Small Town Murder - #412 - The Bloody Basement Breakfast Club - Bismarck, North Dakota

Episode Date: August 11, 2023

This week, in Bismarck, North Dakota, one local basement is the all purpose hangout for a pair of teen sisters, their boyfriends, and several other local losers & runaways. They live ther...e, drink, shoot meth, and plan crimes. After one particularly wild day of drug taking, one of the teenagers decided that he should kill his parents. No one thinks he's serious, until they the see blood soaked scene, and mutilated bodies. This leads to a hunt for the murderers, and some very long term promises from the girlfriends!!Along the way, we find out that everybody loves macaroni & cheese, that meth is not very good for the development of the teenage mind, and that Jesus isn't going to get you out of prison!!Hosted by James Pietragallo and Jimmie WhismanNew episodes every Thursday!Donate at: patreon.com/crimeinsports or go to paypal.com and use our email: crimeinsports@gmail.comGo to shutupandgivememurder.com for all things Small Town Murder & Crime In Sports!Follow us on...twitter.com/@murdersmallfacebook.com/smalltownpodinstagram.com/smalltownmurderAlso, check out James & Jimmie's other show, Crime In Sports! On Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, Wondery, Wondery+, Stitcher, or wherever you listen to podcasts!See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Transcript
Discussion (0)
Starting point is 00:00:00 Wondery Plus subscribers can listen to Small Town Murder early and ad-free right now. Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app or on Apple Podcasts. What if you married the love of your life and then stood by them as they developed 21 new identities? What would you do? This Is Actually Happening is a weekly podcast that features extraordinary true stories of life-changing events told by the people who lived them. Listen to the newest season of This Is Actually Happening on the Wondery app or wherever you get your podcasts. Hello and welcome back to Small Town Murder Express. Yay! Choo-choo!
Starting point is 00:00:50 Yay indeed, Jimmy. Yay indeed. My name is James Petrigallo. I'm here with my co-host. I'm Jimmy Wissman. Thank you folks so much for joining us all aboard the murder train, pulling away from the station for some crazy stuff today. As usual, we're going to a state we don't normally go to because there's nobody there and they don't commit a lot of murder but wow when they do it's something and today is something they save it up for when it counts uh very quickly here shut up and give me murder.com what's there everything merch shirts all that stuff but
Starting point is 00:01:21 mainly tickets to live shows especially chic Chicago, August the 12th. It's happening. Get your tickets right now. If you're listening early, you can get your tickets. Otherwise, it'll be on Saturday. Get to the door. Get there. You're listening before August 12th or on August 12th.
Starting point is 00:01:36 Get there. Chicago. It's going to be our biggest show ever. We're doing a Chicago-only live show as well. So it's going to be a very special occasion. Shut up and give me a murder.com. You can also get tickets for Dallas, Atlanta and Charlotte and a few left in DC.
Starting point is 00:01:49 Everything else is sold out because you guys are awesome. So thank you for doing that. You also want Patreon. If you want more stuff, we have more stuff. Patreon.com slash crime in sports, which is the name of our other podcast that you should be listening to, by the way.
Starting point is 00:02:04 But anyway, Patreon.com slash crime and sports, anybody $ name of our other podcast that you should be listening to by the way but anyway patreon.com slash crime and sports anybody five dollars a month or above you get access to all of it the whole back catalog of over 200 bonus episodes to listen to and then new ones every other week they're going to keep stacking and stacking this week oh we have good stuff this week for crime and sports which of course you'll have access to we are doing theme park disasters part two part two because it was so sweet we had to revisit and uh we're getting into more modern times in the in the new one here part two so people will launch far off of roller coasters and then for small town murder people have asked for it a lot the stanford prison experiment which uh what happens when you take a bunch of college kids and say half of you are prisoners half of you are guards let's see how you treat each other.
Starting point is 00:02:45 Holy shit. It's wild. So we'll do that. No, it's terrible. It's worse than you think. So we'll get into that. That's Patreon.com slash Crime and Sports. And you'll get a shout out at the end of the regular show where Jimmy will mispronounce your name with a big smile on his face while he's trying to get it correct.
Starting point is 00:03:01 So there's that. That said, I think it's time to dive in here because, wow, do we have a weird episode. Sure do. I think it's time to, let's all do it together, everyone. Let's all sit back. What do you say? Clear the lungs. There we go.
Starting point is 00:03:14 Here we go. And hands to the sky. And let's all shout, shut up and give me murder. Let's do this, Jimmy. What do you say? Let's go on a trip, shall we? All right. We're going to North Dakota this week.
Starting point is 00:03:30 Okay. Don't go there very often. I'll tell you something else. North. We've only been there three times in this entire show. Because there's not a lot of people there. It's very spread out. And most of the murders happen in the small cities that are there, which this one happened.
Starting point is 00:03:46 We could have cheated and made the town where the people were. We'll talk about it, but where the things were found later on. We could have done that as the small town, but instead we're just going straight ahead and we're doing a town that's a little bit bigger than normal. But if you saw the main like the city streets, it's not a metropolis. It really isn't. We're going to bismarck north dakota oh the old capital it's the capital of north dakota exactly it's in southern north dakota because nothing is going to go too north because it's freezing up there there's no no
Starting point is 00:04:16 civilization up there uh population of this of of actual bismarck is 73 321 holy so yeah not it's actually not too much bigger than we would normally you know do anyway but it's got to be the biggest fucking collection of north dakotans though right no it's like the third i think there's a no i think there's other ones but that are bigger somehow a little bit bigger yeah i think so if that's your biggest city town but i don't think there's a million people in north Dakota. I think it's pretty low in population. Median income in this town, median household income, $57,660. So slightly above the national average, pretty much right there. Median home price, $318,500.
Starting point is 00:04:57 So expensive, but slightly below the national average as well. This place is about a little under two hours to minot north dakota which was our last episode yeah that was a killer conspiracy that was a good episode so a little bit of history here why are people here it's freezing it's barren what are we doing here let's talk about that's part of it uh things like that this was i guess lewis and clark kind of went through this area did they really this was been this was a mandan indian settlement this area here and later different towns came in uh there was a northern pacific railway guy named edwin ferry johnson he's edwin ferry johnson but he works for the railroad not
Starting point is 00:05:37 the ferry he really messed up his profession so they called it edwinton after him for a while here around here which is ridiculous how they did that trail they went all the way the fuck up and then cut over rather than a diagonal well i don't think they went all this is probably a corner huh because you kind of have to go around shit too because you well they went up the river was the thing right missouri river because they they went as far as they could on the boats and then they got out and had to walk the rest of the way so once they got to mountains. So, yeah, you kind of go where the river goes when it goes to that.
Starting point is 00:06:09 So in 1873, the railway named the city Bismarck in honor of the German Chancellor Otto von Bismarck. That's why it's named that. Otto von Bismarck is the reason for this. They hoped that this would attract German immigrants to the area and then German investments in the railroad as well. They were literally trying to kiss German people's asses, saying, please. They didn't foresee anything terrible happening out of that place. Strange. Not at all.
Starting point is 00:06:35 They said, they're going to be great always. They won't start two world wars in the next hundred years. We've only had two, you guys. This is the only U.S. state capital named for a foreign statesman. Okay. Which is interesting. Yeah, most of them are there. So reviews of this town we'll talk about.
Starting point is 00:06:52 Here's five stars. They love it. A lot of people really like it here. Big fans. Yeah, I absolutely love the simple town of Bismarck that's become my home. Nobody thinks of it as like a big city here. It's full of the friendliest people I've ever met, and I'm glad to call many people in this small town
Starting point is 00:07:08 my friends and or family. Okay, see there. She's from there, she's saying. She loves her family too. That's right. North Dakota nice is a real thing, especially when you start to believe that common courtesies are a thing of the past.
Starting point is 00:07:21 Not only are the people great, the rolling hills full of natural resources and endless farmland pastures remind me of the past. Not only are the people great, the rolling hills full of natural resources and endless farmland pastures remind me of the great exporting powers we have in the state. We consume so little yet produce so much.
Starting point is 00:07:34 Wow, this is a commercial. We provide power and food to so many who will never even know where we are located on the map. Okay. Don't even know
Starting point is 00:07:43 where you're getting all your good stuff, you fucking losers out there. Three stars. If you want to be an everyday person, this is the perfect city to live in. If you're afraid of death, you will be comfy here.
Starting point is 00:07:56 The hell does that mean? What? If you are afraid of death, you will be comfy here. I guess there's not a lot of things to kill you there. It's not dangerous. Oh, it's fucking cold. Wow, you think you'll afraid of death, you will be comfy here. I guess there's not a lot of things to kill you there. It's not dangerous. It's fucking cold.
Starting point is 00:08:07 Wow. You'll freeze to death. There are not many other things to do than get up, go to work, pick up your kids from school, take them to practice or whatever, go home, cook dinner, go to sleep and repeat. That's what most people do anyway, no matter where they are. Even if you live in, you know, wherever you could, midtown Manhattan, that's what you're still doing. Yeah, it's still a kid's, it's being a parent. It's still life. Okay, here's two stars.
Starting point is 00:08:29 I'll read some of this. Quote, most kids turn to alcohol and drugs starting in middle school due to lack of things to do. Well, that's terrific. That seems like a lot. The people are here are very closed-minded and it feels very stagnant. The people don't like growth or change and I've seen license plates that say welcome to North Dakota now leave.
Starting point is 00:08:49 License plate holders I guess. The food is terrible bland and will give you diarrhea. See that's a direct straight forward. That's information you could use right there is what I'm saying. That's valuable for me. You can use that. Yeah. I don't need to know about all the other
Starting point is 00:09:05 stuff. Will I get diarrhea if I eat here? That's important. Everything is either closed or closes early on Sundays. The people are religious hypocrites who frequent bars and engage in not only premarital sex, but brag about their sexual promiscuity.
Starting point is 00:09:22 Sounds like a bunch of dudes. Wow. Sounds like a bunch of probably wow it sounds like a bunch of probably gotta be like outdoor workers there yeah i would assume here's another two-star review two stars quote i do not like this town that's it that's the that's the two stars there not like the color brown i do not like the color brown i would not like it in a town i would not like it in a gown i would not like it up or down up or down holy shit this is wild so things to do here this is i would go to this because i've gone to a festival of this name the mac and cheese festival is here you betcha i will you will see me at the mac and cheese festival you know mac and cheese can be good there's really not much that's bad
Starting point is 00:10:07 about mac and cheese it's hard to make it inedible is what i'm getting at you could like fuck it up put weird shit in it making it edible but if you're just making a straight mac and cheese mac and cheese fuck i like macaroni i like cheese let's put these things together yes i can't think of a reason those two together would be bad. I went to a mac and cheese festival in New York, and we had VIP wristbands. I bought the extra thing for like $20. I had a macaroni and cheese gift bag. Front and center. VI cheese.
Starting point is 00:10:36 I am VI cheese, baby. They say this is the cheesiest event in Bismarck. All right. You motherfuckers. The first ever mac and cheese festival brought to you, presented by Dakota Community Bank and Trust, will take place.
Starting point is 00:10:51 We've heard the Bismarck, Mandan, and Lincoln communities loud and clear. If you want more out-of-the-box community events that the whole family can enjoy, whether you're 7, 37, or 77, we think everyone can, I, oh God, can agree that the mac and cheese filled event is a gouda idea you motherfuckers i knew they were going to stick a cheese pun in there i could feel right at
Starting point is 00:11:13 the end i could feel it it's a good idea uh people are going to showcase their cheesiest gooiest most delicious macaroni and cheese creations plus there, of course, a competition where they're going to send their favorite mac and cheese dish to the World Food Championships. Wow. Which is the world's largest food sport competition. That sounds weird. Sounds like you have to throw food at people, doesn't it? That's larger than the Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest? Apparently, the world's largest food sport competition.
Starting point is 00:11:44 It has to be. Maybe more like participants, contestants probably. Because there's only like eight guys in that. Right. eating contest i apparently the world's largest food sport competition it has to be maybe more like participants contestants probably yeah because there's only like eight guys in that so right you know that's everybody watches everybody yeah oh yeah it's i don't think they have like television coverage that shit's on espn let's talk about a murder what do you say jimmy let's do this okay here we go oh boy this is a weird one all right let's go back in time a little bit not too far 1998 so it's far but doesn't feel like five years no holy fuck it's so far it's not black and white times it's not anything like that there's a lot of footage you
Starting point is 00:12:18 know yeah the internet exists have a look at a 1998 car and see how beat to living shit that car is. That was a long time ago. Pre or post internet, though, you know what I mean, at this point? You look at the 50s as pre and post television, and this is pre and post internet as the 90s. 92, no internet, 98, fucking AOL, you know what I mean? We're all there. It's all there. Everyone has an Earthlink account, so we're all set.
Starting point is 00:12:45 1998, we're going to talk about a couple people. Gordon Gordy, everybody calls him. Make it easy. Erikstad. Erikstad. Okay. E-R-I-C-K-S-T-A-D. Erikstad.
Starting point is 00:12:59 Oh. Or Erikstad. Gordon here, Gordon Kent Erikstad, was born in 1945 in Devil's Lake, North Dakota. Yeah. Yeah, Devil's Lake. That's right. Everybody's got a Devil's Lake. Everybody's got it.
Starting point is 00:13:12 He attended school. He graduated in 63, went into the Army, served a tour in Korea, and then was discharged in 67 and went to the Dakota Aeroteotech college in fargo where he graduated from there because he's going to be a helicopter mechanic here for a long time yeah he does yeah he does wild shit here now barbara barbara marie heckman she's born a few years younger four years younger than him she is also from north dakota her mother's name is Ethel. So she's very Midwestern. She went to school in Valley City. She went to Dakota Business College in Fargo and graduated in 1969. And that's where Gordy and Barb met each other.
Starting point is 00:13:57 Okay. They meet in Fargo in 69. And it is just, I mean, love at first sight. Keep it warm in winter. You have to. You need somebody to hold on to here. By January 10th, 1970, they are married in Valley City. Yep.
Starting point is 00:14:12 They live in Nebraska for a while. Then they move to Alaska for a while. Is that right? Yeah. I don't know whether that's to temper themselves to the cold of North Dakota or what, but they do it. Then they move to Fargo, and then they end up finally in 1973, they live in Bismarck and stay there. That's where they end up.
Starting point is 00:14:31 They have three children. They have Michelle. We have Stacy. Those are the two older daughters. And then they adopt a son, a very baby, not like when he's 12. Oh, brand new. They adopt a baby boy. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:14:44 So he, gordy here worked for the north dakota national guard as a uh he was a master sergeant and an aircraft mechanic supervisor for them so worked his way up to that and barbara here barb worked for the bismarck tribune newspaper and then she ended up in the 90s she's been working for Dan's Supermarket. Oh. I think in the deli where she's been working. That's a good job. That's a good job, yeah.
Starting point is 00:15:13 Not bad. So they do pretty well for themselves, these two actually. They do pretty well. He likes his job doing stuff in the army there. His friend said he's a flight inspector for the guard. I think the mechanics who take care of the helicopters report to
Starting point is 00:15:30 him he has to sign off when they're ready to fly. So he's the guy responsible in telling people to keep those blades from being fucked up. That plane crashes. He's the first one they talk to. They go, where's your report? You're the guy who... What the fuck happened? That's your signature there on the bottom saying, ready to fly, right, chief?
Starting point is 00:15:47 Yeah. Let's talk to you. He talked about... His friend talked about taking... That he was of... Gordy's a meticulous, neat, organized, clean guy and calm. Better be. Makes sense.
Starting point is 00:15:59 Anybody dealing with aircraft at all, that seems to be the... That's the profile you want. Meticulous, neat, organized, calm. Perfect. Meticulous first,, organized, calm. Perfect. Meticulous first, calm second. Yeah. All of that. Meticulous, neat, organized.
Starting point is 00:16:11 Those things are important on a plane. And calm, too, in case any shit goes wrong. So he said that, he's talking about his friend and him went to Canada and they go on these fishing trips and, you know, Jim had a trips and Gordy had a new boat and they're living life. Really getting after it. Yeah, they're talking about retiring in a few years. They're in their 50s. He's
Starting point is 00:16:33 53, 54 and she's like 49 so they're talking about, alright, the next 10 years, let's see where we're going to end up. They have a cabin that they go to at Lake Isabel and they bought a new cabin so it's a little bit bigger so they have more room. They want to eventually have a place for the grandkids to come hang out. This is what they're looking at here, a larger cabin.
Starting point is 00:16:54 This one has a sand beach for the grandchildren on the lake. Yeah, that's right. They're getting ready for retirement, doing their things. Gordy is really into, besides his job, he likes hanging out with his friends he likes going fishing he's a deer hunter you know he always he has all his deer rifles and shotguns and stuff that he keeps and is locked up meticulously in his case and everything like that i don't know why i have that i will never be able to shoot an animal i already know i can't yeah i'm not that's i'm not the one people can do it and they're fine with it and i'm not the one. People can do it and they're fine with it. I'm not coming down on you. It's just not me.
Starting point is 00:17:27 I'm more like, oh, look at that thing. Cool. Look at it eat. I see all the deer all over my house. And I'm like, oh, I see the babies with the white spots all over them. And I'm like, I don't want to shoot that. That's adorable. I'm going to get rid of that gun.
Starting point is 00:17:41 I know. Doesn't tempt you to go shoot an animal? No. Jimmy's going to be like, I'm going to go out there and do it. Why did I buy this stupid thing? So at this point, they're Gordy and Barb, their daughters. One lives in Fargo. One lives in Arizona. Oh.
Starting point is 00:17:58 By the 90s. And then their son was born in 1980. So he's younger here. He just turned 18. Yeah. We'll talk about him. Brian John Erickstad here. That's the adopted boy, yeah so he's younger here. He just turned 18. We'll talk about him. Brian John Eriksstad here. That's the adopted boy, yeah?
Starting point is 00:18:09 That's the boy, yeah, here, Brian. And he doesn't know he's adopted for a long time. We'll talk about that. Oh, you can't do that. Which is weird, because we just had that in another episode, too. A girl who didn't know she was adopted. You can't do that. Not on purpose.
Starting point is 00:18:21 That's just a weird theme. Sometimes it's birds, sometimes it's adoption. We can't tell you what the theme's going to we have no fucking idea it just pops up my dad was adopted when he was a kid they didn't tell him too much later and it fucked him up it's not good yeah you want to tell him that immediately you know so i think i don't know i'm not a psychiatrist seems like it's what it would seem like so they all live at 245 Laredo Drive. It's a very nice upper middle class neighborhood. Yeah. You know, Brian couldn't have asked for better.
Starting point is 00:18:49 He's got, like, older parents who have money, and they dote on him. And, you know, he's spoiled, I guess you could say. They got a sand beach cabin, James. That's what I'm saying. They're doing great. He's not. For an adopted kid, that's really falling into the right hands. You know what I'm saying? He really really did this isn't bad at all so here's a story that the friends tell about brian here
Starting point is 00:19:10 brian the whole time this i'm reading this i have fucking 18 in life in my head skid row that's brian brian was a young boy that's all i can think in my head. Tell me he's got a heart of stone, Jason. He's got a heart of stone. Do you live nine to five and work his fingers to the bone? Work his fingers to the bone. He had no money. No, no good at all. Work the streets a soldier. I don't know how the fuck. I left this world alone.
Starting point is 00:19:41 Sebastian Bach is my height. How the fuck does he talk and and sing like that yeah i don't know that's wild shit i can't get that high that's crazy there's a few guys it's very impressive strange it's a very strange it is impressive it's just wow how do you do that so anyway here's a story that they were on a vacation here and they ended up they're like at lake isabel where they had their cabin there and Brian accidentally tipped out of a slow moving boat into shallow
Starting point is 00:20:10 water by the shore here he's like 13 so he's in his street clothes you know wet so he walks out soaking wet and walks up to the plate glass patio door of the cabin and the neighbors the friends of the parents here said
Starting point is 00:20:26 that he pounded on the door until it broke because it was locked rather than knock on it and wait for them to come answer he pounded on it until he broke a plate glass sliding door there and cut himself to shit because that's what plate glass does and he they said he cut his arms to the bone he had oh he gashes all over yeah he could kill himself i mean that's crazy and he said he cut his arms to the bone. He had huge gashes all over. He could have killed himself. I mean, that's crazy. And he said that Barb and Gordy are just really good people. They did everything for that boy.
Starting point is 00:20:53 They had to drive him 50 miles to the emergency room after that. Talk about the weekend being over. Yeah, the interior of your car fucked up. Massive bleeding. Also, they stood by him when he has some other problems as a kid here brian brian's a little bit of a of a fuck up here um he did a stint at the youth correctional center in mandan and the prairie learning center in raleigh north dakota and has i guess had some just some jail here and there, picked up on theft charges, possession
Starting point is 00:21:26 of stolen property charges. These are all his juvenile arrests. He doesn't even have to. No, no, no, he doesn't. He's just, you know, he's got a heart of stone. It's just him. Brian's just an idiot, so I don't know what his deal is. So they said that all the friends at Gordy and Barb were just crestfallen about this shit.
Starting point is 00:21:47 Because they treat him nice and they do good things for him and he acts like an asshole. They don't understand it. The other two girls, they were fine. They raised them nice and they grew up fine. And then we got this asshole now. So he started drinking and smoking weed by age 13 in accordance with that review that lines up perfectly with that person's review that's eighth grade yeah there you go so by 16 he's every weekend he's going on drinking binges and he's also moved on to meth as well yeah full on into
Starting point is 00:22:20 meth now not 16 i feel like we've skipped a few chapters to get to meth right that's a that's a lot three years weed to meth weed to meth he was also by that time doing acid uh popping shit loads of prescription pills whatever he could get his hands on and also doing pcp which in the 90s pcp wasn't pcp because that's when i was doing dust it was dust it's fucking formaldehyde that they put on tea leaves or dip cigarettes in. That's all it is. So it's not good for you, but it's not actual PCP, even though they think it was. It's just sherm.
Starting point is 00:22:51 It's just sherm. Yeah, you're smoking sherm, bro. I mean, but that's it still will fuck you up. Yeah, it'll still get you a mess, but you're a fucking degenerate. Yeah, especially if you're smoking meth and drinking at the same time. That's probably bad. Yeah, especially if you're smoking meth and drinking at the same time. That's probably bad. So he was turned over to the State Division of Juvenile Services, and that was when he got sent to the Prairie Learning Center.
Starting point is 00:23:13 Then he stayed clean for about a year, so he came home after that, stayed clean for about a year, but then he started drinking and smoking weed again. And according to young brian here quote eventually i found meth again yeah which is that's one thing you want to lose completely usually i found meth again hey everyone that was a that was a circle that he just completed yeah that is a that is a 360 friend you can't you can't do that he found meth like he was like what's that on oh wow i stepped on something i thought it was a rock it's. You can't do that. He found meth. Like, he was like, what's that on? Oh, wow. I stepped on something. I thought it was a rock.
Starting point is 00:23:48 It's meth. Look at that. That looks familiar. Might as well shoot it into my veins, I suppose. Hello, old friend. Hello. Hello again, my friend. Stairway to stardom creeps its ugly head back in.
Starting point is 00:24:03 So he keeps, and he gets all back into everything once you find meth the you know so the wheels are off the fucking cart at that point and forget about it so he's convicted of shoplifting at age 12 disorderly conduct uh carrying concealed weapon by age 15 possessing drug paraphernalia and running away at 16 uh violating curfew possessing alcohol at 17. He was just out late drinking, probably in a park or something. He said things just kind of slowly progressed. But there's not.
Starting point is 00:24:32 Meth is involved. There's no slow progression with meth. There's no progress happening at all. This is regress, right? Degress? Well, you're flying down a hill. You're on a toboggan right now that you have no control over, and you're flying down a – you're like Clark Groggan right now that you have no control over and you're flying down you're like clark clark griswold in christmas vacation you've put this new super fucking slick
Starting point is 00:24:51 thing on the bottom of your and now you're going down the hill and you have no control over it because that's meth when you rub that on the bottom yeah that's meth he's rubbing on the bottom of his thing there it's not progress no no it's meth not progress progress means things are getting better right i mean it could get worse you could progressively get worse but i suppose nothing's progressive once meth is involved is what i'm saying it's if it's at a two you've you've cranked it from a two to a ten as soon as you fucking start adding meth into the equation putting that on the buffet so his parents stood by him the whole time, though. Really? These two didn't even go, well, you know he's not really ours.
Starting point is 00:25:28 There was none of that shit. You know what I mean? That would be me so fast. Yeah, you'd be like, listen, it's not my DNA. No. I'm helping. I don't know. His ladder doesn't look like mine.
Starting point is 00:25:39 He just eats the same food. That's it. It just sleeps in my house. So once he turns 18, you'd think he'd go, oh, shit, now it can get serious because now he can be charged as an adult for things and not a child. But instead, absolutely not. He immediately starts fucking up. Immediately. On July 5th of 98, he turns 18.
Starting point is 00:25:59 And in the next two months, he's fucking up a lot. He had four felonies and several misdemeanors in two months. Right away. Right away. For a new adult. Yep. He's 18 for 10 days. He's a freshly minted adult with a bloodstream full of methamphetamines, and he's arrested for harboring a runaway minor.
Starting point is 00:26:20 Clean record for 10 days. Doesn't seem good. which doesn't seem good. Nine days later, so 19 days into his adulthood, he's arrested for possessing stolen property, including an ATM card that doesn't belong to him, other people's cell phones, tools you would steal out of someone's garage or car,
Starting point is 00:26:41 and CD players that he took out of cars. He's robbing cars is what he's doing. Those are car phones, all things you get out of cars. Robbing cars. I understand that anybody who's paid attention to the media would have to come to the conclusion that I killed my wife. Hi, my name is Zach Stewart-Pontier. I'm one of the filmmakers behind The Jinx, and I'm excited to bring you the official Jinx podcast.
Starting point is 00:27:04 We'll be revisiting all six episodes of part one and watching along with part two as it airs on Max, starting April 21st. Bye-bye. The official Jinx podcast. Listen on Max or wherever you get your podcasts. It's all a lighthearted nightmare on our podcast, Morbid. We're your hosts.
Starting point is 00:27:22 I'm Alina Urquhart. And I'm Ash Kelly. And our show is part true crime, part spooky, andbid. We're your hosts. I'm Alina Urquhart. And I'm Ash Kelly. And our show is part true crime, part spooky, and part comedy. The stories we cover are well-researched. He claimed and confessed to officially killing up to 28 people. With a touch of humor. I'd just like to go ahead and say that if there's no band called Malevolent Deity, that is pretty great. A dash of sarcasm and just garnished a bit with a little bit of cursing. This mother****er lied.
Starting point is 00:27:49 Like a liar. Like a liar. And if you're a weirdo like us and love to cozy up to a creepy tale of the paranormal. Or you love to hop in the Wayback Machine and dissect the details of some of history's most notorious crimes. You should tune in to our podcast, Morbid. Follow Morbid on the Wondery app or wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen to episodes early and ad-free by joining Wondery Plus in the Wondery app or on Apple Podcasts. They found the items in his car after a citizen reported seeing him going down Main Avenue,
Starting point is 00:28:19 purposely knocking over orange construction cones with his car, and throwing beer cans out of his window as he drank them. Wow. The brazen. Dude, if you're going to go around, I've been a teenager doing dumb shit, not robbing cars because I'm not a thief type of person. But like going or if you're committing criminal acts, you don't go around going knocking over construction cones pounding beers throwing the cans out the window going yeah that's not how you lay low with a car full of stolen property he's behaving like the like the the governor's son like like it's fine nothing nobody can
Starting point is 00:29:01 he how does he think that he that that nobody can penalize him for this? He had no money. Oh, no good at all. He's fucking Ricky. That's what it is. He absolutely is. He's a soldier, James. He sure does. I believe in the background of that video, that's what the kid was doing, knocking over cones with his car, drinking beer and throwing cans out the window while he was doing shit and like setting things on fire yeah so uh then there was other two other teenagers with him he's showing off so he was arrested and they were arrested as well with him for being minors in possession of alcohol so they were all drinking so he just throw those cans out the
Starting point is 00:29:41 window bro hold on i'm gonna hit all these cones. No one will notice. So, yeah, he's charged with three counts of unlawful entry into a vehicle, one count of possessing stolen property, one count of possessing drug paraphernalia, which was not like a bowl or a bong, a mirror, syringes, and a spoon. He's shooting up and snorting things, both. While he's driving. Yeah. Well, I'm taking this with me. I'm going to need to shoot something up later, so I better have my roadie spoon and needle. My roadie rig.
Starting point is 00:30:14 My roadie hypo. That's what this is. Holy shit. Wow. Also charged with driving under the influence as well, because he was drunk and on drugs. He's driving a maroon 1988 buick his parents posted 250 bond oh god and uh that's that yeah they're completely embarrassed by but again it's not ours we didn't that's not i didn't do it my balls didn't no it wasn't so he filled out the hero i'm doing well So he filled out a document for the court here, and he wrote that he was living in his car at the time, even though he's not living in his car.
Starting point is 00:30:51 And that's because he said that he wanted a low bond. That's what it was. So he gets the low bond. He's released. He is required to live at home and not leave the area. Right. Live with your parents and not leave. And not leave the area.
Starting point is 00:31:02 Right. Live with your parents and not leave. July 29th, Gordy and Barb wrote a letter to the court and said, Brian Erksted has our permission to live at our home at 245 Laredo Drive. Brian must follow all rules set by his parents. We, his parents, will report all rule violations to the court. And his parents also requested that he be allowed to go to the cabin on weekends with them as well so they can keep an eye on him and he said yes that's that's fine so he also gets out of that comes home and is arrested again like a week later for driving without a lot uh driving without a license liability insurance and possessing marijuana and drug paraphernalia as well so
Starting point is 00:31:41 sure he's a fucking there's no he's a fucking, there's no, he's a mess. And in a small area like this, when the cop sees him on the road, they pull him over because they just know he's got shit and he's definitely got weed. He's probably got meth and syringes. And people who carry rigs with them always have that, and you can always bust them for that. That's what they do.
Starting point is 00:32:02 Hi, Brian. Yep. Now, he said he found out he was adopted, and this was the problem here. He said that he had a happy childhood, but he began to not have a happy childhood when he was a teenager because he found out he was adopted, and he struggled with that. And he said, I wanted to find out who my birth parents were. I was afraid of being rejected. I thought it was going to happen again with his parents here who've been nothing but nice to him right although never rejected him no although when you're this much of a fuck up you might think wow how could they possibly put
Starting point is 00:32:34 up with this for much longer jesus they yelled at me because yeah they're rejecting me you have you're 16 and had a concealed weapon yeah i. I think, and I don't know. See, I've never adopted a kid, so it might be totally different. You might have the same feeling toward them that you have for your biological kids. I've heard people say that. You've got to, right? And adopted kids have said their parents treat them like that, so it must be. But I feel like there's something about if you rip a woman's taint out, that's like on the way out.
Starting point is 00:33:03 That's like when people invest a lot of money in something they'll invest more because they don't want to give up what they've already put in like i ripped a taint for you like i'm gonna make sure that you're not a piece of shit i'm gonna make sure when i went in here i had two holes yeah exactly or three for that matter yeah now i have two now i have two so um brian's life what he's up to out here he's got a girlfriend and his buddy goes out with his girlfriend's sister and they all pretty much live at the girlfriend's house in the basement oh yeah they have their own bedrooms down there teenage girls this is a way to hear about his friend too he's a fucking piece of work so they live at 701 sweet
Starting point is 00:33:46 avenue which everybody all the kids call just the the house sweet sweet avenue and it's kind of a dump though it's like a rented house of course they don't have nearly as much money as his parents so his other house is much nicer all the kids call it the house every group of teenagers has one house where the parents are, you know, fucking no count. And they let their kids do whatever they want in the house just so they'll think they're cool or whatever the fuck the reason is or they don't care. It's the one on Sweet. Sweet. 701 Sweet Ave.
Starting point is 00:34:16 So at the time this is going on here, he's going out with a young lady named Amy Werner, who's 16 years old. And his friend is going out with Michelle Werner, who is Amy's 18-year-old sister here. So they live in the basement bedrooms with these girls, essentially. They're always there. The parents just, all right. Yeah, the girl's mom just lets it go. And one of the girls has a twin brother, too, and he's there as well. So throw him in the mix.
Starting point is 00:34:46 It's a lot of teenagers. Although his friend, who we'll talk about, Brian's friend, is not a teenager and hasn't been for some time now. The one who's going out with the sister hasn't been for a while. Now, Amy, the girlfriend, she spent part of her life here in juvenile jail and group homes as well. She's a bit of a mess. Apparently, Amy and Brian don't really talk about their past problems.
Starting point is 00:35:09 That's not what bonds them somehow, even though they have similar backgrounds. Amy said that Gordy and Barb, they just let Brian do whatever he wanted. She said, quote, he didn't have rules. He really didn't talk to them that much. He didn't want to. His parents basically just left him alone. So that she didn't spend much time at home. She said the only time we would go to his house was when he could.
Starting point is 00:35:33 So he could cook me lunch or when his parents were out of town when they were at work. She could go. They could go make lunch or when they're out of town. So what's going on in this fucking basement? All right. Let's talk about that. I mean, I could tell you a few things. things a few things it's pretty gross down there it's drug sex and rock and roll you don't want to you don't want to walk around there with a black light let
Starting point is 00:35:52 me tell you something it's going to be disturbing yeah keep your shoes on everybody everybody keep your shoes on he is living there they're drinking and smoking weed every day and also taking meth three to four days a week as well i don't think natalk said that no they i don't think he said smoke weed and shoot meth every day shoot meth every day that was a different song completely so he would love to he liked to steal so he could get money to buy drugs because you know he's doing a lot of meth and meth is kind of needed all the time you need that one yeah you need it and it he's doing a lot of meth and meth is kind of needed all the time you need that one yeah you need it and it's you need a lot of it all the time too you got to keep buying
Starting point is 00:36:29 it it's one of those things so he said that's all we did all day and night i wasn't really focused on anything else the drugs were controlling me i didn't think they were they were at the time but now that i look back on this is from later they really turned me into a monster i guess so he's uh so he said he's been he was mad at his parents a lot when he was a child and he said that he kind of that was unfair to them he said quote they did a damn good job of raising me i just took a wrong turn okay that's fair after you've described you know i found meth again like it was i've known you for 35 minutes and I'm, I can, I agree. Yeah. I agree a lot.
Starting point is 00:37:07 You took a wrong turn. So speaking of wrong turns, his friend, his buddy here, Robert Ray Lawrence. So Robert Lawrence, he is 27 at the time. Yikes. And he is living in this basement. With an 18 year old girl. With an 18 year old girl, which technically is legal, but but the whole thing is the whole thing is creepy yeah it'll keep you out of jail but it won't get it won't keep you i was gonna say it won't keep your teeth in your mouth but it'll keep you out of jail
Starting point is 00:37:34 that's you know show up at my house at 27 for my 18 year old we're gonna we're definitely gonna scrap in the front yard but you you ain't welcome here no no no he's from texas yeah and he was just paroled to north dakota in may of 97 what the fuck you know because he's a grown man who gets paroled from states even less welcome even less welcome you weren't welcome just because of your age it It gets better. Yeah. Now it's your criminal. And he's got a sister up in this area, and that's why he's coming. That's why he got paroled up here. And he has a job prospect as a roofer.
Starting point is 00:38:14 So not even a job as a roofer. No. A job prospect to be a roofer. So he got in trouble, of course, in North Dakota, too, immediately upon getting there, clearly. But he had served nine months in the state penitentiary in Texas, though. Sure. So, yeah. People here, though, in North Dakota, they wanted to send him back to Texas, but they couldn't get a hold of the—
Starting point is 00:38:37 There was a lot of red tape to sending him back to Texas. So, yeah. Nobody wants him there. He gave false information to law enforcement in his last little bit there. So they didn't know in North Dakota why he got out and none of his friends or anybody knew.
Starting point is 00:38:54 So they said though that in the basement Amy said we had our own little apartment down there. They made like a little apartment and a bunch of kids would hang out, large groups of kids they said sometimes run away like if you ran away from home you knew that was the place to go you could go there and they'll hide you out for a few days like that's the that's the spot if you
Starting point is 00:39:14 got a bunch of weed and you have nowhere to smoke it you go there to smoke it's peanut butter sandwiches in the closet maybe maybe even if you're out of them though you can still smoke weed here so and do meth, for that matter. So Robert Lawrence, Amy said, he's a person that I look up to. I love him. I love Robert. This is her sister's boyfriend. What about him makes you look up to him?
Starting point is 00:39:37 She said he was protective of them and a big influence on the kids in the house, which is probably not good that he's a big influence. In fact, she said she thought of him as a dad to her. Oh, boy. As a dad. She wants a dad, I think. How old is she? She has a dad, right?
Starting point is 00:39:57 16. Not around. I mean, not around at all. Not present. Not present. No, God, no. So that's not good. If your dad was around, do you think she'd look at
Starting point is 00:40:06 him as a dad probably a 27 year old convict she'd look at him as the guy who dad chased out of the yard with a fucking 357 that's what he should be yeah with a machete over his head wow amy said he was in charge of me na Naomi, who's her 15 year old sister, who's also on the premises here. And Brian, meaning Brian, who's Robert's friend. She said that her mother didn't. I'll give the mother. This is the mother, Pam, quote. They wouldn't listen to us. So she let Robert try to control the children for her. to control the children for her she just abdicated responsibility to some 27 year old fucking convict who lives in the in her basement and fucks her teenage daughter and might have a job one day as
Starting point is 00:40:52 a roofer and might have a job as a roofer by the way they're all doing meth down there that's also there that's we'll let that happen so holy shit but she said that that didn't work either because quote he didn't tell them to do anything well no but he told his dick that's yeah definitely not he won and then amy said he wanted us to have fun and do whatever the hell we wanted because he didn't get to when he was younger that's what one of the kids said i guess robert's mother died in a car accident when he was very young and he was locked up most of his life basically he's been in in and out of jail so this is a mess have fun because he was in jail this is doing not a fucking mess so michelle is robert's girlfriend she's the 18 year old she said she never saw robert violent
Starting point is 00:41:37 quote he would go hit a sign or a pole before he would even think about hitting me. Well, that's good. I get violence before he would. I mean, you're next. Don't get me wrong. She felt, I mean, I was next, but it was like he usually went through his progressions before he got to me. He's got to get the stop sign on the pole first. She said that another friend said that Robert got violent when he drank alcohol.
Starting point is 00:42:00 This friend said when Robert was drinking, he could, he would get violent and stupid. I feel like he's stupid probably when he's sober also, but like stupider when alcohol this friend said when robert was drinking he could he would get violent and stupid i feel like he's stupid probably when he's sober also but like stupider when it was alcohol things got stupid is what this guy says he said that he never saw brian ever get violent even after they ran in they they got into a spat i guess this guy that he's talking about and this man said i hit brian and even then brian wasn't a he didn't have a violent reaction. He was like, yo, what the fuck, man? Let's let's talk about this.
Starting point is 00:42:27 Like he was a more of a chill guy. And Amy said she never saw Brian ever violent. Quote, Brian would get angry and he'd go for a walk, which is healthy. That's what you're supposed to do. She describes Brian as quiet, sensitive and smart, saying, quote, he'd basically do anything for me. He knows how to have fun. He used to make us all laugh all the time. That's Brian.
Starting point is 00:42:50 So Brian and Amy are going to get married, by the way. Okay. The look on Jimmy's face right now, his eyes, we've got about three times his size. Like, oh, no. How? How many kids are they going to have in a trailer by the time they're 24? They'll be lucky to have a shit single wife. You can't be married in somebody's bed.
Starting point is 00:43:10 No. No. That you share with others. Right. It's a fucking romper room. Amy said that Brian had two goals in life, to find his birth mother and ask why she gave him up for adoption. What difference does it make? If that's eaten, who cares at this point? But I does it make it's that if that's eaten who cares at this
Starting point is 00:43:25 point but i get it i understand the like the want but i don't that shouldn't be a goal maybe it doesn't matter how about if it happens it happens yeah if i run across her if i run into her over at the old piggly wiggly maybe we'll discuss it but if not maybe maybe a degree and maybe education and a job those are goals why and maybe stop shooting a job. Those are goals. Why? And maybe stop shooting meth into your arms would be helpful as well. So why did she give him up for adoption? And his other goal is to have a baby boy of his own to not give up for adoption.
Starting point is 00:43:57 Damn it. And to, you know, be a good dad too. So she said that they were going to get married. They were going to do it amy said the first time she met brian's parents it was to announce that they were going to get married and barb's reaction was this is what amy said his mom said let me know when you're moving out so i can get you some stuff for your apartment congratulations you two like she's totally excited not are you out of your fucking mind. I assume you've got an apartment on the way.
Starting point is 00:44:26 Great job. You're not marrying this basement dwelling fucking, you know, you're not doing that. You're getting married. So obviously you have jobs and an apartment on the way. Everything's all set up, right? Let me know when I can get you the plates and solar. Let me know when I can get you a love seat. So September 16th and into the day of 17th and over the overnight here 1998 okay
Starting point is 00:44:47 hoof okay there's a guy here that uh named rick storehog storehog here rick said he has been drinking with brian and lawrence here all day long they've been drinking all day they started on september 16th at 10 in the morning oh boy okay now by the evening they had been drinking all day they started on september 16th at 10 in the morning oh boy okay now by the evening they had been drinking all day smoking weed but then by evening they're like well that's boring drinking and smoking weed let's take it up a notch with some speed balls jesus which yeah that's a good one that's just a meth and coke and you know what anything any kind of upper you can melt into something and shoot into your veins. We've got too much weed and alcohol. We've got to get excited.
Starting point is 00:45:28 I'm bored. I'm starting to get sleepy over here. Let's kick this party up. Once you've been drinking for 10 hours, I guess you start to get sleepy. I don't want to nap yet. Yeah. Jesus. I guess they bought a quarter of weed that night, so they were smoking that.
Starting point is 00:45:42 It was about 1 a.m here this of the morning of the 17th night of the 16th amy and michelle hanging out with their boyfriends here and they're hanging out brian and robert and lawrence in the basement obviously and amy said that brian and robert had quote smoked some crank and dropped acid a little while before that. Okay. So smoking, crank, drinking, dropping acid. These are, wow, that's a lot. And Michelle said they were pretty trashed at that point in time. I believe it. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:46:14 Ryan Werner, one of the brothers of Amy and Michelle, the twin brother of one of them there, said that Lawrence, Robert Lawrence, came into his room, his sheeted off, cordoned off section of the basement, knocking on a sheet and woke him up and quote, he told me that they were going to kill Brian's parents and not to tell anyone. Shh, don't tell anyone. Why'd you tell me? Why'd you wake me up? I was asleep.
Starting point is 00:46:42 Oh, I hung out. By the way, this is I hung out in this fucking basement. I hung out in a basement where the parents were literally letting Satanic Bill take up one sheeted off section. And this other guy who was this ex-Marine crazy guy that I sold weed for sometimes who was like 35 years old slept in another quarter of the basement. And we all hung out down there. So this basement, I can see this basement. I can smell the mildew down there i can smell it smells like cat shit down here uh smells like cat shit so yeah we're gonna go kill my parents don't tell anyone he said i thought they were joking he said he didn't go along he said well i can't help i got
Starting point is 00:47:20 school in the morning so they were like oh okay yeah school's good i'm sleepy i'm sleepy robert lawrence said that there were um later on he came back they when he saw them he said quote robert lawrence said there were either two corpses or stiffs in the back of the pickup and it smelled like death what this was when he got woken up again later which probably felt like two seconds to him yeah so am, apparently, let's talk about them. On the day of the 16th, Amy spent the day attending Alcoholics Anonymous meetings at 16, then going home. Oh, then she had to go to drug and alcohol treatment after that as well. Oh, yeah.
Starting point is 00:47:58 AA, drug treatment, then went home and drank beer and did meth. It's working out. So that's working out just perfectly here. In May of 1980, near Anaheim, California, Dorothy Jane Scott noticed her friend had an inflamed red wound on his arm and seemed unwell. She insisted on driving him to the local hospital to get treatment. While he waited for his prescription, Dorothy went to grab her car to pick him up at the exit, but would never be seen alive again, leaving us to wonder, decades later,
Starting point is 00:48:31 what really happened to Dorothy Jane Scott? From Wondery, Generation Y is a podcast that covers notable true crime cases like this one and many more. Every week, hosts Erin and Justin sit down to discuss a new case, covering every angle and theory, walking through the forensic evidence, and interviewing those close to the case to try to discover what happened. And with over 450 episodes, there's a case for every true crime listener. Follow the Generation Y podcast on the Wondery app or wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen to Generation Y ad-free right now by joining Wondery Plus. It's all a lighthearted nightmare on our podcast, Morbid. We're your hosts. I'm Alina Urquhart.
Starting point is 00:49:13 And I'm Ash Kelly. And our show is part true crime, part spooky, and part comedy. The stories we cover are well-researched. He claimed and confessed to officially killing up to 28 people. With a touch of humor. I'd just like to go ahead and say that if there's no band called Malevolent Deity, that is pretty great. A dash of sarcasm and just garnished a bit with a little bit of cursing. This mother f***er lied. Like a liar. Like a liar.
Starting point is 00:49:41 And if you're a weirdo like us and love to cozy up to a creepy tale of the paranormal. Like a liar. And if you're a weirdo like us and love to cozy up to a creepy tale of the paranormal, or you love to hop in the Wayback Machine and dissect the details of some of history's most notorious crimes, you should tune in to our podcast, Morbid. Follow Morbid on the Wondery app or wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen to episodes early and ad-free by joining Wondery Plus in the Wondery app or on Apple Podcasts. Welcome to the small town of Chinook, where faith runs deep and secrets run deeper.
Starting point is 00:50:08 In this new thriller, available exclusively on Wondery Plus, religion and crime collide when a gruesome murder rocks the isolated Montana community. Everyone is quick to point their fingers at a drug-addicted teenager, but local deputy Ruth Vogel isn't convinced.
Starting point is 00:50:24 She suspects connections to a powerful religious group. Enter federal agent V.B. Loro, who has been investigating a local church for possible criminal activity. The pair form an unlikely partnership to catch the killer, unearthing secrets that leave Ruth torn between her duty to the law, her religious convictions, and her very own family. But something more sinister than murder is afoot, and someone is watching Ruth. With an all-star cast led by Emmy nominee Sanaa Lathan and Star Wars' Kelly Marie Tran, Chinook is available exclusively and ad-free on Wondery+. Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app or on Apple Podcasts.
Starting point is 00:51:02 She said she's partying at the house when they asked here, the boys, Brian and Robert, asked if they could borrow her red Geo Metro. Can we borrow your shit box? Yeah, of course she has a three-cylinder Metro. She said, for what? And they wouldn't tell her. So she said, no, I'm not taking it. I'm not going to fucking lend it to you
Starting point is 00:51:19 if you won't even tell me why. And so she said, you know, they all let's go look for they went to look for him eventually so they take the car they end up at the erkstad house they end up at brian's house okay so they i guess brian and robert had told her they were going to kill the parents but she thought they were joking but now she was going to check up on them. When they arrive, they get into the Irkstad's garage. Amy said she waited in the garage while he went inside. He said, we killed our parents. And she's like, no, you didn't.
Starting point is 00:51:56 And he said, well, come over there then. Come with us. So they end up in the garage. She waits in the garage while he goes inside. Brian comes back out in the garage and said in the garage while he goes inside brian comes back out and said uh in the garage and said they're still awake so oh i guess this is before he killed him he said we're gonna kill our parents and she said no you're not and he said well bring me over there i'll show you and she said yeah right let's go over there then she thought he just wanted to get something from his
Starting point is 00:52:18 house that's what she's saying so there's they're still awake so at this point she says that brian and robert went into the house together and she heard a man yell and then a woman scream. She said then Brian and Robert returned to the garage and they both had knives in their hands. Oh, boy. She said that Brian began to pace around the garage saying, what did I do? What did I do? And so she went into the house to see what the fuck happened which i wouldn't have done that no but amy goes into the house and sees gordy lying on the floor in the hallway she said she
Starting point is 00:52:52 walked past his body and went to an upstairs bedroom where she saw barb up there yeah and she said you know immediately obviously called 9-1-1 right you, she's, she came back and quote, I told them that she was still alive because she was breathing. Don't worry. You only killed one. So they started kicking her. Oh my God. Yeah. I guess Lawrence, Robert Lawrence starts screaming,
Starting point is 00:53:15 cut her jugular vein while Brian repeatedly slashes at her throat. Oh Jesus. Yeah. Um, that's fucking wild. So yeah um wow so then she said i told them that his friends need help because they did a bad thing is when she got home because i don't think this girl i don't this is a different girl she got her they got a ride from this is not amy by the way i thought it was amy the whole time i was to put this together it's another girl they were hanging out with. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:53:46 So no, another girl. I don't think the geo, I think the geo metros Amy's, but she won't let them use it. So this girl takes them in her car. So yeah, this girl goes back and said that she told, I told him that his friends needed help. They went back to talk to Ryan, who's the brother there and back at the other house. And then they drove, uh, they said at that point brian and robert drove gordy's pickup uh here they said it was into a tree but they ended up driving their cadillac into a tree and stealing the pickup truck okay but they took the pickup truck and they put the bodies there and
Starting point is 00:54:19 they drove them out to another location that we'll talk about and dump the bodies out after that they drove back washed the pickup truck and went home i mean what the fuck then they were planning on leaving the area brian and robert but before that they gave wow they gave this girl who went to the house a gas can and she said quote i was supposed to burn the bodies that was the plan that was that was what she they told her to do you go and burn the bodies now out in the field i don't understand what's the point well yeah i guess they devise a plan where brian and robert are good this is 18 to life now this is 18 to life hardcore so oh yeah they've So they devise a plan where they're all going to run away. Robert, Brian, the two girls, and the brother as well, Ryan.
Starting point is 00:55:12 They're all going to go. Everybody's going. They're all going to take off together. This Ryan said he went home to pack his clothes for everybody. He was going to pack up everybody's shit. But the cop showed up at the house because he had skipped school that day and he's such a truant fuck that when he skipped school the cops show up at his house that's how truant he is you can't miss one more day or the cops show up all right i'll be here
Starting point is 00:55:35 every day every day unless there's a double murder yep eventually the cops broke him down and he showed the cops a bag of bloody clothes and shoes that they had during the murders. And he had put them in a bag and hid them behind a chair in his room. Oh, my God. So they find that. Yeah. The Truant officers found that? The cops would later on.
Starting point is 00:55:55 They're going to come search the house. They show up and then it all goes from there. So imagine that. That's an eventful day for the Truant officers. Did you find any kids? No, but I found murder evidence. I found bodies. So at that point, let's talk about the
Starting point is 00:56:07 wounds here. Gordy has 13 stab wounds on his head and neck. Oh, good Lord. Eight stab wounds on his arms and hands. They're misses and defensive as well. Barb has nine stab wounds on her back and multiple other stab wounds
Starting point is 00:56:23 all over her body. And her throat's been slashed out a lot. Multiple bruises on her body and a fractured rib as well. Because they had kicked the shit out of her also. So terrible what they did to these fucking people. Then dumped them out in a field somewhere. So the next day, the girl who helped them with all this, who drove them there, she lied to the cops about what she knew. And she said, though, eventually she relented and she's the one who led the police to the bodies. And she said, I told the truth because, quote, I knew this was wrong.
Starting point is 00:56:56 Well, no shit. You didn't tell the truth at first. No, no, not at all at first. Yeah, that's fucking crazy. Oh, no, not at all at first. Yeah, that's fucking crazy. So they discover the crime scene after Amy ends up going to the police station and said that her boyfriend may have done something to someone here. So first she tells them she didn't know what happened. She's like, I don't know what happened.
Starting point is 00:57:18 Then she does. But all she does know is when they left and were doing all this shit, they left at one in the morning and then came back at like eight o'clock in the morning and she was like sitting on the porch waiting for them and brian showed up and said you're pissed aren't you and she said don't you know when to come home to my house and he said well i was at a party so what a party what a party she didn't go to school she went back downstairs and went to sleep and then her mom pam stockard woke them up and said that you didn't go to school. She went back downstairs and went to sleep. And then her mom, Pam Stockard, woke them up and said that you didn't go to school. What the fuck? The cops are going to come. And then they did.
Starting point is 00:57:51 So Amy said she was at a friend's house later that day when she found out what happened. She said she was pissed. She said she was screaming furiously and pounding on the ground. She said she asked for a gun which she intended to use on herself okay because her boyfriend killed his parents that's um wow her 19 year old sister michelle i guess she's 19 now uh she said that she found out she said i was shocked i couldn't believe they did so they do something like that uh she said it was like it wasn't like they were totally happy, but they weren't scared shaking.
Starting point is 00:58:25 They didn't act like they just slaughtered two people, which is weird. So they go search the the house, the basement house, not the murder scene. First, that's where they found some stuff to begin with. They find they're looking for baseball bats, bloody clothes, shoes, bedsheets, blankets. They find a bath towel with bloodstains on it, latex gloves, all sorts of shit like that. That sort of thing here. The girls, by the way, here, they decided, well, we're going to flee the state and go and fucking go to Texas with them where the other guys also wanted. Right.
Starting point is 00:58:59 What's two places we're wanted? Let's stay out of those. What do you say? Well, the penalty for this is way worse. It's fucking terrible. So Amy said, though, at the last second we stayed, they didn't want us to get hurt. Also, you're a minor. That's another fucking thing to look for.
Starting point is 00:59:15 So they said they wish they had gone, though, because they both, both of these young ladies, wish they had gone with them because they vowed to stick to their plans to marry these young men good lord whether they're in prison or not that's what you want to do at 16 throw your life away completely they carved up this dude's parents yeah wow why would you even lie to you about it yeah right amy said i have no doubt about it that i am marrying him people make mistakes but i love brian and i always will wow um i yeah i don't know she said well you know why'd they do it they asked amy and she said it's a mystery it was probably all the drugs they were on and pam said the same thing they probably didn't realize it until the following day if only they didn't have a basement to do constant meth in holy shit so instead of leaving right away uh robert uh here gives ryan werner a ride to bismarck high drops him off at school
Starting point is 01:00:13 bye ryan then that's while brian and amy sleep and then brian and amy woke up a group of friends all piled in the old cadillac that he stole from his mother after he killed her. And they drove to Stanton where Brian visited a friend in jail at 11.30 in the morning. The balls on this kid. They wanted to visit his friend JJ, Jeremy Jacobson, because he'd been planning on visiting him
Starting point is 01:00:36 and he hadn't had a chance yet with all the murder and meth and everything. I told him I'd visit and I probably should get some pointers on how my life is going to go. Fucking Christ. They said too, they probably get a get some pointers on how my life is going to go. Fucking Christ. They said, too, they probably get a couple of pointers. Yeah, he knows some stuff.
Starting point is 01:00:50 They said that they weren't too concerned about being seen driving Gordon's pickup either. Even Pam said she wondered why there was a brand new pickup outside of her house. She said, I didn't have the foggiest idea what happened. They go to the murder house, the cops do, and they did a tactical entry because they didn't know if anyone was inside. They saw blood before they even got inside. It was on the fucking driveway. Wow. All over the garage, on the door between the garage and the house.
Starting point is 01:01:17 They did a terrible job of cleaning this place. Also, they stabbed two people. There's going to be blood everywhere. Everywhere. All those times, there's like 30 stabs between everybody. They said that when they got into the home, they said they immediately saw that something was terribly wrong in there.
Starting point is 01:01:32 They said the house was disheveled with books and broken glass and mail and paper strewn about. Bloody drag marks showed two different distinct bloody drag marks from the bodies that showed that they were pulled from an upstairs hallway and bedroom out to the garage large pools of blood
Starting point is 01:01:47 on the carpet in the upstairs hallway in the bedroom they were stabbed they say within a few feet of each other they were initially stabbed immediately then they dragged the father down blood spatters and smear marks are all over the fucking place the master bedroom is a
Starting point is 01:02:03 bloodbath essentially here um and like the drawers are pulled out of the dresser to make it look like somebody tossed the place here the they had they found three knives lying in the kitchen sink a large chef's knife a fillet knife and another knife that was broken in half with pieces missing from its tip i think i know where they are yeah the tip is yeah holy shit uh they said that there's defensive wounds on them. And, yeah, it's a mess. It's a disaster. Now, Amy said that, yeah, she had drank quite a bit, smoked weed, and took meth or coke or something on the night of the murders here.
Starting point is 01:02:38 And she was pretty messed up. But, you know, she thinks she knew what was going on that night. So she didn't even think he did it. The bodies are found in Selfridge, North Dakota, which is on the Mandan. It's a Standing Rock Indian Reservation. So that's Mandan territory here. And it's dumped in a field about 50 miles south of Mandan, the town. And that's where they find them, just dumped in a field. And that one girl took them so then they find out the night before they had been talking to
Starting point is 01:03:11 everybody about killing their girlfriend their parents but they just no one took them seriously everyone thought they were kidding they were being like goofy i'm gonna go kill my parents yeah right the one friend said brian didn't get along with them he was having problems with them no he was having problems not with them they didn't do along with them. He was having problems with them. No, he was having problems, not with them. They didn't do anything to him except bail him out of jail. Right. They were about to write letters to judges. New stuff for his apartment that he can't afford.
Starting point is 01:03:34 Jesus Christ. So they said that as for the room, Amy here, Amy and Michelle denied no hearing their boyfriends talk about killing them that night and saying it wasn't premeditated, even though it clearly was. And they said, as for the rumors that Brian and Robert drove around with the bodies in the pickup and showed them off and took them to a party, Amy said, that's just false. That's ridiculous. Quote, I just want the rumors at school to stop. Imagine being her now. Oh, my God.
Starting point is 01:04:03 That is wild. That's fucking crazy. So reactions here. Obviously, people are like, holy shit. One friend actually says that Brian described him as a calm guy but has an explosive, insane temper. Insane. Like you would pound plate glass until you cut yourself type of thing. He's very calm until he snaps.
Starting point is 01:04:23 Everyone said of Gordy and Barb, quote, two of the nicest people you ever want to meet. It was a nice, they said, quote, just regular middle-class people that live up and down the streets. The last thing you'd expect in this neighborhood. Right, right. So they're doing a nationwide search
Starting point is 01:04:38 for these two fucking idiots. Where are they? Where the hell did they go? Where could they possibly be? They drove off. They have a whole thing for them uh roberts 511 175 the other one's six feet tall 155 or whatever they're saying we have significant evidence we gotta find these two they arrest them in texas okay in the pickup truck still driving dad's
Starting point is 01:04:58 smart real bright these two yeah so they're arrested on two counts of murder, conspiracy to commit murder, theft of property. Where the fuck were they going to go in Dad's truck? They just figured, well, I mean, my dad's truck, it's fine. I don't know what they were doing here. They want to have a change of venue from Bismarck area because they said there's so much publicity with all this. And they go, nah, not too much for you. You're good, probably.
Starting point is 01:05:24 So they do that while they're in texas in jail amy and michelle took their phone calls from there and while they they transfer them up to north dakota takes their phone calls they go there at night to try to see them through the outside windows they stand outside the jail and wait for them to come to the window so they can wave at them and probably flash their tits or something i don't know what they're doing oh these bitches yeah um amy said it's really funny i had to teach brian how to use a credit card you know that he stole from his parents i added that part but yeah to pay for his gas right at the pump before he left you know as i aided and abetted him fleeing a murder charge somebody else's credit card obviously and warned him not to use the same
Starting point is 01:06:05 card all the time or he'd get caught very girl what oh my god so they asked pam where it's exactly where is it because your mom is here quote they asked pam about him she said just because this happened i don't hate the guys i've never seen that violent side of them. I can't hate them. It's hard. I have to believe that they did it, though. They're fine. They're all good. Don't worry about it.
Starting point is 01:06:32 I have to believe it because there's so much evidence. So Brian's in jail for a while. He becomes, what he says, overwhelmed with grief and shame, and he cuts his wrists. So he said that he was bleeding to death and unconscious when he was taken to the emergency room, but the prosecutor has a different way of putting it, that he made a half-hearted fucking hack at himself for attention, basically. It wasn't a real suicide attempt.
Starting point is 01:06:57 So they have differing views on that. He started seeing a minister that comes to the jail every week, and immediately he said right away he decided that he needs to turn his life over to the Lord and things will be better. Brian said, I decided that's what I want. I want everything to be okay.
Starting point is 01:07:16 Nobody else was here for me, so I turned my life over to Christ and I feel a lot different now. That's not helpful for court. He said, even though i may not ever get out of prison jesus will love me and someday i'll be reunited with my family i let's hope not because gordy's gonna kick your ass oh yeah fucking helicopter mechanic style so um yeah that's this is this is insane so there's a plea that they're trying to get worked out that they never get
Starting point is 01:07:43 worked out while they're trying to get a plea worked out, his lawyer comes and says that people are putting glass in Robert Lawrence's food. Oh, really? And they decide jail officials don't know if the glass actually was put in his food or if things might have fallen in it from all the construction projects underway at the prison. Just ground up glass fell from the ceiling. That's a warden that hates him anyway. Wow. Holy shit. I don't know. It could have come from anywhere. I mean, there's a lot
Starting point is 01:08:13 of stuff. There's dust everywhere. You know, it gets... Wow. September 4th, 1999 here. Pam here, Pam Stockert, the girl's mom, has to plead guilty to neglect. Thank fuck. Thank God.
Starting point is 01:08:29 Yeah, someone hold fucking parents responsible for something here. So felony child neglect and contributing to the delinquency of a minor, which is a misdemeanor there. So a felony and a misdemeanor. They filed charges and they said that she allowed them to move in and basically take up residence with her minor children and allowed minors to use drugs and alcohol in her house and allowed her children to associate with disreputable individuals. And, yeah, they said actions completely inappropriate for a parent. Blah, blah, blah. She could go to five. She could get five years in prison for this. Wow.
Starting point is 01:09:03 So I hope she does. Wow. So I hope she does. Wow. Amy said at this point she goes to the Eric Stead's house every day, almost every day, and stands outside crying. Really? She said it just pisses me off to know that I'm not going to be able to go there and get him at his house. Oh, my. That's why she's upset. She's fucked up.
Starting point is 01:09:22 Yeah. She's upset because he's in jail. Oh, my God. That's why she's upset. She's fucked up. Yeah, she's upset because he's in jail. So, Brian's trial is, they get Amy to testify, and this is from the newspaper. Amy Werner also took the stand, but she clearly did not want to be there. Although she initially answered the prosecutor's questions, as the queries became more incriminating to the defendants, her answers came more reluctantly and sometimes sarcastically.
Starting point is 01:09:43 Her answers came more reluctantly and sometimes sarcastically. Dressed in a black leather jacket, she looked aggravated and swiveled her chair back and forth as the questions came. She rarely looked at the prosecutor and paused for, quote, several minutes before answering some of his questions. Several minutes? Several minutes. I will fuck this trial up because you you have my boyfriend that is amazing in a courtroom is in causing silence unbelievable unbelievable holy shit that's wild so they have all the evidence in the world tons of people saw and they told everybody uh they're only they don't really have a lot of defense here honestly no if they have their defenses that I didn't mean it.
Starting point is 01:10:28 Yeah. I don't even know how you'd say it. So they're found guilty of of murder, obviously, times two. Now, the sentencing, he says that he wants to tell the judge, Brian, before sentencing that the night last night I was crying and I was praying, saying give me another chance please lord and i feel like jesus is with me and the judge says you sir may fuck off life with parole is that right with parole it is uh life with parole plus 10 years to run consecutively so if he gets paroled for that life now he's got another 10 though yeah okay that's for the theft and all that kind of shit. He says that, Brian says
Starting point is 01:11:08 he couldn't be more happy that he was spared and he could possibly get parole. He said, quote, I owe it all to Jesus Christ. Jesus did this. Jesus is going, Brian, no. Brian, stop right now. You murdered people, Brian. I'm happy they're putting
Starting point is 01:11:24 you away, Brian this you can yes this is my doing and did you misunderstood what the judge said yeah uh yeah so he said he's you know he's happy with that he does an interview after this where he says that he quote i don't want to go into the past but he says someday when I have figured it out myself, I'll talk about it. But he just wants to talk to the kids and tell them not to do stuff like this. Literally. Yeah. Literally.
Starting point is 01:11:55 That's his thing. Kids, don't kill your parents. He said he plans to use the rest of his life to try to help others, even for prison. He wants to warn young people about drug use and the importance of sticking with their family, just not murdering them. That's drug use, whatever. Don't kill your parents. He said, I want to try to turn some people's lives around.
Starting point is 01:12:13 I know I can. I don't have a lot of faith in you. They appeal based on the fact that they didn't get to change venue because of the publicity and the court says, you can go fuck yourself. dicks go back to prison um the erkstads the girls the his two sisters brian's sisters sue the state of texas for letting this guy basically run around unsupervised in north dakota yeah they lose
Starting point is 01:12:38 though the court rules in favor of texas well you're not gonna you can't sue texas they win all the time they're not gonna you can't sue Texas. They win all the time. You can't sue a state. No shit. We'd all sue them for embarrassment. 2014, Brian finds a harsh reality that he didn't realize. He said, not until September 2014, this is from a court document,
Starting point is 01:12:58 when the petitioner received a letter from the parole board, did he learn of the current interpretation of the law and learn he's not eligible for parole until February of 2047. Wait, wait, wait. When he's 67 years old. After that, he has to serve at least eight and a half more years than the other one.
Starting point is 01:13:19 So his earliest early is 75 years old before he's eligible. Walking around prison going, I'm getting out soon. I'm getting out. You bitches can suck it. And he's like, ah, fuck. What, I'm almost 80? Shit, almost 80. And then he tries to fight it for relief in the courts, puts a thing in for relief.
Starting point is 01:13:41 And the North Dakota Supreme Court dismisses his case to seek relief. He's not even allowed to seek it. Eat dicks. See you in 2055, cunt boy. Brian, this is them going lenient on you, you fucking idiot. You owe it all to Jesus, Brian. You can thank... Where's Jesus now? You can thank him
Starting point is 01:14:00 because he... I thought Jesus set all this up. You're going to blame him now or is this still... Now is it your fault finally? He didn't realize that the penalty for killing two people was going to be steep. No. Without parole, he'd get out in 2100. So, literally. Good luck, Bri guy.
Starting point is 01:14:20 There you go. Stick with it, Bri. See you soon. You got it. A routine in life to go. What a fucking moron. guy there you go Sebastian Bach crooning outside of his fucking jail cell that everybody is Bismarck North Dakota see why we went a little bigger city it was worth it there you go everybody if you like that tell the world give a review on whatever app you're listening on audible fucking Apple podcast this one that one whatever it helps a lot do that shut up and give me murder.com
Starting point is 01:14:49 tickets to all the live shows you want out there chicago august 12th get your tickets dallas atlanta charlotte get your tickets couple left in philly as well that's their patreon.com slash crime and sports five dollars or above tons of bonus shit two new ones every week this week you're gonna get theme park disasters part two want to hear about kids flying hundreds of yards off roller $5 or above. Tons of bonus shit. Two new ones every week. This week you're going to get Theme Park Disasters Part 2. Want to hear about kids flying hundreds of yards off of roller coasters? We fucking got it for you. Then we're going to talk about Stanford Prison Experiment. Are people scumbags?
Starting point is 01:15:14 Fuck yeah they are, especially when you let them be. And that's that. We'll talk all about that shit patreon.com slash crimeandsports Plus you get a shout out at the end of the regular show Follow us on social media at Murdersmall on Twitter, at Small Town Murder on Instagram and threads and at Murder Small or at Small Town Pod on Facebook. Do that.
Starting point is 01:15:31 Follow us on social media. It's all on the website. Shut up and give me murder.com. That's right. Gobble, gobble, motherfuckers. We're out, turkeys. Have a good one. Not now.
Starting point is 01:15:40 Bye. Hey, Prime members, you can listen to Small Town Murder early and ad-free on Amazon Music. Download the Amazon Music app today. Or you can listen early and ad-free with Wondery Plus and Apple Podcasts. Before you go, tell us about yourself by completing a short survey at wondery.com slash survey.

There aren't comments yet for this episode. Click on any sentence in the transcript to leave a comment.