Latest / NO FILTER / He Wanted to be More Than Cousins_ The Murder of Zion Foster [True Crime Documentary]

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He Wanted to be More Than Cousins_ The Murder of Zion Foster [True Crime Documentary] · NO FILTER

• 0:02
  Speaker 1: The last message that seventeen year old Zion Foster sent
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: before she disappeared stated that she was on her way home.
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: The teenager told her mother and boyfriend that she was
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: going out that night with her favorite cousin, something that
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: she did at least twice a month. But when her
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: mother sought him out for help finding her the next day,
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: the cousin delivered some surprising news that he had not
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: seen or spoken to.
• 0:29
  Speaker 2: Zion.
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: He said in years, Hi there, I'm Kevin, and welcome
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: to Just Thought Lounge. Today we're taking a look at
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: a missing person's turned murder case. It's a story about
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: a family and disturbing revelations about who you can trust.
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: Let's take a look. Mother of six, Sierra Milton awoke
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: on the fifth of January twenty twenty two to find
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: that her eldest, Zion Foster, had not returned home the
• 1:12
  Speaker 1: night before. Zion was a twelfth grader at East Detroit
• 1:16
  Speaker 1: High School. She had only just celebrated her seventeenth birthday
• 1:20
  Speaker 1: in November. Like most teenagers, Zion had experienced a rebellious streak.
• 1:26
  Speaker 1: She had threatened to run away from home, and had
• 1:28
  Speaker 1: even done so the year before. Twice. Sixteen years old
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: and frustrated with her mother's rules, she had run to
• 1:36
  Speaker 1: her grandmother's house convinced her return home. She remained for
• 1:40
  Speaker 1: only a few days before leaving again, that time causing
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: enough concern for Sierra to call the police, but it
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: was another false alarm. The teenager was struggling with her
• 1:52
  Speaker 1: granny's recent cancer diagnosis as well as her own desire
• 1:55
  Speaker 1: for independence. That January morning was different. Zion had completed
• 2:02
  Speaker 1: her serving shift at the Detroit wing company the night before.
• 2:06
  Speaker 1: She had asked permission to leave the house after returning
• 2:09
  Speaker 1: home from work. The teenager was honest about who she
• 2:12
  Speaker 1: would be spending time with, her favorite cousin, Jalen. Under
• 2:17
  Speaker 1: these conditions, Sierra agreed and watched Zion walk out the door.
• 2:22
  Speaker 1: That was shortly before eleven PM. The next day, the
• 2:27
  Speaker 1: seventeen year old's boyfriend, fellow high schooler, Vertez Gonzalez, messaged
• 2:32
  Speaker 1: Sierra had she heard from Zion, because he could no
• 2:36
  Speaker 1: longer reach her. The last text message that he received
• 2:39
  Speaker 1: was at twelve fifty nine am. It read O m
• 2:43
  Speaker 1: W meaning on my way. But Zion didn't make it home.
• 2:48
  Speaker 1: Calls to her phone went straight to voicemail. Messages sent
• 2:51
  Speaker 1: throughout the night were not being received. Finally, at eight
• 2:55
  Speaker 1: fifty three am, he wrote to her, are you alive,
• 3:00
  Speaker 1: followed by this is the worst thing ever. Adding to
• 3:05
  Speaker 1: the distress over Zion's absence was the response Sierra received
• 3:09
  Speaker 1: from her cousin, Jayleen Brazier. Despite what her daughter had
• 3:13
  Speaker 1: told her, Jalen responded that he had not been with
• 3:16
  Speaker 1: Zion the night before. Hiaked Sierra exactly how often had
• 3:21
  Speaker 1: Zion claimed that she was spending time with him? Once
• 3:24
  Speaker 1: or twice a month? She said? He messaged her back
• 3:28
  Speaker 1: in frustration. Zion's lies about him were sneaky as hell
• 3:33
  Speaker 1: and not safe, he said, But why lie about spending
• 3:37
  Speaker 1: time at his house? He suggested that she was likely
• 3:40
  Speaker 1: spending time with someone who lived near to him. Zion
• 3:44
  Speaker 1: shared location tracking on her phone with boyfriend Vertes. This
• 3:48
  Speaker 1: tracking had placed her just across the street from Jalen's
• 3:51
  Speaker 1: home at eleven twenty four pm the night before. Fortes,
• 3:56
  Speaker 1: admittedly a bit insecure in their relationship, had to make
• 4:00
  Speaker 1: in a screenshot of his girlfriend's location at exactly that time.
• 4:05
  Speaker 1: Jalen suggested that perhaps Zion was using him as a
• 4:08
  Speaker 1: cover story when she was in fact at a neighbor's house.
• 4:11
  Speaker 1: She must know someone else on the street or nearby.
• 4:15
  Speaker 1: Jalen helpfully suggested that Sierra go to the police, but
• 4:19
  Speaker 1: he requested to be kept out of it. Vertes was
• 4:23
  Speaker 1: not as easily persuaded. He inundated Jalen with messages. He
• 4:27
  Speaker 1: confronted the twenty three year old with a screenshot from
• 4:30
  Speaker 1: his phone. In response, Jalen sent back a video of
• 4:34
  Speaker 1: his ring camera system. There were no entries showing Zion
• 4:38
  Speaker 1: at the house. He said she was never there. East
• 4:45
  Speaker 1: Point police were not inclined to take Sierra's missing persons
• 4:48
  Speaker 1: report with any sense of urgency. Her daughter had a
• 4:52
  Speaker 1: history of being a runaway. According to the distressed mother,
• 4:56
  Speaker 1: officers at the station did not mince words.
• 5:00
  Speaker 3: The person that's over and now specifically say it to
• 5:03
  Speaker 3: us that I mean, I'm gonna be honest with you.
• 5:07
  Speaker 3: We're taken as as she's a runaway.
• 5:09
  Speaker 1: Receiving little support from law enforcement, she took matters into
• 5:13
  Speaker 1: her own hands. With the assistance of family and friends.
• 5:16
  Speaker 1: A search effort for Zion was launched. In the following days.
• 5:20
  Speaker 1: They posted flyers, held rallies, and spoke to the media.
• 5:24
  Speaker 3: You need your eyes. The police need your help, as Sray,
• 5:30
  Speaker 3: we need your help.
• 5:33
  Speaker 1: In the meantime, officers were eventually sent out to speak
• 5:36
  Speaker 1: with Jalen Brazier. Jalen, Zion's self professed favorite cousin, was
• 5:41
  Speaker 1: in fact first cousins with her former stepfather. That is,
• 5:46
  Speaker 1: he was cousins with Sierra's ex husband at twenty three,
• 5:52
  Speaker 1: he was a father to two young children, and he
• 5:54
  Speaker 1: had a long term partner, Katrina. Sierra believed that her
• 5:58
  Speaker 1: daughter and Jalen had always been and remained close. According
• 6:03
  Speaker 1: to Jalen, they hadn't spoken in years. They found him
• 6:08
  Speaker 1: at home with girlfriend Katrina Smith.
• 6:14
  Speaker 2: Mister Brosier, what's her name? Man? Okay, do you guys
• 6:22
  Speaker 2: know Zion?
• 6:22
  Speaker 4: Yes?
• 6:24
  Speaker 1: So, Jaylen invited the officers in to look around the house.
• 6:29
  Speaker 1: He told them that he had last seen his cousin
• 6:32
  Speaker 1: nearly a year before, in May twenty twenty one. Jayleen
• 6:48
  Speaker 1: continued to explain that it was Zion's mother and her
• 6:51
  Speaker 1: boyfriend that seemed fixated on the idea that she had
• 6:54
  Speaker 1: been with him that night. He had offered to show
• 6:58
  Speaker 1: his ring camera footage to Sierra as well. When she
• 7:01
  Speaker 1: took a look at it. The mother thought that there
• 7:03
  Speaker 1: were gaps in entries for footage for the night of
• 7:06
  Speaker 1: January fourth, which had obviously been deleted.
• 7:15
  Speaker 2: Was she was never heard out later.
• 7:20
  Speaker 1: She never heard. East Point police found nothing suspicious in
• 7:29
  Speaker 1: the search of the house. There were no indications that
• 7:32
  Speaker 1: Zion had been there. They listened while Jalen explained his
• 7:36
  Speaker 1: frustrations over being pulled into the drama caused by a
• 7:39
  Speaker 1: seventeen year old cousin with whom he rarely spends any time.
• 7:47
  Speaker 5: Watson heard her work when we came back on the
• 7:49
  Speaker 5: gas just basic. Girl was never in my house. Every
• 7:58
  Speaker 5: time she got some dudes house moms just playing a
• 8:04
  Speaker 5: certain way. It's making me so fucking uncomfortable. She y,
• 8:08
  Speaker 5: I would assume you guys would know that, not saying
• 8:11
  Speaker 5: another her jobs assumed she would tell you the dam.
• 8:13
  Speaker 2: Information the rest of your night.
• 8:22
  Speaker 1: Jalen may have been fooling the East Point police at
• 8:24
  Speaker 1: this stage, but not Sierra Milton. She did indeed watch
• 8:29
  Speaker 1: to see who her daughter left with from the house,
• 8:32
  Speaker 1: and she often greeted it Jalen herself in the drive
• 8:35
  Speaker 1: when he came by to collect her. She knew he
• 8:39
  Speaker 1: was lying.
• 8:40
  Speaker 3: He told me he hadn't seen or been in contact
• 8:43
  Speaker 3: with her for three years, which is impossible when you
• 8:47
  Speaker 3: were in my driveway and gave me a hug.
• 8:53
  Speaker 1: Perhaps the easiest way to verify if Zion had been
• 8:56
  Speaker 1: across the street from her cousin's house, as her location
• 8:59
  Speaker 1: data ested, was to check the neighbor's door bell cameras.
• 9:03
  Speaker 1: At about eleven fifteen PM on January fourth, a white
• 9:07
  Speaker 1: sedan the Card known to be driven by Jalen Brazier,
• 9:11
  Speaker 1: was captured pulling into his drive. Emerging from the vehicle
• 9:15
  Speaker 1: were two individuals clearly seen walking into the house, one
• 9:19
  Speaker 1: male and one female. Jalen had driven Katrina to work
• 9:24
  Speaker 1: at just before eleven PM that night. She was on
• 9:27
  Speaker 1: the midnight shift at a manufacturing job. The shift spanned
• 9:31
  Speaker 1: from eleven PM to six am. The second individual who
• 9:35
  Speaker 1: entered the house at eleven fifteen could not have been Katrina.
• 9:40
  Speaker 1: Full location data would later confirm the two individuals captured
• 9:44
  Speaker 1: entering the home Jalen Brazier and Zion Foster. The camera
• 9:51
  Speaker 1: did not show Zion leaving. At one am. The same
• 9:57
  Speaker 1: camera from across the street captured Jalen pulling his car
• 10:00
  Speaker 1: out of the drive and then backing it in the trunk,
• 10:04
  Speaker 1: then faced the backyard. After a few minutes, the car
• 10:09
  Speaker 1: drove off. It returned to the house less than ten
• 10:12
  Speaker 1: minutes later. Search words were obtained for the house and
• 10:16
  Speaker 1: the car inside the house, the search was fruitless. The
• 10:21
  Speaker 1: contents of the car were carefully itemized and examined, but
• 10:24
  Speaker 1: there was no clear evidence indicating what had happened to Zion,
• 10:29
  Speaker 1: that is until law enforcement brought in the cadaver dogs.
• 10:33
  Speaker 1: The dogs clearly indicated at the trunk of Jalen's car.
• 10:40
  Speaker 1: On January nineteenth, the twenty three year old, accompanied by
• 10:44
  Speaker 1: a friend who was a lawyer, voluntarily sat down with detectives.
• 10:49
  Speaker 1: It was clear that he had lied about being with
• 10:51
  Speaker 1: Zion on the night that she disappeared. Jalen came forward
• 10:55
  Speaker 1: to offer what he claimed was a truthful version of
• 10:58
  Speaker 1: events from that night. He had picked up Zion from
• 11:02
  Speaker 1: her home and brought her back to his place. He
• 11:05
  Speaker 1: put his two children, boys aged one in two years old,
• 11:08
  Speaker 1: to bed, then joined Zion downstairs in the living room.
• 11:14
  Speaker 6: You guys, make sure we read you were well. You
• 11:16
  Speaker 6: guys start smoking.
• 11:17
  Speaker 2: You're just watching to be just chilling.
• 11:18
  Speaker 7: Yeah, she's telling me about how her mom, their relationships, love.
• 11:23
  Speaker 2: Hevery than was the last time she talked.
• 11:24
  Speaker 7: To us, and I got her boyfriend from the job
• 11:29
  Speaker 7: and everything, and how she worn't one getting an apartment
• 11:31
  Speaker 7: and everything.
• 11:33
  Speaker 1: Jalen said. They smoked some marijuana, which appeared to make
• 11:36
  Speaker 1: Zion very sleepy. He saw her head tilt back as
• 11:40
  Speaker 1: though she intended to take a nap while sitting upright
• 11:43
  Speaker 1: on the couch. At that point, he went into the
• 11:46
  Speaker 1: other room to pour himself a drink.
• 11:49
  Speaker 6: You guys are just chilling, and that's all of a sudden,
• 11:51
  Speaker 6: she just blanks.
• 11:52
  Speaker 2: Out with that.
• 11:53
  Speaker 7: Not when I got up to go give me something
• 11:56
  Speaker 7: to drink. Yeah, I came back and she's saying she
• 11:58
  Speaker 7: was tireder thanks. She later had back, So okay, as
• 12:00
  Speaker 7: you go to sleep for a bit whenever took her
• 12:02
  Speaker 7: and then love. Fifteen to twenty minutes.
• 12:04
  Speaker 2: After that, I was like, okay, are you good? You're
• 12:05
  Speaker 2: ready to go home, and she wasn't responding.
• 12:07
  Speaker 1: Hearing Jalen reported that Zion's pulse was faint. Then he
• 12:14
  Speaker 1: described her heartbeat as non existent. His young cousin had
• 12:19
  Speaker 1: simply died on his couch, he said. Instead of contacting
• 12:23
  Speaker 1: nine to one one. He panicked, not knowing how she died.
• 12:27
  Speaker 1: He thought it would appear as though he had killed her.
• 12:31
  Speaker 7: He was being very very faint. Air breathing was like
• 12:34
  Speaker 7: non existing, a little bit of advent.
• 12:42
  Speaker 2: Oh, I smoked.
• 12:43
  Speaker 7: All yeah, it was we in normal marijuana.
• 12:46
  Speaker 2: So I freak out. Okay, well this looks terrible, it
• 12:49
  Speaker 2: looks very bad. I didn't know what to do, so
• 12:51
  Speaker 2: I took her. I heard towatchup.
• 12:54
  Speaker 7: And heard, and I took her to Highland Park.
• 13:02
  Speaker 2: And put her inside of the chest can. And the.
• 13:11
  Speaker 1: Detectives queried how Jalen knew that Zion was dead. According
• 13:15
  Speaker 1: to his story, the seventeen year old had inexplicably, very
• 13:20
  Speaker 1: abruptly stopped breathing.
• 13:23
  Speaker 2: Headstack on the couch. She still live at death one,
• 13:26
  Speaker 2: he should.
• 13:26
  Speaker 6: Probably just high or whatever, you know, you know, lead
• 13:30
  Speaker 6: And then you said, shaking her. She doesn't wake up.
• 13:33
  Speaker 6: You checked her policy set and you can see she's
• 13:35
  Speaker 6: not breathing, nothing like that. So at that point, what
• 13:37
  Speaker 6: are you doing freaking out? Okay, so you're freaking out,
• 13:41
  Speaker 6: And this whole time, he bet.
• 13:42
  Speaker 2: Holes at that point that we thought she's definitely dead. Yeah, okay,
• 13:45
  Speaker 2: well was she dead?
• 13:47
  Speaker 8: Do you think she's did at that point or does
• 13:49
  Speaker 8: she still just have.
• 13:50
  Speaker 7: Big breathing And if it wasn't anything, there was nothing
• 13:52
  Speaker 7: at that point that okay.
• 13:53
  Speaker 2: Do you know the difference between did and the live
• 13:55
  Speaker 2: right was not.
• 14:00
  Speaker 7: She wasn't breathing, So I assumed that stand of arty
• 14:03
  Speaker 7: was like I couldn't read art, you couldn't still army
• 14:06
  Speaker 7: or anything, so I would say she was that death
• 14:10
  Speaker 7: o her.
• 14:12
  Speaker 9: I want to have you show us, and I don't
• 14:16
  Speaker 9: want to mistake it, and I want to obviously get
• 14:18
  Speaker 9: out there and see if she's still there, then we
• 14:21
  Speaker 9: need to recover and if not, we need to.
• 14:23
  Speaker 8: Do the steps to locate where she's at.
• 14:25
  Speaker 9: Okay, Okay, you're okay with that.
• 14:26
  Speaker 1: Abu Jalen led detectives to the dumpsters in Highland Park
• 14:32
  Speaker 1: where he claimed to have left Zion's body weeks before.
• 14:36
  Speaker 1: Jalen told detectives that Zion had been at his home
• 14:39
  Speaker 1: for roughly two hours before she died. This would have
• 14:42
  Speaker 1: placed her time of death at just past one am.
• 14:46
  Speaker 1: Cell Phone records showed her device drop off the network
• 14:49
  Speaker 1: at one fifteen am, corresponding to the time that she
• 14:52
  Speaker 1: stopped responding to messages from vertes. Jalen told detectives that
• 14:57
  Speaker 1: he had not deleted any data from his device since
• 15:00
  Speaker 1: the night of Zion's death. They found, however, that he
• 15:04
  Speaker 1: had conducted a full factory reset of his phone just
• 15:07
  Speaker 1: two days later, effectively wiping everything held on his device. Nonetheless,
• 15:14
  Speaker 1: the movements of his phone could be pieced together. This
• 15:17
  Speaker 1: data placed Jalen at the dumpsters at Highland Park at
• 15:21
  Speaker 1: one forty eight am. He claimed to have placed her
• 15:25
  Speaker 1: in the dumpster to the right. There was no longer
• 15:28
  Speaker 1: any sign of her there.
• 15:45
  Speaker 2: Yes, yes, yes, say.
• 16:02
  Speaker 3: Delivered as you pulled forward, So you okay.
• 16:11
  Speaker 10: He said that my baby just died, and then that
• 16:21
  Speaker 10: he threw her in a dumpster like she was trash.
• 16:35
  Speaker 1: When Jalen sat down for a follow up interview the
• 16:38
  Speaker 1: next day, January twentieth, inconsistencies began to emerge in his story.
• 16:44
  Speaker 1: He now claimed that the two had taken acid that night.
• 16:47
  Speaker 1: It was her response to the psychedelics that must have
• 16:50
  Speaker 1: caused her heart to stop. Of course, this explanation was
• 16:53
  Speaker 1: about as likely as his previous assertion that the marijuana
• 16:57
  Speaker 1: had caused her death. The detective have attempted to leverage
• 17:01
  Speaker 1: these new claims to compel a confession. Perhaps Jalen would
• 17:05
  Speaker 1: use the drugs as an excuse for his actions, for
• 17:08
  Speaker 1: whatever steps he took to kill his younger cousin was
• 17:13
  Speaker 1: trying the psychedelics acid and.
• 17:18
  Speaker 8: Okay, I think that's what killed her. Did you have
• 17:24
  Speaker 8: like a fricking momentary, like didn't know what you were
• 17:27
  Speaker 8: doing moment?
• 17:29
  Speaker 2: She also she's an attact herself.
• 17:33
  Speaker 8: Let me ask you this the problem that those drugs
• 17:36
  Speaker 8: are when you're on you don't know what you're doing.
• 17:38
  Speaker 8: I mean, that's the reason people take him, right, Did
• 17:42
  Speaker 8: you do something when you were I mean, because again
• 17:44
  Speaker 8: I'm trying to figure this out, and it would make
• 17:46
  Speaker 8: complete sense when you dropped the acid? Did you have
• 17:50
  Speaker 8: you know, again, I'm not saying it's okay, but I also.
• 17:54
  Speaker 11: Coolly comforted agree.
• 17:58
  Speaker 2: I just think I don't know an effect for her
• 18:04
  Speaker 2: positive order.
• 18:07
  Speaker 3: It had.
• 18:08
  Speaker 2: It does a lot to make your brain and.
• 18:10
  Speaker 8: Yeah, it does a lot of I'm going to tell
• 18:12
  Speaker 8: you right now. It makes sense to me.
• 18:16
  Speaker 2: Now it all makes.
• 18:17
  Speaker 8: Sense to me. Understand that right because I'm sitting here
• 18:20
  Speaker 8: trying to figure out how this funny young guy Jay
• 18:23
  Speaker 8: could ever hurt anybody. But it makes sense to me, Now,
• 18:30
  Speaker 8: it's not you, it's not Jay. At that point, you
• 18:32
  Speaker 8: understand that, right if you did something under the influence
• 18:36
  Speaker 8: that I need to know.
• 18:37
  Speaker 2: That because that's a big.
• 18:39
  Speaker 8: Difference, and I can understand that that I can appreciate.
• 18:44
  Speaker 1: The detective failed to elicit a confession. Without this admission
• 18:48
  Speaker 1: and without locating Zion, there was not enough evidence to
• 18:51
  Speaker 1: proceed with an indictment for murder. Jalen was placed under
• 18:56
  Speaker 1: arrest and held in custody for one count of lying
• 19:00
  Speaker 1: to police.
• 19:02
  Speaker 7: He made the police actively deceiving them on the whereabouts
• 19:06
  Speaker 7: of Zion Foster the health and safety of Zion Foster
• 19:10
  Speaker 7: in his interaction with her.
• 19:11
  Speaker 1: In June of that year, Jalen spoke with detectives again,
• 19:15
  Speaker 1: this time only the audio was recorded. At that time,
• 19:19
  Speaker 1: he changed his story once more. Jalen recanted his claim
• 19:23
  Speaker 1: that the two had taken acid that night. That part
• 19:27
  Speaker 1: was not true. Other smaller details of the story changed
• 19:30
  Speaker 1: as well. He no longer described Zion as passed out
• 19:34
  Speaker 1: on the couch, now she was on the floor. He
• 19:37
  Speaker 1: said that he had felt pressured by police to offer
• 19:40
  Speaker 1: more information, so he made up a more elaborate story
• 19:43
  Speaker 1: to appease them.
• 19:47
  Speaker 11: Well, I love that al the l yeah were bulk
• 19:51
  Speaker 11: to hit her LSD and.
• 19:53
  Speaker 2: He wants to hit her?
• 20:00
  Speaker 10: Is he.
• 20:02
  Speaker 2: Telling a bullshit?
• 20:08
  Speaker 1: Before garbage collection trucks working Highland Park were tracked to
• 20:15
  Speaker 1: specified areas in local landfills. The task of sorting through
• 20:19
  Speaker 1: mounds of trash from all over the Detroit area and
• 20:22
  Speaker 1: compiled over several weeks was a daunting undertaking. An estimated
• 20:28
  Speaker 1: eight week project was launched. Dozens of volunteers, mostly wearing
• 20:32
  Speaker 1: masks and hazmat suits and assisted by heavy machinery, picked
• 20:36
  Speaker 1: through layer after layer of the landfill, systematically looking for
• 20:41
  Speaker 1: any sign of zion.
• 20:45
  Speaker 12: We expect phase one to take approximately two weeks. But
• 20:50
  Speaker 12: we're doing what's right for the right reasons that we're
• 20:51
  Speaker 12: going to do everything we possibly can uh to to
• 20:55
  Speaker 12: bring some some degree of closure. Will never be complete closure,
• 20:59
  Speaker 12: but some degree of clothes your injustice to this family.
• 21:02
  Speaker 1: Meanwhile, Jalen Brazier faced up to four years in prison
• 21:05
  Speaker 1: for the lies he had told police. The Detroit Police
• 21:09
  Speaker 1: Department the DPD, assisted by the FBI, continued to seek
• 21:14
  Speaker 1: a warrant for murder. Jalen pled his case to the
• 21:17
  Speaker 1: judge at his sentencing.
• 21:20
  Speaker 2: One.
• 21:22
  Speaker 13: I did turn myself fain. Yes, I lie, but I
• 21:24
  Speaker 13: was not in the right state of mind. There is
• 21:28
  Speaker 13: no way for me to prepare for a situation like that.
• 21:31
  Speaker 2: I was scared.
• 21:32
  Speaker 13: I don't know exactly how she passed, what caused her
• 21:35
  Speaker 13: to pass. I just know one minute she was cool,
• 21:39
  Speaker 13: she was fine, she laid back.
• 21:40
  Speaker 2: For a minute.
• 21:40
  Speaker 13: Next to next thing, I know she's she was dead.
• 21:43
  Speaker 13: I don't know what caused it. I did not cause
• 21:45
  Speaker 13: it or anything like that. I reacted stupidly off of
• 21:49
  Speaker 13: fear and panic like I've never felt before in my life.
• 21:52
  Speaker 7: Literally, you think she disposed to buy.
• 22:00
  Speaker 2: Just like that, that was your choice.
• 22:04
  Speaker 13: Did not know what to do. I sat for at
• 22:05
  Speaker 13: least ten minutes sitting there, like what do I do?
• 22:08
  Speaker 13: What do I call? My kids are upstairs. We just
• 22:12
  Speaker 13: got into his place after struggling for like two years
• 22:14
  Speaker 13: to get it, and everything is falling down.
• 22:17
  Speaker 7: Oh, I have any conversation in this, And.
• 22:25
  Speaker 4: I wish I could take it back. I would have
• 22:27
  Speaker 4: called the ambulance, called her mom because her mom is
• 22:29
  Speaker 4: so sweet. Her mom is so sweet. New I wish
• 22:38
  Speaker 4: I could take it back.
• 22:40
  Speaker 13: Nobody'd be in a situation at the very least they
• 22:43
  Speaker 13: had been to be like, okay, this happened, confirm this
• 22:46
  Speaker 13: and everybody got some sore peace, right now, you know.
• 22:52
  Speaker 1: Jalen Brazier was sentenced to twenty three months in prison.
• 23:00
  Speaker 1: Phone calls home to girlfriend Katrina and other family members
• 23:03
  Speaker 1: were monitored closely while he was in custody. Occasionally, he
• 23:07
  Speaker 1: would use another inmates calling code to make his phone
• 23:10
  Speaker 1: calls in a failed attempt to keep his conversations private.
• 23:14
  Speaker 1: He was also in possession of a prohibited cell phone,
• 23:18
  Speaker 1: which he used to exchange thousands of messages with Katrina. Repeatedly,
• 23:23
  Speaker 1: in his calls, Jalen would ask if anything major happened.
• 23:28
  Speaker 1: This seemed to be a poorly concealed attempt to ask
• 23:30
  Speaker 1: whether the massive search of the landfill had located anything
• 23:34
  Speaker 1: or anyone.
• 23:37
  Speaker 11: There the most the most pathological and positable one right
• 23:44
  Speaker 11: that there ain't nothing major, Nothing matures.
• 23:46
  Speaker 2: New to today. There is a lad.
• 23:51
  Speaker 11: Effort tod and that's that's baic of Lass, who.
• 24:07
  Speaker 2: Keep go ahead, I.
• 24:16
  Speaker 11: Know, don't you know what you see here?
• 24:18
  Speaker 1: For years, Jalen's concerns over the search for Zion were
• 24:24
  Speaker 1: telling if his story was truthful and she had died
• 24:27
  Speaker 1: abruptly from an unknown and nonviolent cause. Then there would
• 24:32
  Speaker 1: be every reason for him to want her found. Finding
• 24:35
  Speaker 1: Zion would exonerate him. The quicker the better. Wishing her
• 24:39
  Speaker 1: to be found should also be the sentiment of a
• 24:42
  Speaker 1: loving cousin. Curiously, over and over again, he expressed his
• 24:47
  Speaker 1: relief that no major developments had occurred in the search.
• 24:52
  Speaker 1: As the final days of the landfill project drew near,
• 24:55
  Speaker 1: he referred to it as a search for COVID.
• 25:00
  Speaker 11: It is relaxed, today, has diverse tomorrow's day the coda,
• 25:10
  Speaker 11: how searching for COVID deficient.
• 25:21
  Speaker 2: Update.
• 25:21
  Speaker 1: Before that, Jalen served just over nine months before being
• 25:29
  Speaker 1: granted early release. He had been placed in a special
• 25:33
  Speaker 1: ninety day incarceration program. This boot camp is designed like
• 25:37
  Speaker 1: a military program in which inmates convicted of certain crimes
• 25:41
  Speaker 1: can better themselves while inside, and in turn they are
• 25:45
  Speaker 1: rewarded with early release. It had been nearly a year
• 25:51
  Speaker 1: and Zion had not been found, an indictment for murder
• 25:55
  Speaker 1: had not been sought, and now the prime suspect returned
• 25:59
  Speaker 1: to his home and his family.
• 26:02
  Speaker 10: Why is this man free? What I can admit to
• 26:10
  Speaker 10: this and still be let free?
• 26:14
  Speaker 1: Jalen Brazier's freedom was short lived. On the thirteenth of
• 26:17
  Speaker 1: June twenty twenty three, after a year and a half investigation,
• 26:22
  Speaker 1: the DPD were finally granted a warrant for arrests.
• 26:28
  Speaker 4: Your licensing all there?
• 26:30
  Speaker 2: Yeah forgure who you are the own your license?
• 26:32
  Speaker 14: Then you know?
• 26:32
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I got.
• 26:35
  Speaker 1: The twenty four year old would face charges of second
• 26:37
  Speaker 1: degree murder as well as tampering with evidence. Upon his
• 26:42
  Speaker 1: arrest for Zion's murder, two additional cell phones were taken.
• 26:46
  Speaker 1: Despite the factory reset that he performed on his device,
• 26:50
  Speaker 1: investigators were able to retrieve some of the activity his
• 26:53
  Speaker 1: search history had been held in cloud storage. On January seventh,
• 26:58
  Speaker 1: three days after dumping his cousin's body in a dumpster,
• 27:02
  Speaker 1: Jalen performed a handful of Google searches. Are garbage trucks
• 27:06
  Speaker 1: also compactors? What is the force of a garbage truck compactor?
• 27:11
  Speaker 1: How do police get your phone history? And how do
• 27:14
  Speaker 1: you know if police are watching you? In addition to
• 27:18
  Speaker 1: these incriminating searches, investigators found that in the months before
• 27:23
  Speaker 1: the incident, Jalen had performed a number of disturbingly suggestive
• 27:27
  Speaker 1: searches for pornographic content containing the words cousin and step cousin.
• 27:34
  Speaker 1: Experts were able to retrieve the video results of these searches,
• 27:39
  Speaker 1: some of which were reportedly very violent as well as
• 27:42
  Speaker 1: graphic in nature. As the case approached trial, a preliminary
• 27:50
  Speaker 1: hearing offered more insight into the additional evidence that had
• 27:53
  Speaker 1: emerged since Jalen's release. This hearing also may have offered
• 27:58
  Speaker 1: Jalen's defense team a new theory. At the hearing, Vertes
• 28:02
  Speaker 1: Gonzalez testified that he believed his girlfriend was taking regular
• 28:07
  Speaker 1: medication for epilepsy. He told the court that Zion told
• 28:11
  Speaker 1: him that she had seizures and that without her medication,
• 28:15
  Speaker 1: they became more frequent and severe. In one instance, Vertes
• 28:20
  Speaker 1: saw Zion become momentarily faint, slouching forward before regaining her
• 28:26
  Speaker 1: composure after just a few seconds. This episode, he believed
• 28:31
  Speaker 1: could have been a seizure.
• 28:34
  Speaker 15: Have you ever seen her have a season?
• 28:37
  Speaker 7: I think so, yes, And while she was.
• 28:42
  Speaker 15: Having a seizure, explains you, you would have.
• 28:46
  Speaker 7: I mean just like like a little pastot, quick, a little.
• 28:52
  Speaker 2: Seed at the mouth or not.
• 28:56
  Speaker 7: Okay, she was shaken enough, Okay, she just passed out.
• 29:00
  Speaker 2: You just look quick, sending the see like you mention.
• 29:05
  Speaker 1: Sierra Milton, whose youngest child was in fact diagnosed with
• 29:09
  Speaker 1: such a condition, testified that this was not the case.
• 29:14
  Speaker 1: Zion had never suffered a seizure. Hundreds of pages of
• 29:18
  Speaker 1: medical records covering years of treatment appeared to support Sierra's assertion. Nonetheless,
• 29:24
  Speaker 1: Jalen Brazier's version of events was now being presented in
• 29:28
  Speaker 1: a new light. Perhaps Zion's condition led to her death
• 29:32
  Speaker 1: suddenly in his living room. Maybe she had a seizure.
• 29:40
  Speaker 2: Now there are only.
• 29:41
  Speaker 14: Two people who can say exactly what happened inside of
• 29:45
  Speaker 14: the house that night. One of them is Zion, and
• 29:48
  Speaker 14: she is gone. The other is the defendant. And you
• 29:51
  Speaker 14: will hear that nearly every time he spoke about what happened,
• 29:56
  Speaker 14: his story changed. And although he he got rid of
• 30:00
  Speaker 14: Zion's body, he will see that he left behind a
• 30:04
  Speaker 14: trail of digital evidence that is damning and will show
• 30:09
  Speaker 14: you that the circumstances all lead to one and only
• 30:12
  Speaker 14: one explanation for why Zion left his house and trunk
• 30:16
  Speaker 14: his car that night, and that's because.
• 30:17
  Speaker 2: He murdered her.
• 30:22
  Speaker 15: She also had a history of seizure and taking seizure medications. Now,
• 30:27
  Speaker 15: on this particular day, she came over to Jamon's house.
• 30:33
  Speaker 15: They were smoking. Jamb told the police after some time
• 30:40
  Speaker 15: that she had shallow breathing and a faint heartbeat. He
• 30:47
  Speaker 15: checked her to see if she was alive, and she
• 30:49
  Speaker 15: was dead. He didn't fear because he was doing drugs,
• 30:54
  Speaker 15: which is still federally illegal, that he could be blamed
• 30:57
  Speaker 15: for something in pain.
• 31:01
  Speaker 1: Zion's phone disconnected from the network at one fifteen a m.
• 31:05
  Speaker 1: The same night that she disappeared, and was then lost
• 31:08
  Speaker 1: with her, but the teenager's previous cell phone was safe
• 31:12
  Speaker 1: at home. Sierra Milton handed this device over to police.
• 31:17
  Speaker 1: On it, they found months of correspondence between her and
• 31:21
  Speaker 1: her favorite cousin. The messages he sent ranged from subtle
• 31:25
  Speaker 1: and unsettling to deeply inappropriate. At times, the messages were
• 31:30
  Speaker 1: sexually explicit. Over four thousand distinct texts were retrieved from
• 31:35
  Speaker 1: Zion's old device. In them, Jalen routinely invited her over
• 31:40
  Speaker 1: to his home while his girlfriend was away. He offered
• 31:43
  Speaker 1: to put her up in his basement if she ran
• 31:45
  Speaker 1: away from home. He also advised her on how she
• 31:48
  Speaker 1: might evade police if she ran away. Once more, Wayne
• 31:52
  Speaker 1: County Assistant Prosecutor Ryan Elsie described the texts as pervasive,
• 31:58
  Speaker 1: at times complimentary of her intelligence and looks, at other
• 32:02
  Speaker 1: times probing in an immature way. For example, he suggested
• 32:07
  Speaker 1: to her that other people thought that they were a couple.
• 32:10
  Speaker 1: He said, Katrina, the mother of his children, was jealous
• 32:13
  Speaker 1: of her. Isn't that crazy? Did that make sense to her?
• 32:18
  Speaker 1: He then bragged to Zion about how easily he could
• 32:21
  Speaker 1: get with women. At one point, he called himself a god.
• 32:25
  Speaker 1: Prosecutor Elsie concluded by telling the jury that the twenty
• 32:29
  Speaker 1: three year old had been grooming his younger cousin for years,
• 32:34
  Speaker 1: that he fantasized about her, and that on January fourth,
• 32:37
  Speaker 1: he must have acted on his impulses. This was the
• 32:41
  Speaker 1: twisted motive that led to her death. Jurors heard about
• 32:47
  Speaker 1: how Jalen learned that Katrina was pregnant with their third
• 32:50
  Speaker 1: child on the day that he brought Zion to his house.
• 32:54
  Speaker 1: Messages between the couple showed how he had lied to
• 32:56
  Speaker 1: her about what he was doing after he dropped her
• 32:59
  Speaker 1: off at work earlier that day. Her nausea and hot
• 33:03
  Speaker 1: spells had led to a trip to the emergency room
• 33:06
  Speaker 1: hours later. The nausea resumed, She messaged repeatedly that she
• 33:10
  Speaker 1: felt too ill to remain at work and asked him
• 33:13
  Speaker 1: to pick her up. At one twenty five am, she wrote,
• 33:17
  Speaker 1: I think I need to come home. At one twenty
• 33:20
  Speaker 1: six I don't feel good. A few minutes later, my
• 33:24
  Speaker 1: stomach hurts, I feel sick and keep getting hot and cold.
• 33:28
  Speaker 1: Jalen's response was simply, you can make it, baby. He
• 33:32
  Speaker 1: did finally pick her up that night at nearly three am.
• 33:36
  Speaker 1: When he did so, she noticed a deep scratch across
• 33:39
  Speaker 1: his collarbone. He told her that the cat had scratched
• 33:42
  Speaker 1: him deep enough to draw blood. Odd Katrida thought the
• 33:47
  Speaker 1: cat had never scratched that deep before. The trial lasted
• 33:52
  Speaker 1: two full weeks. In May twenty twenty four. Jalen chose
• 33:56
  Speaker 1: not to testify. The state called thirty two witness. The
• 34:00
  Speaker 1: defense did not call any. The case against Jalen was
• 34:05
  Speaker 1: largely circumstantial, though it was nonetheless compelling. A forensic anthropologist
• 34:11
  Speaker 1: who reviewed Zion's medical history determined that the only condition
• 34:15
  Speaker 1: that she suffered that could possibly have led to her
• 34:18
  Speaker 1: death was asthma, though an asthma attack would present as
• 34:22
  Speaker 1: the exact opposite of what her cousin described, instead of
• 34:27
  Speaker 1: quietly passing out and experiencing a faint heartbeat, Zion would
• 34:31
  Speaker 1: have been struggling to breathe. It would have been very
• 34:34
  Speaker 1: clear that she was in distress. For Tes repeated his
• 34:39
  Speaker 1: testimony that Zion had told him that she suffered from seizures.
• 34:42
  Speaker 1: He also admitted that his girlfriend was known to fib
• 34:46
  Speaker 1: quite a bit. It seems that Zion had liked to tell.
• 34:50
  Speaker 14: Stories when he brought her to his house late at
• 34:56
  Speaker 14: night on January fourth of twenty twenty two, behind the
• 35:01
  Speaker 14: back of his pregnant girlfriend, who was at work at
• 35:05
  Speaker 14: the time. He brought Zion over to his house late
• 35:09
  Speaker 14: that night, and she leaves that house in the trunk
• 35:13
  Speaker 14: of his car on a night where he has an
• 35:16
  Speaker 14: unexplained gash on his collarbone. What do you think happened
• 35:20
  Speaker 14: inside that house that night? She died of COVID. She
• 35:23
  Speaker 14: died of a seizure. There's a claim that.
• 35:30
  Speaker 4: He did all this.
• 35:31
  Speaker 2: He did what he did because.
• 35:35
  Speaker 14: He was afraid of getting caught for marijuana, afraid of
• 35:38
  Speaker 14: getting busted for pots.
• 35:41
  Speaker 2: You can use your common sense.
• 35:42
  Speaker 14: If you go to a marijuana dispensary, there's not going
• 35:46
  Speaker 14: to be a team of ATF agents waiting to bust
• 35:49
  Speaker 14: you and take you to federal prison for that. It's
• 35:52
  Speaker 14: about the equivalent of a parking ticket. You ever heard
• 35:55
  Speaker 14: of somebody getting rid of a body avoid a parking ticket?
• 36:01
  Speaker 15: Bertas himself said Zion told him specifically she had a
• 36:07
  Speaker 15: history of seizures. The question was asked, were you concerned
• 36:12
  Speaker 15: when you saw this? No, I was not concerned because
• 36:15
  Speaker 15: I knew of a history of seizures she told me
• 36:18
  Speaker 15: about and that she was on medication for it. And
• 36:22
  Speaker 15: his understanding is that if she did not take the medication,
• 36:26
  Speaker 15: the seizures would be that much worse.
• 36:31
  Speaker 1: Sierra Milton and the rest of Zion's family waited as
• 36:34
  Speaker 1: the jury went into deliberations, Just.
• 36:38
  Speaker 3: So many inconsistencies that again, hopefully you know the endpoint
• 36:44
  Speaker 3: of this is that they will see those inconsistencies, see
• 36:47
  Speaker 3: through the lies and see the truth that he murdered
• 36:50
  Speaker 3: my daughter and he disposed of her with absolute disregard
• 36:56
  Speaker 3: for her life.
• 36:58
  Speaker 1: The jury returned in only thirty minutes.
• 37:02
  Speaker 4: One.
• 37:03
  Speaker 2: How do you find it guilty? It's guilty, ladies, and jenthain,
• 37:12
  Speaker 2: raise your right hand.
• 37:15
  Speaker 1: Jalen Brazier maintained his innocence of the murder at his
• 37:18
  Speaker 1: sentence and hearing.
• 37:23
  Speaker 7: That the pictures already a course have that it is
• 37:29
  Speaker 7: what it is.
• 37:31
  Speaker 2: But Zion was not in any way Why that wasn't
• 37:34
  Speaker 2: hurt at all. And they said that I never wanted
• 37:37
  Speaker 2: to apologize. I never tried to apologize. That's not true.
• 37:41
  Speaker 2: What I say is I know that my apology is
• 37:43
  Speaker 2: working up and we can't change her.
• 37:44
  Speaker 4: But what I gave.
• 37:47
  Speaker 1: Before announcing his decision on the length of term that
• 37:50
  Speaker 1: Jalen would serve, Judge Donald's nap outlined the convict's failure
• 37:54
  Speaker 1: to accept any responsibility for the murder, for his disposal
• 37:58
  Speaker 1: of Zion's body, for lying to police, and for causing
• 38:01
  Speaker 1: so many delays in the investigation through his lies. The
• 38:06
  Speaker 1: father had left his two young children alone in the house,
• 38:09
  Speaker 1: He manipulated and allied to family, and ultimately he acted alone.
• 38:15
  Speaker 1: It was unlikely, according to Judge Knapp, that he would
• 38:18
  Speaker 1: ever be rehabilitated. Jalen Brasier was sentenced to thirty to
• 38:23
  Speaker 1: ninety years in prison for the murder and another five
• 38:26
  Speaker 1: to ten years for tampering with evidence. These terms are
• 38:30
  Speaker 1: to be served consecutively.
• 38:33
  Speaker 10: My body was trembling.
• 38:35
  Speaker 16: But man, when it was read.
• 38:39
  Speaker 3: And it was just so matter of fact, I'm so
• 38:42
  Speaker 3: happy they saw she was loved, She is loved, she was.
• 38:47
  Speaker 4: Fought for and this is the result.
• 38:51
  Speaker 10: So I'm happy.
• 38:53
  Speaker 3: I'm happy that in the end.
• 38:56
  Speaker 2: This is justice.
• 38:58
  Speaker 16: And for Jayleen, you a smart, you tied, you slick
• 39:04
  Speaker 16: when people saw you for as you are, and I
• 39:11
  Speaker 16: hope you never get out.
• 39:15
  Speaker 1: Zion Foster's body has never been recovered. Over seventy volunteers
• 39:19
  Speaker 1: and law enforcement searched the landfill for nearly six months
• 39:23
  Speaker 1: before finally admitting defeat. As of the publication of this video,
• 39:29
  Speaker 1: Jalen remains at an intake facility in Wayne County awaiting
• 39:33
  Speaker 1: his placement in a general population prison. Thank you for
• 39:43
  Speaker 1: joining me to take a look at this tragic case.
• 39:46
  Speaker 1: A special thank you to Beck's in Wonderland for becoming
• 39:49
  Speaker 1: the latest member of the Members Lounge. I'm Kevin. This
• 39:54
  Speaker 1: is just fought Lounge, and I'll see in the next one.
• 40:00
  Speaker 2: When the scene plays, tell me who the scream saves.
• 40:02
  Speaker 4: I can hear the crimes repeat.
• 40:04
  Speaker 15: Gotta take my time because these crimes get deep, but
• 40:06
  Speaker 15: these stories can't hide.
• 40:07
  Speaker 12: Let me find my seat Kevin, go ahead and settle in.
• 40:09
  Speaker 15: Gotta be selective, doing all the research, keeping it objective,
• 40:13
  Speaker 15: always being effective.
• 40:14
  Speaker 4: Can say he got a neck pick of the litter.
• 40:16
  Speaker 1: You see how Newton got his back.
• 40:17
  Speaker 4: Yeah, the content that you need is could be a
• 40:19
  Speaker 4: new sign.
• 40:20
  Speaker 2: We're talking in the comments that doing it like that.