Latest / Gone Cold - Texas True Crime / The Murder of Mickey Bryan Part 1: Nightmare Scenario

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The Murder of Mickey Bryan Part 1: Nightmare Scenario · Gone Cold - Texas True Crime

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The Gone Cold podcasts may contain violent or graphic subject matter. Listener discretion is
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advised. Clifton, Texas, is about thirty five miles northwest of Waco and
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one hundred miles south of Dallas in Bosqui County. The small town goes back
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to the eighteen fifties. After expeditions of the area satisfied European immigrants attracted to
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the rich fertile land, A group of families settled along the river and began
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farming. The beautiful scenery was a bonus, namely the Limestone cliffs, for
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which the town was originally named Cliff Town. Native people in the Central Texas
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Territory Waco, Wichita, Tonkawa, and Caddo, to name a few,
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traded with and taught the white settlers hunting, fishing, and other skills necessary
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for life in the region. Their way of life life was certainly encroached upon,
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but the tribes were peaceful mostly and even welcoming, although Clifton was not
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immune from Comanche raids. Within a decade of settling, the townsfolk built a
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schoolhouse, a post office, various businesses, and the Masonic Lodge. Though
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the Civil War stifled its growth. Clifton's population and economy grew substantially right after
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as locals became more agriculturally proficient. A flour mill powered by the Bosque River
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was constructed. By eighteen eighty, when the town became a relatively important trade
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center for the region. The Gulf Colorado and Santa Fe Railroad built a train
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station in Clifton. A newspaper, the Clifton Record, inevitably followed, as
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did bigger and better schools, banks, and mercantile storefronts. After at least
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one failed attempt, Clifton was finally incorporated in nineteen oh one. What followed
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resembled the story of hundreds of other small Texas cities, some hard times,
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of course, but also those of prosperity built on the backs of proud,
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working folks. What made Clifton an anomaly of sorts was the lack of violent
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crime throughout the twentieth century. The Clifton Record might document the arrest of someone
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who took a bar fight or property dispute too far, but it was inarguably
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a safe place to live, even as most Texas cities were seeing a steep
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rise in homicides in the nineteen eighties, including nearby Waco. Clifton appeared to
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remain relatively unscathed by the deadly trend in nineteen eighty five. In fact,
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many folks would remark that they couldn't remember the last murder to take place in
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the small city of around three thousand residents, when elementary school teacher Mickey Bryan
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was found slain in the bedroom of her home. However, no one in
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Clifton would ever forget. Born in Boskie County on May seventeenth, nineteen forty
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one, Mickey Marlene Blue was raised in the town of Clifton. The small
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Texas city isn't much different now than it was when Mickey was growing up.
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Other than the modest rise in population. Most of the same buildings still make
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up the small cities archetypal downtown, and the shallow, forest lined waters of
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the North Bosky River still flows slowly along its eastern border. Folks there still
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gather for the Friday night lights during high school football season and the Clifton Rodeo
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one weekend a year. The blood of the town's Norwegian founders continues to flow
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through the veins of many residents to this day, making her way through childhood
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and adolescence, Mickey Blue wasn't an attention seeker. She was often described as
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shy and quiet, certainly the intellectual type. Still, as a star player
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on her small town high school's basketball team, the Clifton Cubs, Mickey was
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impossible not to notice. The athletic teenager also excelled at golf and tennis,
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perhaps activities that factored into her schoolmates naming her Miss Clifton High. Along with
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her prowess on the court, Mickey was nothing if not competitive, a trait
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likely admired by her peers, as her nature was also kind, her sense
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of humor keen, and her modesty something that defied the reality of her remarkable
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character. Joe Dale Bryan, a graduate student at San Antonio's Trinity University,
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grew up on a farm just northeast of Waco in the small community of Elmmont,
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alongside his twin Jerry and older brother Jim. He'd been an acquaintance of
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Mickey Blues going way back. Joe had a cousin who lived about fourteen miles
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south of Clifton in Mossheim. At the time, the Blue family was also
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living in Mossheim, a community so small they themselves made up an almost double
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digit percentage of the population. Joe and Mickey met when they were children,
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Then about twenty years later, in nineteen sixty eight, the two crossed paths
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again. When Joe was dating Mickey's cousin trying to get back on the field
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after his failed five year marriage. They asked Mickey along on one of their
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dates. It didn't take Joe long to notice how much he and Mickey seemed
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to have in common. Like Mickey, he was approaching thirty years old,
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and Joe was also working toward his master's degree in education. Both of them
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were passionate about shaping the lives of children and helping them realize their potential.
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Mickey was smart, motivated, and well thought of by everyone who knew her,
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as was Joe, and even their differences complimented one another. Micky was
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reserved and quiet, unlike her tendency to back away from the spotlight. Joe
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welcomed it when folks were around. He was always having a good time,
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usually cutting up with someone. Joe was definitely the guy in the room everyone
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gravitated towards. He'd been a cheerleader in high school and always looked slick,
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and Joe was still a popular guy, known for his amiable and gentle personality,
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A master at making whoever he was talking to feel like they were the
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only person in the room. Mickey made him feel centered all but immediately her
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cousin was nice and all Joe thought on that date, but he couldn't shake
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the feeling he was going out with the wrong woman. That night started an
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intense romance between Mickey Blue and Joe Brian, and going forward, not a
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soul who spoke to Joe got out of the conversation without hearing about Mickey.
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They were married at a small ceremony in August nineteen sixty nine, about a
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year and a half later. Folks would go on to describe Mickey and Joe
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Brian as the perfect partners. Not only was their love and respect for one
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another past obvious, but on seemingly every task and in every effort, they
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worked together professionally and personally. Things were no different when Joe was offered the
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position of Clifton High School principal in nineteen seventy five, Mickey knew the offer
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was too good to pass up. They jumped on the opportunity and moved to
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the small city Mickey's hometown. She quickly landed a job teaching fourth grade at
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Clifton Elementary. Joe and Mickey settled in right away and began doing what they'd
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always done, devoting their professional lives and putting their hearts and souls into their
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students. Should any child under Mickey's watch at Clifton Elementary need anything, school
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supplies, a meal, clothing, whatever, she and Joe made sure they
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got it, and on their dime. Same went for any of Joe's Clifton
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High kids. The couple did it quietly and without expecting a thing in return.
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Because they couldn't have children. Mickey and Joe put everything they had into
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their students, and they absolutely loved doing it. The couple took long evening
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walks talking about their days, their smiles and laughter, suggesting they didn't have
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many that were too bad. Since the Brian home was located at their neighborhoods
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far south, just yards from Clifton's southernmost border, they had plenty of grid
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to walk to the north. They held hands as they roamed the streets of
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their neighborhood. The people of Clifton loved and respected Mickey and Joe Bran,
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especially their closest friends and colleagues in the small city, it seemed, was
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where they would spend the rest of their lives, and in a way,
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in the most unimaginable and nightmarish way, that's what happened. Sunday, October
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thirteenth, nineteen eighty five wasn't an unusual day in the life of Mickey and
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Joe Brian of Clifton, Texas, though it was one that deviated from the
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daily norm. That afternoon, forty five year old Joe hopped in his black
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nineteen eighty four Mercury Grand Marquis and headed off to attend the annual meeting of
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the Texas Association of Secondary School Principles or TASSP, which was taking place at
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the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Austin. The trip from Clifton to the Texas state
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capital is one hundred and twenty miles straight south down Interstate thirty five, and
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at that time took just over two hours. The following day, October fourth,
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thirteenth, Joe called Mickey from his hotel room at nine pm. Both
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fans of country music, they discussed the Country Music Association Awards or CMAS which
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Joe had been watching on television. They were excited that Reba McIntyre won the
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Female Vocalist Award for the second year in a row. George Strait took home
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the award for Male Vocalist and Album of the Year categories, while Ricky Skaggs
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took home the Entertainer of the Year award. As they talked, moderate rain
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showers in Austin turned into a downpour and thunderstorm. The large storm system was
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heading north toward Waco and Clifton at around nine miles per hour. By ten
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thirty pm, they talked about the storms among the many other things, and
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when the call ended, Joe told Mickey he'd see her tomorrow and that he
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loved her. She loved him too. Mickey replied she'd tomorrow. As the
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thunderstorm moved into Clifton, it remained heavy briefly before turning to a moderate followed
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by light rain, and had left a trail of dense fog in its wake.
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On the morning of Tuesday, October fifteenth, nineteen eighty five, at
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seven point fifteen, teacher Susan Kleine arrived at Clifton Elementary School to prepare for
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the day's classes. She walked by Mickey Bryan's fourth grade classroom and noticed something
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unusual. The door was closed. Miss Kleine stopped at the door and jiggled
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the handle, but it was locked. She rested the side of her open
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hand on the slim, parallel strip of glass and squinted as she peered inside.
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It was completely dark. The situation was odd. Mickey was always the
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first teacher to arrive for the day. There was no one in the district
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as serious about their job as Mickey Brian. Still things happen, Miss Kleine
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thought to herself, Micky might even be somewhere else in the building performing a
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task for the day's lesson plan. When Miss Klein noticed Mickey still hadn't arrived
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in class by eight am, however, it was abundantly clear that something was
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off. Perhaps it was school Principal Rex daniels mistake, she thought. Miss
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Kleine hurried to his office and asked if Mickey had called out for the day,
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if he'd forgotten to call in a substitute. He had not. Principal
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Daniels replied, his furrowed brow expressing his confusion. After his secretary phoned the
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Brian home. With no answer, Daniels asked her to try Mickey's parents,
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since he knew Joe was in Austin. At the THASSP meeting, Vera and
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Otis Blue, who lived a few blocks from Mickey and Joe in Clifton,
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told the secretary that they hadn't heard from their daughter since the afternoon before.
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They said they'd go to check on her, and quickly got off the phone.
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Unable to shake the feeling something was terribly wrong, Principal Rex Daniels hopped
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in his vehicle and raced there himself, shaded by several live oaks. Mickey
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and Joe Bryan's ranch style, red brick home sat on a large corner lot
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on the lower section of South Avenue, oh The block cut off from the
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majority of that long stretch of road by a thin field clustered with trees and
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brush. Principal Daniels arrived there at eight twenty a m. And immediately noticed
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the raised garage doors and Mickey's car inside. After making his way through the
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wet grass and soft ground, he got to the front porch and rang the
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doorbell. There was no answer. As he pocketed his hands and hung his
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head in thought. Mickey's folks, Otis and Vera Blue, pulled up and
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followed the front walkway to the house. They had a key, which Vera
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turned in the dead bolt. As they entered, she called her daughter's name
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in a moderately raised voice. There was no response. Vera headed straight back
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to the master bedroom. The buzzing of an alarm clock grew louder with each
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step. Otis and Principal Daniels inspected the house as they followed. When she
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reached her daughter's room, Vera cried out in anguish. The two men raced
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to her side. Although the reactions were silent, they were stricken by both
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horror and grief. Principal Daniels ordered the parents out of the master bedroom's doorway,
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knowing that studying the scene any further would only intensify their pain. Without
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entering, he looked over the room. Mickey's bloodied body laid across the bed,
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Her robe rested at the bed's end. Folded, Mickey wore nothing under
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her pink nightgown, which had been pushed up around her upper thighs. Her
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legs hung over the side of the mattress. Blood was splattered everywhere in the
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room. It was on the pillow that leaned on its side against the nightstand,
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on the lamp and shade that sat atop it, on the headboard,
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on all four walls, and the pictures that hung on them, the curtains,
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the furniture, the ceiling, and the ceiling fan everywhere. Principal Daniels
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went to the kitchen phone and dialed the Clifton Police Department. Not long after,
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when the worry had become too much, Susan Kleine and a couple other
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teachers who were on conference period at Clifton Elementary jumped in a car and hurried
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to the Brian home, but they couldn't get anywhere near the patrol cars with
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flashing lights that blocked South Avenue O and twenty third Street told the educators everything
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they needed to know. Mickey's colleagues were crushed. Meanwhile, in Austin,
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the executive secretary of the Texas Association of Secondary School Principles, Harold Massey,
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was informed of the tragedy by Texas Rangers. He quickly enlisted the help of
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three other school officials in finding Joe Bryan, who was finally located near the
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Hyatt Regency's check in desk at about ten am, demanding immediate privacy. They
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took him aside, slipped down a quiet hall, and Massey, who'd known
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Joe for years, came in close and told him the only thing he'd been
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told, that Mickey had been killed Mickey Bryan of Clifton, Texas. Joe
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asked Massey, already in the stage of grief called denial, Are you sure?
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Massey resentfully assured Joe he was. As he processed the information, Joe's
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knees grew weak and began to fail him. At around noon, Clifton School
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District Superintendent Richard Liardon arrived in Austin along with Clifton Elementary School Principal Glen Nicks.
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They'd come to drive Joe back home. In his hotel room, Joe
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laid despondent on his bed when the two arrived, and began sobbing upon the
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side of them. Both men, particularly Lierdon, were close friends of the
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Brians. The trip back home was quiet nearly the entire time, with only
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Joe's whimpers and sobs breaking the silence. A principal, who had kept a
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concerned eye on Joe back at the hotel, drove his Black nineteen eighty four
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Mercury Grand Marquis back to Clifton. When they arrived sometime around three pm,
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Joe Brian spoke with investigators, answering the few questions they had At the time.
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They kept one thousand dollars in cash in a small ten file box,
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Joe told detectives, who were more interested in the murder weapon at that point
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than taking inventory of what was missing. They asked if there were any guns
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in the house. Joe told them there was one in the bedroom, a
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three point fifty seven revolver loaded with shotshell ammunition otherwise referred to as rat shot
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or snake shot, depending on the gun owner's location or its intended use.
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To the Brians, it was snake shot, as they used it to kill
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any rattlesnakes, or copperheads that made their way to the house from the surrounding
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fields. Questioning Joe Brian didn't take long the first time, but next time
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police would be interested in a far more detailed interview. Law enforcement's presence was
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unmistakable at the home of Mickey and Joe Brian throughout Tuesday, October fifteenth,
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nineteen eighty five, and into the early morning hours of the sixteenth. Outside
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agencies were called in to assist the Clifton police. Behind the black and yellow
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tape that sealed off the Brian home, the small town department had few of
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the necessary resources at their disposal. Present were Bosky County Sheriff's deputies and Texas
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Rangers. Texas the Apartment of Public Safety investigators helped comb and analyze the crime
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scene. Neither Joe nor Mickey smoked, but a camel cigarette butt was found
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on the floor in the kitchen. There were no signs of forced entry.
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In fact, detectives struggled to nail down where the killer entered. The dead
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bolt on the front door was locked and the sliding glass patio door in the
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back was locked. The card table against the sliding glass door hadn't been moved.
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Clifton Elementary School student papers and a calculator on the table were not disturbed.
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Still, the theory that forty four year old Mickey Bryan was killed in
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a burglary gone wrong appeared to have the most evidence in its corner. They
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knew at that point there was one thousand dollars missing. They had located the
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mental file box where Joe Brian told them it should be, but it wasn't
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there. The thin layer of dust covering the top of the ten box,
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however, suggested it hadn't been opened in some time, a perplexing detail at
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the scene. Also missing was Mickey's wristwatch, a dose pesos ring, Mickey's
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gold wedding band, and the three fifty seven revolver they kept in the bedroom
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loaded with snake shot, all relatively high value items. The three fifty seven
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was almost certainly the murder weapon. Investigators at the scene believed one round of
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that caliber shot shell holds one hundred fifteen to one hundred and thirty five pellets,
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and there were hundreds of them found in the room, plenty laid scattered
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on the bedroom floor, bed and other furniture. Detectives and patrolmen assigned to
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interview neighbors reported that no one had seen or heard anything during the nighttime hours.
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The area was pitch black night. Since a narrow alley ran behind the
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Brian home, the houses were spread relatively far apart, and nothing but acres
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upon acres of field land were in front of the home. It came as
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no surprise that witnesses were scarce. While police worked the scene, of Mickey
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Brian's murder. Joe Brian was taken a few blocks up to her parents' house.
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Mickey's family was devastated and struggled to make sense of the senseless crime.
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Family friends, and neighbors also gathered at the Blue home. Most did what
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they could to console Joe. When Mickey's colleague and friend to the couple,
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Susan Klein, embraced him, he sobbed and asked what they would do without
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her? What would he do without her? Eventually, Joe ended up at
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his mother's house in Elmont to stay the night since his was a crime scene.
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The little sleep he got was not plagued by nightmares those were waiting for
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him in the waking world. A pathologist made the theory of the murder weapon
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as official as it could get. Mickey Bryan's body was transported one hundred miles
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north to undergo an autopsy at the Dallas County Medical Examiner's office. The results
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were horrific. She'd been shot a total of four times, once in the
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abdomen and three times in her head. All shots were fired at what was
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described as very close range, while one to the left side of Mickey's face
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was described as extremely close. Whoever killed her would have been covered in her
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blood. Micky had indeed been shot using snake shot rounds. There were many
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small pellets embedded in her wounds, a few of which also contained pieces of
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blue plastic or the housing that contains the pellets atop the shot shells casing.
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The homicide was estimated to have taken place between twelve am and six a m.
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On the fifteen. Vaginal swabs tested negative for seamen and showed the medical
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examiner said that Mickey had not been sexually assaulted. Robert Thorman, a detective
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with the Harker Heights, Texas Police Department, was called to the scene of
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the Mickey Brian murder. The Texas Rangers were aware Thorman had trained in blood
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stained pattern analysis, a once highly regarded forensic practice in which a trained investigator
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can recreate the sequence of the events of a crime by analyzing the spatter,
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drip, size, shape, location, and distribution of blood at its scene.
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Detective Thorman carefully inspected the Brine's master bedroom and is said to have developed
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a theory of how the crime took place, but provided no information that might
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prove useful in the investigation. On Wednesday, October sixteenth, nineteen eighty five,
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Mickey Bryan's brother, Charlie Blue, flew to Texas from his home in
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Plant City, Florida. At the time, Charlie was the vice president of
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an agricultural chemical company and also owned a ranch in Clifton where Joe sometimes helped
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out. Although they were friendly with one another, that was about the extent
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of the relationship between the brothers in law. Still, Joe was happy to
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lend Charlie his black nineteen eighty four Mercury while he was in town, at
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Charlie's request to do so. The grieving widower wasn't doing any driving anyway,
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and instead was being taxied around by friends and family. While at the funeral
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home that day discussing arrangements for Mickey's burial, Joe Brian was told Texas Ranger
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Joe Wiley wished to speak with him. Wiley was leading the investigation. Joe
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headed to the Clifton Police Department right away. The questioning was routine. When
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was the last time he spoke with his wife? Did anything seem amiss?
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How was their marriage? Things like that. Joe said he and Mickey got
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along exceptionally well, considering they were polar opposites in many regards. Because Mickey
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preferred not to go out, he often attended social engagements or activities by himself,
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though it was always with her full understanding and permission. Joe explained it
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was the only thing about their relationship he could think of that might be considered
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out of the ordinary, and even it was no big deal. Joe told
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Ranger Wiley he had no idea who would want to kill Mickey, no theories.
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The lawman told him to look around the house for the missing one thousand
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dollars, and the standard interview ended. In a later statement, Joe Brian
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gave a detailed account of his time in Austin at the convention and told police
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he went to sleep at about eleven pm at the hotel the night of the
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murder. The following day, a memorial service for Mickey Brian was held in
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the auditorium at Clifton Elementary School. More than five hundred people attended. On
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Friday October eighteenth, nineteen eighty five, Charlie Blue called private investigator and ex
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FBI agent Bud Saunders. Saunders did work for Charlie's agrochemical company, and because
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the investigation into his sister's murder seemed to be stalling, the victim's brother asked
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that the former g man come to Clifton. But it wasn't just the investigation
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stalling that had Charlie concerned, and he told Saunders as much, though he
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didn't share any of this with his brother in law. The private investigator left
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West Texas that next morning, Saturday, October nineteenth, nineteen eighty five,
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and arrived in Clifton that afternoon. After meeting at Dairy Queen, Charlie wanted
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Saunders to drive around with him so they could discuss what troubled him about his
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sister's murder investigation. In Joe Bryan's Mercury Grand Marquee, they drove around rural
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Buski County, talking for some time, Charlie said. Later in the drive,
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while still countryside, the men decided to stop on the side of the
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road and urinate. They did just that, Charlie said, and because he
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had stepped from the road and onto the shoulder Saunders he got mud on his
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boots. According to Charlie, Blue he opened the trunk to find something his
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companion could use to clean the mud. Immediately. Upon doing so, Charlie
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saw box was something peculiar. Inside Len's side. Up was a large,
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boxy handled flashlight, a kind to common at the time, with dark,
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rust colored specks that appeared to have been splattered on the lens. It looked
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a lot like blood. Charlie picked up the flashlight and gave it to Saunders.
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He agreed. They placed it back where it was discovered. Thinking paint
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and cleaning crews might be at the Brian home and hence police officers, Charlie
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claimed they headed there. The door was unlocked, but after looking inside and
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discovering no one was there, he continued. He and Saunders drove to a
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payphone and called the Texas Rangers. Ranger Wiley quickly obtained a search warrant and
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executed it just after midnight on Sunday the twentieth, now five days after the
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murder of Mickey Brian. The vehicle's interior was gone over carefully. It was
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clean, not much to see there at all. In the trunk, Ranger
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Wiley found and bagged the flashlight for evidence, as well as a few other
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items. Photographs of the entire process documented the search and the confiscated property.
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Was sent to a state crime lab in Waco to be tested and analyzed.
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There was no money found in the trunk, nor any other items missing from
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the Brian home. After he searched Joe's car and instead of impounding it as
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evidence, Ranger Wiley released it back to Charlie Blue. He and Bud Saunders
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drove the Mercury back to the Brian home and left it in the driveway with
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a copy of the search warrant in the trunk. That was four a m.
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Three hours later, both men were gone. Charlie was at the airport
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in Austin awaiting the departure of his flight back to Florida, and Saunders presumably
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on his way back to his home in Midland after his car had been out
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of his possession for four days. A flashlight was claimed to be discovered in
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the trunk and a search warrant executed as the result, all within a time
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span of just a few hours. Joe Brian was none the wiser that Sunday,
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October twentieth, nineteen eighty five, Joe picked up the keys to his
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car at the home of Otis and Vera Blue, Mickey's parents, just hours
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after Texas rangers inspected it. After that, Joe began the drive back to
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his mom's house in Elmmott. On the way, he stopped to get gas.
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Joe used fuel additive when he filled up, which he kept in the
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trunk. When he opened it, he caught sight of a brown money bag,
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and it all came back to him. Joe would later explain a couple
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weeks earlier, he and Mickey had gone into Waco to purchase some shrubbery.
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That's why the back of cash wasn't in the metal box. He'd stashed the
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money in the trunk to keep it safe and had forgotten inside the brown bag
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was eight hundred and fifty dollars, presumably they'd spent one hundred and fifty in
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Waco. The next morning, Joe called the Clifton Police Department to report that
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the money had never been missing at all. Chief Robert brennand asked him to
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come to the station to give a statement, and Joe readily agreed. When
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asked about the flashlight, Joe said the last time he saw it was in
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his and Mickey's bedroom on a dresser. Texas Ranger Joe Wiley got word of
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Joe Brin's story about the found money, of course, and since he'd executed
34:22
a search warrant on the vehicle less than forty eight hours before and made no
34:27
such discovery, was convinced the widower was lying. Then the lawman received the
34:34
test results from the flashlight the dark rust colored specs the test determined were Type
34:42
O human blood. DNA testing in criminal investigations was not a thing in nineteen
34:49
eighty five. It was all about blood typing. Though Type O blood is
34:53
the most common in the United States, it was also the blood type of
34:59
Mickey Brian. Because the crime lab technician also found minute pieces of blue plastic
35:05
that appeared to have come from a snake shot round, it seemed certain,
35:09
at least to the cops, that Joe Brian was responsible for Mickey's murder.
35:16
Texas Ranger Wiley began following every trail he could, from bank statements to records
35:23
of his credit card use, particularly for proof he had purchased enough gas to
35:29
drive to and from Clifton in the middle of the night Mickey was slain.
35:35
It was a little more than a two hour drive each way, and investigators
35:38
believed Joe Brian could have easily made the trips in the approximately six hour window
35:45
the time of death estimation allowed for that was the running theory, and after
35:51
he'd shot his wife to death at an extremely close range, that theory maintained
35:57
he'd cleaned himself of Mickey's blood and changed clothes. This evidence did not seal
36:04
up the theory with a neat pretty bow, however, but a motive law
36:08
enforcement believed would. As they began questioning Mickey and Joe's friends, family,
36:15
and colleagues, a common theme developed. There were rumors Ranger Wiley insisted that
36:22
Joe was gay, and he wondered if they suspected as much. The Chippendale's
36:29
calendar found in the trunk of Joe's car, featuring tanned, often mustachioed,
36:35
and always scantily clad hunks, the ranger believed, certainly backed up this notion.
36:42
They found no man who said Joe had made any sexual advancements toward them,
36:46
and also no one who'd seen him do so, but they did draw
36:51
distinctions from common stereotypes. He played the piano, read books, and liked
36:58
to cook, as opposed to hunt and drinking with the boys. He'd been
37:01
a cheerleader in high school. Joe was warm and attentive to the feelings and
37:07
emotions of others. One detective's notes listed feminine acting after the tagline he gay
37:15
question mark, and in a parallel column went so far as to write she
37:20
lesbian question mark, referring, of course, to Mickey. A common tactic
37:27
of some Texas rangers, Wiley built a narrative instead of following one to its
37:31
natural conclusion. He knew damn well that painting Joe as a gay man would
37:37
work in his favor, particularly in small town, socially conservative Texas, where
37:44
at the time that sexual orientation was against the law. Although they'd managed to
37:51
get rumors swirling around Clifton where there were none before, they could not prove
37:55
a secret life on paper. Never called anyone other than his wife and family,
38:02
other than local businesses. According to phone records, not a one of
38:07
those businesses, it should be noted, were called repeatedly. He told investigators
38:13
that the Chippendale pinup calendar was a gag gift for a friend that he and
38:17
Mickey had purchased together. Joe and Mickey's closest friends adamantly denied investigators persistent and
38:27
incessant dirt digging, but the damage it seemed was done. There was only
38:34
one other angle that immediately burned you at the stake in nineteen eighty five Devil
38:38
Worship. On the evening of Wednesday, October twenty third, nineteen eighty five,
38:45
the cops showed up at the home of Joe Brian's mother in Elmont,
38:50
Texas. They were welcomed into the living room of the home. Joe,
38:55
he later said, was glad to see them, believing at first they were
39:00
there with news of forward movement in his wife's murder case. But perhaps that
39:06
initial thought demonstrated the man's innocent naivety better than just about anything else might considering.
39:14
The visiting authorities were Clifton Police Chief Robert brennand Buskie County Sheriff Denny Prophet,
39:21
and Texas Ranger Joe Wiley. Arrest warrant in hand, Wiley informed forty
39:27
five year old Joe Dale Bryan that he was under arrest for the murder of
39:31
his wife, forty four year old Mickey Marlene Brian. You have got to
39:37
be kidding me, reacted Joe. On what evidence he was read as rights
39:43
as he was handcuffed and led out the door, awaiting television news crew documented
39:49
Joe's escort to a police cruiser eight days after Mickey was killed. Joe's nightmare
39:55
was far from over coming. Up on Gone Cold, Texas True Crime,
40:04
The Trials of Joe Bryan, Pseudoscientific Evidence, the Murder of Judy Whitley,
40:10
and the Killer Cop. But first residents of Clifton and Bosky County struggled to
40:16
remember the last time a local murder took place before the two in nineteen eighty
40:22
five. Those short term memories were in stark contrast to an increase in area
40:28
of violence in the mid nineteen eighties, including the murder of thirteen year old
40:32
Helen Kilgore. If you like Gone Cold's mission to renew the public's interest in
40:39
cold cases, you can support the show at Patreon dot com slash Gone Cold
40:45
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more than words can express. You can find Gone Cold online at Goncold,
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dot com, or on nearly all the social media platforms by searching at Gone
41:15
Cold Podcast. You can also find a link in bio in the episode's description.
41:22
Thanks for listening, y'all.