Murder In America - EP. 67 NORTH CAROLINA - The Bride Killer: When Evil Has A Key

Episode Date: June 4, 2022

This story will break your heart. In Raleigh, North Carolina, just a few short years after a beautiful wedding, one member of the wedding party would go on to slaughter the bride in cold blood. But the details of the murder are shocking, disturbing and deeply bizarre, and you'll definitely be left scratching your head after this one. You're listening, to MURDER IN AMERICA. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Trigger warnings from the stories we cover may include violence, rape, murder, and offenses against children. This podcast is not for everyone. You have been warned. Your wedding. If you do choose to get married is oftentimes one of the most important days in your life. months, perhaps even years after you get engaged to your partner, after a period of intense waiting and excitement, the day finally comes, and it's so incredibly special. Courtney and I actually just got married this February, and it was indeed one of the most beautiful days of my life.

It's a day all about you, your significant other, and the power of love. You're surrounded by those who you love the most, and all of your friends and family members are there with you on that day to celebrate the start of your new life. You eat, drink, dance, cut cake, and rejoice. It's a happy day, a special day. But what if, at your own wedding, there was a darkness? There was an evil person there, a snake in the bushes, a ticking time bomb waiting to blow. And you had no idea that this person, just a short time after the wedding, would go on

to absolutely shatter everything you and your partner had built. as if they had thrown a rock through a glass house. This is exactly what happened in 2013 to one very unlucky couple in North Carolina. They had no idea that on their wedding day, there was a wolf in sheepskin, watching, stalking, waiting to strike. This is the story of Jamie Kirk Hahn.

I'm Colin Brown and you're listening to Murder in America. Okay, everybody, real quickly, before we start today's episode, Courtney is out sick right now. She has lost her voice, so this episode is going to be just me telling the story today. And this is a story that I actually picked out for the show because I thought it was super interesting, so it happened to just work out. But yeah, now that you kind of know why Courtney isn't here today, let's get into the story. Raleigh, North Carolina.

It's a beautiful capital city nestled in the center of the state, filled with trees, flowing water, and history. known colloquially as the city of the Oaks. Raleigh is a city abundant with beauty, rife with nature, and colored with character. Before the outer loop of the Raleigh, North Carolina Beltline was constructed, an area tracing the outline of the interstate, now called Midtown, used to belong to the neighborhood of North Raleigh. The more urban and densely populated Midtown is often described as being suburban urban

and is the perfect host to newlyweds and growing families. And it's in this neighborhood of Mid-Towneytown. where today's tragic story takes place. In the Midtown neighborhood in the year 2009, lived 27-year-old Nation Han and his fiance, 29-year-old Jamie Kirk. They were a beautiful young couple that lived off of Tealwood Place in Wake County. And in the early months of 2009, the two were busy planning their upcoming wedding. It was going to be a perfect day.

The couple knew that the gourmet food, craft cocktails, top shelf liquor, live music, and romantic setting that they had planned out for the event would be hard to outdo and even harder to forget. As a work-hard, play-hard pair, the two always aimed to please, and their wedding night was to be no exception. Jamie Kirk was born on October 25, 1983, and had an almost picture-perfect childhood. After attending prep school as a youngster and graduating with stellar grades, Jamie attended college at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where she attained a degree in political science. See, politics were Jamie's biggest interest in life, and it wouldn't be long before she found herself entangled in the wild world of government. Jamie first began her career in politics working as

a fundraiser for Congressman David Price in the year 2006, and just two years later she found herself working on Senator John Edwards' 2008 presidential campaign. It was while she worked on this presidential campaign when Jamie first met her future husband nation, who was also volunteering in politics at the time. And just a year later, the country. couple would marry. Jamie and Nation's wedding was described by friends and family to be the perfect wedding. It was beautiful, and on that day they were joined by everyone important in their lives. That night, Nation had chosen 31-year-old Jonathan Broyhill to be his best man, and as Nation, Jonathan and Jamie had already become good friends before the wedding, he seemed to be a natural

choice. But Nation and Jonathan had a bit of a longer history together. The two had become fast friends in their adolescent years following a church, field trip the summer before Nation began his freshman year of high school, Jonathan had graduated from the same school that Nation was about to attend the previous year and had begun working at a local paint store after graduation. When he wasn't in school or working himself, Nation would often visit Jonathan at the paint shop to shoot the shit, and as time passed, the two became great friends. Following high school, Nation also attended the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he would meet his future wife, Jamie, while they were both

volunteering for Senator John Edwards' presidential campaign. Like Nation, Jamie and Jonathan also became fast and close friends in no time at all. The three were just so alike. There was never any dissonance between the group, and their bond was strong. The friendship was so strong, in fact, that following the wedding in 2009, Jamie Kirk, now Jamie Kirk Hahn, would actually hire Jonathan Broihill to work with her at her newly formed political consulting firm, Sky Blue Strategies. Sky Blue Strategies was a company that provided its clients with various campaign services and resources, including fundraising, strategy, and compliance. Jamie would focus on the strategy and fundraising aspects of the business, while Jonathan was in control of maintaining campaign donations,

federal election commission, or FEC compliance reports, and the campaign expenses. In layman's terms, Jonathan was basically the money guy, and Jonathan was almost a permanent fixture in the Han home. Neighbors often commented how they thought Broihil was a roommate that lived with the couple, because his silver 2004 Volvo S-40 was always parked in front of the home almost every single day, and he even appeared to have his own designated parking spot. Now, even though post-wedding life seemed to be on the up-and-up for everyone, however, there were storm clouds on the horizon. The first sign of trouble came in the fall of 2000.

When one of Skyblue Strategies' clients, Congressman Brad Miller had to suspend his re-election campaign, the company swiftly shifted their focus from fundraising to issuing refunds to donors. And Jonathan voluntarily chose to take on the majority of the work regarding the Miller campaign and its finances. Leaving Jamie in the dark on the financials, Jonathan deep down believed that he was worth more than he was getting paid. So, as a man of action, he decided to take his fate into his own hands. And using the campaign donation funds, he wrote himself hundreds of checks totaling more than $46,500 between June of 2011 and March of 2013. In the midst of all of this embezzling, in August of 2012, Jonathan confided in the Hans

that he was recently diagnosed with the autoimmune disease, multiple sclerosis, and would soon be seeking treatment. He also began to complain about pain in his gallbladder and eventually told the couple that he was going to have to have surgery to remove a few gallstones. In December of 2012, Jonathan expressed to Jamie that he would need to find a less stressful job due to his recent crippling health issues, and knowing that her friend was in a tough spot, Jamie agreed to go on the search and help Jonathan find a new job. But as she looks into Jonathan's work on the refunds from the campaign, Jamie comes across some troubling information. She discovers that several of the Miller campaign

expenses still hadn't been paid, and that some of the donors still hadn't received their refunds. But Jamie, being somewhat naive and wanting to believe in the good in people, didn't want to believe that a trusted friend could be capable of stealing from her. So shortly after making this discovery, she began the process of rerunning the numbers, hoping that this time they would add up. But sadly, the second look at the numbers that Jamie took revealed even more discrepancies in Jonathan's financial reporting. At first, she thought that this could have been an honest mistake. or an oversight caused by Jonathan's recent health problems and new stresses in his life. But it was when she began to receive calls and emails from campaign staffers

about their delayed refund check disbursements. That was when Jamie knew that these discrepancies weren't all in her head. Even though she's got her friend cornered with numbers to prove her allegations, Jamie still hesitates to ask Jonathan about the missing funds. You see, even though he was no longer a legal employee of SkyBlue, Jonathan during this time continued to help manage the company's FEC quarterly reports and campaign finances as he had been performing this job for years, and being overworked and overtired herself, Jamie was happy to accept the help. She also didn't want to make Jonathan's situation in life worse, as he still had his upcoming gallbladder surgery to recover from.

At this point, however, Jonathan seems to just disappear into thin air, and months passed before Nation and Jamie hear from their friend again. On April 8, 2013, months after their last contact, Jonathan finally breaks the silence and agrees to come over to the couple's home to help them draft that quarterly FEC report that was due the following week. So that night, Jamie and Nation cleaned their house and prepared to see their good friend after months of separation, but he never showed up. Hurt and frustrated with their close friend, the two then called Jonathan and put him on speakerphone. After several rings, he picked up the phone and immediately started to apologize,

explaining that he had to work late at his new job at a company called LabCore. And at the end of the phone call, after some coaxing from Nation and Jamie, Jonathan promised to come over the next evening to help them iron out that report. The only problem was, Jonathan didn't work at LabCore,

and he never had. In fact, he never got that second job. You see, for his whole life, Jonathan had been a liar. And his lies were soon going to have some pretty deadly, consequences. The following day, when Jonathan slowly pulled up to the couple's house, he looked, quote, very weak, sort of white-faced, Nation would later say. After entering the home,

Jonathan began to explain to the couple that his surgeons had found a mass during his gallbladder operation and that they believed it was pancreatic cancer. Stunned, Nation and Jamie took a moment to process what their friend had just told them and burst into tears. The two of them then spent the remainder of the evening comforting their potentially terminally ill friend, instead of having him help them draft that important report. At the end of the evening, Jonathan told Nation and Jamie that he had an appointment in two days at the Duke Cancer Hospital to confirm his pancreatic cancer diagnosis. You see, if he indeed did have this form of cancer, he would need to begin treatment almost immediately, as pancreatic cancer is vicious and is known to be one of the more unforgiving

types of cancer. So Jamie and Nation, being the good concerned friends that they were, told Jonathan that on the day of his appointment, he could meet them at their house and they would drive with him to the hospital so that they could be by his side during this tough and uncertain time. But the day of the appointment comes around, and Jonathan fails to show up at the hawn home. Concerned, Jamie and Nation speed over to Jonathan's house in their car and ring his doorbell. And to their relief, Jonathan answers. But strangely, he looks very disheveled, almost like he had been sleeping for the entire 48 hours since they last saw him. Jonathan assures the couple that he can reschedule his appointment. He picks up his phone and he calls the hospital to inform them that he needs to pick a new date

and time for his appointment. But Nation and Jamie once again had no idea that when Jonathan was on the phone with the hospital rescheduling, he was actually talking to himself. You see, he had never set up an appointment in the first place, and he never even called a hospital that day. Jonathan was hiding something, but his two best friends, the Hans, had no idea what that was. After he hangs up the phone following Jamie's suggestion,

Jonathan agrees to help her finish the quarterly FEC report and tells her that he'll meet her at her house after showering and making himself a bit more presentable. So Jamie and Nation head home, and Jamie waits for Jonathan to arrive. But a short while later, immediately after he gets to the Han house, Jonathan grimaces. Damn it, I forgot my laptop at home.

He tells Jamie. I need to head back to my place and grab it. So naturally, Jamie tells him to go grab his computer and come back. She can wait. But after leaving that day, Jonathan never returns. Worried and a bit frustrated, Jamie calls and texts Jonathan repeatedly for hours, asking where he is and if he's okay. But all she receives is silence.

The next morning, Jonathan phones the cuff. to tell them he's at the beach and that he had gotten fired from lab core because of his cancer diagnosis Jonathan told Nation and Jamie that he desperately needed them to understand why he had gone awall on them the night before. The understanding couple once again forgives him. And again, Jonathan promises Jamie he will prepare that quarterly report for her by the deadline. Before they hang up, however, this time, the Hans have one final request. The two were about to set off on a week-long beach vacation to celebrate, their four-year wedding anniversary and was also going to be Nation's birthday. So Jamie asks Jonathan

if he can reschedule his doctor appointment to April 15th so both she and Nation could attend it with him before they left. Jonathan agrees and on April 14th the day before his appointment Jonathan buys the largest chef's knife he can find before driving over to the Hans to help them finalize that FEC quarterly report as he promised. Growing up my mom was always the the best at handling sticky, stressful situations. I mean, we have so many crazy family memories, so many things that stick out to me, so many trips that we took and just funny moments. I mean, I remember specifically one just crazy time when we had jet skis and we took them out. We had rented them for the day and we took them out on this lake.

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Help out the show if you love what we're doing. Go get yourself some vitamins, get healthy. And yeah, let's get back to today's story. When Jonathan arrives at the haun home, Jamie answers the door. At the time, Nation was working on his computer in the upstairs office. While she's downstairs in the midst of her meeting with Jonathan, a text message from her husband flashes across Jamie's screen, telling her that, quote,

according to the Federal Election Commission, the Brad Miller campaign's fourth quarter report for 2012 was never filed. Immediately, Jamie's stomach sinks, and her heart rate and irritation grow. Without hesitation, she presses Jonathan about this new missing report. And thinking quickly, he assures her that he filed the report and had even received confirmation from the FEC themselves. A confused and tired Jamie really wants to believe him. And so, she tells Jonathan that the next day they have a meeting set up with the Miller

campaign's treasurer, John Wallace, so that they can review the report together. and this meeting the next day would prove eye-opening for all parties. The next morning, Nation and Jamie, without Jonathan, met with John Wallace, the campaign treasurer to take a look at Jonathan's FEC report. A thorough examination of this end of the quarter report, however, would reveal a pattern of liability and debts that were never repaid. At the time that he had filed the document, Jonathan had manually requested the draft of the report to be changed to show that the debt had been repaid before the report was submitted

to the FEC, but he had been lying and the debt had never been repaid. The telltale document that the Hans and Wallace now held in their hands highlighted clearly exactly when and how Jonathan had lied about how much money was in the Miller campaign account. But somehow, none of the three picked up on Jonathan's lies. Jonathan, on his correction of the report, claimed that the account contained $62,914 and 52 cents in cash at the end of the first quarter. But in reality, the account had a negative balance of $3,587.6. Remember, Jonathan had been writing checks directly from this account to himself and had been embezzling the money. But luckily for Jonathan, this bit of information was overlooked by the three when they were reviewing the report.

And Wallace, Jamie, and Nation decided that this had all been an innocent, easily correctable mistake by an employee suffering from a number of stressful health conditions. They still had no idea that the money was gone from the account. At the close of their meeting with Mr. Wallace, Jamie and Nation felt somewhat relieved in knowing that the $62,000 was still in the account, and it could all be explained away as an innocent mistake made by someone who was suffering with multiple sclerosis, and now cancer. It suddenly all made sense. And later that day, Nation and Jamie happily drove Jonathan to his appointment at the Duke

Cancer Hospital and dropped him off at the entrance. for an easy check-in while they parked the car. After parking the vehicle, Nation and Jamie met back up with Jonathan in the lobby, but he had some strange news for them. Apparently, his nurse had informed him that he was to go back for his testing alone, but that the hospital staff would call the Hans in if they were needed at any point. So, being the good friends that they were, Jamie and Nation took their seats and began their weight in the lobby,

and watched as Jonathan walked through a set of metal double doors behind the reception desk and disappeared into the hallway of doctor's offices and patient rooms. Two hours later, Jonathan emerged once again through the large metal doors and let out a huge sigh of relief to himself. His friends had almost caught him in the midst of his lie, and at the moment he had succeeded in pulling the wool over their eyes. Deep down, however, Jonathan knew that he couldn't keep this charade up for much longer. You see, Jonathan never had a doctor's appointment that day.

Instead, after walking through those metal doors and leaving his friends nervously waiting in the lobby, Jonathan took a leisurely stroll through the hospital for almost two hours, walking room to room, hallway to hallway, and never even spoke with a medical professional. But lying to his friend's faces after coming out of those double doors, Jonathan told them that he, quote, did indeed have pancreatic cancer, but the doctors are hopeful, end quote. After the appointment, the Hans sullenly drove their dying friend home before they left for their beach vacation. On their way out of town that evening, Jamie received a call from Congressman Brad Miller. Apparently, a check that was written from his campaign account had bounced. But this, this couldn't be. Jamie just reviewed the report

with her own two eyes that morning, and she saw that there was still over $60,000 in the account. Miller had to have been mistaken on Wednesday, April 17, 2013. While on vacation, Jamie logs into her email account and finds a message sent to both she and Jonathan from Brad Miller's campaign treasurer John Wallace. This time, however, Wallace was a little less friendly. He needed to question the two of them about recent communications between the Miller campaign and the FEC concerning suspicious disbursements from his campaign account. The FEC had also recently notified the Miller campaign that they had failed to file the report for the last quarter in 2012. In the email chain, Jonathan had responded, quote,

Good afternoon, John, I am working on this now and I will be in touch, end quote. But he would never follow-up, and he would never get in touch. Making allowances for her friend and taking his past assurances and recent health woes into account, Jamie believed Jonathan when he said he'd fix it, and that he had everything under control. When the Hans returned from their vacation the following Sunday, at a little past midnight, Jonathan secretly used his friend Nation's credit card to buy a one-way plane ticket from Charlotte to Las Vegas that was set to depart later that day. A Monday afternoon, one hour before takeoff, though, he cancels the reservation, and purchases a one-way train ticket from Raleigh to Charlotte for Tuesday morning.

So who is Jonathan Broihill? Well, Jonathan's own mother, Kay, revealed some details about her son's life to the press in the wake of the disturbing events that were to come. Kay described her son Jonathan, who she'd been estranged from for over a decade, as a well-behaved student who made good grades and played well with others. She said that he always had plenty of friends to hang out with, and that he was generally liked in school. But aside from how he behaved around other kids, his own mother didn't know much about Jonathan.

In fact, they had never been close at any point in their lives. Jonathan's psychotherapist, Susan Simon, however, knew him better than anyone, and in 2012 she began to notice a pattern of recurring themes in her visits with Jonathan. He began to obsessively talk about feeling unattractive, worthless, overweight, and not being able to, quote, find himself in the gay world, end quote. He also told her that he was unable to relate to. two, quote, typical gay men who are attractive, healthy, tan, and fit, end quote. He emphasized his struggle with his sexual identity and told Susan that if his family ever found

out he was gay, they would think he was possessed by a demon. So, as an adult, he had been forced to sever ties with them. Jonathan often spoke with Susan about his long and sordid history of getting into unhealthy romantic relationships, and how isolated and depressed he felt at the time because he didn't have anyone special in his life. Susan also revealed that Jonathan had told her that his uncle had sexually abused him as a boy and that he always thought that this sort of relationship between a child and an adult was normal. He would also speak of his childhood and say that he was brought up in a dysfunctional family,

raised by a mother who never wanted children, the mother who clearly regretted having the children that she had. Jonathan's stepmother, Daryl Broyhill, told the press that her stepson had had a falling out with his mother after she divorced her husband in 2000. and then moved in with Jonathan's ex-girlfriend. That's right, Jonathan's own mother divorced her husband and then moved in with Jonathan's ex-girlfriend. The entire family had speculated that Jonathan's mother and his ex-girlfriend had then become romantically and sexually involved. John told me that he felt his mother had chosen his ex-girlfriend over her own family,

Daryl said, before mentioning how he had teared up about it on several occasions. But despite their close relationship, Jonathan never told his stepmother that he was gay. When Darrell was asked if she felt like that was something he could have easily shared with her or his father, she paused for a minute to collect her thoughts, then replied, quote, I think because of our Bible beliefs, that he would be almost afraid to come to us to tell us that he was gay. She also recalled a memory of Jonathan telling her that he had rheumatoid arthritis, just like one of his stepsisters.

Jonathan had also told a different step-sister of his that he had multiple sclerosis, just like she did, despite the two not being blood relatives. No one at the time in that household knew what to think. Was Jonathan really this ill? Was he a hypochondriac? Or was he a pathological liar? Regardless, through these accounts shared by various friends and family members, one can gather that Jonathan had a pretty traumatic upbringing and early adult life.

And those traumatic memories were about to come out in a storm of fury and change the lives of so many people on one fateful evening. It's now Monday, April 22nd, 2013. and the Hans, freshly back from their anniversary vacation, had demanded that Jonathan meet them at their home to settle the issues with the Congressman Miller campaign. The time for lying, excuses, and deceit was over. In his backpack that evening, Jonathan had packed a large chef's knife, which he kept hidden from view.

That night, Nation arrives back home at about 5 o'clock p.m. and sees Jamie on the phone in her office on the first floor. As he walks through the home and greets his wife with a little kiss on the cheek, Nation is greeted by Jonathan, who, at the time, was walking through the kitchen. Nation gives Jonathan a hug and invites him to spend the night at their house before his doctor's appointment the next morning. Jonathan, however, answers this invitation ambiguously, making it unclear whether he intended to stay the night or not. He did mention to Nation, though, that, quote, I have clothes packed in case I do, end quote. At the end of their brief conversation, Nation continues up the stairs to the second floor to get out of his work clothes and change into his running gear.

It was time for his daily jog. But as he's changing upstairs, just a few moments after he pulls up his shorts, Nation hears his wife, Jamie, let out a blood-curdling scream from downstairs. Panicking, Nation throws open the bedroom door and speeds down the stairs shouting. What's happening? What's happening? Jamie's voice was filled with fear as she desperately cried out. He's trying to kill me!

When Nation rounds the corner of the staircase, he's met with a truly disturbing sight. His wife, Jamie, was lying on the floor covered in blood with over 20 stab wounds in her body, and Jonathan stood there looming over her, holding a large bloody knife. What the fuck are you doing? Nation screamed. Jonathan stayed silent as he turned away from Jamie, faced his friend Nation and suddenly began to chase him, raising the knife in the air as he raced closer to his best friend.

Nation lunged for the blade and grabbed it with one hand while he continually struck Jonathan in the face and head with his other. As the struggle escalated, Nation yelled out to Jamie, telling her to run, to get out of the house, to go call 911, and, covered in her own blood, Jamie ran out of the side door of the home, screaming at the top of her lungs, struggling to reach safety before she collapsed in a nearby yard. At the same time, Nation and Jonathan were still fighting within the home, exchanging punches and stabs. Nation, however, at one point, gains the upper hand in the fight and manages to fight Jonathan. And when he sees his opportunity, he takes off running out of the house after his wife,

Jamie, while crying out for help. Please, please, please, please, somebody call 911. He screamed as loud as he could. A few bewildered-looking neighbors quickly emerged from their homes and were met with a ghastly sight. Their neighbors, Jamie and Nation, were in their own yard, soaked in their own blood. The concerned neighbors quickly called an ambulance and rushed over to help tend to the couple until help arrived. Somebody stepped her and she's bleeding. Exactly.

The person is still in the house and we need the police. Okay, what's the name? Drawing Brawlhill. John Boyhill? She's fading out. She's saying, I love you. Quickly, patrol cars surrounded the Han home, and after getting some information from Nation,

they ordered Jonathan Broihill to exit the house with his hands up. Surprisingly, as an army of concerned neighbors, citizens, and authorities watched, Jonathan then calmly exited the house with both of his hands in the air. Officer Roy Smith immediately noticed self-inflicted stab wounds on Jonathan's stomach and wrists, indicating that he had attempted suicide before exiting the home. Officer Smith then rode in the ambulance with Jonathan to the hospital, as the EMTs spoke with him. While in custody, on route to the hospital, Jonathan starts to become visibly upset and begins crying.

He tells the first responders, and Officer Smith, quote, It's been a long time coming. I just want to die. As the ride goes on, Jonathan continues to repeat that same chilling phrase. I just want to die. I just want to die. I just want to die. I just want to die.

Two days later, Jamie Kirk Hahn would die in the hospital on April 24, 2013, as a result of her injuries. The medical examiner would find 24 stab wounds on Jamie's body, including a fatal laceration that deeply pierced her liver and severed an artery. Nationhan would survive the attack, but was left with deep lacerations on both of his hands, which severely and permanently damaged the arteries, tendons, and nerves in his fingers. The best man at Nation's wedding, his best friend, had just murdered his bride. Shortly after Jamie was murdered, her loved ones gathered and laid her to rest. Tributes poured in from all corners of the state, and the shocking nature of the crime gripped the city of Raleigh. Politicians from across the land paid their respects to Jamie,

the hard worker that they knew and loved, and at the annual Jefferson Jackson dinner, a fundraising event held in Raleigh, which took place just a few days after Jamie's murder, powerful people in politics gathered and dedicated the night to Jamie. Democratic strategists laid to rest this weekend is remembered at a funeral as well as the biggest fundraising event for the North Carolina Democratic Party. Jamie Hahn stabbed in her home this week, died later at Wake Mid. Last night, big names in politics honored her life in Legacy. Angelica Alvarez reports from the annual Jefferson Jackson Dinner. You may say that I'm a dreamer.

This video full of pictures of 29-year-old Jamie Hahn and a glimpse of her life's work and passion played at the beginning of this year's Jefferson Jackson Dinner. Her loved ones watched with tears in their eyes. Her husband, visibly upset while watching this tribute and listening as political leaders voiced their feelings of loss. Her death is a shocking and grievous loss. And we grieve for the loss of the contribution that Jamie would have continued to make. Raleigh, police say Han was murdered this week.

They believe by a man who was best man at her wedding, John Broyhill. They believe he stabbed her in her home and that money may have been a motive. Her husband, Nationhan, also stabbed when he tried to rescue her, stood before hundreds at her funeral just earlier and told the crowd how much they loved each other. And we always said, I love you frequently. Now as he and other members of the family sit during this event that we're told was the last project Jamie Hahn was working on, they're surrounded by people determined to get them through this. The theme of this year's Jefferson Jackson Dinner is one Democratic family.

We're coming together as a united front. And Jamie Hahn was such an intricate part of that. Almost two years later, in February of 2015, Jonathan Broyhill is charged and put on trial for the murder of Jamie Kirk Han. He faced one charge of first-degree murder, two charges of attempted first-degree murder, and a charge of assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill, inflicting serious injury. Nation Han was a key witness used by the prosecution, and sadly, during the trial, Nathan had to gather himself together and testify against his longtime friend and best man. Jonathan during his murder trial. When on the stand, Nation told the court about how Jonathan had informed he and his wife of his gallstones, his multiple sclerosis, and his pancreatic cancer.

But later on, authorities testified that none of this was true. Jonathan, as it turned out, didn't have any of these ailments. He had been lying about being sick the entire time just to keep his friends from looking into the finances he was supposed to be managing for Jamie's political fundraising firm. During the trial, financial experts concluded that Jonathan had embezzled over $45,000 from the Brad Miller U.S. congressional campaign, something which Jamie knew nothing about, even up to the point of her murder. Jonathan had known for a while that his lies had an expiration date, and on April 22, 2013, that date came. But this expiration date wasn't only for Jonathan's lies, who was also for Jamie Kirkhan's life. It seems as though after months of lying, after months of knowing that his,

world was about to come crumbling down. Jonathan Broyhill snapped that night. He had become so despondent, so depressed, so suicidal that the only choice he believed he had in life was to murder his best friends. Jonathan's defense attorneys contended in court, however, that while Jonathan had indeed murdered Jamie in cold blood and seriously injured nation, he still loved the couple and would never intentionally or knowingly hurt them if he was in a right state of mind. Jonathan also told his legal team that he had been hearing voices in his head for a while, voices which told him to kill people. But since Jonathan only decided to open up about these voices right before his lawyers were about to make their final arguments, this development about the voices in Jonathan's head

had no real impact on the jury, if it was even true. The opening statements of the trial were focused on Jonathan's mental state, with the defense lawyers arguing that Jonathan had only really been interested in killing himself, not his boss and best friend's wife. Describing the crime as a tragedy, one of Jonathan's defense attorneys, Caroline Elliott, tried to persuade the jury to almost sympathize with Jonathan, telling them, quote, It is a tragedy committed by a sick person who was ready to end his own life. There was never any premeditation. Naturally, though, the state vehemently disagreed and immediately cited the 24 stab wounds

that Jonathan had inflicted onto Jamie Hahn's body. Your hearts will break. She was young, only 29, and was betrayed. and viciously murdered. Prosecuting attorney Doug Fawcett would remind the jury, she ran a successful political consulting company, working with former U.S. Congressman Brad Miller. She hired Broyhill, her husband nation's best man,

to do the accounting. But the relationship soured when Broyhill embezzled nearly $50,000 from one of the campaign funds. The deadly attack only happened after Han started asking questions about the financial irregularities, Fawcett told the court. In response, The defense began diving into the bizarre series of lies that Jonathan had told the Hans and others in his life leading up to the murder, lying about having debilitating diseases and procedures like MS, pancreatic cancer, gallstone surgery, and rheumatoid arthritis,

was a clear indication of his unraveling mental state, Jonathan's defense claimed. In their eyes, this web of lies put Jonathan into a pressure cooker of guilt and hopelessness, and that was the only thing that possibly could have driven Jonathan to try kill. his childhood best friend and wife. Jonathan was featured in the majority of the Hans' photos on Facebook, and they often all vacationed together as a monagetat. It's not like they had been distant friends that had only recently been reacquainted. Jonathan cared for these two, the defense claimed, but something within Jonathan's brain

had changed. For years, it turned out, Jonathan had been lying to friends and acquaintances about his MS condition, and earlier that same year, Jonathan had been lying to friends and acquaintances about his multiple sclerosis condition, and earlier that same year in April, Nationhan had even participated in a walk to help benefit multiple sclerosis research and therapy development because of Jonathan. Amy Holsklaw, a former friend and coworker of Jonathan's, told the court that she remembered Jonathan telling her that he had been on an aggressive form of multiple sclerosis medication for two years, but she was always impressed to see that he had never allowed his condition to change

his normal behavior or even his physical appearance. He seemed depressed, and I know he went through stress with multiple sclerosis, but other than that, he was John, and John was a good guy, she would testify. Several mutual friends would also corroborate that Jonathan had told them that he had a doctor's appointment set for that fateful Tuesday, and that he had asked the Hans to come with him. He had even told friends that he planned on spending the night at their home that night, but this would all prove to be a proverbial nail in the coffin. Once the prosecutors in the informed the court that the cancer and the appointments never existed, the jury began to get a true look at who Jonathan was deep down. At one point, former state representative Brad Miller even

took to the stand to testify against Jonathan. Representative Miller recalled that Jonathan had been the main person with access to the fundraising software for his campaign, and that in October of the year before the murder, his treasurer had received an FEC letter requesting some additional information about his campaign's financials. Usually, this is a red flag. The FEC was curious at the time about documents they had gotten a hold of that showed that some donors had received refunds for amounts larger than they paid, and these mistakes time and time again all led back to Jonathan Broyhill. Representative Miller indicated during his testimony that he suspected Jamie Hahn's murder had everything to do with the stolen campaign funds and that it had nothing

to do with anything else. I think it's bound to be part of the investigation of John's motive. It's unclear whether Broyhill was still working with SkyBlue strategies. He is no longer listed on the firm's website, though the voicemail for the business asks callers whether they want to leave a message for John Broyhill or Jamie Hahn. Miller asserted this was an almost confusing statement because even though Jonathan had officially stopped working for SkyBlue, remember, he was still unofficially helping Jamie and Nation look over the financials. It seemed that Jonathan had been happy to leave the company back when he quit because he knew at the time that the numbers just didn't and wouldn't ever add up.

It's a shame that Jonathan was so good at getting his friends to trust him when they never should have in the first place. One thing the jurors didn't get to hear, though, was testimony from state psychiatrist Dr. Bodri Hamra, who worked for the North Carolina Department of Public Safety and had been seeing Jonathan for the 15 months after his arrest. During her time spent treating Jonathan, Dr. Hamra had prescribed him medication to treat psychosis, anxiety, and depression disorders. The problem at the time, though, was that the prosecution wasn't given proper notice that the witness at hand, Dr. Hamra, was an expert witness.

And the judge presiding over the case thought that the doctor's testimony could unfairly prejudice the case against the state because they didn't have time to call their own psychiatric expert to testify after hearing that they wouldn't be allowed to use a powerful witness in their defense argument. Jonathan's team calls immediately for a mistrial on grounds abuse of discretion and abandonment of the court's role in an attempt to ensure that all evidence was heard, but the motion was quickly overruled. And Dr. Hamra's testimony was completely ignored by the court and sequestered from the jury. Another piece of damning evidence against Jonathan came in the form of his confessions to authorities. Immediately after he had murdered Jamie,

while Jonathan remained hospitalized for his self-inflicted wounds and suicide attempt, detectives paid him a series of three visits in the hospital to conduct interviews with him. During the trial, the state released the recording and transcript of one of these interviews. But immediately, Jonathan and his legal team objected. Due to a legal loophole, the admission of the other two recordings and transcripts into court were then rejected as well. But in his April 26th interview with authorities, Jonathan admitted to embezzling money out of the Miller campaign. He admitted to lying about multiple sclerosis, gallbladder surgery, pancreatic cancer, and he even admitted to lying about all of his doctor's appointments.

He also told authorities that he had been dealing with bouts of severe depression and suicidal ideation and claimed that he often heard voices that told him to hurt others and himself. He also confessed that he had initially bought that large kitchen knife with the intent to hurt or kill only himself. And he also admitted that he had first planned on flying out to Las Vegas and committing suicide there. He, in addition, told authorities that the only part of the murder that he remembered was, stabbing Jamie, but that he didn't remember attacking Nation or himself. At the end of the day, though, the evidence was stacked against Jonathan, and there was nothing he could do or say to

convince anyone that he wasn't responsible for the death of Jamie Kirk Han. At the conclusion of the trial, Jonathan was found guilty of first-degree murder, attempted first-degree murder, and assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill inflicting serious injury. He was then sentenced to life in prison without parole and consecutive terms, of 157 to 201 months and 73 to 100 months. So in our state, criminal cases such as this one are brought on behalf of the people of North Carolina, and that's why, for example, this case is named the State versus Broyhill.

And this is so because crimes such as these offenses are violations of the peace and dignity of all the people of this state and all of our citizens. And in this case, in particular the people of North Carolina, have been robbed of the life of Jamie Hahn, a person who has done so much good and had so much good yet to do for all of us. So on behalf of the people of the state of North Carolina,

extend to her family and to Nation Han, our collective sympathy. The people of North Carolina mourn for the loss of Jamie, and we pray that each of you find peace. And Mr. Royhill, if you'll stand for me, sir. In this case, the jury has returned guilty verdicts for three offenses and I'm entering three separate judgments, each of which within the presumptive range. For the first degree murder of Jamie Hahn with deliberation, premeditation,

and malice, I order you incarcerated for the remainder of your life without the possibility of parole. For the attempted first degree murder of Nation Han with deliberation, premeditation and malice, I order you incarcerated for a period of 157 months minimum, $2,000,000,000,000,000 201 months maximum in the custody of Division of Adult Corrections. For the offense of assault with a deadly weapon with the intent to kill, inflicting serious injury, I order you incarcerated for a period of 73 months minimum, 100 months maximum in the Division of Adult Corrections. Each of these judgments are entered separately and each of these sentences would be served

consecutively. the guilty verdict was read, Nation Hawn and a few of Jamie's family members then made the following statement outside of the courtroom. We are gratified by the jury's verdict and we are grateful to so many people, the members of the jury who we think made a wonderful, correct decision. We know that difficult times still I had. We will never be able to fill the hole left in our lives by the death of Jamie. We would give all that we have to have Jamie back with us to see her grow older and to become a mother and to witness the difference she could have made in the world. Jamie's death is not just the loss of us, the immediate family.

It's a loss for the present and the future, and there are so many who have been robbed so much. The children Jamie and Nation would have parented, the lives she would have changed for the better, especially here in the Riley community, the causes that she would have worked for, and the strangers who would have been greeted by her essential kindness, laughter, and smile. In the years ahead, we will all strive to keep that smile, her service, and her spirit alive through the wonderful work of the Jamie Kirk Hahn Foundation, headquartered here in Raleigh. Thank you all for being here. In 2017, Jonathan's legal team appealed in hopes for a new trial.

His attorneys recognized that he indeed did murder his good friend and colleague in 2015, but they argued that his mental state at the time made it nearly impossible for him to be guilty of a first-degree murder charge. He did not premeditate, deliberate, or have an intent to kill. His attorney Gordon Weidenhouse claimed, Gordon also contended that the trial judge should have let Dr. Hamra, Jonathan's psychiatrist, testify about his mental state, and since it wasn't allowed, it was a violation of his constitutional right to a fair trial. Gordon felt that if Dr. Homra did in fact testify at the trial, then the jury would have been aware of how severely depressed and how heavily medicated Jonathan had been at the time of the murder.

In spite of their efforts, however, Jonathan's appeal request was denied, and he was officially put away for life on July 18, 2017. The day after his best man, former best friend, and wife's murderer was sentenced to life in prison, Nation Han hopped on his computer and wrote a blog post, announcing he had chosen to walk, quote, the difficult path of optimism and hope. He said that, quote, I worked to carry on her legacy, and I hope others do the same, The most surprising and uplifting lesson of the past two years has actually been that the world is still essentially good. He also talked about all the love and kindness that have been shown to him and both he and Jamie's families in the wake of the murder.

To know Jamie was to love her, she was a kind and decent person. She was someone who understood that we have an obligation to help those in need. A person who believed deeply that everyone that we are connected to is our family. She was a caregiver by nature who loved deeply, he wrote. Jamie Kirk Hahn was known for her career as a political strategist, but she was also a successful fundraiser for various charities. At the time of her passing, she was working on her own non-profit to provide additional meals for children who rely on free lunches during the school year. The nonprofit would have provided kids access to meals when school was not in session two. After her murder, Nation founded the Jamie Kirk-Han Foundation in October of 2013 to honor his late wife and her passion for public health.

Through ongoing classes, special events, and partnerships with existing community groups, the foundation continues to empower emerging leaders with training, networking opportunities, and an open community space where they can build friendships, discuss issues, and work towards common goals. Through that, we hope to build an army of Jamie's, an army of those like Jamie who would do good work in their community. One of the ways to compound the tragedy of losing Jamie would be for people to not carry that spirit forward. I believe deeply that as long as Jamie remains in the hearts of others, she isn't gone. I believe that as long as we work to carry forward her values, her issues, and her impact, that she is still with us. I'm going to end this podcast with a quote from Nation Han, which came from his testimony during the murder trial.

It's got to be one of the most chilling, most powerful quotes I've ever heard. It's short, but it left a mark on me the first time I heard him say these words in court. because it's just so true. It really is hard to trust people nowadays. You think you know somebody, but deep down, you really don't. And it's cases like this one that once again illustrate that show you that truly sometimes, even when dealing with friends and family, you just can't trust anybody. You can't kill what it was that made her so special.

We've learned so much about the evil that exists in this world. Evil that is represented today with this murderer in front of us. We lock our doors at night to keep the outside world, to keep evil out, right? But what happens when evil has a key? Hey everybody, it's Colin here. I know you're very, very sick of my voice at this point. That was a lot to read. I didn't realize how much reading that would all be.

But thank you again for joining us for this week's episode of Murder in America. Courtney is doing okay. She just can't speak. and it sucks that she's so sick because we are moving to Philadelphia this weekend. It couldn't have been worse timing. And I was sick last week. Now she's sick. It's just not working out.

Life isn't working for us. But I loved this story. I thought it was super interesting. The Jamie Kirk Hahn Foundation is a great foundation. And we really do have some crazy stories coming up in the next couple of weeks. Long stories, detailed stories. Sorry our schedule has been so messed up, but you got to bear with us. We're getting a studio in Philadelphia.

We're going to have everything on time set up sounding super clean. Thank you to everyone who's on Patreon with us as well. If you don't know, we post every episode of the show, ad free on Patreon as soon as it airs on all streaming platforms. So if you don't like those pesky little ads, just head to Patreon. But yeah, Courtney and I are actually looking for researchers and script writers. So if you want to work for Murder in America, please send a resume to Murder in America podcast. at gmail.com. We're looking for people to add to our team.

We need some new researchers and writers. And if you can do that, we're looking at you. Send it in. We'd love to hear from you. But anyways, everybody, we will see you next week. We're almost back to our schedule. We're almost there. We're moving in on Monday.

So it's coming back soon. And just keep asking yourself that same old question. The dead don't talk. Or do they? Catch you next week, everybody.