20/20 - Murder at the U

Episode Date: March 7, 2026

When a college football player destined for the NFL is murdered, his mother questions whether police have done enough to solve the case. 20/20 and ESPN investigate. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In communities across Canada, hourly Amazon employees can grow their skills and their paycheck by enrolling in free skills training programs for in-demand fields. Learn more at aboutamazon.ca. The shooting happened right down southwest 77th Avenue here in the parking lot of Pada's apartment building, and tonight, Miami-Dade police are searching for his killer. Yeah, Brian Pada was a defensive star in the Miami Hurricanes. He was going to be in the NFL in just a few months. I said, what do you mean, they killed him?

Like, why? Why would somebody do this? It was just coming home. I had just gotten home from work. And as I answered the phone, it was my mom. And my mom shared with me, you haven't heard. Sidney is dead. I just paused. Started screaming.

Brian Potta's mother got to the scene and she was told that her son had been killed. I mean, it was devastating. It looked like one of those scenes you'd see in a movie of a mother just wailing and it was heartbreak. It was a scream, a pain that was just coming from her soul or gut. And I was like, oh my god, this is real. She hugged me, Edric. Sidney is gone. Sidney is gone.

I was like, oh my, I started to cry so bad. My son's very good son never have a problem with nobody. You know, my God, it's gone. You're watching the rawest of emotions. You're watching someone deal with a tragedy in real time. This is a very private emotional moment, but it's being broadcast on live TV. And little did we know in that moment how much more devastating it would become. Life has always been a challenge in obstacles of test of who I am and what I will become.

My name is Brian Padder and this is my story. It's game time. Brian Padda was larger than life. His aura, it just stuck out. He always gets everybody to kind of gravitate towards him. Feel me get to get my biceps out. We got those cameras like the year before. Come in a minute, though. See what's up to the camera, though?

As soon as he got it, everybody was walking around with him. Everybody always taking videos. It's a true encapsulation of who this person was at that age, living in Miami, being a star football player. Take off the shirt. Brian Z was always filming. He had to be in front of the cameras. He had to be recording him dancing. Duhu-uhu-uh.

If you look at him, you know, it may be. be a little intimidating, but he was a great person. He had a great heart, great spirit. His smile could just light up room when he came in. He made everybody laugh. It was just, he had a soft heart and really love people. He could see this huge guy that looks, you know, this football player. But for me, I look past that.

I knew the soft side of him. That's the brother I remember. Brian Paddock came from a big family. He had an even larger extended family when you consider the football team, the people in his life and community who looked up to him. My mom, she's from Haiti. Like most parents, to be successful in this country, you know, you have the dream, the American dream that come in and work hard.

It was a, it was quite a struggle for my mom, you know, single parent home, you know, they try to make ends meet. It's a total of nine children. So there were six boys. and three girls. Brian was the last of the nine. You never called Brian at home. You never called him Ryan.

Everybody outside knew of him as Brian, but we knew him as Sydney. Brian patted, like a lot of people in Miami, didn't have it easy. They moved around a lot, spent a lot of time in Little Haiti and the North Miami. Brian and his brothers, they were sports crazy. For them, it was a way to get away from some of the troubles

in the neighborhoods that they lived in. Sports was for us pretty much our only way to get to college, to afford college. That's why we, part of the reason why we worked so hard at it. When I first met Brian, I was just like, wow, this guy is unbelievable talent. Brian physically was so gifted in high school. You knew this was somebody who could play at a high level in college. Ryan was heavily recruited out of high school. But he knew he wanted to stay in this region and he wanted to stay in this area.

But it ultimately came down to being close to his mind. There was only one school for Brian, and that was the University of Miami. He swarmed and crossed down, Brian Patton. He has a motor that will not stop. Miami Hurricanes in the early 2000s, hands down, is the best team of all time. Brian Padda was high-performing player on a team that was highly regarded. A lot of people think he would have had a long, substantial career in the NFL.

With Brian, his biggest hope was to make it to the NFL be as successful as possibly can be. be in order for him to take care of his family. He was a big baby. He'll be sitting in the locker and like he'll just be laughing, laugh, like, what are you laughing at? What are you laughing at? And he'll be listening to his message. His mom just left for him and she'd be like, boy,

I dream you today. And like, it used to make me laugh too. She babied him, I mean, she loved him so much, you know. Yeah. And we all did. Brian would be on the phone with his mom, that every single day they talked, he always made sure he checked in with her.

This trajectory that Brian Padda was on was not his alone, his mother. She was on this journey with him. What are you making? Oh man, I'm fucking little fish, Poderos. Fish. He was going to experience the American dream.

which is to have a better life than your parents had and to share that with them. And that whole trajectory was just derailed. My day police at fire with the emergency say? Hello. Yeah? Hello. What happened there? Somebody got shot. The guy's on the ground.

I don't know where he's breathing from, but he's on the ground, man. When police arrive, they start cordoning off the area. At some point, my point, my name. Miami-Aid police realizes that they need an assistant state's attorney's office representative to be there. They phoned Herbert Walker, who was on call that night. By the time I got to the scene, you could already see people beginning to gather around it. The night of the shooting, there was just a lot of police lights, people in the area, everybody wanted to find out what happened. And everybody sort of calling each other, what's going on, what happened.

what happened. The initial incident, I remember meeting with friends and family members just to gather information. My experience as a prosecutor, time is of the essence, and the clock is ticking. In the hours after Brian's murder, the Miami football team didn't know if this was an attack on Brian or if this was going to be an attack on multiple players. That summer, another teammate got shot a couple months prior to Brian Patton. Ambusch coming out of his house.

I was scared myself. And nobody knows what happened. I thought somebody was trying to kill me, too. This is Murder at the U. I'm Paula Levine. I got started on this in the spring of 2018. We were just gathering sound. At some point, we realized we had enough sound

and enough of a story to make it a true podcast. The podcast itself didn't really come to fruition until the story seemed a little more complete. from 30 for 30 podcasts We had a killer amongst us Murder at the U The podcast is the result of eight years of investigative reporting by ESPN

I would say we've interviewed more than 100 people We've gathered more than 5,000 police documents Anything we've been able to get our hands on has helped us in our investigation to this point A star player on a major college football team murdered near campus, just a few months shy of the NFL draft. Brian Padda was an outstanding defensive lineman with UM and was being talked about as an NFL prospect

until about 7.30 tonight when he was shot and killed in the parking lot of his apartment building. A woman believed to be Padda's mother wearing a UM jersey with his number on it collapsed as she rushed to the scene. Other family and friends were overcome, the news. In the weeks leading up to Brian Padda's death, his family had noticed some things that made them think that Brian thought something bad was going to happen to him. I last saw Brian that Sunday on the 4th. I cooked a huge meal for him. My mom and I, he came over. He just seemed kind of just really mellow, quiet. He just spaced out. And his head was down the whole time, kept rubbing his hair, and his hair

was in front of his face. Just kept rubbing his head like this. His spirit was awful. He, we don't know. He couldn't explain it. And I remember him leaving, and he said, thank you, sis, and gave me a big hug. It seemed like he was so far away from me, but he was literally right there. And I'm like, okay, I love you. I'll see you soon. And not knowing that would be my last conversation with him. November 7, 2006, pretty average day for Brian, he and his teammate, Eric Moncourt, decide that they're going to go register for spring classes.

We went over, we registered for classes, and then we went over and got something to eat. After that, we went back to the heck of athletic facility. We had a great day of practice. After practice, we were told by one of Brian's teammates, Chris Zellner, that he was in the locker room. There was a call that Chris Zellner overheard, where it seemed like somebody was threatening Brian.

just happened to be just me and Brian left in the locker room and then he received the phone call. It started off as a normal call and then it got started getting heated. Brian started to say like you if you want to come see me come see me you know where the f*** I'm at. You, they hung up. I looked over. I didn't want to be too nosey and I was just like, hey man are you good? Like you straight. So that was the angriest I've ever seen Brian powder like ever. After practice is done, Brian When gets in his car, he's heading home, he sees some of the younger teammates. He offers them a ride home and drops them off.

Brian arrives home around 6.57. He's on the phone with his brother Fednoll, and he says to him, I'm going to let you go now. I just pulled in. Brian pulls into the parking lot in front of his apartment complex and exits his car. Within police estimate, probably two minutes of that, he gets shot in the head. Brian's girlfriend, Jada Brody, says she heard a bang and people arguing.

Jada goes outside to investigate. She sees Brian Pada laying face down on a sidewalk, feet from his car. She thinks he's joking because he's his jokester and realizes that there's a pool of blood around his head. There's police cars, Fire rescue everywhere. They basically gave me the quick overview of what had happened and told me that Mr. Potter was found face down on the sidewalk.

I saw a large black male just about 20 feet from the entrance to his apartment. There appeared to be an entrance wound to the back of the head and it was a single shot. Based upon the fact that we didn't find any shell casings, it was suspected that it would have been a smaller caliber. revolver-style handgun. It was clearly not done as a robbery. They found Brian's wallet. There were nine $100 bills still in it. His cell phone, like no one had stolen anything.

To me, this might have been more in the line of a hit, a targeted assassination, if you will. All through the night, the police canvassed the colony apartments, knocking on every door. But they turned up no eyewitnesses. There was no security camera footage. There was no obvious trace of the killer other than the bullet that had pierced Brian's skull.

It was the worst feeling I ever had in my whole life. As an older brother, you always want to protect your younger brothers. And I felt like I wasn't there to protect him. It was awful. Awful. Who could have wanted a rising football star with a promising future dead? Detectives began asking questions that night, asking Brian's family and teammates if he had any enemies, if he'd been in any fights,

if he was worried for his safety. Turns out, the answer to all of those questions was yes. There's a dangerous, sexy, cool reputation in this town, and if you are a college football player at the University of Miami, it's game time, family serious. You are going to get caught up in that fast living lifestyle very quickly. But you notice you boy, a container, big fatter. You know what I'm saying, just showing y'all on my cars or whatnot. That was Brian. I was Brian.

Yeah, he was that flashy. Check you out on my inside. You check me out. Ooh, whee. He was very flashy. Back in the days, I'd steal all the UM players, cars. Cave Brown. This is DJ don't. Brian came to the shop.

This is what he wanted right here. This is his favorite color right here. Candleapal gold that served luck. He loved that. Lyne's love of cars came during a time when a lot of kids his age were doing a lot of the same thing. He had a great joy of buying old classic cars, fixing them up, and then flipping them on the internet.

Just showing you all my work, what I could do to my cars. He enjoyed that aspect of taking something, making it beautiful, and then trying to get to fuck off of it. That was one of the things that Brian wanted to do once he got successful and got paid in the pros is opening up a car truck. Jamming to that Rick Ross going on that way to my apartment now. US One going south.

In 2006, MTV Cribs was a show that was still popular. On this episode of MTV Cribs, NFL edition. Welcome MTV Cribs. I thought, well, this would be really cool if we could start doing this with local athletes and sort of make it a local story. I was working for the Miami Herald. I was a high school slash college football writer. And because of my long relationship with Brian Potter,

I just felt like he was the perfect candidate because he was one of those top ranked players who didn't feel like he was too big for you. He wanted to help tell his story. I attached a microphone with a tape recorder to Brian's shirt and we recorded it. What up, y'all? I'm Brian Patter, University of Miami, Davis-Tago.

What's up? If you walk in, it's a townhouse, two-bedroom, two and a half bathroom. There's a living room, you know, we got not that much stuff, but it's decent for athletes. I broke the TV, I kind of spilled juice on it, so no TV there by the cable box. Check out in the kitchen. You know, we keep it clean, you know, probably got one dish in here, one cup. Going upstairs to the room. This is my room.

You know, it's a ike. It's not, you know, spectacular, nothing like that, but this is a little collage of me and my girl. Jader Brody was at the time of Brian's death, his girlfriend. They had been together for exactly a year. She had moved into his apartment earlier that summer. I introduced Brian to his girlfriend Jada. My name is Dave Howell, and I was friends and teammates with Brian Petter.

Brian Petter. We were at a on-campus party, and he ended up noticing her from like afar. And he was just like, you know, who is that? I was like, oh, I know her. I went to high school with her. Her name is Jada. He was just like, you know, can you hook us up?

And I introduced them. That's Jada? Yeah. Brian was not, you know, some serial date her and all that. He was a typical, yeah, just a typical college student. And I think at that point, He just kind of settled down a little bit, wanted to take this relationship a little more serious with Jada. They had their fights, they had their love.

They were just a typical college couple. The day that he was killed, the night before, they were celebrating their one-year anniversary. So it seemed like they were, you know, they were on cloud nine to me. According to what she told detectives, Jada was in the apartment cleaning out her dog's kennel. She told police that she heard an argument outside, possibly brought. Brian's voice and went to see what was going on. She saw Brian lying on the ground. At first, she thought he was playing a prank.

Then she saw blood around his head. Jada said she ran back upstairs to call 911. You never know who might be a possible suspect, and at that point, everybody's a suspect. One of the things that police looked into and that we looked into as well were some conflicts that Brian apparently had with Jada's family. The police found that in the spring of 2006, Jada told her father Jerry that Brian had broken up with her because he suspected her of cheating on him. Jerry told police that he then called Brian to warn him not to speak disrespectfully about his daughter.

The conversation with Jerry led detectives to Jada's twin brother, Jerome. Jerome Brody had been in and out of jail for various offenses, and his father said that Jerome would have killed anyone who messed with the family. You might have a situation where a brother, a sibling, might feel strongly enough that he might take matters into his own hands. About a month after Brian's murder, Jada Brody's brother, Jerome Brody, ends up getting arrested in Boston,

and as part of the arrest, police find some guns in a vehicle. Miami-Dade gets this information that they have those guns tested to see if they're a match to the bullet found in Brian's skull. Miami-Dade police flew up to Boston, tried to speak with Jerome. He was unwilling to speak, but those guns that Jerome had didn't match any possibility to Brian. We did our new diligence and we couldn't place him in the area.

Jada's twin brother and other members of her family were deemed not to be involved. The police started going down all of these different rabbit holes, but they actually were starting to look at some of the family. to look at someone much closer to Brian. Hello. Whether Brian got mixed up with the wrong girl is one of the questions that certainly the investigative team looked into. Is there an ex-boyfriend that is upset that she left him? Crimes with passion cause passion and action.

2020 is partnering with Vives, open-ear wireless headphones. That's VyB-Z. If you listen to a lot of true crime, you probably like to listen with a good pair of headphones. But it can be tricky to find a pair that provides great sound quality that's not too immersive. Because when you're out with a podcast during a late night dog walk or a pre-dawn run, you don't necessarily want noise cancellation that blocks out the sounds around you. That's why you want to get yourself a pair of vibes, your perfect companion in audio. They're designed for maximum comfort with ultra-lightweight earbuds that just sit outside the ear canal.

And they offer crystal clear audio. No matter what you're listening to, whether it's your favorite song or a sound-rich true crime podcast, it'll come across loud and clear and silky smooth. The battery lasts up to 10 hours per charge, and they come in a range of sleek modern colors and styles. So what are you waiting for? Order now, and you'll be listening to Better Sound with Better headphones before you know it.

For a limited time, our listeners can get more than 60% off a pair of Vib's wireless headphones. Just go to ABCsecret Savings.com slash 2020. Again, that's ABCsecret Savings.com slash 2020. ABCsecret Savings.com. This show is sponsored by Bombas. If people are asking you if you're still working on your New Year's resolutions, well, here's a new one to add to your list. Get more comfortable.

And you can do that with Bombas. Bombas makes everyday go-to items that bring serious comfort, like luxurious Sunday slippers that feel like you're walking on clouds, sweat-wicking sports socks tailored to any sport or activity you can come up with, and premium everyday t-shirts that are flexible. breathable and buttery soft. And your feet will love wearing the sports socks to the gym or lounging in your Sunday slippers at home on a rainy day. And there's an added bonus.

For every item you purchase, an essential clothing item is donated to someone facing housing insecurity. That's one purchased, one donated, with over 150 million donations and counting. Head over to bumbas.com slash 20 and use code 20, T-W-E-N-T-Y for 20. 20% off your first purchase. That's B-O-M-B-A-S.com slash 20 and the code T-W-E-N-T-Y at checkout. Brian Padda, a defensive lineman for the Miami Hurricanes. Brian Padda was shot and killed. Brian Paddle was a great leader.

A team leader. A selfless, fun-loving kid. Teachers loved him. A tragedy, we missed Brian Padda. Brian was laid to rest at the New Birth Baptist Church in Miami. The amount of people that was coming in, I think it was like over 2,000 people. I remember a mom passing out, crying. Passed out completely.

Yeah, completely passed out. A lot of our teammates was there. You know, it was a sad day, man. It was a hard day. Seeing a lot of teammates break down and start crying. It was a really tough day for the University of Miami. Look at this moment here. At the first game after Brian's murder, the team kneeled for a moment of prayer and silent reflection midfield with this big banner.

Brian Potter's image, the slain hurricane teammate, a banner that fans made and the team gathering around it at midfield. That was rough. We were just like numb, you know? You didn't feel like playing the football, you know what I mean? Like the teammate just got killed. months before Brian was murdered. One of his friends had purchased for him a suit to wear to draft day. Brian had picked us out to wear this draft, and they had it all out,

and that's when it hit me then, just looking at that, it's supposed to be the best night of his life, and this is the worst. You've got to bury him in it. There's an alternate universe in which this tragedy doesn't occur, where Brian Padda goes on to the NFL, And he would have been a multi-millionaire. It would have been another Miami Hurricanes American Dream story. Everybody wanted to find out what happened.

Just a lot of questions, who did this? Who would have wanted to kill Ryan Potter? In the hours after Brian's murder, the Miami football team decided to bring all of the players back to the Athletic Center, the Heck Center, to brief them all on what had happened. The one glaring thing that people noticed, is that there was one player not there.

Brian had an issue with one player on a team, and that was Rashon Jones. He didn't like him, he didn't get along. He's not a good person. Brian Potta's name was buzzing at that time. There was a lot of talk about his future, a lot of hype about him going into the NFL draft. Roshan Jones was more of a background player.

You didn't hear his name a whole lot. Roshan Jones was a safety on the football team, a defensive back, really didn't play very much. I looked at him as like a cool, young guy. Jokester. You could tell by the way he worked on the field. He was somebody who was passionate about the game. He was a lady's man. I mean, I knew every time I seen him,

he was trying to, you know, get out the girls. In the early days of the investigation, police came across a specific beef that Brian had with Roshan and it was largely over Jada Brody, Brian's girlfriend. Prior to Brian and Jada being in a relationship, it was rumored that Roshan and was and Jada had some form of relationship. That is what the friction that was there

between Brian and Rashan. According to some of Brian's teammates, there would be taunting about, you know, she's my girl. There was definite jealousy and factors there that put those two at odds over who she liked, who she was dating, and what her history was with both guys. He just said that the guy,

kept trying to fight him. And so they kept getting to these little fights. In 2004, there was an incident between Rishan and Brian that had happened on campus in one of their dorm rooms. The dorm fight, me, Brian, and Eric were walking up to Eric's room. And at that time, we saw Rishan leaving out of the room. We were just kind of like confused, like, why is he in there? I don't know, he said he was looking for DVDs.

He was trying to apologize to me, but. But, you know, I really didn't want to, like, hear it. You know, I was just tired. I was ready to go to sleep because I had to be up in a few hours. Rishan ends up trying to, you know, leave out of the room. And then Brian ended up punching Rishan. And me and Eric kind of looked at each other like, did it really just escalate, like, that fast?

I broke it up when Rishan was walking out. He told Brian he might as well go ahead and clip up. heard Rashan say to Brian, you better clip up, meaning that he better get a gun. I was like, y'all about to shoot each other right now? You're a . Like, you know what I mean? I'm about to go to sleep.

Like, I'll, you know, I'll holl at you. Roshan Jones threatened Brian. So you never take anybody who'd threaten your life lightly like that. I don't think that he looked at that as like a threat. I mean, he never really mentioned it after. mentioned it after. You know what I mean? Here's what we had learned about Rishon. Rishon had conflicts with Brian. He would have known the hurricane's practice schedule and what time Brian would arrive home.

According to the police report, there were no eyewitnesses to the shooting. No murder weapon was ever found. And there was no record of any physical evidence linking Rishan to the crime. Clearly the name Rishon Jones came up. But it was on a list of many names that we were looking at. Initially, police looked into a broad string of incidents involving Miami football team, but they weren't able to make any connection to Brian's shooting. As the investigation continued and police widened their search,

they realized there was a long list of people who may have wanted to harm Brian. At one point, the police had been alerted by a jailhouse snitch that his cellmate had allegedly confessed to him one night. As part of vetting, the police had the informant to take a polygraph. No rest as of yet as police in Miami continue their investigation. Brian Pada, senior defensive lineman from Miami, gunned down at the age of 22. The murder of Brian Pada took on mythological proportions in this town. It was like everybody had a different theory.

We learned that Brian had a busy life. It wasn't just football and his girlfriend. He was involved in a lot of things. The investigation at the start went in so many different directions. There were so many different angles they were trying to go with. I felt like the police just didn't know which leads to really, truly go for. It wasn't a limited field of suspects. You need to follow the evidence.

One of the tips that came into the Miami-Dade Police was that if they wanted to find Brian Pattis Killer, they needed to look for ties with the Zopound gang. Zopon's a well-known gang in the Miami area. They were notorious for doing crimes of great violence. Zopan was featured as one of the bad guys and one of the Will Smith Martin Lawrence, Bad Boys movies. Yo, dry off, sweetheart, that's Ice Pick.

He said the Haitian Zopan's about to do a rep, let's move. There is no indication that Brian was a member of this gang, but there were members of the Zopound gang who told us that, They were aware of Brian that they knew him. The homicide detectives weren't able to bring back anything that would tie a specific action of the Zopound to this incident. There was a lot of talk about Brian getting into fights with some pretty potentially dangerous characters. Oh, boy. It is not uncommon at all to see bad blood lead to fists being thrown in a nightclub in Miami.

A few months before Brian is killed, Brian and some of his teammates are at a club called Club Life. And they get into an altercation with some guys there who belong to a gang. There was definitely a physical confrontation. Brian's throwing punches and he's clearly involved in the fight. And as they are leaving, members of this gang are telling them, we're going to come after you for this. And one of the teammates with Brian at the time is calling Brian and telling him that, you know, someone's got a hit out on us. At first, Brian was definitely worried about these guys. His girlfriend found him sleeping in the closet where he kept his shotgun.

And I think that that was certainly a reasonable indication of concern or fear or paranoia on Brian's part. The club life investigation didn't seem to go anywhere, but then a few months later, the police got another promising lead, an alleged jailhouse confession. There was a jailhouse informant. His name was Bernard Brinson. And he claimed that he was having a conversation with another inmate by the name of Emmanuel Jones. And Emmanuel Jones would end up telling him that he got paid to do a hit and that he believed that the person he got paid. to do the hit on was Brian Padda. They went and actually administered a lie detector test, and the jailhouse snitch passed the lie detector test.

Back in 2007, police had quickly ruled Emmanuel Jones out as a suspect. There is evidence in the police records that that man had an alibi because he was in jail on November 7, 2006. But we discovered the police had the timeline of his arrest all wrong. That robbery took place in August 2006. But Jones wasn't actually arrested until December, a month after Brian's murder. Miami police did not respond to our requests for comment. Years later, I was able to actually track down the alleged confessor, Emmanuel Jones. And I got him on the phone, and I was trying to bring him back to that time period in 2006.

If someone were to say, hey, you confess to this murder, do you remember where you were in November? I was nowhere around no murder. I don't know anything about no murder. They wrote he had an alibi. He was in jail for stealing a dirt bike in an armed robbery. There was all this talk of jailhouse confessions and tales of professional hits. All of this just swirled because there was just this. this emptiness that the police couldn't fill. You hear this person's the lead person, and next week someone else is the lead person. When it took longer than six months, all of a sudden, it was like, like, what's going on?

Now a tragedy that has no closure, no conclusion, and no answers, the murder of Brian Potter. It takes too long to know who kill him. I don't know what to say anymore. Every day I'm talking, we try to call a detective to ask them question. They don't want to pick up the phone. We leave their message. They don't call back. It feels like Miami-Dade needed to do something new.

Their hand was almost forced into doing something creative. As a reporter, I try to stay out of the story. But sometimes the work you do to get the story and what you uncover changes it. That's exactly what happened here. To my knowledge, this is the first time a police entity has ever reached out to ESPN for help with a case like this. 911, where is the emergency? It's the middle of the night in a small town on the Jersey Shore. Someone reports an abandoned car on a bridge.

A search gets underway for the missing driver, 19-year-old Sarah Stern. Is it a missing person? Is it a suicide? At this point, nobody knows. Old friendships. buried cash and a sinister plot that was once pitched as a movie plays out in real life. I'm Jiu Chang from 2020 and ABC Audio. Listen to Bridge of Lies.

Coming March 10th, wherever you listen to podcasts. Friends like these, the murder of Skylar Nice is now streaming on Hulu and Hulu on Disney Plus. 9-1-1, do you have an emergency? I have a 16-year-old daughter. I can't get a hold of her. I am scared to death. We wanted to talk to Skyler's friends. They're not telling the full story. The truth is gruesomely horrific. How could you do this to your best friend?

There's a darker secret that's not been said. Watch the new Hulu original series, Friends Like These, The Murder of Skyler Nees on Hulu and Hulu on Disney Plus. For bundle subscribers, terms apply. Welcome inside Radio City Music Hall. The 2007 NFL Draft is now open. In April of 2007, the NFL draft was, held at Radio City Music Hall.

The Chicago Bears take Greg Olson, tight end, Miami. Seeing those guys that he knew and get picked, it was real sad to watch. Introduce yourself, eh? I am Greg Olson. How you doing, Pat? Greg Olson and Brian were good friends on the team. After Brian's death, Greg Olson went on to have

an incredible NFL career and a long broadcast career after. It reminds you of what could have been for Brian, the life that he could have lived. It isn't entirely clear to us how this case ended up becoming a cold case. There was a ton of media attention at the time, but fell off. The family reached a point that they were very frustrated

with the police efforts to finding answers. When you look at the police file, you see very, very little new inserts from 2010 to 2008. It was almost like nothing had been done. It's March of 2017, and the family is holding a joint press conference with Miami-Did ADPD. It's hurt. It's hurt.

It's hurt. 10 years enough. We don't hear nothing for my son. Brian's mother turns very accusatory towards Miami-Dade police. They don't working against the world. Does he stay in the way? I think it was the pressure from the family that finally prompted the Miami-Dade Police Department to reach out to the media to see, okay, look, the family wants us to do something.

Let's at least make the effort to put the word out there again and see if we can generate some leads. Maybe now 10 years later, somebody who might have information might be an adult now. Maybe they'll do the right thing and make that one phone call that we need. So in the summer of 2017, Miami-Dade police reached out to ESPN in the hopes that we would produce a feature. I can't wait for this matchup tonight. Hoping that it might trigger something and somebody watching it. We discussed it internally and thought, let's see if there's something more to this story than just a college game day piece.

You know, we're ready to kind of jump in with both seats and then see what we can do to move the case forward, if you will. That sounds great to me. Yeah, that sounds awesome. We would ask lots of questions. A lot of them they couldn't answer, but a lot of them they did. What do you know if anything about maybe what led up to it or if there was an argument or anything? We don't know if he had bad blood with anybody. As right now, we really don't have a motive.

One of the things that really drives me in an investigation is looking at, okay, the people who were supposed to be doing a good job at this, what did they do? I wanted to dig further into this. Once we started putting in requests for actual police evidence and police files, it quickly became a little bit adversarial. There are a lot of questions we have about witness interviews, phone records, and any other possible leads that you guys have gone down that we would love for you to share with us. That's stuff that is, since it's still active, where it can't disclose. They did start to provide some documents, but the problem was, just... giant sections of them were blacked out.

If we didn't get the information, we couldn't tell a complete story. Greg Cooper and Dean Jackson are members of a cold case unit in Utah. We realized we needed some out-of-house guidance on how we had perceived Miami-Dade's police work. They're former investigators, law enforcement, and when they looked at this, they agreed.

There were some of these angles that the police hadn't ruled out. There was some redactions. to those reports. So without having that information, it created questions about the investigation and how far it went, how thorough it was. One of the things that I just can't get over with this is that there were some just basic omissions and errors in this

that you would not think that a police department of that size would be making. Like, you know, in 2006, there weren't text messages. Did you guys look through Brian's texts from what was available on the physical phone? I don't believe there was text messaging back then. That was the old style flip phones, you know, push-to-top phones or the old things that I don't believe it was texting. By the time we went back to them a year later,

we had learned a lot about Brian's life. And at that point, we were asking them questions, which they didn't even have answers to. We were told by Chris Zellner, Brian's teammate, that in the locker room after practice, the day of the shooting, Brian was engaged in a very heated phone call. Was that call investigated? I don't remember that.

that individual's name, I don't think I personally interviewed him. Obviously, that's somebody that would like to speak to also. After we all got the news that Brian passed away, I immediately told the police officers and they just kind of like, okay, thank you, we'll take that into consideration. And that was it. No follow-up questions, no like, do you think you heard anything? Do you think you heard a name?

Nothing like that. I've never heard from them ever again. The caller that Chris Zellner had overheard is a cause for concern in that it was never identified who the caller was or what the nature of the conversation was that should have been tracked down, identified and interviewed. When the police department was being reticent with us about information, that really made me curious because you wanted us to do this, like you wanted this exposure. What is it that you don't want to tell us?

It appeared as though the Miami-Dade police turned on the very people that they had recruited into this effort to help solve this cold case. ESPN decided that the only way to try to get an unredacted copy of the files was to sue Miami-Dade Police. So we're here on the case of ESPN Inc. versus Miami-Dade County at all, case number 2020, 5029-C801. Eventually we were ruled against. But while on the stands, we were able to get several officers of Miami-D to admit. Does MDPD know who killed Brian Potter?

Yeah, we have a strong belief as to the responsible person. And that revelation confirmed what was previously released to us by accident in the heavily redacted police reports. In some of the initial batches of records that they gave us, they included dossiers on a lot of the people, looked into. The only cover page that had the word suspect on it was the cover page for Rashaun Jones. We knew that was important. They forgot to redact it. That was the first indication that they were not being truthful with us. Do you have a specific suspect in mind?

No. I mean, anybody, we didn't have a specific suspect. The police are not required to be truthful to reporters. However, in denying they ever had a main suspect, they made us even more skeptical of their information. They had considered Rishon Jones a suspect from the beginning. In November of 2020, our investigative team decided that it was ready to publish something with everything we had learned. That photo that was featured so prominently of all the players on the field

kneeling by that banner of Brian's face will look very different based on the players who are pictured in it. Place your hand bunch back for me. Place under arrest. My mom, she still talks to him and we help her clean the grave site. The heartbreak of not knowing, there's not a day that my mom did not wake up. She's in tears. She'll never be the same.

I remember my son every day. It's sad. While interviewing the family, we learned that every year they held a vigil on the anniversary of Brian's murder at his gravestone. I try to keep this case active as much as we can. 13 years later, you realize nothing's been really done. Somebody just kill him like this. It's not why. One day, two, gonna come out. In the outside looking in, it was the kind of case that police should have been motivated to solve quickly.

But that is not what happened. Instead, weeks turned into months, which eventually turned into years. And Brian's murder remained unsolved. In November of 2020, our investigative team decided that we'd probably take in the case as far as we could to that point. That's when the digital story came out. The family was so appreciative that Brian's name was finally being talked about again. and some pressure, it seemed, would be put back on Miami-Dade Police. You may remember this case because Pada was a star football player for the University of Miami.

It's been over a decade, and the murder of Brian Pada is still unsolved. In one of South Florida's most infamous unsolved murders, the shooting of a University of Miami-Lyman, and it remains unsolved to this day. We felt like that got the ball rolling again. It opened it up big time. Our story was the very first time that the public had been told that Rishon Jones, of former teammate of Brian Padaz

was the person that police were considering most likely to have killed him. One of the theories of Brian's murder definitely revolved around his teammate, Rishon Jones. There was pretty open conflict between the two of them. After reading BESB an article and then just kind of putting this piece and this piece together to kind of make it make sense.

I started to believe that there was definitely a capability of this being Rishon. I received a voicemail from Edric, Brian's older brother. Hey, Dan, good morning. It's heating up really good. I think they're about to make an arrest soon. Nine months after our story comes out, we get word that the Miami-Dade Police Department

is moving to arrest Rashon Jones. I believe one of the countless was the ESPN article that came out. I think also the state prosecutor also getting a little more aggressive in his approach towards arresting someone. They show up at a Dollar Tree Warehouse in Ocala, Florida, where he's working, and they're waiting for him when he leaves work. And he's arrested. A big place under arrest.

Another exclusive tonight, the wife of a former UM football player coming to his defense after he was arrested for murder. I heard them say, Rayshon Jones, put your phone down, you're under arrest. Rayshon Jones' wife says he says he knows nothing about that night and doesn't know who killed Brian Padda. He's not this person that they're trying to portray. She says even though Jones and Pada had a history, it was resolved before his death. He said it wasn't even at odds when Brian got killed.

He's not a murderer. He's not. An arrest in the 15-year-old cold case, the murder of a University of Miami football player. Brian Pada was fatally shot outside his apartment back in November of 2006. And now police have arrested his former teammate, 35-year-old Roshan Jones, and charged him with Pada's death. I said to myself, it's about time. It's about time. My mom was, she got up and she started to dance, and she started to praise God and say thank you.

I kept trying to say it can't be true, wait till it's all proven, but like at that moment, I'm not going to lie. I was really upset. Look at this moment here, Brian Potter's image, the slain hurricane teammate, a banner that fans made, and the team gathering around it at midfield. Initially, the photo of this moment looked to us

like a team united, grieving one of their own. But now, one player sticks out, Rishon Jones. Somehow, he's made it to the front row. He's on one knee, looking down at Brian's face on the banner. Knowing the rumors that were swirling around the team at that time, that photo started to look very different to us. When I see that photo, I just be like, wow, you know what I'm saying?

Let's just get your chills, man. You know what I mean? It's a little scary. So the question now is looking at that image, are we seeing a man who is praying for his teammate or who is praying for forgiveness? After Rishon Jones was arrested, we were really waiting around to see what was the tipping point?

What was that missing piece of the puzzle that you said? you needed to make an arrest. Were you anywhere near the scene where Brian was killed that night? I wasn't in the area. What if I told you there was an eyewitness that saw you leaving the scene right after? 35-year-old Roshan Jones, a former defensive back for the Canes, was arrested in Lake City and Marion County earlier today with the help of U.S. Marshals. After Brian is killed, Rishon had gone on to marry his high school sweetheart Ashenda. He has five children, and he's doing some coaching stuff.

He's somewhat still involved in football, but, you know, seems to be living a pretty average life. In August of 2021, Rashan Jones was arrested and was subsequently interviewed and interrogated for this crime. Have you already patted them down? Yeah, we've gone through everything, pockets and stuff. And in walks, Miami-Dade police detective Juan Segovia, who took over this investigation from Miguel Dominguez, who retired right after our lawsuit. How many hours did you see, bless night? The approach that the detective is using at this point, it really is not accusatory. It's just an interview approach to begin with.

What can you tell anybody about your relationship, Brian? I mean we had an up and down relationship. Okay. What happened? What does that mean up and down? Who is teammates. I guess females got involved. I don't know, I guess jealousy over females. I think Rishon wants to find out how

much information, what the detail is, what it is eventually that the detective has to share with him. He doesn't seem to be concerned about admitting that, you know, they've had some ups and downs. Not yet, yeah. Not yet because they haven't put it into that, into a context for him to have concerns about that. Rishan had somewhat of a history of getting into altercations and there was another player

that would tell police that Rishan actually pulled a gun on him. Did you own a firearm back when you were at University of Miami? No. You never had carried, never. If you ever make it sound like you carried a firearm? I don't know. I was a lot going on back then. I mean, I don't remember if I said, oh, I didn't know what to say I'm carrying a firearm. Most likely the realization is they're trying to connect me to a weapon,

a weapon that's connected to the homicide. All of a sudden, he starts stammering. And you can see that he's thinking about that. He's trying to go back through the files in his memory. On the morning of Brian's murder, Rishon is called into the coach's office, and he's told that he's failed his drug tests, which is going to lead to a suspension.

He goes for marijuana? It goes for marijuana, so I don't go to practice that day. Okay. When I leave out of his office, I go home. Miami-Dade pulled phone records for Rishon Jones, which show that at 3 p.m. on the day of the murder, Rashon activated a new phone number. What was the reason to change your number?

Explain to me? I don't know. At the time, I felt like I was going to get a lot of backlash for my second rare one for my drill to. From whom? From friends, family. I know I left my family, them, mother them, from grandmother them. One thing that stood out when we finally got to look at his phone records was that there were 56 calls, but there was a gap between about 640 and 740.

And police believe Brian was shot around 7 o'clock. So when you got home, you turned up your phone? Yeah. What did you do that? I just didn't want to be from the outside world. Okay. I was first paid to work for seven. At the time of the shooting, police are contacted by someone who lives at the Colony apartment complex by the name of Paul Connor.

Paul Connor was a writing instructor at the University of Miami. On the night of the murder, Paul Connor was about to make a turn into the parking lot. He hears a pop. And seconds later, he walks by a young African-American male going in the opposite direction. Police later showed Connor a photo lineup, and Connor identified Roshan Jones as the man he saw that night. What if I told you there was an eyewitness that saw you leaving the scene right after? Do you remember that old man that you crossed with in the sidewalk there? I wasn't there.

He can't outwitness me. You were identified him, leaving the scene. How, and I wasn't there? He was showing six photographs. He was shown six photographs, and you were one of them, and he immediately identified you. I can't explain to you, I don't know. Just really bad luck?

I'm telling you I have nothing to do with this guy murder. Nothing. I ain't no 15 years of telling myself I didn't do it, or I ain't no trying to convince myself. I hate myself, I didn't, nothing. His concurrence that, yeah, it's just bad luck. This is just bad luck, really bad luck for me. That's a lot more than bad luck. It's either fact or it's being trumped up against him.

Why would all these people lie about your child? I just said from the, I used to live, I mean, I used to be young and wild. So I guess they're just projected they got on, on me of how I was, but that ain't got nothing to do with picking up a gun trying to kill nobody, on nobody with it. That's not in me. Ashenda is brought into the interrogation area as well, and she comes to talk to Roshan after they've interviewed him.

They said they got the eye with, they said, people threw in there, they shooting with a gun when I was in Miami. Oh, I threatened Brian when I was in Miami. People heard me threatened him. That's all they got? People heard him. They got no DNA. You can't maybe take my husband as a killer. I said, listen, you have to literally show me him standing open a body for me to believe that he cured his man. You've got a star witness involved here, identifying Rishon as the individual responsible,

and it behooves the prosecution to ensure that that individual is safe and willing to participate and capable of it. of it. In the lead up to the trial, the prosecution had been telling the court that they had been issues with tracking down Mr. Connor. They tried his phone number, they tried his address. He was nowhere to be found. They just presumed that he was dead. But something here just didn't seem right. I find people for a living. I just didn't believe he was dead. From 30 for 30 Podcasts. Brian Patta, senior defensive lineman from Miami, gunned down. The key to this case

It's Brian A hour before he died He was on the phone Argoner was about This might be a hit You want the truth Biggest one of conviction In place in arrest

We had a killer amongst us Murder at the U, listen now ABC Wednesdays The Emmy winning comedy Scrubs is all new This is a whole new chapter for me No more sad sack That's what I'm talking about I want both of our sacks to be fun

You two idiots are perfect for each other From executive producers of Ted Lasso and Shrinking. We were all a part of this victory. Now, get those nachos out of the premium warmer. Natchos! It feels like there's more applause for the nachos than my speech. The new season of Scrubs. Wednesday's 8-7 Central on ABC at Stream on Hulu.

Mommy kept all of these. Mommy was so happy when she got this jersey. Oh, yeah. My son. She said, my son. That's him holding it. That was the first jersey. This just tells me right here how much of a jokester he was.

Oh, my God. I missed his boy. Yeah. You hear stories or you watch a documentary. You see something like this. To think that one day that you'd be that same family wanting justice, wanting closure. And you're sitting there just waiting. waiting, waiting.

This is him as a baby. It's been a roller coaster ride for all of us. We're preparing, we talk about it. Then it was gonna get pushed. You know, then it gets pushed and it's pushed. It's been a roller coaster ride. If the family hadn't pushed, if there was no 2017 press conference with Jeanette Padda,

if there was no involvement of ESPN, would we even be at this point? The former UN football player, accused of killing a teammate charged with second-degree murder at his arraignment today, Jones has pleaded not guilty. The first substantive thing that happens in his case is a bond hearing, which is in 2022. Please come forward to the witness stand right up here.

One of the most interesting things about the bond hearing was that we finally got to see for the first time Paul Connor. The writing instructor from Miami who claimed that he saw someone matching the description of Rishon Jones leaving the apartment complex after the shooting. How would you describe the person that you saw Mr. Connor? A young African-American, six feet, just six foot one tall, approaching the gate.

What did you notice about the man in the station feature? Well, he smiled at me. He had a clean set of white teeth, no gold teeth. The Bond hearing lasted a few days, and at the end of it, the judge Judge set Roshan's bail at $850,000. But his family couldn't come up with the portion needed for bail, so he remained in the Metro West Detention Center in Miami. Time passed.

And four years after his arrest, Rishon was still in jail waiting for a trial. I got contacted by Rishan because another client referred him. I went to see him at the jail, and he told me a little bit about his case, about the fact that it had taken 15 years. The case did not sit right with me and I decided that I was going to represent him. Roshan Jones has a fiercely passionate and dedicated defense team in his corner. Sarah Alvarez is 30 years old. This is her first murder case ever.

So when I came onto the case, the witness list that the state had filed was very incomplete. I realized that there was a lot left to do in terms of deposing these witnesses and also tracking down other witnesses who the state was saying they had never had contact. As it turned out, one witness was extremely difficult to track down. In the summer of 2025, the state attorney's office comes to a hearing and says something that is pretty shocking, which is they can't locate their main eyewitness, which is Paul Connor. They couldn't find him. They said they had run him in all the records databases, and we kept pushing and asking for evidence of this.

The prosecution had been telling the court that they had been issues with tracking down Mr. Connor. They tried his phone number, they tried his address. He was nowhere to be found. They just presumed that he was dead. As someone who does this for a living and tracks people down, I did not believe that Paul Connor was dead, because when you die, you create a paper trail. Paula Levine phoned one of Mr. Connor's previous co-workers.

She was so concerned that she called a welfare check to be done on him. Remember, this is a private individual just calling up the Louisville Police Department to do this. Are you, Paul? Yeah. Paul, how are you? Yeah, I'm okay. Perfect. All right.

Thank you. We're going. A few weeks later, producer Dan Aruta and I made a trip to Louisville to see for ourselves. We arrived at the address that both we and Miami-Dade had for common. Honor. Yeah. Have you been contacted by anyone recently from Miami State Attorney's Office at all? No.

Just before the murder trial for Brian Potter is about to start a key witnesses found who police thought was dead. It wasn't the police that discovered this key witness wasn't dead. It was ESPN. I mean, that's just wild. 2020 reached out to the Miami police with specific questions. specific questions about their investigation. They did not respond to our requests for comment. All right.

So as the case finally heads to trial after all these years, all eyes are on that courtroom in Miami. Nearly 20 years after the deadly shooting of a UM football player, it's time for trial for a teammate accused of the crime. This case got really personal for all of us. We were ready to take the gloves off and throw down. Everyone out. Everyone out.

Yes, everyone out. I'm cleaning. So this is courtroom 4-1. It's really only used for the big trials. It's the same courtroom where Ted Bundy was tried. And they knew that the media would be interested in this case. The first day where testimony is scheduled to begin, here comes the Pada family in force into the courtroom,

his brothers and sisters and his mom, Jeanette, who is in a wheelchair. We've been preparing for the unknown because this is the hardest thing we've never gone through this before and to see them all come in and fill up you know two full rows in the gallery it was powerful they sat down and I think they bore witness that's the best way to put this to what they hope is is justice the inescapable feeling here is justice delayed is justice denied State prosecutors, say, over the 15 or so years of this case, all evidence really pointed to the defendant. We are asking that you just pay close attention to each and every witness who testifies. Because each person will provide a piece of evidence that in the end points only to one person.

The man sitting at that table with you, Roshan Jones. So for the prosecution, this case basically comes down to the relationship between Brian, Jada, and Rishan. All roads did not lead to Rishan Jones. Just because the government tells you that something is true does not make it so. Rishan looked as he's sitting at the table, very professional. He didn't really glance over at the family. He really kept his focus on his counsel. For 15 years.

The police interview Rashon along with other teammates and other students, but they never really treat him like a suspect. They don't bring him in for a sworn statement for 15 years after he's already been arrested for this horrible crime. In an extremely emotional moment in the courtroom, you have Dwayne Hendricks, Brian's teammate, former roommate, testifying about the moment when he saw his friend lying motionless in front of their apartment. I noticed Brian on the ground, so I'd hopped out of the car and I was like, yo, stop playing.

He had a puddle of blood behind his head. That's when it hit me. It was, well, he wasn't playing, and it wasn't in the game anymore. Did you call anyone from his name, room? I tell people to this day, that was the hardest thing I ever had to do with my life. was to call that, to call his mom and say that her youngest is dead. When the prosecutor first started showing some of the photos from the crime scene and some of the photos of Brian's body, it was a really emotional moment for the family. I mean, they were leaning forward, they were grabbing tissues, some of them turned their heads away. It clearly had an effect on them.

Dave Howell, Brian's teammate, testified about the hostility that he saw between Brian and Rashan over Jada. Did Brian and Roshan get in any other disputes? Yes. Were they over Jada? Yes. Did you see any of those disputes? Yes, I did. Can you tell us what you saw?

It was in front of the cafeteria. It was just words between the two of them and they moved on. It was nothing physical. And former teammate Eric Moncourt testified about the day that they came up to his dorm room. Brian ended up pushing him and he pushed him and he pushed him and I think he punched him. Pushed him and punched him. And then he got on top of him and started headbutting him. And then I ended up grabbing Brian and pulling him off.

And Rashon got up and he walked out of the room. He was like, boy, you might as well go ahead and clip up. During course examination, the defense attempted to downplay the statement, clip up. You didn't actually believe that Mr. Jones was going to shoot anybody, correct? No. You didn't take this as a serious threat. No. After this fight that happened in your dorm room in the summer of 2004,

you thought that it was over at that point, correct? There was no further beef. Yes. And you never heard anybody bring this fight up again, right? Not to my knowledge. But the key testimony came from that alleged eyewitness, Paul Connor. I'll keep this very brief. I really just have one question for you.

What did Rashan's teeth look like in November of 2006? So if you think about it, this entire case could possibly come down to the description of someone's smile. He witnessed taking the stand today in the murder trial of Rashan Jones, a former UN professor detailing what he heard and saw the night. Ryan Padda was shot and killed. The state plays for the jury a recorded testimony of Paul Connor from a hearing in 2022. You swear I work from that testimony. He smiled at me. He had a clean set of white teeth, no gold teeth.

And that's about it. I described him to the forensic artist. And is this a fair and accurate representation of the sketch that was created based upon your representation? Yes. The million-dollar question in this is, did the jury believe Paul Conner? But another witness, Bruce Johnson,

who was a teammate of both Rashon and Brian, is called to testify. The defense takes this as an opportunity to question him about Rashon's teeth. I really just have one question, really. What did Rashon's teeth look like in the November of 2006? They just wasn't, everything went straight.

It was jagged, kind of messed up. Would you describe them as a clean set of boy teeth? No. Now, these two statements are completely at odds with each other. Can you please introduce yourself to the jury and tell them where you're employed? Yes, my name is Juan Cogobia. I'm a homicide investigator with the Miami-Dade Sheriff's Office. One of the final witnesses at the state called was Detective Wanzigovia.

And he had been assigned in 2020 to take over the case. and his testimony was incredibly useful for the prosecution because it took all these little pieces of testimony from all these other people and essentially tied it together in a very effective narrative as to the motive, the means, the opportunity for Roshan Jones to kill Brian Pada. What information did he gather that led to you getting an arrest warrant?

It was the threats accompanied with the display or talk of the same type of firearm that killed a victim. It was the phone records. It was the identification of Mr. Connor and all the circumstantial stuff that happened the night of. The jury also got to hear the post-arrest interrogation interview of Rasha Jones. Let's talk about Jada a lot.

Jada's name comes up a lot during the investigation. Is that the first time that you have any beef with Brian whatsoever? Yeah. That you remember that was over Jada. Yeah. You dated Jada? Did you guys have any relations? Did you guys have any relations?

Yes. On cross-examination. the defense pressed Segovia on whether or not Rishan ever owned a gun. You have no personal knowledge whatsoever that Mr. Jones actually owned a firearm at any point, do you? Not legally. Not legally?

Right. You have never seen Mr. Jones with a firearm. I've never seen them. The prosecution ends its case on the very graphic testimony of the medical examiner. I do. Who uses a model to describe

the fatal injury that takes Ryan's life. The pathway of the bullet to Mr. Epidon's life. Reparva's body was from his left son, several inches above his left ear. That was hard for the family. It was an incredibly emotional way to end those five days of testimony. At this time, see us. We had so many other leads, all of which were more viable than Rishan.

Ultimately, the court ruled that these different viable theories be excluded. At this time, we didn't have that rest. Even without that, we felt so good about the case because they still didn't have anything. And we trusted that a jury would feel similarly. I had to ask somebody next to me, did I hear what I thought I heard? Mr. Jones, your attorneys have indicated

after you speaking to you that you do not wish to testify, they're not going to call any witnesses on your behalf. Have you had an opportunity to discuss that one? Yes. Are you decided not to testify in this case? It's me. We were stunned. I think anybody there who was witnessing this was wondering what had happened.

Both the state and defendant have now rested their case. The attorneys will now present their final arguments. You'd remember one of the worst days of your life. You test positive, your future's unsure, you don't have the girl, you're going to get kicked off the team. Things are not going your way. And then it all just boils over. Does this look anything like Rashon Jones?

Does this look anything like Roshan Jones? Nothing. Paul Connor's selection is not reliable. It is not credible. Rishon Jones was not at the colony apartments. Rishon Jones did not shoot him. Rishon Jones had nothing to do with his death. Roshan Jones failed a drug test.

He was at home at the time that Brian Pado was killed. All that is true. This family has been put through so much for so long, and they get so close to what they believe is finally going to be justice for them. I can't even imagine what they're going through. We are now on Verdict Watch as the jury evaluates the evidence in the murder of his teammate Brian Paddock. The only thing that is not a foregone conclusion here is what that jury is going to decide. All right, ladies and gentlemen, I've received your note.

I've received your note indicating that you continue to be deadlocked. And so at this time I will declare a mistrial and a home jury. Ladies and gentlemen, I wish to thank you for your time and consideration of this case. The breakdown was five for not guilty and one for guilty. And the person who was leaning to guilty was just unmoved. This has to be extremely difficult for the family. And in particular, Jeanette, Brian's mother. She has called for justice.

for her son, her youngest child. Anybody who's seen the video of Jeanette running down the street, wearing Brian's jersey, yelling, and then to juxtapose that with her being wheeled into an elevator because she's so frail that she can't walk on her own, kept saying 20 years, 20 years. And she still has that same desperate plea in her voice. Just, we're frustrated,

but we're also resilient. We're going to remain steadfast and confident that we're going to get the answers that we need. What do you think he would do differently? That's a hard question to answer. I'll leave up for the next door. There are no winners here. At the end of the day, we're still at the same place.

We don't know who killed Brian. We don't know the truth, and I don't think we'll ever know the truth. The damage is done. The lives of... multiple individuals have been completely ruined. His fate was really demoralizing and discouraging, not just for the Miami Hurricanes football program, that fell into a precipitous decline after that.

It was devastating for this city, and particularly for the community that Brian came from, which is always looking towards our athletes as role models, as symbols of hope and opportunity. He did have such a love for the community that he was raised in and he understood the importance of him making it. And when you have a young person who's from this area and is able to advance not only the identity of Little Haiti

but become somewhat of an ambassador of the culture And his life is taken way before it's time. It's heartbreaking. Ryan's part of his life and the tragedy of his experience is like a candle from the dark. And when that light is lost, it hurts us all. What's going on? Hello?

You know, I'll look at a picture or something. I get emotional, but then I'll think back how we used to spend our times together and, you know, the jokes he would crack, And the times we would spend and just those memories, the positive, all the good stuff, you know, that you think of, oh man, he's not here anymore. You know, that's when the tears flow.

A gentle giant. Loving individual. Full of life, full of energy, positive energy, someone who's truly missed. It's still hard for us today. A little bit after his death, I mean, I dream, I dreamt me by Brian he was talking people he was saying he's okay I'm okay I wasn't supposed to die but I gotta go over on the other side you guys won't see me anymore

God is letting me in the door now that was his words then a big purple door open and it's bright light and he walks in between he looks and he waves so I love everybody I love everybody then he hugs me it felt so real in and the door shut and then that was it. You know, it's a dream that keeps Brian connected to his loved ones. His family's journey for justice will continue as the state is expected to retry Rishon Jones. So more to come, David. For additional information on this story, you can listen to the 3430 podcast Murder at the U,

which chronicles ESPN's eight-year investigation into the case. That's our program for tonight. Thanks so much for watching. I'm Deborah Roberts. And I'm David Muir from all of us here at 2020 and ABC News. Good night. It's the Paradise Podcast. I am your host, Ryan Michelle Bathay, with my husband Sterling.

What's up? Join us here on Hulu and Hulu on Disney Plus, where we'll discuss each episode with the cast and crew of Paradise. I'll be getting all the secrets from Dan Fulglement, James Marsden, Shailene Woodley, Julian Nicholson, and Sterling Calby Brown. Who! Paradise, the official podcast is now streaming.

And stream Paradise on Hulu and Hulu on Disney Plus for bundle subscribers, Terms apply.