48 Hours - A Death in Payson Canyon

Episode Date: April 28, 2019

A teen’s death appeared to be a suicide -- but investigators say she was helped by a friend who recorded it and weeks earlier texted “it's like getting away with murder.” CBS News corre...spondent David Begnaud investigates. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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Starting point is 00:00:00 Wondery Plus subscribers can listen to this podcast ad-free right now. Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app today. Even if you love the thrill of true crime stories as much as I do, there are times when you want to mix it up. And that's where Audible comes in, with all the genres you love and new ones to discover. Explore thousands of audiobooks, podcasts, and originals, with more added all the time. thousands of audiobooks, podcasts, and originals, with more added all the time. Listening to Audible can lead to positive change in your mood, your habits,
Starting point is 00:00:35 and even your overall well-being. And you can enjoy Audible anytime, while doing household chores, exercising, commuting, you name it. There's more to imagine when you listen. Sign up for a free 30-day Audible trial and your first audiobook is free. Visit audible.ca. In 2014, Laura Heavlin was in her home in Tennessee when she received a call from California. Her daughter, Erin Corwin, was missing. The young wife of a Marine had moved to the California desert
Starting point is 00:01:00 to a remote base near Joshua Tree National Park. They have to alert the military. And when they do, the NCIS gets involved. From CBS Studios and CBS News, this is 48 Hours NCIS. Listen to 48 Hours NCIS ad-free starting October 29th on Amazon Music. This investigation started off initially just like any other death investigation. 911, what is the address of your emergency? I've got a caller on the line. He's up in Maple Lakes. He just came across the body. They were called there about 7.15 in the morning by a turkey hunter.
Starting point is 00:01:52 He's going through the trees trying to find game. He basically said, I found a young woman hanging from a tree. Keep aiming. Oh. The rope's still. Okay. I'm out of... There was a note present. And that's the note. Can you read it? It says,
Starting point is 00:02:14 My name's Chandra Brown, and I hated my life. Goodbye, f***ing up world. Watch the video. It's on my phone. So this is the phone that contained the actual video in question. The phone was dead at the time you picked it up. Yeah, it wouldn't charge, wouldn't turn on.
Starting point is 00:02:45 Jandra was my world. She was my life. When Jandra died, my heart shattered. I didn't even know she had any, like, depression thoughts or anything like that. Couldn't believe that she wasn't there with us. She just never wanted to be sad. She never wanted any of us to be sad, so she'd make everyone's day, including hers. In looking at the scene, there was no vehicle there.
Starting point is 00:03:19 You know, I was trying to figure out how this person got here. And I noticed an individual walking towards our location that's wearing a bright orange shirt. He introduces himself to me as Tyrell Provision, and he tells me, he goes, I think you want to talk to me. I need to tell you the whole story. He's very emotional. He's very emotional. He's crying.
Starting point is 00:03:55 He's a stupid kid who made a very big mistake. This goes far beyond making bad mistakes. This was criminal behavior. He's bragged about it. He told other people, oh, yeah, I recorded her hanging there for ten minutes. Tyrell had been planning this. He wanted this to happen. In his mind, I don't think that he was committing murder. He was helping her do what she wanted to do.
Starting point is 00:04:14 He clouded her judgment. He clouded her emotions. He made her feel nothing but alone. There is no doubt in my mind her feel nothing but alone. There is no doubt in my mind that Jandra does not die on May 5th, 2017, if she had never met Tyrell. Did you know that the movie Candyman was partly inspired by an actual murder? Listen to Candyman, the true story behind the bathroom mirror murder, early and ad-free, with a 48-hour plus subscription on Apple Podcasts. In the Pacific Ocean, halfway between Peru and New Zealand, lies a tiny volcanic island. It's a little-known British territory called Pitcairn, and it harboured a deep, dark scandal.
Starting point is 00:05:27 There wouldn't be a girl on Pitcairn once they reach the age of 10 that would still a virgin. It just happens to all of us. I'm journalist Luke Jones and for almost two years I've been investigating a shocking story that has left deep scars on generations of women and girls from Pitcairn. When there's nobody watching, nobody going to report it, people will get away with what they can get away with. In the Pitcairn Trials, I'll be uncovering a story of abuse and the fight for justice that has brought a unique, lonely Pacific island
Starting point is 00:05:59 to the brink of extinction. Listen to the Pitcairn Trials exclusively on Wondery Plus. Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app, Apple Podcasts or Spotify. With six feet of snow on the ground, getting up to Maple Lake in March calls for some pretty unique transportation. Fortunately, the Utah County Sheriff's Office is well equipped, and they agreed to take us there. It's been almost two years since Sergeant Quinn Fackrell and Sergeant Josh Chappell were called up here to Payson Canyon. It's about 20 miles south of Provo, Utah.
Starting point is 00:06:57 We cover the areas that people go to get away from people. Those are our areas. It's a popular location with snowmobilers and backcountry skiers in the winter, and hikers and hunters in the warmer months. Unfortunately, this remote area attracts people for other reasons as well. We get a lot of people that like to go to the mountains or to the areas outside of the city and cause harm to themselves. So we see a fair amount of suicides that we investigate. One of those investigations was the suicide of 16-year-old Jandra Brown, which occurred on May 5, 2017.
Starting point is 00:07:35 Who's going to come and eat? Where are you going to sit? I'm going to sit in Jandra's favorite chair. In Jandra's favorite chair? Sue Bryan relishes the visits that she has with her son Dustin and her grandchildren. But missing from this table and this family is Sue's daughter, Jandra. Tell me about the blue color in your hair. It's in honor of my daughter because she loved having her vibrant blue hair, which matched her super vibrant and bubbly personality.
Starting point is 00:08:10 Her nickname when she was little was Jelly Bean. Jelly Beanies. Did you call her Jelly or Jandra? I called her both. As a young girl growing up in Twin Falls, Idaho, Sue says Jandra always seemed to be one of the happiest kids in the room. If you met Jandra, you just fell in love with her instantly. She was very active and adventurous and she wanted to try and do anything. So she would do the water slides. She was in volleyball. We went picnicking, dancing.
Starting point is 00:08:50 She loved skiing and tubing. She was a cheerleader. She won so many awards. She was so good. In 2016, Jandra's mother and stepfather moved her from Idaho to Spanish Fork, Utah. They wanted to be closer to Jandra's brother, Dustin, and his family. How'd she get along with the kids? Great. I mean, they adored her. Jandra? Jandra's come? Oh, just super excited.
Starting point is 00:09:23 With the move to a new town came a new school and, of course, new friends. Me, Grace, and Jelly usually called ourselves the Three Musketeers. Though they didn't know Jandra very long, Hannah Balt, Grace Jackson and Ashton Wall say they were lucky to have known her at all. She connected to me in a lot of ways that other people didn't. She got you. She got me. I've never met anybody like her. There was never a dull moment or a boring moment when I was with her. We always found something to do. We always had fun doing it. She was always hopping around the
Starting point is 00:09:56 place. She was like jelly holding everyone together, you know, PB and J. Yeah, she was out of this world. She really was. But after living in Utah for just a few months, Jandra seemed to need someone to hold her together. I got the sense she was sad and having problems. She just wasn't herself. What was different? She wasn't happy all the time, and she was frustrated very easily. She wasn't feeling good. And I actually took her to a doctor. Jandra was prescribed an antidepressant.
Starting point is 00:10:35 She had been treated for depression a year earlier, back in Idaho. Depression really affects the way you think. It affects the way you behave. It affects the way you experience the world. Dr. Harold Koplowitz is one of the leading innovators in the field of child and adolescent psychiatry. He never treated Jandra, but we asked him to take a look at her case. I think that what all young adults struggle with is impulse control and the intensity of their feelings.
Starting point is 00:11:01 They freeze, or they're boiling boiling or they hate you or they love you. Zero to 60 quickly. Right. Did you talk about that depression with her? All the time. All the time. I think in my heart what depressed Jandra was not being close to her friends and family in Idaho. Did she ever talk about life in Idaho, missing it? Yes. She did? All the time. All of her memories are from Idaho. I think the move from Idaho to Utah
Starting point is 00:11:34 was much more problematic for her than we would expect. Was there ever an indication that Jandra might harm herself? I know that she self-harmed. By doing what? Cutting. Cutting has become much more frequent than it was 20 years ago. And so very often when you do talk to cutters, they will tell you,
Starting point is 00:11:56 I feel nothing, and when I cut, I feel something. But that's a sign of depression. That's a sign of someone's really reaching out for help. And then came the events of May 5, 2017, which turned out to be the last day of Jandra's life. She got in trouble for smoking pot. Having it, not smoking it. Getting caught with it.
Starting point is 00:12:20 And this wasn't the first time she got caught. It happened once before in Idaho. This time, though, she got suspended from school. She was so worried and freaking out about what her mom would do because she was so upset that her mom might be mad at her. She's shamed and she feels hopeless. And now I'm caught with weed. So these seemingly insignificant events for someone who's very vulnerable can mean something. She came home from school that day and she goes, all right, aren't you going to yell at me? And I said, no, I'm not. I figure you've been in trouble enough at school that there's no reason for me to yell.
Starting point is 00:13:00 And we can talk about it when we're calm. And I said, if you have homework, you better get it done because you have work. Jandra's punishment? Sue confiscated her cell phone. Later that afternoon, she drove Jandra to her night job at a nearby Wendy's. That was the last I've seen her. I don't know if she thought that I was mad at her or that I didn't love her. I don't know, because I didn't get to talk to her again. What time was she supposed to come home? So she was supposed to get off around 1.30.
Starting point is 00:13:39 In the morning? Yeah. But Jandra never made it home. And it's kind of weird. I sat straight up in bed and said, Jandra. And I freaked out. And I can't call her because I took her phone away. Oh, right.
Starting point is 00:13:58 And so I called the police. And I told them that I guess my daughter had run away. the police and I told them that I guess my daughter had run away and so they put a report out and they went looking for her. But the police didn't find Jandra that morning. Someone else did. 911, what is the address of your emergency? For advice on recognizing depression in teens and how you can help them, go to 48hours.com. Getting up to the spot where Jandra Brown's body was discovered was not an easy task. It took two search and rescue vehicles, three pairs of snowshoes, and some pretty careful trekking. But we wanted you to see just how far Jandra went to leave her life behind. It was May 6th, 2017.
Starting point is 00:15:14 A turkey hunter was walking right through this area when he noticed the body of a young girl hanging from that tree branch. He's the one who called 911. And to the detectives who first responded, they thought it was a pretty clear-cut case of suicide, when in fact it was anything but that. It was about right here where the rope was hanging off of the tree. What's it like to be back?
Starting point is 00:15:42 It brings back a lot of memories. In my mind, I can visualize Chandra hanging in that tree. What's it like to be back? It brings back a lot of memories. In my mind, I can visualize Chandra hanging in that tree. When sheriff's officials arrived early that morning, there was no snow on the ground, and this tree limb was 10 feet in the air. What was on the ground were the clues that Jandra did not die here alone. There was two grocery bags just right over here on the ground.
Starting point is 00:16:13 When I went through everything, that's when I discovered a crinkled-up receipt for purchase of rope. And on that receipt was Tyrell's name. It was a debit card receipt with the name Tyrell Probitian. So this was the first thing you saw that said, I got to talk to this guy, right? Yeah, when we saw that receipt, we knew that we needed to contact Tyrell. Also in the bags?
Starting point is 00:16:43 That's the note. Jandra's note pointing them to a cell phone video. This was the phone that was left at the scene. Now her mom had taken away her phone. This was a spare phone that she had. The phone could be the answer to many of their questions. But there was a problem. I tried to power the phone on. It wouldn't power on. Sergeant Fackrell decided to leave and charge the phone in his car while he drove back to Spanish Fork.
Starting point is 00:17:14 And when it finally powered up... That's when I saw the video that was recorded at that time of the incident. This is a 10-minute video of Chandra dying. I was shocked, absolutely shocked. What was so shocking given what you normally see on any given day? I was shocked for the fact that somebody could sit by and let somebody lose their life and not do anything.
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Starting point is 00:19:49 and listen to more Exhibit C true crime shows early and ad-free right now. Fackrell suspected that the person who bought the rope may have shot that video, too. He was obviously a person that we wanted to talk to. Well, as it turned out, Tyrell found them first. I kind of look up the hill, and I noticed that there's somebody walking to us. So I actually walked back up the hill. Immediately, he tells me who he is. I recognize his name from the receipt.
Starting point is 00:20:22 Why had he come back? His initial statement to us was, is he's going to make sure that Chandra was dead. Sergeant Chappell wanted to hear more, so he suggested they ride together to the Utah County Sheriff's Department to continue the conversation. At that moment, were you thinking of him as a suspect? No. I certainly thought that there might have been a crime committed, but what crime? As we drove to the sheriff's office, we just talked generally about who he was and what his interests were. He was a quiet kid.
Starting point is 00:21:09 He always cared of others. Tyrell's mother, Brittany, says he always made her proud. He's very smart, very smart child. Was always ahead in his reading, always ahead in his math, loved science. He was very active, did a lot of sports. He tried soccer, baseball, basketball, wrestling. But as Tyrell got older, Brittany started to see some changes in her son. He just pulled quite a bit of negative thoughts into everyday life. It was shocking to me. So I took him to the doctor. I was thinking he was depressed. you know, something is not right. The doctor told me that he just is
Starting point is 00:21:53 a pessimist and that's hard to be told. Did you know anything about Jandra Brown before she died? I had never heard of her. Tyrell never mentioned her? No. Never saw him with her? No. Actually, I was the one who introduced her to Tyrell.
Starting point is 00:22:20 I told Tyrell, hey, I have a new friend, and he said he wanted to meet her. Tyler Hughes Millman was good friends with both Jandra and Tyrell. Did you ever know Tyrell to be depressed? Not really. He was a little bit depressed, it seemed like, sometimes, but he wasn't that bad. Jandra hung out with him all the time. What drew her to him? I actually have no clue. She liked
Starting point is 00:22:52 hanging out with him a lot. Were Tyrell and Jandra romantic in any way? No. She did not see him as a relationship kind of guy. She wanted to try and help him. She thought she could change him. Yes, she thought that she could make him want to join other people
Starting point is 00:23:09 and actually have fun instead of sitting by himself. She knew when people were upset or sad, she would go up to him, talk to him, and make him feel comfortable. Hi, cutie. Before Jandra died, had you ever heard of Tyrell Probitian? No. Not from her
Starting point is 00:23:28 or anybody else? Nope. But the Utah County Sheriff's investigators were about to get to know Tyrell very well. On Saturday morning, May 6, 2017, hours after she reported her daughter, Jan, were missing, Sue Bryan went to work.
Starting point is 00:24:10 Not long after she got there, her manager wanted to see her. Sergeant Fackrell was waiting too. They had me sit down and he says, Jandra's gone and she's not coming home. I'm like, where's she gone to? Why? Where's she gone to? And then he said, she's gone. She's passed away. We found her in Payson Canyon.
Starting point is 00:24:36 She was devastated, as any parent would be. Obviously, it's like dropping a bomb on the family, and it's not easy for them to process. What I said was I should have loved her more. I should have gave her more love, because now I thought she had completed suicide. I didn't know. That's what went through my mind. So suicide was the first thing you thought?
Starting point is 00:25:03 Yeah, because all I could think was she's at the bottom of a canyon. Just across town, Tyrell Probitian was talking to sheriff's detectives, too. So what's your relationship with Jerry? I wouldn't say close, friend, but just, you know, we knew each other. For the next five hours, Tyrell described just how Jandra ended up in Payson Canyon the night before. She kept saying, I want to go to Canyon, Canyon. So I just said, okay, okay, make it happen for you. He described how he got a text from Chandra that said, let's do this tonight. So Friday, I get off work, I get a message from her.
Starting point is 00:26:02 Investigators would later discover that Tyrell and Chandra had been texting each other for weeks about suicide. Once you get your hands on the text messages, what do they tell you? That Tyrell had been planning this from probably the first week that he had met her. He had researched this. He wanted this to happen. and he carried it out. She said she was at work. I went to Wendy's. I drove.
Starting point is 00:26:39 And they left and went to Cal Ranch. And he bought the rope. Store security video and the receipt found at the scene both show Tyrell purchased 20 feet of nylon rope. Because I know I look guilty now because I bought everything. And I asked her right there too, are you sure you want to do this? She said, yeah.
Starting point is 00:27:15 And then the two of them proceeded to drive towards Payson Canyon. Did you find the spot? Did you help her wrap it up around the tree? I did. Then we got that time to lose. I just kind of pulled on it. I was like, okay, that's pretty tight.
Starting point is 00:27:34 Tyrell says that's when he picked up her phone. I just started recording. I said, please, please, please. I waited ten minutes. I waited 10 minutes. I checked her pulse. I just got out of the house. Gave up on life.
Starting point is 00:27:58 So, did you have any time? Did you try to talk her out of it? I didn't try to talk this as a suicide pact? He did. But Sergeant Fackrell says Tyrell also told him several times that he had no intention of completing suicide that night. When you talked about her talking to you, you understood what it was like to be suicidal.
Starting point is 00:28:25 And now you're telling us that until you started talking to her, you were never suicidal. How does that work? I was fascinated by that, okay? That's the word I'm looking for. I was like, this might be good. Are you then thinking
Starting point is 00:28:41 that he's a suspect in a crime? Yeah. What's the crime? Well, possibly murder. Possibly. But that wasn't their decision. So I told the officer, I said, keep digging, keep learning about what happened in the circumstances, but if all we have is just him recording this and it's her act, we might not have anything. Deputy Utah County Attorneys Chad Grunander and Ryan McBride
Starting point is 00:29:06 were assigned to evaluate the case for possible prosecution. Ryan was the initial contact with the county sheriff's office. I was a supervisor at that time. From the start, they faced a unique challenge. In 2017, Utah had no law against assisted suicide. We were one of only a handful of states in the country that did no law against assisted suicide. We were one of only a handful of states in the country that did not have an assisted suicide crime.
Starting point is 00:29:30 And so this was either going to be murder or potentially manslaughter or nothing at all. And that's when another detective sends me a text message recovered from an acquaintance of Tyrell's. What would you do if you had a friend that wanted to kill themselves? This friend said, I would talk them out of it, of course. And he responds back, I would help them do it.
Starting point is 00:29:54 It's like getting away with murder. When we got that message, it was very clear in our minds that he was acting intentional. He was wanting to help cause her death. We felt like we had enough. That was the break for us. A bizarre case out of Payson. A 16-year-old girl is dead, and another teen is accused of helping her hang herself. Just five days after introducing himself to Sergeant Chappell in Payson Canyon,
Starting point is 00:30:23 Tyrell Probitian was charged with first-degree murder. He told us later part of his reasoning for going back to the scene was just to want to make sure that she was dead. And then he had plans to collect the noose, the rope, and save it and keep it. Like some kind of souvenir? Like a souvenir, a trophy. And there was something else Tyrell wanted the detectives to know.
Starting point is 00:30:55 He described that Chandra had written a note to her mother and he left it in the mailbox outside the home. I haven't read the note since the first time that it was read to me. It was your typical emotionally charged letter. Basically saying she's sorry. Chandra also wrote something else in that letter. This was all my decision. The question was, was this her, what was your first reaction?
Starting point is 00:32:06 They have the wrong person. There is no way Tyrell would do anything like this. Brittany Johnson says she never imagined she'd find her son in jail awaiting trial for murder. I truly felt like I was living a nightmare that I would wake up from. I just couldn't process Tyrell participating in anything like this. Have you ever been able to ask him why? No. In his mind, I don't think that he was committing murder. He was helping her do what she wanted to do.
Starting point is 00:32:52 Neil Skousen and Greg Stewart were hired to defend Tyrell at his upcoming trial. How does this case compare to anything you've dealt with prior? Nothing compares. I feel guilty. I feel like I did murder her. That's what it is. Okay, why do you feel that way? Because I helped her so much.
Starting point is 00:33:13 And that was my plan. So how do you defend a case where your client seems to have already confessed? We had the words of Chandra in her suicide note. She told her mom. This was all her decision. We could not escape the fact that Chandra participated in her own death,
Starting point is 00:33:38 that she wanted to die. That was a real factor that we had to consider in prosecuting this case. There's just no doubt that she was determined. That doesn't mean we couldn't have had another outcome. Child and adolescent psychiatrist Dr. Harold Koplowitz. The leading cause of death worldwide for 15 to 19 year old girls is suicide. It's unacceptable. Did she ever mention about talking with Tyrell about suicide? Those are things that she'd keep to herself, mostly. Even though you guys were some of her closest friends?
Starting point is 00:34:17 Yes. Everybody has their secrets. She didn't let anyone know. When you read the text, you start to think that this has become a part of the game they play, except it's a very dangerous game. In one of them, Tyrell asks Jandra, you want the quick and painless, no chance of escaping or returning to this life? Jandra responded, I just want to die. I've been trying too long. I just want to make. I've been trying too long. I just want to make sure I end it. Do you think Tyrell was a negative influence on Jandra? Yes, most definitely.
Starting point is 00:34:55 She'd get more and more depressed the longer she hung out with him. That was obvious. At least to me it was. He was feeding her her she had these thoughts she had these plans and he was encouraging it he was scratching the itch and it went
Starting point is 00:35:17 further and further and further without his support and his help for doing that she wouldn't have been able to do it. She'd still be here. I think it's true. He didn't push her off the cliff, but he kept his arm around her and encouraged her to keep moving forward. But would the prosecutors be able to convince a jury of that? The prosecution has the burden to show the necessary intent to commit a crime.
Starting point is 00:35:45 And the best way to show that is through the defendant's own words. And Tyrell gave them a lot to work with. All of those text messages between him and Jandra. You have Tyrell talking about how he's going to help Jandra die. Different ways of taking her life. Recording her do it. This is a text that Tyrell sends to Jandra. Can I mutilate your body and cut your head off and dispose of your body? Yes. Very disturbing.
Starting point is 00:36:19 All these messages just add up to this depravity, not caring about human life, and our argument is an intent to kill and a desire to participate in causing someone else's death. What was the most damning piece of evidence? I think some of the text messages that came out when he was talking about getting away with murder. As a father of a 15-year-old daughter and as a defense attorney, that was one thing that I guess troubled me. I wish those types of statements hadn't been out there. It would have made defending the case, I think, a lot easier. If we could keep our client's mouth shut, that's really a big part of this. But Tyrell still had a lot to say, reaching out to family and friends with letters and phone calls from jail.
Starting point is 00:37:09 He bragged about his conduct, his accomplishment, if you will. He talked about, when I get out, I want to get a noose tattooed all over my arm. He asked a friend of his to set up an Instagram page, use the media to enhance his notoriety and somehow profit off of this. Tyrell also wrote that he wanted to get in touch with Michelle Carter. She caught the nation's attention during her precedent-setting trial for encouraging her friend Conrad Roy to kill himself. Tyrell wrote, we'd get along great. Did you ever pay him a visit in the jail and say to him, you have to stop writing? Every time we saw him. Just weeks before his trial was set to begin, Tyrell reached out to his friends again. I will encourage you to use your right to remain silent as anything you say is held against me in court.
Starting point is 00:38:04 He writes a letter telling them that they don't have to testify against him. They shouldn't testify against him. It would help my case if you would inform everyone that is subject to interrogation to use their right to remain silent. He was telling them essentially to not cooperate with the police. You can't do that. That's witness tampering. In fact, that letter changed everything. Did we know that he would send out letters that would hurt us down the road? No. Did it hurt us?
Starting point is 00:38:35 Yes. In the fall of 2018, the Utah County prosecutors and Tyrell's defense team were getting ready for trial. Tyrell had been adamant about going to trial. What was his thought process? That he hadn't committed murder. I'd planned my closing argument. Chad had planned a lot of his opening statement. We had our trial strategy. He changed his mind. Well I think one thing that changed his mind was an additional case that we filed against him for witness tampering. After
Starting point is 00:39:18 prosecutors found out that Tyrell asked his friends not to testify against him, they charged him with witness tampering in addition to murder. And that's when Tyrell asked for a deal. We sat down and talked, and they asked us if we were open to a plea deal. We said certainly if we think it satisfies the interest of justice. This was the deal. Tyrell would plead guilty to a lesser first-degree felony. Child abuse homicide. Murder was 15 years to life. We compromised and offered child abuse
Starting point is 00:39:56 homicide, which was five to life. Why the about face? Why the change? I think it was thinking more clearly about the situation and realizing the predicament he was in. Mr. Provisian, as to the amended charge of count one child abuse homicide, what is your claim? Guilty. What did you think when Ty pleaded guilty? I wasn't surprised. I'm glad. I'm glad that he fessed up. I'm glad that he didn't try and keep denying it. It was child abuse. He did take a child. And in my eyes, child abuse homicide is as bad or worse than just murder. Six weeks later, Tyrell was back in court for sentencing. Obviously, Tyrell has made some important decisions in his life. May 6th was a day I'm sure that he wishes he could undo.
Starting point is 00:40:58 She was the brightness to anybody's day. As statements were read, it was clear how many lives had been damaged by this one event. Tyrell always cared for others more than himself. I am truly sorry for the loss of Jandra. I wish we could all go back to that day and have a do-over, but I know that we can't. Two families now have been torn apart. I feel really bad for the Probition family.
Starting point is 00:41:28 I really do. They lost a son. And I've always felt bad for the Browns. They lost their daughter. There's a hole in our lives, in our hearts, that she used to fill. And we suffer greatly without her. I believe there will never be true justice for Jandra
Starting point is 00:41:53 because Jandra will never get to come home to me. If you listen to the story, what makes you cringe is the fact that there's so many missed opportunities to help her, so many missed opportunities to change the outcome. It is clear, very clear, that Jandra's death was avoidable. Before the judge handed down his sentence, Tyrell was also given a chance to speak. I would like to directly apologize to the victim's mother, Sue Bryan, for my irresponsible and irrational behavior. What I did, I'm not proud, and it doesn't deserve pity. With your provision, you were charged with child abuse homicide in which you pled guilty to.
Starting point is 00:42:44 You were charged with child abuse homicide, in which you pled guilty to. I'm required by law to sentence you to an indeterminate term in the Utah State Prison of not less than five years, but which may be for life. Tyrell is now serving out his sentence at the Utah State Prison in Draper. As a result of this case, the state legislature passed a new law, which now includes assisted suicide in its definition of manslaughter. Assisting somebody, providing the means or the opportunity to help somebody kill themselves is now a second degree felony in the state of Utah. Is this justice for Jandra? Justice for Jandra would be he didn't do it. He didn't record.
Starting point is 00:43:29 He stopped and saved her. I think it's completely understandable that her parents and her friends blame him. But in the same way that I don't think we would have this outcome without Ty, I don't think we'd have this outcome without Ty, I don't think we'd have this outcome without Chandra. So what's the takeaway? I think the takeaway is that we have to take this more seriously. When kids start having difficulty at school, when they are changing their behavior, when you start to suspect that something is wrong, that we take it seriously. something is wrong, that we take it seriously. Love your family. Love your children. If they're sad, find out if they need help. Ask every day, ask them questions. Those are the things I regret
Starting point is 00:44:16 that I didn't do with Jandra. Have you identified one thing that works better really than anything else at stopping someone who is right on the brink. So I think that's a very important question because remember, if you're a teenager, you feel terrible for the moment. And if you find someone who says to you, stop, wait, let's think about this. It's not that bad. I'm sure I can help you get out of this. But Jandra never got that help from Tyrell. This is an unacceptable outcome. Suicide is not acceptable. That has to become the nation's thought about this. That suicide, particularly in teenagers, is not an acceptable outcome. You're not supposed to die when you're 16 years of age and
Starting point is 00:45:01 especially by suicide. Jandra Brown was returned to her hometown of Twin Falls, Idaho. We miss you, Jandra. She's buried near her great-grandmother. Say hi, hi, my beautiful angel. Say hi. Do you ever think you could forgive this man? My faith says that I should forgive him. My heart says,
Starting point is 00:45:31 How could you forgive someone and just accept, I'm sorry? I'm sorry that I made a bad decision and that I took your beautiful, loving, kind daughter away from you. How? How can someone forgive someone for what he did? If you're thinking about suicide or know someone who is, please call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, 1-800-273-8255, suicidepreventionlifeline.org. You can also reach out to the Crisis Text Line,
Starting point is 00:46:20 a free 24-7 confidential text message service for people in crisis. a free 24-7 confidential text message service for people in crisis. Text HOME to 741741. CrisisTextLine.org. If you like this podcast, you can listen ad-free right now by joining Wondery Plus in the Wondery app. Before you go, tell us about yourself by filling out a quick survey at wondery.com slash survey.

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