Morbid - The Halloween Party Murder of Chelsea Bruck Not-So-Mini Morbid

Episode Date: April 25, 2019

This is an Alaina "Mini", so it is not mini in the slightest but trust us, it is well worth the time. The tragic, twisting and truly horrifying tale of 22 year old Chelsea Bruck's disappearance from a massive Halloween party in Monroe Country, Michigan in 2014 will keep you guessing and unfortunately, it will leave you angry as hell.       Visit Murder Apparel and use our code MORBID for a 25% discount on your order Check out KillerTrace and use our code MORBID2018 for discount on your order Sources: https://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/2016/11/02/chelsea-bruck-murder-daniel-clay/93198642/ https://www.monroenews.com/news/20170508/chelsea-bruck-case-it-all-started-with-halloween-party https://www.toledoblade.com/local/courts/2017/05/10/Michigan-man-describes-finding-body-of-Chelsea-Bruck/stories/20170510164 https://www.mlive.com/news/detroit/2017/07/judge_to_killer_of_chelsea_bru.html Cowritten by Alaina Urquhart, Ash Kelley & Dave White (Since 10/2022)Produced & Edited by Mikie Sirois (Since 2023)Research by Dave White (Since 10/2022), Alaina Urquhart & Ash KelleyListener Correspondence & Collaboration by Debra LallyListener Tale Video Edited by Aidan McElman (Since 6/2025) Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Hey weirdos, I'm Elena. And I'm Ash. And this is a not mini morbid at all, mini morbid. Mini, mini, mini, mini, mini, mini morbid. Mini morbid, mini morbid, mini morbid. That would be because it's Elena's episode. It's my episode, guys. I just pictured you doing like a small dance.

Da da da da da da da da. And then you tip your top hat at the end. That's exactly what I did. Like Mr. Peanut. Yeah. Yeah. That's me. Mr. Peanut.

So yeah, I mentioned on Twitter that my research for this one was nine pages long. That's super casual of you. Very casual. Very casual. Okay, what is it? All right. So I cut it down a bit. I took out some of the details that I felt were not pertinent to the whole thing.

So now you're telling me it's eight and a half pages. Pretty much. Cool. So sit tight, everybody. It's a full-length mini. Am I going to be really scared? It's just a really, I don't, I don't. hesitate to say it's a really good case because it's really bad it's like sad and awful okay but it's an

interesting one it held my attention so this is the case of chelsea brook and this is um the reason it like drew my attention was uh she went missing from a giant Halloween party oh and i love Halloween right and well and I was like I miss Halloween and fall right now like my bones are aching than anything and you feel me on this Like we are both in a state. I'm like hungry for Halloween. It like hurts my soul that it's not Halloween. So when I saw this, I was like, I got to do it because it's going to bring me to the Halloween vibes. Yeah, the spook, spook vibes.

So this happened in 2014. So this one's relatively new. And it happened in Monroe County, Michigan. Michigan. You know Michigan. So Chelsea Brooke. She grew up in a town called Maybe. I want to live there.

Where do you live? Maybe. Maybe. And it was actually nicknamed the best little town in Michigan. That's what they said says. Pretty much. It's super tiny. It has less than 600 residents. Oh, wow.

Everyone knows each other. There are a ton of farms that are all like acres apart, but everyone knows each other. Yeah. Because like generations have lived there. The farms mostly produce corn and soybeans. She was the youngest of five kids. She was described by those who knew her as super nice, super friendly, just like very wholesome, like a sweet country girl. When she went missing, she was 22 years old. Okay. That's how old I am.

Guys, I'm 22. I am not. So, 22 year old Chelsea and her friend Rebecca Becky Brinson, they knew each other because they worked together at a restaurant in Monroe County called Olga's Kitchen. Olga's. Yeah, and they worked together there for a while. It was like years, so they knew each other. That's how me and my best friend met. There you go. Not at Olga's. No, not at Olga's in Monroe County. No, no. No triangulation there. Now, the two of them were super psyched because they were going to be going to a huge Halloween party.

Okay. On October 25th, 2014, which was a Saturday. Okay. This Halloween party was called Big Mike's Halloween Bash. So this was a huge party. I mean a huge party. Everyone knew about it. Everybody was going to be going.

I mean, people from like out of state knew about it. it and we're coming in. I didn't know about it. I didn't either. The fuck. What the fuck, Big Mike. Now, Big Mike, his actual name is Mike Williams. So Big Mike, weirdly enough, was not his given name. This just keeps reminding me of the blind side. Is that big linebacker Michael Orr? That's a good movie. No, it's not at all. Is Sandra Bullock in this case? Yes, it's crazy. Sandy shows up. He was, so Big Mike was well known. I'm just going to call him Big Mike. He was a super metal dude. like he had the big long beard. Did he have long hair?

He didn't. He just had a big long hair. Just the beard. Just the beard. All right. You know, I know. I immediately pictured big, like big, big, big long hair. Long hair.

Big long hair. Big long hair. I have, like, such a vision in my mind. Yeah, it's probably exactly what you think. I got to Google Big Mike. Yeah. So he was super metal. He was actually part of a, like, metal band, which I think it was called, like, it was

called, like, pickax preacher or something like that. It was like some crazy name. Five-finger death punch. Exactly. And he would play at the parties as well, his band. So this party was going to be held at Big Mike's mother's huge farm. I wonder how she felt about that. Apparently she was fine with it because he did this every year.

Oh, like this was a thing he did. It was annual. And so, I mean, this was acres of land, tons of fields. It was a crazy place to have a party. Becky and Chelsea decided that they were going to go as Batman Village. Amazing. Not sure what Becky went as, but Chelsea went as poison ivy. Cool. Now, she actually made the costume herself and she sewed it for like weeks. Respect. And it looked amazing. Like, I'll post photos of it on our Instagram like we always do. It's got to make me so sad. It is. But she was

super talented. Like, it came out really good. Good for her. It was basically, um, it was a green leotard that she had sewed like a million plastic ivy, like fake ivy leagues, leagues. Ivy leaves. Ivy leaves. She sewed Harvard and Yale and Princeton all over the Lantar. So it was like a billion, you know, plastic ivy leaves. It also had green tights with it, red Mary Jane style shoes from American Eagle, and a plum-colored wig. Okay. Now, at the party, she also carried around a like a big old jug of wine that she had labeled poison.

Savage. Which is like, that's amazing. It was a great costume. Savage. Like props to her. But people said she didn't finish the jug of wine. So she wasn't like, you know, like fucked up. Yeah.

She was just, people described her as tipsy. Which is a Halloween party. Yeah, she was walking around drinking her wine. And she's 22. She's having fun. She can do with your mom's. Now, it was Chelsea, Becky and their friend Penny Walkins that showed up together that night.

Okay. I've heard a couple of other things that say like a girl named Lori was with them. Not sure, though. So we're just going to talk about Chelsea, Becky and Penny. Got it. When they got to the party, Big Mike had set up two huge tents for the party in the field. Sounds awesome again. It really does.

He was expecting like 300 people. Yeah. But word spread and close to 800 plus people showed up. 800? 800 people. Why wasn't I invited? Bananas. Bonkers.

Eight heavy metal bands played. They were like Halloween Coachella? Pretty much. Wow. It's like a festival. Farm town. Halloween Cachella. It sounds awesome. Sure does. Like I was looking at this and I was like, whoa, I want to be there. I mean, I didn't this night, but it sounds awesome. Now,

sometime closely after midnight, the band stopped playing. So it just became like a hangout thing. And Big Mike lit like a big bonfire. It was like a nice hangout time. While the three friends, Becky Chelsea and Penny were walking over to the fire, Chelsea happened to bump her nose on like a low-hanging tent pole. It was like I think she was trying to duck under something. something like didn't see it and it just banged the bridge of her nose story of my fucking line right and now they made sure to say it was not bleeding okay that it was not bleeding but there was a mark and Chelsea wanted to leave at that point because she was like my fucking nose hurts yeah well that will give you a fucking headache but her friends convinced her to stay

and she was like all right I'll stay right now sometime around 1 a.m. they all decided to call it a night penny had agreed to drive Chelsea home like before the party like they had already made this agreement determined because Chelsea didn't have a driver's license and not because she couldn't get one she's never chose to get one and she would just kind of rely on people for rides and walk and like all that that's very stressful it is I don't have a car right now and let me tell you but somehow it made it work but they lost sight of each other at the bonfire because there was 800 people there now apparently penny's sister who was also there had to work the next morning and was like yo

we have to leave. Mm-hmm. So Penny was like, okay. Like, we're just going to leave. Um, not blaming Penny, but people stop leaving your friends places. Come on, Penny. Like, that girl that went missing and her friends, like, didn't. Yes.

Like, they just left her at the bar. There's a lot of instances of that. Don't leave your friends. The Natalie Halloway's case always bothered me because I'm like, you guys are in a ruba. Yeah. You don't even know where you are and you're letting her go off with this dude. I don't care how.

how hot he is, don't do that. Well, and again, we're not victim blaming or anything or saying it's anyone's fault because these people obviously feel awful after the facts. Oh, of course. That's not what I'm saying. But I just, my philosophy with my friends personally has always been and will always be, I don't care how pissed off you are with me in the moment and you're going to get pissed off with me probably.

You're not leaving. We come together. We leave together. And it's like, that's the way it is. And that's how you have to be. According to Penny, she figured Chelsea knew a few other people at the party, and she was like, she'll get a ride. I mean, like, what the fuck? Penny is genuinely... Oh, she's probably very broken up by this.

So I don't want to hammer too hard on Penny because she's hammering hard on herself. Yeah, no, I know. And, I mean, it's got to be an awful thing to live with it. I can't imagine if you had given her a ride. Which is another reason to always give your friend a ride. Just give your friend a ride. Because if not, they could die and be selfish. You'll feel bad.

Yeah, just go find her. Again, if you think I'm being mean and, like, victim blaming, I'm not. I understand that Penny is probably and is living with this awful regret. Yeah. That, you know, hindsight is 2020. Now, you guys may be wondering, like, why didn't it just call each other's cell phone, like, figure that out? Right. It's 2014.

Was there like no service there? There wasn't a ton of service there, but it was also that Chelsea's phone. was with Becky because Becky was holding on to it because Chelsea didn't have anywhere to put the cell phone in her poison ivy costume. Oh no. You got it was so in a pocket. It was exactly. I know. Everything needs to have his pocket. Right. That's why we all love pockets. But it was just a leotard and tight. So it's like where the hell could it have gone. So at this point, somehow Becky had lost Chelsea too and was like, huh. So she just left with Penny. She left with Penny. And she left with Penny and fucking Chelsea's phone.

Yeah. She calls this the biggest regret of her life. It's like, so they both just left her. I'm going to go ahead and say it and I don't care if we got a bad iTunes review. That's shitty. Yeah, that is shitty. Right? Yeah. That's all I'm going to say. That's shitty. It's a shitty move. Don't two people leave one person out of party. Someone at the party later said they saw Chelsea alone in the dark and crying.

It wasn't until later the next night that Chelsea's sister sent Becky a Facebook message telling her that Chelsea had not come home at all. So Becky was like, oh, she's probably at a friend's house. Monday came, still no one had heard from her. So her family ended up calling the police, they called her friends, and they ended up calling Big Mike hoping to get some answers. When they talked to Big Mike, he said he was actually already getting all kinds of texts and Facebook messages and shit, asking if he's, had seen Chelsea and he said at first he didn't even know who they were talking about he didn't know who Chelsea was there was so many people at his party people who know Chelsea were asking him can you take a walk through your fields on the farm and just see if she like passed out somewhere

if she's you know if she like sprung her ankle like yeah fell something so big mike was like okay so he took his dog and he went he said he went a couple of miles into the fields and a couple miles into their search, his dog got caught, his foot caught in a fox trap. And he hurt his paw. So he carried his pup back to his house to fix him up. And Chelsea's mom was there when he got back. Oh, wow. So he was like, yo, like you can stay here by all means, but I have to run my dog to the vet. Well, that was nice of him to let her stay. But he was like, you can totally stay here. I'll be back and I'll talk to you. Right. So when he got back, there were about 15 people searching around his farm. And he was like, oh, this is serious.

Like, that's when he was like, oh, okay, like, we're not just talking about some girl who might be staying somewhere else, you know? Right. So at this point, Chelsea's family was fully committed to the search. And they had set up a tent and started setting up generators with porta-potties on the farm. Like, they were staying at the farm. To literally just, like, make it their headquarters. Like, they were like, oh, no, we're going to find her.

And Big Mike was down. Well, that's, so Big Mike was like, at first, he was like, uh, they didn't even ask me to do this. I just came back to my farm and this is happening. Yeah. But he was like, I understand. They're worried. I'm not going to. And he was like, and I also kind of felt like they were looking at me a little funny. So he's like, so I didn't, he talked to his attorney. He wanted to comply. Yeah. And his attorney was like, you don't have to let them stay there, but it's up to you. And he was like, I'm just going to let him. Yeah. He was like, you know what? Why not? So Monday evening, Chelsea's mom actually confronted Mike and accused him of having her somewhere. He was like, you have her.

I mean, can you blame her that? No, not at all. Like, she's probably like, where the fuck is my daughter? I cannot blame her at all. And she was like, do you have her in your basement, in a trailer somewhere? Like, where is she? So suspicion was placed totally on Mike at this point. Oh, no.

Now the media... Meanwhile, he had literally 800 people. Right, there are 800 suspects. He was like, shit. So the media started picking up the story on Wednesday. And they started arriving on Mike's farm, too. Which was, again, a full command post at this point. Mike didn't realize this wasn't just a Halloween party. No, he did not. I bet he was like, shit, I shouldn't have had this at mom's house.

His mom was probably pissed. Yeah. When Chelsea's mom spoke to the media, she said if she, there's like a clip of this, she said if she knew there was a going, she was attending a party with over 600 people. She said, quote, 22 or not, she would not have been going to this party if I knew. So Chelsea didn't let her mom know that she was going. Did she still live at home? I'm sorry. She did, yeah. Okay. Ma would be like, yeah. She'd be like, hell no. That's hilarious. And she was the last sibling, like, kid to be living at home and everything. So search parties started branching out from the farm into, like, neighboring places.

Tons of volunteers were joining. Facebook groups were being made. I mean, thousands of people were involved. There were missing posters. In the media were asking people to be on the lookout specifically for the poison ivy costume. Right. It's very, you know, obvious. Yeah.

And for a 5'7 blonde girl of average builds with an anchor tattoo behind her right ear. There were vigils, there were tip lines, rewards were being like, I mean, like, they were going ham to find her. Now, detectives, Brian Shroka and Mike Preetmore, they are the main detectives on this case throughout the entire thing. Okay. They started going to neighboring farms to conduct searches, but the biggest issue, that they were running into was the fact that this happened. She went missing from a place with 800 people, all dressed in costume. Oh, my God.

So getting like description. It's like the perfect crime. It's a disguise. It's like this is, it really is. So six people at the party talk to detectives. And they all let, they all said that they let Chelsea use their cell phone for phone calls. How many people? I'm sorry.

Six people. Okay. One of the people she called was Penny. Like from one of these cell phones. She called Penny and Penny said she answered and Chelsea asked if she could come get her. She was like, can you please come get me and bring me home? And Penny was like, yeah, I can't drive. I'm drunk.

Like I've been drinking too much. Even though I already agreed to drive you home beforehand. And she says that especially was like her biggest regret because she reached out a second time. Yeah, I would think so. Penny. And I'm like, oh. So other people, like I said, reported seeing her crying, saying she was cold, saying that her friends had left her and she didn't have a ride home. So she was like really in distress at this

party. And upset. Yeah. Like, because she was abandoned by everybody. And there's left fucking 800 people there that she doesn't even know. Yeah, you don't know all 800 people. That's scary. And you're at a fucking field in the middle of nowhere. Like, of course, I'd be terrified. This is giving me anxiety for a second. Because where are you going to go? Where are you going to go? What are you going to ask Big Mike to stay at his house? Like, Jesus. So everything is kind of just stalling when it comes to Leeds at this point. But then a couple of days after. to the party, a woman called detectives and said her son said he saw Chelsea at 3.30 a.m. that night at the night of the party.

Oh, okay. And he was sure it was her because he said they had talked about her costume. And he remembered talking about his own allergy to poison ivy. Oh, that's hilarious. So he was like, that's just how I remember that that's how it went. Right. He said when he spoke to her, she was a little tipsy, but there was a man with her that they seemed like they knew each other.

Okay. And he was comforting her and speaking with her like they were friends. And she was like, and he said she was like frazzled and wanting to go home. And like she said she couldn't find her friends. Okay. He described this lurker as tall, slender, swoopy emo hair, glasses. And they left his presence together. I wonder what he was dressed as.

I don't know, actually. Because he didn't say it. I don't even know if he was dressed as anything. Oh, that's how you know he's a killer. Yeah. You don't dress up on Halloween. Like what are you doing? killer. He was able to give a great description of this dude and so a sketch artist made a composite

and it was released immediately. Awesome. Now immediately they got bombarded with phone calls and tips because it kind of does look like every douchey emo dude. You would have ever met like everyone knows someone who looks like this guy. Now a bunch of douchey emo dudes are going to leave us bad iTunes reviews. They are. Sorry douche emo dudes. Come on. Now big Mike contacted police at this point himself because he knew the dude. And he said that a couple of of members of the bands that came from Milwaukee that played at the party did kind of resemble that sketch. He was like, there's a few members that kind of look like him. That's hilarious. It wasn't just one. Yeah, like he's like, I can't even point it to one. He's like the bass player,

the drummer, and the lead singer, literally, all look like that. And so he was like, maybe you should go talk to those dudes. So the FBI contacted them and they all had alibis and they checked out. Great. So on to the next douchey. On to the next one. Now, even after this tip that Big Mike gave, everyone including Chelsea's family and the police thought he knew more. They were like, you still know more. Like, you're involved in some way. So they

brought him in officially for questioning. They then asked for, while they were questioning him, and he like gave, he was cooperating. He was telling him what he knew. They, they then asked for consent to search his house. Okay. And he said no. Okay. So they showed up with a whole

SWAT team and a search warrant. And he let them in. because he has to. They searched his home and they looked in all the fire pits that were around because they were like, uh, what's in these? They came up with nothing. Okay. Uh, they still considered him a main person of interest though at this point. Yeah. Well, it was a little weird that he said no. Yeah. And just because we didn't find anything in this suite. So Detective Preetmore got a tip called into the station after they'd already searched Big Mike's home. another tip got called in about a guy named Harlan Bird.

Sounds like a douchey emo dude. Harlan Bird. Bird, excuse me. The tip said that he might have information about Chelsea or where to find her. Okay. So they hauled him in immediately for an interview. Preetmore interviewed him. And Bird said he did go to the party that night with his best friend.

He witnessed two men harassing a woman in the parking area. He said they were shoving her around and like assaulting him. her. Jesus Christ. She was crying and yelling for help. So he intervened and he helped the woman off the ground. He says that woman was Chelsea Brown. Oh my God. He described her to a T, according to detectives. And he said he even got a little bit of her blood on his shirt from this because she had like put her face on his shoulder. Okay. So he said he was nervous someone would come and think he did this to her when he was like comforting her right so he had her sit in a red four-door car that was open uh-huh and he said he said he was going to go into the party and go find someone that knows her and like bring them out to be

like you need to help her but he was like you stay here i'm going to go find someone never a good idea don't split up he also said he didn't know who the car belonged to it was just open and it was there so he just put her in there he went back to the party tried to find someone couldn't find anyone. And actually, I have a clip of his interview right here that I'm going to play. Hold on. I don't know how I feel about this Harlan yet. Story seems a little too convenient. Just looking for about, you know, three to 15 minutes, walked back at the car and her with him. So you went back out to the parking lot and the vehicle that you put her in was gone and hurt you. So what he's saying is he went into the party, he looked for someone, couldn't find anyone.

So he came back out to where he had left. her. She was gone. And the car was gone. And she was gone. That's what he said. So. Convenient. Exactly. So they went back to the blood, he said he got on his shirt from saving her. He said it was... Such a

hero, right? Harlan. Such a hero. He said it was a tiny dab on his shoulder and when pressed about whether he still had that shirt, he said, he does still have the shirt. And he said, but his girlfriend slash fiancee was probably washing it.

Oh, convenient again. And then he said, if it's been washed, can you still get the blood evidence from it? And they were like, no. And he was like, oh. Bummer. Wish I could help. Bummer. But I don't because I killed her.

Well, and it seemed weird because he claimed she had a bloody nose and then said he didn't see a bloody nose, but that he assumed she had a bloody nose because of what he got on his shirt. And also, if she had a bloody nose, I feel like it would have been a little more than a speck of blood on his shoulder. Exactly. The detectives were suspect. him because like they were starting to be like uh what's going on harland your story's dumb because this hero's story was real convenient as a way to be like whoops i had her blood on me like you know yeah and i'm also like really like at this party like two guys were just like shoving

her back and forth well so he denied doing any harm to her at all because they they were like did you harm that girl did you take that girl he said no way no way no way it was starting to become a little more inconsistent as they were pressing him and that's when the big confession came. That's when they asked, did you actually even see Chelsea at all? And he admitted that he made the whole story up to look good. Dude, what the fuck is wrong? First of all, I got tricked because I thought he didn't see that coming.

Also, fuck you, Harlan, because you just curved off an entire investigation. You dumb shit. They just wasted all this time, all this energy. And what is wrong with you? First of all, what is wrong with you? Second of all, you clearly are a narcissist. Like, what is wrong with you? You just use this awful story of this missing 22-year-old to look good?

I hope his fiancé dumped him. Right? The fuck. I just... So... Dushy emo Harlan. So they were like, great. So they just had to move on.

So a week after her disappearance, there was a huge prayer vigil with her family, still clinging to the hope that she was going to return home. Okay. Her mom even said to the cameras, quote, it's not a hope. It's a reality. The headquarters for the search was moved from Big Mike's Farm finally to a vacant bank.

Okay. So they could like set all this stuff up. Flyers, posters, purple ribbons, which were her favorite color were posted everywhere. I mean, they were going ham. The end of the year came no sign of her. But then suddenly, a woman from Toledo contacted police and said her ex-boyfriend had confessed to her that he had killed Chelsea. Her name was Carrie Carr and detectives brought her in, right away. Was this an ex-girlfriend or a current girlfriend?

Ex-girlfriend. Okay. She said her ex-boyfriend confessed this to her. When they were together, I'm assuming. And then she broke up with him immediately. It was like, no. She said her ex told her that he was at the party. He left with Chelsea. He ended up killing her and dumping her body in a Toledo cemetery.

So she also said he threatened to kill her, too. Like if she ever told anyone. So detectives said she was very scared of her ex and was insistent that he be arrested. but she kept saying she didn't want him questioned and then released. She was worried about him being released after being questioned. Which is understandable. So they interview the ex-boyfriend. And without detectives even saying that it was Kerry who told them all of this,

the ex-boyfriend said that they had problems for a while and that he believed this was literally just her ploy to get him arrested. So they brought her back in. And after a long interview again, she confessed that she was lying. She was just trying to get back at her ex. There needs, like, is there a fine for that? So Carrie got arrested just like Harlan, because Harlan got arrested for lying to the police.

But like, Michigan, what's happening over there? Right. So finally, later in March of 2015, a woman named Cheryl Retzlaw called into police and said she found something on the edge of her property. Now, her property was 2.3 miles away from the party. Okay. Cheryl said she was cleaning up some of the winter debris off the side of the road along the tree line on her property. She ended up finding a red, flat, leather, Mary Jane type shoe from American Eagle. Okay.

She said she initially just threw it in the trash bag that she takes all the other shit in. But then she remembered. Well, she went home. When her husband got home, he literally was like, oh, what did you find this year? You know, like he likes to see, like, the hall. And she mentioned the shoe. her husband was the one to go wait do you think that could belong to that girl

right because she didn't even put two and two together but he did and she ended up calling the police and they came to get the shoe okay the next day detective stroka sent a photo of the shoe to Chelsea's mom she said that is definitely her shoe like I know it they searched all around the area where the shoe was found

they found nothing else relating to Chelsea okay so now they're like what the fuck we just have a shoe so at this point they're like it doesn't look good for finding her in good condition. And it's interesting that it was just one shoe. And just one shoe, it's like how did it even end up there? Where is she?

Like, it's not like she took off her shoes because they hurried and cut going. Yeah, it's just one shoe. Yeah. So then, a little while later, a guy named Erica Saab and his friend were out trying to make some money, stealing and selling pieces of like scrap metal and abandoned buildings. Yeah, whatever. You know. They were in a half-collapsed abandoned building 10 miles away from the party location when

Eric found something weird. He initially thought it was just a plant, but when he looked closer, he realized it was the costume that Chelsea was wearing. Next to the costume was a plum wig, the same one she was wearing that night. Okay. So he found her costume. Yes. Thing is, Eric and his friend just thought it was a random costume because they weren't following the case. Yeah, they weren't.

And so they just left it where it was. He said he picked it up and was like, oh, that's weird. And then just put it back where it right? Because he was like, I don't know what that's about. So then a week later, Eric saw the missing person's poster with the costume on it. And he was like, oh, fuck. Oh, shit. But he got nervous because he had picked the costume up.

Right. And he was like, shit, I don't want to be linked to this. Like, what the fuck do I do here? So he said he talked to his sister. And she was like, listen. If you don't report it, I'm reporting it. Yeah. And I was like, good sister.

And she was like, and then you'll look even worse. bitch. So like good sister. Yeah. So when detectives got the costume, because they went, he did call, they came and got it. I don't blame him for being nervous. I would have blamed him if he didn't call it. I get it. I mean, I get why he was nervous because you just don't know. So when they got to the costume, they saw that it had been ripped at the straps and at the crotch. Because it was a leotard. It was sent to the state crime lab while police and investigators searched the building and surrounding area all day and night. they also brought Eric into the station to interview him. That must be so terrifying if you find something related to a case.

Yeah. Like, I have nothing to do with this. I'm just trying to help. I'm just in a really, I was in a unlucky place and an unlucky time. The fact that he waited a week between finding. Didn't look good. It didn't look good for him. He said he didn't go to that party.

He was not at that party. Okay. But he admitted that his baby's mother lived on the same road that that shoe was found on. So he was like, I just don't want you guys to find like connections and think I'm hiding things. Because they told that he had seen that the shoe was found. Right. And I think it was on, I forget what road it was. It was like post road or war road, something like that.

And he said, my baby's mother lives on that road. Like just so you know. Like I'm being totally honest. You know everything. Yeah. And he said the night that Chelsea went missing, he was at home with his daughter. And he said he would happily give his DNA. So he did.

name is DNA. Okay. Now things are looking fine for Eric. Like the police were like, we're not really concerned. Right. I'm not either yet. But then something weird happened. What happened?

This abandoned building where the costume and wig were found was less, no. Was less than 100 yards from Harlan Bird's house. Less than 100 yards was where this abandoned building that the costume was found in. Harlan. So the hero guy. I knew I felt so strong about Harlan. You know, the hero guy. In fact, he lived in a mobile home directly across the street from this building.

So detectives were like, yeah, Harlan. So they called him back in. Remember that time when we arrested you? We're going to do it again. Remember that? Are you having deja vu Harlan? This time he came in with an attorney. Yeah, I bet he did.

Now he denied it. Again, he denied everything. He admitted that he had been to that abandoned building before. For what, Harlan? Someone must be trying to frame him. Totally. Yeah. He said he never saw Chelsea that night of the party. He said, I made everything up. I'm telling you, I made the whole thing up. I don't think so anymore. He got super nervous, but he agreed to take a polygraph and give his DNA sample.

Okay. He passed the polygraph. So motherfuckers just that stupid and unlucky? Yeah. That's the end of the Harlan Road. Well, no, not yet. I was going to say, if you bring up this Harlem Bowl one more time. So he passed, he passed the polygraph, though. And he gave his. DNA. You can pass a polygraph. You can. That's why they were like, we're not totally. So April 24, 2015, about seven

miles from the party at Big Mike's house, a man named John Marcon was driving his dump truck into a construction site because he needed some fill for his property. Now this construction site was like on his property. And he was building a home for his family.

He was literally in the process. So he was just getting some shit. The soil was super wet and muddy, so the truck got stuck. So he said, he got out and he went to the back of the truck to just see what was going on back there. And he goes, and I noticed something on the edge of the property. It was a dead body. Oh, no. I knew that's where we were headed. So he actually, he was actually on the phone with his wife when he saw it. And he was like, uh, got to call you back, huh? So detectives, the crime lab and investigators were swarmed to the scene because he called it in immediately. The body was skeletal for the

most part. Because this was almost a year later. Yeah, this was a lot. Not almost a year, but because it was in October, she went missing. This was April. Okay. It was still like six months? Yeah. So it was mostly skeletal at this point, but there was some skin remaining on the chest hands and legs. There was also still long blonde hair attached to the skull.

I really hate the visual. You just created it. Sorry about it. Sorry about it. There were small logs and branches deliberately partially covering the body up. What really made him see, it seemed like it was Chelsea, was the discovery of, one single artificial ivy leaf near the body. Uh-huh.

Detectives immediately informed the family that they had found a body because they didn't want the media who was showing up at this point to be the way they found out. We're like, we don't know if it's Chelsea, but we want you to know we did find a body. And by the way, the man who found the remains, John Marcon, he was never considered a suspect at any point. He was just like, this just was there. I didn't touch it. I'm not doing anywhere near it. the following day a forensic anthropologist was called in and dental records confirmed that it was indeed 22 year old Chelsea brook oh that's really sad

so now they know there's a killer i knew that was gonna like i knew she unfortunately but i wanted to believe that it was gonna be a happy i know i was holding out hope for a while and then it was like crush crushing blow luckily they were able to snag some male DNA off the leotard there was male DNA and her DNA okay they took this DNA and they entered it into codis. No hit was happening. They ran it through codis, nothing was hitting. So there was no hit yet, but when they compared it to

Eric and Harlan's DNA samples they both give, it cleared them both. Wow. It cleared Harlan. Wow. Yeah. And obviously, Eric. Harlan's just dumb and unlucky. He really is. That's wild. Right? This is when detectives went

back to all the people that they had talked to at the party before. and they collected DNA from whoever they could because they were like, now we have DNA. Yeah. The one they really wanted was Big Mike's DNA. He wouldn't give it. Because they wanted to clear that. But he refused to give the DNA to him.

I thought Big Mike was going to be a nice guy. Well, according to him, he didn't want his DNA in some database because he wasn't a criminal. Which I get. I do get that, but like, yeah. Like it makes him look guilty. But like I understand the reasoning. that he's like, I don't want to be in a database because I'm not a criminal. His whole thing was he said he wanted to move on from the whole thing and stop being accused

of everything, which he could have just given DNA and cleared himself, but like, again, I also get it. Now, a month later, it took a while for the ME report to come out, and they told everybody that. They were like, we're not going to have any information about her cause of death for like a month. Okay. Just because she was very decomposed. Yeah. A month later, the ME office said that they did have a cause of death for children. Delcy.

Blunt forced trauma to the face and head. Oh, the face. They said there were severe facial injuries sustained to everywhere on her skull. Oh, God. When she was discovered, the detective said they could immediately see a break in her jaw. Oh, wow. She had severe fractures to her jaw, nose, and specifically her eye sockets. They said there was a lot of fractures of her eye sockets.

That's horrible. She had received a brutal beating, leading to her death. And the detectives kept this secret the whole time. They did not release this to the public. Okay. So this is just the medical examiners telling the detectives. Just the report coming to the detectives. Okay.

Meanwhile, Chelsea's family had to have a private funeral for their child. Did they tell them how she died? No. Okay, good. Then in September, the man who found Chelsea's body initially, John Marcon, called the sheriff's office again. He said he was excavating his property because, remember, he's building a house. and he found a red shoe that matched the one they already had. Okay.

So detectives went out to collect it and also started moving dirt around and searching more in the area. They found the green tights that she wore that area. Do you happen to know how far John's house was from the woman's house who found the shoe originally? I don't. Okay. The woman who found the shoe was only 2.3 miles away from the- From Mike's house. Yeah, okay. I actually think John was like seven miles.

I just wonder if she like was like super smart and like through like her like got rid of her shoe to like build a path. I don't know. Because unfortunately the whole thing is kind of horrific. Yeah. In June 2016, police released images to the media of a white man with a mustache from the Halloween party. They had received a tip early on in the investigation about this guy who showed up at a house at 3 a.m. on War Road where Chelsea's shoe was found. So that's where the first shoe was found. Sure. He was pounding on...

So this dude with the mustache that people are saying was pounding on this random dude's door at 3 a.m. asking to stay there because he said he was coming from the party. I'd be like, uh, no. This guy was like, no, get the fuck out of here. Also, was your mustache real? But this guy ended up falling asleep on his porch for a little while, and then pieced. He left a vest behind, and then the vest was a pocket knife and some rope.

Oh, that's not normal. So the guy showed back up, wanting his vest. vest and the homeowner gave it to him and he left. He's lucky he didn't call the police. If somebody fell asleep on my fucking porch, I'd be like, hello cops. Well, they looked through videos from the party and they found a lot of footage of this dude with that vest on with the rope and the shit in it. Interesting.

Now, once the photos were released, the guy they were talking about showed up in his mustache. No. He showed up at the station. He was like, hey, I'm that guy. Hey, it me. He looked like the original sketched. that they had compiled.

Oh, goody. So they were like, oh, wait a second. Like, hey, buddy, take a seat. He told police he was super drunk at the party and didn't remember a lot. Convenient. I don't remember anything. This is like fucking clue. So they got his DNA and they scheduled a polygraph.

Uh-huh. But on the day it was supposed to happen, the polygraph test, the crime lab came back and said, hey, so we got DNA that matches the male DNA found on Chelsea's ripped leotard. Kodas who initially said no match, they ran it again and boom. And it wasn't this dude. Somebody who just got arrested showed up in that database. It was not the mustache. The front door.

So it is not Harlan. It is not Eric. It is not this mustache dude. But this DNA belonged to none of the men they had spoken to the entire investigation, including Big Mike. Okay. Big Mike was not this guy's DNA. I was really rooting for Big Mike. I was too the entire time.

I really was. Because it just seemed like Big Mike was like, I didn't want to be involved in this. I just wanted to have an epic party. This DNA that they found on the bloody and ripped of leotard belonged to Daniel Clay. Okay. 27-year-old Daniel Clay is a random dude

that didn't have a permanent address and just kind of floated around. But he was from Monroe County and currently lived there. He was unemployed and just like a piece of shit. Awesome. He had been arrested half a dozen times. on things like assault and battery, credit card fraud, stealing. So he literally sucks. He's a piece of shit.

Now, in May 2016, he had been arrested for stealing a backpack full of tattoo equipment from someone and was charged with larceny. Wow. This is how his DNA ended up in the system. So a month before, all of a sudden, boom, he got arrested. If he didn't get arrested for that, he would have probably never been found. They would have never matched his DNA. Right.

So this dumb ass. seals a backpack and gets himself God. Thank God. I'm glad he did. Now, before his arrest, there was an Indian, this is even crazier, before his arrest, there was an Indiana law that said DNA was only collected from convicted felons. But then it changed right before his arrest to include anyone simply arrested for a felony. So there's a lot of weird, right?

There's a lot of weird moving parts that just works. Chelsea was working. She was. when they went to find him in July 2016, he was homeless and had two warrants out for him for unpaid child support. Oh, what a fucking loser. He has two children and he had two warrants out for no, he was not paying for them. Yeah, go fuck himself.

So that statement made no sense. Go fuck himself. So when they went to arrest him, they planned to arrest him for the warrants and not initially mentioned the murder. Tricky, tricky. They're very tricky. I like it. They were really.

good. They're like, trick or treat. Yeah. Oh. It's trick. Yes. So they watched the mobile home he was staying in that belonged to his new girlfriend, Kelly Richter, I think her name was. Poor girl. So police banged on the door for a while before, and nobody was answering.

Uh-huh. Before, and then he went tearing out of the back door and was promptly taken down by police who were fucking waiting for him back there. Was he like trying to run? He was trying to run. Oh, okay. His girlfriend's friend was actually showering in the at the time and she said he barged into the bathroom and said like I'm going to prison I'm not answering that door like flipping out and she's like yeah can she was like go away what's happening like I'm just trying to suds Kelly his girlfriend arrived home later and gave police permission to search home okay good she was like Kelly was very cooperative she was very cooperative with the police police found Chelsea's undergarments jewelry and some of her personal items in that

whoa he kept trophies yeah because he's That fucking piece of shit. So they interview him and they start inching in questions about the Halloween party, all that good stuff. He denied knowing Chelsea. He said he didn't see her. He didn't know her. How'd you get her undergarments? Well, he also made sure to tell detectives that he was a lover of women and he was a real ladies man.

Okay. Yeah. Is that why you don't pay your child support? Exactly. And actually, I'm going to just share a quick clip of his interview because. because it just shows what an absolute dickwad he is. I honestly don't even want to hear a stupid voice. Peace and love.

That's my violence. I'm like, I just like smoke weed and have sex. Well, really? Dude, that is my exact reaction. Peace and love. Really. He said, I don't like violence. That's interesting.

I would have said, then why were you arrested for assault and batter? You fucking idiot. Exactly. Exactly. And you just smoke weed. have sex? Like, no, you're stupid. He's just a dick. It's like, that's why I had to play that because he just sounds like such a complete asshole. Ugh. Why is the world full of such schmucks?

Right? So, after a while, they revealed the DNA thing. They were like, hey, buddy, what's going on here? And Daniel admitted, oh, he did have sex with Chelsea that night. Yeah, I bet it. But he said it was consensually. No, it wasn't. In his car. And he assumed, he assumed, he So the reason he's telling them this, because all of a sudden he comes down, he's like, oh, I did have sex with her in my car. Oh, that one. I know her. Because he's a dumbass, and he's assuming that the DNA they found on her leotard was semen. So he immediately went to, oh, yep, we had sex.

Because you totally found semen, right? Oh, but it wasn't semen. Funny thing is, after he admitted that they told him, it was actually skin cell DNA that they found in the costume that had been violently torn at the straps and the cramps and the crown. Crouch. Now, to get him talking, Preetmore told him that Chelsea had, now this is brilliant. Preetmore literally straight up lied and came up with this. I don't know how he came up with this. What did he say?

He told him, he goes, hey, dude, like, I don't, you probably didn't know this. We didn't know this. Chelsea's mom told us she had this weird condition called brittle bone disease. And suddenly, Daniel was like, oh, yeah. Then his story changed to say that he saw Chelsea walking down the road after the party. They had sex again. But this time, she wanted him to be rough and hit and strangle her. And he said he choked her and she went limp.

But he said it must have been that damn brittle bone disease because he didn't choke her that hard. So all of a sudden he's saying, oh yeah, totally. Yeah. That detective is brilliant. And this dude, the interview is amazing because as soon as he said, this he's like oh i've heard of that yep i've broken my hand before brittle bones i get it is that a thing brittle bone disease i don't it's probably not called brittle bone disease but like osteoporosis it's just called osteoporosis but this guy's like yeah totally and then he's like you know what

i did choke and punch her a little bit but it was that total it was that brittle bone disease she wanted it yeah you know but it was brittle bone disease you fucking loser that he said he then attempted CPR and he said oh yeah i definitely hit her on the chest to try to save her. I loathe him. Yeah. Then he freaked out, put her in the back of the car, and he said he didn't know what to do. He didn't want to take her to the hospital because, I don't know.

That would be the normal thing to do. Right. And then he just found himself driving. So he said he got to the area she was found, hit her under some branches and such, and he said he had no idea how her costume ended up in the abin check 10 miles away. Right. And fortunately, they never get the real story from them. A motherfucker.

This is the story he sticks to. That it consensual sex. She wanted it rough. He accidentally choked her. And that was it. But that guy made that up about the brittle bone disease. Exactly. But he was just like.

So they know. They know that he, yeah. And there's many other things that point to clearly not an accident. He was arrested. And what's crazy is Chelsea's friend Becky, who she worked with at the restaurant, was actually told about this arrest by another co-worker Jessica, who was one of Daniel Clay's baby mamas. No.

That's just a weird, like, connection. Seven degrees. Now, Daniel Clay pled not guilty because his story was it was accidental. He did not murder her. It was accidental. He said he choked her for 20 to 30 seconds and boom, she was dead. Yeah, that doesn't happen. The ME said, no, like, I don't think so.

She said there was not enough left of Chelsea to determine. whether she was asphyxiated or not because of the advanced state of decont that her body was in when she was found. But she was insanely beaten. But the Emmy also said that, well, this is just, this guy's an idiot because he's like, yeah, I choked her for 20, 30 seconds and then she died. Yeah, like, that doesn't happen. The ME said, killing someone via strangulation is not, quote, a 10, 20 or even 30 second process. She said, in order for death to occur, quote, constant pressure has to be applied to a person's neck for 20 to 30 seconds for them to initially lose consciousness.

Then after they knock out, constant pressure needs to be maintained on the neck of this unconscious person for another two to three minutes at least for death to happen. Right. So no. That wasn't happen. The other thing that sealed his fate is he claimed she removed the poison ivy costume herself. And they had sex.

She ripped it everywhere. And it was, now, again, like we were saying, it was torn on the straps and the crotch. She wouldn't have been able to tear it herself, and she never would have. She worked on it for fucking weeks and was super proud of that costume. There's no way she would have torn it apart. Then they turned the costume inside out for the jury to see that there was a significant amount of blood on the inside of that costume. Because she was beaten so badly? Yeah. Which means that not only did she receive a much greater injury than choking, but she was still wearing the costume when that happen because it bled all over the inside of it. Oh my God. So him saying they were having sex,

she was naked, she took off her costume herself, I choked her, she died. That did not, no. Then how did all of these blood stains get all over the inside of her costume? Oh, my God. Now during this whole ordeal, Chelsea's sexual history was laid out and dissected for everyone to see in the court. That's horrible. Because they were saying, the defense was like, well, we need to see if, like, maybe she does like rough sex. So let's see. The defense tried to do this, but the judge put a stop to it. Yeah, I'm fucking glad. And the judge was a man, so good on him. Yeah, I don't even care if he was an alien. But, like, her friends and family were asked about her sexual preferences in court, and her family was sitting there the whole time. That's disgusting. Like, her parents had to sit there and listen to this

fucker, make that excuse. Yeah, like, your 22-year-old child was brutally murdered and sexually assaulted. Yeah. Has this guy clenely. this awful story and now you have to sit there and listen to them be like well did she like it rough yeah like the defense is like well it's her fault but she died yeah she liked it like are you kidding me right now daniel actually took the stand in his own defense and stuck with that whoops i killed her story now may 16th 2017 the jury found him now just listen for a second because at first you're going to be like are you fucking kidding me the jury found him not guilty of first degree murder but there was a second charge for killing Chelsea while sexually assaulting her, which was felony murder. They found him guilty of that. Okay. So that was the charge that includes you not only killed her,

you killed her while sexually assaulting her. Okay. So it's better than first-degree murder. Yeah, it's like essentially it carries the same weight. It's just now they're adding on while you were sexually assaulted her. And he was also found guilty of concealing a dead body. Good. Now I just am going to play a quick clip of what the judge said because the judge was

great and did not hold anything back. That judge is a liar. This is a sentence of this court that you be sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. That judge is a savage. I love that he was just like, you're a liar, you're a rapist and a killer. Like fuck off. That's what you are.

Yeah, you are not this like good Samaritan that had sex with this girl tried to save her and then was like, whoops. And that's what makes me mad is he was like, I'm the victim. Like I had to be faced with this challenge of what should I do? Exactly. She liked rough sex and I went too far. And on the stand, he even said he goes, when it happened, I sobbed. I had never been in that situation before.

What was I supposed? He made it literally like I was so emotional. I hope in prison that somebody beats him to the verge of death and then stops every single day. Somebody must be doing it. Every single day. Because this dude is such a douche rocket. Oh my God. Now, like that judge said.

he was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. He actually appealed it in January of this year. You're shitting me. But the sentence was luckily upheld. Yeah. The judge was like, hey, by the way, go fuck yourself. Now, just to like add as a, as a, as a, as a last note, just to put the icing on the cake. Oh.

We're two to very different people. He was saying, we really are. That was like a perfect. I'm like, the cake. You're like the coffin. That was actually perfect. That was great. Sorry.

He, during this trial, he was also having to go, he went through another trial because he was found to have sexually assaulted another woman before Chelsea. Oh, no. And he was tried and convicted for that one. Good. So just to put it in there that he, this wasn't a one time like, oh shit, this happened. He did it before. Right. And the detectives both said, if he didn't, if we didn't get his DNA, he would have raped someone else.

He would have. And he was like, I believe. he would have murdered someone else. And I feel like he would have been a serial killer too because yeah, he liked to keep the things of the victim. That is a serial killer thing to do. And I didn't find a lot like about that like afterwards like what they that must sick. That must have been brought up in court. It had to have been because why would you like if like why would you want a reminder of this horrific thing that you went through where you accidentally killed her and you were so distraught? Exactly. You kept her things. And her mother, they're,

the like victim impact statements at the end yeah she sat there like and she was like one table away from like literally he was right there and she said that she forgives him because she said if i don't forgive if if i don't forgive you and i just try to forget you then it makes it that like chelsea didn't exist and that her life didn't mean anything wow and she was like i have to forgive you so that i can move on with my life and then she handed him a bible and she said i hope that that this like saves you. And he took the Bible and was like, and there's like a video of it. And he's like, I will take this and I will read it.

And I am so sorry for what I put you. Like he acted like he's a real good actor. I hope she put a hex on the Bible. I know. I kind of hope she didn't though because I feel like that's really bad juju. That's some kind of juju. I don't know. Don't put a hex on the Bible.

Yeah, don't do that. I take it back. I take it back. So yeah. So that is the. What a big. person to do that. Yeah, right? To forgive him? Yeah. Like what? I mean, that's always astounding to me that people can forgive. Because I, I couldn't. Yeah, I don't know if I could. I fully

know I couldn't. No. Like I will say right now. And also I think I would be arrested after the trial because I would climb across the table and strangle him. I would try to murder that guy. 100%. And so that is the very twisty, turny, tragic tale of Chelsea Brooke. Wow. That was very illiterative. Isn't that a crazy one? Yeah, there was a lot of loops and windies and spirals and that's why it was so much longer. Pray for Big Mike. Right? And that's why it was so much longer because I had to include all those twists and turns because I was like, this is just too good, not to. Like these people admitting it and then be like, just kidding, I just made that whole thing up. Yeah. It's a crazy tale. That was a good one. Thank you. You're welcome. Wow. I don't know why I just thanked you. It was a little

weird. You're welcome, though. You're welcome. Well, guys, that was Elena's mini episode. Mini quote unquote. We hope you stick around later this week to hear the main episode, which is going to be about, should we tell them or should we not? We should because I already told them. Oh, well, you already know. It's going to be about Israel Keys, who is a awful motherfucker. Legitimately.

Awful. Legitimately. And what I'm thinking is, guys, I think it's going to be a two-parting. I love it. Because I feel like there's just a lot to him that I want. want to dive into. And there's a lot of interviews that recently came out with him that I feel like we should take a whole part to dive into. So the part one of that will be coming out Thursday or Friday. We'll let you guys know. And yeah, so stay tuned for that. Wow. In the meantime,

we hope you follow us on Instagram at Morbid Podcast. We hope you follow our Twitter at A Morbid Podcast. We hope that you join our Facebook group. Morbid, colon, a true crime podcast, and join our Facebook group because there's a bunch of awesome motherfuckers in there. And I love going on that. You guys are wicked funny. I can't say it enough.

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Um, guys, we hope you keep listening. And we hope you keep it weird. But not so weird that you go to Big Mac's Halloween party. That's like the biggest Halloween party in the whole entire world. and you fucking meet this great girl, and then for some reason you feel like you should kill her because you really fucking shouldn't kill anybody. But guess what?

Your baby mama works with her, and don't keep it so weird that your baby mama works with the girl that you killed, and then you try to say that you didn't kill her, and then guess what? Her mom's going to hand you a Bible, because she's a bigger person than you, so don't keep it that weird. Don't do it.

Don't. Don't. Don't. Don't.