh, she appeals in 2015. Um, a little bit here, she appeals saying the court should have given her a directed verdict. And they said the court did not err, err in denying her directed verdict motion, unlike in these other precedent cases that we have no time for. Brenda's blood was found somewhere unexpected with no reasonable explanation provided. So that right there is enough to go to the jury. Brenda had not had access to the Azuzu in several weeks. However, the undisputed evidence that was that her blood was found in the car was at most a week old. Brenda's argument that the blood and the steering wheel of the Azuzu was from the argument five weeks earlier is not supported by any evidence or testimony presented at trial and was directly contradicted by the uncontested scientific evidence. She's saying the shit from her thumb gole of no. That's what happened five weeks ago. And they just can't tell the difference between six week old blood and fucking week old blood. Um, so there's that part, um, they said a directed verdict is not required merely because the state cannot conclusively show the defendant was at the crime scene at the relevant time. Also the evidence. Um, Brenda says all the evidence is circumstance or circumstantial, um, including, uh, they said the here's all the evidence there is though. Brendan Randley, Randy fighting violently, Brenda charged with assault, uh, Brenda, uh, getting a restraining order against her that she violated on several occasions, confronting him, uh, and others about his dating Susan hiring a private investigator. His Azuzu found away from the home, small amount of her blood found in it. Uh, Brenda got a ride from a stranger near where the Azuzu wasn't 11 o'clock at right, but she's wearing camouflage for Christ's sake. She was seen at Randy's trailer around the time of his disappearance despite the restraining order and the grave like hole that was dug on Brenda's family's property less than a quarter mile away. She was going to do that and she changed her mind and put him under his own trailer. Just put him under here. Fuck it. Don't put him in the family farm, but didn't fill the grave back in unfortunately. That, that's fucking nuts. Wow. Uh, also she's talking about the, uh, confrontation clause shit. She was going to go back and get him. At some point, but then she couldn't. How is she going to do that? Wow. And then she didn't know the property anymore. Yeah. I think she just put it there and like she's a, any of those thief people, kind of they're like gamblers. Those people who clean out people. Shit. There is no tomorrow. No, it's like a junkie basically. Whatever it is, it's going in my arm today and I'll figure tomorrow out tomorrow. And that's what gamblers do and that's what these thieves do. And that's what she did. I'll put that there. We'll figure that out later. For now, he's away. Good. Got a whole dog. I'll figure out how to get him in it some other time. Um, also the nine one one call thing and they said, you know, you can have somebody from the grave if they've been murdered. That's fine. So affirmed. And there was an episode of snapped about her that aired on December 22nd, 2015, a season eight, or season 16 episode eight. You can see that. Uh, and currently she is at the Graham facility. Whatever that is. Um, she, her ID is 0 0 3 5 0 5 6 9. If you want to look her up there, she, uh, apparently is her projected release date is not eligible. So projects for at least a never life without babe. And she has like shaved her head pretty close down now too. So yeah, uh, manly, maybe you could say, yeah, prosecutor. So there you go, everybody. Yeah. There it is. What a fucking wild case. Is that why I wonder what? Shocked, man. Jesus. Well, at least we know what an Ozark thumper is now. Something came from this. That's good. Shocked. They got her. Um, I know. That's a dude. Then he may have gotten away with it. Possibly. It's crazy shit. So pretty amazing. There you go, everybody. If you enjoyed that, please get on whatever app you're on and give us five stars. It helps so much. Really helps drive the show up the charts. If you're on Netflix, that's thumbs up. Help a lot. So thank you for doing that. You guys are awesome. That do that. Uh, so appreciate all you do for us. 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Podcast Summary
Key Points:
The episode explores the mysterious disappearance and alleged murder of Randy Bratsky in rural South Carolina, centered on a domestic violence incident in 2004 involving his wife, Brenda.
A human skull and skeleton were discovered under a tarp beneath Randy’s trailer in 2009, with DNA matching Randy; however, no cause of death was determined, and the evidence remains inconclusive due to lack of forensic details or a physical body.
Summary:
The episode centers on the unresolved case of Randy Bratsky, a man from a small South Carolina town named Coward, who vanished in 2004 following a violent domestic dispute with his wife, Brenda. The 911 call recordings show a stark conflict: Brenda claims Randy attacked her with a garden hoe, while he alleges she attempted to kill him with a heavy wooden club, the Ozark Thumper, a tool used by truckers. Both report injuries, with Randy suffering severe facial and head trauma, while Brenda only has a minor cut.
Investigators find evidence of a broken thumper, blood traces on a black Azuzu Rodeo SUV, and signs of Brenda’s presence near the vehicle in camouflage—raising suspicion. A large-scale search fails to locate the body, and the case remains unsolved for years. In 2009, a human skull and skeleton are found beneath a trailer, and DNA confirms the remains belong to Randy, but no cause of death is determined.
Brenda is later arrested not for murder, but for forgery, and finally charged with murder and burying a body without notice. Her son, Frankie, is charged with misprision of a felony for failing to report the crime. Despite a confession, it is inadmissible in court due to lack of proper Miranda warnings.
The prosecution relies heavily on the domestic violence incident, but the jury is unable to reach a verdict due to contradictory witness testimonies, lack of physical evidence, and legal challenges. The case remains a haunting mystery, highlighting unresolved trauma, flawed evidence, and the complexity of rural small-town law enforcement. The title "Ozark Thumper" is used humorously to describe Brenda, reflecting the absurdity and irony of the situation.
FAQs
The show is visiting Coward, South Carolina.
There are several theories: it may have been named after Captain Solomon Coward in 1831, Colonel Azbury Coward, a Confederate officer, or John Wilson Coward, a member of the Committee of 50 that petitioned for county incorporation.
On October 21, 2004, both Brenda and Randy make conflicting 911 calls, with Brenda claiming her husband attacked her with a garden hoe and Randy claiming his wife tried to kill him with a club, including a broken Ozark Thumper.
The Ozark Thumper is a heavy wooden club used by truck drivers to check tire pressure. It is significant because it was used in the domestic dispute, and the broken piece found at the scene is linked to the injuries sustained by Randy.
Brenda was arrested for 13 counts of forgery, including using checkbooks to spend $5,200, and later for burying a body without notice, leading to a murder charge in December 2009.
A human skull and skeleton were found wrapped in a tarp and in a shallow grave beneath the trailer, with DNA tests confirming the remains belonged to Randy.
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