Going West: True Crime - Brandon Embry // 338

Episode Date: September 8, 2023

In September of 2019, a 33-year-old man was found dead in his North Carolina apartment. Despite the scene suggesting a brutal attack and murder, his death was ultimately ruled a case of pneumonia. But considering his girlfriend was known for her obsessive, violent behavior, his family is pushing to have his case reopened. This is the story of Brandon Embry. BONUS EPISODES Apple Subscriptions: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/going-west-true-crime/id1448151398 Patreon: patreon.com/goingwestpodcast CASE SOURCES 1. Brandon's obituary: https://everloved.com/life-of/brandon-embry/obituary/ 2. The Cinemaholic: https://thecinemaholic.com/brandon-embrys-death-how-did-he-die-who-killed-him/ 3. Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/UnresolvedMysteries/comments/14crdpk/in_2019_brandon_embry_was_discovered_in_his/ 4. Justice for Brandon Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/brandonwembry 5. Still A Mystery: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt8241514/ 6. True Crime Diva: https://truecrimediva.com/brandon-embry/?expand_article=1 7. Change.org: https://www.change.org/p/asheboro-police-department-to-get-brandon-embry-s-case-reopened 8. Timeline: https://www.facebook.com/brandonwembry/posts/231609071871304 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

What is going on True Crime fans? I'm your host Teeve. And I'm your host Daphne. And you're listening to Going West. Hello everybody, big thanks to Dana for recommending today's case. This story is unbelievable. It's very reminiscent of episode 252 of Going West. We covered that last year on Johnny Cashman. I'm sure a lot of you guys remember that case because we got an influx of comments after that one of how frustrated you guys were and how you couldn't believe the details and why the case was where it was and not where we all wanted it to be. So get ready to be confused and frustrated all over again with today's case. Yes, such a mind blowing story.

So make sure that you share this episode and also if you wanna see photos from this case and all the other cases that we've covered thus far, head on over to our socials. on Instagram at Going West Podcast on Twitter at Going West Pod and then we have a Facebook discussion group and then we just have a regular Going West page. Well without further ado let's get into the details of today's case. Alright guys this is episode 338 of Going West, so let's get into it. In September of 2019, a 33-year-old man was found dead in his North Carolina apartment. Despite the scene suggesting a brutal attack and murder, his death was ultimately ruled

a case of pneumonia, but considering his girlfriend was known for her obsessive, violent behavior, his family is pushing to have the case reopened. This is the story of Brandon Embry was born on September 7, 1986 in Louisville, Kentucky. Raised in a military family, he moved around a lot as a child, even spending some time abroad in Italy. But eventually, he and his family, consisting of his mom Sarah, Stepped Out Reg, and siblings Rachel and Scott,

settled back into the US and moved to Washington state. His family described him as introverted and brainy. He was naturally curious, especially where science and technology were concerned. In addition to his academic endeavors, he was athletic and really enjoyed working out. So after graduating from high school, he enlisted in the United States Navy,

working on a submarine as a nuclear machinist. After being honorably discharged from the Navy, Brandon moved from Hawaii, where he had been stationed, back to Washington, to pursue his dream of becoming a pharmacist. Now once he was back in the Pacific Northwest, he received his associate degree in bioengineering and chemical preengineering from Green River College, which is located just outside of Seattle.

And if you guys know anything about the Green River Killer, that's the same area that's right next to Seattle. Yeah, hate to say it, but that was his domain. So then Brandon enrolled at the University of Washington, where he was an honor student pursuing chemical engineering. Though he was just a semester away from graduating, he was really anxious to be closer to his family, who had since relocated across the country to North Carolina, so they just totally switched coasts.

So Brandon took a break from his studies and moved to North Carolina as well. He took a job as a welder and found an apartment in Ashboro, which is situated in between Raleigh and Charlotte. He claimed he missed Washington and was really excited to eventually go back, but in the meantime, he was really enjoying this quality time with friends and family. According to them, at this point in his life, he really loved making mead, which for those who don't know it's like a fermented alcoholic beverage, I guess you could probably say it's kind of like beer, but it's in a category of its own.

Yeah, I mean, it's a pretty strong beverage. I don't know if it's more of like beer, but it's in a category of its own. Yeah, I mean, it's a pretty strong beverage. I don't know if it's more comparable to beer or wine, but I guess you ferment honey and water together, but typically it's like between 8 and 20% ABV. Right. So he would like make it and then share it with his loved ones, which was just kind of a fun thing that he did. And Brandon's sister Rachel remembers that he was eager to get married and have a family and that he wanted to start dating again.

Because basically when he was in Seattle, he had been living with a girlfriend for a period of time, but they broke up before he moved across the country. A short while after settling in North Carolina, Brandon met a woman at a bar and the two moved in together pretty quickly, but again, the relationship didn't work out. He reportedly told his family that he was lonely, and that he didn't like living by himself. But in late 2018 and early 2019, Brandon began telling his sister Rachel about a woman named

Cassandra that he had met online and was apparently very intrigued by. However, this relationship seemed to fizzle out pretty quickly because she was Russian and she was going to be moving back home shortly after they started dating. So Saturday, September 7, 2019, was Brandon's 33rd birthday. The night prior, he stayed over at his parents' house to dog sit for them, but when they arrived home the next day, which was his birthday, Brandon had already taken off because he said he was supposed to have a date that night. But according to Brandon's mom, Sarah, the date stood him up.

In the days following his birthday, Sarah was hoping to take him out to lunch, which was a tradition of theirs. But on the afternoon of Monday, September 9, 2019, Brandon texted his mom that he had a terrible headache and that he was feeling overwhelmed because he had a lot to do that day. Strangely, according to his mom, Sarah, the text hadn't sounded like it was coming from Brandon. So the following day, which was Tuesday, September 10, Brandon texted her again, but very early in the morning this time.

So she called him back later since she had missed the earlier text, but he didn't answer. The day after that, which was Wednesday, September 11th, Sarah was growing really worried that she hadn't heard back from him. So she decided to check the location of his phone, but claimed that it continued to spin around, which was even more alarming. And with that, she decided to check on him in person that day, just to ensure that, you know, everything was okay. But she actually ended up heading over the next day, which was Thursday, September 12th, and she went with Brandon's sister Rachel over to his apartment to make sure that everything was okay. And when they arrived, they noticed that his apartment to make sure that everything was okay.

And when they arrived, they noticed that his door was locked and his car was out front. But even so, texts and calls were going unanswered as were knocks on the door. So it was weird because they're like, well, it seems like he's home because his car's here. And he's not answering the door. It's locked. He's not answering the phone. So like,

what is going on? All they're thinking is that something is very wrong on the other side of the door, of course. So at this point, Sarah noticed that one of the apartment's windows was broken. So just remember that detail. At this point, they were really starting to become frantic, so they called the building's maintenance team

for help to get inside, but they actually wound up being so concerned about Brandon's well-being that they called 911 first instead. The police arrived shortly after 3pm that day, an open Brandon's door to find him alive, but unresponsive on the floor of his bedroom. Shockingly, Brandon was lying face-up in a puddle of blood and water, naked and badly beaten. The EMT's administered Narcan in the event that he had possibly overdosed, but there was no change in his condition.

Brandon was immediately removed on a stretcher and rushed to the hospital while police tried to put together the pieces of his last few days. Sarah and Rachel followed closely behind just confused and in utter shock at what on Earth had happened to their son and brother. Brandon's body was covered in lacerations and bruises. His blood ginned and bloodied face was swollen past the point of recognition, and he had sustained a deep cut near one of his eyebrows. There were scratches covering his face, his lips were bruised, his eyes were blackened, and he had even gotten a cut inside his mouth.

His back was severely wounded with contusions that appeared as if he had been struck with a baseball bat or something similar, while scratches that appeared to be from someone's fingernails traveled down his entire body. One strike to his back had been so deep that it had bruised his lung. He appeared to have defensive wounds on his arms and hands and even his groin had sustained injuries. So once he got to the hospital and the nurses evaluated him, they informed his mom that they believed that he had been attacked by somebody and that there was no way these injuries could have been self-inflicted. In his mom Sarah's words, quote, the injuries that he had to me look defensive where he

was trying to protect himself. I believe that someone beat him and left him in a state, in a coma, and from that point he died. The dots don't add up. But before Brandon's very untimely death, he was placed on life support, but his condition deteriorated rapidly. Soon after, Sarah and Rachel were given the devastating news that Brandon was just not going to make it.

They were able to say their goodbyes, but Brandon did not regain consciousness after being beaten in his apartment. On September 13, 2019, just over 24 hours after he entered the hospital, Brandon sadly passed away. His family was desperate to figure out what had happened to him and luckily opted for an autopsy. So meanwhile, back at Brandon's apartment, a full investigation was underway, and although police weren't sure what to make of it yet, the apartment certainly had all the trappings

of a crime scene. Brandon's home had been absolutely thrashed. Investigators attempted to paint Brandon as living a high-risk lifestyle, as they recovered numerous sex toys, hypodermic needles, and alcohol at the scene, but his family argued that the needles were a prescription, as Brandon had a testosterone deficiency and had to inject himself frequently, and most of the alcohol that they recovered was unopened. And as far as the sex toys go, I'd say that that's a pretty common and very regular thing for people to have in their home. But despite the shocking state that Brandon was found in, the medical examiner ruled that Brandon

had ultimately died of pneumonia and that his wounds were self-inflicted, which is just so mind-blowing. So absolutely frustrated and confused at this news, Sarah again spoke with the nurses who treated him on that fateful day, and they concurred that his injuries were not at all consistent with self-inflicted injuries. After a compulsory but half-hearted investigation, police upheld the findings of the medical examiner and ceased their search. They allowed his family access to his apartment where they found blood splatters and droplets coating the floors and walls, and also his belongings were strewn about, clearly thrown

and shredded. The closet doors had been pulled out of their tracks, and the toilet was unbolted from the floor. Like how do you explain that? I know, what would be the purpose of, I mean, obviously, there seems like there was a struggle if that much had happened. Right, but it's like you compare all of his injuries to everything that's going on at his house, like,

all the complete disarray. Like, somebody just absolutely destroyed his home. But why? Well, here's another really interesting part to this. So I guess his family also found numerous clumps of dark hair, which was really odd to them because Brandon had strawberry blonde hair. Yeah, like what?

So why are they finding these clumps of dark hair? But another really suspicious and strange aspect of this case are the items that may have been responsible for Brandon's injuries, which were removed by police, and those include a pipe from a closet organization system, a shower curtain rod, a sledgehammer, and a fire arm suppressor. Aside from the puddle of water and blood in which Brandon was found, there was also a puddle of cleaning fluid mixed

with blood on the floor, like as if somebody had like half-ass attempted to clean up after themselves, which surely Brandon couldn't, or wouldn't have done himself. But please had this theory, and they were pondering if this cleanup thing was a clear indication of methamphetamine use, because I guess users will sometimes fly into a rage and then casually try to put their surroundings back together, like not realizing the extent of their injuries or the damage that they had done. However, Brandon's autopsy proved negative for methamphetamine. In fact, the only drug that was found in his system was Benadryl, you know, for allergies. But according to police, the only explanation for the destruction and Brandon's injuries was that he himself had inflicted them in a psychotic break, exacerbated by drug use, which is like, hello, we already just said that there was nothing in his system, but Benadryl. Yeah, and then of course, the nurses, you know, it's not the medical examiner saying this, but

still nurses, see a lot and know a lot. And they're saying these injuries could not have been self-inflicted. Like, they said that it, like the injuries on his back appeared to be consistent with him being beaten with like a baseball bat. You can't beat yourself with a baseball bat in the back like yeah That doesn't make any sense don't do that and one was so Hard to his back that it nearly punctured his lung or or or they're bruised his lung. Yeah Exactly, so it's like how in the hell are you gonna do that to yourself unless you're literally like running backwards

Into a fucking wall, but even then like on top of all of his other injuries, it's just so confusing. Yeah, and why would you, I guess, I don't know, why would you wanna do that to yourself? Like why would you wanna hurt yourself and have that many injuries? All these scratches, all these bruises, just the whole thing. Well, it's frustrating because I guess you could argue

technically he could have had a psychotic break and done this to himself, right? So in all technicality, it's possible, but we're not talking about what's like weirdly possible. We're talking about what's plausible. Exactly. I mean, every angle should be looked at, but as we're going to get into it, felt like police really were just believing one thing and one thing only. So police detailed in their report that there was no sign of force entry, but his family

discovered that his house key was missing from his key ring, and his spare key had been missing since February, so about seven months earlier. So police kind of looked at this like, oh, there's no force entry, nobody broke in, nobody attacked him. But we do know that there was a broken window, correct? Thank you for bringing that up. I almost forgot about that. Yes, broken window, what's that about?

And again, also the doors to his truck had been left unlocked as well. Now because his laptop, cell phone, and wallet were present at the scene, police ruled out a crime motivated by theft, not that they really believed a crime had occurred at all. In their notes from the scene, police claimed that Brandon had just lost his job on Friday September 6, so less than a week before he was found.

And although police acknowledged that it appeared as if Brandon had sustained defensive wounds and that his injuries were consistent with having been struck with a rod or a baseball bat. They ultimately decided that no foul play was evident. We're just so frustrating because they're literally saying, yeah, like it does seem like he was defending himself and it does seem like somebody struck him in the back with a bat or something similar, but we still don't think it was attacked. Like, how can you say that?

That's contradictory. Makes zero sense. So obviously this came as a horrifying surprise to Brandon's family who were certain that an altercation had occurred just based on the state of his home and his body. As they cleaned his apartment out just reeling from their loss and trying to quiet all the burning questions that they had about Brandon's sudden death, Brandon's sister received a strange message from a woman on Facebook Messenger. It read, quote, Hey, I know you don't know me at all, but your Brandon Wesley Embery's sister and I was

your brother's girlfriend from mid-May until his passing. I met him on a dating app called Hinge. He sent me a text with a crying emoji on Tuesday the 10th and I haven't heard from him since and I was a worried mess. He never told me your mom's name but you have a sister that was in Kentucky. I found out the hard way yesterday when I went by his apartment at Park Place in Ashboro on South Church Street yesterday evening and someone told me he had died. I hope you know how wonderful of a man he was, and that I thought the world of him.

This message was from the woman that Brandon said he had been seeing leading up to his death, the woman who is supposedly going back to Russia. At Public Mobile, we do things differently. From our subscription phone plans to throwing a big sale right now when no one else is. Well, maybe they are, but who cares, our sale is better. And it's on right now, no waiting necessary. You have the latest phone, now take advantage of a great price on a 5G subscription phone plan. It's the perfect deal for anyone who could use some savings right now.

Subscribe today at publicmobile.ca. Different is calling. Before that quick break, Daphne read a message from a girl that Brandon had been seeing. Yes, and because she had mentioned a date or a text on a particular date in her message, I kind of want to just go back to the timeline to kind of clear things up for you guys and remind you what that timeline was. So as we know, on Monday, September 9th, Brandon or somebody posing as Brandon, we're not really sure, are we? Had texted his mom Sarah and said, you know, that he had a headache and he was feeling really overwhelmed. And then as he told us, his mom, for whatever reason,

just felt like maybe it was the language in the text or the way he spoke, it just didn't seem like Brandon would say something like that. And maybe she said that after the fact, but either way, she felt like this text was kind of out of the ordinary for Brandon. Then the day after that was Tuesday, the 10th. And that is the day that Brandon had texted his mom really early in the morning. And then when she called him back, he didn't answer. That's also the day that Cassandra is saying that he sent her a crying emoji.

Then the day after that was Wednesday the 11th of September and that's when his family's trying to reach him. He's not answering at all and then they found him alive but unresponsive on Thursday the 12th. And we're also going to get into in a bit here of the timeline like regarding his injuries and everything like that, but I just wanted to remind that recap

because of what I just said about Cassandra's message. Okay, let's keep hearing a little bit more about this portion. Yeah, let's talk a little bit about Cassandra. So this woman who goes by either Cassandra Welch or Cassandra Gaini, which is her current married name, claimed that she stayed over at Brandon's apartment frequently, and that she kept clothes and makeup in his apartment. She also apparently even

sometimes called herself Cassandra Embry, which is Brandon's last name, so I don't know how serious of a relationship they had but seems kind of weird. Only a few months. Yeah. So his family started talking to her and asking questions about her time with Brandon, obviously leading up to his death. And Brandon's sister Rachel recalls that Cassandra was probing her with questions, asking if they were sad and if they missed him, which his family found very strange and obviously

very uncomfortable because I mean why would you ask that? That's just a very stupid thing to ask. Cassandra also claimed that she and Brandon had been much more serious than Brandon had let on before his death. According to her, the pair were planning on moving in together and Cassandra said that she even had been pregnant at one point and that they had been excited about the prospect of being parents but that Cassandra had that she even had been pregnant at one point and that they had been excited about the prospect of being parents, but that Cassandra had lost the baby. So basically her timeline changed constantly

and many of her messages were a bit confusing. Yeah, like the message that I read where she had said, I know you have a sister in Kentucky, like we, what? Because as far as we know, Brandon had one sister and that was Rachel and Rachel didn't have any sisters She just had two brothers Brandon and Scott so that didn't make any sense like a lot of the things she says are just like Yeah, very very strange. Well, I guess in her first Facebook message She said that they had started dating in May of 2019

But later she told this family that they were actually seeing each other months prior to that. Sarah and Rachel decided to meet up for coffee with Cassandra at one point, just hoping that she could provide more context for Brandon's death. Sarah remembered that Cassandra had mentioned offhand that she was in trouble with the law, and was headed to jail soon, which began a string of strange lies and inconsistencies that she would tell them until they eventually just stopped communicating with her altogether. Sarah found Cassandra's comment about being put in jail exceedingly odd, so she reported it to the Ashboro police and they agreed to bring Cassandra in for questioning. And this is kind of

strange because she's saying that she was going to go to jail soon, but was also saying that she was going to go back to Russia, so which one do we believe here? Sarah then received a panicked call from Cassandra, who said that she was scared to talk to them. She even apparently told Sarah that she was going to tell them that she was sick with food poisoning in order to get out of talking to the police. Then Sarah was later informed by a detective that Cassandra did just that.

She did however eventually go in and meet with the police, but then called Sarah and seemed to brag about how easy it was, and that she was relieved and even giddy, as Sarah described it. Cassandra also mentioned that the detective had been incredibly disparaging of Brandon and what she perceived his lifestyle to be. According to police, Cassandra declined any involvement and was calm throughout the line of questioning. While their police presented a warrant for her phone records, but she had time to clean

up her activity beforehand, so Sarah believes that she did a factory reset on her cell phone before they were able to search it to its full extent. While his family was still desperate to find answers about Brandon's death, police were somehow staunch in their belief that he had died from health complications due to pneumonia, and that the damage to his apartment and his body were self-inflicted. His family wasn't arguing that he had pneumonia at the time to his apartment and his body were self-inflicted. His family wasn't arguing that he had pneumonia at the time of his death like that was fine, they knew he had it, but they just begged for more of an actual investigation into the circumstances surrounding and leading up to him being removed from his apartment, aka

him being in a coma, him being beaten senseless, and feeling resistance from police, they begin questioning everyone in Brandon's orbit for more information. One neighbor apparently spotted him arguing outside his apartment with a man who was skinny, white, and had black hair. And remember there were clumps of dark hair found in his apartment. Indeed there was. But sadly, they were unable to locate this man, so who this guy was, if he's involved at all, is still unknown.

In January of 2020, so a few months after his death, detectives with the Asheboro Police Department came to Brandon's family and posed their latest ridiculous theory. Ridiculous, in my opinion. You tell me what you think. They believed that Brandon had been using synthetic marijuana and beat himself in a drug-induced rage. In his deteriorating state, he contracted pneumonia, which ultimately killed him. And why this synthetic marijuana wasn't present on his toxicology report, they couldn't account for, so that just makes this theory all the less believable in my opinion. How stupid do you have to be to believe that after a toxicology report is done, that you're

just going to make up some random drug that this guy was using and claim that that's what killed him? Like, come on. Yeah, it just, it almost feels like they're looking for any kind of excuse that doesn't equal foul play, which I don't understand at all. So though his family begged for more answers, ultimately investigators had already made up their minds. And on February 27th, 2020, Brandon's case was officially closed. So Brandon's family focused on the one lead they had, and that was Cassandra. They kind of befriended her and started getting to know her, like meeting up with her, to bond

over their loss, and ask her questions about the end of Brandon's life. Frequently changing her timeline and stories, Cassandra was proving to just be very erratic and unreliable, but they also felt that she knew more than she was sharing with them. Like Cassandra once told Sarah, again Sarah is Brandon's mom, about a time when she and Brandon had gone out to eat at a brunch restaurant called Scramble in nearby Greensboro. And based on Brandon's activity,

Sarah believes this particular brunch outing had taken place on Tuesday, September 10th. So two days before Brandon was found attacked, this is also the day that Cassandra claims he sent her a crying emoji, and also the day that he had sent that early morning text, whatever the heck it said, to Sarah, his mother. So before they sat down at Scramble,

Brandon, or more likely Brandon and Cassandra, stopped at Adam and Eve, which is an adult store, and that's across the street from the restaurant. Now, according to his credit card statements, he purchased an adult item that was for a woman, that's all we know, and Asera says, quote, not something he would buy if alone. Now, if we are to believe that this brunch that Cassandra was talking about is the same day that Sarah believes it was, again, Tuesday, September 10th.

Cassandra claimed that they drank so much at brunch and that they couldn't drive home right away. The detective working Brandon's case was able to determine that Brandon's phone pinged in that area on Tuesday, September 10th. Now, though he spent the morning with Cassandra, that evening at around 9.30pm, he shared a phone call with a woman from Virginia who he supposedly met on a dating app.

So the exact nature of he and Cassandra's relationship remains unclear like if they were exclusive or if they were breaking up like they were supposedly doing since she was apparently moving back to Russia, maybe he was just looking into his other options since he and Cassandra had only been dating for a few months anyway. So this, along with the fact that they had seemingly been drinking heavily that day, may indicate that Cassandra had a motive to attack. The following day, Wednesday, September 11th, at 1.30pm, the woman from Virginia called

Brandon again, but he didn't answer. Remember, nobody could get a hold of Brandon on Wednesday, or really after Tuesday. Brandon's neighbor claimed that FedEx attempted to deliver a package at some point, but that no one ever answered the door. And based on this very loose timeline, Sarah believes that the assault happened between 9.30 p.m. on Tuesday, September 10th, and 1.30 a.m. on Wednesday, September 11th. Which would then mean that he was alive, if this is really the timeline, he was alive between one and two days, or even one and a half to two days

before he was found, which is really crazy and disturbing to think about. Yeah, it really is. The fact that he was just probably lying on the floor, laying in a pool of blood and injuries, not able to get any help really. Right. So another eerie detail that Cassandra shared

was that in February of that year. So again, about seven months before Brandon's passing. Brandon mentioned that he felt as if he was gonna die soon. And it's really weird. This is just according to Cassandra, but this kind of part is a little bit creepy. So Cassandra stated that they had only been together since May, but then she claimed another stated that they had only been together since May,

but then she claimed another time that they spent Valentine's Day together, and that he told her, quote, I'm going to die. I'm not going to be here long. A few days after Valentine's Day, which was February 19, 2019, Brandon was admitted to the intensive care unit suffering from a myriad of symptoms with a very sudden onset. And again, this happened right about the time that he and Cassandra had allegedly gotten together for the first time.

Right, and to make things even more strange here, so that morning he had been feeling really weak and ill, and he stopped at a McDonald's to get something to eat. But after vomiting and collapsing in the parking lot, a witness called 911 fearing for Brandon's life. Now initially, first responders believed that he may have overdosed, so he was rushed to the hospital. And though his lungs appeared clear on his X-rays, he was intubated due to respiratory failure.

He was also facing renal failure, neurological failure, sepsis, and abnormal urine and blood panels. Doctors were apparently never able to determine the cause of his ailments, but Asera got to know Cassandra better, alarm bells just really started going off. Because she was wondering if this mysterious illness months earlier was connected to Cassandra, in addition of course to his death. Sarah and Cassandra met in person four times and spoke many times via text, Facebook Messenger and also on the phone.

So Sarah has posted many of these interactions on the Justice for Brandon Facebook page. And we're going to go ahead and post a bunch of those on our socials if you guys want to look, but Heath will read some of them too as well. So according to Sarah, Cassandra came off as a pathological liar. She told them various stories about how she was going to prison or had been in prison, and also that she had multiple family members in prison for felonies, and that she had a graduate degree in nursing and worked as a nurse in prison. Sarah suspects that none of this was true, and she also lied about being from Russia.

Why would you lie about that? So crazy. Yeah, well, in one of their their final meetings Cassandra actually showed Sarah some of the last messages between She and Brandon so between Cassandra and Brandon and here's what she said to him They read quote great to know that I'm worried sick about use my MS is fucking up because Meeze is worried and I have no idea where use is Are using jail and hospital gave up on Meeze? Who fucking knows? Weas have a concert tomorrow if you're going. The next day she followed up with,

hello, WTF, this is really frustrating. Are you trying to my nerves? I'm about to call the cops and do a wellness check on Uzi. But strangely, she never did. On Saturday, so the day after Brandon died, she texted, quote, Hello, now I'm getting pissed. I have no idea where you are, or if your current condition is life-altering, or even if you're dead.

Great way to make me fucking worry. Something I want to bring up is like that language change, like the first one she's like use me as weasel like almost like baby talk kind of stuff. I don't know like gave up on me and I'm worried sick about use. And then in that last text it's like I don't know where you are. I don't know what your current condition is or if you're dead. Great way to make me fucking worry It's not the me's in the use like I wonder what's up with that Well actually we are gonna touch on that in a minute, but yeah, it feels weird to me that

The last one that she's sending to him is like oh like are you dead like I'm I'm worried if you're dead or like some Lifaltering thing is your current like some life altering thing has happened to you. Yeah, if your current condition is life altering. That is so weird and suspicious to me. Yeah, because part of me is like, oh, maybe it's a normal thing to ask. Are you dead after days go by without hearing from this person? But I think because we're already suspicious of her, it makes her seem even more suspicious. Right, I guess just given the context of the whole story, you know, as it is, you're like,

oh, that feels kind of icky. And Sarah agreed with this, claiming that these texts felt very contrived, as if Cassandra knew exactly what was going on, and that they were only sent to cover for herself. And to kind of touch on what you were talking about earlier, Daphne, is like how she was texting, but I guess Cassandra loved utilizing baby talk and making words plural. So this seems like a kind of normal thing for her to do. Okay, so that like used me's thing was just her being like playful. Yeah. And that summer before Brandon's death, Rachel had received a strange text from Brandon in that style and noted that it really didn't feel like it was coming from Brandon. Which could also go back to the Monday text

that Sarah received and the Tuesday one where she felt like it didn't sound like it was him. Totally, and get this. So this is where it gets really creepy. So that weekend, he was yet again sick with a mysterious illness, and he had to go to urgent care. So it seems like every time he's hanging out with Cassandra,

he's getting sick, right? And this obviously doesn't necessarily mean that Cassandra was involved in him getting sick, or that she had been, you know, controlling his phone, but it did seem like persuasive evidence. Sarah also noted that Cassandra claimed to have that spare key that Brandon misplaced when he was admitted to the hospital in February of 2019, and that Brandon would often leave the door unlocked for her. Though Brandon's doors had been locked when he was found unresponsive, she could have easily

locked them behind her after she left, if this is the case. So Brandon's family developed the theory that Cassandra was poisoning Brandon, because his toxicology report shows an abnormally high amount of diphenhydramine, otherwise known as benadryl, which could be potentially fatal. Obviously, we talked about how it was used for allergies beforehand, but in that high of dosage, it can absolutely kill a person. Right, so we can come up on the talks and be like, oh, he used Benadryl for allergies, like you said earlier, but maybe it wasn't.

Maybe she was poisoning him with high amounts of Benadryl, and that was kind of just like a legal way that he could be fatally poisoned. Exactly, and there was also no explanation for this, nor was there an explanation for his hospitalization in February. Then Sarah and her family made contact with Cassandra's ex-husband, Danny. Danny had apparently suffered some of the same ailments as Brandon during the course of his relationship with Cassandra, and in his correspondence with Brandon's family, he believed that she was absolutely capable of poisoning and killing multiple men.

What an insane revelation. Yeah. In fact, he thinks that Cassandra attempted to make him an earlier victim. And according to Danny, Cassandra had a fixation on sleeping pills and would take them constantly, whether she needed them or not. She kept packages of them squirreled away all over the house and asked him to buy them frequently. Cassandra even mentioned this to Sarah and Rachel, and Sarah recorded the interaction and sent it to the detectives, but she never heard back about it. She suspected that this may be connected to her son's death because the active ingredient

in the sleeping pills that Cassandra was known to take is also Diphon hydramine. The substance Brandon was found to have an unusually high level of at the time of his death. According to his hospital stay in February of 2019, it's possible that Brandon's symptoms were also due to poisoning from ethylene glycol, commonly used in anaphrase. But regardless of whether it was anaphrase or sleeping pills,

Brandon's family now believes that all of his health issues leading up to his death, months of unexplained gastrointestinal issues and respiratory issues were due to Cassandra slowly poisoning him. In May of 2020, after Brandon's case was closed, Rachel received a mysterious call from an unknown user on Facebook Messenger. That same user then sent her a text on Facebook Messenger that red quote, �I killed your brother.�

Now obviously extremely alarmed and disturbed by this, Rachel and Sarah forwarded the information to the detectives and according to Sarah, they did not receive a response. Sarah was extremely upset by this and felt that it may be integral in solving Brandon's case, especially because Facebook Messenger is Cassandra's preferred method of communication. When Sarah followed up on the reporting of this incident, she was told that one of the detectives had actually reached out to Cassandra, telling her that Brandon's mom and sister suspected her of murder, and that this message was being filed in evidence against Cassandra.

Now, of course, not knowing how Cassandra would react to this, Rachel just really started to fear for her safety, and Brandon's family couldn't understand why this lead was being handled so flippantly. When they asked if police could check the IP address where the message originated, they were told that would require a search warrant, and that police were unwilling to obtain one for what felt like a false tip. In the report that Sarah filed about the communication on Facebook, the explanation simply states that it was a quote, harassing phone call.

Because of noise that the family has made and the multiple complaints they've filed, the mayor of Ashbro, David Smith, demanded an internal affairs investigation. This investigation was opened in February of 2021, but so far has not yielded any developments. Brandon's family have been steadfast in their pursuit of justice and answers for Brandon, and they've created a change.org petition to aid their efforts, which we will link in the description of this episode as well as on social media, so please just take like 30 seconds or less really click on the link, sign it, that's all it takes. And in it, they're urging the police department to reopen the case for real and really investigate what happened to him.

If you have any information about the suspicious death of Brandon Embry, please call the Ashboro Police Department at 336-6260-0. Thank you so much everybody for listening to this episode of Going West. Yes, thank you guys so much for listening to this episode, and on Tuesday we'll have an all new case for you guys to dive into. I mean, just what a crazy story I can't get over the fact that Cassandra's ex had said that he felt like she was poisoning him and he had all these ailments and that it happens that right after Brandon starts seeing Cassandra that he just becomes ill with all these random things that he had never been ill from before.

Like obviously, people it started around the time that they met or right after they met, and that the same thing happened with her ex, and then he died, and there's no answers to what happened to him. Yeah, I mean, I truly believe that she's just very suspicious, and the fact that people are thinking that he died from pneumonia is complete bullshit.

So again, make sure that you go sign that petition because it's really going to help open this investigation again. Absolutely. Thank you guys so much for listening. Please make sure that you share this one. I mean, this happened a few years ago. So just imagine what everyday feels like for this family trying to get answers because if you're outrage or if you're outrage, they are outrage tenfold that.

You know what I mean? So take that energy and please share his story. I know his family would appreciate it and thank you so much in advance for doing so. Alright guys, so for everybody out there in the world, don't be a stranger. Thank you. you