Latest / Murder Files Unsealed / Brian Cohee – Dismembered a Homeless Man and Stashed the head in his closet

Transcript

Brian Cohee – Dismembered a Homeless Man and Stashed the head in his closet · Murder Files Unsealed

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Welcome back everybody for another deep dive. Today. We're going
• 0:04
  to be unpacking a pretty unsettling case, and we're going
• 0:07
  to be exploring the life and death of Warren Barnes. Yeah,
• 0:11
  who was a beloved member of the Grand Junction, Colorado community.
• 0:14
  Absolutely the troubled young man who took his life. Brian
• 0:18
  cohe the second.
• 0:19
  Speaker 2: Yeah, it's a really fascinating case, and I think it
• 0:23
  really makes you think about how we view vulnerability in
• 0:27
  our communities and the sort of invisible lines that exist.
• 0:31
  We're going to be looking at court transcripts, police interviews,
• 0:33
  witness testimonies, and even Brian's own personal writings to try
• 0:36
  and make sense of what happened here.
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: And what really struck me when I first started looking
• 0:40
  into this was how Warren was described.
• 0:43
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: He was so much more than just a homeless man. Absolutely.
• 0:46
  You know, he was known as the reading man because
• 0:48
  he could always be found with a book in hand, right.
• 0:50
  He was a familiar face at the local shops, always
• 0:53
  willing to lend a helping hand.
• 0:55
  Speaker 2: Yeah, he was really a fixture in the community by
• 0:58
  all accounts. And one of the Shakos owners, Monique Lenotti,
• 1:01
  where Warren would often spend time reading. Said it best.
• 1:05
  She said he was valued, he was loved, He is
• 1:08
  missed every single day.
• 1:11
  Speaker 1: It's just heartbreaking. Yeah, and it makes the circumstances of
• 1:14
  his death even more disturbing, because you see, Brian didn't
• 1:16
  just randomly choose Warren as his victim, right, He specifically
• 1:20
  targeted people he considered high risk individuals he believed wouldn't
• 1:24
  be missed as much.
• 1:25
  Speaker 2: It's a chilling thought, isn't it. This idea that someone
• 1:28
  could decide another person's life is less valuable based on
• 1:31
  their circumstances or their social standing.
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: Right.
• 1:34
  Speaker 2: It really forces us to confront some uncomfortable truths about
• 1:37
  how we as a society perceive, you know, the homeless
• 1:41
  and those living on the margins.
• 1:42
  Speaker 1: Yeah. Absolutely. On the night of the murder, Brian actually
• 1:45
  watched the movie nineteen eighty four with his parents, Oh Wow,
• 1:49
  which is a pretty bleak film. It is a dystopian
• 1:51
  story where the government controls every aspect of people's lives
• 1:54
  and individuality is completely crushed.
• 1:57
  Speaker 2: Yeah. And what's so striking is that in one of
• 1:59
  the police interviews, Brian actually says that he chose to
• 2:03
  target homeless individuals because quote police don't seem to care
• 2:07
  as much about high risk individuals end quote. And it
• 2:10
  makes you wonder if this theme of certain individuals being
• 2:13
  invisible to society, which is so es central to nineteen
• 2:16
  eighty four, somehow resonated with Brian and played a role
• 2:20
  in his distorted worldview.
• 2:21
  Speaker 1: Yeah. It's a disturbing possibility, for sure, and it adds
• 2:24
  another layer to the complexities of this case.
• 2:27
  Speaker 2: Yeah, so let's talk about Brian. He was nineteen at
• 2:30
  the time, and the sources paint a very complicated picture
• 2:33
  of this young man.
• 2:34
  Speaker 1: You do.
• 2:34
  Speaker 2: He had a history of mental health struggles, having been
• 2:36
  diagnosed with major depressive disorder, which can cause persistent feelings
• 2:40
  of sadness and hopelessness, as well as Asperger syndrome, which
• 2:44
  is a developmental disorder that can affect social interaction and communication.
• 2:47
  Speaker 1: Right, And you see throughout the source material this recurring
• 2:50
  theme of Brian's fascination with death and morbid subjects. And
• 2:54
  it's important to remember, you know that mental illness is
• 2:57
  incredibly complex.
• 2:58
  Speaker 2: And it doesn't necessarily lead to violence. But in Brian's case,
• 3:01
  it seems his mental health combined with this preoccupation with
• 3:04
  these dark themes seems to have played a significant role
• 3:07
  in his actions.
• 3:08
  Speaker 1: And his actions were brutal. The details from his police
• 3:11
  interviews are really hard to hear. He talked about how
• 3:14
  we planned the attacks, specifically choosing a large kitchen knife
• 3:18
  as his weapon and even putting on multiple gloves to
• 3:21
  avoid leaving behind any traces.
• 3:23
  Speaker 2: And what I find particularly unsettling is the language he
• 3:26
  uses when describing the murder itself. He talks about wanting
• 3:29
  to quote try it out end quote, which implies a
• 3:33
  sense of detachment, almost like he was experimenting rather than
• 3:36
  committing a horrific act of violence. And there's this lack
• 3:40
  of genuine remorse in his words that's really disturbing.
• 3:43
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and this lack of remorse, or at least the
• 3:45
  difficulty in recognizing it, is something that really came to
• 3:48
  light during the trial. Expert testimonies presented some conflicting perspectives
• 3:53
  on Brian's mental state at the time of the murder.
• 3:55
  Speaker 2: Yeah, you had some experts who argued that Brian clearly
• 3:58
  knew right from wrong, that his actions were premeditated and intentional.
• 4:02
  But then you had others who suggested that he might
• 4:05
  have experienced what's known as a psychotic break. Oh wow,
• 4:08
  this sort of temporary loss of contact with reality, and
• 4:11
  these breaks can lead individuals to act in ways that
• 4:14
  are totally out of character and they may not even
• 4:16
  remember what they did.
• 4:18
  Speaker 1: So the jury was really left trying to make sense
• 4:21
  of this very complex psychological puzzle. Absolutely, and to make
• 4:26
  matters even more complicated. During one of the psychological assessments,
• 4:29
  Brian talked about idolizing figures like Hitler and Ted Bundy.
• 4:34
  Speaker 2: Right, And that's certainly a red flag. But then you
• 4:36
  have other experts like doctor Spragg, who countered that this
• 4:39
  might have been more of an obsessive interest in these
• 4:41
  infamous figures rather than a literal blueprint for action.
• 4:45
  Speaker 1: Right.
• 4:45
  Speaker 2: You know, it's that age old question are we a
• 4:48
  product of our influences or are we ultimately responsible for
• 4:51
  our own choices? Right? And how do you disentangle that
• 4:54
  when mental illness is involved.
• 4:56
  Speaker 1: And then there's this other detail that really stuck with me,
• 4:58
  the fact that Brian wrote quote first end quote in
• 5:02
  his phone notes on the night of the murder. What
• 5:05
  do you make of that?
• 5:06
  Speaker 2: What's hard to say for sure, but it's certainly one
• 5:08
  of the most chilling details of the case. Was he
• 5:11
  thinking of Warren as the first in a series of
• 5:14
  potential victims, or was it something else entirely a morbid
• 5:18
  way of marking the event. It's a question that lingers
• 5:21
  a glimpse into the darkness that was swirling in Brian's mind.
• 5:25
  Speaker 1: It really makes you wonder what could have been different?
• 5:27
  Could this tragedy have been prevented. This case had a
• 5:30
  devastating impact not only on Warren's loved ones, but also
• 5:33
  on Brian's family.
• 5:35
  Speaker 2: Absolutely, imagine trying to reconcile the son, you raise, the
• 5:38
  person you thought you knew, with the individual capable of
• 5:41
  committing such a horrific act. And Brian's mother, Terry Cohe
• 5:44
  made a powerful plea during the sentencing for better mental
• 5:47
  health care. She talked about how the system failed her son,
• 5:50
  and she begged for more resources, more support, so that
• 5:53
  other families wouldn't have to endure the same kind of pain.
• 5:56
  Speaker 1: It's a really powerful statement and it raises so many
• 5:58
  questions about acidal responsibility. What if Brian had received more
• 6:03
  support earlier on what if someone had recognized the warning
• 6:06
  signs and intervened.
• 6:08
  Speaker 2: And you know, even the judge in his sentencing statement
• 6:10
  seemed to acknowledge the complexity of the situation. He recognized
• 6:14
  Brian's mental struggles while also emphasizing the gravity of his crime.
• 6:19
  He said that while mental illness might offer some explanation,
• 6:22
  it couldn't excuse the level of premeditation and brutality involved
• 6:26
  in Warren's murder.
• 6:27
  Speaker 1: It's that constant tension, isn't it trying to balance justice
• 6:30
  with understanding mental health. There are no easy answers in
• 6:33
  cases like this. Before we wrap up, I wanted to
• 6:36
  talk about the memorial that was created for Warren.
• 6:38
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 6:39
  Speaker 1: It's a metal replica of his chair, the one he
• 6:40
  would always be sitting in with a book, and it's
• 6:43
  got the titles of some of his favorite books etched
• 6:45
  into the design and on the chair there's an inscription
• 6:48
  that reads quote and you also end quote, which is
• 6:51
  a phrase he was known for using often.
• 6:53
  Speaker 2: It's a beautiful tribute and it speaks to the impact
• 6:55
  Warren had on the community. It's also a powerful reminder
• 6:59
  that behind the label of homeless, there was a real person,
• 7:02
  someone with thoughts, feelings, passions, and a story of his own,
• 7:06
  someone who was loved and is deeply missed.
• 7:09
  Speaker 1: And I think that's what stays with me the most
• 7:11
  after diving into all of this material. It's so easy
• 7:14
  to get caught up in the sensational aspects of a
• 7:16
  crime like this, but at its core, this is a
• 7:19
  story about human lives, the life that was brutally taken
• 7:23
  and the life that is forever altered by the weight
• 7:25
  of that action.
• 7:27
  Speaker 2: It's a story that challenges us to think about our
• 7:29
  own perceptions, our own prejudices, and the way we treat
• 7:31
  those who are different from us. It forces us to
• 7:34
  ask those difficult questions about mental health, societal responsibility, and
• 7:39
  the value we place on every human life.
• 7:41
  Speaker 1: And while there may never be clear cut answers to
• 7:43
  those questions, I think the very act of asking them,
• 7:46
  of grappling with these complexities is a step in the
• 7:48
  right direction. Absolutely, we can't change what happened, but maybe
• 7:52
  by understanding the factors that contributed to this tragedy, we
• 7:55
  can work towards preventing something like this from happening again.
• 7:58
  Speaker 2: We can choose to be more aware and more compassionate,
• 8:02
  more willing to reach out to those who were struggling,
• 8:04
  and maybe, just maybe that's where the real hope lies.
• 8:07
  Speaker 1: It's definitely something to think about and on that note,
• 8:09
  we'll leave you to ponder these complexities. Hmm. Thank you
• 8:12
  for joining us on this deep dive.
• 8:14
  Speaker 2: Yeah. And this lack of remorre so, or at least
• 8:16
  difficulty recognizing it, it's something that really came to light
• 8:19
  during the trial. Expert testimonies presented some conflicting perspectives on
• 8:24
  Brian's mental state at the time of the murder.
• 8:26
  Speaker 1: Yeah, he had some experts who argued that Brian clearly
• 8:29
  knew right from wrong, that his actions were premeditated and intentional.
• 8:33
  But then you had others who suggested that he might
• 8:35
  have experienced what's known as a psychotic break. It's sort
• 8:39
  of temporary loss of contact with reality. Wow. And these
• 8:42
  breaks can lead individuals to act in ways that are
• 8:45
  totally out of character, and they may not even remember
• 8:47
  what they did.
• 8:48
  Speaker 2: So the jury was really left trying to make sense
• 8:50
  of this very complex psychological puzzle. Absolutely, and to make
• 8:54
  matters even more complicated. During one of the psychological assessments,
• 8:57
  Brian talked about idolizing figures like Hitler and Ted Bundy, right,
• 9:02
  and that's certainly a red flag. But then you have
• 9:04
  other experts like doctor Spragg, who countered that this might
• 9:07
  have been more of an obsessive interest in these infamous
• 9:10
  figures rather than a literal blueprint for action. You know,
• 9:14
  it's that age old question. Are we a product of
• 9:16
  our influences or are we ultimately responsible for our own choices?
• 9:20
  And how do you disentangle that when mental illness is involved.
• 9:23
  Speaker 1: And then there's this other detail that really stuck with me,
• 9:26
  the fact that Brian wrote quote first end quote in
• 9:29
  his phone notes on the night of the murder. What
• 9:32
  do you make of that?
• 9:33
  Speaker 2: Well, it's hard to say for sure, but it's certainly
• 9:35
  one of the most chilling details of this case. Was
• 9:38
  he thinking of Warren as the first in a series
• 9:40
  of potential victims or was it something else entirely a
• 9:43
  morbid way of marking the event. It's a question that
• 9:45
  lingers a glimpse into the darkness that was swirling in
• 9:48
  Brian's mind.
• 9:49
  Speaker 1: It really makes you wonder what could have been different?
• 9:52
  Could this tragedy have been prevented? This case had a
• 9:55
  devastating impact not only on Warren's loved ones, but also
• 9:57
  on Brian's family.
• 9:59
  Speaker 2: Absolutely, I imagine trying to reconcile the sun you raise
• 10:02
  the person you thought you knew with the individual capable
• 10:05
  of committing such a horrific act. And Brian's mother, Terry
• 10:09
  Cohe made a powerful plea during the sentencing for better
• 10:12
  mental health care right. She talked about how the system
• 10:14
  failed her son and she begged for more resources, more support,
• 10:18
  so that other families wouldn't have to endure the same
• 10:20
  kind of pain.
• 10:22
  Speaker 1: It's a really powerful statement and it raises so many
• 10:24
  questions about societal responsibility. What if Brian had received more
• 10:29
  support earlier on what if someone had recognized the warning
• 10:32
  signs and intervened?
• 10:34
  Speaker 2: And you know, even the judge in his sentencing statement
• 10:37
  seemed to acknowledge the complexity of the situation. He recognized
• 10:40
  Brian's mental struggles, Yeah, while also emphasizing the gravity of
• 10:44
  his crime. He said that while mental illness might offer
• 10:47
  some explanation, it couldn't excuse the level of premeditation and
• 10:50
  brutality involved in Warren's murder.
• 10:53
  Speaker 1: Said constant tension. Isn't it trying to balance justice with
• 10:56
  understanding mental health? There are no easy answers in cases
• 10:59
  like this. Before we wrap up, I wanted to touch
• 11:01
  on the memorial that was created for Warren. Yeah, it's
• 11:05
  a metal replica of his chair. Oh wow, the one
• 11:07
  that he would always be sitting in with a book, right,
• 11:09
  And it's got the titles of some of his favorite
• 11:11
  books etched into the design.
• 11:13
  Speaker 2: Oh that's cool.
• 11:14
  Speaker 1: And on the chair there's an inscription that reads and
• 11:16
  you also, which is a phrase he was known for
• 11:20
  using often.
• 11:21
  Speaker 2: It's a beautiful tribute and it really speaks to the
• 11:23
  impact that he had on the community. Yeah, it's also
• 11:26
  just a powerful reminder that behind that label of homeless,
• 11:30
  there was a real person, you know, with thoughts and
• 11:33
  feelings and passions, right, and a story of his own,
• 11:36
  someone who was loved and is deeply missed.
• 11:39
  Speaker 1: And I think that's what stays with me the most
• 11:40
  after looking at all this material. It's so easy to
• 11:44
  get caught up in the sensational aspects of a crime
• 11:46
  like this, but at its core, this is a story
• 11:49
  about human lives, right, the life that was brutally taken
• 11:52
  and the life that is forever altered by the weight
• 11:54
  of that action.
• 11:56
  Speaker 2: It's a story that challenges us to think about our
• 11:58
  own perceptions, our own pre judices, the way we treat
• 12:01
  those who are different from us. It forces us to
• 12:03
  ask those difficult questions about mental health, societal responsibility, and
• 12:07
  the value we place on every human life.
• 12:10
  Speaker 1: And while there may never be, you know, clear cut
• 12:13
  answers to those questions, I think the very act of
• 12:16
  asking them, of grappling with these complexities is a step
• 12:20
  in the right direction. Absolutely, we can't change what happened,
• 12:23
  but maybe by understanding the factors that contributed to this tragedy,
• 12:28
  we can work towards preventing something like this from happening again.
• 12:31
  Speaker 2: We can choose to be more aware, more compassionate, more
• 12:33
  willing to reach out to those who are struggling, and maybe,
• 12:36
  just maybe that's where the real hope lies.
• 12:39
  Speaker 1: It definitely something to think about, and on that note,
• 12:41
  we'll leave you to ponder these complexities. Thanks for joining
• 12:44
  us for this deep dive.