Sins & Survivors: A Las Vegas True Crime Podcast - The Murders of Joe Stutzman and Brandon Durham

Episode Date: December 3, 2024

A decorated Air Force veteran and devoted father, Joe Stutzman built a life of hard work and dedication until betrayal turned deadly. As police uncovered the shocking truth, a young man in a hockey mask became the key to solving Joe’s murder.The recent killing of Las Vegas father Brandon Durham by police raises urgent questions about justice and accountability.https://sinspod.co/55sourcesDomestic Violence Resourceshttp://sinspod.co/resourcesClick here to become a member of our Patreon!https://sinspod.co/patreonVisit and join our Patreon now and access our ad-free episodes and exclusive bonus content & schwag! Get ad-free access for only $1 a month or ad-free and bonus episodes for $3 a monthApple Podcast Subscriptionshttps://sinspod.co/appleWe're now offering premium membership benefits on Apple Podcast Subscriptions! On your mobile deviceLet us know what you think about the episodehttps://www.buzzsprout.com/twilio/text_messages/2248640/open_sms Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/sins-survivors-a-las-vegas-true-crime-podcast--6173686/support.

To listen ad-free, visit Zinspod.co slash subscribe. Starting at $2.99 a month, you'll also get access to our exclusive bonus content episodes when you join through Patreon or Apple subscriptions. Thanks for supporting the show! Welcome to Sinister Suites, where true crime meets dangerously killer recipes. I'm Crystal, a licensed therapist and your guide into the psyche of criminals, cult leaders, and the minds behind the madness. From creepy rituals to unsolved mysteries, I'm going to drag you through these disturbing tales. I'm Michelle, a professional

pastry chef, here to whip up treats inspired by history's darkest crimes, lores, or twisted conspiracies. My baked goods will take you on a sweet journey through the year of the crime, the theme of the crime, or straight into the criminal themselves. We've got you covered with long, short, and mini episodes. If we've whet your appetite, follow us on Instagram at the Sinister Sweets for sneak peeks, reels, and behind the scenes content. Plus, our Patreons get extra killer treats. Join us if you dare, because the deeper we go, the darker it gets, and a man who worked hard to provide for his family, Joe Stutzman's life was built on dedication and love.

But what happened when that life collided with betrayal and desperation? It's a story of trust shattered, a family torn apart, and the lengths someone will go to keep what they believe is theirs. What led to Joe's tragic death? And how did a young man in a hockey mask become the key to uncovering the truth? Hi, and welcome to Sins and Survivors, a Las Vegas true crime podcast, where we focus on cases that deal with domestic violence, as well as missing persons and unsolved cases. I'm your host, Sean, and with me, as always, is the one and only John. I am the only John in the room.

Before we get into this week's case, we want to talk about a recent shooting of a homeowner by a Las Vegas Metro Police officer here in Las Vegas on November 12th, just a few weeks ago. The case is in its very early stages currently, but the circumstances have made it national news and we think it's important that we talk about it. Brandon Durham was 43 and married to a woman named Rachel Gore. He had a 15-year-old daughter and a 13-year-old stepson, and the family lived on Wine River Drive near Sunset Park here in Las Vegas. He worked in a real estate office and, based on reporting, had many devastated friends who described him as a hometown boy and a passionate sports fan. He loved the Minnesota Vikings, the UNLV Rebels, the Golden Knights, and the Las Vegas Raiders. They also said he was a devoted

dad and described him as goofy, funny, an amazing person, and a beautiful soul who lit up a room. Alejandra Boudreau was from Seattle, Washington, and apparently had met Brandon on a dating app, and the two were allegedly involved in a relationship, according to news reports. Lawyers for the family stated there was some kind of domestic incident the police responded to in which someone refused to leave Brandon's home and they believe that it is the same suspect. The police released the 911 call from that incident and Brandon is heard saying that an ex-friend, Marie, which is Alejandro's middle name, was refusing to leave his home and that she had gone through his drawers and things in his bedroom looking for something.

Police were dispatched to Brandon's house and Marie, Alejandra, agreed to leave and left for the airport. The fatal incident occurred the next day, the evening of November 12, 2024. Police received a 911 call from Brandon Durham around 9 p.m. He told the 911 dispatcher that two people were breaking into his family's home. It turned out there was only one person breaking in, and it was Alejandra. According to reports and police documents, she broke in through a window and turned on the gas on the stove, intending to blow up the house, and then took two large kitchen knives to go after Brandon. Her motive was unclear, but reporting also says that she claimed she was suicidal and was hoping to die at the hands of the police. A neighbor also called 911 at the same time as

Brandon, describing a person in a red hoodie who had broken the windows of the house, as well as badly damaged Brandon's car with bricks. The intruder then climbed in through the window. Brandon told them he and his 15-year-old daughter had locked themselves in a bathroom as he urged the police to come to their aid. Upon arriving at the home, Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department officers observed signs of forced entry, including broken windows on the house and vehicles, and heard screaming from inside. Officer Alexander Bookman, one of the responding officers, kicked open the front door to gain entry into the home. In the body cam footage that was released, Boudreaux and Durham can be seen struggling over a knife. Durham was in his boxers and was defending himself from being stabbed by

Boudreaux, who was wearing a hoodie. Officer Bookman shouted at them to drop the knife, but then almost immediately opened fire, not at the obvious assailant, but at Brandon. He was shot once and fell, and then Bookman shot him five more times. The suspect, Boudreau, was not injured, but was arrested at the scene. This all happened in front of Brandon's 15-year-old daughter. It is very important to note here that Officer Bookman is the same officer who had responded to the 911 call at Brandon's house the day before, and he had noted in his report that Alejandra had packed up and left the house for the airport. This makes the incident even more infuriating, as Bookman was familiar with both of them

and had just been to Brandon's house not even 24 hours earlier. Bookman is currently on paid administrative leave. Boudreaux has been charged with several felonies, including manslaughter, home invasion, and assault with a deadly weapon, child abuse, and disregard for the safety of personal property. Prosecutors also indicated that more charges could be brought as the investigation progresses. Brandon's family has retained two prominent national civil rights attorneys named Lee Merritt and Cannon Lambert, who have called for the arrest of Officer Bookman and have met with the Las Vegas District Attorney Steve Wolfson. According to Wolfson, two investigations are happening concurrently.

The first is to determine if any policies were violated that could lead to disciplinary action, and the second is a criminal investigation to determine if any charges should be brought against the officers. Boudreaux refused to be transported to her arraignment, but Judge Amy Wilson has ordered her to be transported to that arraignment by any means necessary. On Saturday, November 23rd, supporters planned to march in downtown Las Vegas to protest what happened to Brandon. Minister Vance Sanders, who organized the march, said, It's our own city, so of course you're not going to sit by and be quiet. We're going to stand up. This episode will come out after that event, so please visit our social media where we will continue to provide updates.

This incident is a horrible tragedy for Brandon's family. A devoted father and beloved member of our community has had his life ended by the very people that he called for help in an emergency. This happens way too often in the U.S. and way too often to people of color. Along with our whole community, we are hoping for justice for Brandon, and we're keeping his family in our thoughts through this unimaginable loss. At the time of this recording, Brandon's family is asking for the officer to be arrested. The family has set up a GoFundMe to help pay for Brandon's funeral expenses and for counseling and emotional support services for the family as they grieve and seek healing. We'll link to that GoFundMe in the show notes this week and add it to our link tree. We will provide an update as soon as we have more information, but on to this

week's case, which is the story of the murder of Joe Stutzman. Joe was born December 16, 1977, in Altoona, Pennsylvania. In the mid-1990s, when he finished high school and was thinking about a career, he knew there wasn't a lot of opportunity in his small town, which has since grown even smaller. So he decided to join the Air Force and serve our nation instead. When he was about 25 years old, Joe was stationed at Nellis Air Force Base in the northeast of Las Vegas. Not long after he moved here, he met Brandy Norfleet at a nightclub and the two of them hit it off immediately and got married in 2003. Brandy was a Las Vegas local who grew up being raised by a single mom who worked odd hours to make ends meet. She was known to be a very caring

individual, according to her friends, and as we said, Joe and Brandy seemed to fall for each other right away. After they married, they bought a house in North Las Vegas, and they had a son in 2005. According to several accounts, Joe was a dedicated provider for his family. He decided to leave the Air Force and became a civilian military aircraft mechanic instead, and as a contractor, he started making significantly more money, which helped him take care of his family. The major downside to this was that Joe had to travel overseas quite frequently and for long stretches of time, including traveling to areas that were active war zones like Iraq and Afghanistan. Friends of Brandy told the Oxygen Network that Brandy's mental health suffered when Joe was gone. She was very lonely and was possibly coping with depression.

Brandy did not choose the most healthy and appropriate way to deal with her loneliness. She began hanging out with teenage boys. And remember, at the time, she was 31 years old and had a five-year-old son. According to their neighbors, these boys were coming and going from Brandy and Joe's house throughout the day and night. Their house became a party house, with drugs and drinking. Brandy grew particularly close to a young man named Jeremiah Merriweather, who was right around 18 years old, when the two of them met. Jeremiah had a lot of affection for Brandy, her son, and their dogs. He had even referred to himself as Uncle Jeremiah. You won't be shocked to hear that when Joe returned from Afghanistan in the summer of 2010, all of that partying came to an end. He discovered that Brandy and her, let's call them,

young friends, had spent thousands of dollars that Joe had worked so hard to earn. Joe realized his relationship with Brandy was done at that point, and he retained a lawyer, initiated a divorce, and asked for full custody of their son. Brandy did not want to get a divorce, and she definitely did not want to share or lose custody of her son. She did move out of the house to stay with a friend, and she said she hoped the two of them would be able to work it out. On the afternoon of November 7, 2010, Brandy came running to a neighbor with blood on her hands. She told the neighbor that something had happened to Joe, and the neighbor called 911. Brandy said that she had

been calling and texting Joe that day, but he hadn't answered, so she went by the house. She said she found him lying on the kitchen floor and that he was bloody and cold. The police arrived at the house and sadly, they found that Joe had been killed. He had been stabbed multiple times and his left ring finger was completely severed. Naturally, the police wanted to talk to Brandy in detail about Joe and the circumstances she had found him. Brandy told the police that she had a fight with Joe the night before, and that she and their son went to sleep at one of their friend's places. She also told detectives that Joe was abusive, but we will note that it was she who had been

arrested for domestic violence against him twice in 2010. She was arrested on July 11th, as well as just two days before Joe was killed. According to detectives, she had tried to ram Joe with her car. Despite this, she insisted that she did not have anything to do with Joe's murder. When detectives asked her if one of her teenage friends could have done it, she pointed the finger at Jeremiah. According to Brandy, she and Jeremiah had a brother-sister relationship, but she suspected that he was interested in a romantic relationship, and she was not into that idea. She told detectives that she had told Jeremiah about the problems that she and Joe were having, and that Jeremiah had shown up at the place she was staying around 4 a.m. the night before, covered in blood, and told her that he had confronted Joe and killed him.

Brandy said she lied to the police before because she was afraid of being accused of the murder, which she continued to deny that she had anything to do with, and she was afraid of losing custody of her son. She told the police that she had discussed murdering Joe with several of her teenage friends, but she never believed any one of them would do it. Jeremiah was also interviewed by the police. He initially lied to the detectives and said that he was home on the night of the murder, but he eventually did admit that he went to Joe's house to confront him about how he treated Brandy. He said that he knocked and Joe didn't answer and the door was locked. So he went around to the backyard to enter through a window. He claimed that Joe woke up and confronted him in the backyard with a knife. The two of them got into an altercation and Jeremiah said that he had killed Joe in self-defense. Jeremiah said he ran from the house and that when he had left, Joe was still alive.

The police asked what Jeremiah had done with the knife, and he told them he had taken the knife, his clothes, and his shoes, and put it all in a plastic bag and threw it away in the desert. The police were able to recover those items and concluded that Jeremiah had gone to Joe's house with the intent to murder him, based on the fact that he had brought a goalie hockey mask, which would completely conceal his identity, gloves, and brass knuckles. When they checked Jeremiah for injuries, he didn't have any. He was arrested and charged with Joe's murder. Two days after Jeremiah was arrested, Brandy was arrested and also charged with first-degree murder with a deadly weapon and conspiracy to commit murder. She was held without bail. It's evident that when police placed Brandy under arrest, it was based on what Jeremiah had told them about the crime. He told them that she had insisted he had to kill

Joe in order to save their family. In February of 2015, Jeremiah accepted a plea deal of 21 years to life in prison in exchange for testifying against Brandy. The state of Nevada decided to pursue the death penalty against Brandy, and if she was convicted and sentenced to death, she would be the only woman on death row here in Nevada. That decision reminds me of the first trial of Tom Randolph here in Nevada, which was actually his second time on trial for murder, even though Tom had not fired the gun that killed his wife, Sharon Randolph, he was charged with capital murder for orchestrating her death.

The prosecution did not rely on Jeremiah's testimony alone. Multiple witnesses testified about all of the activities at Brandy and Joe's house while Joe was working overseas. Several neighbors testified about the teenagers going to the house to party. The neighbor Brandy ran to when she found Joe dead testified that she was suspicious about Brandy from the start. In part of the 911 call she made, you could hear her saying that she wasn't sure what Brandy had done. The prosecution leaned heavily into Brandy becoming unglued when she found out that Joe wanted to divorce her, especially because he wanted full custody of their son. According to Joe's friends, Brandy became toxic and Joe's safety became a concern. And also, similar to the Tom Randolph case, the detectives discovered that Joe had a $213,000 life insurance policy that Brandy would collect

if he died. Jeremiah was the star witness for the prosecution. During the trial, he said that on the night of the murder, Brandy had drugged Joe with sleeping pills to make the attack easier for Jeremiah. She said to him, you got to do this. You can save our family. While on the stand, Jeremiah shared that he had grown really close to Brandy's son, and it was evident that he really cared about the boy. He said that he was very close to Brandy, and the two of them had sometimes slept in the same bed, but he testified that they had never had sex. Jeremiah explained that he believed that Brandy and her son were being abused by Joe, and that Jeremiah could provide for them. He explained that on the night of the murder,

he almost backed out. His testimony was very close to what he initially told for them. He explained that on the night of the murder, he almost backed out. His testimony was very close to what he initially told detectives. He said that when he opened the back window of the house, Joe woke up and came into the backyard with a knife and a flashlight. He said he didn't know how many times he had stabbed Joe and that that night was the most scared he had ever been in his life. He also explained that he was deeply hurt when Brandy turned on him and ratted him out to the police. Jeremiah was cross-examined extensively by Brandy's lawyers, as their defense was that Jeremiah had acted alone,

and that he wanted a relationship with her, and that was his motive for the murder. Ultimately, that defense failed, and Brandy was found guilty of first-degree murder with the deadly weapon enhancement. It was then up to a jury if she would face the death penalty for orchestrating her husband's murder. During the sentencing phase, evidence was presented that showed that Brandy had a rough upbringing that included abuse, sexual assault, and abandonment by her mother. Brandy asked the jury to spare her life so she could have some relationship with her son, who she said was her whole world. She said, if I could change all of this, I would absolutely. I would give anything to have my husband back. If I could do things differently, I absolutely would. I loved him very much.

Brandy was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. According to reports, her father was granted custody of her son. He was quoted as saying that he had had concerns about his grandson's well-being because of Brandy's relationships with the teenagers and the constant partying. Jeremiah and Brandy are both currently incarcerated with the Nevada Department of Corrections. Jeremiah's first parole hearing will be in 2030. Brandy continues to appeal her conviction, but so far, her appeals have all failed. We were unable to find much more information about Joe Stutzman, but we do know that he was laid to rest in Shelley Town, Pennsylvania,

in the St. John's Evangelical Lutheran Cemetery. He was only 32 years old when he died, having served in the Air Force and assisted the military overseas for many years. He left behind a five-year-old son when he was killed, as well as his two loving parents. His friend Gregory commented on his memorial page, What a great crew chief and friend he was. He is missed and loved by so many. This week, we shared the tragedies of two Las Vegas fathers whose lives were taken. The recent death of Brandon Durham continues to shock and horrify Las Vegas and the world. Be sure you are following us on social media so you don't miss his GoFundMe.

We know his family will appreciate the support. Also, be sure to share the podcast with a friend and leave us a review wherever you listen to your podcasts. It really helps. Thank you as always for listening. And remember, what happens here happens everywhere. Thanks for listening. Visit sinspod.co slash subscribe for exclusive bonus content and to listen ad-free. Remember to like and follow us on Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, and Threads at Sins and Survivors.

If you're enjoying the podcast, please leave us a review on your podcast platform of choice. You can contact us at questions at sinsandsurvivors.com. If you or someone you know is affected by domestic violence or needs support, please reach out to local resources or the National Domestic Violence Hotline. A list of resources is available on our website, sinsandsurvivors.com. Sins and Survivors, a Las Vegas true crime podcast, is research written and produced by your hosts, Sean and John. The information shared in this podcast is accurate at the time of recording. If you have questions,

concerns, or corrections, please email us. Links to source material for this episode can be found on our website, sinsandsurvivors.com.