Going West: True Crime - Samantha Burns // 250

Episode Date: November 5, 2022

In November of 2002, a 19-year-old woman went missing after telling her mom she was visiting a friend’s apartment in West Virginia. When her car was found the next morning aflame in a remote area, her family and police feared the worst. This is the story of Samantha Burns. BONUS EPISODES patreon.com/goingwestpodcast CASE SOURCES 1. Find A Grave: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/207758061/samantha-nicole-burns 2. The Courier-Journal: https://www.newspapers.com/image/180253218/?terms=samantha%20burns&match=1 3. Herald-Dispatch: https://www.herald-dispatch.com/news/recent_news/samantha-burns-case-timeline/article_5eeaf368-6418-56f5-82fc-a1d9eeeecad8.html 4. WSAZ: https://www.wsaz.com/2022/05/03/honoring-samantha-burns-legacy-20-years-later/ 5. Caselaw: https://caselaw.findlaw.com/us-4th-circuit/1251118.html 6. NC Missing Persons: https://ncmissingpersons.org/samantha-burns/ 7. The South Bend Tribune: https://www.newspapers.com/image/522834234/?terms=samantha%20burns&match=1 8. Daily Mail: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2452726/Chadrick-Fulks-Death-row-inmate-returns-spot-murdered-teenage-girl-help-FBI.html 9. Facebook group for Samantha: https://www.facebook.com/bringsamanthahome/ 10. Daily Mail: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2452726/Chadrick-Fulks-Death-row-inmate-returns-spot-murdered-teenage-girl-help-FBI.html 11. Herald-Dispatch: ttps://www.herald-dispatch.com/news/police-investigate-lead-in-burns-case/article_d7ac5c71-3997-5958-a73b-61494591c3cb.html 12. Charley Project: https://charleyproject.org/case/samantha-nicole-burns 13. WMBF: https://www.wmbfnews.com/story/10786725/remains-of-missing-woman-identified/ 14. My Crime Library: https://mycrimelibrary.com/brandon-basham-federal-death-row/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

What is going on to crime fans? I'm your host Teeve. And I'm your host Daphne. And you're listening to Going West. Howdy everybody, I hope you are having a lovely November so far. Big shout out to Julie for recommending today's case and I'm super behind on email so I'm so sorry if I haven't gotten back to your recommendation in the last month or so. But if you have a suggestion, feel free to email us going west to podcast at gmail.com.

That is the best place to send it. I will get to them. We just get so many recommendations. So, it's good. We have a huge list going. So thank you guys so much. Yeah, a massive list. And we're just trying to get through all of them. So please be patient listeners. We love all of you. I can't believe we are officially at 250 episodes of going west. I was just about to say that. We are a quarter of our way to 1,000 cases. Ah, I wonder how many episodes will do in total, you know? Yeah, who knows?

We're gonna stop eventually, right? Yeah, I mean, tragically, there are just so many cases to cover and so many stories that need to be heard. And we're here for that. We're gonna be here for that for a long time. So long, long time. So anyways, well, let's get into today's episode. Alright guys, this is episode 250 of Going West, so let's get into it. In November of 2002, a 19-year-old woman went missing after telling her mom she was visiting

a friend's apartment in West Virginia. When her car was found the next morning a flame in a remote area, her family and police feared the worst. This is the story of Samantha Burns. Samantha Nicole Burns was born on April 23, 1983, to parents Candy and John Burns, and she had a brother. She grew up in West Virginia and attended Guy in Valley High School, and Samantha, known by her friends and family as Sam or Sammy, but we're going to call her Samantha today, is remembered as a great softball player

and a leader. One of her good friends and teammates named Courtney remembers quote, if she got on base, she was going to score. In 2001, 18-year-old Samantha graduated from Guy in Valley High and began attending Marshall University in Huntington, West Virginia, which is just 45 minutes outside of where she grew up. And you may have actually heard of Marshall University from the 2006 film We Are Marshall, and that is the story of the tragic plane crash that killed almost their entire football

team. I actually remember that story. Oh really? So tragic. Yeah, that happened the same year that I graduated high school. Oh, yeah. So, such a sad story. Oh really? So tragic. Yeah, that happened the same year that I graduated high school. Oh, yeah. So, such a sad story.

So when Samantha wasn't attending school, she worked at the department store, JC Penny, inside the Huntington Mall in Barber'sville, West Virginia, which is just outside of Huntington, again, where Marshall is located. On Monday, November 11, 2002, 19-year-old Samantha went to work as usual. She had been wearing an orange sweater over a tank top, flared jeans, mule shoes, and a leopard print purse. She wore diamond-stud earrings and a heart-shaped gold ring with a diamond in the center, which is going to come up later.

That day, Samantha's Aunt Tammy Adkins actually came into JC Penney to say hi and buy some clothes for Samantha's cousins around 6.30 pm that evening, so she can confirm that Samantha was there and everything was going well with her. Then at 9.46 pm, she used her cell phone to call her mom, Candy, to tell her either that she had already been visiting with some friends or that she was going to be visiting with some friends, at the nearby Marshall University Courtyard Apartments. And we found both scenarios cited in news articles so it's kind of unclear which is actually

true. It was also explained by one source that she had called her mom to say that she wouldn't be returning home for the night, and that she was planning on staying at a friend's place. Which always makes disappearance cases so much more complicated. Of course she had no idea that was gonna happen but when you're not expecting somebody home anyway, that really muddies things up. Yeah, it does. But either way, she never made it home. And in fact, may have already been in her murderous custody when this call was placed. After her parents reported her missing, her family found that the call that she had placed

to her mother was the last time that her phone was used, and that after that call, it had switched off. At 3.30am, the next morning, which was Tuesday, November 12th, police found Samantha's 1999 Chevrolet Cavalier in flames. They confirmed that it was hers instantly, from the Tiger Bumper sticker and the license plate, 5X9326. Her car was found in a rural area, about a 20-minute drive west of the mall where she had last been seen working,

near the intersection of German Ridge Road and Haney's Branch Road. So obviously that's very close, and that just leaves them with this question of within that 20-minute drive, like what the hell happened to her. Yeah, exactly, and there was no sign of Samantha, which was, you know, in theory a good thing, because it meant that she had not been in the car when it was set on fire, but it also confirmed to her family that she was now missing, and that something had gone terribly wrong.

So although there sadly is not any more personal information on Samantha that we could find, nor a ton of details actually about where the investigation came or went from here, not came, where or went from here. It appears that after leaving her shift at work or maybe leaving a friend's house, she was either followed in her car and abducted or abducted as she was getting into her car.

Because days after she went missing, on November 17th and November 20th, the two men believed to be responsible for her possible murder were apprehended. But their involvement in Samantha's disappearance was only part of their two-week crime spree that spanned multiple states in the South and Midwest. So, let's talk about their past and what they had been up to this November before getting back to Samantha and what is believed to have happened to her. I know that's usually not how we do things, but this was kind of a tough case to research. Yeah, and it also does lead up to Samantha's disappearance.

It's true. And what we're about to go into is relevant. It's just the timeline of the actual crimes of these two people. So 25-year-old Chad Fulks and 19-year-old Brandon Basham were cellmates in a jail in Madison, ville, Kentucky, which is situated between Evansville, Indiana, and Nashville, Tennessee. They hadn't known each other before, but had apparently grown close enough to become co-conspirators during the time that they spent in their cell together. Chad was originally from Huntington, West Virginia, and just that area, which again is where Samantha went to college,

and already had an extensive criminal history. Earlier that year, he had met and married a woman in Kentucky named Veronica, who had a three and a half year old son named Miles. According to court documents, he supported the family the only way he knew how, through theft. Yeah, he was a big old thief. He really was. And he was especially known for breaking into cars,

as we will get into. He also had a history of violence against women and multiple past partners, including Veronica, actually came forward after his arrest later, claiming that he had been violent and aggressive towards them, even sexually assaulting them. On August 25, 2002, Chad stole a credit card and drove to a Walmart, so this is about two and a half months before Samantha went missing. And he directed his ex Veronica to go inside and use this stolen credit card to purchase a necklace. But instead, Veronica went inside and contacted police, which is amazing,

claiming that Chad was in the parking lot with a gun and that she was afraid that he was going to kill her. A surge of Chad's car revealed multiple stolen credit cards and the gun that she had warned them about. Both Chad and Veronica were arrested, and Veronica's son Miles was placed in foster care. Ultimately, Chad was charged with robbery, 12 counts of credit card fraud, and after spending two months in prison, the Kentucky State Police also served him with a first-degree child abuse charge for his poor treatment of miles. And his cellmate, Brandon, who was a native of Kentucky, had a significantly less serious

rap sheet and was serving time for a felony forgery charge for forged checks when they were both in the cell together in jail. But that rap sheet is gonna get much worse. It really is. So on November 4th, 2002, at around 6.30 p.m. Brandon asked a correctional officer if he and Chad could be admitted to the outdoor recreational area of the Hopkins County Detention Center. After they were, the correctional officer became distracted while administering nightly medication to other inmates. When she went outside to retrieve Brandon and Chad at 8 p.m., they were gone. The only evidence of their presence being

a rope that they had fashioned out of blankets and sheets. It's just insane that it was that easy. Like they had already made these quasi ropes and all they needed was just for her to be distracted and then they just got over and nobody else saw this happen. Yeah and I wonder and I also wonder where they put this these sheet ropes like underneath their shirts. Yeah, like what when they went outside? Yeah, like bizarre. And how nobody like noticed that. So by the following day, which was November 5th,

the two had made it on foot about 10 miles or 16 kilometers to Hansen Kentucky. Chad quickly fell back into his old habits and immediately committed an armed robbery, this time with the help of Brandon. What happened was Brandon approached the home of a man named James Hawkins, claiming his car had broken down and asking to use the phone. James kindly obliged, likely just wanting to help someone in need, and observed him making two different phone calls.

Now James Hawkins even offered to drive him to a local convenience store, which Brandon took him up on. Very nice guy. Yeah, super nice. But once the two men were in James' pickup truck, Chad jumped in the car as well, pulling a knife on James Hawkins, and ordered him to drive them around. So the three eventually reached rural southern Indiana where Brandon and Chad strapped James to a tree and then just left him for dead.

Then they took off in his truck. After abandoning this poor man and stealing his car, Brandon and Chad drove to Portage, Indiana, which is five hours north from the border of Kentucky and Indiana. After driving there, they ditched James' stolen vehicle and went to the nearby home of a friend named Tina, who was living with a roommate at the time named Andrea. Now oddly, Tina had actually been a correctional officer at a jail where Chad had served time in the past and they had for whatever reason kept in touch. Seems like a bit of a conflict of interest there. Well as we're going to get into it doesn't seem like Tina may have been right for her job because she's like totally in cahoots,

you know. Yeah, absolutely. She's also a piece of shit. Yeah, but not to get ahead of myself. So Tina actually drove Chad and Brandon to a motel with her roommate Andrea, and the four of them spent two nights together there. So despite her previous career, she was helping these men who were in trouble from committing more crimes. Chad asked Tina if she knew where he could obtain a gun, and she remembered that a friend

of hers named Robert owned multiple guns, and kept them in his Michigan City Indiana home, which is just about a 30 minute drive from Portage along Lake Michigan. So they all went there together, and Tina and Andrea lured Robert away from his home, while Brandon and Chad broke in and stole multiple firearms along with jewelry and a checkbook. After the robbery, the four of them drove an hour and a half inland and just north of the Indiana border to Sturgis, Michigan, where they rented another motel room. So at this point, they have cross-statelines multiple times. Yeah, and they're just bopping around to different motel room. So at this point, they have cross-state lines multiple times. Yeah, and they're just bopping around to different motel rooms.

It's basically yeah. So Brandon and Andrea spent the night there together, while Chad and Tina drove to nearby Goshen, Indiana, to meet up with Chad's brother, Ronnie, who apparently lived in the area. Now, Chad, Tina, and Ronnie smoked meth and marijuana together and went back to Sturgis to retrieve Brandon and Andrea the next day, but found Brandon hunched on the floor holding a gun.

After seeing police officers knocking on the motel room doors, he became convinced that the police were catching up with him, and he was repeatedly threatening to shoot one of the officers But they were able to talk Brandon down and they all left the motel to stay with Chad's brother Ronnie Yeah, escape this situation. Yeah, and this seems kind of unclear So he wasn't actually making threats to the police officer. He was telling Chad and Tina that he was gonna shoot a police officer. Right, but it was, it's just, it's kind of weird how this

is explained because he's thinking that the police are on to him and that they're probably outside or they're going to arrive. And so his plan was to shoot a cop, but that wasn't even the case. So, like he literally had no idea why they were there in the first place he was just like oh shit they're probably here for me well probably because he committed multiple crimes over the last few days he's like oh they must have figured it

out but that is not what happened yet yeah exactly so on November 10th the four left the area for Ohio where they used bad checks to purchase items and then return them for cash. They then went to a different Walmart, where Chad stole a purse and a cell phone from a car of a young woman in the parking lot. Now the following day, November 11th, 2002, they drove to Canova, West Virginia, which is just 15 minutes down the road from Marshall University where Samantha Burns attended and checked in to another motel.

Now Tina later told the FBI that Brandon and Chad had left the girls in the motel and gone out to smoke meth and steal purses from cars at a mall nearby, unless Samantha worked at the Huntington Mall. Now they didn't return until the early hours of November 12th and that's where Samantha comes in. Brandon and Chad headed to the Huntington Mall and split up, both looking for cars to break into. The next time that Brandon actually saw Chad, he was driving Samantha's burgundy Chevrolet

Cavalier with her alive in the front seat. Chad and Brandon switched places, and Chad drove the van belonging to Tina, following behind Brandon who was driving Samantha's car, with Samantha still in the front passenger seat. So, the two men drove to a nearby foodland grocery store, and left Tina's van there, before driving around to various ATMs and forcing Samantha to pull out cash for them. Chad then drove Samantha's car back to foodland to retrieve the van, and Brandon said

that he wanted to find a place to quote, assault Samantha. According to Chad's testimony, the men drove to a secluded area near the Ohio River, which cut through Huntingtonton and divided West Virginia and Ohio. He said that he watched Brandon get out of the car with Samantha and disappear for about 20 minutes. When he returned alone, Brandon told Chad that he wanted to purchase gasoline to pour on Samantha's car to set it on fire in order to, quote, remove any fingerprints.

And after burning and abandoning Samantha's car, the men returned to their motel in So as Heath explained, it appeared that Brandon had kind of disappeared with Samantha for about 20 minutes and then decided that he wanted to buy gasoline to pour on Samantha's car so that they could set it on fire and kind of destroy any trace of DNA that would lead them to be arrested for her murder. Yeah and I'm assuming that Chad kind of already knew what Brandon had done. Unless he was a part of it which we're gonna get into as well. Yeah definitely. A little bit unclear. But also this was all happening in the very early morning hours of November 12th, which is why we said earlier that it seems like at some point, you know,

Samantha must have been going to a friend's house or leaving work or something. This was all happen very, very early in the morning. So later that same day, which was November 12th again. The four, who is Brandon, Chad, Tina, and Andrea, again moved to a different motel this time in Little River, South Carolina, which is hours away. Because Chad had lived there for a few years prior, so he was, you know, familiar with the area. Yeah. Tina remembers Brandon repeatedly asking her if she wanted to go swimming in the Ohio river. Tina and Andrea later pointed out that they observed mud in the van along with a box of candy for a Marshall University fundraiser.

Obviously this is really bizarre considering we know that Samantha went to that school. Obviously Tina and Andrea don't know that. They don't even know who Samantha is at this point. But they also found in the van. Samantha's ID. Right, which is huge. And they were apparently completely unaware of what they had done to poor 19-year-old Samantha Burns. Brandon had even actually started wearing a heart-shaped diamond ring, strung on a necklace, claiming that he had stolen it from a car.

Again, not saying anything about Samantha, though as I described earlier, she owned a piece of jewelry like this. So their night in Little River was pretty uneventful compared to the rest of the trip, like they had broken into cars and stolen purses as they had done many times before, and then they smoked and drank together in the hotel room. On November 14th, so a couple days later, they headed to nearby Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, just hoping to steal more guns, and they left the girls in a motel room and broke into the home of a man named Sam Jordan.

As Brandon and Chad were leaving the house of Sam Jordan, Sam's father Carl happened to drive by. Chad, who was driving away, started to ram Carl's car with Tina's van while Brandon ran from the house and fired his gun to scare Carl off. And he just hit like a nearby greenhouse during this shootoff. So this is honestly kind of stupid because... I mean, they're dumb. Yeah, they're dumb as fuck, but Carl didn't even see them and he was driving away and then all the sudden They're like let me just make myself stand out. Yeah, and then Chad's just like I'm just gonna start ramming this guy

With the van. Yeah, it just makes you you could have just been like at Sam's house Yeah, there was no sneaking out the back door. It was like uh-oh. I'm caught better start driving into this car So Carl drove away, but Brandon and Chad followed closely behind still firing shots now, but at Carl's car. The two then abandoned Tina's van and stole a white pickup truck. So they're just going from like vehicle to vehicle.

Stolen vehicle to Tina's vehicle to stolen vehicle. Yeah, and when we say spree, I mean, this is exactly what the word means. Like this was a total crime spree. They were they were on a warpath and nothing was stopping them. Absolutely. So after this, they found a nearby Walmart in Conway, South Carolina, about 25 minutes inland from Mertel Beach and stop there, planning to steal yet another vehicle. So at 2.37 pm that day, Walmart surveillance footage showed 44-year-old Alice Donovan driving her blue BMW into the parking lot, closely followed by none other than Brandon and Chad. Alice was a mom of two daughters and had been picking up supplies for their upcoming thanksgiving

dinner. When she parked, Brandon approached her and Chad circled in the stolen truck. Now Chad eventually left the truck in the Walmart parking lot and was able to accost and start driving Alice's car with Alice and Brandon in the backseat, essentially holding her hostage. Just like they had with Samantha, Brandon and Chad used Alice's debit cards to withdraw money from multiple ATMs. And then later that evening, they crossed state lines into North Carolina and stopped at

a cemetery where both Brandon and Chad assaulted Alice. I mean, have all places to do that? Yeah, like, they're such creeps. I mean, very creepy. I wouldn't put it past him, honestly. So Chad actually claimed that he felt, quote, pressure to do so by Brandon. And that was the only reason that he carried through

with this plan. But mind you, Chad is years older than Brandon. Brandon's 19chads what 25? Yeah. So, yeah. I don't think so. Yeah, I don't think so either. So after doing so, they crossed back into South Carolina and decided to leave Alice tied

up on the side of the road, much like they did with James Hawkins. But the two men stopped on a dirt road and led Alice away from the car. So sensing that they were planning to kill her, Alice begged Brandon to leave the gun in the car, but he refused. Brandon walked Alice away from her car and from Chad, and just as he had with Samantha, Brandon returned alone, meaning that Alice was probably dead. After this, the men went back to the hotel to meet Tina and Andrea, and informed them that police had taken Tina's van, and that Brandon and Chad needed to get

back to West Virginia without the women. Chad said later that it wasn't until his trip back to West Virginia that Brandon had admitted that he had killed both Samantha and Alice. Right, so this is Chad saying I didn't know that that happened. I took no part in it, but it's like obviously you were part of this crime. And earlier when I said that, it's very possible that Brandon was the ringleader, but as we will talk about, it doesn't seem like that was the case, which is why I said it. But who knows if Brandon was really the only one to do this versus them doing this together? Well, and we've seen this with other duo's in crime where they automatically flip on

each other. They start pointing fingers at the other person. So I kind of think that that's what's going on right here and that Chad is trying to somehow get a lesser sentence. Yeah, I fully agree. Obviously, as we know, Chad has a violent past in general but also a violent past with women and has sexually assaulted women.

So it wouldn't be surprising that he was violent with Alice and Samantha. Absolutely. So on November 15th, 2002, the men arrived back in Huntington, West Virginia, and spent the next two nights smoking crack cocaine at the house of a friend of chats. Now, this friend later testified that, despite Chad trying to pin the murders on Brandon, Chad had been the ringleader and had controlled what the men did, which is the opposite of what Chad had said, claiming that Brandon was the one that was in charge. Just two days later, the men were back to their usual antics and were breaking into cars

and a nearby mall parking lot. But things would all start coming to a head, because around 7.30 pm that evening, Brandon attempted to steal a car from a woman named Diana Francis with her and her 15 year old daughter inside. But here's the thing, Diana and her daughter were luckily able to escape, and Diana immediately reported this terrifying encounter to the police.

A police officer in the vicinity was able to catch up and spot Brandon pretty quickly, so the officer pursued him on foot. Initially Brandon did elude the officer by just like hiding behind train cars near the Ohio River, but he was apprehended by 9pm that evening. And remember this, I don't know to call it, I guess possible attempted attack on Diana and her daughter or that whole situation in the car happened at 7.30pm. So within an hour and a half of that happening, Brandon was apprehended. His crime partner Chad, however, was still at large. His crime partner Chad, however, was still at large. Later that same night, Chad saw in a news report that Brandon had been arrested,

so this spooked him quite a bit, knowing that he would likely be next. But the following day, driving Alice's stolen BMW, like an idiot. It's like a moron. Chad took off for his brother's house back in Goshen, Indiana. But while driving through Ohio, a state trooper recognized the vehicle as stolen, again, an idiot. And a high-speed chase ensued, reaching up to 130 miles or 209 kilometers per hour. So

that's very fast. Yeah, extremely fast. Somehow Chad once again managed to evade arrest and made it to his brother's house successfully. Aided by his brother and his brother's girlfriend, he also successfully hid Alice's car in a barn, hoping that police would not stumble upon him and pin him alongside Brandon. But this time, the police were one step ahead of him. Knowing that he would likely flee to his brother's house, they set up surveillance outside of Ronnie's home. So finally, on November 20, 2002, after 16 days on the run and a brief chase on foot, Chad was arrested.

So while they were working on apprehending Chad, Brandon was being questioned by police regarding what he had been doing the last few weeks. He admitted that he had indeed committed a series of crimes in numerous states and even admitted to kidnapping Alice Donovan, but insisted that she was alive and with Chad. He mentioned Samantha Burns as well, telling investigators that Chad quote, got a girl in West Virginia. On November 20th, the day that Chad Fulkes was arrested, the FBI interviewed Brandon

for about seven hours. This time he claimed that Chad had actually dropped Brandon back at the hotel and then driven off with Alice alone. Now over the next few days, he attempted to aid investigators in finding Alice, who hoped that she was still alive, even drawing out maps of his and Chad's whereabouts. But oddly, they were unable to find any trace of her. On November 26, Brandon finally admitted that Samantha Burns was dead and told investigators that he and Chad had disposed of her body by rolling it down a river in bankmen.

So now Brandon is taking responsibility, but he's also pinning this on Chad saying that they did it together. And that's why this case is complicated because it's like Who are you supposed to believe I feel like they I feel like they must have done it together That's what I think I mean they're both liars. Yes, absolutely very true So police were now searching for the bodies of both Alice Donovan and Samantha Burns Donovan and Samantha Burns. Hoping to reduce his sentence by aiding in the search, Brandon, his lawyers, and a team of FBI agents and state investigators orchestrated a search

of the area of North Carolina, where Brandon claimed they had taken Alice. At one point during the drive, Brandon said, quote, I never could kill a deer, and here I have, but was cut off by his lawyers before he could finish the sentence. What do you, that one confused me. What do you think he meant like that? He killed a person, but he, I couldn't ever kill a deer,

but I killed a woman or women. Yeah, it seems like he was probably about to admit something and his lawyers. And then he was like nah. They were like, stop being dumb. Yeah, that's probably what they said. But you are dumb. So Brandon led the group to the cemetery

where he said he and Chad had assaulted Alice and even left evidence in the form of her per strap behind. He also explained that he and Chad had taken her body into the woods nearby and left it, covered but not buried, and that shouldn't be hard to find. Despite this, investigators weren't unable to find any sign of Alice. When Chad was questioned, he admitted fault to all accounts against him, but maintained that he had not killed Samantha or Alice.

Of course you're not admitting to the big charges. Yeah, exactly. Brandon and Chad were held without bail in anticipation of a lengthy trial. And on September 12, 2003, so the following year, the prosecution announced that they would be seeking the death penalty for both men. Chad Fulks' trial began on June 1, 2004, and as predicted, his legal team attempted

to blame Brandon for the murders of both Samantha and Alice. The judge disregarded the finger pointing between Brandon and Chad saying, quote, it just doesn't matter. No sentence is going to change what you've done to these people. Oh God, I love that quote by that judge, because it's like, hey, listen, you two idiots. I don't care that you're trying to, you know, blame it on one another. You both are responsible and you both are scumbags. Stick it to them, judge. Chad's defense team also attempted to paint Chad as a product of his environment, raised by abusive, alcoholic parents, and a victim of fetal alcohol spectrum disorder, because his mother drank

so heavily when she was pregnant, and fetal alcohol spectrum disorder can sometimes be characterized by low IQ and poor judgment and reasoning. But his legal team claimed that, despite his circumstances, he was incapable of murdering two innocent women, at least not without the influence of someone else, i.e. Brandon. On June 30, 2004, after deliberating for just one day, the jury recommended the death penalty for Chad Falks. That same year, Brandon Basham was also sentenced to death. Since then, both men have appealed their convictions numerous times and have been

denied every time. Brandon read a statement aloud to Samantha's family in the court that offered a paltry excuse for why he had killed Samantha, saying quote, �I know she had something I never had. She had a good family that loved her and cared for her. I helped Chad take her away, and also offered a pretty weak apology, saying quote, �I wish I could bring her back, but I can't.� Now Samantha's parents both made victim impact statements with Samantha's dad John saying

quote, You took my son's only sibling. You took my wife's best friend and you took my little girl. You're pure evil. I hope that what you've done eats away your mind and soul for the rest of your life. Through tears, her mom Candie said quote, All of her dreams were taken from her on those hours of a cold, and I imagine very frightful night.

Samantha would have given her car and her money, so why did you have to do those things to her? She was there by herself. I feel so helpless that I couldn't be there to help her. Brandon apologized to Samantha's family saying, quote, I wish I could bring her back, but I can't, to which Candy responded, it's too late now to feel sorry. Tragically to this day, Samantha's remains

have still not been located. As we mentioned earlier on in this episode, it's believed that she was likely abducted before getting into her car either outside of work or outside of a friend's house somewhere in the area, or that Chad and Brandon had tailed her and abducted her. Either way, it's likely that she died in the same way that James Hawkins did and Alice Donovan is believed to have, after having their vehicle stolen and being killed in a rural

area. Though, it's really unclear since an autopsy can't be conducted until Samantha's remains are found. The families of Alice and Samantha sued the Hopkins County jail where Brandon and Chad escaped from. The lawsuit claims that the jail had been severely understaffed at the time and that a fence surrounding the property had not been installed correctly, making it easier for the men to scale it.

On January 24, 2009, investigators finally located the remains of Alice Donovan in rural Horry County, South Carolina. So this is not the area where Brandon had told them to go previously saying where they had dumped her body. Because remember, Brandon had said that she was in North Carolina and not South Carolina, even though they're right next to each other, it's still a different state in an area. So did he do that on purpose? Or did he just truly forget? I mean, probably he was probably trying to throw off investigators i mean he's a liar so i don't know why

he would have any reason to tell them the truth but why would he i guess i just don't get why you would confess and be like oh i'll show you where we put her and then just uh... i don't know well what was he hoping to gain from that yeah i mean that's kind of the shittiest part of this whole thing is that you've already confessed that you had murdered these two women just tell the family where the body is well yeah i mean it seemed with the semanda it's like we're saying oh what it's unclear exactly what happened

because there's no clear story they didn't come out and both say this is what we did to her this is how we came upon her this is what we did to her body and how we killed her. And this is where you can find her. Right. They're giving everybody the run around. Exactly. And after being enlisted, sorry, to quote,

help multiple times and never leading investigators to the bodies of Samantha or Alice, Chad offered to draw a map for where he believed Alice to be, and the remains were confirmed to belong to her. Right, but after all this time, Chad's like, okay, well, I'll finally just draw a map of where she is after they had done that previously, and then they finally find her. Why couldn't you do that originally? Yeah, and this was also years later.

So her daughter said, quote, when you spend six and a half years of your life not knowing where your mother is, it's a really difficult situation to be put in. But finding her did put an end to a years-long search while her loved ones waited for answers. But Samantha's are still waiting to this day. In 2013, Chad was allowed out of

prison for a day under strict supervision to help the FBI locate Samantha's remains, but even with his assistance, they were unable to find any sign of her. I mean, by that time, it's 11 years later. So if her remains had been found by animals, or there's so many different situations in which it would have made it incredibly difficult to find them, which is again, why they should have just said it 11 years earlier. Well, I wonder if he even knows,

because honestly, this whole two weeks, he was just smoke and math and getting drunk and like. Very true. So it's like he might not even know himself. So in 2017, an Ohio man named Jimmy Heisel started posting on Facebook claiming that he had reason to believe that Samantha Burns was buried on his property. Jimmy apparently posted about it numerous times,

hoping that the police would see it, and alleging that a member of his own family had confided that Samantha was buried behind a home on Jimmy's land. However, these claims have not been substantiated, and unfortunately seem like Jimmy hoping for attention at the expense of Samantha's horrific murder. Back in Hamlin, West Virginia, Samantha's hometown, a softball field was named in her honor, called the Samantha Burns Memorial Field. Her family and friends gather there annually to celebrate her short but meaningful life. Her friend Courtney said, quote, �We like to do this for her family to let everybody see what kind of person she was,

what a great leader she was, and how much we all love and miss her. Sometimes it feels like it was yesterday. Sometimes it feels like it's been forever. On the 20th anniversary of Samantha's disappearance, a softball game was held on Samantha's field, so that was this year, and afterward, the two teams, along with Samantha's friends and family, gathered to release balloons in a celebration of her memory.

And her grandfather led an emotional prayer. Samantha's friends and family remain hopeful that Samantha's remains will be one day found, and that they can give her the proper burial that she deserves. Samantha's aunt Tammy, who remember was at the mall that day, and was the last family member to see her alive," said Quote. We haven't found her body, so she's still out there somewhere. Those two gentlemen are still alive, and still on death row. As long as they're alive, we'll always have hope.

One of them will come forward, or anybody will come forward that knows anything about her disappearance, and where she may be. If you have any information that may lead to the discovery of Samantha's remains, please contact the West Virginia State Police at 304-528 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. It's a tough story because it just sucks when cases are solved but you still don't have answers. You know what I mean?

Yeah, absolutely. I mean, there's just... The family, you know, still cannot have the right closure that they need. Because yeah, these two assholes are in prison, but they still don't know where Samantha is. So please, like I said, if you have any tips, please contact that number that I just mentioned earlier. And they're still wondering what even happened to her. Like all they know is that these two idiots murdered her, but they don't know how, they don't know why, they don't know where. I mean, they can assume that obviously like her mom said in the trial that they wanted

to steal her purse, they wanted to steal her car, and she's like, she would have given you those things, why did you have to kill her car and she's like she would have given you those things why did you have to kill her. Right. So you know it likely maybe was so that they could have assaulted her and not had a witness you know what I mean but anyway just a very tragic case that this also had to happen to Alice and James so thank you guys so much for tuning in today and listening to their stories and don't forget to share. Also I just wanted to let you guys know that we do have some merch in our merch store. We haven't plugged this in a long time. Hi. So I made new merch like two weeks ago,

and I forgot to tell anybody. Yeah, we just forgot to say anything about it. So if you're looking for some going West merch, head on over to our website goingwestpod.com and click the shop tab. Yes, I don't know if it's a shop or a merch. Oh man, I'm a terrible terrible. We're fucking terrible, yeah.

But you can go pick up some gear if you head to our website. Yes, and I just made like new sweatshirts and stuff that say like the meaning of going west on the back and new kind of fun to logo stuff. And also I designed this really fun poster of anybody wants a poster. I don't know if anybody wants that, but I really like it.

It's very the vibe. And I actually love that new sweatshirt that you made. I think it's super dope. So thank you. Thank you so much. We'll have to post that on social media so you guys can see and then run over and pick one up. Yes, thank you guys so much for all your support.

Thank you for listening. We'll see you next week. All right, guys, so for everybody out there in the world, don't be a stranger. Thank you. you