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The Murder of Mickey Bryan Part 2: The Famous Clifton Rumor Mill · Gone Cold - Texas True Crime

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The Gone Cold. Podcasts may contain violent or graphic subject matter. Listener discretion
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is advised. After October fifteenth, nineteen eighty five, the residents of Clifton,
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Texas had become overwhelmed by fear, stricken by a paranoia that inevitably came
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with the murder of one of their own and the realization that senseless homicide isn't
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limited to the big city. It was the same reaction that can be heard
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in virtually any small town true crime story. Folks who'd once left their doors
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unlocked were checking them twice at night to make sure they were and for extra
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peace of mind. Pistols and shotguns had made their way closer to where they
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slept, now in the bedside table's drawer or leaning up against the headboard.
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At the sound of anything suspicious outside in the dark of night, citizens cracked
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their curtains ever so slightly, using the barrel of their firearm to get a
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peak where there was once virtually no police presence. As far as routine patrols,
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the city of Clifton assigned officers to patrol twenty four hours a day,
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seven days a week, in the early morning hours from around midnight to five,
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the department dedicated two officers and cruisers to patrol the streets. Before the
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arrest of Mickey's husband, Joe for her murder, the pressure was on the
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Clifton Police and Texas Ranger Joe Wiley to make an arrest. They'd questioned a
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crew of concrete workers who had been working at a house near the Brian home.
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Nothing. Just days before the murder, a peeping tom was seen by
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a teenaged girl at her bedroom window. No solid leads came of it.
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They searched exhaustively for a transient who'd been reported in the area, and even
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deployed a helicopter to find him or a sign of him. Again, thing
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leeds and evidence, at least before Mickey's brother, Charlie Blue and his ex
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FBI friend Bud Saunders came to town, were not forthcoming. The public wasn't
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happy, and the pressure grew more intense by the hour. Even if the
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nineteen eighty four Boski County murders of thirteen year old Helen Kilgore and another nineteen
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year old female had slipped the minds of area folks, most who struggled to
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recall the last time such a thing happened in the actual city of Clifton.
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Another killing that occurred in nineteen eighty five, just a few months before the
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murder of forty four year old elementary school teacher Mickey Bryan, was still fresh
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on their minds. Judy Lou Whitley was born on June twenty eighth, nineteen
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sixty seven, in Pine Bluff, Arkansas, to parents Don and Barbara.
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She grew up with her two sisters and a brother. Judy was a normal
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girl, shy, friendly, and perhaps about as well behaved as most.
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She liked to read, goof off, and spend time around animals, namely
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her cat. At Clifton High School, Judy played in the band and mostly
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stayed out of trouble and at home. In the summer of nineteen eighty five,
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it wasn't much different, But on Wednesday, June nineteenth, nineteen eighty
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five, everything changed. That day, which began as routine as any other.
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Patricia Whitley lovingly teased her sister Judy on her way out to work,
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There's always that thing one sibling discovers that annoys the other, and upon that
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discovery, they use it frequently. For Judy. It was when Patricia got
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mushy with her. It drove her crazy. By Judy, I love you,
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Patricia said as she passed her sister on the porch. Kisses, Kisses,
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she continued. Judy was visibly annoyed. Patricia continued on her way.
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Not long after, at about eleven thirty am, Judy Whitley left her home
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to get a coke at a convenience store Hilltop Grocery on Highway to nineteen,
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about five blocks away. The fact that Judy stayed gone for a few hours
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was unusual, but it was summertime and she was seventeen years old, so
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at first not a whole lot was thought about it. By the time four
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thirty pm rolled around, however, it became evident something was off. The
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Whitleys called the Clifton Police, who began preparing for a search right away.
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First, a beyond the lookout was issued, which appears to have done little
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good. Early the following morning, Thursday, June twentieth, patrol officers began
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contacting Judy's friends, none of whom had anything to report. By nine am,
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police were going door to door in the neighborhood and beyond, carrying a
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photograph of Judy to show residents. As the morning went on, a search
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party was formed, and throughout the day it grew to include police cadets and
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reserves, folks from the Clifton Volunteer Fire Department, and even National Guard reservists.
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The effort lasted for several hours until at approximately six fifteen pm, seventeen
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year old Judy Whitley's body was found in a heavily wooded cedar thicket on Clifton's
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west side, about fifty yards south of Highway two nineteen and Hilltop Grocery and
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just to the southwest of Goodall Witcher Hospital. The teenager had been bound at
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the wrists. Gray duct tape covered her mouth, Her body was left mostly
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unclothed. After an autopsy, it was determined that Dy died by suffocation and
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was sexually assaulted. The residents of Clifton were shocked and horrified, and the
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Whitley family began to fall apart. Clifton Police Chief Rob Brennand wasted no time
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making a public plea asking for anyone who'd seen Judy the day she disappeared,
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or any suspicious vehicles in that area to come forward with what they knew.
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Numerous rumors the newest in what the local newspaper referred to as the famous Clifton
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rumor Mill were being taken into consideration and being followed up on brennand said,
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but a suspect had not been identified. Both the police chief and the mayor
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would later outright and vehemently deny there was any truth whatsoever to the town talk.
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But regardless of those denials, the rumors are vital to the story of
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Judy Whitley's case. A police car had been impounded and searched, the rumors
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alleged, and upon the execution of those actions objects used in the commission of
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the murder were found. Evidence. The rumors went on to claim that a
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Clifton policeman had been arrested and jailed. The idle and unfounded rumor Mayor camp
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Westley authoritatively insisted, is completely and totally false. It has hindered the investigation,
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he continued, but often there's a sliver of truth to a rumor either
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way. At this particular time, the investigation into Judy's murder was going nowhere.
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Another rumor would set off a chain of events that only strengthened at least
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aspects of the first A diary the victim's friends told police, in which Judy
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kept a detailed account of her day to day life, might be found in
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her grandmother, Bessie Hardy's house just for good measure, perhaps, Clifton detectives
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first searched the home where Judy lived with her parents on South Avenue H.
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They found no diary. Police regrouped and planned to search Judy's grandmother's house a
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few streets over early on the morning the search was to take place. At
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around one a m. On Thursday, July eleventh, nineteen eighty five,
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a loud explosion shook the houses surrounding three O two South Avenue P and rattled
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the windows of homes throughout Clifton. Virtually no one in the city slept through
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the reverberating boom. The home that exploded belonged to Bessie Hardy, the grandmother
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of seventeen year old murder victim Judy Whitley. Twenty one firefighters, many of
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whom had helped search for Judy, battled the unruly blaze for forty five minutes
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before they finally subdued the flames. Ash, soot, and twisted metal were
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all that remained the home was decimated. Volunteer firefighter Joe White total Clifton Record
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reporter the explosion was apparently caused by an accumulation of gas, though they'd called
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in state arson investigators to make an official determination since the house was connected to
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a local murder investigation. If Judy Whitley's diary was in her grandmother's home,
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it wasn't any more. Her sister, Patricia insisted Judy never kept a diary,
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that the book was nothing but a rumor. She was always reading,
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Patricia recalled, but never did much more than doudal hearts around the name of
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a current crush in margins or on scrap paper. Fortunately, Bessie Hardy was
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away from her home when it exploded. The Judy Whitley murder investigation went cold
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when Clifton Elementary School teacher Mickey Brian was murdered in the bedroom of her home,
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and while still holding the memory of Judy Whitley's murder fresh in their minds,
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area residents were in disbelief. Add to that, the arrest of Mickey's
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husband, Joe Brian, eight days after she was killed, a beloved community
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member and principal at Clifton High and the whole thing seemed like a bad dream
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they couldn't wake up from. Joe pleaded not guilty at an arraignment later on
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the night of his arrest, and was released after posting a fifty thousand dollars
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bond. Clifton Police Chief Rob Brennand described Joe's arrest as a bad shock to
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the community, but assured readers of the local newspaper that the evidence they had
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is strong at that shock will eventually wear off. The lawman was also confident
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in the Judy Whitley case, telling a reporter that they had a good suspect
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for that murder for the first time. The individual, Brennand said, was
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currently in jail and the lead wouldn't be investigated for another two weeks due to
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what he vaguely called circumstances beyond the department's control. He wouldn't specify in which
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jail the suspect was being held. There were a lot of first times going
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around. After his arrest. Joe Bryan was put on paid leave for the
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first time ever in his career, which, between that, the scrutiny of
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his life in general, and the grief he felt had the man keeping his
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head down back at his mother's house in Elmmott, about forty two miles away
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from the home in Clifton he once shared with Mickey. Joe was aimless,
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lost without the regimen of the ski school day and extracurricular activities of his students.
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In the beginning, Joe felt the support of his community. Many folks
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were calling the Clifton Police chief with their objections to his arrest. There was
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no way on earth, they told Brennand that it could have been Joe.
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But as time crept forward, the famous Clifton rumor mill did its thing.
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Now people were talking about Joe frequenting New Orleans gay bars and having romantic relationships
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with male students. No such male student ever materialized. The other big rumor
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completely contradicted those Joe, some whispers went had raped and killed seventeen year old
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Judy Whitley, a student at the school he headed, and when Mickey found
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out, she too had to be silenced. The fact that Judy's body was
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found less than a mile away from the Brian home only added to the baseless
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conjecture. The rumors were classic, brazenly sensational in their claims, but brittle
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when met with facts and evidence, it was confirmed. Joe and Mickey Bryan
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both were away in Arkansas. The weak Judy was brutally murdered, but it
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didn't matter to folks who'd already made up their minds. The town talk had
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as much to do with fear as anything else, as was obvious by the
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steep rise in gun sales in the small Texas city, but improved neighborhood watches
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and the installation of street lights on several dark roads helped some. Every week,
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Joe traveled to Clifton to check up on the house and mow the grass,
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and his next door neighbors were the only people who greeted him warmly and
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with the same kindness they always had. Most others kept their distance. As
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far as his neighbors were concerned. Joe Bryant was innocent until proven otherwise,
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and proving it to them would not be easy. But he'd lost so much
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more. Losing touch with and the confidence of Mickey's parents, Vera and Otis,
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Joe later said, was the most painful thing, and the hits just
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kept coming. It was soul crushing when he was asked not to come to
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church until the whole thing blew over Joe's pastor of ten years, couldn't even
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be bothered to do it in person. Then came the news from his friend
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and school superintendent Richard Liardin, who, after Texas Ranger Joe Wiley, created
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the gay Killer persona for Joe Brian had been the other half of one of
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the rumors about him. Learden was assigned by the Clifton Independent School District Board
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of Trustees to ask Joe for his resignation. Eventually, citing the best interests
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of his students the precise way to pull at Joe's heartstrings, he agreed to
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resign. In early nineteen eighty six. Joe Bryan had next to nothing left
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when he visited Mickey's grave at Lane's Chapel Memorial Cemetery in Valley Mills. He'd
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talk to her. Had a stranger ever passed by and witnessed Joe kneeling by
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Mickey's headstone, they'd have seen a man broken and alone, and a man
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who'd blamed himself for not being there to stop the murder of the one he
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loved most. He later said. The only other place Joe frequented during this
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period was the office of his attorneys in Waco, Lynn Malone and Charles MacDonald.
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A necessity for the situation he found himself in. He didn't spend any
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time feeling sorry for himself during his preparations for trial. It is said,
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in fact, he was confident, perhaps overly so, that he would win.
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As the Brian's close friend Linda Lierreda put it, Joe was ready to
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get to court, be acquitted, and then focus on who really killed Mickey.
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In November nineteen eighty five, Mickey's brother Charlie Blue, hired a special
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prosecutor to try the case, Stephenville's Gary Lewellen. Llewellen was a super lawyer
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who was said to have a natural ability to cross examine witnesses with surgical precision.
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He was more tenacious than a junkyard dog, another description of him Read's,
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and was licensed to practice in nine Texas counties, authorized to practice before
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Texas's Northern District, the US District Court, and the United States Supreme Court.
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Lewellen was a member of just about every trial lawyer or bar association.
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He could have been. A family hiring a special prosecutor and a murder case
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isn't necessarily common. Most folks simply don't have the exorbitant amount of money or
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influence that it costs. Charlie Blue, on the other hand, had both
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the cash and the power. Aside from the fact that this privilege isn't something
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that can be afforded by even a quarter of the state's population, maybe not
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even a tenth. Joe Bryan's defense lawyer called Blue's decision to do so purely
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vindictive. After insisting it wasn't a money thing, a judge allowed Llewellen to
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work on District Attorney Andy McMullen's prosecution team. The next blow came when Charlie
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Blue filed a lawsuit against Joe, which in turn tied up any and all
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of Mickey's estate, meaning he wouldn't have those extra funds for the preparation for
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and during the trial. On March thirty first, nineteen eighty six, the
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trial of Joe Dale Bryan for the murder of Mickey Marlene Brian began with jury
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selection at the Bosque County Courthouse and Meridian. The defense never filed a motion
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for a change of venue, which was almost certainly a mistake since he'd be
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hard pressed to find a soul in Bosqui County, who wasn't keeping up with
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the story, if only casually. According to Charles McDonald, Jo's attorney,
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his client desired to be judged by a jury made up of the folks who
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knew him best, folks who knew his character. Joe Brian had been a
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well known and certainly beloved member of the community going back a decade. He
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was a man who saw almost nothing other than the good in people, who
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trusted his fellow residence of Clifton to do the right thing. That meant setting
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aside the rumors and looking at the evidence. That's something McDonald was competent.
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The prosecution substantially lacked. There was nothing that placed Joe Brian in Clifton the
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night Mickey was murdered because he attending the annual meeting of the Texas Association of
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Secondary School Principles in Austin. That night. Prosecutors were tasked with explaining how
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he got home and back until her brother, Charlie Blue and his ex FBI
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friend and employee Bud Saunders came to town. There was absolutely nothing tying Joe
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to the crime. The defense didn't look bad, but with paid special prosecutor
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Gary Llewellyn and arguably at the helm of the state's case, and a few
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other incredible missteps of the justice system and Joe's defense team. It could be
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argued that it was more the art of persuasion and showmanship on display than facts
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and evidence. Joe Bryan's decision to seek a change of venue was an example
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of his naive trust in the good nature of his fellow man, but his
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defense team deserves the brunt of the criticism for this move and a few other
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missteps throughout the trial, especially after rumor upon rumor had been swirling around Clifton
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and the surrounding areas for months by the time the trial got under way,
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many inarguably started by baseless motive theorizing on the part of Texas Ranger Joe Wiley,
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or the Ringleader, as Joe's defense team referred to him more than once.
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The famous Clifton Rumor Mill had already conducted a hell of a trial in
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the court of public opinion, and there's little doubt the seven men and five
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women on the jury were well aware of those unofficial proceedings. The official trial
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didn't require the state proove a motive, but during jury selection Brian's defense attorney
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Charles MacDonald planted an important seed in that regard. Why he asked the jurors,
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after sixteen years of marriage, would this man who'd let an exemplary life
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kill his wife. There were no witnesses, he continued, and when weighing
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the evidence of guilt against the evidence of innocence, it was important to remember
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that majority rules should not control an individual's decision. Each juror should instead exercise
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their own judgment independently of the others. While the prospective jurors seemed to understand
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when everything was all said and done, it appeared to the defense they might
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not have many believe they undoubtedly did not comprehend the meaning of reasonable doubt.
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The prosecution's opening statement, given by Bosqui County District Attorney Andy McMullen, was
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relatively standard, direct into the point, describing how their evidence fit together,
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and pointed in one direction. Only the physical evidence, along with the actions
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and words spoken by Joe Brian, will speak for themselves. Joe's defense declined
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to make an opening statement, perhaps their second major blunder. Next, the
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prosecution worked a slow build up, bringing the first few witnesses to the stand
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in the following order manager of Clifton's Lowe's Home improvement store, Charles Feller Junior,
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who testified as to the layout of the Brian home he'd done some work
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there. B C. Bennett, a local insurance man who sold Joe Brian
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the three fifty seven Smith and Wesson revolver believed to be the murder weapon.
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Clifton Elementary school teacher and coach Lee Stanley, whose home the pistols transfer of
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ownership took place from Bennett to Joe Brian. When cross examined by the defense,
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all three of those witnesses raved about Joe's honest and upright character, along
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with he and Mickey's happy and loving relationship. If a person wanted some help,
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Stanley testified, Joe Brian would be the one to go to. Many
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law enforcement officers who testified that day agreed. Clifton Police Chief Rob brennand called
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Joe friendly and professional, adding that the Brian's reputations were above reproach. Joe
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Brian had fully cooperated with the investigation, even going so far as to tell
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the chief to do whatever they had to do inside his home. The crime
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scene Texas Ranger Joe Wiley too, said Joe cooperated fully and like Chief brennand
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and every other person who'd seen Joe that day, told the court that he
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was not apprehensive of law enforcement presence and seemed in his intense grieving. Ranger
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Wiley testified he entered the Brian home through the front door and was immediately led
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down the hallway to the master bedroom, where Mickey's body laid. Earlier,
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medical technologist Joanne Weaver of Clifton Medical and Surgical Clinic had testified that she'd taken
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a blood sample from Justice of the Piece Alvin James, who said he'd flipped
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the remainder of his unfiltered camel cigarette on the street in front of the Brian
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home after smoking. This butt, as the story went, was then unwittingly
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stepped on by Texas Ranger Joe Wiley, who transferred it up the long front
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walkway into the Brian home, apparently through a few rooms of the house,
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and then finally it fell from his boot on the kitchen floor. Later,
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Clifton police officer Kenneth Fields claimed before jurors he'd seen the cigarette butt fall from
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Ranger wyley boot, something that strange to witness something so unnoticeable, and to
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be privy to the fact that a cigarette butt had been found and bagged at
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the scene would generally be something noted in the witnessing officer's report. It was
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not an officer Fields's report or even notes. However, this was far from
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the last time the cigarette evidence would come into Joe Bryan's case, but unfortunately,
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the defense's cross examination was embarrassingly weak. It had been determined through saliva
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that the cigarette butt contained a blood type A RH positive, which was the
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same blood type as Peace Justice James, as well as it should be noted,
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thirty to thirty four percent of the population. The defense team didn't bring
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that up. It's unclear if they determined James was a secretor, which would
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have been necessary for the saliva to have shown a B blood type. Approximately
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eighty to eighty six percent of the population are secretors, putting the odds in
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the prosecution's favor, at least at this point in time in nineteen eighty six,
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the story of the traveling cigarette butt wasn't challenged as it should have been
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by Joe Brian's defense, not yet to be fair, perhaps overly so,
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as far as the defense's performance. The trial was complicated until Special Prosecutor Gary
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Llewellen came in to cross examine defense witnesses, namely Joe Brian himself, things
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appeared to be going the defendant's way, or at least fifty to fifty.
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Brian's defense lawyers called Blue's decision to hire Llewellyn again purely vindictive, a retaliation
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for Joe's choice in hiring Waco lawyers to defend him, as opposed to retaining
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counsel from Clifton. Whatever the case, hiring the special prosecutor set the victim's
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brother back ten thousand dollars, an amount equivalent to about twenty eight grand today.
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But from the cigarette butt, Charlie Blue and Bud Saunders' nighttime drive,
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the discovery of the flashlight, the constantly implicated motives, one certainly fabricated and
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the other downright deceptive, while also doubling down about how that's something the state
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does not have to prove, and pseudoscience to soiled underwear, the back of
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money in the trunk, and the peculiar story of Jack Shaw at the highatt
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Regency Hotel in Austin. From the lead defense attorney's a weak hand to the
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fairly blatant use of falsehoods and pure conjecture on the part of prosecutors. As
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the state of Texas versus jo Dale, Bryan continued, it could only be
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described as a shit show. That's next time on go On Texas True Crime.
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