Law&Crime Sidebar - Teen Has Eerie Reaction After Killing Girl with Knife

Episode Date: March 23, 2025

Newly-released police body camera footage and interrogation room videos chronicle the investigation into a fight and stabbing outside a smoke shop in Columbus, Ohio. Bryanna Barozzini, now 20, admitted she stabbed 17-year-old Halia Colbertson in the neck. Law&Crime’s Jesse Weber takes a closer look at the evidence police were able to gather against Barozzini that led to her taking a plea deal.PLEASE SUPPORT THE SHOW: Get 50% off of confidential background reports at https://www.truthfinder.com/lcsidebarHOST:Jesse Weber: https://twitter.com/jessecordweberLAW&CRIME SIDEBAR PRODUCTION:YouTube Management - Bobby SzokeVideo Editing - Michael Deininger, Christina O'Shea & Jay CruzScript Writing & Producing - Savannah Williamson & Juliana BattagliaGuest Booking - Alyssa Fisher & Diane KayeSocial Media Management - Vanessa BeinSTAY UP-TO-DATE WITH THE LAW&CRIME NETWORK:Watch Law&Crime Network on YouTubeTV: https://bit.ly/3td2e3yWhere To Watch Law&Crime Network: https://bit.ly/3akxLK5Sign Up For Law&Crime's Daily Newsletter: https://bit.ly/LawandCrimeNewsletterRead Fascinating Articles From Law&Crime Network: https://bit.ly/3td2IqoLAW&CRIME NETWORK SOCIAL MEDIA:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lawandcrime/Twitter: https://twitter.com/LawCrimeNetworkFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/lawandcrimeTwitch: https://www.twitch.tv/lawandcrimenetworkTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@lawandcrimeSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Wondery Plus subscribers can binge all episodes of this Law and Crimes series ad-free right now. Join Wondry Plus in the Wondery app Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Agent Nate Russo returns in Oracle 3, Murder at the Grandview, the latest installment of the gripping Audible Original series. When a reunion at an abandoned island hotel turns deadly, Russo must untangle accident from murder. But beware, something sinister lurks in the grand. View Shadows. Joshua Jackson delivers a bone-chilling performance in this supernatural thriller that

will keep you on the edge of your seat. Don't let your fears take hold of you as you dive into this addictive series. Love thrillers with a paranormal twist? The entire Oracle trilogy is available on Audible. Listen now on Audible. So with all the people that we interviewed and the video that we recovered, we're charging you with murder. We are getting a look at police body cameras and room videos that chronicle the investigation into a brutal stabbing outside an Ohio smoke shop. As two teens started to fight in the parking lot, one stabbed the other in the neck, causing her to bleed out. The newly released video files lay out what and who police encountered as they got to the scene and how they were quickly able to identify and arrest the killer.

Welcome to Sidebar, presented by law and crime. I'm Jesse Weber. In the summer of 2024, now 20-year-old Brianna Berazini entered a guilty plea to a charge of involuntary manslaughter for killing 17-year-old Halea Culbertson in Franklin County, Ohio. Now, Barazini, who was 18 when this altercation happened outside of a smoke shop just before midnight, agreed to enter the plea just before she was scheduled to go to trial. Are you pleading guilty to this crime I've outlined for you because you did, in fact, commit that crime? Yes, Your Honor. All right. Have a seat. Thank you.

But now, we have newly released footage from that crime scene, and it is giving us a much better look at the investigation by Columbus Police in March of 2023. Because that is when they say Barazini encountered 17-year-old Leah Culbertson at a store, and that is when the two get into this argument inside. Now, according to witnesses at the scene, Barazini and Culbertson used to be friends, but there had apparently been bad blood brewing between the two of them for years. And when Barazini allegedly accused Culbertson of using drugs, Culbertson decided to wait for Barazini outside the store, seemingly so the two could fight. Now, one of the witnesses filmed the fight, and part of that video was played for the court during sentencing. Hey, get off my sister, bro. Get off, get off my sister. Hey, if you touch my sister, girl, I'm going to put my phone down, bro.

Halea, crunch her to get it over away, bro. Crunch her to get it over away, Halea. And at the end of that video, Culbertson's chest is covered in blood as she goes back to her car. It is a really disturbing crime in a disturbing scene. Think about the ages here. And when Columbus police officers arrived at that scene, Colbertson was in the process of being transported to the hospital. Officers do their best to figure out what led up to this absolutely brutal and violent altercation.

Bro, we're pulling up. Oh, it up. Just get back, boss. Just get back. I know. I know. I need you to stay back, all right? Hey, you got to let them do their work, okay? Come on, guys. Let's get back. Let's get back. Come on. Come on. I understand. Let's get back.

Okay. I'm going to get your information. Did you see it? Yes. You saw it. Who saw it happen? Me, him. Okay. The red hoodie. Okay. And the red hoodie? Yes. All right. I need you to get in a cruiser for me, okay? I'm going to have to get you off your phone, all right?

I understand that, but I need you. I need you to get in the cruiser, okay? I'm talking to a cop on my house to hang up the phone. All right. What happened? Three Berrizini. stabbed her they were going into a fight and i was sitting in the jeep because i cannot be around brie barrizini because her baby dad her brothers my baby dad and me and her have issues i don't do you know how to spell barrizini b a r o z z i n i z i n i okay

she'll be a thirty one a kine o court westerville oh that's where she lives she lives in westerville you think west i know she lives in west she said they got in a fight go ahead they got into a fight and i shaliyah walked to the front door of the jeep i saw she had gash on her. She got in the car and she goes, I'm getting nauseous. I hopped out the car. I called 9-1-1 because I didn't see the fight. I was sitting in the Jeep looking away because I'm not, I can't be by three. I can't be part of that family. You didn't see the actual fight. No, but I know who Brie Berzini is. I know her mother and I know her address. Okay. Okay. All right. The officer speaks with two other witnesses. One who says he didn't know the girls very well and another

who told police he had grown up with Culbertson and she was like a sister to him. He told officers he knew the girls were going to fight, but didn't think it would go so far. I didn't see if her get stabbed at all. Okay. It just looked like they were throwing punches. Okay. Do you know either of them? I know her.

That was it. Who? Halea, the one that got stabbed. Okay. You know her, but you don't know? I barely, like, I know, I worked with Dailen for a little bit, and I was hanging out with him denying it. I need, I need you.

Where did it happen at? Yeah, let's take that person. Right here in the front. like in the front of the the smoke shop yes sir okay all right i need uh we need uh i need a i need tape and that is when police find out that the witness actually filmed the entire thing he's got the whole thing on video on video whole thing okay um awesome that's fantastic uh i mean it's crystal clear hd video he was there were two girls women right here fighting they were just mouthing where at does it show um just i want to make sure i get the whole scene

whatever there's blood is right where it happened okay because she started farting it had to be oh it was all the way up here that's where she was laying was all the way up here there's a vape pin hey take it out a lot wider guys right here right here yep this is it so we need to go all the way back to that one yeah because it kind of started over here they were kind of mouthing okay it was random as she came in while we came in like it was random as in the smoke shop yeah in the smoke shop right there okay she just happened to come in and they started going at it in the store and Bree called helia cokehead okay he's a sober like she's a she's a recovering addict so she

took that into great offense you know I don't know if you've met any recovering addicts but like me personally I Who was an addict? I'm sorry. Halea. Halea was an addict. And she called Halea out on being... A co-kid. Yeah, so, like, Halea got mad, and Halea was waiting outside, and they were supposed to just fight. It was supposed to be a fight. Like, I... Like, I was there. I was supposed to be, like, in between it. I didn't even see a knife

get pulled. Like, I'm not sure if it was a knife, or if she had a ring on her finger and just got her. Like, you know what I'm saying? Like... Because the knife got pulled out, and it was on the ground, and I saw it. What kind of knife was it? It looked like a switch blade, like a butterfly knife type of knife. But I'm not entirely sure. Okay. Like, I'm going to be honest with you.

But she didn't have time to pull it out because Halea, like, I'm not going to lie, that's my lowest sister. But she smacked the f*** up her first. Like, you could see it on the video. Right. Halea smacked her. All you saw from that was hands on hands. There was no, like, digging into pockets and pulling out and going on, you know what I'm saying? Right.

There was none of that, except if I would have seen that, I would have. already been in there and y'all would have been called sooner we didn't know she was bleeding out until she got it back she like she crunched brie in the face brie was on the ground and she walked away leo walked away got in the jeep ready to drive

right and she was sitting there and kentji comes over to me and goes she's spinning blood out of her chest and I come over and I just see right in this area on the right or left side left side of her chest, shooting blood. My first reaction is take my mother's shirt off, put it on top, put pressure on it. I've had my brother's dying my arms because they got shot and I didn't put pressure on pressure on it.

You know what I'm saying? I didn't put pressure fast enough. So like, that's rough. That's rough, brother. Man, just please save my sister, road. Talk about a key piece of evidence, right? Now, thanks to the witnesses, police were. quickly able to identify miss berazini they went to her home took her into custody transported her

to the police station for an interview and according to prosecutors police found that berizini's clothes were in the washing machine and the knife that she'd stabbed culberson with was hidden in a crawl space so once they got to police headquarters officers leave barrazzini alone in an interview room for hours and she mostly keeps her head down on the table only lifting it a few times to stretch or rubber face. But when a detective came in to talk to her, Barazini was surprised to learn she was being charged with murder, even more surprised that she was going to have to go to jail. Just so that you know, Tali was taken to the hospital. And that's where she died. She didn't survive her injuries.

So with all the people that we interviewed in the video that we recovered, we're charging you with murder. No sort of self-defense or anything? Essentially, it'll be up to the prosecutor's office. We'll present the case to them. And then if they decided that they want us to present to the grand jury, we'll present to the grand jury. If you get indicted for it, then it'll go to trial, it'll go to court, and then you'll be able to present a self-defense claim at that point. Does that make sense? You make questions for me at this time.

Do you want me to call your mom right now, or do you want to call her? You'll get a call when you get to the county, to count of jail. I'm not going home. No, you're going to jail. Because we're charging you with the murder, you'll go to county jail. Tomorrow you'll go to court for your first arraignment. They'll set your bond. And then at that point, we have 10 days to present the case to the grand jury for indictment.

If we don't do that, you have to be released. If you don't postpone, if we do present to the grand jury, to the grand jury and they what's called a no bill if they decline charges then the case is dismissed at that point that's kind of the process right now so you go right now some patrol officers will take you down to the county jail you'll get slated down there under the one charge of murder tomorrow you go to court where they'll set your bond so when you do get down to the county you'll you'll you'll have access to a phone if you

want to call your family then I would like to call my mom okay as soon as possible yeah so right now they're gonna take you down one floor and right there they'll take your take photos of you and take your fingerprints that's just process that's just policy and then you'll be driven down to Franklin County Jail you have any questions or anything like that do you have anything else on you besides Anything in your pockets or anything like that? You just got a bracelet. Do you have earrings in?

I have a necklace. Okay. I don't have a necklace. You don't have your necklace anymore. Okay. Do you have any questions of me right now? Uh, no. Just want to be sure you can call my mom to get all the year already.

Yep. You'd be able to do that. All right. I'll sit tight. Just first legs off to be with you. You're gonna stand up for me? Yeah, face the wall. Put your palms together like this.

There you go. Lift your hands off your back a little bit. So we're going to run downstairs. So we're going to run downstairs, get your picture. stairs, get your picture taken, and then head down to Jackson Pike. Okay. So Barazini was charged with two counts of murder, one lesser charge of involuntary manslaughter, and the murder charge would essentially have meant a life sentence if she were convicted. Now, she was released on a $750,000 bomb.

By the way, we were able to look up Barazini on TruthFinder, the powerful background search tool that we used to research our stories, the people involved in them. When we put in her name and location, we were able to see her criminal history, which includes the murder and manslaughter charges that she faced for the 2024 stabbing. And by the way, law and crime, we partner with Truthfinder all the time. We're used to get details on people involved in her stories. But even if you don't work in true crime, this can be an excellent resource to give you some peace of mind because it's one of the largest public record search services in the United States. And with a paid subscription service, you can get access to unlimited reports about almost anyone. So right now, if you're

interested, you can get 50% off of your first month of confidential background reports. You just got to go to truthfinder.com slash LC sidebar. Okay, back to this. Now, Barazini's lawyer argued that she had acted in self-defense, saying, arguing that Culbertson was the aggressor in the situation and that she was the one who slapped Barazini first after the judge indicated that he would allow the jury to see incriminating messages, including one where Barazini apparently said, I will cut that blank on my whole family, if she tries showing up to my family's home again, Barazini decided to enter a guilty

plea instead to the lesser charge of involuntary manslaughter. Now, during her sentencing hearing, which was a month later in July of 2024, the judge had a warning for everybody in the courtroom. So before we get started, I want to let everybody know, I understand this is an emotional and heart rendering situation. But I do expect decorum. That's why we have the office here. This is a courtroom. It's not the street. Berezini sat stone-faced as Culbertson's loved one shared victim impact statements, including her grandmother and sister, as well as the best friend who was with Culbertson on that faithful day. Since she was only 17, she hadn't even began to understand what she had to offer

this world. Her family and friends didn't even get a chance to watch how far her talents and love for life would take her. They say how horrifying it would be to outlive your child. I'm telling you, feeling the grief, suffering of pain about living your granddaughter is unbearable. She was the most beautiful person I've ever met. Everything about her, her strengths, her hardship, her sadness, her anger, her soul. She was one in a million. And the reason I wanted to write this and I wanted to speak was to tell you who Alia was and my personal feelings towards this whole thing. I'd rather be standing at her wedding and giving a speech or her graduation, but I'm here.

here, and I know Helia, and I know her killer. That night I felt a part of my soul, more like all of it left when Aliyah left. I relive March 27th of 2003 in my head every day. All I see is Helia in my arms. And I'm screaming on the phone with 911 telling them to hurry. Then I wake up and it's 5.30 a.m. the morning and it's the next morning and it was my dream. Every night since I lost her. Halea never got another birthday or Christmas or Thanksgiving.

No more holidays. But her killer got to spend every holiday. Last year since Halea's been killed freely and with her family. When Halea's family, her whole family never gets another one. She's forever 17 and that lives in my mind. This villain took my sister's life that night, but my sister's life was not the only thing it took. It robbed me of my happiness. It stole my smile. It took the best part of me. I will never be able to get back.

Because of this, my sister is gone forever, and every time I want to be. to talk to Halea. I have to go sit at a graveyard and talk to her headstone, wishing I could just hear her voice one more time. I wish I could just wake up and run into her room and lay in her bed and hug her and tell her I love her just one more time. This villain ruined every memory Halea never got to make. And then Berizini herself spoke during sentencing as well. Not a day goes by that this incident hasn't been on my mind. I understand and feel for the victim's family as I know the harm I have caused them is indescribable. I also feel for my own family as a situation has caused them a lot of pain.

I can understand and appreciate the harm that I have caused now. I would be living with this guilt the rest of my life. I took a life and I understand the victim's family will suffer for the rest of their lives, as will my family for what I've put them through. I pray and will continue to pray for all parties involved. And the judge ended up sentencing Berazini to the maximum allowed under the law three years in prison. She's currently locked up in the Ohio Reformatory for Women and is due to be released in June of 27.

That's all we have for you right now here on Sidebar, everybody. Thank you so much for joining us. And as always, please subscribe on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, wherever you should get your podcasts. I'm Jesse Weber. I'll speak to you next time. You can binge all episodes of this law and crime series, ad free right now on Wondery Plus. Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify.