48 Hours - Daddy's Girl

Episode Date: June 13, 2024

On July 19, 2007, Timothy MacNeil, a prominent defense attorney, was shot to death in his San Diego home. The only witness was his 17-year-old stepdaughter, Brae Hansen, who was found tied up at the scene. She told police that a masked gunman had broken in and committed the murder but had left her alive. Further police interrogation of Hansen led to her arrest as a suspect, and she later implicated her brother, Nathan Gann, in the murder. “48 Hours" correspondent Tracy Smith reports. This classic "48 Hours" episode last aired on 6/19/2010. Watch all-new episodes of “48 Hours” on Saturdays, and stream on demand on Paramount+.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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,

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

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. From the time we met, we were just very compatible. He was warm and funny and generous and a very special man, very good man, very kind. I was Tim's girlfriend. We were sweethearts.

It was a hot day in San Diego on July 19, 2007. He left that morning, gave me a kiss. It's a nice, quiet neighborhood, and it's a house on the edge of a canyon. Said he loved me as he always did when he was leaving. Tim McNeil came home around noon to have lunch with his daughter. He said that my smile was my best feature and that he wanted to spend the rest of his life making me smile. San Diego Police, Christine, 911.

Help, please. I think we've been robbed. I'm tied up and my dad's been shot. Reliving that day, it's almost as hard as actually being there because when I was actually there, I was mostly in shock. Where's the person that shot your dad? I don't know. He ran off. It's really hard to hear about all of those shots to my dad.

No, I was tied up. I went and got the phone. Okay, all right. Where's your dad? Where is your dad? Okay, all right. When officers got there, the back door to the residence was wide open. There was a gun on the back porch. Officers went in. The body of Tim McNeil was lying face down in a pool of blood. Off in the corner was Bray Hanson, the person who called 911, with her hand zip-tied behind her back.

And there's Bray out there. She's out there too. Bray, what you been doing today? She was his stepdaughter, but he had raised her since she was very, very young, and so he thought of her as a daughter. Bray said that a masked intruder surprised her and her father in the house and demanded the combination of the safe, shot her father, and fled out the back. He then came around the fence through our yard,

and then he jumped down between the oleanders and the brick wall on the side of our house. That, of course, would be the way you'd want to go if you knew anything about the neighborhood, because you can duck in left or right halfway up those stairs. I guess she saw the whole thing happen, which is just really, really sad. I would give anything to have my dad back.

She was a victim. She witnessed her father get shot. Slowly, the story about the masked intruder started to fall apart. It was unusual that someone would do a home invasion robbery and a murder and leave a witness. Daddy's Girl, tonight's 48 hours mystery. Your dad needs paramedics? I think he's dead. Dispatchers received a phone call from Bray Hanson.

He had his face covered with a ski mask? Yes. Was it a black ski mask? Yes. Was it a black ski mask? Yes. She and her father had been tied up, and she described witnessing this masked intruder shoot and kill her father right in front of her. It was a Thursday, July 19, 2007, around 12.30 p.m.,

when San Diego homicide investigators J.C. Smith and Brett Burkett arrived at Tim McNeil's home on Marico Drive. The victim was a face down in a pool of blood. He was wearing a dress shirt and no pants. There was a zip tie near one of his hands. Investigators believed 17-year-old Bray Hansen, the only surviving victim of the crime, was now their best eyewitness. The stepdaughter, Bray Hansen,

had been zip tied, was crying. She was upset. She saw what happened. Bray told investigators the shooter fled out the back door where the gun had been found. Next, police canvassed the neighborhood on foot and with search dogs, hoping to find more evidence and witnesses. I heard popping noises. Pop. Pop. Pop. Pop. People in the neighborhood say they heard the shots and then they saw a young man jump out of these hedges and take off in broad daylight down the street and up a flight of stairs. You can see he was putting a lot of effort into it and he was definitely trying to run away from a situation. Investigators soon discovered two key pieces of evidence near the stairs.

Three quarters of the way up the stairway, they found a wad of black clothing. They got caught in a branch. And what was in that wad of clothing? That was a black shirt and the mask. As victims of homicide go, is Tim McNeil unusual? He doesn't fit the stereotype or the typical homicide victim.

He didn't live a high-risk lifestyle. His behavior and his activities weren't something that you would expect someone to kill him. Tim McNeil was 63 years old and a well-respected defense attorney. He was a great guy. Best possible big brother I could ever have. Younger brother Rick says he also had a wicked sense of humor. He could find humor in just about anything.

We played basketball together. He was called the spider. College fraternity brothers Jim Wilson and John Kiefer say McNeil had skills on the court and in the courtroom. He won all the time. I never saw him lose a case. Erin McNeil Ellison is Tim's daughter from his first marriage. The funniest, most easygoing, nicest guy. I mean, he just could walk in a room and work it. He could talk to anybody.

After divorcing Erin's mother, Tim McNeil met and married Doreen Hansen and quickly took on the role of stepfather to her young daughter Bray. Bray always called me her sister and since I didn't have any other siblings and she was younger than me I always kind of let her do that. What kind of kid did Bray seem like? She was super happy and she was always smiling. Bray what you been doing today? How did your dad treat Bray? Really, really well. I mean, even in the will. You know, it was this, I raised her as my daughter. I mean, it was split 50-50. So I think that pretty much says how important she was to him. As investigators continued to interview Bray that afternoon, they came back to one part of her story that puzzled them.

Bray had told the 911 operator the masked gunman had disguised his voice. And I think we asked a second time, what was the suspect's voice disguised like? And we heard a cartoon character. It was just unusual. I hadn't ever heard in my entire police career that a home invasion robber used a cartoon character voice, and I think we both thought that was a little strange. Several hours after the shooting, police took Bray to her Aunt Bonnie and Uncle Rick's house. They had asked Bray if there was a place that she wanted to go where she would feel safe, and she wanted to come to our house.

As police continued to question her there, the 17-year-old said another strange thing. She called the masked gunman by the name Nathan. Bray said Nathan, and she switched back to the masked intruder. And Detective Rivera let Bray finish her statement and then said, hey, you said the name Nathan a few minutes ago. And it wasn't so much that she said the name Nathan, it was when she denied saying it. Then, after police left for the night, Bray said yet another strange thing.

As her cousin Shelly showed Bray a sketch of an unmasked man neighbors described running in the neighborhood shortly after the shooting. She said, oh no, his chin wasn't that square. And Shelly just looked at her and said, oh really? I thought you said he was wearing a mask. And Bray backed up and Shelly came out and told Rick and Rick said, call the detective.

When investigators heard that Bray had described the gunman's face, they knew she'd been lying to them all along. They rushed back to her aunt's house. Their victim was now a suspect. We felt we had enough at that point to arrest her. So we drove over there. I asked them to have her outside. They were sitting around a picnic table in the back.

Around 11 p.m. that night, less than 12 hours after the crime, Bray Hansen was arrested for the murder of her stepfather, Tim McNeil. She stood right up and put her hands right behind her back. Investigators were now sure that Bray was somehow involved in her stepfather's murder. They began to interrogate her to find out exactly what she had done and why. Walk me through what happened. Bray Hansen knew she was caught. She began to give investigators details about a complicated and diabolical plot to kill her stepfather.

At first, I thought that my dad had won and that Nathan had gotten shot. But then I looked back and I saw my dad saying, you've shot me, you've killed me. It was a plot she said was executed by Nathan, who was her older brother and Tim's stepson. A plot that got out of hand. What's the truth? I couldn't stop it. Did you try to stop it? Yes, I did.

You did everything you could to stop it. Everything in my mind that I could think of at the time to stop it, yes. I did think about calling the police, and I had it dialed. I just couldn't push the send button. I was too afraid. I'm Erin Moriarty of 48 Hours, and of all the cases I've covered, this is the one that troubles me most. A bizarre and maddening tale involving an eyewitness account that doesn't quite make sense. A sister testifying against a brother.

A lack of physical evidence. Crosley Green has lived more than half his life behind bars for a crime he says he didn't commit. Listen to Murder in the Orange Grove, the Trouble Case Against Crosley Green, early and ad-free with a 48-hours-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,

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to the brink of extinction. Listen to the Pitcairn Trials exclusively on Wondery+. Join Wondery in the Wondery app, Apple Podcasts or Spotify. I think he's been robbed. I think I've been shot. Tim McNeil was gunned down just one day after his 63rd birthday. No one felt the pain more than his daughter Erin. It's one of the only times I've physically lost control.

But what was worse was that her little stepsister, Bray, seemed to be involved. I've never really had my heart broken, and I think it was only time that my heart broke because I never thought anything bad about her. Even though investigators J.C. Smith and Brett Burkett had arrested Bray, they were far from solving the case. They needed to find out about Bray's brother, Nathan. My name is Nathan Gant. I go by T.W. Naru. Who she said was living in Arizona, where he was a college student. I didn't even know she had a brother named Nathan until she said it.

And now Bray was telling police her brother had tied her up and murdered their stepfather in cold blood. When I think my dad lunged at him and tried to get the gun, and I kind of turned away and was just like freaking out majorly. As Bray described that horrific afternoon in greater detail, she suddenly made a stunning admission. I had some play in it, so yes. It did kind of start the whole thing, even if it was,

let him know, lapse of judgment or whatever. She told us a story about how she and her brother Nathan planned to kill their stepdad on his birthday several days prior. Not only did they plan to kill Tim McNeil, but according to Bray, they dreamed up several different ways of doing it. They considered beating him with a baseball bat or injecting him with a toxic household cleaner. Eventually, Bray says, they settled on hiring a hitman. So she put cash, a key, and a gun belonging to Tim McNeil into a box and left it on Tim's patio. But she told police and me when the hitman didn't show up, she changed her mind. I mean, I voiced my concerns to him and I kept telling him, you know, I don't want to

go along with this. And I still just never believed it was really going to happen. But then, Bray says, Nathan showed up at Tim's house anyway with that same gun. He missed once, I know. He hit the side of his face once, I know. And then he fired another shot in the back of his head once he was down because he was twitching. And how did she seem during this statement when she was talking to us? She was calm. She was cold.

It appeared she was trying to cry, but no tears were coming out. How many shots did he fire total, do you think? I'd say one, two, four. This was such a terrible thing that happened. And here's this 17-year-old girl, matter-of-factly, telling us in great detail each shot that was fired into her dad, and there was no emotion. Why not tell the police when you called 911 the truth?

And say what? My brother killed my dad. He warned me about that. He said, you know, if I get caught, you get caught, and we're both going down no matter what you do. No matter what you say, they're always going to believe me over you. The investigators alerted Arizona authorities, and Nathan was rousted out of bed in the middle of the night,

rested for the murder of his stepfather. The next morning, Burkett and Smith were on a plane to Phoenix to question Nathan. I didn't do anything. What do you want? She did it. I wasn't there. I don't know. Nathan denied even being in San Diego. I finally admitted to him. I said, hey, we've spoken to your sister, and she told us everything.

And then what did he tell you? He asked for an attorney. I need a lawyer. This is too powerful. This is just... I'm trying to tell you guys I wasn't involved. Did you kill Tim McNeil? No.

Did your sister Bray kill Tim McNeil? I can't answer that. I don't know. So if you could offer any explanation how you got involved in this why you're sitting here now I guess my sister probably went into panic mode and just automatically blame brother here's the bottom line question did you kill your stepfather no I didn't investigators knew that to solve the crime they needed to discover what had turned a seemingly normal relationship between Tim McNeil and his two stepchildren toxic.

When the siblings entered Tim's life upon his marriage to their mother, Doreen Hansen, Nathan was six and Bray was just four. According to Tim's friends, Bray was a bright, happy kid. But Nathan was a problem child. It was a big authority issue. It was disruptive and he was a problem. There's Doreen. You recognize her? Oh, man. It was no secret that Doreen had her share of problems with alcohol and depression.

Bray and Nathan claim she frequently took her troubles out on them. Basically, she treated me like I was her slave and that that was my only purpose in life was to serve her. My mom was not normal. My mom was abusive. She'd spank you? Kind of. It was more of a two-by-four type incident. She'd hit you with a two-by-four?

Turns out she was bragging about it. At age 12, to escape trouble at home, Nathan moved to Arizona to live with his grandmother. He seemed to thrive after moving there, says his childhood friend Joshua Wood. You know, he was just actually a pretty decent guy, like pretty true to himself, I can say. A good guy to know, if he had problems, especially with computers, that's what he was known for, he was good at.

And so we were able to relate because we kind of had tough childhoods. His, of course, tougher than mine. In 2006, Doreen committed suicide by overdosing on pills. After my mom had died, I had started talking to Tim more often. My girlfriend at the time, she described it as a professor-student type relationship. You know, Tim, he's older, he's been there, he's successful, you know. Nathan says he had no reason to harm his stepfather.

I personally, I had more to gain for him being alive, and now I'm seeing him now much more often. I did computer work for him, building a new computer and repairing it and stuff and such. According to Nathan, it was Bray who was angry with Tim. My sister had been angry. She was angry a lot of the time, and it had gotten worse and worse.

I was really, really pissed off at my dad. He basically made me feel like I was nothing, that I was not worth anything. Investigators speculated that Bray's sense of rejection may have ignited her anger, especially after she revealed that she was jealous of the other woman in her stepfather's life, his new girlfriend, Kim. He was basically going to cut me out of his life

completely, and just, I knew he had already chosen his girlfriend over me, and it hurt really bad because this is the man that I thought loved me and was my dad. She seemed offended that her father didn't make their lunch date they had set up on his birthday, but he instead chose to go with his girlfriend, Kim. With her mother dead and her stepfather embarking on a new relationship, investigators wondered if Bray may have felt she had no one and she was blaming Tim.

What did you love about Tim? Everything. Absolutely everything. How could it go from, I loved everything about him, to this? I don't know. As for Nathan Gann, even though he claimed he wasn't in San Diego at the time of the murder, police weren't buying it because the evidence told a different story.

Nathan's DNA was discovered on the ski mask found near the crime scene, and the eyewitness descriptions of a man running in the neighborhood after the murder matched Nathan too. The way it was carried out, they did this together. But with brother and sister squarely pointing the finger at each other, it will now be up to a jury to decide which sibling is telling the truth

and which one is lying. Hot shot Australian attorney Nicola Gaba was born into legal royalty. Her specialty? Representing some of the city's most infamous gangland criminals. However, while Nicola held the underworld's darkest secrets, the most dangerous secret was her own. She's going to all the major groups within Melbourne's underworld, and she's informing on them all. I'm Marsha Clark, host of the new podcast, Informants Lawyer X. In my long career in criminal justice as a prosecutor and defense attorney, I've seen some crazy cases, and this one belongs right at the top of the list.

She was addicted to the game she had created. She just didn't know how to stop. Now, through dramatic interviews and access, I'll reveal the truth behind one of the world's most shocking legal scandals. Listen to Informance Lawyer X exclusively on Wondery+. Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify. And listen to more Exhibit C true crime shows early and ad-free right now. As a kid growing up in Chicago, there was one horror movie I was too scared to watch.

It was called Candyman. It was about this supernatural killer who would attack his victims if they said his name five times into a bathroom mirror. But did you know that the movie Candyman was partly inspired by an actual murder? I was struck by both how spooky it was but also how outrageous

it was. Listen to Candyman, the true story behind the bathroom mirror murder early and ad-free on Wondery Plus and the Wondery app. Hey Bray, let me see what you got there. Bray Hanson, the little girl Tim McNeil had raised as his own, is now 19 years old. She's had a lot of time to think about her stepfather's murder, in jail, awaiting trial. I've mourned him and grieved him, but only to a certain point because I've been in here

and I haven't had to live out in the world without him. I remember my dad saying, why are you doing this? Why, Nathan? Bray and her brother Nathan now face charges of first degree murder. We are now on the record in the case of People versus Nathaniel Gann.

In November 2008, nearly a year and a half after Tim McNeil's murder, his stepson goes on trial. What you're going to conclude at the end of this case is that Timothy McNeil was not killed by a masked intruder. The jury is now present. But after six days of testimony and one day of deliberations, the jury can't come to any conclusion at all. Do you believe your jury is hopelessly deadlocked? Yes, Your Honor. It is necessary that I declare a mistrial in this case. It was just like a punch in the stomach. I mean, it was just like, it hurt so bad. The mistrial is also disappointing to the investigators, who know about one important

interrogation that the jury was not allowed to hear, something that could very well have changed the outcome of the trial. During Nathan's initial interview with the detectives, just moments after he asked for an attorney and shut the interrogation down, Nathan changed his mind and said he wanted to talk. You guys want to tell me what happened. I'm trying to ask. Good luck. And I told him, we can't talk to you. You want an attorney. He threw his hands in the air and said, For the time being, I will leave my right to an attorney for now, again, until further notice.

So we went back in, and he started to talk to us in little bits and pieces. Nathan finally admits to police he was present during the murder and begins to give his own account of how it happened. He even reenacts the moments before Tim was shot. And for the first time, Nathan suggests a motive. I mean, I was angry, but no. I didn't want him to die. I wanted him to be scared. I wanted him to be honest.

I wanted him to honestly feel like taking me seriously for a change. It's not good to me. I just, dismiss me as a dude. And he tells police Tim McNeil's dying words before that final, fatal shot to the head. and saying it like a thousand times. Yeah. Just, you killed me. You killed me.

Why didn't you kill me? There are reasons why you cannot hear certain evidence. But when Judge Frederick Link declared Nathan's statement inadmissible at trial, he dealt a crushing blow to the prosecution's case. Judge Link said there was Miranda issues. Because he asked for an attorney? Yes. So in the judge's opinion,

you should have just left when you guys were first walking out? Or read his Miranda rights again, maybe. Four months have passed since the first jury deadlocked, but prosecutor George Bennett is back in court, and this time he has a new strategy. Try brother and sister together.

At no time will your picture be taken. And in an unusual arrangement, the evidence is being evaluated by two juries, one for each sibling. I think it helps the jury to see that they worked together, that they did this together, that they're being tried for the crime together. I need a lawyer.

Nathan's confession is still inadmissible. She knew when she had been caught. But Bray's attorney, Troy Britt, isn't so lucky. I had to deal with my client's statement being played for the jury. He knew I didn't want to go through with it, but I did anyway, so it's my fault. Ladies and gentlemen, good morning. Britt stuns the jury, admitting Bray hatched the murder plot. I'm conceding to you all right now that she did start this plan. But what she also did was she tried

to withdraw from this plan. It's a calculated gamble, since he also tells the jury Nathan is really the one who wanted Tim McNeil dead. She's telling him, I don't want to do this anymore. Please don't do this. But her brother wouldn't stop. He threatened his only sister.

He pointed the gun at her and said, you are going to end up like Tim if you try to stop this. Is it a little risky to turn to the jury and say, yeah, my client's a liar, but eventually she told the truth? Yeah, my client planned a murder, but then she tried to back out of it. Well, absolutely. And the difference though is the law allows somebody to withdraw from a conspiracy. She was like, Nathan, don't do this. You know, you can go back now.

I promise I won't call the cops or anything. Blah, blah, blah. I was like, Nathan, maybe we should listen to him. Here's the thing. You admitted that you lied to the police. Why should people believe you now? Because if I was going to lie to them, why would I implicate myself at all? Raise your right hand to be sworn by the clerk.

Prosecutor Bennett now turns his attention to Nathan and introduces a controversial witness, a convicted drug dealer who says he met Nathan in jail. I was blue one day. He said, I'm going to tell you what happened. And he whispered the whole entire thing to me. The informant, who we agreed to call by his initials CG to protect his identity, claims Nathan confided to him the details of how he and Bray plotted to kill Tim McNeil.

That they were going to take care of him. He ended up driving to San Diego very quickly. When he got there he went inside he saw his sister and she said I'm so glad to see you and gave him a kiss. He said it was like Judas kissing Jesus. I got the sense that Bray had a lot of influence on him in his decisions. CG's story matches the one Nathan told police. And he said he shot him and he fell down on the ground. And then when he kept saying, why are you killing me?

And kept saying his name, Nathan, why are you doing this to me, Nathan, Nathan, he just flipped out and finished him off. When you say you spoke to Mr. Gant. Nathan's attorney, Ricardo Garcia, seizes on discrepancies in CG's story and hammers away at his credibility. Now, in addition to the conspiracy to distribute ecstasy, you were convicted of a conspiracy to launder money, is that right? Yes. And you agreed with the feds that you would testify against your co-defendants, is that right?

Yes. And when you snitched on your friends, you got a better deal than they did, didn't you? No, no, I'm going to object. That's non-responsive to the... I think my case is about showing that the prosecutor's star witness

is a liar. He's a convicted drug dealer, and he's a convicted money launderer. These are crimes of complete dishonesty. But for Bray's attorney, CG is a godsend. He told you that he is the person that shot Tim McNeil, correct? Yes. And while he was shooting Timothy McNeil, Bray Hanson was screaming her lungs out, correct? Yes.

And in fact, Nathan Gann told you that he pointed the gun at her. Isn't that right? Yes. And he told you that he was going to shoot her, right? Yes. How did he get these details about the crime? They were everywhere on the Internet paper. That's all I figure.

But I didn't tell him anything. I never. This man is not all there. There's no reason why I would trust or confide in this guy. But just how trustworthy is Nathan? Would you please raise your right hand? The prosecutor calls a surprise witness, this 22-year-old woman, who claims she knows a darker side of Nathan.

Okay, come on up here and have a seat, please. She's one of Nathan's high school girlfriends, but we can't name her or show her face because of the sensitive nature of her testimony. Are you afraid of Mr. Gann? Yes. Ask her to describe for the jury how Mr. Gann was sexually abusive to you. Um, I hate saying this. He's raped me. Trash in your honor. That's a horrible, horrible story, and I can't believe she's so vindictive as to come and lie in court like that. Nathan, she said that you raped her. I know. Did you rape her? Absolutely not. What motivation

would this young woman have to come all the way to a court and sit there and cry about really personal details, share those with the world? Oh, this, well, I've seen her cry for real and I've seen her fake cry. That was obviously her fake cry. Now comes the time. In closing, Prosecutor Bennett saves his harshest words for Bray. She wanted him gone. She wanted him dead. For what? For money? Because she was angry?

Because she was upset? Because she felt unloved? You know, that's too bad. He presents a letter found in her cell. Bray says she wrote it the night of her arrest. It wasn't addressed to anyone, but in fact it was meant for those people. For your, for... My aunt and my uncle and my sister.

I was planning on killing myself that night. I wanted them just to have the full story and not something that was going to be twisted later on. Bray's letter is chilling and damning. And she says it was supposed to be one clean shot, easy shot to the head. No pain, no suffering. That's the plan. She never tried to withdraw from any conspiracy. And those tears and that expression is too late. Ray Hansen controlled this thing the way you control a dog on a leash. And she had that dog, Nathan Gann, on a leash, And she had that dog, Nathan Gann, on a leash, holding him back, holding him back, holding him back, and then she let him go.

After two weeks of testimony, it's now up to the juries. Who will they hold accountable? Why didn't you do more to stop it? I was afraid Nathan would kill me. Have you ever wondered who created that bottle of sriracha that's living in your fridge? Or why nearly every house in America has at least one game of Monopoly? Introducing the best idea yet. A brand new podcast from Wondery and T-Boy about the surprising origin stories of the products you're obsessed with and the bold risk takers who brought them to life.

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you're going to dominate your next dinner party. So follow The Best Idea Yet on the Wondery app or wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen to The Best Idea Yet early and ad-free right now by joining Wondery+. It's just The Best Idea Yet on the Wondery app or wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen to the best idea yet early and ad free right now by joining Wondery Plus. It's just the best idea yet. One day, this will just all seem like a distant memory. It's just been such a grueling process. Nearly three weeks after the trial began...

Did not deserve to end up like that. Both juries are now separately deciding if Bray Hanson and her brother, Nathan Gann, murdered their stepfather, Tim McNeil. Bray's hoping that she'll get off, but that her brother won't. He's done enough damage already. If he were to get out,

I would be afraid to walk down the street. She may just get her wish. Nathan's attorney is not sounding terribly optimistic. If I did my job right, we'll be doing this again in six more months. That's the best you can hope for is another hung jury? You know, the facts are the facts in this case. And there are some problems.

This is not a charged conspiracy. As for Bray's own attorney… There were seven of 12 jurors who looked very stern and didn't look like they wanted to listen to a thing that I had to say. Is she prepared for a guilty verdict? I'm not sure that she is. She's only 19. In fact, it's clear that Bray Hansen has been thinking a lot about a possible guilty verdict. But in a most disturbing way.

Maybe it's a good thing that you're talking to me now in case things don't go well. I've been suicidal since I was 11. You'd kill yourself? Without a second thought. I would be dead within a few months. The court has received information that the jury has made decisions in this case. that the jury has made decisions in this case.

The thing that gnaws at my soul is that these jurors were only out for six hours. It's a first-degree murder case. It may have been a quick verdict, but Bray and her attorney will have to wait to learn what it is. I'll let the record reflect that I've had these verdicts sealed. The judge decides to delay revealing it until her brother's jury has also reached a verdict. How's Nathan holding up? Seems to be okay.

The weight game, I think, for anybody in this situation is painful. The weight game, I think, for anybody in this situation is painful. It takes much longer, two and a half days of deliberations. Do you have the verdict forms? Please hand them to my bailiff. Before Nathan's jurors reach their verdict. Madam Clerk, please read the verdicts. We, the jury, find the defendant, Nathaniel Marcus Gann, guilty of the crime of murder in the first degree.

Nathan must serve a minimum of 25 years in prison, though he could get life. The prosecution basically proved that you're the mass intruder. I was convicted. I don't agree with it. For Tim McNeil's family, the guilty verdict is most welcome news. His brother Rick has a brief message for Tim's stepson. Rot in prison and burn in hell. That's stepson. Rot in prison and burn in hell. That's basically it. The next morning, the judge brings Bray Hanson's jurors together for a reading of their verdict.

My life is in these people's hands. We the jury find the defendant, Bray F. Hansen, guilty of the crime of murder in the first degree. Bray is treated far more harshly by her jury. by her jury. Besides the murder conviction, she is also found guilty of lying in wait, in effect, ambushing her stepfather.

So she could end up spending the rest of her life in prison with no chance of parole. I would give anything to have my dad back, but the reality is there's no time machine.

I can't change the past. I can't, you know, I can't undo it. I genuinely care about her. Despite the overwhelming loss of her father, Erin, who was close to Bray, has sympathy for her stepbrother and sister. Wait, you feel bad for Bray and Nathan? Well, yeah, because of the life we could have had. They didn't have enough love in their heart or enough love in their life to know that something like this decision wouldn't be worth it. their life to know that something like this decision wouldn't be worth it. Seeing her fall apart, I mean my dad wouldn't want that. I don't want that. At one point I wanted to just go over and hug her. Just tell her that it was going to be okay.

Just tell her that it was going to be okay. Compassion, something that Bray Hansen may never fully understand. She'll have the rest of her life to decide if it was worth it to her. And she'll have to live with that. Bray Hanson's jurors found the trial emotionally grueling, the evidence overwhelming, and the guilty verdict the only fair decision they could reach. I've cried over this for days. You wanted to find her not guilty. Absolutely. I want to believe in the good of everyone and that people aren't capable of doing these things, let alone a young woman at 17.

But you still convicted Bray of murder. That's right. She knew the plan. She went along and she never stopped it. Clearly she was a party to the plan. She went along and she never stopped it. Clearly she was a party to the murder. Heroes are born from people you'd never expect. Murderers are born from people you'd never expect. I honestly didn't think it was ever going to happen.

You thought you and Nathan were just talking? Yeah. You know, I was mad at my dad. We all get mad at our parents. But not all of us plan their murder. Nathan Gann was sentenced to 25 years to life. After receiving a life sentence without parole, Bray Hansen was sentenced in 2015 to 26 years to life. 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.