Crime Stories with Nancy Grace - NFL Star Sergio Brown Fake-Parties in Mexico, as Mom, 73, Bludgeoned, Nude?

Episode Date: October 26, 2023

Myrtle Brown returns from a group trip to Aruba, celebrates her 73rd birthday, then goes missing. Family members get alarmed after not being able to contact the mom of 2. Then it's discovered son Sergio Brown, a former NFL player, is also missing. The mother and son were last seen together by a neighbor. Then Sergio Brown is seen on Ring doorbell camera footage taking out the trash and lighting a bonfire. Items are missing from the Brown home, including an iPad, credit cards, a debit card, and Myrtle Brown's phone. Myrtle Brown’s body is found alongside a creek near the home, approximately 100 to 150 feet away from the back door. Her body is wrapped in a sheet. The medical examiner ruled Myrtle's death a homicide, citing multiple assault-related injuries..... blunt force trauma.  Sergio Brown begins to post on Instagram posts, but the posts are strange. In one post Sergio said that reports of his mother's death were  "fake news" claiming she was on vacation.  He also claimed he was kidnapped by the FBI.   Sergio Brown is arrested for his mother's death and extradited. In his possession are his mother's iPad and credit cards.  Joining Nancy Grace Today: Irv Miller – Criminal Defense Attorney, The Miller Firm; Legal Analyst: CBS2 Chicago WBBM-TV and Legal Technical Advisor to “THE GOOD WIFE” and “THE GOOD FIGHT”- CBS productions Dr. Bethany Marshall – Psychoanalyst (Beverly Hills, CA); Instagram & TikTok: drbethanymarshall; Twitter: @DrBethanyLive  Paul Duffy - Former Deputy/Senior Inspector for the US Marshals, Senior Consultant with Group Nine Risk Consultants, and Contractor with the United States Marshals Service Dr. Eric Eason - Board Certified Forensic Pathologist, Consultant; Instagram: @eric_a_eason, Facebook: Eric August Eason, & LinkedIn: Eric Eason, MD   Forest McFarland - News Reporter for The U.S. Sun; Twitter: forrestmcfarla5 See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

You're listening to an iHeart Podcast. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. He has it all. Money and a lot of it. Same. A lot of that. Youth, health, everything. An NFL star. Why is he suspected? In the murder of the one person who has stood behind him since he was a baby his mother before I get to Sergio Brown first there is breaking news a massacre in Maine reportedly by a 40-year-old army reservist who guns down at least 22 people starting with women and children in a bowling

alley do I have those facts right I'm Nancy Grace this is crime stories thank you for being with us here on crime stories and on Sirius XM 111 before I get to Sergio Brown first to force McFarland joining us news reporter us son force thank you for being with us for, what can you tell me about this Army reservist, age 40, that goes on a gun massacre? Hey, Nancy, thanks so much for having me. Now, police say that Card is a person of interest at the moment, but they did warn the public to stay away from him. And if he's sighted, run for cover and call them immediately. He's considered to be armed and dangerous. Forrest, what happened?

Is it true that the perp unloaded a semi-automatic weapon in a bowling alley? Do I have that much right? Yes, ma'am. And the gunman was captured on camera. He has a chilling resemblance to the photo that's been released. Okay. Can we just say it once and for all? We think it's card, the 40-year-old Army Reserve is there. Okay. Maybe it's not. Maybe it's his twin that we don't know about. His evil twin, his doppelganger. But that said, is it true, Forrest McFarland, joining us, that it was a children's bowling league, children's bowling league, killing at least 22, wounding 60 in the very small town of Lewiston, Maine? second largest town in Maine. It's the largest school district in Maine, and everyone is just covering today. On Thursday morning, school was canceled. So the entire town is just enraptured

with fear right now. So I know you're saying it's one of the really big towns in Maine, but it's still about 38,000 people. Okay, now I grew up in a very rural area in Bibb County, Georgia. I know what that means. 38,000 people. Why would you go into a children's bowling league and start unloading the suspect Robert Card, an army reservist, apparently goes on a rampage at a nearby bar in the deadliest mass shooting of the year with at least 22 dead. As we get information, we will give that to you. But as of right now, the shooter is still on the loose. As you heard from Forrest McFarlane, if you suspect that you see him because he is on the run, I would imagine leaving the jurisdiction. Do not approach him.

For more information, go to crimeonline.com. But now we are turning to our current story, which is up, which is about a guy that seemingly has it all more money than you could ever count. Fame, women, mansions, cars, adoration, the works. His name is Sergio Brown. Take a listen to our friends at Crime Online. Myrtle Brown's neighbors speak highly of the longtime Maywood resident. She's described as a lovely lady by Kevin Greer. Very soft-spoken, outgoing, just a happy person, he says. Always on the go. Brown's latest trip is a testament to that,

as she had just returned from a group trip to Aruba. And when she returned, she celebrated her 73rd birthday on September 8th. Days later, Myrtle Brown's family is alarmed after not being able to reach her. Sheila Simmons last spoke to her sister six days after Brown's birthday. It was Thursday. Then communications ceased. Two days later, the family searched the Browns' home, coming up empty-handed. The police are called. Myrtle Brown is missing. So this is a 73 year old mother, NFL star Sergio Brown, beloved by all, still out and about active, loving life, gets back from Aruba on a trip with all of her friends. And then suddenly she goes missing just after her birthday.

Of course, the alarm is raised. Joining me, an all-star panel to make sense of what we know right now about Sergio Brown and his mother, Myrtle Brown, age 73. I want to go straight out to Forrest McFarland joining us, news reporter, investigative reporter with the U.S. Sun. Let me ask you a question for us, McFarland. What do we know about Sergio Brown's upbringing? Where is he from? What do we know about that? Now, Sergio is from Maywood, Illinois. It's a suburb of Chicago. It's not the best place to grow up. The crime rates are about 90 percent higher than the rest of the U.S., But from childhood friends who have spoken with us, the U.S. son, we could tell that he seemed to have a good upbringing. His father was very successful.

He was the first black basketball player at Texas A&M. According to his childhood friend, Bridget Howell, his parents would show up for band concerts, for sporting events. Sergio was a great track and field runner. He was a great football player. So it appears that he had a healthy upbringing and a supportive family. So it seems to me like he had a pretty good upbringing. Dr. Bethany Marshall joining us in addition to Forrest McFarlane. Dr. Bethany Marshall, renowned psychoanalyst joining us out of L.A. You can find her at drbethanymarshall.com. Dr. Bethany, you know, when a child grows up destitute, without love, abused, mistreated, underprivileged,

very often excuses are made for them later in life when they commit a crime it is argued that that's how they were brought up they don't know any different life and so they continue the life that they know right or wrong that is not an excuse for a felony, especially a violent felony, but it's even more of a conundrum, Dr. Bethany, when the person basically grows up with a silver spoon in their mouth and then they act out. If you can call murdering your mother acting out, that's kind of like putting perfume on the pig. But I mean, the dad, Mario Brown, the first African-American men's basketball player at Texas A&M. He was a two-sport star in football and track.

It goes on and on and on. Now we go to this guy, the son, Sergio Brown. He went to University Notre Dame. I went to a college meeting the other day about trying to get the twins, you know, where do they want to go to college? The meeting was with Notre Dame. We were all sitting in this big auditorium. You know how much that costs? $80,000 plus a year. Did you hear that? $80,000 plus a year.

That's some school, right? And that's where Sergio Brown went. So he's had all of these wonderful things happening in his life. He's been doted upon. You know, Nancy, what you're describing is a man whose early attachment systems were secure. It's the attachment systems that create good mental health, position the person for life. It's not necessarily their education or whether or not they grow up in a crime-ridden neighborhood or how much money the parents have. It's whether or not the parents love the child. And there was

plenty of love in this household. Furthermore, Sergio Brown went on to get an MBA in adulthood. Okay, stop. So he graduated from college and got an MBA, a master's in business? Absolutely. After having great success in the NFL. Good luck, everybody, trying to tell me that he has insanity or mental defect. Hey, Irv Miller joining me, criminal defense attorney with the Miller firm. That sounds very important to me. The Miller firm, legal analyst,

CBS to Chicago, WBBM TV, legal technical advisor to the good wife and the good fight. My goodness, Irv Miller, when do you have time to practice law for Pete's sake? Wait, don't answer that. I want to talk to you about Sergio Brown. It's going to be really hard for him to mount some kind of a mental defect in this. The man has an MBA. Yes. Let me tell you, though, how the mighty have fallen in this particular case when he went to court yesterday when he was extradited from Mexico. Oh, you mean after he had a fight with the police on the plane? That? After that. Wait till I tell you about that, everybody. I'll tell you what, an air marshal comes up to me and goes, sit down. I'm like, yeah, absolutely. I was sitting down yesterday. Why do you have a fight on a

plane after 9-1-1? That's a good way to get your head bashed in. Go ahead. I guess it was appointed to represent him at the court hearing yesterday. Is that serious? You really want me to guess? The public defender of Cook County. Stop. He's broke? He had no money to hire an attorney, so the judge appointed the public defender to represent him. crime stories with nancy grace paul duffy with me former deputy senior inspector u.s marshal service

senior consultant with the group nine risk consultants and contractor with the u.s marshal service does that mean they get you to do things they're not supposed to do? Don't answer that. You have the Fifth Amendment right to remain silent. Paul Duffy, the man is broke. I mean, don't NFL players make millions of dollars? Nancy, does it mean he did squander it away? At age 55, he would be eligible for a retirement from the NFL,

minimum of three years playing, but he played for six. And he did put two homes in Columbia on a credit card while he was vacationing. Two homes in Columbia on a credit card? Yes, ma'am. Okay. You know what? This is getting worse and worse and worse, how you make millions and millions of dollars and you're broke and you have to have the public defender who by the way are very maligned because public defenders like prosecutors are in court trying cases every day they know the judges they know the ins and outs

sure they don't make a lot of money they're public defenders but many of them really know how to try a case. Guys, we are talking about somehow. Gee, who did that? Oh, I think it was me. I confess. I've gone off on Sergio Brown having a fight with police on the plane. And I blame you, Paul Duffy, bought two houses on credit cards in Columbia, had to fire a public, had to hire a public defender because he's now rock bottom broke. What about Myrtle? That's how this whole thing started. His 73-year-old mother, Myrtle.

Nancy. Go ahead, Dr. Bethany. Let's just stop everything so you can interrupt. Go ahead. Well, if I could jump in about his history, the fact that he had this great upbringing, earned all this money, went to the NBA, you know, had all this great success tells me, like you said so articulately intent, highly functioning, highly intentional. I'm so sorry. Can we start that over? This is a highly functioning, highly intelligent man who had some intervening factor later in life, whether it be drug use. It's not going to be a mental health crisis because you don't function that highly earlier in life and then have a psychotic

break. It just doesn't happen. This was either willful or some kind of, you know, a manufactured party drug or something. How about he got mad and killed his mom when she told him what she thought? You ever thought of that, Dr. Bethany? Perhaps. It's interesting that he was living with her, which means he was already in some state of decline if he had all that money earlier in his life. Career earnings $6,230,959. $6.2 million average yearly salary $890,000. Okay, now, Dr. Bethany, can I go forward with our friend Dave Mack? Okay, let's hear what Dave Mack can tell us. Listen.

Myrtle Brown isn't the only person missing. Her son, Sergio Brown, isn't answering phone calls or messages from his brother either. Sergio lived with his mother and often took walks in the neighborhood, but according to the family, Sergio's behavior has been off for the past few months. He hadn't really been himself. Days after Myrtle Brown goes missing, Instagram posts of Sergio Brown show up. Reportedly, he's in Mexico. Hours later, Brown posts another Instagram story showing his location as Sydney, Australia. His post is full of characters from the movie Finding Nemo. Police begin looking into their authenticity. Okay, I really don't know where to start with that. Dr. Eric Eason, hold on just a moment. Dr. Eric Eason is with us, a board

certified forensic pathologist and consultant. Dr. Eason, hold on on I've got to make sense of what I just heard Forrest McFarland you're you're very very quiet so I need you to jump in right now Myrtle Brown was not the only person missing son NFL star Sergio Brown also seemingly AWOL but then suddenly after just a few days after his mother goes missing Sergio Brown puts Instagram posts up saying he's in Mexico. Then just a few hours later, he says he's in Sydney, Australia. And then he starts loading up Finding Nemo characters. You do know Finding Nemo is an investigative reporter.

You need to know all about that. That's an animated fish. And Dory, who is another animated fish, finds Nemo. Right. You know about that, Forrest McFarlane. So he claims he's in Mexico. He claims he's in Australia. And he is posting characters from finding Nemo. Do I have those facts correct, Forrest? You're so right. And that's just the beginning. He makes some wild allegations in these videos posted on Instagram.

When he was in Mexico, videos surfaced of him partying with other people there. What do you mean by partying? He was buying drinks for people. It's unclear if he was using drugs, but based on the video, he was slurring his words. He was stringing together sentences that really didn't make sense. At one point, he said that the FBI stormed his mother's house and murdered his mom. He said local police have tried to kidnap him. Just, you know, spewing all of these wild allegations that make no sense. And then meanwhile, bystanders who are around Sergio are taking videos of him dancing around and taking shots and having other drinks with people. It really just kind of seemed like he knew the end was coming.

Now, Forrest McFarlane, hold on. You're the investigative news reporter with the U.S. Sun, correct? Yes, ma'am. Are you or at any time have you been a criminal investigator and or prosecutor and or defense attorney? Yes, no. No, ma'am. Okay. Would it be beyond the realm of possibility that he's establishing an alibi and showing that he's in a completely different place than his mom's dead body and he has no idea about it? Is that within the realm of possibility, Forrest McFarland. It for sure is. And based on what prosecutors said in the hearing yesterday, it seems like he bought a one-way ticket as soon as his mother is believed to be killed. A one-way ticket? Yes, ma'am. The only thing worse is if he used her credit card. Jackie, are you telling me he actually used her credit card? That's a yes, no. Yes. Yes. Okay. Yeah. He just made it worse. So Irv Miller, renowned criminal defense attorney from the Miller firm, he goes missing immediately after his mother is killed.

He turns up in one location in Mexico partying, as Forrest McFarlane has described, then suggests he's in Sydney, Australia, which is what, a 15, 18 hour flight, then begins posting characters from Finding Nemo. Irv, I want you to hear a little bit of the Instagram rant to which Forrest McFarlane is referring. Let's just hear the first seven seconds. Hit it. FBI came into my house on Bob Marley's death day, which is 5-11 agent gas unwarranted. Okay. The FBI came into my house on Bob Marley death day. It's kind of hard to understand because as Forrest McFarlane told us, there's a lot of partying going on in the background. You hear music.

We tried to mute it for you. Okay, let's hear some more. They kidnapped me twice from home, the Maywood Police Department. Right? Aaron Peppers was there the second time that it happened. They kidnapped me twice from home. The FBI, is he saying, Forrest McFarlane, the FBI or the Maywood Police kidnapped him? Is that what I'm hearing? You're hearing right. Okay, let's hear some more because he's about to put his foot

right in it. Listen. It had to be the FBI or the Maywood police. I thought my mother was on vacation in Sinaloa. Okay, he thinks his mother was on vacation in Sinaloa. Nancy, if I could jump in about this really quickly. Could I stop you? Go ahead. I don't think this is creating an alibi. When people are psychotic, drinking, using manufactured drugs, in the midst of the psychosis, there can be an interweaving of confessional, childlike lying, and bits and pieces of the truth. For instance, he knows at some point he will be arrested and incarcerated, held against his will. So that comes as, oh, the police and the FBI came in and they kidnapped me twice. That's the ramblings of a man who knows he's in big, big

trouble. I don't know, Dr. Bethany, you're giving him a lot of credit. I think he's trying to CYA, technical legal term. Let's hear some more. That's fake news. Get the out of my face. You want to come to me? The Maywell police got to give me money. Fake news? Is he actually talking about fake news and trying to say his mother is not dead, but she's in Sinaloa. OK, let's hear let's hear a little bit more. FBI had to do it. They got the power to do some like that. What the is going on? That's fake news. Don't come with me. So he's actually blaming law enforcement for the death of his mother, which actually we haven't

even gotten to the death of Miss Myrtle. Listen. Brown's family went back to search the family property a second time. Neighbors joined the search, and Myrtle Brown's body is found alongside a creek near the home, approximately 100 to 150 feet away from her back door. Her body was wrapped in a sheet. The medical examiner ruled Myrtle's death a homicide, citing multiple assault-related injuries, blunt force trauma. Okay, the fact that her body is wrapped up in a sheet shows what we call staging. In my experience, and everybody on the panel, jump in if you think differently, a random killer does not stick around, hang around the dead body long enough to stage anything.

So you break into a home, you're right in the middle of stealing something, and in walks the little old lady who owns the home. You panic and kill her. You get out of there as fast as you can. You don't wait to hide her body and wrap it in a sheet and stage it to make it look like a suicide or something. No, you get the hay out of there. Joining me right now, Dr. Eric Eason, joining us out of South Carolina, board certified forensic pathologist and consultant. Dr. Eason, thank you for being with us. What does this mean? Multiple assault related injuries,

blunt force trauma. They took one look at her and said, this is not a heart attack. It's not a stroke. It's not a suicide. This is blunt force trauma. She was murdered. Right. So blunt force trauma is an injury due to a solid object striking the body or the body hits the solid object or some combination of the two. You're going to result in having injuries on the body that are bruises, scratches, lacerations, which are tears on the skin internally you're going to find fractures and usually some internal bleeding or hemorrhage my guess is that most of the injuries are probably to the head is what I'm thinking here and Nancy if I could jump in for one second and the the complaint that was presented in court basically said that the cause of death one of the areas of injury she had a broken neck. In addition to that, when you said she was found with a sheet covering her,

she was found nude underneath that sheet. And there was video of him burning some objects in a fire pit shortly thereafter, which later determined to be clothing. My guess is he did that because his blood was on her clothing, and he had the sense to try to get rid of that evidence by burning it. And so that adds a little insight into what was going through his mind at the time this happened. He also stole her phone, her credit cards, and they were found on him at the time of his arrest in Mexico. And, Nancy, if I could, going back to the sheet, wrapping the body in the sheet, as you well know, could show reverence or even love

to wrap the body and hide the body. Is that Dr. Eason or Forrest McFarland? That was Paul Duffy at the end. Paul Duffy, will you say that one more time? Because I want to follow up on everything Irv said and what you just said. Would you repeat that one more time? You were a little fuzzy. Sure. Nancy, as you well know, wrapping that body in a sheet could be a sign of reverence or a sign of love, not wanting to leave the body out to the elements and out naked. Oh, okay. Paul Duffy, like when we find a baby that's been killed and someone has wrapped it in its favorite blanket. Exactly.

The analogy is correct. Okay. So that means it's someone close to them. I'm not buying the love and the reverence. Well, I don't know. It's very complicated. Look, I'm a JD, not a shrink like Dr. Bethany. But even if you did love the person at one point, you still murder them.

But you're right. It's a clue, a very important clue, Paul Duffy, because we only see that when the killer is connected to the victim in some close way. Like when Tottenham murdered her daughter, Kelly. Kelly was in a plastic bag thrown in a swamp, true, but also with one of her favorite blankets. I see what you're saying. It points to who the killer is. And Irv Miller, tell me again what you were saying. Her body was naked. Hey, Irv, listen to this. Our friends in Cut 3, Dave Mack. Myrtle Brown's neighbor, Carlos Cortez, said he saw Myrtle and Sergio together on Thursday. That's the same day Myrtle talked with her sister. Then police found footage

on the Ring doorbell camera. Sergio was seen taking out the trash and lighting a bonfire. Doorbell Ring camera video. I love those things. The Ring doorbell camera catches Sergio Brown taking out trash and lighting a bonfire. But he did do a very good job. It reminds me of Stephen Avery, who of making a murder of fame, who murdered Teresa Hallback. And he stirred a fire pit all night long according to his blood relatives and neighbors and in it were the studs off the back of her Daisy Fuentes blue jeans off Teresa Hallback's blue jeans and little bits tiny little bits of bone maybe teeth same thing you have to basically incinerate objects to get rid of them so Ir Miller, you're telling me that when they go back to the fire pit,

they find out that Ms. Myrtle's clothes were what was being burned. Yes, exactly. Oh yeah, he's going to hell. Short pit stop with a life behind bars conviction. So, okay, to Forrest McFarlane joining us, investigative reporter with The Sun, What can you tell me, Forrest, about this fire pit and the ring camera footage? Yeah, like it's already been said, there definitely was fabric that was obtained from the crime scene. So no matter what his efforts were to potentially hide the murder, if he is convicted of the killing. They were not effective, and they were able to find other evidence from the crime scene, which proved it was a homicide.

Also, in the bathroom, they found Ajax, a cleaning agent, and it appeared that the bathtub had just been scrubbed. So that was another piece of evidence that was revealed. Come on, Forrest McFarland. You know what? You really are a font of information, and it's all correct. So, Dr. Eric Eason, I'm going to circle back to the Ajax and why people turn into neatniks after someone goes missing like their wife or their mother mother and then they suddenly have the compulsion to clean

the whole bathroom with Ajax. Dr. Eric Eason board-certified forensic pathologist, what evidence do you believe they may have found on the body to suggest it was murder or within the home? If she was bludgeoned, I don't. Do you really think she was bludgeoned there outdoors? Or is that a secondary crime scene where her body was disposed? I'm not sure. I mean, the thing they're going to look for at the autopsy is the thing I would do is I would definitely take the fingernail clippings and look for possible blood or DNA under there from the assailant and try and match it with the defendant. That's what I would do. That's exactly what happened in this case,

actually. Okay, good. There was blood underneath her fingernail and the Maywood police were able to send it to the Illinois State Police Crime Lab. And there was a match between the blood underneath the fingernails and the DNA that they found on his toothbrush in the house. Don't you just love that? I love it when they get your toothbrush, Irv Miller. So, Dr. Erickson, how do you, I mean, you perform literally thousands of exams. How do you process a little old lady's body to determine who is the killer? Could you please start with how the hands are bagged with paper bags at the crime scene? Yes. So the police arrived and the crime scene investigators arrive they will immediately place paper bags over the hands

they will then take the body and not disturb it very much and then deliver it to the morgue when the body arrives to the morgue pictures are taken immediately we're going to do full body x-rays and then the autopsy begins and then the first part is to remove the clothing and when the clothing is removed you look at the clothing too. And so you could actually find hair on the clothing. So if any of the hair from the defendant ended up on the clothing that can be collected, you could also collect trace evidence from the clothing. The clothing is then placed in the bags

and submitted to a crime lab. And then when the paper bags are removed from the hands, you take nail clippers and clip the fingernails and place those in separate bags, bag for the right hand, bag for the left hand. That then gets submitted to the crime lab as well. Then the autopsy begins and you'll do the external exam and describe all the injuries that you see on the body.

You measure them and describe them and photograph them. The internal exam then occurs when you match the injuries on the outside of the body with what was found on the inside and then if you can, at the end of the internal exam then occurs when you match the injuries on the outside of the body with what was found on the inside and then if you can at the end of the internal exam you will then establish a cause of death and a manner of death which is what happened here Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. We know that there was blood on the back patio of Ms. Myrtle's home. We know Ajax was in the bathtub drain, possibly indicative of it being recently cleaned. We know that Ms. Myrtle, who is Myrtle Brown, Sergio Brown's mother, her iPad, credit cards and phones missing, her cigarettes left

behind. As you heard, he booked a one-way ticket to Cancun, flying out in the early morning hours of September 15 and I'm trying to determine exactly when her murder occurred and then there are his odd posts claiming everything about his mom's death is all quote fake news it has to be the FBI claiming he thought his mother was on vacation, even though he spotted with her around the home and getting rid of and burning her clothes in the yard. Irv Miller, what more can you tell me? of potential defenses that he could possibly come up with in trying to figure out everything from alibi to blaming the FBI to blaming the police to say he was being kidnapped on the airplane, just reaching out for every possible straw that he'd come up with. Unfortunately, that doesn't do a defense lawyer much good in court trying to figure out which

one of those to go with. Perhaps there is no good one to go with and you just rely upon the state to prove the case beyond a reasonable doubt, period. What can you tell me, Forrest McFarland, investigative reporter with the U.S. Sun, about a fight on the plane? So another wild video surfaced of Sergio after he was taken in by police. He had another violent outburst on the plane and was just screaming, claiming that he was being taken to Tijuana, Mexico against his will, that he was being kidnapped when in reality he was being arrested and taken back to Illinois to answer for his alleged crimes and be investigated for the death of his mother. I also think it's important to note, just circling back to his mom's

death and the blunt trauma death, I think it's interesting to know his career in the NFL. At one point, Sergio, who stands at 6'2", was 210 pounds of pure muscle. He played as the safety, which is basically like the human shield, the last resort for the defense. It was his job to stop the ball at all costs from crossing his team. One of his most notable moments in the NFL was tackling Rob Gronkowski, the famous NFL quarterback, and breaking his arm after tackling him. I mean, one violent outburst against your 73-year-old mother is more than enough, I think, to kill her. Tell me about Gronkowski's arm, because you know what I'm thinking about, Forrest McFarlane? I'm thinking about Miss Myrtle's neck and how her little neck was just snapped. Tell me about Ron Gronkowski's arm again.

Now, Sergio Brown and Rob Gronkowski had a famous rivalry during his career in the NFL. They were once teammates and then became rivals after Sergio violently tackled him on the field, broke his arm. He was out for who knows how many games recovering from this injury. And on the following season, Rob Gronkowski says that Sergio Brown was just goading him, talking smack across the field, and eventually he just had it, grabbed Sergio Brown and threw him off of

the field in an iconic moment in NFL history. So this man was powerful. He could get in people's heads. He, you know, was just playing a game that he did for his job. And he was able to snap an incredibly healthy and strong man's heart. Is it true, Forrest McFarland, investigative reporter, U.S. Sun, that Sergio Brown's mother neck was snapped. Yes, ma'am. It's true. And it's believed that she died from blunt force trauma. So that could have meant, you know, an object was used to hit her, maybe a fist. I mean, at 73 years old. And she was quite a slight woman as well. She was very thin and small.

So, you know, one stray hit, I could have snapped her neck. Paul Duffy joining us, former Deputy Senior Inspector, U.S. Marshals, now Consultant Group 9 Risk Consultants. You have hunted down felons, usually killers, drug lords, all over the world as a U.S. Marshal. Why is it a big, huge guy like Sergio Brown, as Forrest told us, 6'2", 210 pounds of nothing but muscle, would attack someone so weak and so defenseless like his own 73-year-old mother. And of course, he's pled not guilty and he has not been convicted in a court of law.

Why is that, Paul? You've looked at defendants all around the world. Nancy, it would be difficult to come up with a motive, but I would consider and I would be surprised if the defense didn't look into concussions he might sustain in the NFL. Oh, dear Lord in heaven. I knew that was coming. Okay. So a concussion. Okay. Paul Duffy, as much as that, I feel like I'm eating a dirt sandwich when you said that. You're probably right. That's probably where they're going to go. Irv Miller, have you noticed, as Dr. Bethany was saying earlier, very often you see defendants weave a tiny bit of truth into their big fat lie. And I believe we're seeing that here. But, you know, my mom is going to be 92 in December. She lives with us. And I still see

her as young and vibrant. But every once in a while I see her as she really is. She's frail. She's kind of bent over. She's a shadow of herself. Just so beautiful with black hair and blue eyes and endless amounts of energy. And I'm just thinking of Miss Myrtle Brown up against an NFL safety. Really? I see an issue here as a former prosecutor because, you know, we always look for motive, even though we don't have to prove motive.

What he took from her not only was her credit cards, her phone, her iPad, but also her bank cards. I think this was a garden variety robbery that went bad. He wanted money. He needed assets. He needed credit cards. That is what was going on and precipitated a fight between his mother and himself. And it went too far. He ended up killing her, allegedly. And when he was, as I said before, when he was arrested in Mexico, guess what he had on his person? Her iPad, her phone, her credit cards, and her bank cards. To me, that says it all. Dr. Bethany, I'm sure you're going to give him some deep psychological motive. And I honestly can't wait to hear it. Okay, I got to get comfortable for this. Go ahead.

I do have professional athletes and former pro athletes in my practice, and often they get addicted to a combination of painkillers, opiates, steroids, and a stimulant like methamphetamine. And they use them all together for multiple reasons to hold on to their energy, their youth, mostly to bulk up and to feel like the former athlete they once were, the opiates to cover all the pain that they're suffering after having played for so many years. And this turns into a lethal combination for somebody who's already sociopathic in terms of his character. So you have multiple factors at work. I think his mother probably just said no to something small, finally had it, set a limit. He went into a roid rage on stimulants. We know with meth,

they don't just kill, it's overkill. After he killed her, he panicked. He wrapped the body, not out of love and reverence, he wrapped it out of disgust. This is why mothers wrap their babies before they throw them in the trash or, you know, Casey Anthony, you know, put her daughter like in, wasn't it, garbage bags. It's because they can't bear to look at what they've done. He didn't want to see the naked body of his mother with her neck snapped and blood all over the place. It's kind of like a teenager when they throw away their, you know, half-eaten hamburger. They usually stuff it in a bag before they put it in the trash. It's kind of like a teenager when they throw away their half-eaten hamburger. They usually stuff it in a bag before they put it in the trash. It's disgust. That's all it is. Why did he take her iPad and bank cards? It's because he had sunk so low. He probably didn't even have

three cents in his own wallet to get to Mexico. I don't think it was thought out at all. I don't think it was a robbery. I don't think that the death was staged. I think he was out of his mind on drugs. Okay. Hold on. Dr. Bethany, of course, I never have a favorite guest. There's no such thing because they're all so special to me. But right now you're running number two because I'm going with Irv Miller on this. Okay. Not to say he's my favorite, but Dr. Bethany, this is a yes, no question. I accept. Yes, no question, Dr. Bethany. Do you have a blood test?

Do you have a breathalyzer? Do you even have any scintilla of evidence to suggest at the time Miss Myrtle was murdered that her son, Sergio Brown, the NFL star, was using meth or steroids. Any written evidence? Yes, no. Behavioral evidence. So then no. No. You're guessing. Okay. That said, we wait as justice unfolds. Good luck with that public defender, Sergio. Goodbye, friend. You're listening to an iHeart podcast.