Latest / Bless This Mess: A Southern True Crime Podcast / A Little Less Mess: [Georgia] Sam Poss

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A Little Less Mess: [Georgia] Sam Poss · Bless This Mess: A Southern True Crime Podcast

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  Speaker 1: Hey, everyone, welcome to bless This Mess. So the True
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: Crum Podcast. I'm Kara, Just Kara. This is a little
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  Speaker 1: less mess. It's our regular episodes minus all of the
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  Speaker 1: So our normal podcast is recorded with me and my
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  Speaker 1: our case out of Georgia this week. Samuel Christian Pass
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  Speaker 1: was born June twelfth, nineteen eighty eight, and Carrie, North Carolina,
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  Speaker 1: to Chris and Nicole Pause. He had one brother, Logan.
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  Speaker 1: Sam's family relocated to Perry, Georgia, where Sam grow up.
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  Speaker 1: He developed a love of music in middle school and
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  Speaker 1: began playing percussion in the school band. This love would
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  Speaker 1: continue into high school, where he would lead percussion as
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  Speaker 1: the captain of the drum line. He was very involved
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  Speaker 1: with music, even starting to teach himself piano. His parents
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  Speaker 1: divorced while he was in high school. He graduated in
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  Speaker 1: two thousand and six from Perry High School. Sam was
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  Speaker 1: described as a very intelligent kid with almost a photographic memory.
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  Speaker 1: He developed an interest in coding and spent many hours
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  Speaker 1: learning the trade on his own. Outside of the classes
• 2:35
  Speaker 1: that he was taking after he graduated high school. He
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  Speaker 1: was also a very caring guy and would help others
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  Speaker 1: when they needed it. Sam Sam lived with his dad
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  Speaker 1: and his mom lived about thirty minutes away, but he
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  Speaker 1: would become more independent after high school and would crash
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  Speaker 1: with friends, sometimes for days at a time, while still
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  Speaker 1: keeping in contact with his family. On October fourteenth, two
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  Speaker 1: thousand and eight, Sam's father had not heard from Sam
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  Speaker 1: for a day or so. While it was normal for
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  Speaker 1: Sam to stay at friend's house, it was not normal
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  Speaker 1: for them to not hear from him on Saturday evening.
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  Speaker 1: His father was starting to get concerned, but on Sunday
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  Speaker 1: he knew something was wrong. Sam was supposed to meet
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  Speaker 1: his brother and father to go to the county Fair.
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  Speaker 1: Sam would not have missed this event. Sam's family begins
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  Speaker 1: reaching out to his friends and looking into places where
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  Speaker 1: he might be staying, with no luck. The concern grows
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  Speaker 1: that something has happened to him. Sam's father, Chris, was
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  Speaker 1: able to access his computer and looks to see if
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  Speaker 1: there is any clue as to where Sam might be.
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  Speaker 1: He finds an instant message chain where Sam is speaking
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  Speaker 1: to Dakota White. Chris was familiar with Dakota, but he
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  Speaker 1: wasn't a normal friend. Sam hung out with. The message
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  Speaker 1: was Dakota asking Sam to help him with his computer,
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  Speaker 1: and Sam agreed to come over on Friday to assist.
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  Speaker 1: Chris speaks to Dakota and he says the last time
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  Speaker 1: that he saw Sam was early Saturday morning, at one
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  Speaker 1: thirty am. Dakota asked Sam if he wanted to ride,
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  Speaker 1: but Sam declined and said he would walk home. It
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  Speaker 1: was not too far and Sam tended to walk a
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  Speaker 1: lot of places. Dakota and Chris retraced the steps that
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  Speaker 1: Sam might have taken, which would have been through the
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  Speaker 1: woods behind the house, with no luck. Chris contacted the
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  Speaker 1: police that Sunday evening about his missing son. Police arrived
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  Speaker 1: at the Poss home to speak with Chris and he
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  Speaker 1: tells them what he knows and that the last time
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  Speaker 1: that Sam had been seen was around one thirty am,
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  Speaker 1: leaving Dakota's house through the woods barefoot. Now it was
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  Speaker 1: not uncommon for Sam to be barefoot, but police found
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  Speaker 1: it odd and concerning. They speak to Sam's parents together
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  Speaker 1: and asked them about any enemies that Sam might have,
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  Speaker 1: and this is when they tell them about Sam being
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  Speaker 1: arrested by his sixteen year old cousin when he was four.
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  Speaker 1: The parents pressed charges and the cousin was sentenced to
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  Speaker 1: ten years probation in order to stay away from Sam.
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  Speaker 1: Police are wondering if the cousin has a grudge against
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  Speaker 1: Sam for telling on him years ago, because when the
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  Speaker 1: parents did press charges, it tore the family apart. The
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  Speaker 1: cousin was able to give an alibi and that he
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  Speaker 1: was with his parents at the time, and they confirmed this.
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  Speaker 1: With no real leads, the Pause family began getting the
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  Speaker 1: community involved by passing out flyers and getting his face
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  Speaker 1: out in the community. Police continue to retrace the area
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  Speaker 1: where Sam was last seen. They bring in search dogs
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  Speaker 1: as well as helicopters. They also had thirty to forty
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  Speaker 1: volunteers searching the woods. The area they were searching was
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  Speaker 1: a thick wooded area between the houses, and there were
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  Speaker 1: also abandoned buildings in the area. They found nothing during
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  Speaker 1: these searches. They continued to search and start monitoring the
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  Speaker 1: area at night when they see a guy walking around
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  Speaker 1: in the Cordandoff area. The guy was Sam's age. He
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  Speaker 1: said he went to school with Sam and he wanted
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  Speaker 1: to search in the areas that maybe the police were
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  Speaker 1: not aware of his story seemed odd, so they looked
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  Speaker 1: into his whereabouts on that night and he had a
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  Speaker 1: solid alibi. It was another dead end. They continue looking
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  Speaker 1: at theories. Did Sam possibly run off with the fair.
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  Speaker 1: It wasn't a completely new thing for someone to want
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  Speaker 1: a different lifestyle. They are able to track down where
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  Speaker 1: the fair went next, and no one had seen Sam.
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  Speaker 1: It was another dead end. Finally they get some useful information.
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  Speaker 1: An anonymous tip comes in, telling police that he saw
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  Speaker 1: someone at the car wash that night who spent hours
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  Speaker 1: cleaning their car. The caller tells police that the person
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  Speaker 1: cleaning the car was Dakota White, the guy that Sam
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  Speaker 1: was last seen with. They tried to learn a little
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  Speaker 1: more about Dakota. He did not have a stable home life.
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  Speaker 1: His dad was in jail and his mama had addiction problems.
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  Speaker 1: He was living with his grandparents at the time of
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  Speaker 1: Sam's disappearance. His friends knew he had a rough life
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  Speaker 1: and that his grandparents were very strict with him. In
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  Speaker 1: just the weeks prior to Sam going missing, Dakota had
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  Speaker 1: attempted suicide. Police were able to obtain a search warrant
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  Speaker 1: for Dakota's vehicle now that they just need to track
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  Speaker 1: down Dakota. On October ninth, eighteenth, twenty sixteen, Dakota's mom
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  Speaker 1: went over to her sister's house, which would be Dakota's aunt,
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  Speaker 1: and confess that Dakota had confided in her that he
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  Speaker 1: was involved with Sam's disappearance. Dakota's mom had gone back
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  Speaker 1: and forth on whether to turn her son in, and
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  Speaker 1: when she finally came and spoke to her sister, her
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  Speaker 1: sister said they needed to go to the police immediately
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  Speaker 1: and tell them what they know. Police head to the
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  Speaker 1: home and speak to Dakota's family. With the information provided,
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  Speaker 1: they are able to track down Dakota and bring him
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  Speaker 1: in for questioning. Dakota initially seems laid back and relaxed,
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  Speaker 1: but quickly changes his tone and starts to tell detectives
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  Speaker 1: what happened. He starts by saying Sam is not alive.
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  Speaker 1: He says he did kill Sam, but not on his own.
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  Speaker 1: He had an accomplice named Brandon Warren. He tells police
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  Speaker 1: that him and Brandon did not see any purpose to
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  Speaker 1: life and wanted to kill themselves, but they wanted to
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  Speaker 1: kill someone first, they discussed options on who they could kill.
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  Speaker 1: They talked about possibly driving around and finding someone jogging alone,
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  Speaker 1: or doing a home invasion and killing someone. They finally
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  Speaker 1: settled on Sam because they knew he was a nice
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  Speaker 1: guy who would come over and help at a moment's notice.
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  Speaker 1: I find out more about Brandon Warren. He was a
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  Speaker 1: senior in the same high school as Sam. He was
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  Speaker 1: known to be quiet at school, but outside of class
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  Speaker 1: he was very dark and would talk about hurting people
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  Speaker 1: the way his family abused him. Brandon seems like a
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  Speaker 1: ticking time bomb and police need to track him down quickly.
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  Speaker 1: They found him asleep in bed at three a m.
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  Speaker 1: He seemed afraid and timid, not how he portrayed himself
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  Speaker 1: outside of school. Brandon immediately asked for a lawyer. They
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  Speaker 1: continued to press Dakota and he walked through the events
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  Speaker 1: of that night. They picked up Sam that night and
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  Speaker 1: went to their home. Dakota started trying to strangle Sam
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  Speaker 1: with a wire, but the wire broke when Sam began
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  Speaker 1: to struggle. Dakota then put his arm around Sam's neck
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  Speaker 1: and then a plastic bag while Brandon started stabbing Sam.
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  Speaker 1: They panicked once it was over due to the crime scene.
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  Speaker 1: There was blood everywhere. They asked Dakota where Sam's body
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  Speaker 1: was and he said that they dumped him in the
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  Speaker 1: back of Lake Joy Village, down the last street in
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  Speaker 1: that area. There is a creek that runs through there
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  Speaker 1: and it was where people dumped dead animals. He said
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  Speaker 1: that is where they could find Sam. The horror of
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  Speaker 1: the crime was absolutely shocking to investigators from a town
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  Speaker 1: with not a lot of murders. Please press him on
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  Speaker 1: how they came up with this ideal to kill someone,
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  Speaker 1: and Dakota said it all came up in one day.
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  Speaker 1: They asked him about the suicide Pact and what happened
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  Speaker 1: to that part of the plan. Dakota said that after
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  Speaker 1: they killed Sam, it just was never brought up again.
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  Speaker 1: After disposing of Sam's body, they just went their separate
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  Speaker 1: ways and never spoke of it. Please bring up charges
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  Speaker 1: against Brandon and Dakota. And on October twentieth, they go
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  Speaker 1: to the site where Dakota said Sam was disposed of
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  Speaker 1: and were able to recover his body under a tarp
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  Speaker 1: buried in a shallow grape. They were able to recover
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  Speaker 1: all of the weapons used to attack and kill Sam.
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  Speaker 1: They also processed Dakota's car and found blood all on
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  Speaker 1: the cushions of the front seat, and the blood match
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  Speaker 1: to seam. Both Brandon and Dakota were charged with malice, murder,
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  Speaker 1: and concealing a death. In May of twenty eighteen, Dakota
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  Speaker 1: White went on trial and was found guilty. Some believe
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  Speaker 1: that the reason he went on trial rather than making
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  Speaker 1: a plea deal, was for appills purposes. Later on down
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  Speaker 1: the line, the judge had the options of a minimum
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  Speaker 1: of thirty years or the max punishment, which was life
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  Speaker 1: in prison without pearl. The judge went with the latter.
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  Speaker 1: Brandon Warren went on trial a week later and was
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  Speaker 1: found guilty as well. He was sentenced to life without pearol.
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  Speaker 1: They both later appealed their conviction, but it was upheld
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  Speaker 1: by the Georgia Supreme Court in January of twenty twenty.
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  Speaker 1: And that's our case this week out of Georgia. If
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  Speaker 1: you enjoyed this, go check out our other episodes. If
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• 11:03
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  Speaker 1: see you next time. By everyone, don't you know it's
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  Speaker 1: bad to be superstitious by nothing else. It's working and
• 11:21
  Speaker 1: it's reing, it learning and sick. It's worry. I am
• 11:29
  Speaker 1: Michel