I understand that I am a mother and that it is natural that I would want someone to blame for this. But I assure you that I had more than one reason to feel there should have been a more thorough investigation.
Though I knew my son and I knew on day one that this was absolutely not possible as the months went by I had more and more reason to question the conclusion of the investigation.
As mentioned before the police entered through the only ground floor window that lead to a finished room in the basement. The window was actually open though it appeared locked. It was just pulled down to appear that it was secured just as someone might do that was exiting the home and wanted everything to appear normal and secured. Both doors securely locked and dead-bolted and yet the one and only ground floor window - virtually open? The window hidden from view behind large shrubbery. That is the same window the police entered the home through and yet the reason they gave us for saying Brian was the shooter? No sign of forced entry...
It took me ten months to get the police report. I was denied access to it on multiple occasions though it is my right by Georgia law. The report however, showed very little. They charged me nine dollars for 30 pages of what appeared to be about five copies of a few identical pages and on each almost all text was redacted - crossed through in bold black marker. August 24, 2014, when the police left the home after their investigation a short list of what was taken from the scene was left on the coffee table in their home. My son in law brought it to me when he retrieved their computers and cell phones from the house. The item on that list that jumped out at me was: two spent shell casings from a 9mm gun. Two. Three people shot but only two shell casings recovered. That is a very loose end.
Days later the house was professionally cleaned by Serve-Pro and everything gone over with a fine toothed comb. No third shell casing was ever found. There was no carpet in the entire house only hard floors so nothing was going to be lost or camouflaged in carpet and still no third spent shell casing was ever found and I know this because I called the supervisor in charge at Serve-Pro and asked.
If no one was alive to leave the house - how did one get missing? I repeatedly asked that question but never received an answer. Ten months after the tragedy that took the lives of my children I was finally able to get a copy of the report. It contained just a tiny bit more information than we already knew but the main piece of information it contained was that the missing shell casing was noted on that report and it was the shell casing to the bullet that killed Brian...
Not quite three months after my children died my 82 year old neighbor also a long time resident of Paulding County had a heart attack in his driveway. As he fell he hit his head against the bumper of his truck and his poor wife found him when she returned from a ministry meeting later that morning. When the police and emergency crew arrived the police on the scene actually asked her if she thought he had any reason to have harmed himself. Suicide? By throwing himself down on the bumper of his truck? His wife was livid.
Four months after my children were killed - in a county that covers 315 square miles and has a population of 142,763 an 18 year old boy was found shot to death in his car one mile from my son's home. A week later a twelve-year veteran of the sheriff's department and veteran of the military was found shot to death also apparently in the middle of the night along with his wife and twelve year old daughter and 21 year old son - also deemed murder/suicide. This happened about eight miles from my son's home. Three different instances of murder less than 10 miles apart, all within a four month period. Just a coincidence or could it be that there is perhaps just a murderer on the loose in that area.
Another common denominator - Young adult males all around the same age, all in the same geographical area, all could have known some of the same people.
About six weeks after the kids died I hear of an incident told to my daughter in law's mother. I knew Kara was the one that insisted on buying a gun for protection but I had never known why. She says she feared for their safety after an acquaintance of Brian's teenage son came to the door demanding that he send his son out. The boy was angry and cussing and threatening the son. She said, Kara was terrified and called the police to come immediately. At that time Brian, 38 years old had never owned or shot a gun in his entire life. He kept only a baseball bat as protection. He grabbed the baseball bat as the boy tried to push his way in the door to come in after Brian's son. He did not use it of course but held it to discourage the boy from coming in. He told the boy that the police were on the way and he had better leave. The boy turned to leave and as he got almost to his car he turned and screamed back at him "This is NOT over! I will come back here and kill you and your whole damned family!"
They went right out and bought two guns and went to the local firing range to learn to shoot them. According to the police Brian sold his the year before. Kara carried hers in her car.
They moved into the new house shortly thereafter and three years later on August 23 in the middle of the night Brian and his whole family are killed...
Two years prior to this Brian's 16-year old daughter ran away from home and was staying at her boyfriend's house. Brian found out where she was and called the police to come and assist in getting his daughter out of the house and home. They did. At that time, the policemen on the scene warned the boy's mother that she was a minor child and she was interfering with custody and could get in serious trouble for allowing her to stay there. They told the mother if it happened again - she could be arrested. Less than a month later it happened again. A second time Brian called for help to get his daughter home safe and a second time Paulding County came to his rescue. He did not press charges, nor did he want the woman locked up but since she had been officially warned previously the police arrested the boy's mother. The boy was furious cussing and screaming threats at Brian "and included his family" that night also. This I did know about. Paulding County would have also known about it.
The same day that they were all found dead - that same boy was arrested for the first time ever. And he has been in and out of jail almost constantly since that day...
This is on record.
Paulding County helped Brian get an emergency custody hearing before a judge when his son was put out of the car and left on the side of a deserted road at 16 by his mother.
At 14 his daughter also chose to come to live with him. Paulding County DFACS came to their home on several occasions to do home welfare visits when he and Kara had called them so that he could get temporary custody in order to be able to enroll her in school.
They noted on the incident report from the day they were found that there had never been a call to that home for any sort of domestic violence and Brian had been a resident of Paulding County since he bought his first home there at 21 years old. The only calls they had ever had were from him concerning the safety and protection of his children.
He had never laid a hand on any woman ever. He could hardly even put his children on restriction. He had never been in any kind of trouble in his life and had nothing more serious than a minor traffic violation in 41 years.
In the officers own words - "The house was immaculate and nothing appeared to be out of place. It looked as if they had all put on pajamas and just gone to bed."
Just saying that there appears to me to be at least cause for reasonable doubt.
Friday, April 26, 2019
Monday, April 22, 2019
So Many Things...
Still haunt me. Here we are almost five years later and the ripple effects of this tragedy are still appearing. The sum total of all of it are still today continuing to destroy my family and likely will as long as we all live.
The split second decision to deem this murder/suicide --made by the investigating officers of The Paulding County Sheriff's Department in the middle of a gruesome and horrific crime scene was decided based solely on the personal opinions of the officers on call that day. Circumstantial evidence that would never fly under any other circumstances. Loose ends that were never addressed. Hard evidence that was ignored. Forensic evidence that was never collected. Not one ounce of proof was given to us. Not one ounce of proof was ever found. And no one cared. They were the police. We argued. We begged. We pestered. To no avail. They had the only say in it. It was their job but they chose not to do it. They assumed it wasn't important. He was dead. He couldn't dispute it and they didn't have to follow standard protocol. Brian wasn't important. We, his family weren't important. The fallout they left with that decision has ruined to the point of no return, our entire family. "This" this horrific and unimaginable loss would have been alone, enough to destroy us but that along with this horrific, biased and blatant injustice - has pretty much finished us off.
I have given them the benefit of the doubt which is far beyond what they ever gave Brian. I can imagine the horror that they all walked into that day. I know it was awful. It was mind-boggling. It was devastating. It was a scene that would have caused many of them nightmares for years to come. And I can absolutely understand how they could have come to that opinion early on. Forty one year old man, beautiful, younger woman, two year old child all shot to death and the only one that was not in his bed was Brian. I am not blind. I can certainly see that the devastating scene would be enough to make you angry and make you want to jump to the obvious conclusion; call it like you see it and get out of there as quickly as possible. I get it. I do.
What I have a problem with is the fact that had he been alive, standing there holding the smoking gun things would have been far different. He would have been read rights - because he would have rights. He would have had the right to an attorney to defend him. He would have been allowed a trial by jury. He would have had the chance to enter a plea and tell his side of the story. They would have done a complete and thorough investigation albeit in the attempt to prove his guilt not his innocence. But my point is they would have had to prove it; something they didn't feel necessary since he was also dead and couldn't defend himself. They would have held interviews to get to know him and what he was like. They would have talked people on his job, long time friends, neighbors close by, they would have interviewed his family and come to know him through the people that knew him.
Had he been alive to deny it regardless of what they saw when they arrived - they would have had to follow up on the open ground floor window and check for shoe prints, finger prints, evidence of tampering with the lock. They would have searched for any and all of the physical evidence on the scene, carefully logged it and sent it to the state crime lab for analysis. They would have dusted for fingerprints. They would have checked his and her computers, phone records, email trails, text messages they would have searched extensively for hard evidence of a motive. They would have made certain they had all of the spent shell casings and done a ballistics test on the gun and those shell casings. Perhaps they would have had an expert to analyze the blood spatter, a forensic expert to check the gun powder residue or the blood on his clothes to see if it matched the victims blood. Had they found drugs in the home - he would have had a toxicology test immediately and all drugs would have been carefully logged and become evidence in the case.
These are only fair. These alone are the puzzle pieces that create the picture. These are the protocol of our justice system. If they were going to accuse him of a crime as serious as murder - they would have to have hard evidence --even if they walk in and find a suspect standing over the body and holding the gun. It may be their educated opinion that he did it but that would not hold up in court. While our justice system is not foolproof and it is certainly not perfect, in the vast majority of cases, it is fair and it works. All I ever asked for; all I ever expected --was just the same investigation they would have given anyone - basically that they just do their jobs and not let our lives be totally destroyed based on their clearly and maybe even justifiably, biased opinions.
I am now and have always been aware of the fact that this - none of this - would ever make sense. I understood fully that I may never know the why behind any of this and that I would likely never find "closure". But I never asked the Sheriff's office to guarantee me "closure". I only wanted Brian to have a fair trial even if their evidence had shown the exact same outcome. No, it would not have brought them back, it would not have made losing my children any easier, it would not have brought me or my family a happy ending. And I never thought it could. But it would have given us the truth to the best of their abilities. Truth we could see. Truth that would have provided some proof to us. It would have given me the ability to sleep at night knowing I had done all I could in my power to see to it that he was given the benefit of the doubt in a fair and complete investigation. I may have not spent the last four and a half years angry as I personally obsessed over all of the evidence that pointed to someone else being in that house that night. Perhaps I would not have been constantly running everyone he ever knew past a "perk" test for motives and to see who fit the criteria and who did not; placing them all on my personal list of suspects, turning it over and over in my mind and grieving over all of the evidence that was right there and could have helped in a fair determination but knowing that it can now never prove or disprove anything because it was destroyed without ever having been considered. I could have perhaps by now been able to find peace, sleep at night, enjoy holidays again, have hope and find the will to live. Perhaps I would still have the security I once had in law enforcement and believe again in our justice system. Perhaps my entire family would not have been totally destroyed by the lingering anger over the unfairness and injustice that plagues every one of us now and regrets we will all live with forever.
Had he lived and they needed to actually prove his guilt - things would have been very, very different and that is not right. When the truth was never pursued it was an insult and an injustice to all of them. Because he was not living he did not matter. And because we were related to him, we did not matter so none of us were allowed to question or dispute their personal opinion. And because of that the memory and legacy of the best father I ever knew, along with the rest of our entire family was destroyed. Of the irreparable damage that was inflicted on us August 24th 2014 only part of it was caused by the loss and our loss was multiplied ten times by the injustice caused by The County Sheriff's Department that day-- The very ones hired to "Protect and Serve".
If it could happen to anyone it could happen to everyone.
The split second decision to deem this murder/suicide --made by the investigating officers of The Paulding County Sheriff's Department in the middle of a gruesome and horrific crime scene was decided based solely on the personal opinions of the officers on call that day. Circumstantial evidence that would never fly under any other circumstances. Loose ends that were never addressed. Hard evidence that was ignored. Forensic evidence that was never collected. Not one ounce of proof was given to us. Not one ounce of proof was ever found. And no one cared. They were the police. We argued. We begged. We pestered. To no avail. They had the only say in it. It was their job but they chose not to do it. They assumed it wasn't important. He was dead. He couldn't dispute it and they didn't have to follow standard protocol. Brian wasn't important. We, his family weren't important. The fallout they left with that decision has ruined to the point of no return, our entire family. "This" this horrific and unimaginable loss would have been alone, enough to destroy us but that along with this horrific, biased and blatant injustice - has pretty much finished us off.
I have given them the benefit of the doubt which is far beyond what they ever gave Brian. I can imagine the horror that they all walked into that day. I know it was awful. It was mind-boggling. It was devastating. It was a scene that would have caused many of them nightmares for years to come. And I can absolutely understand how they could have come to that opinion early on. Forty one year old man, beautiful, younger woman, two year old child all shot to death and the only one that was not in his bed was Brian. I am not blind. I can certainly see that the devastating scene would be enough to make you angry and make you want to jump to the obvious conclusion; call it like you see it and get out of there as quickly as possible. I get it. I do.
What I have a problem with is the fact that had he been alive, standing there holding the smoking gun things would have been far different. He would have been read rights - because he would have rights. He would have had the right to an attorney to defend him. He would have been allowed a trial by jury. He would have had the chance to enter a plea and tell his side of the story. They would have done a complete and thorough investigation albeit in the attempt to prove his guilt not his innocence. But my point is they would have had to prove it; something they didn't feel necessary since he was also dead and couldn't defend himself. They would have held interviews to get to know him and what he was like. They would have talked people on his job, long time friends, neighbors close by, they would have interviewed his family and come to know him through the people that knew him.
Had he been alive to deny it regardless of what they saw when they arrived - they would have had to follow up on the open ground floor window and check for shoe prints, finger prints, evidence of tampering with the lock. They would have searched for any and all of the physical evidence on the scene, carefully logged it and sent it to the state crime lab for analysis. They would have dusted for fingerprints. They would have checked his and her computers, phone records, email trails, text messages they would have searched extensively for hard evidence of a motive. They would have made certain they had all of the spent shell casings and done a ballistics test on the gun and those shell casings. Perhaps they would have had an expert to analyze the blood spatter, a forensic expert to check the gun powder residue or the blood on his clothes to see if it matched the victims blood. Had they found drugs in the home - he would have had a toxicology test immediately and all drugs would have been carefully logged and become evidence in the case.
These are only fair. These alone are the puzzle pieces that create the picture. These are the protocol of our justice system. If they were going to accuse him of a crime as serious as murder - they would have to have hard evidence --even if they walk in and find a suspect standing over the body and holding the gun. It may be their educated opinion that he did it but that would not hold up in court. While our justice system is not foolproof and it is certainly not perfect, in the vast majority of cases, it is fair and it works. All I ever asked for; all I ever expected --was just the same investigation they would have given anyone - basically that they just do their jobs and not let our lives be totally destroyed based on their clearly and maybe even justifiably, biased opinions.
I am now and have always been aware of the fact that this - none of this - would ever make sense. I understood fully that I may never know the why behind any of this and that I would likely never find "closure". But I never asked the Sheriff's office to guarantee me "closure". I only wanted Brian to have a fair trial even if their evidence had shown the exact same outcome. No, it would not have brought them back, it would not have made losing my children any easier, it would not have brought me or my family a happy ending. And I never thought it could. But it would have given us the truth to the best of their abilities. Truth we could see. Truth that would have provided some proof to us. It would have given me the ability to sleep at night knowing I had done all I could in my power to see to it that he was given the benefit of the doubt in a fair and complete investigation. I may have not spent the last four and a half years angry as I personally obsessed over all of the evidence that pointed to someone else being in that house that night. Perhaps I would not have been constantly running everyone he ever knew past a "perk" test for motives and to see who fit the criteria and who did not; placing them all on my personal list of suspects, turning it over and over in my mind and grieving over all of the evidence that was right there and could have helped in a fair determination but knowing that it can now never prove or disprove anything because it was destroyed without ever having been considered. I could have perhaps by now been able to find peace, sleep at night, enjoy holidays again, have hope and find the will to live. Perhaps I would still have the security I once had in law enforcement and believe again in our justice system. Perhaps my entire family would not have been totally destroyed by the lingering anger over the unfairness and injustice that plagues every one of us now and regrets we will all live with forever.
Had he lived and they needed to actually prove his guilt - things would have been very, very different and that is not right. When the truth was never pursued it was an insult and an injustice to all of them. Because he was not living he did not matter. And because we were related to him, we did not matter so none of us were allowed to question or dispute their personal opinion. And because of that the memory and legacy of the best father I ever knew, along with the rest of our entire family was destroyed. Of the irreparable damage that was inflicted on us August 24th 2014 only part of it was caused by the loss and our loss was multiplied ten times by the injustice caused by The County Sheriff's Department that day-- The very ones hired to "Protect and Serve".
If it could happen to anyone it could happen to everyone.
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