Serialously with Annie Elise - 30-For-30: Murder at the U

Episode Date: February 28, 2026

The cold-blooded murder of a rising college football star stunned the University of Miami - and now, nearly 20 years later, a former teammate stands trial for the crime. An investigative series from ESPN’s acclaimed 30 for 30 Podcasts, “Murder at the U” unravels a story of betrayal, brotherhood, and the long road to justice in one of the most gripping sports crime stories in recent memory.  With in-depth reporting and jaw-dropping twists, this true crime series explores the shocking death of Bryan Pata as it finally heads to the courtroom.For the complete story, head over to ESPN's 30 for 30 Podcasts.

If you love long-form investigative storytelling, you're definitely going to want to check this out. The latest season of ESPN's 30 for 30 podcast tells the story of a murder that stunned the world of college football, but then just completely went cold. In 2006, University of Miami football star, Brian Potto was executed in broad daylight, steps away from campus. No weapon, conflicting statements, a case defined more by rumor than evidence. And now, nearly two decades later, a former teammate stands trial. This, after an ESPN investigation, re-ignited the case and brought new scrutiny to long-buried details. In a six-episode true crime series, with episodes releasing twice weekly, it's one you won't see coming. Follow and listen to Murder at the You on the 30 for 30 podcast feed wherever you get your podcasts.

It's Two guys in their 20s are driving down US 1 in Miami In a black infinity SUV The ACs blasting The music is blasting Who the fuck you think you're fucking with I'm the fucking boss 745 white on white that's fucking ross

You know, we're on our way to my trips. You're driving to that Rick Ross. You know, the U.S. 1 going south. So, you know, there's a ride it. The driver is a football player at the University of Miami, Brian Padda. The guy next to him in the passenger seat is a sports writer from the Miami Herald. His name is Mani Navarro. Mani has his camera trained on Brian.

I was a young reporter who wanted to do something cool. MTV Cribs was sort of big back then. MTV Cribs was a show where celebrities led camera crews through tours of their houses. Mani wanted to make something similar for the Miami Herald. But in Mani's version, the celebrities would be University of Miami football players. The Hurricanes. So my idea was just make these guys personable. Tell a story that is unique in Miami.

These are Miami guys playing for Miami football program. Brian was really the first guy I threw the idea across. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, I'm down. I'm down. Let's do it. Let's do it. And, you know, I got the camera on them because I want to make sure I get the audio and the video, you know, the whole thing. The two guys head to Brian's apartment complex. It's called The Colony, where several other University of Miami players live. It's classic Florida, with corridors on the outside of the building like a motel.

We get to his apartment, he's like runs in there. He starts picking stuff up, moving stuff around. He's like, don't record yet. And he says, how do you want me to, where do you want to start? I said, well, why don't you open the door? This is what they do in empty-pbribs, right? They open the door. They welcome you in.

What up, y'all? My crib, I'm Brian and Patter. University of Miami, Davis to Tiger. If you walk in, it's a townhouse, you know, it's a townhouse, two-bedroom, two and a high bathroom. You know, he's kind of like giving me the tour, opening cabinets up and showing me stuff. This is my cabinet right here. I love pudding. He was just, he was so happy to kind of be the star of the show.

You know, I think in his mind, I think he started to think, like, yeah, it's only the Miami Herald right now, but I could do this for MTV. Like, this is like a nice little practice run, you know. Here's my family during the Florida State game, my two sisters, my cousin. This is my mom right here, and this is my girlfriend, Jada. I just remember the feeling of this kid is so happy with his life.

kid is so happy with his life. He knows that the best is yet to come. Like, this is good. Life is good. I got a girlfriend. I got a dog. Other than that, this is me, Brian Petter. All right. Thanks a lot. All right. But it was sort of this feeling of things are going to get better.

It seems that way, listening to the recording, hearing Brian's enthusiasm, his giddiness, except for one thing. A few weeks later, Brian Pada would be dead. We do have a breaking story. A University of Miami football player has been shot and killed. Amarosaun's live and kindled with the very latest. Michael Jackie, Miami Day police confirming tonight, Brian Pada, UM's defensive lineman was shot and killed tonight.

We are told his body was... From the outside looking in, it was the kind of case that police should have been motivated to solve quickly. A star player on a major college football team murdered near campus, just a few months shy of the NFL draft. But that is not what happened. Instead, weeks turned into months, which eventually turned into years,

and Brian's murder remained unsolved. But almost 20 years later, someone is finally set to stand trial for the murder of Brian Pada. I'm Paula Levine. From 30430 podcast, this is Murder at the U. The story of how two University of Miami teammates found themselves on opposite ends of a murder investigation. And what happened when a team of ESPN reporters brought that investigation into the light. Episode 1.

Chilling with the Cains. As a reporter, I tried to stay out of the story, but some Sometimes the work you do to get the story and what you uncover changes it. That's exactly what happened here. And that story starts in 2017, in the office of Ben Weber. I was a feature producer at ESPN. One of the shows Ben worked on at the time was College Game Day, ESPN's weekly show about college football. Glad to have you with us.

How great is it to have college football back on a full Saturday? In August 2017, Ben received an email from an odd source. I got an email that said the Miami Police Department was interested in helping us tell this story in an effort to try to find new leads. The story was more than 10 years old, and it was about the unsolved murder of a University of Miami football player, Brian Pada. Is it unusual for police departments to pitch stories to ESPN? I'll say in my 25 years here, that's the first and only time that that has happened. And later this season, an hour before he died, he was on the phone arguing with somebody. Well, come and get it then. You know where you can find me?

I'm actually getting a little bit uncomfortable with this whole thing. He had $14,000 cash in the car, and I say something you're right. This is an assassination, and there's more to this than meets the eye. A lot of people thought we had a killer amongst us. looking into it because I was warned that these people will literally come up in your house and kill your family. Does MDPD know who killed Brian Potter?