Casefile True Crime - Case 206: Julio & Candra Torres

Episode Date: April 9, 2022

On Tuesday, July 27 1976, 16-year-old Candra Torres and a man named Tom Brown showed up in an Oregon sheriff’s department to report a terrible incident. Candra’s husband, 21-year-old Julio Torres, had been accidentally shot and killed while the three were on a camping trip deep in Mount Hood National Forest... --- Narration – Anonymous Host Research & writing – Erin Munro Creative direction – Milly Raso Production and music – Mike Migas Music – Andrew D.B. Joslyn This episode's sponsors: ZipRecruiter – Post your jobs for FREE Best Fiends – Download Best Fiends for free BetterHelp – Get 10% off your first month of professional counselling with a licensed therapist Noom Weight – The last weight loss program you’ll need. Start your trial today SimpliSafe – Get a free indoor security camera and save 20% on the security system when you sign up for the interactive monitoring service The Detective’s Dilemma – New podcast from Casefile Presents For all credits and sources please visit casefilepodcast.com/case-206-julio-candra-torres

Our episodes deal with serious and often distressing incidents. If you feel at any time you need support, please contact your local Crisis Centre. For suggested phone numbers for confidential support, please see the show notes for this episode on your app or on our website. Oregon City Attorney James O'Leary was in his office on Tuesday, July 27, 1976, when a man and woman entered wishing to speak to him. Deseveled and exhausted, they had just emerged from the Mount Hood National Forest after a weekend spent camping and fishing in the wilderness.

They planned to speak to the police regarding a tragedy that had happened there, but were apprehensive about doing so without seeking legal advice first. After hearing their incredible story, James O'Leary escorted the distraught pair to the county sheriff's office. When detectives asked why they hadn't come forward sooner, the man remarked, I have a criminal record and I didn't want to face authorities. I was afraid they wouldn't believe me. It was getting late on Friday, July 23, 1976.

29-year-old Tom Brown was driving his old red GMC pickup truck deep into the Mount Hood National Forest. By the time he reached the North Fork Dam on the Clackamas River, daylight was fading and there were very few people around. Tom brought his car to a stop near a boat launch area and left his engine running as he hurried over to a nearby fish ladder. The long and narrow canal-like structure ran parallel to the river and was built to help fish migrate easily upstream.

Tom was standing alone observing the water when a young man approached and started talking to him. His name was Julio Torres and he was camping in the forest with his wife for their one-year wedding anniversary. An avid fisherman, Julio had been struggling to catch anything in the area and was seeking any possible advice from Tom. Tom was less than enthused by the interruption and made this clear by averting his gaze and giving curt responses.

Julio persisted. All we found were a couple of suckers, he told the disinterested Tom. Minutes later, Julio's teen-aged wife, Candra, appeared and joined in the conversation. Her presence loosened up the standoffish Tom, who managed to crack a smile. Turning back to Julio, he finally offered some insider information to help the struggling couple. Earlier that day, he'd been doing some logging work in the forest when he saw a truckload of fish being offloaded into the river nearby.

Other fisherman Julio had spoken to throughout the day had also mentioned a fish dump and Julio was intrigued. That's where I'm headed, Tom told him. Julio was keen to go there as well, but had driven his sedan down to just half a tank of gas, travelling further into the forest it didn't seem wise. Tom reassured him. The fishing spot wasn't too far away and half a tank should get them there. If Julio and Candra wound up stranded, Tom was willing to drop off some gas in the morning

to get them moving again. The trio headed back to their respective cars. Tom drove off in the direction of the fishing spot and Julio, having weighed up the risks, followed behind. When Tom pulled over for a brief stop, so too did Julio. The sedan's emptying fuel tank remained a concern, so Tom offered to drive Julio and Candra in his truck the remainder of the way to preserve what little gas they had. The couple declined the offer as they had been using their car to sleep in.

Where is this spot, Julio asked. Just beyond Bagby Hot Springs Road, Tom explained, before returning to his truck and continuing onwards. The sedan tailed him once more. By now, the road was curving deeper into more isolated areas of the forest. Once on Bagby Hot Springs Road, the two car convoy passed another vehicle travelling in the opposite direction with a father and daughter inside. They encountered no one else.

Tom turned down an unpaved bumpy logging road that snaked through the looming pine and fir trees. The sedan followed suit. By now, the sun had almost set and Tom pulled over to set up camp for the night. Julio and Candra joined him. The couple were also travelling with their pet dog, a collie named Rusty, and as the sky darkened, the group settled around a fire to eat their dinner. Tom drank some liquor which he offered Julio and Candra who each took a sip.

After eating, Tom collected a rifle from his truck and set out to take a night walk in the surrounding woodland. Julio and Candra accompanied him on the short hike. Tom was familiar with the area and headed to a nearby meadow, explaining that he hunted deer there. As they approached the clearing, Tom offered the couple his binoculars so they could observe several deer foraging up ahead. A little further away from them, several bear cubs were playing.

Tom, Julio and Candra eventually returned to their camp where they slept in their vehicles. Tom woke first the following morning at roughly 5am. He wandered over to the sedan and banged on its hood to wake Julio and Candra. Then the trio decided to try catching a fish for breakfast. Tom drove the others to another area of the forest before leading them on foot along an overgrown trail that led to the riverbank. Once there, Julio and Candra perched themselves on a rock. Tom fished by himself a little further away.

Time slipped by and nothing seemed to be biting. Eventually, the group gave up and returned to their campsite empty-handed. There, Tom and Julio came up with a new plan. They'd head back into the woods and try their luck at hunting some deer instead. Hunting was illegal in Oregon during the summer months, but that didn't dissuade them. Tom had two rifles on him, a Winchester lever action and a .22 caliber savage. He handed one to Julio and kept the other for himself. Three days later, Tom Brown arrived at the office of Oregon City Attorney James O'Leary

where he announced that Julio Torres was dead. Tom explained that he and Julio had been hunting in the Mount Hood National Forest when a terrible accident took place. Julio was scoping out the area with a pair of binoculars when he spotted a deer. Tom handed Julio his rifle to free up his hands so he too could have a look through the binoculars. After observing the deer for himself, Tom decided he'd take a shot at it. He returned the binoculars to Julio, who in turn handed Tom back his rifle. As the Winchester was being passed between them, Tom grabbed the firearms balance point

with one finger on the trigger. Although he didn't pull it, the rifle fired mid-exchange. The single bullet penetrated Julio's head, killing him instantly. Tom's shocking story was supported by the only other person with him that weekend, Candra Torres. She had escorted Tom to James O'Leary's office to ensure he wouldn't be charged for a crime he didn't commit. Between sobs, Candra revealed that she had witnessed the shooting with her own eyes as she was standing a couple of feet behind the two men when it happened.

Her panicked screams had startled her pet dog Rusty, who turned aggressive. As Tom Brown rushed back to the campsite, Rusty ran at him growling. Certain the dog was about to attack, Tom scrambled his rifle into position and fired, killing the animal in self-defense. Later that day, Candra cried and nodded along as Tom repeated their story to detectives at the county sheriff's office. When asked why they hadn't come forward sooner, Tom admitted that he was initially reluctant to go to the police due to the previous run-ins he'd had with the law. Tom had a string of offensives listed against his name, most of which were petty and related to robbery.

After accidentally killing Julio Torres, Tom sat in shock at the group's campsite, mulling over what to do next. He was convinced that with his criminal record, officers would try to charge him with murder. I finally knew I had to split, that no one would believe me, Tom told detectives. I told Candra she could do what she wanted, but that I was going to head to the mountains. She said I couldn't leave her there, that I had to take her back to civilization, but I said no way, I'm going. I told her she could go with me if she wanted, but she'd better hurry and get her stuff together. Unable to navigate out of the sprawling, unfamiliar and dangerous forest alone, Candra opted to stay with Tom, hoping he would come to his senses.

Tom covered Julio and rushed his bodies with shrubbery to deter animals from scavenging their remains. Then, over the next three days, he trudged deeper and deeper into the forest with Candra in tow. They dressed under the stars in a sleeping bag and at a certain point, Tom tossed the rifle that had killed Julio into the surrounding brush, along with a bag of ammunition. Sensing Tom had since calmed down, Candra worked to convince him to return to town and tell police what had happened. Her persistence paid off, and Tom finally agreed. By then, the pair were well and truly lost. It took a while for Tom to find his way back to a familiar trail, but once he did, he managed to get them both back to the campsite.

He then drove Candra straight to Oregon City to see James O'Leary, an attorney who had represented Tom in his previous criminal matters. This was a precautionary measure to ensure Tom wouldn't be tricked into facing any murder charges. By the time they met with police, Tom and Candra were destroyed, but cooperative. They agreed to provide formal statements separately. This gave detectives the opportunity to check for inconsistencies in their story and determine if anything was afoot. But nothing raised their suspicions. The pair's account, even when told individually, was consistent and matching. While obviously upset, Candra was lucid and rational.

She was adamant that the shooting was not Tom's fault. She was also appreciative of Tom. Had he not helped her, she would still be lost in the immense forest, all alone. Later that night, Tom Brown escorted investigators into the Mount Hood National Forest. It was almost 8.30 when the group arrived at the location where Tom, Julio and Candra had set up camp. Sweeping the area with high-powered torches, investigators spotted the trio's burnt-out cooking fire and the Torres's sedan. 200 yards away, beneath the fronds of some ferns, was the body of Julio Torres. He lay face down about 30 feet off the road and down an embankment. There was blood on the ground higher up by the edge of the road,

pinpointing the location where the shooting had taken place. Due to the hot summer weather, Julio's body was already in an advanced state of decomposition, but a gunshot wound was clearly visible in his head. Rusty had sustained a similar wound. His body was found further along the trail, also haphazardly covered with leaves. Tom had since willingly surrendered the 22-caliber sabbage rifle he had used to shoot Rusty. The following morning, he led investigators through a heavily wooded area to where he had discarded the Winchester rifle that killed Julio. They had to go on foot, trekking through thick vegetation as they followed the Colourwash River upstream.

They walked for hours through the forest across the river and then along another stream. The forest had become a dense, disorientating maze, but there was one clue that indicated they were heading in the right direction. Investigators noticed a set of Tom's footprints that had been previously crushed into the earth. A smaller pair, believed to be cantras, tailed them. As detailed in the book Empty Promises by True Crime Author Ian Rule, after 10 hours of hiking, Tom eventually stopped, pointed and remarked, There it is. There's my rifle. They had arrived at the site where he and Candra camped on their second night together in the wilderness.

Although Tom said he'd thrown a plastic bag that contained about 11 bullets into the underbrush nearby, they were unable to find it. Detectives did recover a sleeping bag that almost looked like it had been shredded due to being dragged through the rough terrain. Tom said he and Candra had thrown it away once they found the trail home again. Over the coming days, Tom remained obliging and eager to assist with the investigation. He willingly provided a second statement and underwent a polygraph test which he passed. With everything aligning with Tom and Candra's version of events,

Giulio Torres's death was ruled accidental. Lola Bates was deeply worried about her daughter, Candra. At just 16 years old, Candra was too young to suddenly find herself a widow. The weekend camping trip into the Mount Hood National Forest was supposed to be a celebration of Candra and Giulio's first wedding anniversary. Candra had been a young bride having married Giulio who was five years older than her when she was just 15. Candra's family was religious and her father had encouraged Candra and Giulio to marry before their relationship became too physical.

Wedding photos showed Candra in a long-sleeved lace dress. Her long dark red hair parted down the middle and hanging over her shoulders. In one picture, she fed cake to a beaming Giulio who was tall and broad-shouldered with thick dark hair, matching sideburns and a mustache. The Oregon-based couple lived in a small apartment in the small city of Campy with Rusty, their rough collie dog, who had been Candra's pet since childhood. Following Giulio and Rusty's sudden and violent deaths, Candra stayed with her parents so they could look after her. Lola watched her daughter closely in those first few days. She couldn't shake the feeling that something wasn't quite right.

Candra's voice when describing the shootings didn't sound like her usual self. As Lola told the television program Forensic Files, it was as though Candra's words were coming out of a stereo, being replayed or something. Perhaps this was simply the way she was processing her grief, but it still gave Lola pause. It wasn't until Candra returned to the apartment she'd shared with Giulio that her demeanor changed. Her parents went with her, and as soon as Candra stepped through the door, she broke down in sobs. Candra suddenly began begging her parents, Mama and Daddy, don't hate me, don't hate me.

Ever since she'd returned home, Candra Torres had struggled to comprehend her thoughts and feelings. It was as though her mind was a blur, with many details missing. She remembered the lead-up to that fateful weekend. She and Giulio didn't have much money, but they still wanted to celebrate their first anniversary with the trip away somewhere. The obvious answer was to go camping. Candra suggested that they traveled to the coast where they had their honeymoon, but Giulio loved fishing and wanted to share the hobby with his wife, so he asked if they could instead head into the mountains.

Candra agreed, telling herself they could always visit the beach another time. The night before they left for the Mount Hood National Forest, Candra's sleep was disrupted by a nightmare. She woke terrified, but was unable to remember the exact details of her dream. All she knew was that it had something to do with their impending trip. Candra told a friend about her bad dream the next morning of Thursday, July 22. They advised her to take a Bible with her for spiritual protection, and Candra tucked one away in amongst her clothes and other belongings. She also brought up her nightmare to Giulio, thinking he would settle her nerves.

To Candra's surprise, Giulio admitted that he too felt inexplicably anxious about the trip. For peace of mind, they decided to invite one of Giulio's friends to camp with them, but he wasn't at home when they arrived to extend their invitation. They left a hastily scribbled note for him to read upon his return. We were by to ask you to go to the mountains with us. Sorry, you missed the fun. By the time Giulio and Candra arrived in the mountains, the weather was warm and the sky was blue. Amidst the bright light and picturesque setting, the couple's fears melted away. A wrong turn led them deeper into the forest on a road they'd never been down before.

There was something about the road that gave Giulio the creeps. Eventually, they realized their mistake and turned around. That night, the pair slept in their car. Giulio spent the next day fishing, but he failed to catch anything. The couple moved on to a different location to see if Giulio would have better luck there. They followed the Clackamas River downstream, stopping periodically to cast a line. During one stop, they spoke to another fisherman who'd also been struggling. He'd heard that a truck full of fish had recently been moved to the Collawash River, a 12-mile tributary of the Clackamas River, and suggested that the couple

check in with the park rangers to see if that was true. Giulio and Candra weren't sure what to do. They'd filled up their car with gas when they left, but now its tank was getting very low. They only had $20 left and needed to hang on to it in case of an emergency. After talking their predicament over, the couple decided to try one last location before giving up and returning home. The sun was setting when they reached the North Fork Dam. There, Giulio spotted a lone man observing the nearby fish ladder. Meeting Tom Brown was crystal clear in Candra's memory. She remembered how he lit up and flashed her a wide smile when she approached. It was sleazy as if he were undressing her with his eyes.

She never shook the uneasy feeling he gave her. That night, around the campfire, Tom retrieved a milk carton from his truck and showed it to Giulio and Candra. It contained a dead bird. I picked it off on the way here, Tom bragged. Candra was unimpressed. She didn't believe in shooting animals for sport. Not unless you have to for food, she told Tom. He told her not to worry and said he planned to eat the bird. On the walk the trio took later that night, Tom unsettled Candra further when he raised his rifle at several bear cubs playing in the distance. She turned away in disapproval,

fearful his actions would attract the bear's mother and put them in danger. Tom flashed Candra yet another unnerving smile and lowered his weapon. Candra struggled to sleep that night. She didn't like Tom and the way he seemed to enjoy killing for its own sake. She expressed her concerns to Giulio and his friends. She didn't like her. She expressed her concerns to Giulio who regarded Tom as eccentric but harmless. Although he did tell Candra to button up her blouse to hide her bikini top. Candra's anxieties only increased the following day. She noticed how Tom loosely carried his rifle while keeping its barrel pointed at Giulio. Then he made a disturbing joke about her beloved

dog. There are only two things wrong with Rusty, Tom said as he padded the collie. He's alive and walking. Despite remembering all of this lead up to Giulio's death, Candra realized that she couldn't actually recall the exact moment he was killed. She genuinely believed she had witnessed the shooting as she told detectives but she couldn't picture it in her mind. All that Candra could remember was the sound of a loud rifle blast then the sight of Giulio's body covered in blood. She tried to recall more but her mind was blank. Over the course of a few days another picture arose from Candra's subconscious. She could clearly see Tom Brown's face plastered with a wide smile.

It wasn't until Candra returned to the apartment she and Giulio shared that something was unlocked within her. After begging her parents not to hate her and being reassured that they never could, Candra made a confession. She didn't know if Giulio's death was an accident or not because she hadn't actually seen it for herself. In shock her mother Lola replied, My God Candra, don't you realize that man murdered your husband? 6 days after Candra Torres and Tom Brown had emerged from the wilderness, Candra paid another visit to the county sheriff's office. This time she was accompanied by her parents.

I want to tell you what really happened, Candra said. It wasn't an accident. On the morning of Saturday July 24, Candra gave Giulio a quick kiss before he left the campsite to go hunting with Tom Brown. Candra stayed put with Rusty who was resting in the sun. A sense of foreboding washed over her. The air was extremely still and quiet. Suddenly Candra was startled by the unmistakable sound of a gunshot ringing through the forest. For a split second Candra was overcome with the impulse to run into the woods with Rusty, but then she told herself to stop being silly. She had no way to navigate the forest and would only end up getting lost which would worry Giulio. There was no need to run. Giulio and Tom

must have found a deer. Candra remained where she was and waited for their return. A little while later she saw Tom walking towards the campsite. There was no sign of Giulio. As reported in the book Empty Promises, Tom called out to Candra. We got us a deer. He added that Giulio was still in the clearing, cleaning the carcass. Candra was immediately suspicious. It made no sense to her that Giulio would remain behind with the deer as he wasn't a hunter and wouldn't know how to gut an animal. Gripped with a fear that had been bubbling since she first met Tom Brown, Candra got up and ran towards the clearing. Another gunshot rang out.

Candra stopped and turned around. Rusty, who had been beside her a moment ago, had fallen on the ground. His legs jerked and his head was stained with blood. Tom stood a little distance behind holding a smoldering rifle. He then pointed it at Candra. You shot my dog, she cried. A broad grin appeared on Tom's face as he replied. Yeah, I know. I shot your husband too. At that moment, Candra Torres was certain she was going to die. Barely able to comprehend the enormity of the situation she was in, Candra begged Tom not to hurt her. Although he had been aiming his rifle at her, Tom didn't fire it.

Instead, he forced Candra to drag Rusty's corpse off the trail and cover it with foliage. As she moved Rusty's body, Candra noticed that his paws were still twitching. Thinking he might be merely injured and able to be saved, Candra asked Tom to let her look after him. Tom refused. Those are his reflexes, he told Candra. I never have to shoot anything more than once. I don't like to see anything suffer. Once Candra covered Rusty's body, Tom bound her wrists and took her to the clearing where he had shot Julio.

He warned her not to look at Julio's body as it would distress her and left her standing nearby while he retrieved a watch that Julio had been wearing. When Tom returned, he said to Candra, You're not allowed to cry. I'm going to tell you a story. His name wasn't really Tom, he told her. It was Kent. And he wasn't a logger. He was a hit man for an organized crime group. He'd murdered five or six people and was wanted across several different states. But now, Tom was on the run from the mobsters he'd worked for because he had killed, quote,

One man too many. The reason he shot Julio was because he wanted a female companion and Candra looked strong enough to live off the land with him. After he finished explaining all of this, he said, Now you can cry. Candra wept uncontrollably before telling Tom that she had no idea how to live off the land. Tom just smiled and tried to hug her instead. After a little while, Tom made Candra pack up some belongings so they could begin hiking

through the forest, claiming that the criminals he'd worked for were after them, he ordered her to change into a pair of army pants as camouflage. Tom said that if the mobsters managed to find them, Candra should run in the opposite direction as him for survival. The people pursuing him wouldn't harm her if they separated. They hiked for four hours. Tom insisted that Candra only step on rocks and stones to avoid leading footprints. If an aircraft flew overhead, she had to duck. As they walked, Tom occasionally discarded items by tossing them into the brush. Candra suspected he was trying to throw people off their path.

They eventually stopped by the river. While Candra went into the water to wash up, Tom lay on a sleeping bag. Then he demanded she join him and threatened her with a knife before raping her as she cried. After hiking throughout the rest of the day, they set up camp. Tom constantly told Candra disturbing things. He said he could have killed Julio with his bare hands if he wanted, but he chose to shoot him instead because it was quick and painless. He also revealed that he'd initially planned to murder Julio the previous evening, but decided to let the couple have one final night together out of kindness. Candra asked why he hadn't just left Julio tied up somewhere before abducting her.

That would have been mean, Tom replied. Likewise, he said he had killed Rusty as an act of mercy because the dog wouldn't have been able to survive their journey. Tom told Candra stories about his violent past and the many murders he had committed. He was a big fan of a Dolph Hitler and said he hated his family. When he wasn't ranting, Tom would rape Candra. She was struck by how nasty looking his eyes were. Candra was led further into the woods. Whenever Tom paused to take a break, Candra pulled out the Bible her friend had encouraged her to pack and read aloud from it. Taking note of her faith, Tom told Candra that he too had been a Christian once,

but he knew that God had given up on him. Candra replied that God didn't give up on anybody. As time went on, the pair continued to talk. They had long conversations about a wide range of topics from films and books to deeper subjects such as the nature of humanity. At one point, Tom told Candra how the human mind held multiple doors that one could open and close at will. When he needed to kill a person, he simply opened a door in his brain that allowed that. Candra found herself gradually forgetting about the terrible things Tom had done, but his mood could change in an instant. He would go from being caring and considerate to angry without warning. On Monday, July 26, two days after the murder of Julio,

Tom woke up with a bad cough and told Candra that he thought he had pneumonia. He asked her for some paper so he could write letters to friends, explaining that he would probably be dead soon. At the thought of being left lost in the forest all alone, Candra began to cry. And for the first time, so did Tom. Then he told Candra something. He hadn't actually meant to kill Julio, but he was worried no one would believe him. As described by Candra in the Forensic Files episode Head Games, Tom said,

I didn't kill your husband on purpose. It was an accident. The reason that I brought you up here is because I'm afraid to go back to prison. Candra asked Tom if he was sure it was an accident. He told her over and over that he was. Slowly, Candra began to believe him. Armed with this new information, she made a promise. If you're sure, I'll go to the police with you and tell them I saw it, Candra said. Her words made Tom smile. Tom Brown agreed to take Candra Torres back to the campsite where Julio and Rusty's bodies still

lay. Then he would head back into the forest while Candra could make her way back home. Through repeated conversations, Candra managed to convince Tom to join her in reporting the accident to authorities. The thought of leaving an ill man alone in the woods made her uneasy. When she promised to vouch for him with law enforcement, he agreed to join her. They made it back to the area where they'd left their vehicles and got into Tom's truck. By the time they arrived at his lawyer's office the following morning, Candra had heard Tom describe how the rifle had misfired so many times that she truly believed she had seen it with her own eyes. Tom also insisted that he only shot Rusty in self-defense after the dog attacked him.

Candra was convinced of this too. Detectives were stunned as they listened to Candra relate this entirely new version of events. They had believed the story that she and Tom Brown had originally told them and considered the case nothing more than an unfortunate accident. After hearing Candra's amended account, they asked her to sit a polygraph test. Tom had already taken one after being interviewed twice and he had passed with no problems at all. Candra agreed to their request, but to her dismay, she failed the exam. Despite this, investigators were intrigued by Candra's new story. The truth was that Tom, whose full name was Thomas Leslie Brown, had an extensive criminal

history that included a number of violent crimes. At the age of 16, he acquired a rifle and ammunition from a friend then went out looking for people to rob. He and another teenager drove towards the city of Canby and spotted a woman also driving on the same road. They ran her off the bitum then raced up to her car while wielding the gun and demanding money. The woman locked her vehicle's doors so Brown fired the rifle twice. Believing he'd hit the woman, he and his friends ran into a nearby forest. When they emerged a little while later, the woman's car was still parked by the side of the road but there was no sign of her. She had fled unscathed from the vehicle. Tom and his friend got back in their

car and sped away in the hopes of finding another victim. Suddenly, a police car appeared in front of them, its lights flashing. Realizing it was coming for them, the two teenagers veered towards a turn off and hit a truck. Their car flipped over. Tom fired out a window at the pursuing police officer but missed. He crawled from the car and fled on foot. Spotting a male passerby, he went up to him and demanded his car keys. The man said he had none so Tom tried his luck at a house instead. A teenage girl answered the door and when Tom threatened her, she ran across the street to a neighbor's property. Noticing the neighbor's pickup truck parked outside, Tom decided to steal it. He aimed his rifle at a young man standing in the window of the house

and fired. This time, his shot hit its mark. The young man was wounded in the stomach. Tom got into the pickup truck but immediately discovered there wasn't enough room in its cab for him to aim his weapon. He hopped out again just as Sheriff's deputies arrived on the scene. When officers later interviewed Tom and asked if he was responsible for shooting the young man, Tom replied, Yeah, I wanted his car and I was willing to kill to get it. Luckily, his victim survived. Tom Brown was sent to a reform school but picked up his criminal career again upon release. For a while, he mostly engaged in petty crimes before developing an interest in a woman who had

two young children. After a short period, she ended their relationship. Furious at this, Tom abducted the woman and her children, then took them up to the mountains. He held them hostage overnight before releasing them. The woman declined to press charges out of fear that Tom would come after her. He openly spoke of the incident with police, stating, I was going to have her one way or another. I would have burned down her house, used a gun, whatever it took, so no one else would have her either. After this, Tom relocated to the Midwestern state of Nebraska and started working on a farm. His employer lent Tom his red GMC pickup truck. One day, Tom told his boss he planned to drive

the truck into town. He had two of his employer's rifles with him at the time. An entire day went by with no sign of Tom or the truck. When Tom's employer realized he'd been robbed, he filed a stolen vehicle report with the police. There was a warrant out for Tom's arrest in Nebraska, but law enforcement there never caught sight of him again. It turned out that he had driven the stolen pickup all the way back to Oregon. Tom's history of violence made investigators inclined to believe Candra Torres' second account of events, despite her failing her polygraph test. Although polygraphs are used in some jurisdictions as an interrogative tool and are sometimes referred

to as lie detectors, they cannot detect lies. They measure physiological responses to different questions, and an individual's results will depend on many factors. Countermeasures such as controlled breathing and thought exercises can help someone pass a polygraph. Likewise, a person who is nervous and emotional may provide responses that the examiner perceives as dishonest. As Candra Torres' mother later told forensic files, polygraphs do not measure truth or lie, what they measure is emotion. And if you were a 16-year-old girl that had been raped, marched up in the mountain, you're talking about your husband that you loved that was shot by this murderer. Would you be emotional? I think so.

However, investigators knew that they needed more information if they were to proceed with a murder charge. They referred Candra to a forensic psychiatrist in the hopes he might be able to shed further light on what had happened. Dr. Joseph Treleven worked at Oregon State Hospital as head of the psychiatric security unit. He spent several hours interviewing Candra Torres about her ordeal. Dr. Treleven sought to determine why Candra had vehemently defended and supported her rapist and kidnapper, who she knew deep down had gunned down her husband and dog. He noted that Candra's early defense of her captor reminded him of stories he had read about American POWs during the Korean War. In situations where these hostages were isolated, tortured,

and lived in fear of being killed, they sometimes began to identify with their captor's point of view. Occasionally, they even went so far as to testify against the United States. Those who studied this phenomenon dubbed it brainwashing. In 1973, three years before Julio and Candra Torres encountered Tom Brown, it became known as Stockholm Syndrome, after a bank robbery in Sweden where hostages subsequently defended their captors. The term made headlines in the U.S. at the start of 1976, when Eris Paddy Hearst was trialled for her role in a bank robbery. Hearst had been abducted in 1974 by a left-wing organization and was held hostage by them for

19 months. While prosecutors claimed Hearst had willingly aligned herself with her captors and agreed to participate in the robbery, her lawyer insisted she had been brainwashed. Some experts in psychology say Stockholm Syndrome occurs when a victim suffers a traumatic shock at the hands of a captor, who then isolates them, indoctrinates them, and promises an eventual reward. In Candra Torres's case, the shooting of Julio and Rusty, along with being repeatedly raped, qualified as traumatic shocks, she was then isolated and indoctrinated by Tom Brown, who repeatedly told her Julio's shooting was an accident. Her reward was being released by Tom if she went along with his story. Stockholm Syndrome is not an official psychiatric disorder

and does not appear in the DSM-5, a diagnostic manual published by the American Psychiatric Association. Some experts and commentators have criticized the theory of Stockholm Syndrome, pointing out that psychiatrists and psychologists have been unable to reach a consensus on it. The FBI has described the condition as extremely rare. The very case that gave the phenomenon its name is contentious, as police actions in the Stockholm Bank robbery case arguably placed the hostages at greater risk. This provides another explanation for why those hostages may have refused to testify against their captors. Regardless of debate about the condition, Dr. Treleven and investigators came to the conclusion

that Candra Torres had allied herself with her abductor as a way to survive. For Candra, the thought that her husband and dog had been killed just because a stranger wanted her to himself was deeply distressing. She wanted to believe it had all been a tragic accident, because then she wouldn't feel guilty about what happened. Talking to producers of forensic files, Candra said, I had nobody with me but a murderer. Do I really want to believe he is a murderer, because believing that is terrifying? Do I really want to think that my husband died so that someone could rape me and kidnap me? For me, denial was the best way to survive.

Although detectives believed Candra's accusations against Tom Brown, they had no way of proving them. Candra's conflicting statements and failed polygraph exam could be used by a defense to undermine her credibility and label her an unreliable witness. Plus, she hadn't seen Tom shoot Giulio, she had only heard it. They needed physical evidence to prove there had been a murder. While Candra said Tom shot Rusty from behind, Tom had claimed he shot the dog as the animal ran towards him. If this was true, the bullet would have entered Rusty's head from the front. Sheriff's deputies had taken photographs of Rusty's body at the campsite, but didn't arrange an autopsy for the dog. With Rusty long since buried in a mass grave,

they had no way of checking which version was true. However, they did have some forensics to go on in Giulio's case. Experts had found no gunpowder residue on Giulio's face where the bullet had entered, which indicated that he hadn't been shot at a very close range. In order to find out the minimum distance he could have been shot from, ballistics experts did some tests with Tom Brown's rifle. When fired six inches from its target, it left a visible gunpowder pattern. The experts tried firing it at gradually increasing distances and discovered that it wasn't until the rifle was fired at least 36 inches from its target that the target

remained free from gunpowder. This meant Tom Brown had been a minimum of 3 feet away from Giulio when the rifle went off. This distance, combined with the almost horizontal entry and exit wound in Giulio's head and neck, meant Tom's story of an accidental misfire while the gun was being passed between them didn't hold up. Detectives couldn't arrest Tom Brown as he had gone off the grid after their last interview. Prosecutors instead took the case to a grand jury to determine whether the death of Giulio Torres was a murder or an accident. In December 1976, almost five months after Giulio was killed, the grand jury reached a decision. Giulio had been murdered. An indictment was handed down, charging Tom Brown with murder as well as car theft and forgery.

Months went by. Then one day, Sheriff's deputies were stunned to see Tom walk into their offices. He looked cool, calm and collected as he approached the front desk and explained that he'd heard there was a warrant out for his arrest. Tom said he was keen to get it all straightened out. The Sheriff's office wasted no time in arresting Tom Brown and charging him with murder. Then he was transferred to county jail to await trial. Investigators needed a definitive statement from Candra Torres that they could take to court. After encouragement from a criminal investigator, Candra began writing down her memories of her ordeal as they came to mind. When she was finally finished, she had written 18 pages detailing everything that had happened.

Meanwhile, Tom Brown was pleased to discover that his county jail cellmate was a man who would previously known as an adolescent at reform school. This individual was given the pseudonym Wendell Stokeberry by true crime author Ian Ruhl in her book Empty Promises. Like Tom, Wendell had an extensive criminal background and Tom felt comfortable confiding in him. He began discussing his upcoming trial, assuring Wendell, quote, I'm going to beat it. Tom openly told Wendell how he had deliberately shot Giulio in the face, claiming that he had been hired to murder him. Then he bragged about how he had convinced Candra Torres to go along with his story about an accidental shooting and said she

wasn't emotionally strong enough to go through with testifying against him. A jury wouldn't find her convincing either, Tom said, because she looked older than her actual age and had a seductive demeanor. Plus, he had passed a polygraph test. He'd done that by simply choosing to believe in the lies he had invented. Tom said that when he was acquitted, he'd killed the case's prosecutors, then go after Candra. On the off chance that he was convicted, his sentence would probably only be around seven years, and he could still get his revenge against Candra upon release. Wendell reported everything Tom told him to prosecutors. They believed Wendell because there were details in his story that no one knew except those with

an intimate knowledge of the crimes. In exchange for an escape charge removed from his criminal record and a sentence in an out-of-state prison, Wendell agreed to testify against his old friend. Two days before Tom Brown's trial was set to begin, he managed to source enough money for bail and was released. Candra Torres was moved to a motel for her own protection and was kept under 24-hour police guard. The defendant was given the choice of a jury trial or trial by judge and opted for the latter. His former friend Wendell appeared as a witness, as did Dr. Joseph Treleven, who spoke at length about the phenomenon of Stockholm syndrome. Despite her continuing fear of the man who abducted her, Candra Torres managed to testify

at length over one and a half days. Tom Brown also took the stand in his own defense. He tried to demonstrate how the alleged accident took place, showing how he'd handed over the rifle to Julio. But his demonstration fell flat when it became clear that this handoff was incompatible with the wound that Julio had received. It took the judge three days to reach a ruling. He found Tom Brown guilty and sentenced him to life in the Oregon State Penitentiary. Tom Brown has applied for parole a number of times over the ensuing decades, without success. As of early 2022, he remains incarcerated, but he is scheduled to be released in August 2023. He is currently 75 years old.

The case of Julio and Candra Torres was written about extensively by true crime author Ann Ruhl. She detailed the events of their camping trip and the investigation that followed in a chapter of her 2001 book, Empty Promises. Although Candra kept a low profile for many years after her ordeal, in 2020 she shared her story with fellow kidnapping survivor Elizabeth Smart, who was abducted from her Utah home in 2002 at the age of 14. The two women revisited the location where Candra was abducted for an episode of the television series Elizabeth Smart Finding Justice. It was the first time Candra had been back to Mount Hood National Forest since Julio's murder. She said the visit made her feel empowered.

Candra Torres is grateful for the physical evidence that helped put her attacker and her husband's killer behind bars. As she told the television program Forensic Files in 2004, I thank God for forensics. I think that they solve a lot of crimes. The angle of the shot and the type of gun that was used and the powder burns were all proof that this did not happen the way that he said it did. So I was very thankful for that evidence. Candra eventually remarried, moved far away and started a family. She credits psychiatry with helping her recover and understand how her memories were able to be distorted and manipulated by Tom Brown. Candra has found comfort in knowing there is a logical

explanation for her reaction to trauma and in having her name publicly cleared. you