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MOM OF 4 VANISHES WALKING ON RURAL ROAD : WHERE IS BRITTANY? · Crime Stories with Nancy Grace

0:00
Speaker 1: Crime Stories with Nancy Grace.
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Speaker 2: A beautiful young mother of four vanishes on foot walking
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Speaker 2: on a.
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Speaker 1: Rural road tonight. Where is Brittany.
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Speaker 2: I'm Nancy Grace. This is Crime Stories. Thank you for
0:21
Speaker 2: being with us. A West Virginia mom of four works
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Speaker 2: hard to make a life for her children, but then
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Speaker 2: her home is mysteriously set on fire.
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Speaker 1: Is that a coincidence? Can that be a coincidence?
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Speaker 2: After having investigated and prosecuted literally thousands of cases, I
0:44
Speaker 2: do not believe that there is a coincidence in criminal law.
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Speaker 2: But to her disappearance, this young mom, you just saw her, yourself,
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Speaker 2: beautiful mom of four, working, holding it all together, goes
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Speaker 2: walking down a rural road and then vanishes into thin air.
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Speaker 2: I'm not buying that. Then, after a string of let
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Speaker 2: me just say youphamistically miscommunications and jurisdictional back and forth,
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Speaker 2: her case seems to get lost in the sauce. Well,
1:17
Speaker 2: guess what we found it.
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Speaker 3: Listen, there is a reward if you tell where she
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Speaker 3: is and we find her. That's my daughter, my baby,
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Speaker 3: and I would like to know where she is and
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Speaker 3: her little kids Christmas cried and.
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Speaker 4: One, and what their mom wants and if you even
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Speaker 4: cared about being at all your at least tell what
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Speaker 4: you know or tell where she is. At least to
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Speaker 4: that let us have her back.
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Speaker 2: Can you imagine what her mother has been through? Much less?
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Speaker 2: The four children wondering where's Mommy? Joining me in Allstar
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Speaker 2: panel to make sense of what we know right now.
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Speaker 2: And I've got to tell you these facts are murky
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Speaker 2: at best. They need to be cleared up again. All
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Speaker 2: start panel joining us, But first I want to go
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Speaker 2: to Kevin Horn. This is Britney's brother speaking out. Kevin,
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Speaker 2: thank you for being with us. What has it been
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Speaker 2: like since your sister went missing? And what were you doing?
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Speaker 1: Let's start with this.
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Speaker 2: What were you doing when you learned nobody could find Brittany?
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Speaker 5: Who told you, well, my mom had called me and
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Speaker 5: said that, you know, she had come home and been
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Speaker 5: like two days or something, and she said she was
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Speaker 5: going to call and before a missing person.
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Speaker 6: They took the missing person's case, I guess.
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Speaker 5: And then we just started looking for ourselves, and we
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Speaker 5: asked the police assist us in a search, and they
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Speaker 5: would They said it was too big of area.
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Speaker 1: Oh wait, wait, wait, wait right there, hold on, hold on.
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Speaker 2: Kevin Horn is with me. This is Brittany's brother, also
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Speaker 2: with me, her cousin Sharon, also with me. The private
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Speaker 2: eye and lawyer the family hired. His name is Jeff
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Speaker 2: Lewis joining us multi jurisdictional, not only lawyer, but private eye.
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Speaker 2: We still don't have Brittany, and the facts are not
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Speaker 2: getting any clearer. And I would hazard to guess right there,
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Speaker 2: what you heard Kevin Horn say is part of the problem.
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Speaker 2: But Kevin Horn, let me understand something. Did law enforcement
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Speaker 2: tell you they were not helping you in the search
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Speaker 2: because it was too big of an area.
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Speaker 5: They said it was too much of an area because
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Speaker 5: it was like the hills look, and they said they
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Speaker 5: didn't have enough law enforcement to cover that. And we
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Speaker 5: asked them to just come and assist the family because
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Speaker 5: we have a big family and we was going to
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Speaker 5: do it. But they just wouldn't come and assist us.
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Speaker 5: They told us we could ask the people that the property.
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Speaker 5: I had to go look for it.
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Speaker 6: I had. I went looking for her on the ridge.
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Speaker 5: I went, I've literally crawled down in wealth and trying
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Speaker 5: to find her. And they actually told my mom that
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Speaker 5: they don't look for them look for the missing people
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Speaker 5: as they do is they go around and they ask
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Speaker 5: some people questions, they don't actually go looking for her.
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Speaker 2: Now, let me understand something. Sharon Norris is joining us.
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Speaker 2: This is Britney's cousin, Sharon Norris. Do you remember when
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Speaker 2: you were told Britney's missing.
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Speaker 7: Yeah, I actually was sitting at home and got a
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Speaker 7: phone call that she was missing. So I immediately reach
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Speaker 7: out to her mom to get some details. And then
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Speaker 7: the first thing I did was jump on start and
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Speaker 7: made a missing persons site and tried to start getting
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Speaker 7: the information out there.
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Speaker 2: You know, I'm just trying to take in, Sharon, what
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Speaker 2: Kevin told me that you guys were told by law
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Speaker 2: enforcement that the search area was too big. Jennifer Tzikowski
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Speaker 2: is joining me. Experienced investigative reporter, Jennifer, thank you for
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Speaker 2: being with us. I'm trying to understand something. Tell me
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Speaker 2: about the area where Brittany went missing.
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Speaker 8: All right, So, Kermit, West Virginia is very rural. It's
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Speaker 8: very close to the Kentucky border. Extremely small town. It
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Speaker 8: consists of only three hundred and seventeen people, which is
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Speaker 8: according to.
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Speaker 1: The two thousand and twenty census.
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Speaker 8: And then as of twenty twenty, in the County that
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Speaker 8: it's in, that is only over twenty three thousand people
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Speaker 8: in Mingo Coney, which is again where Kermit, West Virginia,
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Speaker 8: is located.
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Speaker 2: Now, when you say it's extremely rural, I'm very interested
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Speaker 2: and I'll tell you why. Joining me is Jeff Lewis,
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Speaker 2: the license PI and lawyer who is hired by the family.
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Speaker 2: He operates out of West Virginia, but also works Virginia, Kentucky, Florida,
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Speaker 2: South Carolina, even Oklahoma. Jeff Lewis the owner operator founder
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Speaker 2: of Alias Investigations in Criminal Law. Jeff, thank you for
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Speaker 2: being with us. What stopping me in my tracks, Jeff Lewis,
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Speaker 2: is that the family is told, yeah, we'd really like
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Speaker 2: to help, but we just can't handle that terrain. Describe
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Speaker 2: the area for me, Jeff, Why would any law enforcement
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Speaker 2: say that.
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Speaker 9: I mean, it's a it is a royal area, but
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Speaker 9: the region they gave the family to be blowning honest,
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Speaker 9: just aren't true. They have because Mingo County, Sheriff County
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Speaker 9: that they live in, volunteered from day one to help
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Speaker 9: just West Virginia State Police find this woman and bring
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Speaker 9: her back to her family. And West Virginia State Police
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Speaker 9: would not allow them to get involved, and also wouldn't
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Speaker 9: let the Kentucky State Police get involved. And I worked
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Speaker 9: with the I worked with the deputy from West Virginia
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Speaker 9: State Police for a couple of weeks, and he did
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Speaker 9: really he worked with me really well, and then all
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Speaker 9: of a sudden, he just stopped. He wouldn't return my calls,
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Speaker 9: he wouldn't return the family's calls, and basically he said
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Speaker 9: he was writing it off because they were closing the cases.
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Speaker 9: Brittany just walked off on their own, which we know
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Speaker 9: for a fact, didn't that.
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Speaker 2: Well, I'm sorry, I didn't hear that last part. They're
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Speaker 2: saying that she just walked off on her own, correct.
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Speaker 9: That was That was the last thing that I got
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Speaker 9: from the West Virginia State Police that they were closing
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Speaker 9: the case because they determined that Brittany just walked off
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Speaker 9: on her own, even though we have yeah, we know
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Speaker 9: for a fact that's not true.
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Speaker 2: To Kevin Horn and Sharon Norris, first, to you, Kevin,
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Speaker 2: do you believe at all Brittany just walked off on
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Speaker 2: her own, never to return.
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Speaker 5: No, she would come back to her kids, she would
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Speaker 5: come back to my mom or me, Like I mean,
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Speaker 5: she never would just well, I'll believe.
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Speaker 6: She would have no reason to. They told me it
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Speaker 6: was a voluntary missing person.
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Speaker 2: Yeah, I saw that, Kevin, when I was researching the
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Speaker 2: case that they put that out on. I'm talking about
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Speaker 2: law enforcement put that out in their post and they
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Speaker 2: had her missing as volunteer. They had her listed as
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Speaker 2: missing voluntary. That's not what happened at all to Sharon Norris,
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Speaker 2: Britney's cousin. Why would law enforcement slate her as voluntarily missing?
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Speaker 2: I see it happen all the time, and you lose
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Speaker 2: precious hours, weeks, and months.
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Speaker 10: Yeah, I have no idea.
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Speaker 7: What wouldn't make them in any way look at it
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Speaker 7: as she would voluntarily go missing. And the reason I
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Speaker 7: say that is because I had brought Brittany to Ohio.
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Speaker 7: Her brother was keeping her kids for a little bit,
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Speaker 7: and I brought her to Ohio and she got so
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Speaker 7: homesick for her babies. I had to get in the
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Speaker 7: car and take her back home to her baby Like.
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Speaker 7: She didn't even stay the full amount of time she
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Speaker 7: was slotted to stay.
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Speaker 6: So nobody whatever make.
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Speaker 7: Me, nobody's ever going to make me believe that Brittany
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Speaker 7: would just have a walk away from her kids.
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Speaker 10: Nobody would ever make me believe that.
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Speaker 2: So Sharon Norris, after a few days she wanted to
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Speaker 2: get back to her children.
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Speaker 7: Oh yeah, yeah, she I think it was two days
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Speaker 7: and she was going to stay a week, but two
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Speaker 7: days she was ready to get back to her kids too.
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Speaker 2: Sharon and Kevin and Jeff Lewis as well the lawyer
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Speaker 2: slash Pi. I'm very curious about what I'm just hearing.
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Speaker 2: Brittany leaves home on foot wearing a pink shirt, jean shorts,
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Speaker 2: Nike sneakers.
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Speaker 1: Recall those sneakers had a neon green.
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Speaker 2: Swoosh of the side. She had her hair in braids.
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Speaker 2: She was carrying a tan backpack. I know she was
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Speaker 2: going to college as well, at Regent College. I know
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Speaker 2: she was wearing a gold chain around her neck and
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Speaker 2: a bangle bracelet. That is what I know of what
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Speaker 2: she was wearing. And I want to analyze that why
10:22
Speaker 2: because it might give me a clue. What was in
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Speaker 2: her tan backpack. I know she was in college, I
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Speaker 2: know she was taking classes, she was also raising for children.
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Speaker 2: What would be in the backpack probably school supplies, but
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Speaker 2: the outfit, the outfit, Kevin Horn for her to leave
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Speaker 2: on foot rural road, and I've looked at the aerial shots.
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Speaker 2: It's nothing but green, all green trees, very wooded. Where
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Speaker 2: would she be going dressed in shorts and nikes? Where
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Speaker 2: would she be going? She's certainly not going out for
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Speaker 2: a night on the town. That tells me a lot
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Speaker 2: right there.
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Speaker 6: Way in she was walking to her friend's house.
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Speaker 1: Okay, how far away was the friend?
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Speaker 6: It's about two miles.
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Speaker 2: About two miles so that would have taken her max
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Speaker 2: thirty minutes. Okay, question do we believe she made it
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Speaker 2: to the friend's house? Did not make it? You know?
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Speaker 2: That really narrows it down. Sharon Norris, Is that you're
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Speaker 2: understanding as well? Yeah, I don't get it. How could
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Speaker 2: this woman disappear and a two mile stretch wearing nothing
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Speaker 2: but jean shorts a pink top with a backpack that
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Speaker 2: it doesn't make sense to me.
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Speaker 1: But listen.
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Speaker 11: When Brittany has not returned in ten days and isn't
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Speaker 11: answering calls or text, Mary Horn reports her daughter missing
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Speaker 11: to West Virginia State Police. Mary and sons, Kevin and Neil,
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Speaker 11: spend days putting up flyers with pictures of Brittany. Britney
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Speaker 11: doesn't drive, so the family focuses on foot searches, starting
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Speaker 11: from her mother's home. They find no sign of Brittany.
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Speaker 11: The news of Britney's disappearance spreads, the family begins to
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Speaker 11: receive tips from Britney's friends.
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Speaker 12: Britney Horn confides in her mother that someone is out
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Speaker 12: to get her. Days later, where is Britney? Could that
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Speaker 12: be true?
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Speaker 2: No one in her family believes that Britney was suffering
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Speaker 2: any type of paranoia, But let's look at the Facts's
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Speaker 2: she right? She does a whole reno job on her
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Speaker 2: father's home that he leaves to her while she's the
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Speaker 2: way she comes back, the place is burned to the ground.
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Speaker 2: She keeps plodding forward, going to school, college at Regent College,
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Speaker 2: and raising four children. And then she disappears on a
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Speaker 2: rural walk just two miles between her mom's home where
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Speaker 2: she's now living at her friend's home. That's a thirty
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Speaker 2: minute walk. When she's reported missing to local authorities, they
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Speaker 2: say the area is too big for them to help search.
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Speaker 2: So the family who's joining us tonight dig in, putting
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Speaker 2: up posters, going on searches, even going in their own
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Speaker 2: pocket to hire a private investigator. Jeff Lewis of ALIAS
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Speaker 2: Investigations joining me right now is a special guest, and
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Speaker 2: boy do we need an expert. Dave Moyer is with
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Speaker 2: US Georgia K nine Tracker Master Trainer K nine Tracker
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Speaker 2: Program Manager, Military Contracts, former Deputy K nine with San
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Speaker 2: Bernardino Sheriffs. Dave Moyer, I've got a really hard time understanding.
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Speaker 2: And I'm not just getting this from the family, because
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Speaker 2: family can be upset and misinterpret what they're told. A
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Speaker 2: lot's happening while they're trying to find her. But there
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Speaker 2: have been no K nine searches. I've seen no extensive
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Speaker 2: searches by law for horsement. In fact, even knowing the
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Speaker 2: facts as we have presented them now, Dave Moyer, they
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Speaker 2: still listed her as voluntary missing that did not happen.
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Speaker 2: She did not believe leave all of her belongings and
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Speaker 2: her children and disappear with nothing but her backpack with
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Speaker 2: the school books in it and a pair of tennis shoes.
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Speaker 2: That didn't happen. Now, talk to me about the search
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Speaker 2: of a very heavily wooded area such as Kermit.
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Speaker 13: Yes, ma'am. First, I'd like to kind of introduce you
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Speaker 13: to how these dogs track and trailer and what they're
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Speaker 13: tracking and trailing. It's usually an amalgamation of the combination
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Speaker 13: of ground disturbance, dead skin cells that sleft off the body, sweat,
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Speaker 13: the oils, the gases off the human body as you epervest,
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Speaker 13: and as these biological items decomposed. That's what our dogs
14:56
Speaker 13: are actually tracking. So that's going to bring into conflict
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Speaker 13: a lot of guys from this port tracking community that
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Speaker 13: are very hard set on their ground disturbance tracking. And
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Speaker 13: that's fine. We're using everything available to us as law
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Speaker 13: enforcement or military side, so we can actually effectively track
15:12
Speaker 13: on the real world. Now, because this is a biolog
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Speaker 13: biological decomposition, at least that's a theory behind it, it
15:19
Speaker 13: does have a very short shelf life based on the
15:22
Speaker 13: environmental condition.
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Speaker 2: Wait a minute, Dave Lawyer, I believe you're putting the
15:25
Speaker 2: cart before the horse. We don't know that we're did
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Speaker 2: you say biological decomposition, because if they had gone out
15:35
Speaker 2: looking for her immediately, I don't think we'd be looking
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Speaker 2: for a dead body.
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Speaker 13: I would disagree with you there. I have been involved
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Speaker 13: in many of those searches. My time was San Bernardino County.
15:43
Speaker 13: I ran the tracking and trailing slashed at Averdog and
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Speaker 13: I was the only full time sworn dog in all
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Speaker 13: the southern California at the time, and we had tremendous
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Speaker 13: success getting out there in the timely fashion, and even
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Speaker 13: recent death has a very distinct odor all its own.
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Speaker 13: Involved with these canines, again, we're putting a lot of
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Speaker 13: things in theory. There's no room of computers anywhere in
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Speaker 13: the world that can do what that little dog's brain
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Speaker 13: can do, and they all do that instinctually. All we're
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Speaker 13: doing is harnessing that behavior so we can read it now.
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Speaker 13: Based on what you're saying. With the environment, it's going
16:13
Speaker 13: to keep that productive source alive a lot longer. But
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Speaker 13: time is very much of the essence, and within the
16:20
Speaker 13: after twenty four hours, it's very difficult to even search
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Speaker 13: a heavily wooded area unless you have a very experienced
16:26
Speaker 13: and well trained dog team. And unfortunately a lot of
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Speaker 13: these rural agencies they only have so many assets available,
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Speaker 13: and if they don't have those kind of canine assets available,
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Speaker 13: those canine programs commonly take the cuts first when budgetary
16:40
Speaker 13: needs come first.
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Speaker 2: You know what I mean, I know what you mean.
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Speaker 2: Everything I hear you saying I agree with except for
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Speaker 2: one thing. If the search had been conducted immediately, I
16:52
Speaker 2: don't know that we would be dealing with trying to
16:54
Speaker 2: find a dead body. That changes things. Would you agree,
16:58
Speaker 2: Dave Moyer as to what you're looking for? I mean,
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Speaker 2: this is just a two mile walk. That's a twenty
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Speaker 2: seven minute walk. This woman is young, She's perfectly capable
17:11
Speaker 2: of getting two miles under thirty minutes. So why would
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Speaker 2: I be looking for a dead body?
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Speaker 13: Well, I'm sorry, I think there was a miscommunication there.
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Speaker 13: What I meant by decomposition was the decomposition of the
17:21
Speaker 13: human trail, and that trail he composes because it's made
17:25
Speaker 13: up of biological matter. Now, could ever search dog's completely
17:29
Speaker 13: different animal. We can talk about that until heads hit
17:31
Speaker 13: the desk. However, that's not the point I'm even coming
17:35
Speaker 13: to yet. A train tracking dog, if this had been
17:38
Speaker 13: been deployed immediately, could have picked up from the location
17:41
Speaker 13: that she left and tracked along that route, and the
17:45
Speaker 13: dog would stop trailing if she was picked up by
17:47
Speaker 13: a car or abducted, and then maybe there could have
17:49
Speaker 13: been some physical evidence in that immediate area of a scuffle.
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Speaker 2: Hold on day Moyer, and I don't like interrupting you
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Speaker 2: because I'm learning from everything that you're saying. Number one,
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Speaker 2: I now understand what you're saying. At the very beginning
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Speaker 2: when you started, when you were talking about biological matter,
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Speaker 2: I thought I misinterpreted. I thought what you were saying
18:10
Speaker 2: was that she was dead immediately, and I don't believe that. Okay,
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Speaker 2: Now I understand that you're talking about human biological matter,
18:19
Speaker 2: whether she's dead or alive. I get it, and I agree.
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Speaker 2: Number two, let me just tell you that the single
18:25
Speaker 2: best witness I ever put on the stand, and all
18:29
Speaker 2: the years I was a prosecutor, even when I worked
18:31
Speaker 2: with the FEDS, was a dog best witness ever, and
18:37
Speaker 2: he did really well on cross examination. But what you're
18:42
Speaker 2: saying about the search, I want to go into the conditions.
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Speaker 1: This was June thirteen in Kermit, West Virginia.
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Speaker 2: I've also got another site in Kentucky I want to
18:56
Speaker 2: talk to you about. But would the weather in any way?
19:01
Speaker 2: And last you stated that a dog could follow a
19:05
Speaker 2: scent until the person like gets in a car. I'd
19:10
Speaker 2: like to point out a name to you, and if
19:13
Speaker 2: you don't know it, you might I might be able
19:15
Speaker 2: to jog your memory. Eloise Anderson, who is she? She
19:21
Speaker 2: handled the dog Tremble in the Lacy Peterson murder case.
19:28
Speaker 2: Scott Peterson, that dog Tremble followed Lacey's scent, had it
19:35
Speaker 2: in modesto all the way, picked it up again at
19:40
Speaker 2: the marina at the San Francisco Bay, followed Lacey's scent
19:44
Speaker 2: from the parking lot down to a trail along the
19:48
Speaker 2: tree line so nobody would see. Scott Peterson taking the
19:52
Speaker 2: body along the tree line to the dock, to the pier,
19:58
Speaker 2: and then Tremble stuck at some pylons, looked out at
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Speaker 2: the water, alerted, and turned around to indicate the search
20:09
Speaker 2: was done. Everybody always says why they convict Scott Peterson.
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Speaker 2: I can tell you right now because of Tremble, the dog.
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Speaker 2: That's why. So tell me how this would have worked
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Speaker 2: finding Brittany If the dogs had been brought immediately, what
20:27
Speaker 2: would have happened?
20:28
Speaker 13: Dave Moyer, Well, let's propose that she's possibly picked up
20:33
Speaker 13: by an individual that had been after her. The dog
20:38
Speaker 13: would have started the trail at her last scene point,
20:41
Speaker 13: which would have been her house as she's walking through
20:42
Speaker 13: her friends. And then if there was any point along
20:45
Speaker 13: that road where she was, somebody pulled up grabbed her
20:49
Speaker 13: stuffer in the trunk. There would have the dog would
20:51
Speaker 13: have stopped, circled, alerted, much like Tremble did, and then
20:55
Speaker 13: not continued trailing any further. Now I articulate that behavior,
20:58
Speaker 13: and we train our hand to articulate this behavior. Is
21:01
Speaker 13: the trail has gone no further as something happened here,
21:04
Speaker 13: but we're not sure what until we get some other
21:06
Speaker 13: corroborating evidence, whether it be video surveillance, cell phone data,
21:10
Speaker 13: whatever it may be. So the outlines of this case,
21:14
Speaker 13: if you put them, I definitely raises my suspicion the
21:19
Speaker 13: canines could have certainly helped out tremendously if they were
21:22
Speaker 13: deployed immediately. And that's actually how my agency got their
21:26
Speaker 13: canine program back in twenty fourteen, after the Christopher Dorner
21:29
Speaker 13: into that. I don't know if you remember that that
21:32
Speaker 13: was the okay, now I shall say no more, but
21:36
Speaker 13: that unfortunately cost one of our deputies, our corporal is
21:39
Speaker 13: life and then got another deputy seriously injured. Had we
21:42
Speaker 13: had dogs, that may not have happened at all, it
21:44
Speaker 13: could have could have been handled a lot quicker and
21:46
Speaker 13: a lot more safely for everyone involved.
21:48
Speaker 12: Where is Brittany a Virginia mom of four missing from
21:53
Speaker 12: her mother's home. Family says this isn't like.
21:57
Speaker 2: Her joining me in All Star panel to make sense
22:00
Speaker 2: of how this young mom, also a student at Regent College,
22:04
Speaker 2: a mother of four, can go on a little under
22:07
Speaker 2: a two mile walk to her friend's house and vanish
22:12
Speaker 2: into thin air. All I'm hearing so far, not by
22:18
Speaker 2: the people on my panel, of course, is it's a
22:21
Speaker 2: technical legal term.
22:22
Speaker 1: Bs. This woman did not vanish.
22:25
Speaker 2: Off the side of the road, and she did not
22:28
Speaker 2: leave voluntarily. You know that's something I really don't understand
22:33
Speaker 2: to Jeff Lewis joining me not only a private investigator
22:37
Speaker 2: hired by the family to try to find Brittany, but
22:42
Speaker 2: lawyer as well who runs alias investigations. Jeff, I've dealt
22:47
Speaker 2: with so many cases where usually a woman goes missing,
22:53
Speaker 2: sometimes a teen and Ellie law enforcement says, up, she's
22:58
Speaker 2: just out with her boyfriend. But they said that in
23:01
Speaker 2: the Stacy Peterson case, they say that, they said that,
23:04
Speaker 2: in the Jennifer Dulo's case, they said that. I can
23:07
Speaker 2: name fifty cases on the top of my head where
23:10
Speaker 2: they claim the mom just went for a little me time,
23:16
Speaker 2: went on a walk about.
23:17
Speaker 1: It's not true.
23:20
Speaker 2: Why this law enforcement always believe the woman just bugged
23:23
Speaker 2: out on her children.
23:25
Speaker 9: To be badly honest, Dantee, it's because they don't want
23:28
Speaker 9: to have to work on the case. I mean, I
23:31
Speaker 9: had one. They gave me one trooper from the West
23:33
Speaker 9: Virginia State Police to work with me on this case,
23:36
Speaker 9: and he only stayed on them for two weeks and
23:38
Speaker 9: closed it as a voluntary Basically, she just walked away.
23:43
Speaker 9: We me and Kevin and Sharon have worked on this
23:47
Speaker 9: case since day one, and we've got the evidence that
23:52
Speaker 9: she did make it to her friend's house in West Virginia,
23:56
Speaker 9: and that's who I told please they needed to investigate
24:01
Speaker 9: and to talk to and they fly out refews. They
24:03
Speaker 9: said the plaice was closed, that she walked her way
24:05
Speaker 9: on her own, and that they were done with it.
24:08
Speaker 9: But yet they wouldn't allow Mingo County Sheriff that was
24:11
Speaker 9: trying to get in on this case from day one,
24:14
Speaker 9: they would not allow them to be involved with and
24:16
Speaker 9: they refused to allow this the Kentucky State Police to
24:19
Speaker 9: be involved with them, and they had to have West
24:21
Speaker 9: Virginia State Police's permission before they could come in.
24:24
Speaker 6: They wouldn't give it to them.
24:25
Speaker 2: So it sounds like a lot of jurisdictional in fighting,
24:29
Speaker 2: and it all seems to happen between these two homes.
24:34
Speaker 2: Some accounts are she did not make it to the
24:36
Speaker 2: friend's house. Some accounts are she did, but within a
24:39
Speaker 2: two mile space she goes missing. Back to you, Dave Moyer,
24:47
Speaker 2: I know this is a heavily, heavily wooded area. What
24:51
Speaker 2: are the challenges in searching a wooded area like this?
24:55
Speaker 2: Because the family, Sharon Norris, Kevin Horn and others go
25:01
Speaker 2: out on foot and they comb this area, but they're
25:04
Speaker 2: not professionals. I mean, what are the challenges?
25:08
Speaker 13: Again, There's there's a tremendous time advantage to our disadvantage
25:13
Speaker 13: for this for actually tracking, because that trail is going
25:16
Speaker 13: to decompose and disappear within twenty four to forty eight hours,
25:19
Speaker 13: but sometimes less than that, sometimes a little bit longer,
25:22
Speaker 13: depending on weather conditions and the type of plants that
25:25
Speaker 13: are out there. High wind and high heat and heavy
25:28
Speaker 13: sun is just going to destroy a trail within hours,
25:31
Speaker 13: But if it's shaded, if it's cooler, it's going to
25:34
Speaker 13: last a lot longer.
25:36
Speaker 2: Unfortunately there are I've got another ranch to throw in
25:38
Speaker 2: the works. Dave Moyer. We researched it last night and
25:43
Speaker 2: discovered that there were later in the day heavy thunderstorms.
25:48
Speaker 2: That didn't help anything.
25:50
Speaker 13: Right, No, that certainly didn't help it at all. And again,
25:54
Speaker 13: there are a lot of fantasy trailers out there, as
25:57
Speaker 13: we affectionately refer to them, that'll tell you their bloodhound
25:59
Speaker 13: can follow six month old year old trails. There's been
26:02
Speaker 13: bad case law up down, left, right, and center on that,
26:05
Speaker 13: and we're very cognizant of never teaching that and never
26:08
Speaker 13: putting that into any of our students that we teach. Now,
26:11
Speaker 13: that was beat into my head at a very early
26:12
Speaker 13: age when I was running my dog out in southern
26:15
Speaker 13: California for that reason. And of course I can't speak
26:18
Speaker 13: to the jurisdictional infighting or other stuff that's going on
26:20
Speaker 13: with the departments. But your standard patrolman are in their favor.
26:24
Speaker 13: I was one for a long time myself. You're under
26:26
Speaker 13: a lot of pressure to get to the next call,
26:28
Speaker 13: to handle the next call for service, and some guys
26:31
Speaker 13: just aren't able to put the time and effort into
26:33
Speaker 13: this that you'd like to see I'm not defending anything.
26:35
Speaker 13: I'm just saying that that does happen.
26:37
Speaker 1: It happens. And back to Kevin and Sharon.
26:40
Speaker 2: Also joining us Jeff Lewis and Jennifer Skowski investigative reporter,
26:44
Speaker 2: Kevin and Sharon. I understand, was it you, Kevin that
26:48
Speaker 2: actually went down wells looking for your sister?
26:53
Speaker 5: Yes, several around the ridges, explain.
26:59
Speaker 6: I just didn't nowhere else.
27:00
Speaker 5: To look, and I was like, they maybe somebody's done
27:04
Speaker 5: something to her, throw her down a well.
27:06
Speaker 6: You know, there's something in them. So I was like,
27:08
Speaker 6: I'm climbing down in there. I will look. I'm going
27:11
Speaker 6: to try to find her. I just can't find her.
27:15
Speaker 14: You know.
27:16
Speaker 5: It was just us trying to find her in a
27:18
Speaker 5: few others. We couldn't cover everything.
27:23
Speaker 2: And here we are, Sharon Norris. It just it hurts
27:27
Speaker 2: my heart to hear what the family has been going
27:31
Speaker 2: through trying to conduct their own searches. You've got Kevin
27:35
Speaker 2: actually going down wells, climbing into wells, abandoned wells, looking
27:44
Speaker 2: for by that point, what he thought would be his
27:46
Speaker 2: sister's body. I have no evidence she's dead or alive.
27:51
Speaker 2: Sharon Norris, what have you been through? Trying to find Brittany.
27:55
Speaker 10: There have been so many stories, just horrific, horrific stories
28:05
Speaker 10: that have been sent as tips to me about her
28:10
Speaker 10: being chopped up, about her being put through a wood chipper,
28:16
Speaker 10: that we would never find her, just in that she
28:23
Speaker 10: was kept for a week while they tortured her, and
28:28
Speaker 10: then they tied her.
28:30
Speaker 15: To four willers and took off both ways on the
28:34
Speaker 15: four willers and decapitator. I mean, just the horrific things
28:39
Speaker 15: we have been told.
28:43
Speaker 7: And it makes it hard to sleep at nights sometimes
28:47
Speaker 7: because you get those images in your head.
28:49
Speaker 2: You know, I'm really blessed. I am so blessed because
28:54
Speaker 2: my fiance was murdered. I knew what happened. I knew
29:00
Speaker 2: who killed him. I knew what happened. You guys have
29:04
Speaker 2: no idea, I mean, Kevin, these tips, these people that
29:10
Speaker 2: are stating that she was put in.
29:12
Speaker 1: A wood chipper, that she was tortured for days.
29:16
Speaker 2: I mean, how do you even put one foot in
29:19
Speaker 2: front of the other one.
29:20
Speaker 6: I can't even get out of bed some days.
29:24
Speaker 5: But I'm not myself because I'm getting up every day
29:27
Speaker 5: with it continuing.
29:29
Speaker 6: And don't we don't get no closure.
29:31
Speaker 5: It's just continues every day.
29:39
Speaker 12: My sister would have called by, now, says the brother
29:43
Speaker 12: of missing mom of four, Brittany, last seen by family
29:47
Speaker 12: at her mother's house.
29:50
Speaker 2: Now, let me just throw a wrench in the works,
29:54
Speaker 2: a fly in the ointment.
29:56
Speaker 1: So to speak, a new crime scene.
30:01
Speaker 2: Remember we were in Kermit population twenty seventeen. Jennifer Skowski
30:06
Speaker 2: told us about it, the hilly, heavily wooded terrain. Now
30:12
Speaker 2: we have another potential crime site. Listen.
30:16
Speaker 16: A friend of Britney's claims he gave her a ride
30:18
Speaker 16: to a home in Luisa, Kentucky on June twelfth. The
30:22
Speaker 16: homeowner goes by the Moniker Chicago. Britney's childhood best friend
30:26
Speaker 16: also comes forward, telling police she's received a frantic voicemail
30:29
Speaker 16: from Britney on June thirteenth. In the message, Britney says
30:33
Speaker 16: she's scared, trying to leave Luisa to get back home.
30:36
Speaker 2: Joining the investigative reporter Jennifer Skowski, Jennifer, what okay?
30:40
Speaker 1: Now start with Kermit pop two seventeen.
30:45
Speaker 2: Now I am in a completely different area, Luisa, Kentucky.
30:49
Speaker 2: How far apart are these two?
30:51
Speaker 1: Okay?
30:53
Speaker 8: Kermit is located about twenty eight miles away from where
30:58
Speaker 8: she was also reported last seen in Louisa, Kentucky. This
31:05
Speaker 8: was supposedly with a man named Robert that a friend
31:09
Speaker 8: had dropped off at Brittany at Robert's house. There was
31:15
Speaker 8: no confirmation she ever left the area, according to Brittney's
31:19
Speaker 8: missing Facebook page. But then there's also really no there's
31:24
Speaker 8: so many unanswered questions.
31:26
Speaker 1: I mean, did she really leave Kermit?
31:29
Speaker 2: Is she and Louisa?
31:31
Speaker 8: Louisa is another small town, not nearly as small as
31:35
Speaker 8: the three hundred and seventeen in Kermit, what about twenty
31:38
Speaker 8: five hundred on the crime rate is it's forty six
31:42
Speaker 8: percent safer than than most neighborhoods in the United States.
31:47
Speaker 8: So there's probably you know, some dangerous areas I'm guessing,
31:51
Speaker 8: like everywhere else. But it's just really conflicting reports of
31:57
Speaker 8: was she really last in Louisa or was she really
32:00
Speaker 8: laughed in Kermit?
32:01
Speaker 2: Wow, Jennifer, twenty eight miles apart, and what you're telling
32:04
Speaker 2: me is as I said at the get go, it's
32:06
Speaker 2: very murky. But we have to now investigate two potential
32:11
Speaker 2: crime scenes very quickly. To Kevin Horn, this friend who
32:15
Speaker 2: states she gets a voicemail from Brittany claiming she is
32:19
Speaker 2: scared and trying to leave Louisa, and that's Kentucky, twenty
32:23
Speaker 2: miles away, twenty eight miles away to get back home.
32:26
Speaker 2: But we know Brittany did not have a cell phone
32:29
Speaker 2: with her, isn't that correct?
32:31
Speaker 5: That's correct, she says in the voicemail, I'm using this
32:35
Speaker 5: girl's phone and to call you. She called her from
32:40
Speaker 5: the Facebook on her phone.
32:42
Speaker 1: Do you believe the friend, Kevin?
32:44
Speaker 2: Do you believe the friend claiming that Brittany was in Luisa?
32:48
Speaker 2: Do you believe the friend?
32:49
Speaker 5: Well, I heard the three messages. I mean she was
32:52
Speaker 5: in Louisa, she says, I'm in Louisa.
32:55
Speaker 1: Got okay, So they're real, They're real.
32:58
Speaker 2: Okay? That changes This is everything. To Jeff Lewis joining
33:03
Speaker 2: me not only lawyer, but PI an Alias investigations, who
33:09
Speaker 2: took the case on to help the family. Jeff Lewis,
33:12
Speaker 2: that changes everything because if she really was in Luisa,
33:16
Speaker 2: trying to get a ride, trying to get home, we
33:19
Speaker 2: don't have to worry about the two mile stretch anymore,
33:22
Speaker 2: except who picked her up in that two mile stretch
33:26
Speaker 2: or who picked her up at the friend's home. To
33:29
Speaker 2: Jeff Lewis, what can you tell me about Louisa, Kentucky.
33:33
Speaker 9: I got contacted by the sheriff in Lorwigia that told
33:36
Speaker 9: me if he caught me in Kentucky that they would
33:39
Speaker 9: throw me in jail immediately. And me, being a private investigator,
33:43
Speaker 9: I've never had a law enforcement threatened me for working
33:47
Speaker 9: on their case in their area before. But their shriff's
33:51
Speaker 9: department did let me flat out that if I came
33:54
Speaker 9: over here o case.
33:55
Speaker 2: Let me get that straight, Jeff Lewis, the sheriff's department
33:57
Speaker 2: told you don't put your toe in Luisa, Kentucky or
34:01
Speaker 2: will throw you in jail. Did they say that correct?
34:05
Speaker 2: Which la wwitch? Ella? It was the sheriff of Mingo. No,
34:10
Speaker 2: it was a Louisa Kentucky Luisa, Kentucky sheriffs. Okay, so
34:14
Speaker 2: now I've got a potential double crime. Saying what more
34:19
Speaker 2: do we know? I know?
34:20
Speaker 1: The family immediately heads to Luisa.
34:23
Speaker 17: Listen the Horns make the forty minute drive to Luisa,
34:26
Speaker 17: Kentucky to report Britney missing from the area as well. Luisa,
34:31
Speaker 17: Kentucky police take the report, informing the family that their
34:34
Speaker 17: department can only help with the West Virginia State Police's investigation.
34:38
Speaker 17: State Police Troop five refuses the help from Kentucky, saying
34:42
Speaker 17: they have the investigation under control.
34:45
Speaker 14: Brittany is the baby of the Horn family. She is
34:48
Speaker 14: doted on by parents Paul and Mary Horn, and best
34:51
Speaker 14: friends with older brothers Kevin and Neil. Brittany is bubbly
34:54
Speaker 14: and funny, always surrounded with friends. She graduates from Tulsia
34:58
Speaker 14: High School in her hometown of Kermit, West Virginia.
35:01
Speaker 2: And going on to college at Regent College, raising four children.
35:07
Speaker 2: Listen to what the family says. This is from our
35:10
Speaker 2: friends at WSA twenty three.
35:12
Speaker 6: We need the police to do something.
35:15
Speaker 5: You know, we need answers because it's been a year
35:19
Speaker 5: and they've not told us anything.
35:21
Speaker 2: It has It's been over a year now, well over
35:24
Speaker 2: a year. The family begging for help. You heard how
35:30
Speaker 2: she was doted upon by her family. Bubbly, happy, but
35:35
Speaker 2: listen to this.
35:36
Speaker 17: Not long after graduating, Brittany Horn meets and falls head
35:39
Speaker 17: over heels for Clyde Duff Junior. After a whirlwind romance.
35:43
Speaker 17: Brittany and Duff Mary and are expecting twins, but their
35:47
Speaker 17: fairy tale marriage has a dark side. Duff has quite
35:50
Speaker 17: the rap sheet by the time of their vows and
35:52
Speaker 17: is often violent towards Brittany. The couple stays together and
35:55
Speaker 17: have two more children. During family visits, relatives notice Brittany
35:59
Speaker 17: has brewed and injuries more and more frequently.
36:02
Speaker 2: Domesticbees rears its ugly head listen.
36:06
Speaker 16: At one point, Brittany tries to leave Duff. Brittany cuts
36:09
Speaker 16: off contact and moves back in with her mother. One afternoon,
36:13
Speaker 16: Duff shows up to Mary Horn's home demanding to see Britney.
36:16
Speaker 16: Britney's family members refuse to allow contact. Infuriating Duff, Duff
36:21
Speaker 16: kicks down the front door brandishing a gun. Brittany's brother
36:25
Speaker 16: struggles with Duff over the gun.
36:27
Speaker 2: After that incident, Brittany totally distances herself from her ex listen.
36:35
Speaker 11: A few months after the assault, at Brittany's mom's home,
36:38
Speaker 11: Duff convinces Brittany to give him another chance, claiming he's
36:41
Speaker 11: a new man. Duff's violent habits quickly return, and Brittany
36:44
Speaker 11: finds herself looking for a way out again. When Duff
36:46
Speaker 11: is arrested for theft, this time his sentence isn't so light,
36:50
Speaker 11: and Brittany jumps at the chance to start fresh.
36:52
Speaker 2: She does start fresh, she spends all of her time
36:55
Speaker 2: all of her money working on her father's home. He's
36:59
Speaker 2: left it to her her to move into with her
37:01
Speaker 2: four children, Listen.
37:02
Speaker 11: Brittany works for months to fix up her late father's home,
37:05
Speaker 11: then reaches out to her aunt in another state, hoping
37:08
Speaker 11: some time away will help her move on. Brittany's aunt
37:11
Speaker 11: is more than happy to help, and five months later,
37:13
Speaker 11: Britney feels ready to take on the world. Brittany makes
37:15
Speaker 11: the trip back to West Virginia, excited to move the
37:18
Speaker 11: family into her new home. Brittany is heartbroken when she
37:21
Speaker 11: learns the home burned down in her absence. Brittany accepts
37:24
Speaker 11: her mom's offer to live with her until she makes
37:26
Speaker 11: new plans.
37:27
Speaker 2: And that is where Brittany is when she goes for
37:30
Speaker 2: that fateful walk that day in June. That's why she
37:35
Speaker 2: was at her mom's house. Let me ask you this,
37:37
Speaker 2: Kevin Horn, where was the X at the time Brittany
37:42
Speaker 2: went missing?
37:43
Speaker 6: Who was in jail at the time? Or I would
37:46
Speaker 6: have thought it had been.
37:47
Speaker 1: Him as I thought.
37:49
Speaker 2: You know how much I would love to point the
37:53
Speaker 2: finger at him. Statistically, it's always the ex, the husband,
37:56
Speaker 2: the boyfriend. But it's not this time he was where
38:00
Speaker 2: near her. He was doing time on a theft. That
38:04
Speaker 2: leaves me with a lot of unanswered questions to Jeff
38:08
Speaker 2: Lewis joining me, private investigator at Alias Investigations and lawyer
38:14
Speaker 2: Jeff Lewis, what do you think happened to Brittany?
38:19
Speaker 9: I believe that she manager of Frient's house and then
38:24
Speaker 9: something happened there. I believe it was It may have
38:27
Speaker 9: been a farewell be an accident and her friend panicked
38:31
Speaker 9: and instead of calling nine one morning, they tried to
38:34
Speaker 9: cover up what happened.
38:35
Speaker 2: Kevin Horn, what is your theory? Because you've heard the messages.
38:42
Speaker 2: You heard your sister state I'm in Louisa, I'm trying
38:47
Speaker 2: to get home. You heard that and you believe it.
38:50
Speaker 2: You heard it yourself. What do you think happened to
38:53
Speaker 2: your sister? Any chance she's still alive?
38:56
Speaker 5: I don't ever want to say that there's not chance,
39:01
Speaker 5: but I have no deep down but she's gone. And
39:07
Speaker 5: I do know she was going to her friend's house.
39:10
Speaker 5: She didn't make it to that friend's house. She got
39:13
Speaker 5: with some other friends. They went to Louisa. She was
39:16
Speaker 5: down to Louisa and she was trying to get back
39:19
Speaker 5: and she got a ride back and then that's when
39:26
Speaker 5: after that ride back, she's gone.
39:30
Speaker 2: If you know or think you know anything about the
39:34
Speaker 2: disappearance of this beautiful mom of four, Britney Horn Duff,
39:41
Speaker 2: please contact three zero four two three five six thousand.
39:46
Speaker 2: The family is offering a reward. Please if you know anything,
39:52
Speaker 2: contact police three zero four two three five six thousand.
39:59
Speaker 2: You remain anonymous. Brittany missing from her four children, lies
40:07
Speaker 2: seen on a walk on a rural road. Thank you
40:13
Speaker 2: to our guests for being with us, especially the cousin
40:18
Speaker 2: Sharon Norris and brother Kevin Horn of Brittany. Still searching
40:25
Speaker 2: for answers. We wait as justice unfalls. Goodbye friend,