EXPLORE WITH US - When A Teen Genius Snaps: The Case of Sonny Kim

Episode Date: November 12, 2023

When a teen genius SNAPS...The following podcast episode is not legal advice. Do not rely on the information in this presentation without speaking to a licensed attorney.No one discussed in these videos has been formally diagnosed by EWU and our psychological analysis is based on the general behaviors and traits of the people discussed.

Hurry. Hurry. Hurry, please. All right. Is you know what up there? Where's the gun? Tony, don't do it. Tony, don't do it.

Don't do it, Tony. I'm not a type of Christmas, John. Don't do it. I suppose human like in a way, ways and me than human. I'm stuck with the same thing. Still, humans didn't act very fun. Caller, caller, caller. My ambulance is already on the way.

Okay? They are already coming. I need you to take a breath so I can tell you what to do to help, okay? All right. I need to move the gun. What do I need to do? Do not touch anything else other than why I am telling you to touch. Somebody needs to open the door.

I have your nips on the scene. My son's trying to come again. Please. No. No. Okay. Hang on. Somebody go unlock the door.

Yeah. No, please. Please. Please. Please come. Go ahead. The 911 call you just heard was placed by James Allen Brazel, just six days before Christmas in 2016,

when he heard gunshots coming from somewhere in his family home. Alan raced through the house to find his stepdaughter Ashley and her 16-year-old brother Sonny standing over her with a gun in hand. His wife Nicole, screaming in the background, Alan frantically called for help, as haunting as the 911 call was, the interrogation would turn out to be even more chilling. 16-year-old Sunny proves to be one of the most stoic and emotionless suspects we've ever seen.

It's hard to reconcile how someone like Sunny with an IQ of 155 to 160 described as highly to exceptionally intelligent as landed in this seat. When police arrived on the scene, they found the festively decorated exterior of the house masking a horror scene inside. In an exclusive interview, Alan and Nicole Brazel recount what they can remember from that terrifying night. Later, we'll hear from Sunny himself. Ashley said she was going to go to bed. Sonny was going to go to bed.

He's been awake too all day and it works. Everybody was kind of tired. Alan was already, I think, in the bedroom. I think he came and told everybody good night. I went straight into the room. I just heard her and put on my robe. And I think Ashley was going to go ahead and eat some soup that I had cooked. As soon as I go to sit down on the bed, the lights are already off in the bedroom.

I hear what I think is firecrackers. It's all my mind, pop, pop, pop, firecrackers. Sunny being such a mild kid and Ashley being, they're both were kind of like little professors, responsible kids. They got great grades in school. I know that I bought firecrackers for New Year's Eve. And I'm thinking, I cannot believe one of them let off firecrackers because I hear Ashley say, Sunny, very surprised in shock.

That's all I hear through the door. And then I hear firecrackers. So I throw back on my robe because I don't have clothes. I throw back on my robe. Alan jumps up. And so I go to go outside. I mean, I am curious. Like, what?

Who let off firecrackers in the house? I can't even believe they would do this. Either one, I don't even think either one would do it. I was closest to the door going out into the hallway. And whenever I heard it, you know, pretty much immediately I knew what it was, you know, because I am a country boy. I'm a hunter and I have guns and I've always had guns. So I immediately knew what it was, but I didn't put it that it was somebody from in the house, like I asked there, sunny. I thought somebody had came in the house.

you know, like a break-in. So I immediately reached down and grabbed my handgun and started toward the door. And something told me, don't take your gun out there. And, of course, you know, you have these conversations with yourself really, really fast, like, are you crazy?

I'm not going out there because I knew it was gunfire. And I'm like, I'm not going out there without some kind of protection, you know. I heard it again pretty much, you know, don't take your gun out there, put it down. So I put the gun down and I kind of tossed it on the bed. and headed out the door. And when I got there, I immediately saw Sunny standing there and he had a gun in his hand.

Of course, I didn't know where he got the gun because it was a Christmas present that I didn't know about. So I yelled at him. I said, Sonny, I said, put the gun down. He was immediately obedient as he always was. And he leaned down and he put the gun down. And I kind of grabbed him by his shirt and kind of scooted him or slung him over to the side up against the hallway. there and I said, you stand right here. I said, do not move. He did.

He just stood there. He didn't say anything, but he stood there. So we went to check on Ashley. That's when she went in there. This is all in a matter of instant seconds. I'm like, Ashley, Ashley, because I see no, I don't realize I'm still looking for like a firecracker damage. I know this sounds strange,

but the mind, you know, like I'm still stuck on firecrackers. It was at this point that Sunny's stepfather rushed back to the bedroom to find a cell phone and call for help. That exact minute, I guess Sonny bends down, picks up that gun again. It's on the ground. He's a little bit away from it. I have pulled Ashley from the couch, not being a, I'm a tall gal, but she was only about five foot five lightweight, but I tried to get her pull her from the couch. And I realize he's,

Sonny's grabbed the gun. He runs to our bedroom. So I start screaming for Allen. Oh my God. Tony, don't do it. Tony, don't do it. Don't do it. Don't do it. Don't do it. This man runs through the house and runs to the bedroom. Sonny, you know, and he took off to the bedroom and I turned around and I'll sign to go to the bedroom. I started toward the door. Sunny had ran around our bed to the furthest point away from the doorway. He was staring straight ahead at the door, but he was trying to change the clip in the gun, to change the magazine in the gun because he had shot everything out of the first clip whenever he was in the living room. He's holding the gun. He's holding both

of the magazines in his hand, and he's not looking down to see what he's doing, and of course, he had never handled this gun before. So by the time I ran over there, he pushed the magazine into the gun, and he stuck the gun up to my chest from where I was at at this point in time, I was up right in front of him, and I was fixing to grab a hold of him, and he was just kind of staring straight ahead, and he just started pulling the trigger. He had put the same magazine back in that he started with that was empty. If he had gotten the right magazine, I wouldn't be here today.

I definitely wouldn't have made it. And so I snatched the gun and everything out of his hands, and I grabbed him and just kind of walked him into the living room and set him on the little love seat. And he was kind of looking over the living room where Nikki was still in there with Ashley on the floor. And he's still in dad mode. He says, sit right there and don't move, which is shocking to me because of the situation. and the most wicked, horrible, heart-trembling, terrorizing thing happened. I'm doing this, and I look up. He's trying to unlock the door so when the police come and get a towel.

And I mean, I'm frantic. His eyes are all the dark. Now, this is someone I've been with just 30 minutes. This is my son, right? We've all been eating and snack in and on a video chat. Everything around here has become dark black. And the voice that comes out of the mouth says, because I'm literally hysterical at this point. I'm screaming.

What happened? Ashley, answer me, because there is no, I mean, you would think if a whole clip, right, she would be, there would be blood, right? There's none. I'm screaming. What happened? What happened? I hear the most darkest deep voice say, she can't talk to you. She's dead.

When police finally arrived to take control of the scene, they found bullets behind the couch and in the storage drawer beneath it. The gun was found in the master bedroom, where Sonny's stepfather had left it after taking it from him. Police were put in the peculiar predicament of having both a suspect and weapon already established before they arrived. As paramedics raced to save Ashley's life, investigators arrested Sonny Kim and took him to be questioned before he learned his system. fate. Please note that throughout the interview, police addressed Sonny by his middle name, Christopher. The following never-before-seen footage has been analyzed by a qualified team, including a licensed professional counselor, a licensed clinical psychologist, and a licensed attorney. Sunny spends a good deal of his time waiting to speak with officers, conversing with

himself. While the audio isn't easily discernible, he appears to be talking about computers. Yeah, it was there a top of, it was supposed to be, I think it's a few years, supposed to be five new dollars for their all of seven, but it matters to speed of six and a whole case. Hey, Christopher. Hey, my name's Josh. I'm calling me Josh. I'm investing in Columbia County. How you doing, man? In Georgia, a minor may be taken into custody during a lawful arrest. Georgia law states that a law enforcement officer taking a child, or in this case, 16-year-old Sonny, into custody, must promptly notify the parent, guardian, or legal custodian about why the child is being brought into custody. Once in custody, if the police want to question the minor, they may do so without the parent present, as there doesn't appear to be a definitive law that states parents must consent

to interrogation of their minor child. While police may interrogate the minor without parental consent, the court will still determine if any statements made under a Miranda waiver are admissible. With this all in mind, the officer is free to get to the heart of the matter. He jumps right in and asks about the victim Sonny's sister, Ashley. Something about your sister. Ashley Kim. I think she was 2020. She lived in Colorado.

She was recently, yeah, she recently broke up, lost her job, broke up with boyfriend, I think so many days. She came back over here for Christmas. Okay. After attending a concert in Atlanta, when she remembered, three days ago we should have something like that? As far as actually goes,

that's it. I... Any particular information? Chillingly, Sunny uses the past tense when discussing a sister, even though he has no way of knowing her current medical status. Has she been in town long?

For me, for a few days. When did she move at a club, not? I believe it was like about a year ago, is. She got a job, I think it was a secretary. That's something about him this one? Yeah, I think it was a secretary. Paperwork stuff. Paper stuff, right?

Yeah, something like that. I understand. The officer switches back to asking about Sonny. Just like when he was asked about his sister, Sonny gives a superficial impersonal. From one out, from one I gather, you have a job you work and you've already kind of graduated high school. Can you tell me a little bit about yourself?

It's 16 years old male. Stating that he's 16 years old male is a highly atypical manner of speech and an indication that Sonny may be completely detached from what just happened with his sister, since this description of himself seems to be made in third person. Where did you go to high school? I was some school from most five. Okay. And then you finished up and took it.

Taking some classes at GMC? Yep. Right. Do you have a job? Yes. What do you work? High computer exchange. Do you really?

Yes, I'm watching. You've been there a couple times. Really nice. Good service over there. Wait and been pleased with the work that I've done about computers. Notice how intense his eye contact is. Normally this can be an indication that someone is watching to see if the other person accepts what they're saying, especially in the case of a lie, as someone wants to see if they're being believed.

But Sonny has no reason to be looking for acceptance given what he's saying. Instead, this might indicate that he has some kind of social skills deficit, and he's been taught to make eye contact rather than naturally making some eye contact as part of typical conversation. He comes across as robotic so far. Here we see the officer once again attempting to connect with Sunny on a personal level by establishing common ground and building rapport. Just like before, though, Sunny does.

doesn't appear to care and does not respond as the officer had likely hoped. With that technique rendered pointless, the officer is forced to ask Sonny more direct questions, and his response is disturbing, to say the least. I want to be talking about the best that happened tonight, okay? Can you walk me through everything that happened tonight, Christopher, kind of start at the beginning? Sure. So I suppose the beginning is yes. A bit of a pretext, I suppose.

We had planned to get my father inaction 11, 45,000 pistol. About a week ago, we picked up from my academy. We were hiding in my room until we could package it and put it under the tree. Basically, well, this is not yesterday, night? But earlier, I could get, maybe a couple hours again? Yeah, a couple hours ago. It's not. Not really bad.

This interaction shows that Sunny may not be oriented to time, which could be consider typical given the stress of the situation. He may not show any overt signs of distress, but the way he described himself a couple of minutes ago, plus his lack of awareness of exactly when he shot his sister, are indications of emotional distress. Walk down the room with the guy unloaded. First magazine was the one of the extended grip, eight rounds in it. It was seven rounds in, and one of the chamber, and then the second magazine in my left pocket. Here with some rounds in it.

In your left pocket? Yes. Front pocket or back pocket? Front pocket. I also had a pair of gloves on. Yes, a pair of work gloves-ish. No-go-hearish. Sonny is clearly a detail-oriented guy as he describes as gloves.

Sometimes suspects may provide these types of unnecessary details out of nervousness and their desire to cooperate. with the interrogation process. Sonny must at least be aware that he's in trouble, so it makes sense that he wants to be cooperative. At the same time, as mention of being male and the other details he's provided thus far

could also give us a clue as to his personality type, possibly very rigid and perfectionistic. After that, I walked out to the living room, and I turned left. I saw my sister, and I put up eight rounds into a dress from here, Soney says ish again. This also indicates his high degree of rigidity and precision in the way he thinks and speaks.

Sonny also maintains his highly formal and rigid manner of speaking, as if he was providing step-by-step instructions to someone or telling a story. He's markedly detached from the actual event. His voice remains even, and he still is showing no signs of overt stress. After that, both of my parents ran from their bedroom door. I came up to a certain-client door, helped both together in the legs and my hands, and then dropped them on the floor while they're watching me after they come out.

My mother rushed to my sister's party. My father started going on 9-11 or 9-1. The way that Sunny presents being really out of touch with reality and definitely out of touch with emotions and empathy is similar to another case. that of Michael Hernandez. Michael told investigators that he wasn't angry when he killed his friend, Jaime Gough, but that he wanted to try murder.

I was planning to murder. And is there any specific reason why you planned this? No, there's no. And once they did that, yes, so the gun was left on the ground. We got 10 to 20 seconds after he started going. He walked away, and I went for the gun, and grab the extra magazine to my pocket. However, I'm not very skilled in firearms, so I didn't love the magazine correctly,

and was able to chamber around. Attempted to shoot my father once, and then I sort of, what was it, pain, it's feigned going to bat down and then try to shoot me again. Not very good at the firearm, so I didn't, I wasn't able to kill him. But after that, yes, this took the gun with me, and I sat back down on the couch, Wait for them to arrive, basically the whole process of them, tending to sister's wounds, I had come back, she was pulled off on the ground. Yes, and then that's when the police arrived.

I was put in cups and came up his squad guy. And after that, for a while after came on what, or is it either a fire truck or an English ride, but versus the other. Please speak. Wow. Okay. Sonny explains everything in a very distanced way, including his own arrest as if he's completely detached from the world around him. Depersonalization involves feeling detached from oneself, as if observing one's thoughts, emotions, and actions from a distance. Other symptoms include feeling emotionally numb, disconnected from one's surroundings, and experiencing memory difficulties.

Sonny makes no effort to hide his intentions either. He references his sister's body instead of calling her by name. Again, at this point in time, Sonny doesn't know whether she's dead or alive. He also openly admits to trying to shoot his father twice. He could have taken the opportunity to claim he had a change of heart in an effort to potentially look better, but instead admits that he wanted to and would have shot his father if the gun had not stopped working. Unfortunately, there's no other information about why exactly the gun. unstopped working. Chillingly, he shows absolutely no remorse and continues to sound cold,

detached, flat, and methodical. He might as well be describing how to put a computer together piece by piece. When you were putting the magazine into the weapon and chamber the round, what was your plan? Initially, the out mind here was kill father, mother, sister in order of threat. So for some reason, though, I didn't go along with that. I'm not sure. Suppose I didn't act away, I was claimed. For some reason, Sonny ranks his family in order of threat.

It could be assumed that he means he intended to kill them an order of who was best equipped to disarm and stop him. But that isn't necessarily true. The officer will have to follow up on this later. For now, though, he lets Sunny maintain his train of thought, and it's important that the interrogator doesn't interrupt once they get a suspect talking. This is because it allows them to get their full, uninfluenced account of what happened, and the interrogation only gets stranger.

The idea was walking to the bedroom, both camps were like to sleeping or resting. Your father, your mother, and then walk out into the living room and to kill her. You know, order of that smaggot, I forget the word, but, anyway, that was the plan. However, I suppose humans act in a way, ways, and me being human, I'm susceptible to the same thing. And why I bought the gloves is because I figured my hands would get sweaty, near humans, nervousness in humans and stuff, so I wore themselves, you know, I would be able to maintain my grip on the weapon and such. However, still, humans didn't act very smart away.

basically I looted all the grounds. I meant to want to put one or two in there, but I don't know. I never shot someone before, so they seemed like blanks. I mean, basically nothing. I didn't couldn't do with any discernible impact or anything. So I just kept on shooting,

and then after that, when I put, walked up to the, and moved to the my past store and stood there with, you know, weapon in my right hand. Right. And then a magazine left end. And then I dropped them all the guy.

Nicole Brazel, Sunny's mother, ran an embroidery business out of the house, teaching textile arts to students. His stepfather Alan had accepted Sunny like his own son. Sonny's sister Ashley was known to be outgoing and had been enjoying her time at college in Colorado. In the sixth grade, Sunny asked his mother if he could drop out of school, in large part because he felt bored. He was homeschooled for a while, and at 13 he started working for a company who, his mother had a contract with before working at a computer store. At 15, he started at the Georgia

Military College, where he completed high school classes alongside college classes. Altogether, they appeared to be the picture of a happy family. In an exclusive interview, Sunny talks about his childhood in more detail and about his relationship with his mother and sister. My biological father left the country and went to Seoul Korea and my mother kept us afloat tooth and nail and she fought for us. Prior to my incarceration, I was actively working at the computer exchange and taking classes at TMC. And I was, I suppose, living a good life. I was always provided for, I was always taking care when I had loving parents every step of the way. And she got us out of dead.

Eventually we were, you know, a stable household. She met Alan and, you know, he's a great guy. I have had a really wonderful set of parents. I don't think I could have asked for. I owe everything to them. Pretty much everything good in my life. They've been responsible for in some way, shape, or form. Ashley was the biggest sister.

She had the kindness out of all of us. Ashley got a lot of our kindness. I'm not sure what I got. I lead on her a lot for a lot of things. She was, between her and my mother, they were the only two stable things. I really had my life. Ashley was someone who had always come through,

and she was always put together. I could always trust her judgment. I suppose I get my morals from her. You know, she had real heart of people. I love that for her. He was her favorite out of everybody, and she was his favorite. They had the most in common.

They were both very smart, very high IQs. Yet Sonny manages to erase all of that personality and all of that love in the interrogation room. This clinical and detached way of speaking appears to be a symptom of depersonalization, which is closely related to dissociative amnesia and dissociative identity disorder, two very serious mental illnesses.

There's no anger here, no emotion at all, and no indication that he had major issues with his family. It's almost like he was possessed and is now just describing what he saw. He's speaking like the lights are on, but nobody's home. I suppose I just saw her, and I didn't make an answer to stop, but shot the first person I saw, I suppose. Not in reaction.

Obviously, I actually didn't. Not the way I intended to. I didn't make enough room or take into account, you know, the way humans act. Right. They mainly meet as far as humans go. With Sunny so forthcoming regarding the details of the crime, the investigator seeks to confirm what Sunny's stepfather Alan Berzel told them about the crime.

When your father went to chase after you in the bedroom, what bedroom was that? It was the largest bedroom, the master bedroom, the one where they sleep. Okay. So, yeah, I had a large Kingside's bedroom. And you told me that you had, at that point in time, he had dropped the weapon.

And then you reached down and picked it up about 20 seconds later. It was about two feet of about a meter away from me. Right. So I went and we cat, grabbed it. and then ran off. And then she did take the magazine for my pocket. What were you trying to do when you ran away? My plan was to grab the weapon and load the magazine and shoot my father and then shoot my mother.

Okay. And your father ran after you and caught you in the bedroom. Yes. And you did not have a chance to load the magazine at that point in time? Or what happened at... I did follow with it. And I did load it in the gun, not all the way though. Right.

So I wasn't able to pull back the hand all the way. pull back the handle all the way, so I'd slide back all the way. The second time after I feigned, putting a gun down after he told me, you know, don't do it, et cetera. After I put it back, I tried to send the magazine back in with the back of my wrist about here, and then pull slide back out with that didn't solve it either. So he ended up taking the firearm away from me and walked back to the little room.

Did you attempt to pull the trigger while he was coming at you? Okay, both times. Both times. In both time, it failed to fire. Yes. Okay. And that's when your father caught up with you and took the weapon from you. Did you say anything to them after that?

Or what happened after he got the weapon from you? After that, basically, he walked here and back into the living room, put the gun down on the ground across the living room, away from the couch sitting, which is red. Let's see, I leave my parents. parents called it, there's a red couch. He placed it on the other side and then helped my mother in attending my sister's wounds. After he put the gun down the ground, I did consider either running to my room where there was a really shotgun or running for the gun.

However, I didn't act on either or so. I figured my chances below of getting either done, so I think he was with it. With Sunny's confession recorded in more than sufficient detail, we can now tackle the question of why Sonny decided to undertake such unprovoked violence. What were you thinking about what made you want to kill your sister and your parents tonight? What's been going on? I'm so pretty good, actually. I've got a job, had classes.

It's going pretty well. Yeah, and nothing really is bad when happening to me. Nothing's pretty good. Nothing bad, do you just wanted to do it? Not even want it. I just did. Let's back up. Excuse me, a few minutes ago,

we were talking about when you were loading the, putting the rounds in the magazine, and then loading that magazine into your weapon, and you said that the initial plan was to go to your parents' room and then shoot them first, and then go into your living room

where your sister was and then shoot her. What made you deviate from that plan? I don't know. I first saw my sister, and the first thought, I suppose, was, I don't know, I'm supposed to go to my parents and kill father and mother, but I saw my sister, and for some reason I don't know why.

I live in the magazine, I'm going to kill her. Of course, though. Is there any reason why you'd want to, why you want to kill everybody? Did they hurt you? No. And they made, like, miserable for you? Are they abusive to you physically? Not now?

None whatsoever. There was no raising for it. It's just... I'm not going to think of... Go ahead. In two words, Sonny provides what could be very important information. If he had been abused as a child, this may give some insight into his detached behavior, as ongoing physical abuse is often the accepted explanation behind pathological dissociative behavior or disorders. This could be in reference to Sonny's biological father, who was allegedly neglectful.

But Sonny doesn't elaborate, so... the officer tries honing in on a different part of the crime. What made you want to kill your mother and father? There wasn't really any motivation for it. Actually, one thing, oh yeah, no matter, I told you about trying to shoot my father and then failing and trying to end in the mom. But as far as motivation for killing my parents, none really existed. My father did a lot of the chores.

My mother worked quite hard at a job. Father insisted. my mother had heard of I think we all had a relatively good life that's right did you get a sense of satisfaction when this was going on no I didn't really feel anything

and your mother what was tending to your sister's wounds like you said and you were considering when she was asking you why did you do it did that a number of times yeah I'm sure what was running through your my life when she said that at the moment the only thing that I was thinking of really was, I had the gun,

and then after, you know, the gun held a shotgun in my room, passed through my mind, I didn't really think of much, but it was just sort of... You were still in your plan mode of, can I get a weapon and kill Mom and Dad? Yes, is that what you were thinking? Yes. Did that make you happy?

No. Did it make you sad? No, I didn't really feel much. It just sort of happened. Do you have an idea of why? happened? Not really. Sunny's answer of not really here is interesting.

He actually seems to not understand it himself. No, I was going to say that an opportunity for itself to kill my family and I just for no reason, but having had weapons of my room for basically one or two years now, so that's, you know, I've had the opportunity for a while. Why did you decide tonight? Tonight was, I suppose it was a bit spontaneous. Yeah, I thought there's six days to Christmas, if something like that. But that my mother would come in, you know,

perhaps the gun the next day or something along the sign. So I figured the likelihood of her backing the gun next day is fairly high, so I guess it would now like to have access to the firearm. Even though Sonny's rationale for committing the crime tonight is disturbing, it still doesn't entirely make sense. Even if the gun had been wrapped and placed under the Christmas tree, Sonny would have still had access to it and multiple other firearms he could have used in the attack. Is this something he thought about doing for a while, or is this something that you've been thinking about from the past couple minutes?

It was sort of an impulsive and not really something I've considered before. Here, Sonny expresses an impulsive element to his actions, which supports the fact that he may struggle to differentiate between his thoughts and the reality of acting out his thoughts. What ultimately made you decide to shoot your sister in the chest? I don't know. Something in my, I can't know what was, something in my mind basically let me loading the gun and that,

what was it doing? Something interesting happens when Sonny tries to talk about what was going through his mind in the moments before the shooting. Well spoken, up to this point, Sonny starts to stumble over his words, giving only partial thoughts and attempting to start his sentence over.

Something in my, I can't know what was, something in my mind basically led to me. When he isn't able to describe what he thought or felt, he reverts to talking about the physical details. But basically I ended up blowing the gun and after the gun was looking for my bedroom, I walked out. And I suppose at that point, I don't know what I was thinking, but I suppose I just shot it. I don't really have much of an explanation. Okay. But what emotions were running through you when this was going on? Not much.

Were you happy? Were you sad? Did you care? I kind of stood there, I suppose. Okay. The stuttering and stumbling over emotional words is likely a sign of anxiety, so he retreats back into the world of dissociated details. This could be due to a lack of comfort or understanding of emotions to begin with. You think you're not to kill your family, it's wrong? Yes, it is socially and more than wrong.

And didn't you think you were going to get in trouble if that was to happen? Yes, I was certainly going to be apprehended by the stories. But you still went through with it anyways. Yes. Why? I don't know. Either it was out of curiosity, boredom, or something else. Chillingly, curiosity or boredom could have very well been the case, as Sonny admits.

Although he seems to lack empathy, there's a degree of self-awareness here. When a person lacks empathy, there is little to no attention placed on how another person would feel. The presence of empathy is critical because it is in large part what directs moral decision making. Without it, someone like Sonny may just act on impulse or out of sheer curiosity or boredom. Sunny identifies over and over that he doesn't understand why he did this. It's just sort of happen. I don't really, it's either I don't remember or I'm suppressing them or there is no reason. I know, getting towards

there's not really much of the reason. You're not really much of the reason. You're supposed about it. You knew you were going to get in trouble. You knew it was wrong. Yes. You knew you were going to get caught, but you didn't care.

Yes. Altogether, the detective interviewing Sunny has acquired a significant amount of evidence. The only remaining missing puzzle piece is the motive. With enough material to charge Sunny, the question of his motive will be left to be uncovered during trial. All right. Well, can me just one here back, okay?

Thank you. After the officer leaves, Sunny immediately goes back to talking to himself. Well, no, see, the 1060 would be... Oh, no, no, yeah, we moved on from TPR, so it was solid. Ansel. No, not Enzo. Weizen? Vyth, that's what it's called.

I wouldn't use new 8.m4, D.D.O.4, it's such a large temperature. I can't remember what their chips. The chips are names really just in support. I can't remember what it was. I think what it was like... I don't know it was. Yes, so, D.O.4. I mean, it's sort of meh, but I don't know it.

It only takes three minutes for the officer to return and tell Sonny what charges he will officially be facing. All right, Christopher. You all will be arrested, okay? You are going to be arrested for murder. That's murder for your sister. Aggravated assault on your father for trying to shoot him as well. And then possession of a weapon near the commission of a felony, okay? You expect all that, though, correct?

Yes. Okay. Well, we're going to move forward with the charges, and I want to let you know that that's as of right now what you're going to be charged with, okay? So just hang tight. Someone to be with you shortly, and we'll get this underway as far as getting you transported to the jail and books and everything like that, okay? Okay.

All right. Tragically, Ashley Kim succumbed to her injuries before the paramedics arrived. Emergency services attempted to resuscitate her, but they were unsuccessful. She was declared dead on the scene shortly after Sunny was arrested. In our conversation with Sunny's parents, they remembered their daughter fondly.

She was the pretty girl that was unmistakably not a mean girl. Yeah, she wasn't a mean girl. She had a good heart. There's a lot of people that spoke at her funeral that said, you know, Ashley didn't have to be nice to me, but she did.

She didn't hold grudges. She was a free bird, free spirit. She was a free spirit. She was. Full of love. You know, love's the greatest power and she was full of love. She was. She was very, she was very kind, very loving.

Like I said, everybody loved actually. She loved absurd things. Oh, she had a, she had a terrible sense of humor about, like, what is it called a dark sense of humor? She had the darkest sense of humor, just like the most morbid things. Her and a sister of mine, too, she loved morbid. That's the thing I miss most about, like, her laughing. because she would giggle about like things that she's somebody you couldn't sit next to at a

funeral you could not sit over there because you had me laughing everyone's going to be looking at me Ashley loved people she saw the goodness in people she really really did so many times her fact she's who helped me forgive my ex-husband because I felt like he had really bailed on us but she was like he wasn't ready to be a dad mom she had such a forgiving spirit in her giggle I always will never forget her giggle I thought I would at one point I was grieving she had a funny giggle and she had love. And to honor her memory, I choose love. I choose to forgive everyone who's made a mistake,

not just Sonny. I choose to live Ashley's joy because she had joy because she chose forgiveness because, you know, that's weighty. An autopsy confirmed Sunny's claim that he had shot Ashley eight times. She had wounds on most parts of her body except for her head, including her arms,

legs, and chest. Despite the extent of her injuries, her death was not immediate. It was determined that Ashley's lungs had filled with blood, and she'd perished while her parents attempted to administer CPR before the ambulance arrived. However, her injuries were so severe that it was unlikely Ashley could have survived, even if help had arrived sooner. While their parents were likely grieving the massively traumatic death of one child at the hands of another, Sonny remains unbothered as ever.

After learning of his sister's demise, Sonny simply checks his watch and goes back to talking with himself. I don't know. I think it's probably a kind of I mean, like the R7 was like a... Yeah, Netflix 4K was on your own.

You know, it's 10. I mean, I had. See, should have gotten. So, that I don't. By the way, it was a minimum 10, I'm sure he got any permission, and even if it's not telling you when it's finished it. My captain went for private because we've seen some underwent some water.

And that won't show law. This is got animation. You can have to be anywhere to do that. Even when officers arrive to take him to jail, he remains stoic. All right, still. You go to the hammer and a leg. It's a small reticent. Christopher, this deputy, that's right behind it.

He's going to take you up to our jail, get your fingerprinting processed, and get the jail paperwork started on your charges, okay? Almost be in your stuff, right? With Sunny detained, experts were left to ponder his blatantly absent motive. There seemed to be no reason for him to shoot and kill Ashley and then attempt to kill a stepfather Allen. Oh, yeah, she was my moral compass and my, my significant, and big sister, all of that.

Experts could not come up with a full explanation for his actions, but they did develop a theory. It was possible that Sunny's abrupt, out-of-character violence was possibly caused by a psychotic episode. He didn't realize for a long time. It was probably eight months maybe before he even realized it. Most people will not like my answer, but the Sunny that night when this happened,

was my son's body, but it was not his spirit. Sonny was not there. Was there ever any kind of emotion on his face? Not for a year and a half. And it was bad enough that he basically, while he was in juvenile hall, you know, wait and trial, he had no taste. Everything tasted like burning plastic. He had a psychological snap.

Something happened. They explained to us later that everything tasted like burning plastic. all the food he was eating sweet-sac. The only thing he could eat was plain, dry cereal. That's what he lived on. Sonny apparently told a psychologist that his memory of the murder felt like watching someone else or looking into a parallel dimension. I felt like the strings had been cut.

Black of a better word. This is the textbook definition of a depersonalization episode. Although a psychotic episode is a possibility, Sonny isn't showing any indications of psychosis in the interrogation room. He may be talking to a psychotic. himself, but this could be due to stress or nervousness. It's not sufficient to conclude that he's psychotic. Sunny shows no signs of delusional thinking, and he doesn't seem to be responding to hallucinations. His thought process is logical and coherent overall, though he demonstrated indications of a developmental

delay like autism spectrum disorder. Typically, psychotic episodes are preceded by changes in behavior that would have been evident to his parents or other adults. Though this is not always the case. Sonny and Ashley's parents once again weigh in on this incredibly complicated aspect of the case. The thing I want people most to know is, I know a lot of people have said since this has happened, you know, well, what about Ashley and, and, you know, why can you still be loyal to your son? I'm loyal to my son because, like I said, he was not there. It was not done in some kind of malicious intent. There was no fight. There was no argument, there was no fuss, there was only love between him and his sister, there was nothing

crazy going on, nothing funny going on. It was just unbelievable that it happened, and it's hard for me to even believe it now, even though I was probably the best witness that was there the whole night that actually saw, I actually saw the most, heard the most, pretty much knew the most because I knew what was going on from the sounds. I knew what it was. And I've stuck by Sonny. Me and his mom have stuck by Sonny first off because we love him and he's our son and we'd stick by him anyway.

This was not something that, you know, was like in a fit of anger or it was not a planned out thing that, you know, that he hated her or he was jealous of her or any of the stuff that they tried to say. They tried to say that he was jealous because she was outgoing. and he was a single mom and my ex-husband, I didn't have money. And this wonderful man wasn't in my life yet. And I think back about the time she had to babysit because I couldn't afford a babysitter and be at my shop.

Because she babysat him, he holds so many character traits of her. And I know other people want him destroyed, but he's all I have left of her. Additionally, while awaiting trial at regional youth detention center, Sonny reportedly harmed himself multiple times by slamming his. his head into the wall and biting himself so hard that he broke a tooth. Eventually he was diagnosed by several doctors with Asperger's, along with undisclosed disorders that are similar to schizophrenia. As a result of this potential diagnosis, Sonny's defense team attempted to have his confession dismissed, claiming that it was not given when he was of sound mind. The judge ruled that while the

diagnosis could be valid, a psychotic episode or any of Sonny's other diagnosis, would not impede his intelligence. He allowed the video of Sunny's interrogation to be played in full. The Brazels were not pleased by this decision and maintained that some aspects of the case were mishandled from the beginning. A few minutes later, an investigator showed up,

and he was explaining the situation to me. He said, you know, we're going to take him down. He said, but we can't speak to him until his parents get there. You and your wife get there. It's crazy. They put him in the car. I never saw that.

but I was in the front yard. Right. So they had already put him in the car by this time. They said, you know, they explained that they had to take him, you know, to, I guess, Columbia County Jail or whatever it was. So they took him to jail and said, as soon as we finish up here, and said, you know, we're going to call you and you'll have to come down so we can interview him, your son.

But as you saw in the earlier footage, neither parent was present for Sunny's interrogation. Yeah, but by 8 o'clock, we realized they're not going to talk to us at all. And so it's weeks before we can get any conversation with them. They even, to get Sonny a public defender because he had, he went into the indictment with no attorney. It was no parental support, nothing. He was in there on his own, but we were begging to try to go, but they wouldn't let us. It was probably what a year later before we actually saw the video. The first court session that we went to, we immediately started calling the police department

and pretty much, you know, got no answers. They wouldn't really tell us anything. They told us that we couldn't talk to them because they charged him as an adult. And do you know that they didn't even give him a public defender for four weeks? Ultimately, in July of 2019, Sonny pleaded guilty by reason of mental illness to murder, aggravated assault, and two counts of possession of a firearm. He was sentenced to life in prison plus 25 years,

but will be eligible for parole in 30 years. Because he was convicted by reason of mental illness, he will continue to receive psychological counseling during that time. Sonny's parents continue to stand by him, and despite the terrible tragedy, the family has remained close. And he tells us all the time that he is very aware and very grateful that we are still his parents and that we love him and support him because he knows that there are a lot of people in there

that lost all of their family ties and everything, whenever, whatever they did happened. He treasures it. He said, I want y'all to know. He said, you can't ever know. He said, how much did I appreciate it and everything? He said that you're still my mom and dad. You still support me.

You never threw me away. You know, you never. He says he works so hard on there every day to be worthy of that. Right. In our exclusive interview, we asked Sonny if he remembered the day of his sister's death. I do. Yes. It was terrifying for me.

It's the strangest chilling. It probably sounds ridiculous. I know it will. But when I walked into my room, the second I walked through my door frame, there was a shift. There's something different. I couldn't really think. My body was moving by. I wasn't able to think.

We asked how long it took for him to start processing what happened. I think I'm still struggling with it to this day. I suppose for the vast majority of it, I didn't speak for those. first day or four months when I was at the juvenile detention center. I still don't really know what to think. There's these times when I've broken down about it, but my brains won't let me process it. Like every time I try and think about it,

I still don't really process what's happened. I know empirically what's happened. But to this day, I don't understand why it happened. With this response in mind, we asked Sonny if he worried that a similar incident could happen again if he was released. Yes, absolutely. It's always there. I was kind of eager to accept a plea deal. I already kind of consoled myself with thought that I'll be spending the rest of my life in prison,

and I'm okay with that. And I don't really know if I want to be around my loved ones, knowing that something like this could happen. On a lighter topic, we ask Sonny to tell us a bit about his life now and what his days look like. We normally breakfast at about 7 o'clock in the morning. For me, that's when I wake up. My activities used to be different. I used to teach a math class, but nowadays, mostly I just have self-studies,

write a few stories, I like to read. I used to be really active, going to the library. I've lost a lot of that energy now, and most of my days are just spent idling, I suppose. We asked Sonny what people could learn from his circumstances, and he offered us some remarkable insight. If you do have a family member, a friend, son, daughter, child, whatever, that is experiencing symptoms of disassociation,

if they're too withdrawn from their environment or their surroundings, important that they be associated with something in the world. It's important not that people get too fucked on. Our final question was about Ashley, and what Sonny would like all of us to know about her? She was one of those rare people in the world that cared out of her heart and she didn't do things out of some desire for potential gain or benefit if she cared for everyone. Regardless of whether or not she knew them, I have a lot of great memories of my sister. I'd say if there was one thing I'd want to remember is that she was.

She was the kind of people that is very rare, genuinely cared about people around them. I love her for it. I love her for it now. Now that I can truly appreciate what it means. We want to extend the utmost gratitude to Alan and Nicole Brazell for being so open and for allowing us to share their side of this heartbreaking case.