Criminology - Alyssa Romine Olson

Episode Date: July 26, 2026

This week, Mike and Morf examine the baffling death of Alyssa Romine Olson, a deeply religious Arizona woman whose body was discovered in a shallow pond at Gilbert's Riparian Preserve in June 2016. Despite an extensive investigation, authorities have never determined whether Alyssa's death was the result of murder, suicide, or a tragic accident. Ten years later, the case remains one of the most perplexing unsolved mysteries in Arizona.   You can help support the show through Patreon. We'd love to connect with listeners on social media. We are available on the following platforms: Facebook - Facebook Discussion group - Instagram - Threads - X Formerly Twitter - Blue Sky - Twitch - Tik Tok  Criminology is an Emash Digital production hosted by Mike Ferguson and Mike Morford. 

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Start your free trial on Shopify.com. Criminology is a true crime podcast that may contain discussion about violent or disturbing topics. Listener discretion is advised. Hello everyone and welcome to episode 419 of the criminology podcast. I'm Mike Ferguson. And this is Mike Morford. Mr. Morford, how you doing this morning, buddy? Doing good other than some technical difficulties, having some new cable installed.

It's presenting a couple problems, but trying to work my way through it. How you doing? I'm doing great, but I will tell you, you have more technical difficulties than anybody I know. It seems like every week when we go to tape, there is a new technical difficulty. That's what I tell my wife. I tell my wife, there's a lot of technical difficulties going on, but one way or another, I get throw it. Well, let's go ahead and give our Patreon shoutouts.

We had new support from Kim Hubbard and Aaron Hawkins. So we really appreciate that. Yeah, thank you so much to Kim and Aaron and to everyone. also help support the show and for anyone else that would like to head over to patreon.com slash criminology. All right. So we have some exciting news. Now it's a ways off,

but we want to let listeners know that CrimeConn, 2007 is on the horizon. Vegas, 2006, seems like it was just yesterday, but we're already getting ready for 27 happening in your neck of the woods more. Yeah, crime con will be here in Florida.

It's happening September 24th through the 26th at the Rosen and shingle Creek in Orlando, and it's going to be big. As a matter of fact, people are booking their CrimeCon trips now, and already hotel rooms at the Rosen Schingle Creek are booking up, and they'll sell out if they haven't sold out already. So don't put this off. Head over to CrimeCon.com. Grab your CrimeCon badge now. Use our promo code criminology at checkout to save 10% on your standard badge.

All right. Now that we have that out of the way, let's jump into this week's case. I have to say this is an odd one. It's one that has baffled investigators. because despite a suspicious death, no one is even sure whether a crime occurred in this case. If there was a crime, the killer got lucky that circumstances and timing basically erased all evidence of their involvement.

If there wasn't a crime, there still aren't any answers about what actually happened here. We're talking about the puzzling death of Alyssa Romine Olson. Alyssa Nicole Romine was born on November 27, 1985 in Phoenix, Arizona. She was one of 12 children, seven girls and five boys, though she was the only biological child of her parents, Ed and Barbara Romine. She grew up in the area and graduated from Gilbert High School. She started college but didn't finish a degree. Instead, she decided to travel and she spent six months living in Germany, where she found work as a nanny. By 2012, she was living in Seattle, Washington.

That year, she married Braden Olson. At some point, Brayden started going. by the name Elijah, but we're going to refer to him in this episode by his legal name, Braden. He and Alyssa were both Christian and deeply involved in her faith. They had met each other in Arizona at an international house of prayer. Together, they continued to travel. Braden had his youth pastor license, and Alyssa once led the ministry for the church for the nations. To say that they were both very devout would be an understatement. Braden's mother, Jody Hockla, told Gilbert's news. You can't have a conversation with them without Jesus being in the mix.

Alyssa's friends noted that after her marriage to Brayden, she got rid of her belongings and started withdrawing from her social life. Her close friends rarely got to see her after her marriage. She and Brayden even started sharing one cell phone. And even then, they would very rarely answer it or return a missed call. Braden's mother, Jody, recalled that the couple belonged to the new apostolic reformation movement and that it was normal for them to basically disappear for some time while they traveled and filled their days with a lot of proselytizing. They weren't employed and relied on the kindness of others to survive, staying with friends and living off donations.

Alyssa didn't even have a bank account or a credit card because according to her mother, Barbara, in an interview with the Gilbert Sun News, Alyssa didn't believe in those things. So more of I think right off the bat here, there's a few things to talk about. You know, I think the first is the change people saw in Alyssa after the marriage. Now, it could be normal for some people to kind of withdraw from some friends and things after getting married, right? Maybe your marriage becomes more of your world and you don't hang out with friends as much. but it can also be a bad sign. You know, we have seen it in many cases where some people once married kind of steer their spouse away from friends and family.

And they start to kind of isolate them. And that usually is not a good thing. So it seems like this is something like you might see in a relationship where there's coercion or domestic abuse, that kind of thing. where someone wants to cut their partner off from those closest to them. So this could be troubling. Yeah, it could be. We don't know yet. But the second part is this kind of, you know, living a very, I guess you'd say, simple life,

but having very few possessions, not having a job, living off of friends or donations, not even having a bank account or credit card. okay, that's a tough way to live for most of us. It would be unthinkable, really. And if they were living this way strictly because of the religion and wanting to do that in the way that it's, you know, expected, and that really shows how committed they were to that lifestyle. By 2016, Alyssa was 30 years old and living at her parents' house in Gilbert, Arizona, without Braden. She had decided to leave him.

This wasn't the first time she had left him, but this time she was serious. He was in Washington State staying with friends. Alyssa's parents noticed that she was bummed out by the separation. She spent a lot of time in her room and hadn't been eating much. They figured that this was all a response to a breakup with Braden and that she just was depressed from being away from him, and that with some time she'd start to feel like herself again. Until she was to that point, her parents planned to be there to support her however they could.

And for parents, I mean, this is a tough situation, right? Breakups are tough for anyone. And you want to be very supportive. Sometimes, though, you don't know what to do. And there's really not much you can do. You know, a person oftentimes just has to kind of get through the breakup and you just have to be there for them. But knowing what to do specifically is often very tough for a parent. And it seems at the very least her parents were there.

for her to let her stay there and take her take time to get through it and plan on supporting her the whole way. On June 9th, 2016, Alyssa's parents awoke to discover that she was gone. She had left the house early. Alyssa was a morning person. So this wasn't out of the ordinary. But when she was gone all day, didn't stop home for lunch and didn't come home by 7 p.m. Her parents began to work.

They called her cell phone. try and check in with her, but she didn't answer. Alyssa's parents were trying not to become too worried, and they hoped that she wasn't answering her cell phone because she was driving. But eventually her father went out driving, looking for her, and he did end up finding the car she was driving. Her mother, Barbara's Blue Dodge Caravan, parked in the southeast regional libraries South parking lot in Gilbert,

which is also used by people visiting the Ripe Perian Preserve at Water Ranch. This preserve is over 100 acres and features seven ponds and multiple trails. Ed didn't get lucky when he spotted the caravan there. He had gone there because it was a place that Alyssa visited often, almost daily. Ed told the Gilbert Sun News, she went to the park every morning at Sunup. She liked nature and to sit on the bench and read her journal. So finding her there would not be cause for alarm for Ed.

However, it was dark and deserted, and that was not normal. And the preserve closes at sundown. The car was locked and Alyssa wasn't in it. Just after 11 p.m., Ed called 911 to officially report Alyssa as a missing person. And, you know, in so many of these cases, we get to a point in the story where, you know, family is worried. The worry grows. And then it eventually gets to the point where they have to call the police. And so we're at that point in the story. My heart always goes out to the family because it's hard not to put yourself in their position, you know, that feeling of just worry. And then at some

point, I'm thinking complete panic because you are so sure that things are not right, that you have to call the police. And I think Ed knew his daughter's behavior and habits so much. He caught a break when he went to that location, expecting he might find her there, and then he did find the car there. So that was probably some momentary relief only to discover that she's not in the car and there's no sign of her, so probably some real mixed emotions right at that time. A search for Alyssa began almost immediately. The preserve was cordoned off with crime scene tape. Search dogs were sent onto the

trails, and the Department of Public Safety sent a helicopter with infrared cameras up to try and spot any sign of Alyssa. But nothing was found. There was nothing useful on the library security footage either. Officers checked the jail to make sure Alyssa wasn't in custody for some reason, and they also checked the hospital to make sure that she hadn't been brought in for any kind of injury or illness. They even checked local churches that she may have gone to just in case, but at every turn, they came up empty. There was no sign of Alyssa. Finally, that afternoon, Alyssa's body was spotted by a Maricopa County Sheriff's Air Unit. She was found lying face down in the water near the southeastern edge of pond number one. That end of the pond is basically a marsh filled with

brush. It prevented searchers from spotting her body sooner, even from the air, and also initially kept the officer from getting within 50 feet of her body. Despite being found the day after she was reported missing, there was extensive decomposition to the parts of Alyssa's body that had been in the water. She could not be visually identified due to it. Instead, her identity was confirmed due to the presence of surgical pins in both hips. It's not clear why and when. Alyssa had gotten a surgery that required surgical pins. There's nothing in any of the source materials about it. There was a lot of mud on the bottoms of Alyssa's feet and her palms, which had been facing upwards in the water, and had mud stuck in the creases. According to the medical examiner's report, the higher concentration of mud on feet,

indicator feet came into direct contact with a muddy surface. There were pattern abrasions noted on the back of the decedentment, which may have come from the brush in the pond, but we don't know for sure. It sounds like due to the amount of decomposition that had already begun, any possible marks left on the front of her body would have been impossible to distinguish. Unfortunately, the Maricopa County Medical Examiner

was unable to determine, Alyssa's cause or manner of death. That means we don't know how she died. And we don't even know whether whatever happened to her was an accident, a murder, or a suicide. All we know is that the medical examiner found no gross anatomic abnormalities, potentially causing or related to death. And I think there's a lot to break down here.

It was noted that by her father, anyway, she loved to go to this person. reserve, went there almost daily. They find her body the day after, right? She's reported missing. And there's a couple of things that stand out. You know, one is the amount of decomposition on the parts of her body that were in the water. It is summer in Arizona. It gets very, very hot, right? Out there, it does seem like a lot of decomp in that period of time, though, to be visually unrecognizable. And then, you know, the other thing is, okay, mud on the, the feet, mud in the palms. The medical examiner says, you know, mud on the feet came from direct contact with a muddy surface. That seems very, very logical. But what does it mean? Does it mean

that she walked there voluntarily? What about on the palms? Does it mean that she was on her you know, hands and knees maybe at some point. We just don't know. And then I think the not being able to determine cause or manner of death makes, you know, the subsequent investigation really difficult. Yeah, this is a lot of stuff to go through for the police and the medical examiner. And unfortunately, it seems like it led to more questions and answers. I thought it was strange that she was, her body was decomposing so bad already that she was unrecognizable after such a short time.

And I did see that the temperatures in Arizona can get up to 100 degrees in June. And maybe there's other conditions like being in the water or other things like that that could speed that process up. But that was something I hadn't heard before, decomposition that fast that's so bad it makes someone unrecognizable. Support for today's episode comes from Square, the business platform that help sellers become neighborhood favorites, whether you're gearing up for a busy season or just trying to keep up with everyday demand. Square keeps your business running smoothly from payments and POS to online orders, inventory, staff, and more all in one place so you can focus on your customers, not on your to-do list. And I know when I see that Square logo, that my transaction is going to be seen.

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back and forth, and not enough time. Odu helps bring it all together. It's an all-in-one business management platform, fully integrated from sales and accounting to inventory and marketing, so your team can spend less time chasing information and focus on growth. Whether you're in retail, manufacturing or service, Odu gives you one place to manage your business. Visit Odu.com to book a demo. It's The news of Alyssa's death was hard enough for her parents. But without drowning as the cause of death and no signs of trauma noted on the body and no sign of what happened to her, it probably didn't take long for them to start imagining all kinds of scenarios. The water near her body was also somewhat shallow, only five and a half inches deep near her left ankle and only half an inch near her right ankle.

An accidental death seems unlikely for the same reasons. Investigators drained the pond but found nothing related to her death. A toxicology test came back negative for drugs. Alyssa had no known issues with alcohol or substance use. Her body was found nude, but there was no evidence of sexual assault. An evidence collection kit found only Alyssa's DNA. So I think you add this information into the mix, and it only makes things that much more strange and hard to figure out.

when you look at the possible causes of death, right? Accident, murder, suicide, things like that. Well, which ones seem more likely? I mean, you take accident, for example. You have an accident near the pond, but in what, five inches of water? Okay. That doesn't seem likely. You take suicide.

It doesn't seem from the evidence that we have that. that there would be a way for that to have occurred. But at the same time, more, if there's really no evidence of murder. Yeah, this is just adding more confusion. And,

you know, one thing about her being nude, that's like a whole other level of questions. You know, was she deciding to take off her clothes and walk out their nude? Did someone force her to do that? That's a very strange scenario for her to be nude. But it's,

seemed clear from the evidence on her body that there was no sign of a sexual assault, which, again, just leads to more questions. Unfortunately, the police reports available from this case are heavily redacted, but as far as we know, Alyssa's clothes, shoes, and the keys to her mom's car were never found, even after the pond was empty. To many people, this is one of the biggest mysteries here. These items not being found in the area where Alyssa was found. or even back in her car heavily implies the presence of another person at the scene.

Then again, you know, is it possible that all of this stuff ended up in another pond, a nearby pond that wasn't drained? You know, that we don't know. Of course, if Alyssa met with foul play and had been attacked, perhaps her attacker took that stuff away, or maybe a person walking through the area, simply collected what they thought were discarded items of clothing. and didn't realize there was a dead body in the pond nearby.

Due to police report redactions, we also don't know what her phone records revealed about her final moments. Alyssa's parents don't believe that she took her own life. We know that there are many families who can't face the thought of a loved one who decided to take their own life, whether because it's too painful or they think they could have done more to stop it, or it goes against her own religious beliefs. But in this case, it's not just the family that had doubts about suicide. Alyssa herself apparently had a strong stance against suicide. Her mom, Barbara,

told the Gilbert Sun News that Alyssa, quote, criticized others believing they were not true believers if they committed suicide. Alyssa's parents told investigators that they had not heard or seen signs or symptoms of any suicidal thoughts, attempts, or intentions, though they didn't deny that she was showing signs of depression after the breakup. According to her parents, she had never been diagnosed with any mental illnesses. Her husband, Braden, also believes that suicide is unlikely, though it was for a different reason. According to the Gilbert's son news, he told police, I feel like the Lord showed me that she didn't commit suicide. So to those who knew Alyssa best, suicide didn't seem like a likely scenario here, but investigators also don't believe that Alyssa

was attacked in any kind of robbery. She was still wearing all of the jewelry she normally had on two white metal rings, one with clear stones, and a metal necklace with a charm on. Perhaps the answers about what happened to Alyssa lie in her movements leading up to her death. Unfortunately, we don't actually know what time Alyssa left her parents' house for the last time. We only know that she was home when her parents went to bed around eight or not the night before, and she was gone by the next morning. Maybe police with the help of cell phone, or surveillance cameras have more of a trail to follow in establishing Alyssa's movements that day. But if they know more, they haven't said it publicly. And that is one of the most challenging

parts to a case like this. You know, police, I think almost always, no more than we do because they just don't let everything out there. You know, they withhold information. We know that. And most of the time. It's for a very good reason. But it does make, you know, trying to analyze some of these cases very difficult because you just don't have the facts, all of them, and there's no way to get them. Yeah, we mentioned a couple times the reports are heavily redacted. So it doesn't mean that police didn't find certain things. They may have that, and the public isn't aware of it. But those are the things, unfortunately, that might help provide more answers. or connect more dots and we just don't have all of them.

And because we just don't know enough about what happened to Alyssa that day, and who if anyone was involved in her death, we have to speculate some. According to her father, Ed, it was her routine almost every day to sit by the pond. It's possible that someone with bad intentions took notice of Alyssa there on one of her many visits. Park Rangers certainly did on multiple occasions, recalling that she was usually by herself and that it looked like she was meditating, perhaps reflecting on her life. Alyssa was apparently very headstrong.

She was kicked out of her parents' home when she was 17 for talking back to her mother and being disrespectful. Their relationship appears to have been repaired over the years since, but that fiery spirit remained within Alyssa. One of her friends described her to the Gilbert Sun News as a fearless, beautiful person that will just go up to anybody. And according to her father, Ed, Alyssa would basically go right up to any stranger she could

if she saw an opportunity to talk about her religion and her savior. Even when he warned her that walking up to strangers to preach to them could be dangerous, she would say, I'm not afraid. This is a theory on more than just the minds of her family members. One of Alyssa's friends, Blake Tricky, told the Gilbert Sun News, that he wondered if she started praying with someone and she upset them. As we noted earlier, Brayden and Alyssa were part of the new apostolic Reformation movement. This is not exactly the same as being a more traditional or mainstream Christian. This movement places a lot more importance on modern prophets and apostles and emphasizes signs from the Lord. There's also a lot about miracles, prophecies, and the spirit being under attack from evil forces like demons or Satan.

So when Alyssa would walk up to a stranger and start talking to them about Jesus, it probably wasn't just have you heard of Jesus, have you accepted him? It was probably more about how God had told her to talk to the person and about how their spirit was under attack. One of her friends even mentioned that she would pray to God before choosing an outfit for the day or deciding on a meal. This could have been upsetting to people, even those who do believe in God if they had very different beliefs. And the wrong person who may not have wanted to be bothered at all may have been extremely aggravated by her trying to pray for them or convert them. And she may have been hard to deter. One of her friends called her the most celest Christian he knew. So I think we have to wonder here,

Morve, did Alyssa try to talk to the wrong person? And they became angry and then some kind of altercation ensued. Police tried to find people who were in the area where Alyssa died to see if they could offer any information that might help provide answers. There were two unhoused men who were in and around the riparian preserve the night and into the morning that Alyssa likely ended up in the pond. There was also a man who liked to spend time at Southeast Regional Library and ride his bike around the preserve. Detectives interviewed the three men, but they didn't have any information about Alyssa's death. The man who liked to ride his bike was a registered sex offender, so officers actually searched his belongings. His backpack contained a bunch of writing with religious themes, a pair of latex

gloves, and a hair tie. It's usually referred to as a woman's hair tie in news reports, but there's no clear description given. And while it's true that women more often use hair ties, some men with long hair do use them too. The difference is that men will usually go for a thin, black elastic band, while women will go for colors, patterns, and extra details like bows and ribbons. And there was nothing noted about any female hair being found in the hair tie. So it seems like this was just an assumption. The man claimed that the latex gloves were from his place of employment, a restaurant called PETA jungle.

He said he would take extra gloves with him when his shifts ended so that he could use them. He also explained that the hair tie was left over from when he had longer hair. While it seems that police didn't think this man had anything to do with Alyssa's death, they were interested in some information he shared with them. He told investigators that on June 8th or 9th, he heard the sound of a gunshot in the preserve and then saw a black man leaving the area, which he found out, because he couldn't recall having seen a black man at the preserve before. He told officers, they should find that man and question him.

Now, we don't know whether this man existed or if it was a complete fabrication. And if police were looking for someone like this, investigators didn't, at least that we know of, due to all of the redactions, find anyone who was muddy, covered in scratches from the brush, looked like they had been in a struggle, or had any of Alyssa's belongings in their possession. It seems likely if they had found anyone like this or found someone who had, had any of her clothes or the car key, we would have heard about them being interviewed. Their name may have been redacted, but it seems likely that their entire existence would not have been kept from the public.

This leads many people to believe that investigators just came up empty here. So there were no witnesses, no good suspects, no leads they could follow, not really much of anything in the way of evidence to try to make sense of. And I mean, it's hard to say more if that this guy is not an interesting person or a person of interest is probably a better way to say it. You know, when you think about what's in his backpack, right? Okay. A bunch of writing with religious themes. That's not that big a deal.

Anybody could have that. A pair of latex gloves. Could you have that in your backpack? Sure. For good reason, possibly. the hair tie, yeah, if at one point you had long hair or whatever. But, you know, when you think of latex gloves, a lot of times you think of them when it's outside the home as being possibly part of a kit. Because we have seen that many, many times. And then, you know, this individual giving police a story about a black male leaving the area. leaving the area after a gunshot was hurt.

Okay. Is that true? Or is that an attempt to throw the police off in the wrong direction? Yeah, I think police had to look closely to this guy, especially because he was a registered sex offender as opposed to an upstanding model citizen. And, you know, he does have these couple things in his bag that any one of them alone might make him look. suspicious possibly. But I also would be more suspicious myself if there were things in like a ski mask or maybe a knife or things that might indicate that he was threatening or

carrying out a crime, something like that. So I think it really comes down to the individual person and how suspicious that stuff looks. Yeah, I'm kind of with you on that. You know, I talked about the latex gloves. Normally, I think if that was a kit, you would see a lot more things, right, to go with them. Just having the gloves by themselves doesn't seem like much of a kit, but who knows? Yeah, I carry latex gloves in my truck just because I never know what I'm going to have to clean up my kids making a mess in the truck, that kind of stuff. So, you know, just the gloves on their own, to me at least don't seem all that damning. No, now they really don't. Despite police seemingly not coming up with anyone of interest, Alyssa's family members know

there is at least one suspicious person that was known to hang out in the preserve. In October 2016, four months after Alyssa's death, her sister Chelsea and other family members, replacing new flowers at a memorial for her, Chelsea saw an Asian man with thick hair and a muscular frame walk right out of the bushes and leave the preserve. According to the Gilbert Sun News, later at Ed and Barbara's house, where Alyssa had been living, Chelsea saw the same man drive by suspiciously slow. If investigators ever found a man matching this description, the public doesn't know about it. Now, Alyssa's sister Chelsea found this guy pretty suspicious.

And, you know, she at that point, who knows maybe she would find a lot of people suspicious. She's looking for answers trying to find out who might have done something to her sister. But if she really saw this man coming out of the preserve all of a sudden walking past out of the bushes, and then later saw this person at the family's home driving by slow, that seems kind of strange if it was really him. Now, maybe it was just mistaken identity or something. But, you know, if it's the same person, that does seem a little strange. Yeah, I would agree if it is the same person.

But we don't know that for sure. And that's, you know, just part of the problem. Your sales order says one thing. Your inventory says another. Your spreadsheet says, good luck. Odie brings your brief. business together on a single platform. From sales and accounting to inventory and marketing,

visit odu.com to book a demo. It's odio.com. Alyssa's family also reported a man to investigators in November of 2017, because according to them, he was obsessed with their family and was beginning to become harassing towards them. This man had been a friend of Alyssa's since 2010, though his name is redacted. According to her parents, this man believed initially that Alyssa's husband Brayton had killed Alyssa,

but later decided against it because he would have needed connections in Arizona to pull it off. And obviously, many people are suspicious of Alyssa's husband who she was separated from at the time of her death. The husband, especially the estranged or soon-to-be ex, is often the number one. one suspect in any kind of suspicious death or disappearance. Authorities did look into Alyssa's husband, Braden, trying to rule his involvement in or out. Detect us from the Gilbert Police Department interviewed Braden Olson three times. According to him, Alyssa left him because, quote, he could not follow the Lord's ways as Alyssa wanted and that he had thoughts of not being faithful to her.

He also told investigators that he wanted to get a house and a job and he wanted to smoke and drink and Alyssa didn't approve of any of this. But he told his mother Jody that he left Alyssa because he needed some space. When he returned to Washington after the separation, he was living with his mom, Jody. He recalled that he was inconsolable and having regrets about leaving Alyssa. He said he had been trying to call her for days, but she wouldn't answer. Braden left his mother's house when he got angry with her

for voicing her worry over his safety and the extent of his religious beliefs. He started staying with friends. After this, he told officers that the day before Alyssa's death, they spoke on the phone for three hours. A friend he was staying with also told investigators about the call. According to the Gilbert Sun News, Braden actually believed demons were involved in Alyssa's death. When asked what he thought happened to her, he said, I feel like she was attacked.

The Lord told me that she was attacked by Satan spiritually. I feel like it's almost like she got thrown in the water or something by a demon or something. He was pretty adamant about it to police, adding, I really, really believe that honestly believe that because of what Jesus told me. And more if, you know, everybody listening knew we were going to get back around to Brayden. There's just no way around it. I mean, there's some strange stuff here, right? he believes in certain things, maybe has beliefs that are much different than you or I or other

people listening. Now, does he actually believe in all of that? Or is he just telling the cops some of this stuff? I mean, you know, all of that is hard to figure out. But he obviously, at least according to his statement to police, felt that Alyssa was attacked and then thrown into the water. because that's what Jesus told him. But it wasn't just attacked and thrown in the water by a person.

He's specifically talking about a demon. Now, I don't know what a demon means to him. Are we talking about an actual demon, like out of a movie? Or are we talking a person could be a demon? I'm a little unsure about that part. Yeah, I'm kind of picturing the, investigators talking to him and, you know, them looking at each other as they're listening to what he's got to say, sort of in disbelief. Like, did he really just say a demon?

But they have to question him and listen to what he has to say because he's someone that could be a potential suspect. Interestingly, Braden asked investigators to treat him as Alyssa's next of kin when giving updates about the investigation instead of her parents, despite their separation. It seemed that Alyssa's parents didn't get along with Braden, or at least he didn't get along with them. At a memorial held for Alyssa at Sun Valley Community Church, Braden refused to let any of her family members speak about her. Only members of the church, who Alyssa's family didn't know, were allowed to speak, and each one spoke for half an hour. More than one of the church members allegedly stated that it was better for Alyssa to be dead

than to be living with her parents. As an aside, things like this made Alyssa's sister Chelsea, wonder whether a member or members of Alyssa's church were involved in her death. The mud on her feet and the fact that she was found nude brings to mind some kind of baptism scenario. Chelsea told officers that she did wonder if one of the church members would have told Alyssa that they would baptize her in the water to make her a reborn Christian, or if it was possible that members held her underwater lightly so as not to leave marks. The treatment of Alyssa's parents at this memorial is sad, but maybe there was a

nothing sinister about it, and the church just had a rule about who can speak of their ceremonies. It would have been an uncomfortable memorial for sure, but it doesn't necessarily make them murders. And one of Alyssa's friends told officers that her church didn't do baptisms in open water like a pond. Looking closer at the relationship between Alyssa and Braden, investigators found that things weren't always peaceful between them. He admitted that he had once grabbed a knife and threatened Alissa telling her to shut up because they were staying at a friend's house and she was praising God in the middle of the living room and the kitchen and she wouldn't stop. Braden reportedly wouldn't take a voice stress analysis, a kind of like lie detector test

done using your voice telling police instead, I don't feel like the Lord is telling me to take the test. Investigators told him that it could only be used to rule him out. and could never be used against him in court, but he still refused. Based on the answer, he said he received when he prayed on it. Officers were able to search his cell phone records and devices, though. They found multiple conversations between Braden and other unknown females on adult dating sites, as well as pornographic sites and sexual images, which they have said lines up with the reason and he said Alyssa left him.

One of the friends Braden was staying with around the time of Alyssa's death felt it was unlikely that he had killed her, though they obviously had some doubts. They added one caveat to that reportedly telling police, unless Alyssa threatened him with divorce and Braden felt it would affect his progression in his religion. As we've seen, Braden's religion was extremely important to him. He spoke about the Lord very often,

and we know that they were separated, and Alyssa did really seem done with him this time. So if that was the only likely reason he would kill Alyssa, maybe it's not a stretch to think that he could have. But I am seeing a little bit of a hypocrisy here more. And I have to point it out, right? He's so dedicated to his religion. But at the same time, he's having multiple conversations with females on adult dating sites. he's viewing porn, does that line up with his religion?

I don't know the answer to that, but my first thought is probably not, especially when it comes to being married and talking to these women on adult dating side. Yeah, it clearly shows that he's either, you know, hypocritical, you know, or, you know, maybe he's just human and he does have faults, which sort of, as we mentioned, reinforced the reason he gave to investigators of why Alyssa was done with him. As far as we know, Braden was in Washington when Alyssa died. Now, I say as far as we know, because of all the redactions in the police report and also the fact that we don't seem to know exactly where he was on June 8th and June 9th. He wasn't staying at his moms anymore. He was couch surfing with friends and other family members. but they obviously wouldn't be keeping tabs on him 24-7.

The thing is, it's a long way from Washington to Gilbert, Arizona. But Braden was used to traveling and doing so by talking to people and getting donations, even if he didn't have his own car, which we don't know because it's not mentioned in any of the sources, he was capable of making his own way down there and back. Now, whether he did this or not is completely up in the air. But we have to assume investigators also thought of this possibility. They searched his devices. They spoke to the friends he stayed with.

If there was an obvious lie or a piece of evidence to link him to Alyssa's death, it seems like they would have pushed him harder. A friend he was staying with says he was there in Washington when they learned that Alyssa was missing. And later, when they learned that she had died, how likely is it that Braden had enough time to get to Arizona and back undetected? So assuming Braden really was staying in Washington at the time, then whatever happened to Alyssa, no matter what it was, he couldn't have been in Arizona to do something to Alyssa himself. Tammy, one of Alyssa's sisters, offered a scenario where Braden was in Washington and still involved.

She told police, perhaps Braden told Alyssa to meet one of his friends at the preserve, and that is who causes Alyssa's death. Many people started out Braden's Washington alibi as a certainty when you think about his nomadic lifestyle and learn that Braden seems to know details about the area that he really shouldn't have if he wasn't there. He was actually able to draw a map of the preserve and the pond where Alyssa's body was found. It was incredibly detailed.

Braden claimed to have seen the location on the news and heard details about the area on news coverage, but according to detectives, this was impossible. The exact location of her body had not been disclosed to the public, and detectives combed through local news footage trying to match the map to any coverage, but were unable to find the clip that Braden would have seen. While this is certainly interesting, it doesn't prove Braden had anything to do with Alyssa's death. Yeah, I would say, right, there's no proof, but... Can you rule him out solely based on the fact that it is thought he was in Washington at the time?

And I would say definitely no. Now, maybe it's possible that police have ruled out that he's not in Arizona at the time. But that doesn't mean that he couldn't have been the catalyst for, you know, instigating whatever happened to Alyssa. Yeah, we've seen many cases where someone is in. involved in someone else's death, even if they're not at the scene when it happens. So I think police had to consider this possibility. According to ABC15.com, two years after Alyssa's death, Gilbert Police Sergeant Mark Marino explained the lack of details released to the media saying,

we have to be very concerned about the information we provide to the public. Because if there is a suspect identified, if there is a suspect in this case, we don't want to do anything that's going to jeopardize this case at trial. It seems that when you look at Braden's knowledge of the scene, it shouldn't have been public, this strategy of holding back details does make a lot of sense. If we assume that Alyssa was murdered, the person with knowledge only the killer would have

is obviously the person that investigators should look into the most. But if they lay out their entire case, you know, every name, every detail and location, just kind of out there for the public, how would authorities be able to prove their suspect wasn't just well read in keeping up with the local news? It's important to note that investigators aren't even sure whether Alyssa's death is connected to a crime, let alone they're being a suspect in this case. In 2019, Gilbert Police Sergeant Mark Marino told ABC15.com.

At this point, we don't have a predominant theory. We don't have clear-cut evidence to show that someone else is responsible for her death. We don't have clear-cut evidence to show this was an accidental death. This is a very frustrating case, and especially so for Alyssa's family. There's so many cases where a family can't accept the official ruling or where a suspect is still out there somewhere. But in this case, Alyssa's family is stuck in some kind of grief limbo. grieving and healing can look very different depending on what happened if you know someone is responsible your anger can drive you to push forward seeking justice if you think your loved one took their own life

it can eat at you making you wonder where things went wrong what you could have done differently why they didn't come to you for help you might find purpose and mental health advocacy or volunteering you may just live your life differently and remember your loved one each time you reach out to help someone. If there was a tragic and fatal accident, maybe you help institute some safety precautions to keep something like it from happening again. You would probably feel like there's something actionable in each of these situations. But when you don't even know what happened, what's left? My thought is all that's left is the loss, but also the confusion. You know, the lack of answers.

It has to be like some type of pause button on the lives of all of Alyssa's loved ones. Unfortunately, in the 10 years since Alyssa's death, there's been no update on her case. After a decade, the cause and manner of her death remain undetermined. Her sister Chelsea told the Gilbert Sun News, everything is so heavily redacted when you try to go through it. There's not much you're seeing. And her father, Ed, told ABC15.com, there's no closure because you don't know what happened.

Alyssa's parents are in their 80s now, still waiting for answers. Sergeant Mark Marino summed it up best telling ABC15.com. The reality is, this may be a case that we're unable to ever determine what really happened. What he said was accurate, but it doesn't make the lack of answers in this case any less frustrating. If you have any information about the death of Alyssa Romain-Olson, you can contact the Gilbert Police Department by calling 480-503-6500. So, Morph as we wrap this one up, it is a frustrating one, right? It's unsolved.

There are a lot of questions. There's definitely more questions than answers. There's no doubt about that. You know, my thought is that Alyssa and Brayden, they lived, you know, I don't, I don't want to call it a strange life. What I will say is it's different probably than most people. They were super religious, which many people are, but they also led this kind of nomadic lifestyle in which they traveled a lot, but they did so and kind of got by through donations and help from others. That's not how most people live. And I'm not saying it's good.

or bad. One of the things that really stands out at me is, you know, her death coming after this kind of separation or this breakup and some of the things that have come out, you know, about Braden over the years, okay, I mean, it's definitely something to pay attention to. We don't know what it means exactly. What would his motive have been? Because to me, motive is, very important. Now, is it also possible that this was a stranger murder? Yeah, absolutely. Somebody maybe had spotted Alyssa on her numerous trips to the preserve and they decided that she was going to become their victim. Now, the thing about that is that strange to me is just the crime scene in general. No sign of sexual assault, no real sign of robbery. And then the way that her body is left,

nude, partially in the water, but in very shallow water. I guess, you know, at the end of the day, I'm kind of ruling out accident and suicide because I just don't see anything there that would lead me to believe that either of those is really a viable scenario, which kind of leaves murder, but what would that murder have been for? If a stranger murdered Alyssa, was it just for the sake of murder? We've heard about people wanting to find out what it feels like to commit murder. Could that be what happened here? I just don't know. Yeah, I think it's very frustrating. It's hard to know what to think. It's hard to come up with a theory. Nothing really makes sense. You know, we talked earlier about there being no drugs or alcohol in her system.

There was no sign of a sexual assault, but yet she's nude. And there's no clear cause of death. You know, there's no obvious signs of strangulation. She wasn't stabbed her shot. So I'm almost left thinking that this could be an accident. Maybe she was walking out there, tripped, fell, and went unconscious, and you don't need a lot of water to, if you're faced down in the water, to drown. But then that leads back to more questions, okay, even if she got undressed for some reason, where is her clothes? Where's the rest of the stuff that she had? how come that wasn't found.

So to me, it just, it just leads to more questions. Anytime you come up with a theory, you go to another rabbit hole. And it's kind of why I go away from accident. First of all, given everything we know about Alyssa, does she seem like the type of person who would go skinny dipping? And I would say no, right? Extremely religious doesn't seem to me to be the person who would just willingly take off all her clothes and want to go into this pump. That's just the sense I get. I agree with you on that.

And I wonder if perhaps she could have had some kind of mental break and stripped down for whatever reason and walked out there. But then again, how does she die? Does she lay down face first in the water and somehow hold her head under there? Or did someone else do that? Just so many unanswered questions. It's hard to come to any conclusion. It is, but it is a fascinating, while very tragic case, but the details around it are so strange that you'd have to say it's fascinating because these are all things that you can analyze. And many people have. But hopefully, you know, we'll get a resolution at some point in time because obviously her family really deserves it. But that's it for our episode on the death of Alyssa, Romine Olson. And as always, if you love this show, but you haven't done so yet, take a minute, go out, leave us a review, leave a rating.

Also, keep telling your friends, word of mouth about the podcast really goes a long way. If you want to find us on social media, we're on every major platform to search for Criminology Podcast on your favorites. And for news about the show, old episodes and more, head over to our website, Criminology Podcast.com. If you want to join a discussion about the show and the cases we cover, head over to Facebook and search for the group criminology podcast discussion and fans so that's it for another episode of criminology but morph and i will be back with all of you next saturday night with a brand new episode so until then for mike and morph we'll talk to you next week take care everyone