Crime Stories with Nancy Grace - Son tells Mom he's headed home, never seen again. Where is 22-year-old William Brian McKenzie, Jr.?

Episode Date: August 29, 2020

William Brian McKensie, Jr, gets off works and tells his mom he will be home soon, but he never made it. He stopped off at a friend's then offered to give a someone he met there a ride. What happened to Brian McKenzie. Joining Nancy Grace today: Frances Gaines - mother of William "Brian" McKenzie  Rickey D Alexander - Tennessee Missing and Unsolved  Ashley Willcott - Judge and trial attorney, Anchor on Court TV, www.ashleywillcott.com Jeff Cortese - Former FBI Special Agent, Caryn Stark - NYC Psychologist, www.carynstark.com Nicole Partin - Freelance Investigative Reporter Anyone with information regarding William Brian McKenzie Jr.’s location should call the Jackson Police Department at 731-425-8400 or Crime Stoppers at 731-424-8477. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an iHeart Podcast. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. I know a lot of you listening right now have children, have grandchildren, maybe nieces or nephews. Can you imagine pouring all your love, all your time, all your energy, your thoughts into your child and then suddenly your child goes missing. You have hopes for them. I have hopes for John, David, and Lucy that I can get them through high school and get them into a good college so their life will be easier

than mine or my parents' life. I just devote all that love and time and energy into them and then suddenly they don't come home ever. I have no idea what happened to them. And then suddenly, they don't come home? Ever? I have no idea what happened to them. Right now, I am focusing on a young Tennessee man, just scrubbed in sunshine, Brian McKenzie. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. I'm Nancy Grace. This is Crime Stories.

Thank you for being with us here on Fox Nation and Sirius XM 111. Let's kick it off with sound from our friends at WNBJ NBC 39. This is reporter Camilla Ruda. My son is out there somewhere. My son is and it's already been this many days, six days now. 21-year-old William Brian McKenzie was last seen on Friday, September 27th. He left work, stopped by a friend's house, and called his mom to tell her he was on his way home. He was like, yes, mom, yes, I'm gonna be home. I'm on my way home. But McKenzie never got home that night. His mom says his bed hasn't been slept in, his charger, his clothes and everything looks exactly the same as the last time she saw him. And that's how she knows he hasn't been home yet.

His mom, Frances Gaines, says even though he did not make it home that night, she's still expected to see him at work at the Denny's on Sand Pebble Drive the next day. It just breaks my heart that his room, his charger, his everything is still sitting there exactly the way it was when he was expected home that night. And how many times it's typically my son, John David, calls and says, Mom, Mom, give me 10 more minutes, give me 10 more minutes. That's what this sounds like. With me, an all-star panel to figure out as best as we can what happened. Nicole Parton with me, CrimeOnline.com investigative reporter, renowned New York psychologist joining us out of Manhattan. Karen Stark at KarenStark.com.

Former FBI special agent Jeff Cortese. Ashley Wilcott, judge, trial lawyer, anchor at Court TV at AshleyWilcott.com, Ricky D. Alexander from Tennessee, Missing and Unsolved, and joining me right now is a very special guest, Frances Gaines. This is Brian McKenzie's mom. Ms. Gaines, thank you for being with us. You're welcome. Thank you for having me. Ms. Gaines, I want to start with the day before Brian, William Brian McKenzie, goes missing. That day, that morning, was it like every other day or morning well he worked and I didn't go to work because um I was

going through an emotional stage because I was losing someone very close to my heart she was um in California and she was on her deathbed they were going to be pulling the plug but they weren't sure when so I was pretty devastated about that it was his godmother she had her Patricia um she's the godmother of my first three children and um I just I couldn't focus at work and they didn't know what was going on there let me let me understand Francis you stayed home where did you work at the time? At the time when we worked, I was recruited to start at Denny's. Okay, so you were both at Denny's? Yes. And he also worked at Denny's? Yes, I recruited him from IHOP. Okay, so you guys both are working at Denny's. He goes in

that day, correct? Yes. And you're at home. Is that correct? Yes. As far as it relates to your son, Brian, was anything out of the ordinary that day? Was he upset? Was he getting odd phone calls or texts? Was anything wrong before he went to work? No, everything seemed to be fine. Even the day before he was with that same boy that he was on his porch with because they had texted me and let me know. So was that his regular routine, Ms. Gaines, that he would text you if he was going to be late or if he was going somewhere? Oh, yeah. Okay. Did he live with you?

Yes. Okay. Who else lived in the home? All his siblings, my husband and I. So that would be how many people? 11 people all together. Okay. That's a lot of people in one home.

Yes. So let me understand something. You stay home. He goes to work. What time did he go to work at Denny's that day? That day, he always goes in at eight o'clock in the morning. That's the scheduled time. He clocked in at 8.02. I watched him as I viewed the cameras because I had access to do all of that. That was just determined to find out where

my son was. So I viewed the cameras of him clocking in at 8.02. Okay, now hold on. Wait a minute. Wait a minute. Whoa, whoa, wait, wait, wait. wait he goes in that morning had he been home the night before? Yes he was he was there the night before. He goes into work as normal 8.02. When did you next hear from him? The last I heard from him was that day on the 26th saying that he was going to be home. It was snapshot his phone record 5.35. So around 5.30 in the afternoon when he gets off of Denny's. Is that correct? He did. He got off of work at Denny's at 3, 3.30ish or so, and he headed over to his friend's house. According to what the detectives say, that he pumped gas. We're affiliated with Pilot Gas Station, so he pumped gas with them in the parking lot, and he drove across from our parking lot to Speedway parking

lot, and they said they don't see that he got out of his car, but that he stopped for a minute. And then he drove back out the way that he drove in the parking lot. Let me go to Jeff Cortese, former FBI special agent. I know that these details may not matter to a lot of people. But when you have a missing person, every detail matters. Why is that, Jeff? Yeah, every detail absolutely matters. What it does is it's going to give us an idea of, you know, particularly the missing person situation. It could be last direction of travel. It could provide us with opportunities for identifying video surveillance equipment, identifying potential witnesses. It could give us a sense of the state of mind of the person prior to disappearing.

It is, you know, we are going to start at the last known location. So we want to get as far down that path as we possibly can. Right. So right now I've got him getting off of work around 3. He kind of skirted across the parking lot, got gas, and then we can tell which direction he headed from the gas station. Then he either texted or called his mother, Frances Gaines, with us right now around 5 30 in the afternoon. And what did he say? What was the the gist of it, Frances? He said he was going to be home.

The conversation that he had was his last known place. It was at the Dollar Tree, I'm assuming, because they have him on foot walking into the store. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. Guys, we are talking about a missing 21-year-old young man. The apple of his mother's eye. This young guy scrubbed in sunshine, had left his job that afternoon as scheduled when he got off of work around three. He contacted his mother around 5 30 that afternoon. Take a listen to our friends at WNBJ NBC 39. This is reporter Camilla Arruda. The next morning, McKenzie was supposed to be working the same shift as his mom, and when he didn't show up to work that morning, that's when

she says she really knew something was wrong. The Jackson Police Department confirms that McKenzie has disappeared under suspicious circumstances, and his cell phone appears to be inactive, with the last call being to his mom. Gaines has spent all these days searching throughout Jackson. Now she is asking for the community to help her find her son and keep a lookout for him and the car he was last driving. It's a 2006 Jeep, black Jeep Liberty, and it has Star Wars stickers in the back. You know, that detail is so important. The fact that there were Star Wars stickers on the back. I'm going to go to Ricky D. Alexander,

special guest joining us from Tennessee, Missing and Unsolved. So often, Ricky, I have investigated, prosecuted and covered cases where a bumper sticker or a scratch along the side of the car, we just saw that emerge in the case of Molly Tibbetts. As you recall, the young woman who was out jogging and disappeared off the face of the earth. Well, police were looking at home surveillance video and noticed one car going back and forth along the area where she would have jogged. And they noticed unusual scrapings or markings along the side of the car. That's how they found the car. So the fact that there are Star Wars stickers on the back of his vehicle, that's important because that sets that vehicle apart from all other Jeeps. Same make, same model. Ricky, agree or disagree?

Absolutely agree. The small details are incredibly key to any case like this. People, initially they think it's nothing, but it's those small, minute details that can make or break an entire case. I remember another case where a young lady goes missing. Her car is found abandoned in a nearby apartment complex. And the thing that made people notice it, it had had an advertisement for, I think, a salon or tanning on the side of it. And that's where she had worked.

And that was significant. Later it was determined that it had been removed from the car which shows her kidnapper planned for her car not to be spotted. So these are very critical pieces of information. I want you to listen now to WBBJ 7 Allie Mason. From the 27th to today it's 12 whole days almost two weeks that my son has disappeared. No one has heard from William Brian McKenzie since September 27th. McKenzie's mother, Frances Gaines, says she gets more concerned as the days pass. I just want to find him. I want to know where he's at. Jackson police say that McKenzie went to a friend's house in Madison County

after getting off work at Denny's on Sand Pebble Drive. That day he went to work, I talked to him and he said he was on his way home. The next day, I didn't see the Jeep in the driveway, so I knew something was wrong. It's not like Brian. He would tell me, Mom, I'm going to stay somewhere. Don't worry, because he knows I always worry. You are hearing the voice of Brian's mom, Frances Gaines, who is with us along with Ricky Alexander, Ashley Wilcott, Jeff Cortese, Karen Stark, and Nicole Parton.

Back to Ms. Gaines. Ms. Gaines, you said he called you at 535. And in a nutshell, what did he tell you? I'm sorry. This is hard. I'm trying to stay as strong as I can on this conversation. It's just like it happened yesterday. So I'm so sorry. Hearing his voice, I could just hear his voice right now just telling me that it's going to be okay. And he's going to be home. And don't worry. It just bothers me.

Why was he saying don't worry? I don't know. I just know that he didn't show back up home. Ms. Gaines, I am so sorry. I am so sorry what you're going through. I just want to help you so much. When he called you at around 530 that day after he got off of Denny's, where did he say he was going? He didn't tell me where he was going. He just told me where he was coming. You know, he was going to come home. And I mean, I guess I was

just so raveled in my own depression that I didn't say, where exactly are you right now, Brian? You know, I just, I was just, I wanted him to come home because it's like, we're just inseparable. My son is my best friend. He's my rock. He always encouraged me, you know, when I'd be at work and it was so frustrating and stressful, a stressful environment. Mom, you got this. You know, don't worry about it. I have you.

He's just really a good boy. He's good. And I know people say, oh, he's 22 years old. What is she talking about? He's just, man, my children, no matter how old they are, they're always my babies. And there's something special about Brian. And I do believe that he was, his main focus was to get home. I don't know what happened. I don't know what went from there. Let me try to figure out at that point,

he called you, let's try to get a description. Jackie, let's hear WBBJ 7 News again. This is Allie Mason. Listen. From the 27th to today, it's 12 whole days, almost two weeks since my son has disappeared. No one. McKenzie was last seen wearing his black denny's uniform he's 6'1 and weighs around 180 pounds police say his cell phone has been turned

off i wish these people would just understand if something happened if something was wrong you know they they should just have came forth to begin with mckenzie was last known to be driving a black Jeep Liberty with Star Wars stickers on the back windshield. The license plate number is 3L66T7, and the back bumper is also dented on the left side. Gaines says she just wants her son home. My heart is so heavy with so much pain.

I just want him to come home. We are also learning that after he left work, he apparently stopped by a friend's home. To Nicole Parton, CrimeOnline.com investigative reporter. Nicole, what do we know about him stopping at a friend's home? We know that after he pumped gas, he went to his friend's house. This, again, not a very uncommon thing. He had been known to frequent his friend's house. How do we know that? How do we know he stopped there? He apparently, witnesses saw him there. There were text messages exchanged, and he was at that location. And the witnesses and the friends

say he was there. They were out on the porch. They were talking. They were visiting. Something that he did quite often, go over to this particular friend's house and visit with the guys there. Let me ask Ricky D. Alexander from Tennessee, Missing and Unsolved, how far away was the friend's home from his mom's home? From Francis's house to the friend's house, it's probably, give or take, about three, three and a half miles from Denny's. Not far. From Denny's, where Brian left from, it's maybe a mile at the most north from his last location. Wow. To Jeff Cortese, former FBI special agent, so all of this happens in about a five-mile radius or less.

Denny's is three miles away-ish. It's like a triangle. Denny's, the friend's home, the mom's home where Brian lives. And we can't find him? I find that really hard to take in. Yeah, that's a remarkably small area that we're working with. You know, unfortunately, a lot goes into, you know, the search for particular individuals when they go missing. And the time that lapses between the time that they were last

identified and the point in which you are able to start looking for them, a lot can happen in that time frame. A lot of travel can be done in that time frame. And so that's one of the issues in when somebody is missing, reporting as quickly as possible so law enforcement can get on it as quickly as possible. Right, right. Guys, I want you to take a listen to our friends WBJ. This is Cut 5 Jackie. This is Cut 5 Jackie. This is Stephanie Fernandez. The Jackson Police Department says William Brian McKenzie went to a friend's house in Madison County after getting off at work at Denny's,

and since that day, no one has heard or seen McKenzie since September 27th. A mother is desperately trying to find her 21-year-old son who has been missing since September. William Bryan McKenzie's mother, Frances Gaines, says she is desperate and will not stop until she gets answers on her son's disappearance. We're searching endlessly for my son and it's becoming overwhelming to just search once or twice a week. I wish I could search every single day. One of the volunteers, Thomas Curry, who is assisting in the search for McKenzie, says he can relate to Gaines after his son, Thomas Curry Jr., was shot and killed on October 4, 2019. I'm here to bring some closure to Francis Gaines.

I have my closure. I buried my child. I think about my son every day, every day, every day. Joining me is Brian's mom, Francis. Francis, what can you tell me about the friend where he stopped and they were sitting on the porch with other friends talking? Who is the friend? What do we know about the friend? Well, I can say that I employed him at ihop he was a

third shift server there at ihop and he asked for a job and i he wasn't there at denny's too long before um he met my son and they became friends so he and my son were very new there at um at Denny's. Brian was just expected to get his first check from there so they weren't like long-time friends even when they were at IHOP they never really met because he was a third shift server but um Sean spent more time at Denny's when I was short of service so they I guess ended up meeting and becoming friends. Okay so they met at Denny's. Yes. They had not been friends for long. No. Did he often stop at the friend's house on the way home? Was that normal? From what I know I don't know what his relationship was with Sean. I just know that they had became friends.

Had he ever stopped there before after work? I wouldn't be able to tell you everywhere he went after work. I just know usually he would come home. Okay, got it. I'm just trying to figure out if the visit to the friend's home was out of the ordinary. To Ricky D. Alexander, Tennessee, missing and unsolved. Do we have any information about when or if he left the friend's home? From what we have gathered, it wasn't a very, very long visit.

You know, it was a nice hot day. Brian stopped after work. You know, they just visited, talked. And, I mean, it really wasn't anything out of the ordinary. Brian is a very trusting guy. Okay, that's what I'm trying to get at. So that was normal for him to stop off and talk. Do we have information, Ricky, that he left the friend's home?

We do. We do have. All right, that's all I needed to hear he we've got him from there so now we should be around francis when he called you had he left the home or not i believe so i'm i'm hope i'm thinking that he did i just know that he we we. It was a call to me, and it lasted 41 seconds. Okay. Ricky Alexander, do we know where he went next? We know at some point after he left Sean's house, he stopped at the Dollar Tree, which is close to Denny's,

and that's where they suspect that the phone call to Francis was made around that general area. Did he buy anything at the Dollar Tree, Ricky? No, he just withdrew $20 from his debit card. He got cash back. So we know that he was there. We have a receipt for that. What time was that, Ricky? Do you know?

I wouldn't be comfortable saying. I know it was right around 5.32. We know the phone call was around 5.30, so that places him at Dollar Tree around 5.30. Nicole Parton, CrimeOnline.com investigative reporter. Do we know his movement after that? We don't. That phone call to mom around 5.30 was the very last of anything that we know crime stories with nancy grace guys we are talking about a missing young man, just 21 years old. If you have information, dial 731-425-8400. His mother is desperate for help.

If you want to see his photo, go to CrimeOnline.com. Read his movements. See his photo. We need help finding this young man. We know he was there at the Dollar Tree getting 20 bucks. How many of us have done that? After that, we don't know. Question, how difficult would it be or do you know?

Ashley Wilcott, let me ask you. It's not terribly difficult if your phone is on and we know his phone was on to trace the movements. Is it, Ashley? No, it's not terribly difficult if your phone is on and we know his phone was on to trace the movements. Is it, Ashley? No, it's not. And that's one of the things I was going to say is the phone to me is key in this. And law enforcement may so much about his actions where he is right who he's calling who he's texting to karen start new york psychologist

joining us part of the conundrum is that he seemed perfectly normal when he was speaking to his mom at 5 30 when he made that atm withdrawal nothing seemed to be wrong he said i'll be home in a little while so what that tells me nancy is whatever happened, it seems that it must have happened after he made that phone call. Unless... Yeah. Unless there was something there. But I'm saying there was no threat or no problem at 5.30. To Frances, what time does he normally get home at night?

He's here usually in the afternoon. He sits here and he plays his video games. I cook him, make dinner, serve him his plate. It's a normal routine. He comes straight home from work or... So that night, he calls you at 5.30. He's getting 20 bucks. You never hear from him again. When did you start trying to call him?

Right after that. My calls were continuous. I just, I needed to hear his voice. I needed to know, you know, where he was at. And it looks pretty weird when you look at his call log because I just felt, you know, something's wrong. I had texted him actually that day and said, if you're out and about, can you stop at Cookout and get me an A1 burger or chili fries or something? And I noticed that when i woke up there was no response to that and when what time was that it was the evening and i can

tell you i'm looking at his phone log right now the 27th at 808 p.m brian can you get me food i'm hungry you know i just did you say 8 p.m 80 8 PM. Okay. Stop. There it is. There it is right there. That's the timeline by 8 PM. Something had already happened. He is alive and well at five 30 at an ATM at 8 PM, two and a half hours later, he's no longer responding to texts. Now, some people don't respond to texts until a day later. But this young man always responded directly to his mother. Yeah. Always.

So I now have a timeline. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. Guys, we were talking about the disappearance of William Brian McKenzie. Okay, I've got a timeline. Let's talk about that. To Ricky Alexander, do you know something? I don't know. Or can you place that as the time he goes missing? Something goes wrong between 530 and 8. Nancy, we know while he was at his friend's house, another a friend of his friends showed up ron had no idea who this guy was um and he he asked bron for a rod and um you know bron bron's a very trusting guy he's a he's a very good guy and he agreed even though he didn't know the guy to give him a ride home. After 532, there's no activity. We don't know anything past

532. I believe whatever happened to Brian occurred between 530 and 808 PM. Let's talk about the man he gave, to whom he gave a ride. Take a listen to Clint Island, WBBJ 7. During the hearing, Jackson Police Department investigator Joseph Williams read Murphy's statement about the September 25th shooting that killed Julio Almearez and injured Joe Ramirez. Investigators say Murphy bought a gun from Almearez before the shooting. I paid him $460 for the Glock.740. But investigators say after Almearez refused to drive into Academy Sports to buy more bullets, Murphy decided to shoot him. I told him to stop in front of our house. It didn't look like anyone lived there. I pulled down the room and shot Joe one time in the head. Then shot Joe one time in the head. Almaraz died three weeks later from his injuries.

The second shooting was October 4th, where Murphy is accused of shooting Thomas Curry and Vincent Reed Jr. Today I contacted Thomas Curry on Facebook to try to sell him a gun. He came to the night scene, getting Vincent hungry with him. Investigators say Murphy told Curry he needed a ride to his girlfriend's house. Police say during that drive, Murphy shot Curry. Thomas had to take off. I decided I was going to shoot him. Thomas turned around and asked me what I was doing. I shot him in the head. I shot him more than once. I started shooting Vincent. He was still in the car.

Curry died at the scene. Okay, why do we care about a seemingly unrelated shooting? That was Jackson Police Investigator Joseph William reading statements from a guy named Kenan Murphy in court detailing the shooting of two guys two days before Brian goes missing September 25 and a shooting on 10-4. In both cases Kenan Murphy was getting a ride from the victims. I want you to now take a listen to Missing in America host Jerry Dean. Listen. At about 5.32, Brian and his mom talked on the phone. He let Francis know that he was on his way home. He would be home in the next little bit. And initially, you know, Francis believed Brian was being that reassuring because of the situation that was going on. The phone call is a very, very important piece of the puzzle because the suspect who Brian gave a ride to, and I'm not going to name any names.

The names are out in the media. But I personally don't want to give this monster any more credit than what he already has. This man was able to repeat word for word Brian's phone call with his mom. What is so significant, that means that whoever he gave a ride to is still with him when he calls his mom, Frances, at 532, because he could recount that conversation word for word. And to Nicole Parton, who did he give the ride to? He gave the ride to a gentleman, 21-year-old Kenan Murphy. This is the same guy that's the alleged shooter in the other cases?

That's correct. He is accused of shooting four other men in very similar circumstances where he had asked them for a ride. To Ricky Alexander, what do you make of it? I think it's very, I think the answers to this entire saga lie with Kenan Murphy. Explain. I think Kenan knows exactly what happened with Brian. I think Kenan knows where Brian is and, you know, he, he will no longer cooperate with investigators. And we, I mean, we are absolutely desperate to know what happened and why and. Oh, you know, Kenan's crimes occurred within a 10 day span.

We know spree. We know Kenan was spiraling this. This was not. I mean, this was completely out of the normal for Keenan. We know we know something. Had to occur in Kenan's life for him to go on such a spiral because from all we know, Kenan was a bright kid. And we know that Brian absolutely did not know Kenan beforehand. And Kenan Murphy has. So he just gave him a ride.

Kenan Murphy has. And now he's never seen again. Absolutely. I want you to take a listen to our friends at WBBJ Seven Clint Island. I don't want to give up until I find him because I know that he would not give up on me. Frances Gaines is the mother of William Ryan McKenzie, a Jackson area man who went missing on September 27th, shortly after leaving work around 530 at night.

On Sunday morning, a group of nearly 30 people came together at Northeast Middle School to continue the search. He was last seen in the area of Bermuda Drive and Greenview off of Christmasville Road near the Oakfield community in Northeast Madison County. And we know from this area he would have went to the southwest somehow or at least been traveling west to go back on North Highland South. So that's kind of the area. That's what brings us back to this general area.

Sergeant Stanfield says they're still looking for any clues that could help in the investigation. We have not received any tips since this disappearance in the initial publication, which is very unusual in a case like this. So any help would be greatly appreciated. They divided into two groups and searched the nearby area, some on foot, others in cars. For his mother, the support means the world. Words can't describe it. There is a God.

I miss my son. To top it all off, guys, some texts have been being sent to Brian's mom. Frances, what can you tell me about these texts? You're talking about the ransom? I'll read them. I feel like I'm just putting you through so much asking these questions. I'll read them. I know where your son is, but I won't tell you.

Buy selfish bitch. Keep the money for his funeral. I can't read the rest because they're so awful about what is being done, what they say is being done to your son about torture and what they are doing to him. Ricky Alexander, who is sending her these horrible texts? We know that the phone number these texts are coming from is registered to some scam organization in South Africa. We spent a lot of time with the detective. He was able to thoroughly trace it. This is a part of a new, it's very sickening, Nancy, but it's part of a new modern age scam where, you know, they're not calling your typical social security recipient. They're

scouring the internet for these families who are absolutely desperate, just like Francis, and they are, they're scamming them out of lots of money. They're horrible. Now you can see his neck is getting wide. It's one of the side effects of illicit drugs I injected in him. It chokes a lot and makes air passages difficult. If you want further proof, you get the effing credit cards now, and I will drive down again and let you talk to him with my cell number. These are the texts this mom is getting. This is the pain that she is enduring. On top of looking for her missing son, someone is torturing her with these horrible texts claiming they have him and they are torturing him and she's got to hand over credit cards to hear him speak to her. It's awful.

It's just another scam on an innocent victim. Guys, if you have information on this wonderful boy, please help us. Please help Frances. The tip line is 731-425-8400. Go to CrimeOnline.com. Read all the details. Please, let's give her peace.

And Frances, please know that we are praying. Nancy Grace, Crime Story, signing off. Goodbye, friend. This is an iHeart Podcast.