Going West: True Crime - Brian Egg // 309

Episode Date: May 31, 2023

In 2018, a San Francisco man was found dismembered in a fish tank inside his own home. After strange reports from the neighbors, investigators began searching for the culprit of his grisly murder. But with multiple calls to 911, and a large gap of time before the investigation began, did they lose the opportunity to catch the perpetrator? This is the story of Brian Egg. BONUS EPISODES Apple Subscriptions: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/going-west-true-crime/id1448151398 Patreon: patreon.com/goingwestpodcast CASE SOURCES 1. San Francisco Chronicle: https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/Missing-SF-man-Brian-Egg-remembered-by-friends-13222505.php 2. San Francisco Chronicle: https://www.sfchronicle.com/crime/article/Headless-body-found-in-SF-fish-tank-ruled-a-13829458.php 3. ABC: https://abc7news.com/headless-body-timeline-found-sf-no-head/5467636/ 4. ABC: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r5w3-kPxRZs 5. The Bay Area Reporter: https://www.ebar.com/story.php?ch=news&sc=crime&id=280374 6. The Guardian: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/aug/15/brian-egg-san-francisco-fish-tank-murder 7. Medium: https://medium.com/lessons-from-history/the-police-had-ample-time-to-catch-offenders-at-the-crime-scene-but-did-not-da08dd222770 8. The Bay Area Reporter: https://www.ebar.com/story.php?296425 9. Patch: https://patch.com/california/dublin/person-interest-headless-body-case-held-santa-rita-jail 10. Eugene's Obituary: https://www.degusipefuneralhome.com/obituaries/Eugene-Charles-43246/#!/Obituary 11. Jan's Obituary: https://www.tampabay.com/archive/1994/05/03/pinellas-obituaries/ 12. Mark H. Freeman: https://markhfreeman.wordpress.com/the-stud-decade-by-decade/ 13. The Bay Area Reporter:  https://www.ebar.com/story.php?ch=news&sc=crime&id=275609 14. The Bay Area Reporter: https://www.ebar.com/story.php?276315 15. ABC: https://abc7news.com/sf-murder-case-person-of-interest-brian-egg-lance-silva/5271840/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

What is going on True Crime fans? I'm your host Tee. And I'm your host Daphne. And you're listening to Going West. Hello everybody. Hope you're having a wonderful day. Today we have a very shocking story out of San Francisco that I really haven't seen any buzz on somehow. So thank you so much everybody for tuning in. Actually just yesterday we released a new bonus episode on the case of Aruci Talwar, who's known as the John Bine Ramsey of India. And I don't say that to diminish Aruci's own story,

but just to compare to a case that you guys probably all know pretty well. But Arushi's story is mind-blowing and tragic, and we posted photos of her and maps and diagrams on our socials, so you can go check that out and follow along what happened in that apartment with visuals. Yes, so if you guys are not subscribed yet,

and you wanna hear A Rushi Tall Wars case, and almost 90 other bonus episodes, head on over to patreon.com slash Going West Podcast, or Apple subscriptions on Apple Podcast. But either way, today we have got quite the story for you guys, so let's talk about it. All right, guys, this is episode 309 of Going West, so let's get into it! Thank you. In summer of 2018, a San Francisco man was found dismembered in a fish tank inside his own home.

After strange reports from the neighbors, investigators began searching for the culprit of his grizzly murder. But with multiple calls to 911 and a large gap of time before the investigation began, did they lose the opportunity to catch the perpetrator? This is the story of Brian Egg. Brian Nelson Egg was born on September 11, 1952 to Jan and Eugene Egg, and he grew up alongside two brothers named Devon and Edward, and he also had a sister named Lynn.

His dad Eugene served in the army, traveling all over the world, though it's unknown if the family came with him or if they stayed back. But basically the family did originally settle in San Francisco, where Eugene had attended college. But when Brian was 22, his parents relocated to Florida. His brother Edward now lives in Columbia, South Carolina, and Lynn and Devon both remain in Florida. But Brian chose to stay back in California and spend his life in beautiful San Francisco.

Very little has been made public about Brian's personal life or his early life, but we know that he was a fascinating person. In the 1970s, as a young gay man in San Francisco, Brian relished being a part of the social justice movements that the city was known for because people really flooded their seeking diversity, culture, and acceptance. The hippie movement of the 1960s, which the hate-ashbury neighborhood was world-renowned for, as I'm sure a lot of you guys know, led into Vietnam War protests and the assassination of the first openly gay politician, Harvey Milk, And Brian had a front seat to all of it.

Friends remember Brian as a bit of a wild child that he had once been arrested for growing marijuana and that he loved hitting the bars in North Beach for dancing. It's kind of funny that that's what they claimed a wild child was. Now, you know, in most states, you can grow weed in your backyard. Yeah, but back then, totally different story. So Brian settled in the Soma or South of Market Street neighborhood and actually purchased his own property. In 1976, he paid $19,000 for a one bedroom, one bathroom apartment at 2,28 Clare a street,

which is where he lived until his death. And that is where today's story takes place. And I'm only giving you guys the full address because this building has since become completely abandoned. Yeah, typically we wouldn't do that because we don't want to put anybody's address online. Even though you can find it online. Sure.

But yeah, we don't usually like to share it. But I looked this building up, I already have multiple times over the last week, but I check this morning again, the Street View, it's just like a beautiful building, but decrepit, boarded up, not in use, as we touch on later as well. So anyway, so Brian's home was built

in the classic Victorian style that San Francisco has really become famous for, and the purchase actually included the empty lot next door, so the value far exceeded its price tag. After moving in, Brian began renting a room to a man named Scott Free, and Scott eventually moved just across the street, but Brian and Scott remained dear friends until Brian's death, and Scott is the reason that anyone discovered that Brian had been killed in the first place.

In the 1970s while living in Selma and enjoying the spirit of the time, Brian was working as a bartender at a bar called the stud. Now the stud was situated on 9th Street, also located in Selma, and was a hub for experimental performance art. The founder, George Mason, described quote, �We ran it as a bar for people not just pretty bodies and, coincidentally, a lot of love affairs started there. A lot of women also came in and they loved it.

Now the bar opened in 1966 at a different location and then settled on 9th Street in 1987. It was sadly forced to shut its doors in the summer of 2020, but its legacy still lives on today. And actually many performers there went on to have successful turns on RuPaul's Drag Race and the bars forever a part of the city's gay rights movement as one of the longest and most infamous gay bars. Brian worked there as a bartender for years, and he was very immersed in the nightlife of the neighborhood at the time,

often going out drinking and dancing in large groups of friends, some that included his neighbor and former roommate Scott Free. But Brian's long tenure at the stud came to an unceremonious end when he was fired for undisclosed reasons. According to an article about the stud printed in 1994, Brian, once a staple behind the bar, had quote, not been heard of in some time. Yeah, so that's interesting. That was 1994. His murder case occurs in 2018.

So even back then, there was an article about this. He was such a big piece of that bar. And then he was an article about this. He was such a big piece of that bar, and then he was fired for unknown reasons, and people were wondering where he went. Just kind of disappeared. Yeah, and he was let go in the late 1980s and early 1990s. And around this same time, Brian concocted this kind of act of revenge

in the form of faking his own suicide. Now this is purely hearsay from friends by this point because it was never printed in any publications when it happened and police wouldn't confirm or deny the incident. But according to Scott Free and another neighbor friend of theirs, Brian was so livid about having been fired, which are circumstances that his friends either didn't know or didn't reveal, that Brian essentially sought to get back at the studs. So he smashed bottles and vandalized property at the bar before driving his car onto the

Oakland Bay Bridge and abandoning it, leaving on foot and hoping that it would allude to him having jumped off. Now his stunt was unravelled by police when they performed a wellness check and found him very much alive and he was held accountable for the waste of time and resources of course. But it's interesting that we can find all that but then police still won't say whether or not this actually occurred so I'm saying this like it happened, but it's kind of unclear, but thought it was interesting to include at the least. So according to Scott Free, once Brian's bartending job came to an end,

he never had steady employment again. Some reports alleged that Brian was an actor on the side, but Scott claims that he hadn't really worked in decades. He lived very frugally, and as some neighbors described was quote, on the fringes of society. Because he had purchased his home outright so long ago, he had very few expenses and preferred instead to spend his time gardening and strolling around the neighborhood with his dog Lucky. And basically to echo what Daphne just said, Scott said that Brian, quote, lived an

extremely frugal life. He apparently even ate lunch most days at the St. Anthony Foundation, which offered free lunches to low or no income residents of the city. Another friend and neighbor named Alex explained that Brian was, quote, a bit paranoid and that he preferred to live off the grid, and away from the quote, watchful eye of the government, or an employer, and he refused to own a computer or a cell phone. Since his days were his own, and he had very few obligations or responsibilities, he spent his time gardening, which many said was his greatest passion in life.

He would tend to the plants and flowers around the neighborhood, working to really beautify the area. And the spare lot that he had owned next to his own apartment was taken up by a meticulously cold and manicured garden, and he loved hosting friends and neighbors there. Neighborhood residents saw and spoke with him every single day on these strolls, always accompanied by his fluffy white dog Lucky, who residents fondly described his quote, yappy. Another awesome thing about Brian is that he took a lot of pride in cleaning up the neighborhood, like he regularly picked up trash and planted trees

for his neighbors. Though he was eccentric and lived, you know, what some may describe as an unconventional life, Brian is also describe as an unconventional life, Brian is also remembered as an incredibly kind and giving man. He loved art and would often create small pieces and give them away as gifts around the neighborhood. And he even once helped a friend create a full art exhibition in his garden. He regularly gave clothing and food to the homeless population, and in his trips to St. Anthony's

for lunch, neighbors remember that he would frequently return with people carrying their belongings in either backpacks or plastic bags, and that Brian would welcome them into his home, letting them stay there for free until they could get back up on their feet. But this kindness was sadly exploited, and is precisely what led to his death. His neighbor Alex said, quote, he opened his door for people and they took advantage of him. It makes me sad and angry. In late May or early June of 2018, his neighbors and friends accustomed to seeing 65-year-old Brian with lucky on their daily strolls, stopped seeing him out and about, which was really weird.

Scott remembered watching from across the street as Brian entered his home one afternoon, but he never saw Brian emerge again. Though Brian was somewhat reclusive, he couldn't let a day pass without tending to his garden or taking his dog outside. However, oddly, activity inside the house didn't seem to cease. Neighbors still reported seeing people come and go from the house and seeing lights on and movement inside as well. But when Scott realized that he hadn't heard from Brian in a little bit, he called Brian's landline and stopped by multiple times but was unable to find Brian.

Like he and other neighbors are seeing other people come and go from the house, but they're not seeing Brian come and go and nobody has talked to him. Like it's just like what's going on? And obviously this seems a little bit suspicious, but you know at this point it hasn't quite like rung the alarm bells. Yeah, because he always had people coming in and out. Sure, and it's also possible that maybe Brian was sick and somebody was tending to him or something like that.

Exactly, but Scott wanted to at least start investigating it just to see if that was the case. But other neighbors had also noticed his absence and took to neighborhood social networking app next door to see if anyone else had seen Brian in their neighborhood. But unanimously, the answer was no. Like, there were literally posts in next door, which I have that app. I'm sure a lot of you guys do too. Yeah.

Of people saying, has anybody seen Brian? And everybody's saying no, I haven't seen him. So Scott remembered, quote, when he suddenly disappeared, I knew there had to be something amiss there. Friends, acquaintances, and neighbors were so used to seeing him walking the neighborhood, tending to the plants and cleaning up

that when a few days went by with no sign of him, many people grew suspicious. Then the following month in July, his family caught wind that there may be something wrong. Brian and his siblings usually only touched base once every month or so because so their mom Jan had sadly passed away in Florida in 1994, after being married to their father for almost 50 years. And the siblings also lost their dad Eugene in 2016. So Brian's brother, Devon, just wanting to check in with his brother to see how he was doing,

called him in either June or July of 2018 when this story takes place. But he couldn't reach him. Instead, he got an answer machine for Brian's landline that was not only sporting a new message, but the person in the message didn't sound like Brian at all. Devon actually later said that the voice on the recording sounded nothing like his brother,

and that Brian normally didn't even have a mailbox message for his answering machine. Devon called back again later, hoping to catch Brian, but this time, a man whose voice Devon didn't recognize answered the phone. Now he said his name was, quote, Nate, but didn't explain why he had been inside Brian's apartment. So Nate claimed that Brian was out walking lucky and that he would just call Devon back soon,

but he never did. And remember, Brian does not have a cell phone. Exactly. So Devon found this whole exchange very suspicious, but didn't realize how dire the situation really was until later. Just assuming that Brian was maybe busy and would call him back

when he could, he stopped trying to get in touch with him. But neighbors continued to witness people coming and going from the house, and multiple people stopped by looking for Brian, and asking what the men occupying Brian's home were doing there. Because obviously they're like, you know, we're looking out for a neighbor like what the hell are you guys doing in his house? Yeah, we don't know you guys. We know Brian. We haven't seen him. We've only seen you.

What the hell is going on? Yeah. So when questioned, the men who appeared to be transients claimed that Brian was quote, on vacation and said that he would be back soon. But here's the thing. Scott saw through this excuse right away because as we know Brian lived modestly and in all the decades that Scott had known him, he had never traveled anywhere. Scott remembered quote, he was kind of fringe. He had no job and he lived on the margins. He was eccentric. A vacation seemed very implausible. And we

also have to remember that this is the second excuse that's been told. First, it was, oh, he's on a walk with Lucky, and now it's, he's on vacation. So here's two excuses as to why Brian is not home right now, and they're different. And Scott's like, this has gotta be some bullshit. Exactly. So by late July of 2018, no one had seen Brian

in about two whole months. So please started fielding calls from Brian's neighbors who were concerned about his well-being and his whereabouts. Police then stopped by Brian's residence at 2-2-8 Clare a street looking for him, and they were met with nothing but silence behind the door, so they eventually left after the knocks went unanswered. And actually the police report read, quote, no response at the door and saw nothing suspicious.

But when the police stopped by again on August 4th or 5th of 2018, neighbors noticed a different reaction from the men apparently squatting in the house. Multiple neighbors said that they observed the men, quote, obsessively cleaning the space. One neighbor, surveying the scene from the outside, claimed that soap-suds were oozing out from beneath the front door, indicating that they were heavily soping and mopping

the floors of the apartment. But why were they doing this? This neighbor also remembered smelling an incredibly strong odor of bleach. And, the front door had even been repainted, which is very, very strange. So finally, on August 7, 2018, after conferring with Brian's friends and neighbors, Brian's sister Lynn finally filed a missing persons report. Now, police did stop by the house once more, and again, they received no answer.

But then, one week later on August 14, 2018, came the most obvious sign that a crime had occurred at Brian's home, because a privately owned hazmat crime scene cleanup company was spotted parked in front of the home. Thankfully, Scott Free, who's a very good friend, witnessed the truck pull up, and he called 911 telling them that it was urgent

and that they needed to intervene before the men inside covered up with the whole neighborhood suspected they had done to 65-year-old Brian Egg. Before that quick break, Heath told us that Scott had witnessed a hazmat crime scene clean-up truck pull up to Brian's house in August of 2018. So two months or over two months after Brian had last been seen. Now obviously Scott was very suspicious of this, so he called police and they were able to intercept the cleaning

crew. When they arrived, they dismissed the crew and headed inside to do a search, finally. And then inside, police found a 52-year-old man named Robert McCaffrey. So they arrested Robert, but he had been working with another man that they were now on the hunt for, just like they were now on the hunt for. Just like they were still on the hunt for Brian, because, you know, Brian's considered a missing person at this point. Police know he's been gone for a couple months.

They don't know where he is. And now they go into his house and there's this random guy in there. And they can't even explain, he can't even explain why he's there. Yeah. And they don't know what's happened to Brian at this point, but they know or believe that Robert had something to do with it because he's in Brian's house. So in the meantime, the interior of Brian's home was treated as a crime scene and processed accordingly. Investigators also placed 24 hour police surveillance outside to monitor the situation, but somehow it wouldn't be until four days later that they would locate Brian.

And he was inside the house. So in a fish tank inside Brian's home that was brimming with chemicals and emitting the foul odor of decomposition, Police found a human torso. I just got a stop right there. How in the literal fuck do you spend four days investigating this home and That the smell coming from the fish tank and you don't realize it. I hear you I hear what the hell is going on So they have not explained why it took them four days

to locate Brian's remains. The only thing that they could kind of use on their side is that the fish tank had kind of been like covertly stashed or stashed underneath the stairs. But yeah, you're right. Like how, I mean, how did it take four days to look under the stairs? And yeah, with them discussing

the scent of the decomposition, you would imagine it would have drawn them to that area sooner. Yeah, and think about this, you know, this is a one bedroom, one bath apartment. Thank you for reiterating that actually. Yes, this is a small apartment, absolutely. But I do want to say, like, just from our research, it had a small apartment, absolutely. But I do wanna say, just from our research, it had a difficult time really understanding where the staircase was because he just had

a one bedroom, one bath apartment. There was not stairs inside his actual unit, necessarily. I think it's the building they're talking about up to his apartment. Right, so maybe the stairs leading up to the front door or something. Right, but we're gonna post a photo and by the time you're hearing this, the photo will be up but so you guys can see the building itself because it's not like a big complex where there's a bunch of

apartments in it. So it is just hard to understand where exactly these stairs are. But I think I think it does maybe make make sense why police didn't find this right away, but still yeah, I mean it took four days. So strangely, the body in the fish tank was missing its head and hands, which didn't appear to be anywhere inside the apartment or the building. And to this day, his head and hands have never been located. Though bone fragments were recovered in a planar box in Brian's garden outside.

Police obtained DNA from Brian's family in order to potentially match it to the remains that they found in the fish tank. And identifying the body without the head or the hands obviously proved to be very difficult, but police, along with his family and friends, all just suspected that the remains had to belong to Brian. And eventually, the DNA match to a family member

confirmed that it was indeed Brian Egg, that was found in this fish tank and outside in the garden, which is just absolutely horrific. So an autopsy was performed, revealing his cause of death as simply, it quote, unspecified homicide of violence with blunt force trauma. Two of Brian's ribs had been broken, and his spine showed signs of what the coroner described as, quote, fresh bone breaks.

So his injuries were consistent with having been hit really hard in the chest. Brian's body had been left to soak in two feet of liquid drain O. Now a saw horse was covering the tank and police described that human remains floated to the top when the tank's cover was removed. The space under the stairs where the tank was found had been covered with a large framed picture. Also, a fan had been placed inside, blowing on the tank to dissipate the smell, and there were bottles of laundry detergent, bleach, and, quote, odor elimination chemicals.

Right, so someone clearly was trying to conceal this body for as long as they could and conceal the fish tank. Like, it was covered up, it was hidden under the stairs, there was a fan, there was, you know, cleaning products, like, so that's where I, you know, how I suppose the smell could have been covered up. And that's, you know, why it took so long, but still it was four days. It was four days, which, I mean and that's right. You know why it took so long, but still

it was four days. It was four days, which I mean that that's a long time, but it's also like, okay, it could have been worse. At least they found at least they found it. True, true. So Brian's body was still clad in a t-shirt and jeans, the latter of which contained $9.71 in cash. When Robert McCaffrey was arrested, he had $1,000 in cash on his person to pay the cleaning crew. And according to the records from the cleaning crew, Robert had also used Brian's Chase Bank debit card to secure an appointment with them. Something I want to know is, did he just expect that they were going to come in and clean

everything up including the fish tank or were they just trying to maybe I don't know like that. I don't know if they were trying to dispose of it that way. I don't think that's that's really how it works. Like I don't think you could just like have somebody come remove a dead body out of your house. Yeah, you would imagine the cleaning crew would be like what the fuck dude what's going on here. So I imagine because it was a hazmat cleaning crew that they were at least going to clear out the apartment and clean it up so that they could dispose of the body separately from the fish tank,

and then, you know, just hope that when police eventually did come, everything would be spikin' span and there would be no trace of a murder ever occurring in that apartment. Yeah, and then they could just say, oh well, Brian went on vacation. We have no idea where he is. So as the family learned the shocking details of their late brother's fate, Devon remembered that he was still in possession of an uncaste check written for him by his brother. It's unclear where Brian had gotten this money, potentially from the estate of his parents, but he had tens of thousands of dollars sitting in a savings account.

And I mean, he was a very frugal person, so this does make sense. So in the spring of 2018, just before he went missing, Brian had sent Devon a check for $50,000 for help with a down payment on a home. Devon never wound up actually using it, so in the aftermath of the arrest, as the duo's financial crimes came to light, Devon took the check to the bank to see if it was still able to be, you know, cashed. And his shock, the teller informed him that there was nowhere near enough left in the account to clear that amount, and that close to $70,000 had been taken from that account over the course of like the

last few months. So obviously, Robert and whoever this other guy is has been, you know, taking Brian's money. Yeah. And using Brian because Brian's like we said a million times, a frugal guy, money doesn't seem to really be important to him at all. He just wants to help people. He wants to be an artist. He wants to garden. He wants to spend time with his dog in his community. And these people were allowed into his home by

Brian with Brian's graciousness. And they just stole from him. They stole all his money and they stole his life. Yes, they did. But get this. So the branch of the bank near Brian's apartment was able to trace back through their surveillance footage and find one of the two men entering and withdrawing money posing as Brian Egg, which is just so creepy. So two days after police entered Brian's home and arrested Robert McCaffrey, Robert's co-conspirator, who by the way is 39 year old Lance Silva, was apprehended at a residential hotel

in the Soma neighborhood. He was already known to police for several financial crimes and was even still on parole when Brian was killed. Lans was held on charges of fraud, grand theft, motor vehicle theft, and theft from an elder. Lans' prior conviction stemmed from embezzling money from multiple retirement accounts of employees who worked for his father's upholstery business, located in Emory, California, which is a community just north of Oakland.

Lance's father Don Silva, who had owned and operated the company, died in 2010, and the company shuttered shortly after. But Lance, who took over as president after his father passed away, was found guilty of pilfering over $43,000 in retirement funds that he owed to his former employees. He had fraudulently changed the names on the account in order to pay himself out. And for this, he served six months in jail and was ordered to pay back the money. He was also placed on probation for five years, terms which he violated.

And as police investigated Brian's bank accounts more closely, they found charges from June 1, 2018, stemming from the purchase of a car. So Lance had combined Brian's credit card with cash, pulled from Brian's bank account, to purchase a 2007 BMW 750. And again, this is June 1st. So this is around the time that Brian was last seen and heard from. But strangely, the purchase which cost $5,500 was made in Newark, New Jersey, so all the way across the country.

Police have not addressed why Lance was across the country purchasing a car using Brian's money, but because Brian didn't check in with his family or friends on a daily basis, it's really hard to nail down the timeline of these men's crimes against him, but it would seem that by June 1st, he was likely already gone if Lance was able to use his money so frequently. I mean, you had that absolutely. I flagrantly. I said frequently. Sorry. Yeah no I mean that definitely makes sense of you know it seemed like they were planning to kill him and take his money so yeah that definitely makes sense of why it was they were so quick to be spending this

money. Yeah, and here's the proof, I mean, there's, there's receipts. Yeah, so the sales documents for the BMW were actually found among Lance's possessions, and he impersonated Brian to obtain the vehicle, so he acted as Brian. The salesman who sold the car to him were called, quote, he told me he was Brian Egg. His idea and all of the documentation were done as Brian Egg. It seems as if he then drove the car across the country because it was later impounded at a Bart station, which a lot of you

probably know is a Bay Area Rapid Transit station. So the car was then taken from the Pittsburgh Bay Point Bart station just outside of San Francisco After it was found parked in a no stopping zone So it's like he brought it all the way across the country and then it was quickly It was it was quickly Impounded sorry. Yeah, yeah, and towed away and impounded. So what the hell's that about dumbass? So Lance told authorities that he abandoned it because he quote didn't need it anymore. Lance was then transferred to the Santa Rita jail about an hour outside of San Francisco.

So on August 28, 2018, the San Francisco Police Department held a press conference addressing the murder. They defended their actions from that summer by saying, quote, we don't just break down doors every time someone reports that someone is missing. Police continued to maintain that there was not reasonable suspicion of a murder or a break-in that would have justified further action beyond just checking the premises. But these claims were met with criticism from Bryan's neighbors and family. Scott said, sadly, quote, I've truly lost hope for justice for Bryan in faith in the SFPD.

Devon Egg, so Bryan's brother again, agreed saying, quote, I'm very disappointed in the welfare checks and that the system failed. The following day, Lance appeared in court to face the charges regarding his parole violations. And while it seems unbelievable, neither men were charged with Brian's murder. Oh, that just makes me slitted. Yes.

So in the most shocking twist of the case, the district attorney withdrew the charges against the men. The district attorney withdrew the charges against the men. Lance was held on charges purely relating to violating his parole, but on April 24, 2019, he was also released from prison. The very next month, Brian's death was officially ruled a homicide according to the San Francisco Medical Examiner, but the two men most likely to have committed the heinous crime against Brian were free and remain so to this day. And that's exactly why this case is so important to share. Absolutely, and not enough people doing it, so here we are.

But another of Brian's longtime friends and neighbors who is Simon Allen remarked, it was quite a grizzly murder, is Simon Allen remarked, it was quite a grizzly murder, number one. I mean, it was like a memorable one. It appears they've gotten away with murder because no one is in jail currently. I just wish the police were being more active with the investigation. Maybe they say they are, but it certainly doesn't appear that way to me. Scott agrees and continues to hold a grudge against the police for sweeping this horrific

crime under the rug before and after the arrests were made. Scott added, quote, if he hadn't said anything to police, nothing would have happened, even then they didn't take it seriously. The San Francisco district attorney who dismissed the charges against Robert McCaffrey and Lance Silva claimed more evidence was needed pending a further investigation, but no such investigation ever seemed to come. I mean, what else do you need? They're using his debit card, they're living in his house, Brian's found dead.

I mean, come on. I get it. To an extent of like, okay, yeah, he was his part of his body was found in a fish tank under the stairs. These people were in his house. Where's the evidence connecting to them actually having murdered him? I get that right like there were people coming in and out of the house as we know Could it have been somebody else and they just

stole money from brian but they didn't actually kill him and they knew that he was dead they knew somebody else had killed him they didn't do it themselves and they were just kind of uh... benefiting from his death by stealing his money i mean it is possible i mean it is it is definitely possible but i don't i don't think that's what i believe i don't think anybody believes that though i think that you know the the most

likely scenario is that police even believe that they did it but they don't have enough evidence to convict will be here's the biggest case exactly sorry i hear the biggest thing though to is that uh... who called the has-mat company robert mccaffrey yeah who uh... who is going to pay the thousandmat company? Robert McAfry. Yeah, who was gonna pay the $1,000 in Heading Cash that day? Robert McAfry.

And who also pretended to be Brian Egg to buy a car into withdraw money from Brian's bank account? Come on, I mean, it's... It's Elva. I mean, it's like the shitty thing is that, I understand that this is how the Justice System works, but it really is unfortunate when everybody knows, Like the shitty thing is that, I understand that this is how the justice system works,

but it really is unfortunate when everybody knows, but there's almost nothing you can do about it. Yeah, it's just so disappointing. So in May of 2019, Brian's family sold his home of 43 years. The property, which is now in a desirable neighborhood for real estate, sold for 79 times what Brian paid for it for $1.5 million. Right, because he paid $19,000 for it. Obviously, you know, inflation, but still.

Exactly. So a developer purchased the property, which according to the city planner, was two properties, two to eight clara street, as well as 224 Clara Street. According to reports, the developer plans on utilizing the space fully by flattening Brian's property and erecting six condos in its place. But for now, the property remains abandoned and stagnant, although it was such a magnet for transients after Brian's legacy that the new owner was forced to move two tenants in just to maintain its security. it for Transians after Brian's legacy that the new owner was forced to move to Tenetson

just to maintain its security. Neighbors have witnessed multiple encampments going up outside, you know, people hopping the fence to break in or sleep in the garden, and one online publication found used needles discarded in front of the property. One complaint submitted to the city planning department in June of 2019 read, quote, people are squatting in the house. Floor is full of needles. Backdoor was boarded up by a next door neighbor, but the boards were pulled down the next day.

Evidence of a bonfire in the backyard. Devon and his siblings planned on dividing his estate, but Devon, who spent his childhood in San Francisco, claimed that he was so shocked and saddened by the state of the drug epidemic and the homeless population there, that the egg siblings chose to instead donate to charities working with the homeless population and people struggling with drug addiction.

So awesome. Yeah. So Devon explained that Brian had spent his life attempting to help the disenfranchised and his siblings sought to continue that legacy. Scott also lamented on the current state of the city and the little effort that police seemed to be putting in lately, saying quote, �My building has been vandalized and our mailbox was destroyed since they've taken

up residence. Police have seemingly given up on fighting crime in Soma. Criminals realize this, and they're having a virtual field day. San Francisco is just so bleak and depressing now. Scott Free started a campaign on Facebook to memorialize his friend through the planting of a tree, writing, quote, my birthday happens to coincide with the date my friend

and neighbor Brian Egg was found dead in his home across the street from my apartment. He was the victim of a grisly murder in 2018 and his head and hands had been cut off never to be found. To make matters worse no one has been charged with his murder and the lead suspects have been released. There's been no progress in the investigation, and the police have seemingly given up on the case. Brian was a kind and generous soul who devoted much of his time and energy to taking care of plans along Clarestreet where he owned a home. I think it would be lovely to plan to tree in his honor and place a plaque in front of it bearing his name. So with help, Scott was able to do so and posted a picture of the tree and the plaque,

which read, quote, placed in loving memory of Brian Egg, a plant lover and artist who lived many years on Clara Street until his life was cut short by an act of violence. And since Brian's death, Scott has really committed himself to keeping the alley and the streets clean as his friend had done before him. On Tuesday, September 11, 2018, what would have been Brian's 66th birthday. His family, friends and neighbors gathered outside of his home to celebrate the legacy that he left, and mourn the sad end to a fascinating life. Friends took turns sharing black and white pictures of Brian's young, wild days in the 70s and showing off his art, then describing him in later days,

as someone who was content to tend to his garden and walk his dog. And speaking of his dog, we know a lot of you guys are probably going to be wondering this or already are, but Lucky was adopted by another family. He is safe and actually a neighbor of Brian's told a local newspaper that she ran into Lucky and his new family while out walking one day and that the dog quote, seemed to be awesome. So Lucky is doing well, which I'm sure is something that Brian would just love to know.

But back to Brian's memorial, so it seemed like most of the stories that were bopping around his memorial were just people talking about how they were touched by Brian's generosity. One neighbor remembered quote, he was a wonderful, warm-hearted man, the whole neighborhood knew him. And another said quote, he was the good spirit of the alley. If you have any information about the murder of Brian Egg, please call the San Francisco Police Department's tip line at 4 at san francisco police dot org. 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 Friday, we'll have an all new case for you guys to dive into. Remember, we post photos and all kinds of stuff like diagrams, maps, things like that, depending on the case, on our social accounts. We are on Instagram at Going West Podcast, Twitter at Going West Pod, and we're also on Facebook.

So if you wanna see photos from this case, or share, you know, the photo of Brian and just the information about who to contact. If you know anything about his case, please go follow us on socials and check that out. And thank you so much in advance. If you do decide to post about this or tell somebody about Brian's story. And thank you for tuning in today. Yeah, please, please make sure that you share this story because we want to put some pressure on the police department. Obviously, this is one of those cases that just pisses you off because all the information is there. It seems like the evidence is there,

but nothing is being done, and these guys are walking free. Absolutely. So please share. And if right now you are at the end of your going west catalog, if you don't have any more episodes left to binge, but you want some, we have almost 90 bonus episodes and counting over on Apple subscriptions and also on patreon.com slash Going West podcast

if you're not an Apple user. And we just released an episode yesterday for the month of May. That is the murder of a Rushi tall war. That story is so crazy. And you can listen to it right now. If you go subscribe, thank you guys so much and we'll see you on Friday. All right guys, so for everybody out there in the world,

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