Small Town Murder - Death In The Desert - Congress, Arizona

Episode Date: July 31, 2026

This week, in Congress, Arizona, a very disturbed man, from a crazy background moves into a desert area, from out of town. He makes some friends, but his weirdness, and severe bouts of drunkeness seem to keep the other desert dwellers on their toes. After one of the residents is killed in her trailer, a bumbling, and inept initial investigation ruins key evidence, and almost screws up the whole case. Luckily, the disturbed newcomer has a sordid, and horrible tale to tell!!   Along the way, we find out that some people are desperate for goat milk soap, that when a strange person moves next to you, in the middle of the desert, they're probably as strange as they seemed, and that trying to murder another person, in jail, after you've already been charged with murder, is not the best way to claim innocence!!   New episodes, every Wednesday & Friday nights!! Check us out on VIDEO Wednesday and Friday evenings on Netflix! www.netflix.com/smalltownmurder Donate at patreon.com/crimeinsports or at paypal.com and use our email: [e-mail] Go to shutupandgivememurder.com for all things Small Town Murder, Crime In Sports & Your Stupid Opinions!   Follow us on... instagram.com/smalltownmurder facebook.com/smalltownpod   Also, check out James & Jimmie's other shows, Crime In Sports & Your Stupid Opinions on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts!!

Hello, everybody, and welcome back to Small Town Murder Express. Yay and choo-choo. Yay, indeed, Jimmy. Yay, indeed. My name is James Petro Gallo. I'm here with my co-host. I'm Jimmy Wiseman. Thank you, folks, so much for joining us today on another absolutely crazy edition of Small Town Murder Express, as they always are.

As we know, crazy story told in just an hour. So we're going to do this, and we got a wild one for you in the weird. Weird middle of nowhere, Arizona. It's going to be a fun one. Can't wait for it. Before we get to that, though, head over to shut up and give me murder.com. Get your tickets for live shows, everybody.

Let's do it. They are coming up here in September. So we're almost there. September 18th at the Pabst Theater in Milwaukee. It's one of the nicest theaters in the country. So get your tickets. Only a few tickets left for that one. So you want to grab those.

Then the next night, September the 19th at the state theater in Minneapolis will be there. The Rivals the Pabst. It's beautiful. beautiful place. Great town. Can't wait for that one. So get your tickets for that. Then also in October, we're in Dallas on the third, in San Jose on the 16th, Sacramento on the 17th. And then in November, Terrytown on the 13th and Boston on the 14th. Shut up and give me murder.com. Get your tickets. Come out. laugh, have a good time. And hear a crazy murder story. We can't wait. So do that. Also listen to our other shows, crime in sports, which we promise you don't have to like sports. You just have to like hearing an idiot fall from grace when they didn't have. have to. That's all it is. And then also definitely listen to your stupid opinions where you can hear all sorts of people's opinions about things you don't care about from people you don't care about also. So that's also fun. Get in there, do that. Get yourself Patreon, though. That's the important thing. That's huge. Patreon.com slash crime in sports, just like the name of that show. And what you get

there is anybody $5 a month or above, you get everything we put out. Everything. As soon as you subscribe, you're going to get almost 400 bonus episodes that you have never heard before. They're immediately on your feed and you can binge those and then you get new ones every other week. One crime in sports, one small town murder. This week is no different. This week for crime in sports, we're going to talk about death on skis. Outstanding. Sports skiing accidents.

It's the craziest sport I've ever heard of. I don't know why anybody would do this. Doesn't matter. Death on skis, everybody. Let's do it. And then small town murder. It's love after lockup time. Oh, my God.

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You can't beat it. Get it. Patreon.com slash crime in sports. That said, I think it's time, everybody. What do you say? Here we go. Sit back here, clear the lungs. There we go.

Arms to the sky. Let's all shout. Shut up and give me murder. Let's do this, everybody. Okay. All right. We're going to Arizona. Yeah.

It's a celebratory. Yeah, yeah, it's only 114 degrees. Sounds great. Let's go. Brutal. This is Congress, Arizona, which it's not even that far from Phoenix. I lived in Phoenix for 24 years. Never heard of this place.

Well, you drove through it if you went to Vegas. Yeah, I must have then, because you go Wickenberg that way. Yeah, it's just outside of Wickemberg. It's between Wickemberg and Yarnel. Didn't even notice it. That's how shitty it is. It's essential. And it's central Arizona.

Imagine being, imagine needing to be more secluded than Wickenberg, Arizona. Which is everybody out there know where Wickenberg is, exactly. You don't. This is an hour 25 to Phoenix, about an hour to Prescott the other way. Yeah. And three hours to Oro Valley, Arizona, our last Arizona episode, episode 678, birthday murder present, which was a fun one. This is in Yavapai County. Area code 928, as you know, all of that up there is 9 to 8.

Population here is 1,548, which I was shocked. It was that many? I was floored. I mean, that's the whole zip code that Congress is in. So that encompasses the town and, like, the squatters in the desert around it and, like, people in, like, a weird trail are out with no power. That doesn't cover your know, doesn't it? I don't think it does. No.

I don't think that's separate. median household income here, 55,104, which is below the national average by about 15,000. And median home cost, and Harris Phoenix, it's really shot up the median home cost. Here it is $320,000, which seems like way too much to live in the middle of the goddamn desert, because that's exactly where you are. I don't think there's new homes out there. I don't know. What fuck are they paying $300,000 for? I don't know. On Spurling's best places, which does all the rankings and the statistics and everything, they have it in the state of Arizona. This town is ranked 1,437 for places to live. I didn't even know there was 1,400 towns in Arizona. I had no idea. Just in the state of Arizona, it's 14137.

That probably includes 30 different locations in Phoenix, 10 or 15, Tucson, 10 or 15, and Flagstaff. And they still are, 1400. Still, goddamn, 1400. So that's ridiculous. So history of this town, prospecting began. That's how this started, this whole area. I believe that. In the 1860s, in what was then known as the Date Creek Mining District.

I guess it's now known as the Martinez District. So there was early activity, but they were there for 20 years before they found the Congress mine with the gold in it, which was the important one. So they were digging around. picking out whatever copper or silver, and then gold was discovered in 1884. And so... That's the Martinez mine, yeah? That's the Martinez mine. Yeah, that's the Congress mine.

Yeah, not the Martinez mine. By 1893, the Santa Fe, Prescott, and Phoenix Railway passed within three miles of the mine to pick up the ore there. So then Congress boomed and became a big boomtown, just like Tombstone or any of these other towns, until the mid-1930s when the mine's closed. And then people realized there is no other. goddamn reason on earth to be here other than mining.

That's fascinating. Absolutely. Here's some reviews of this town. Let's find out what other people think because we drive through it going 85 miles an hour and have no idea anything about it. Because you already have gas from Phoenix. There's no reason to stop here. Here is four stars.

Living downtown is an adventure to say the least. Downtown. What is there? Three buildings? It's fucking downtown. What are you talking about? Downtown Wickenberg is a joke. Wow. Yeah.

The downsides, noise, transient population, drunk idiots are easily outweighed by the ease of access to everything happening, which is nothing pretty much, by the way. This is written about somewhere else. Everywhere we want to go and what to do and want to do. That's about Congress, apparently. Current Resolution. Wow. And finally, one star.

A horrible place to live, exclamation point. I think a lot of people here are rude and crazy, double exclamation point. Yeah. All right. Some nice neighborhoods, but too many rundown and junkie trailers and homes. Weather in the summer is scorching hot, all caps. Lots of crime. Police are worthless.

No amenities except for Dollar General and Gas Station. Wow. That is depressing. Not good. Things to do in this town. Yeah. Oh, man. Here it is.

This is not a lot. Let's just say. Drive to Phoenix is things to do in this town. Probably. Keep going to Vegas. This is Frog Rock. What? Frog Rock, a natural granite boulder shaped like a frog. Yes.

Sitting right along Highway 89 just outside town as you head toward Prescott. I do know that. I've heard of that one. The old Congress Pioneer Cemetery, which is just an old the mining town cemetery. Whoever got on the side of the road. Whoever got exploded in the mine is better. buried there. And then skull rock, which is a painted skull on a desert rock face. So there we go. And also there's the Congress Arizona Crafters and Farmers Market, which is a monthly event where they all get together, crawl out from their holes in the dirt and their fifth wheels and they fucking trade wares with each other, I guess, here.

They raise funds for charity. They showcase their handmade and homegrown products. Tables full of shit, essentially here. The event takes place on the first Saturday of the month from October to April in the next – the lot next to the depot in Congress, Arizona. In the lot. In the lot next to the depot. And offers a fun and family-friendly atmosphere for both locals and visitors. Yeah, everyone's going to swarm to that.

and I found under the Facebook post for it, someone asking, quote, who makes goat milk soap for Congress AZ market? Who out there's got goat milk soap? Anybody? Market season will be here before you know it, and I'm looking for someone who makes goat milk soap and items like that. If you know of someone, message me. Currently, still have enough bakers, but there may be a slot opening.

Oh, boy. Okay. Whoa. All right. That said, let's talk about it. Nope. Not even. Just a little goat milk soap in my area near me.

Goat milk soap near me. Let's talk about some murder. What do you say here? All right. Let's go back in time a bit. Ninety-five. Mid-90s. All right.

Here we go. April of 1995. Jesus. Ace of bass is ripping up the charts. It's a crazy time, man. Everything. Insink? Not yet.

No. They're like 12 still. All the Wu-Tang solo albums come out that year. It's good stuff. All right. So April of 1995, let's talk about a lady. Frida Brown, F-R-E-E-D-A, Frida. Oh, yeah.

Frida Brown's an 84-year-old woman. Dang. She lives in Congress, and she owns the Copper Basin Riding Stable. Oh. Okay. Yeah, so she's got that. She's born in Denver. She has a daughter named June.

She has three grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren. God. Damn. She's living her old lady life. Yeah. Yeah. What she would do is during the winter, she travels to the desert and lives in a trailer in the desert.

In Congress or outside of? Outside of Congress. I have no idea why she does this. She has a house. That's a very popular thing that people do. She stays in the summer in the house, I guess, for A.C. But then in the winter comes, she lives outside, basically. Not outside, but in a trailer.

which I don't understand why you'd have a house and go up, time to move into the trailer for a while. There's a lot of old people that do this shit. So weird. I could see it was like, I'm going to go move my trailer to Oregon or something, but outside the town you live in, it makes no sense. Yeah. These people go to like court site and there's another town out there that it grows huge because of a bunch of people that bring their trailers down there. That's so fucking weird. I don't understand it.

So anyway, she travels out there and during the winter and came. Camps out with her animals with her trailer and all that shit. Now, soon after she arrived, she was introduced to a man named Philip Allen Bcharski, B-O-C-H-A-R-S-K-I, Philip Allen B-C-R-S-K-I. He's born February 22nd, 1962, so, you know, he's in mid-30s at this point. Now, they, I guess, she needs help. She's 84. She can't do everything. And she doesn't drive, I don't think, either.

So that's another thing. So she was introduced to Philip Bichowski and paid him on numerous occasions to drive her to do errands or cash checks in Wickenberg and go to the stores in Wickenberg. So he'd drive her to Wickenberg and back and they would, you know, and she would give him a few bucks, basically. That's how it worked. Now, this November of 1994, so five, six months earlier is when Philip kind of blew into town here. Oh. He left Michigan where his family was living, and we'll find out leaving his family is not much of a sacrifice. Not difficult, huh?

No, it's a mess. Yeah, he left Michigan and traveled to Arizona with an acquaintance named Frank Sukis, S-U-K-I-S. They came out together. Now, Philip is fucked up. Phillips got problems. So in his family, it's both families have problems with alcohol, with violence. His father was crazy. First of all, by the way, his father never was around and actually left shortly after his birth and denied that he's his son.

So his father won't even admit that he's his son. his father at one point threatened to shoot his own mother in front of others at another point, and I don't know how he did this by the way, this is kind of impressive he kidnapped

and held at gunpoint two on-duty state troopers. The cops? I don't know how you kidnapped two state troopers. He got the... He kidnapped the cops. I don't get how you do it with two.

I didn't know that was an option. Well, you point the gun at one of them and then the other one takes a gun out. Like, what are we doing here? What the hell? That's you've got to be mighty convincing. That's a big gun. That's a big gun. And her parents, his mother said that her parents beat her and that she was molested by all of her brothers while she was young, resulting in a pregnancy, a teenage pregnancy, incest pregnancy from rape from one of her brothers, and attempted suicide. Oh my gosh. Severe alcohol abuse, Both parents of Philip are severe alcoholics.

You know, dad with the state troopers. You got to be drunk to think that's going to work. You know what I mean? This life makes Congress Arizona seem appealing. Right. This would make you run to live in a trailer in the desert. You'd be happy to. Right.

So people say that the mother frequently inflicted violence on the children and was really, really, really extra neglectful, just terrible. Philip's sister said that the mother would leave them alone for days without food. She'd just leave for days and leave the little kids alone without food and would, quote, constantly bring home new sexual partners. Yeah. Yeah. This is quite the life, man.

Why not? What the hell? And they have no food anyway. Did the guys bring food? If they brought food. If you bring some clown dog? Yeah. If you bring some clown dog, you can come.

neighbors reported seeing Philip and his sister rummaging through garbage cans looking for food during the winter in New York when they lived there for a couple years. Oh, God. For a time, they lived with, this is crazy. For a time, the children lived with a motorcycle gang in New York. Hell yeah. So from the dumpsters to some biker gang where him and his sister were exposed to filthy living, you know, bikers. I can't imagine. And, you know, drugs and sex.

And this is during the 60s and early seven. This is like, you know, Hell's Angels, Hunter Thompson, you know, Charger Charlie the child molester fucking times of biker gangs. Like this is crazy shit. A children's services division caseworker in New York filed a petition charging Bicharski's mother with neglect of her children in that she failed to provide food, education, and medical care, although financially able to do so. Oh, boy. Just didn't care about her kids. She could and just wouldn't. Just didn't give a shit.

Didn't care to. Had other shit to do. This petition resulted in Philip and his sister being placed in foster care for a second time. Okay. And then it gets worse, by the way. That's the good part of his life. That's cheery times. This is when he thinks back and goes, man, remember the good times?

That's living in a biker gang's clubhouse and rubbaging through garbage cans. Okay. Now, considering whether to return the children to their mother, you know, after the whole deal there, okay, this is crazy. The caseworker said, quote, these children were the most seriously neglected children I have placed in a long time. I still have some pangs of conscience for not letting these, or for letting these children suffer the emotional stress of drinking, fighting, poor supervision, and open immoral conduct for as long as I. I did before I acted. Besides this, this, these children were really hungry, and it was an amazement to them when they were first placed with the foster family that they could have all they wanted

to eat at night and still have food for the morning. They were like, what a gal. They were like, we can eat this, but then we won't have any food tomorrow. And they're like, no, no, no, we're going to make breakfast too. And they were like, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. I get a pork chop. I'll save. Yeah.

Then I get lucky terms. This nanner. Yeah. Like, they're like, I don't understand how this fucking works at all. There's plenty of food in the morning, too. There's food for everything. So they lived in foster care for about two years and then will return to their mother. Why?

Let's pull you out of this safe environment where you're fed and clothed. It's going great. It's going fine and put you back with your mother who doesn't give a shit. Now, his sister, Philip's sister, Carol Ann, said that their mother, Mary Rose, beat Philip frequently. She said, quote, she'd cuff him in the head, use boards on him. She used electric cords. She used Hot Wheels race tracks, which is old school fucking... It's a common hillbilly children rearing.

Yeah. Well, Eddie Murphy talked about it in Raw. That was the hot wheel track. Whoop your ass with that thing. Belts, mirrors, brushes, she said. Just whatever object was around close enough. Hand mirror. Just take it off the fucking armoire and hit him with it.

She also said that his uncle, Philip's uncle, who lived with them for a time, quote, beat Philip frequently and was always picking on Philip and smacking him around. This is before the age of 12. Age 12, the family moved in with his mother's cousin. Now, according to the mom, Mary Rose, her cousin, a convicted child molester, because that's who you bring your kids to live with, later admitted that he sexually molested Philip as well. When he was a young teenager now 1314, his mother sent him to live with Chuck below was his name,

just like below ground like that. Chuck below? Chuck below. And even accepted money from below to allow her son to go live with him. Why do you think that happened? Well, Philip lived and traveled with old Uncle Chuck, who was a long-distance trucker. Yeah.

And basically below, who later on will be serving a 50-year sentence for multiple child molestation convictions, 50 years. 50 years. When they talk to him in prison, he admitted that he beat Philip often and forcibly raped him for years. Yeah, and he can admit that because he's already in there. He's done way worse than that. And the statute of limitations is over on that by then. Well, there's that too. He's already been convicted of a shit.

He's got no other, like, he's not like, I don't want this person to think I'm a scumbag. It's already over. We know. He's got 50 years of penalty for child molestation. That's a long time. What a piece of shit. Well, good. I'm glad he's got 50 years.

Fuck that guy. So the evidence later on also says that Philip suffered extreme mental, physical, and sexual abuse by basically everybody he came in contact with besides that foster family and the social worker. So, heartbreaking. He was exposed. to alcohol at a very young age, started drinking at 10. You know, the pressures of the fifth grade really get to you. You got to get down with some, like a slow gin phys after the day, you know? He liked it classy.

I was tie on some Johnny Walker after the multiplication tables. But he didn't fuck with like that red label or black label, though. You had to get him at least the green, the 15. He's real, he's discerning. Something nice to go with the social stuff. Some nice. He began drinking alcohol at 10 and then increased until. he was drinking basically regularly, like every day by 16.

His later wife described him as a serious alcoholic who drinks until he blacks out. Oh, he does that too. Not passes out. No, blacks out, meaning I don't know what the fuck I did for hours. That's when your body goes on autopilot to do the worst things that it can do. And usually, just from what I've read, usually that only happens to alcoholics. like if you have that set up in your system to be an alcoholic, that's through that. Like, I'm not like an alcoholic.

So if I drank enough, I'd fall asleep. I wouldn't black out. I'd throw up and fall asleep. That's all I would do. That's what normal people do. I mean, I fucking drink heavy, but I don't do it every day. So I'm able, I've never blacked out ever in my life. That's, there you go.

That's good. That's a good sign. I've always been terrified of people that do. It's scary. That's frightening. I don't remember what I did. Like, whoa. So, Philip Marrary.

in his early 20s and has three children. Perfect. Let's continue the cycle. But eventually his alcohol abuse destroys this relationship. In spring of 1988, after about five years of marriage, he and his wife separated.

So that's Philip. That's the guy doing the old ladies' errands and shit. That's the guy that's helping? That's the helper. Yeah. So when someone says, sure, I'll give you a ride here. I'll do whatever.

You have no idea who that person is. It's a bad guy. So, or at least someone from a troubled background. You know what I mean? That doesn't make you a bad guy, but, you know, it could make you, this guy is a bad guy. That's the problem. Certainly. So Frank Sukas, by the way, initially, Philip and Frank lived together when they get to Congress.

But after a few months, that is when Philip moved to Congress and set up a tent where he lived alone in the desert. a tent. Nice moves. And that's where he meets the old lady and all that. Now Christmas of 94, before she even arrived, Frida even got there, Frank Sukas gave Philip a K-bar knife for Christmas, which is like a combat-style knife. Those have become very popular common knowledge now thanks to Moscow. Yep, thanks to K-Burger. That's what he was wearing.

It's a combat knife, basically. It's a military knife. Military knife, yeah. And this was described by Philip as, quote, his pride and joy. He loves it. A knife that his other, you know, drifter friend gave him. Not my children. No, my cave-on.

He has three kids, three. Pride and joy. He was always seen with it. That is his jam. Now, how do they live? That's a good question here. How do they survive these guys to eat and stuff? doing for money.

Well, Succas lives on a disability pension. So he's got a check coming in, whereas Philip never has any money. He just doesn't have money. Once in a while, he would do odd jobs or yard work and that kind of shit. But as Frank Succas put it,

he also did, quote, a lot of freeloading, as he put it. Yeah. Some mootin. Some bumming around. So at Frank's suggestion, another guy here hires, I'm sorry,

that's when the whole, whole reason Philip started helping Frida was Frank suggested it. You know, you need help. I got a guy who could use a couple of bucks. Maybe this is a good matchup. There you go. She has poor eyesight, arthritis. She's like partially blind.

She's 84. She needs so much help. She needs a lot of help. So, and he often did help out Frida. And the two of them appeared to have a nice relationship. Probably the first adult he's ever encountered who hasn't tried to rape him. So that's good. He doesn't treat him as prey.

Exactly. So as an older person. So April of 1995, this is when Frank Sukas moves to a location near Philip, just in the middle of the desert there. So now a little bit more about Frida. She has a campsite. Basically, she's between Philip and Frank. Her campsites in the middle of those two. She's sandwiched in between.

Yeah. She's got a trailer, a truck, a dog, and a shitload of cats. What? Yeah, all in a trailer. That's weird as fun. Cats in the desert? Cats in the desert in the trailer. So when she first arrived, Frank Sukas sold her some gas.

And he noted that she reached in the back seat of her truck and retrieved money to pay for the gas from a plastic Ziploc bag with a little clutch purse inside of it. The bank. Her bank, yeah. The money smelled of cat litter, he said. So he spent it to get rid of it as soon as possible to get other bills Because he didn't want the cat litter smell in his pocket Now, May 10th, 1995 Frank Succas picks up Alan or Phillip His middle name is Alan and I want to call him Alan

Picks up Philip at Phillips tent The two of them see Frida polishing her truck So she works, she does it She keeps her shit nice In the desert which five minutes later covered in dust Doesn't matter Stupid thing to do. So they don't stop to speak with her.

Instead, Philip and Frank then drive to the local food bank and obtain three boxes of food. One box was for their friends, Richard Towell and Mary Beth Anglin, who lived in a remote campsite and had no transportation. You know, fucking, I don't even know what you call it. Leaving themselves for dead. Yeah, I don't know what you even call that. What do you call that? Stranded in the desert, I guess? I mean, the fucking

Donner party had the same thing going on. They were sitting there with no transportation. Crossing your fingers for luck? What do you do? Wow. So if they don't bring the food box, they eat each other. They just draw straws for who gets eaten first. Or they die.

Or they die. Now, Sukas later said that while on the way to the campsite, to give those to the food, that Philip suggested that maybe he should offer to get rid of Frida on account of her arthritis. Maybe I should offer to kill her for. Maybe she wants to die.

She might just want to die because of her arthritis. He says, because she was complaining all the time. She was praying that God would take her out of her misery. So maybe I'll just do it. Hyperbole? I do this every day. You know how often I wish for death? Do you have any idea how often I wish for death?

It is 15, 18 times a day. I'll count. I'll count tomorrow. It's a lot. too much salt in my food and I'm fuck I may as well just die might as well just kill myself that's it yeah I'm telling you anything I wish for death so often we had technical problems before we started recording I wish for death eight 10 times during the course of that so anyway so that's what he said um now this guy just kind of ignored it as yeah he's talking out of his ass whatever sure so Alan or Fawkesi want to call him Alan yeah for charge travels with Sukas to Richard Towell's camp where he consumes enough beer that he was pretty drunk when they got out of there by four or five in the afternoon. Nice work. He's got it in.

On the way back from the camp, Frank and Philip stopped at the Arrowhead bar where he had, the way he put it later, a couple of bourbon and Cokes and a beer or two, which means I had 14 drinks. I had a lot to... You think that they're pouring a single at the Arrowhead in Congress? A couple bourbon and coax and maybe a beer. You know, that just sounds real light. It was more. So they drive to the bar. Now, at the bar, apparently Frank loaned Philip $10 so he could get a drink.

And Philip said he needed to call a man in Wickenberg about a masonry job in Prescott for which he was to receive $500 in advance for. Oh. So Frank Sukas says that Philip appeared to make two attempts to call this guy, the guy with the job. Thereafter, they discussed a hiding place for the money. When I get the 500, where am I going to put it? Can't leave it in my tent. You got to squirrel this away.

That's the other part here. They have to act like they're like they just scored some gold from a train in the 1880s or something and like hide it in the desert because they don't have a secure place to put anything these people. I've got to bury this. So, yeah, they're discussing it. Frank suggested, how about a spot underneath a big rock by my TV antenna? He literally is talking about burying. Burying the money, yeah. By the time they leave the bar, it said that Philip was, quote, three sheets to the wind.

He's shit-faced. Yeah, he didn't get $10 worth of drinks. He got a lot more than that. So Frank drives Philip back to the area where they were camped and drops him off. down the road from his campsite. The next morning, he's supposed to pick Philip up, and Frank Succas is a little late picking him up. He meets Philip as Philip is walking toward him along the road.

Like he's walking out to where the car would put in. Well, we'll get to showers in a minute here. As a result here, he just picked him up there, didn't get all the way to the campsites, picked him up, and then they drove out. They said that, Philip said that since they'd last seen each other, he'd gone back to town, called the guy, had him drop the money off over at the library,

or quote, in back of the library, underneath the propane tank. This is... What the fuck are you doing? Because Philip had no vehicles, so Frank takes him places, and the nearest phone was about a mile or a mile and a half away from the place. So, like, last night I dropped you off after the bar shitfaced.

You somehow got to a phone, got a hold of this guy, and got him to bring you money. before I got here in the morning. How the hell did you do that? And meet me under the propane tank. And meet me by the propane tank, which is the most romantic place to me. Yeah. When they get to the library, Philip returned some books and then went behind the building for five to ten minutes.

Well, he reads. That's nice. He reappears with $500 and $50 bills wrapped in a piece of newspaper. Classy. Got to hide that. Wow. He immediately gives Frank Sukus $150 to fix his truck. Oh.

You need this for your truck, okay? And he's driving them all over, so he better pay him. And then he bought some beer and some tobacco for a friend of his named Jerry Stanberry. By the way, according to Sukas, this money does not smell of cat litter, by the way. Okay. So the two men then drove over to the Stanberry guy's house. A guy named Dwayne Staley was there also. Dwayne Staley said that Philip had his shirt and shoes off and looked like he had recently taken a shower,

which was something of note for Philip. That's why when you said that, I was like, it's actually of note when he looks like he showered. It's very important. We understand that he was clean at this moment. He was clean. And that's something that's noticeable by people who don't even see him very often. Oh, wow, he must have showered recently.

Think about that. If you were such a filthy scumbag that when you showered, everybody noticed. Yeah. So, anyway, the Stanberry guy says that Philip told him that Frida Brown, they're just hanging out. And he says, Frida Brown, quote, was feeling kind of blue and useless because she was crippled and couldn't get around very much anymore. And she was planning on shooting herself. Jesus. So he said.

Trippled or had some arthritis? Like, what a little sore in the wrist from all that polishing? You know, wax on, wax off. And they're calling her fucking useless. Yeah. Yeah. So, and he said that, basically, Philip said that he felt sorry for her, which this guy said that they all did. But then he said that she might be better off if someone would, quote, knock the old bitty in the head. Good Lord.

Jesus. According to Stanberry, Philip also said that he wanted to borrow money from Frieda Brown because, quote, she wasn't paying him enough. And she'd get angry if he kept on her about it. In addition, the Stanberry guy said that Philip indicated. that Frieda Brown kept money, quote, in a bag behind the truck seat in her pickup, as we know about. So from there, they go back to the campsite after Stanberry's house. They drive from Stanbury's house to the Towell Anglin campsite, the stranded people. The forever campers. Yeah, that's forever camping.

According to Frank Sukus, Philip told him that the money he picked up, was actually, wasn't actually for this job that he told him about. It was actually for, quote, a hit job in Prescott. So he said, it's a hit job. Frank replies that, I don't believe you. I've been across the country with you. You're full of shit, I think. Are you drunk?

After they get to the campsite, Frank and Anglin leave to get groceries, leaving Towell and Allen there by themselves. According to towel, Alan, God damn it, Philip was, Philip was, quote, in a very high pitch of excitement and, quote, twitchy. Sounds like he's on meth. Sounds like he's got some meth from all that money he had. When this towel guy inquired, what's wrong, what up? You know what I mean?

Why he said twitchy. What's the deal with your weird shit? What's up with that? Philip said that he was, quote, in serious trouble because he had, quote, robbed and killed an old lady at her trailer in Congress. He explained. He said, I was, quote, in a panic and needed money and needed food. He said that he got $500 from her and that no weapon or fingerprints would be found, so he should be fine.

Oh, boy. Everything's fine. It's 95. They're not thinking of DNA or anything yet. Finally, he asked this towel guy if Frank Sukas, who he came all the way here with, could be trusted with a secret. secret. Like, could I tell Frank about this? Why are you, why do you want to tell everybody? And I guess this towel guy, you figure, who's he going to tell? He lives in the goddamn desert

with no transportation. I can tell him anything. He's, you know, whatever. That person knows is you. Yeah. And he said that no, Towell said no and made a reference to Sucas being an alcoholic. And you never know when he'll get drunk and start running his mouth. Yeah, he may not even know that he told. He blacks out for Christ's saying. That's the other guy, Sukis, they're talking about. Can I tell Frank Zuckus? And he said he's an alcoholic. I wouldn't tell him anything.

So later that day, Philip asked Towell to provide an alibi for him. And this guy said, no. I'm fucking giving you an alibi. I don't want to get involved in this. I moved out to the middle of the goddamn desert with no transportation. You want to know why? Avoiding shit like this. That's why.

I'm daring the universe to take me. Just take me away. I don't give a shit. Aliens. Fucking coyotes, whatever, whatever comes, man. A band of ants. Wals ands. I don't know.

A lost moose even. I don't care. He's down too far. He's angry. Now, when Sukis and Anglin return to the campsite here, that's when Philip announced that he'd be staying at the campsite for a while. And if a man came looking for him about a job, Sukish should let that person know where he was. Because when I want to hire someone, I want to go searching the desert for them. That's how I look for my employees.

Hello. I don't know what a dress. this Coleman tent is. I'm not sure if you could possibly help me out with that. So then Philip agreed to, or I'm sorry, later gave towel and Anglin $250 for the purchase. He's damn near broke. That's 500. I mean, he gave 150, some tobacco, this and that, 250 here for the purchase of food and

drink. Towell said that Philip indicated this was part of the money he got when he killed the old lady. He said, Tal said that he didn't fucking believe him. He was like, you didn't kill any fucking old lady and get money. Who knows where he stole it from, but whatever. So now on his second night at camp, he just decided I'm staying at your camp for a while. I'll be here.

Oh, boy. Towel awoke to find Philip, quote, crying, setting on the side of the bed. Settin on it. Setting on the side of who's bed? I guess there's a bed here. You look intense. I don't know. Crying, he said.

Then he said that he was, quote, in serious trouble, what was he going to do? And he said he was worried about himself, very worried about himself. Right. So over the next few days, Dwayne Staley here, this guy from around, he drove up by Frieda Brown's trailer a couple of times. and on a third occasion of driving by, noticed that her dog was wound up around the tree. So it was tied to a thing and was wound up. It wound itself up.

Dogs don't know how to go backwards to get out of that. Right. The dog is stuck. They never do. So he knocked on the door of the trailer, got no response, so he unwound the dog. Then the next morning,

he found the dog all wound up again. Did it again. And he's like, God damn it. So he became a little concerned about why she letting her dog do that all the time here. May 13th, 1995. Now, this is three days after, you know, we started this whole narrative here. Frida hasn't been seen for a few days. No one's seen. Oh, no. So Staley and Frank Sukas go to investigate where she is.

Succas pops open the trailer door and finds her in her bed just dead sitting there. Dead. Yeah. Decomposing, by the way. Pretty good. But just... It's not good in there. Dead in her bed. Which she's 84. 84-year-olds. You go, wow. Look at you. You did it. You made it. 84, you died in your sleep. Fucking congratulations. You know, that's great. I mean, what did you expect in a trailer in Congress? That's what happens.

So, Staley goes back to his place and calls the sheriff. A sheriff patrol deputy for Yavapai County response to the call. They enter the trailer. No signs of foul play. No break-ins, nothing overturned or rummaged or anything like that. He removes the blanket that was covering front. Rita and he said he found a body in a state of decomposition and noticed what he thought were she had a lot of blood on her face and all around her and he said that was the cats were eating her face.

Oh God damn. That was this guy just took a look and he was like, oh, the kittens must have been eating her. Oh, this is bad. That is the, they say it will happen. Oh, yeah. They say it. Yep. They'll do it.

Yeah. So the cop believed that she died of natural cause. Now, because this complete dipshit hiccup fucking comes in and says natural causes, he turns her trailer and property over to her friends that she had notes all over the trailer saying that if I, if anything happens to me, these people get all my shit, right? Okay. So he just saw those, called those people up and were like, you come get your trailer and get all her shit. Just turns it over to them. Doesn't look into it. Doesn't keep it as a crime scene.

doesn't do any of that. Just turns it over to their friends. This is the Hadlocks or the family. They come and get the trailer and they take it to court site. Hey, there you go. I told you. I fucking told you so. They park it in court site on May 14th. Now also on May 14th, while the trailer is

being put in court site, the medical examiner examines Freed his body and in about two seconds says, this is not a natural death at all. There's injuries all over her. This is a murder. cats did not stab her like this. No, that's the thing. And then so now the next morning, the police called the hadlocks and left them a message saying,

don't do anything to the trailer. Don't touch anything. It's already compromised, guys. Once it pulls away, you have no idea what happened to it. It's compromised. So who gives a shit. Too late. By the time they received the message, they had already sprayed Lysol all over the trailer

and emptied its contents into garbage bags. Of course. Everything that was in there is now. completely, you know, disinfected and also empty. So there's no idea how to reconstruct anything. We're still trying to get the decomp out of it. But as of now, it's covered in lemon frisk. So good luck with that.

Now, in a previous letter to Mrs. Hadlock, Frieder Brown explained that she, quote, kept her money hidden inside her 38 holster underneath the bed inside the camper. She had looked, Mrs. Hadlock, and found $500 there. So she had 500 bucks in there. On May 16th, the police examined the trailer and its belongings. They do find blood in the trailer and they test it and it is Frieda Brown's blood, which is what you'd expect. The same day, the sheriff executes a SWAT team raid on the Towell Anglin campsite.

They're like, God, we just wanted to be left alone. It's all we wanted. Just leave us alone. And an officer asked towel whether Philip Pacharski ever mentioned anything about an old lady in Congress. Towell said he was surprised because he didn't think it was true and said, yeah, he said he killed an old lady for 500 bucks. I can't believe it's true. He also told the police that Pacharsky shorts and tennis shoes on May 10th and then jeans and boots on May 11th. I have a feeling he doesn't change every day.

When it's notable to an investigation that in two subsequent days, you have different clothes. And he's showered also. And that's a big deal. So that's a lot to deal with, isn't it? The police never find the shoes or shorts. The tennis shoes are shorts. But when they search Pacharski's campsite, they discover a Levi's button and three islets in the campfire. So he burned a shirt.

Or the pants. I spent to say pants and said shirt. It's a sweet shirt. It's a sweet shirt, man. It's a sweet five pocket shirt you got there. Based on statements made by Frank Sukas and towel, officers search around a mine and a nearby cemetery in hopes of finding the Kbar knife, which was last seen by witnesses about three months ago. So it hasn't been around for a while. The knife is never located, by the way.

Now, subsequent tests show that blood found on his belongings was his own. Oh. But two of his fingerprints were found in the door of the trailer that Frida lived in, but they could not be dated, and he's known to frequent there. Yeah, he worked for her. He worked for her. So May 15, 1995 is the autopsy. And then we find out what really happened. They found at least 24 overlapping knife wounds to her head.

Knife wounds overlapping, stabbed the shit out of her head. eight injuries resulted from deeper penetrating stab wounds. With the exception of one small stab wound on her right index finger, all the wounds were confined to the left side of her face. The doctor described one of the wounds as a fatal wound that would have rendered her unconscious within a matter of seconds. And he said that all wounds occurred fairly close together and could have been in seconds or maybe even a minute between them.

Yeah. But absolutely brutalized. I can't imagine. Brutalized. So obviously. 84 year old woman. 84 years old. Just that many times stabbing in the face for no fucking reason.

For $500. I mean, come on. For $500. Police suspected that Philip had used his K-bar knife, which was his favorite possession, hasn't been seen for three months. That's what they were thinking. So they go back and they talk to Philip now. They bring him in because, you know, people have said that he said he did it and shit.

So he's a suspect. he Frank drives him back to the area which he was camped and uh this is what he said happened Frank dropped me off that night after the bar and all that and down the road from the camp on the way back to his site he noticed that the light and Frida's trailer was on and that her dog was tangled up in the bushes outside the trailer um he said that he continued to consume whiskey and beer at his camp while preparing dinner for himself which whiskey and beer which which I see as just beans on a metal plate. It was brown and hot. Yeah, that's what I mean. Yeah. That's what I picture. Sitting around the campfire.

After 10 or 15 minutes, he decided to go to Frida's trailer to let her know that her dog was tangled up again. Yeah. He testifies later on that around 9.30 at night, he knocked on Frida's door and that she, as she always did, step back to let him inside. And once inside, he said they had a discussion about whether. Frida wanted him to unhook her dog from the bushes. Do I'm going to get your dog out of the bushes or what here? He said he was so concerned with the way that she treated her animals because he had observed her dog tangled on four or five previous occasions and this sometimes prevented the dog from reaching its food and water. So he said that he doesn't remember what Frida said, but, quote, he just snapped, he said.

He snapped. Whatever she said, it was enough to go, I'm going to stab the fuck out of it. an 84-year-old woman. Who's he telling this to? The police. Homicide detectives are sitting across. Guys with ties on. I'm up.

I'm a dog superhero. Yeah. Badges on their belts, those guys. Yeah. Where there is injustice for canines. I'll be there. I will kill an old lady in a heartbeat if a dog gets wrapped around a tree. Wow.

So she said that, he said he snapped and stabbed her twice in the head, after which she, quote, sat back on her bed and leaned over to. the side. He said he then lifted her feet onto the bed and gently covered her with a blanket. He says all he remembers is two stab wounds. Meanwhile, we know there's 24. He missed. Yep.

He says that he panicked and wanted to make it seem as if it was part of a robbery. So that's why he stole money from her purse that was hanging on the door. That wasn't the initial thing. He was just like, oh, shit, I'll cover my tracks by robbing her. Yeah. I did this in honor of that pop, but I had to. I didn't think you guys would understand. something else because they'd never suspect

the scumbag who never showers in the next campsite as someone being capable of robbery, right? Right. So he said that he locked the door of the trailer and returned to his campsite down the road. He says that he only stabbed her twice, but then when they show him evidence of, hey,

this is the autopsy report. He then says, well, I don't remember causing the rest, but I don't dispute that, you know, if the evidence says it happened, no one else went in there and stabbed her 22 more times, obviously. So I guess that's what I did. If they were there, then I did it.

And I did it. So he's in jail. Okay. Now, he's in jail. And with him in jail is a guy named Don Fields. Don Fields was arrested January 15th, 1996 for not paying a traffic ticket. Keep that in mind. So they put him in jail with murderers, which makes perfect sense, obviously.

You have a pie. Yeah. He was taken to the Prescott jail, which, you know exactly where that is. We've been to the, I got my processor. license at the courthouse there. Did you? Yeah, because in Phoenix, it was like a six months wait to get the test and all this shit. Prescott.

Prescott, the next week. And it's not like a, in Phoenix, it's like a big formal thing and put your pencils down. There's times and all this shit. In Prescott, I went, the lady, the girl, she was like a young girl that worked there at the clerk's desk. I went up. She was like, yeah, okay, gave me the test. And I was like, do you have to like watch me or where do I go?

She goes, just go over there and do it. I could have been on my phone. She never looked up, never looked at me. I went back and go, how long till I find out? She goes, I can do it now. Normally, it's like three more weeks. You have to wait in Phoenix. And she just went, yeah, you did great.

Well, you passed. I was like, okay, that was it. Looks good. Like, this is tremendous. What a great day. What a fun little old Westy town. Yeah, that's what it is. I was walking around.

I ate at that burger joint there in the square by the park there. It places is delicious with the fixin's bar there. Yeah. Good. So, anyway, not paying a traffic ticket. It's so funny. It is. She asked you if you wanted to get a prostitution license or anything while you're in time.

Anything like that? You want to maybe sell your ass around a little bit? You never know. Whiskey Row. So now, by coincidence, this guy was put in jail with a person he helped capture the previous September. Oh, what? Okay. This person that he helped capture had taken a lady's purse at an Albertsons in Prescott,

and this guy had helped chase him down and tackle him and get this poor lady's board. to me that gives you a pass on one part on a fucking traffic ticket you haven't paid you know what I mean you tackle the guy for some lady's purse you did their to cop's job for them they can pay you in a free you know you ran so they didn't have to that's pretty amazing also the cops in Yavapai specifically Brescott are fucking wild they are reckless with the ticket book they hand them out of shit that's how they make money that's how they pay for everything around there they pull you over all the time now Now, Fields had helped to catch this person. That became known in the jail. So this guy's, I go, that's that motherfucker that caught me. So now everybody hates this guy who's in jail for a fucking traffic ticket. Okay. Now, Philip is in that area of the jail, and he approached Fields and tells him, quote,

I'm in here for murder and there's nothing they can do to me. If it was up to me, you'd be dead right now. Oh. Because he helped, I don't think even in prison, someone. who like helped stop the mugging of an old lady would probably wouldn't be like considered a rat, you know what I mean? Yeah. That's a different thing.

He didn't rat anybody. He just said, don't steal from old ladies, you scumbag. And you're also imprisoned for murder because you fucking ratted yourself out. Well, he got talked to because someone else told on him and he said, I'm in here for murder because of a snitch like you. Okay. That's what he said. He made these statements to Fields in a serious and threatening manner, according to Fields.

Then he, Bicharski, and a bunch of other inmates, attacked him and beat him with weapons and beat the shit out of this guy, okay? So much so that Philip is charged with and pleads guilty to kidnapping and aggravated assault with a dangerous instrument. Oh, my God. Because of this. So a lot of charges. So then he goes to trial for the murder because, you know, I think he figured, fuck it, I'll just plead guilty because I got to have a murder trial. Now, during this trial, Sukas here says that about Frida Brown, quote, she's 84, 85 years old. She was laying on the side more in a fetal position on her right side, arms between her knees in somewhat of a fetal position.

I seen all the wounds on her head and face, which were on the left side. So a drunk who lives in the desert could see wounds, but a cop coming in there goes, our kittens must aid her face. take the trailer, take the crime scene, go ahead. That is unbelievable. I mean, if he does not cop to this, they have nothing on him other than he told a guy that he did it, which if he shut the fuck up and never said anything to anybody, there's no way they can catch him for this. They gave away the trailer. They gave away the crime scene for Christ's sake, and it was mobile.

The other thing is like he, I'm so flat. I'm so mad. This is wild, right? So he had to have pled not guilty then. Oh, for murder? Yeah, he pled not guilty. After he'd set all the... So he thinks you get to do that on behalf of a German Shepherd.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. No, and he's admitting it, too. He's admitting it. He's just saying that he didn't do it to rob her. That wasn't the point of it. Right, I did it. So it's not a death penalty case. Yeah, because she's a bitch.

That's why. She's an old old... Wow. As he put it. Now, medical testimony, they used a chart to describe the injuries identified in the autopsy, they showed 17 incised wounds, eight of which were deeper penetrating

stab wounds in which the knife entered perpendicular to the surface. With the exception of the small root, like we said, the index finger one, everything else is on the left side of her head and face and she was laying on her right side, which makes sense. The fatal wound entered Brown's left ear

and penetrated deep into the brain cavity where it contacted the thoramine magnum of the base of the and would have rendered her unconscious within seconds. And they said, like the brainstem. Yeah, brainstem. Four to five minutes after sustaining this, her brain would have become nonfunctional. Right.

Another deep penetrating wound entered the brain cavity and touched the base of the skull, but was not necessarily fatal or immediately incapacitating. The doctor described four other stab wounds that penetrated deep into the cheek muscle as not immediately fatal. Another stab wound broke her nasal bone. Wow. And other eight wounds were caused by slashing or slicing motion made when the knife was nearly parallel to the surface of the skin. Wow.

Wow. On cross-examination, he said he suspected all the wounds occurred within seconds, maybe minutes between them. He said that more than likely all the injuries were caused in less than one minute. One frenzy. Yeah, just a frenzy. You wouldn't go back and go stab. I'm going to go stab or more. Each of the wounds identified an associated blood in the tissue, meaning her heart continues.

you'd beating while they were inflicted. Oh, God. The doctor could not tell in which order the wounds were inflicted, but testified that the fatal wound, which would have been instantly incapacitating, probably occurred early in the sequence. Now, one of the things he is going for is diminished capacity. He's trying to say he was super drunk. And, you know, something's happened when you're drunk. I mean, if you're drunk, I'm sorry, you didn't say you were drunk.

Well, let me loosen those cuffs for you. You didn't tell us you were drunk. They oftentimes forgive drivers when they're drunk. Oh, yeah. They go, he's drunk. Of course he's driving like this. Yeah, get him home. Of course he plowed into a bus full of nuns.

Look at him. He's shit-faced. Who could expect him to handle this machine? Yeah, of course he smashed into that van full of special needs kids. Of course he did, obviously. So several witnesses corroborate his testimony that he is very intoxicated on the day of the murder. The towel guy testified that he and Philip drank. beer at the campsite on the day of the murder.

And Frank Sukas verified they stopped at the Arrowhead Bar on the night of the murder and that he ordered bourbon and Coke and then a pint of whiskey. He said a couple of drinks, maybe a beer. A pint of whiskey is what he was drinking. He ordered a pint of whiskey in a bar. I didn't know that was the measurement at a bar. Can I get a pint? So that's how it goes.

The verdict comes in and they find him guilty. of burglary in the first degree and first degree felony murder. Okay. Okay. Now, they're going for the death penalty here. I think they're like, he's pretty useless, and I don't think there's any rehabilitating him

because he was never at a point where you could say, we've got to just get him back to that point. He's always been a scumbag. So sentencing, big thing in sentencing is will they allow the jail assault to be a factor in sentencing? Well, he did tell them, they can't take anything from him.

Yeah, he did say that. It was part of the thing that they say to argue against life without is that there'll be a danger in prison. They're going to attack other people. They're going to attack staff members. They need to be held isolated in death row and then killed. And that's it. We can't even even in jail. They're too much.

That's part of it. So the jail assault would help prove that, apparently. They said that the evidence was relevant to rebut the claim that he snapped and murdered Frieda Brown. That's how they're going to allow this in because they say, you know, he's saying the only violent thing I did, I snapped. And they're going, well, he was pretty, he came up to this guy and told him what he was going to do to him and then did some shit to him. The state also argued the evidence rebutted the mitigating circumstance that he was intoxicated at the time of the murder because the assault on fields occurred while he was incarcerated and not under the influence of anything. So it's not only when he's drunk or when he snaps, he just is a dick and likes to murder people. or at least try to.

Also, they said that he's probably going to put people up there saying he's a nice guy. So we're going to rebut that with this. Now, his defense attorneys argued saying that the evidence should not be admitted because the state lost a document that identified the witness to the field's incident, making it difficult for Philip to investigate the statements made by those who witnessed the incident. So the trial judge concluded that the state gets an opportunity to present the field's information in the penalty phase. Due to the missing document, however, the trial judge held an evidentiary hearing to determine the proper scope of what evidence will be admitted. Hoof. So the state was going to be limited to explaining his role in the incident. And that's it.

Not that he started it or that he said all this shit, just his role in the actual beating. They're allowed to say. But not anything else. So the defense continued to object to that, but they said no, basically. There's also a psychiatrist who says that Phillips' mental state continued to deteriorate over time, quote, given his lack of psychological resources, appropriate psychosocial supports and his worsening alcoholism, and that when he moved to Arizona in 94, he was at the end of his tether. And he also testified that he was, quote, pretty depressed. at the time of the offense. Oh, that's, oh, oh, he's depressed.

Oh, well, then never mind. Hey, everybody, he's depressed. He's not feeling so nice. Feel free to dice up elderly. Yeah, just kill an old woman because of that. And also her dog was wrapped around a tree. So if you put those two factors together, he had no choice but to murder her.

Who would think he wasn't depressed? Describe that man's life to anyone. Oh, I bet he'd pretty depressed. I bet he's fucking depressed. depressed. So they said that the doctor said a guy like him in a depressed and an inebriated state would have been much more limited than most people in his ability to control and manage his feelings and reactions. He said there's evidence to suggest that his emotional and alcoholic condition around the time of the murder affected not only his interactions with investigating police, but likely played a substantial role in the events that led up to the arrest for the murder. And also that the doctor said that Philip was concerned with the way that Frida treated her animals and that during childhood he experienced a traumatic event when his uncle killed his pet hamsters. That's Uncle Tucci, the molest he one.

Right. Yeah. But also, you're not a child anymore. No. So the fuck what. And that's what the state says. That was 30 years ago or 25 years ago. That doesn't explain why he'd kill an old lady now.

No. It's part of the rebuttal to that. So the doctor also testified that the people suffering from PTSD tend to lack the ability to control their impulses in very emotional or highly charged situations and that alcohol leads and adds to that limitation here. He said that his ability to conform his conduct to the requirements of law were impaired. And, you know, he said he was all fucked up, basically. But a voluntary intoxication or substance abuse can be a mitigating factor that's, you know, that's. supports certain findings. A defendant's claim of alcohol or drug impairment fails where there is evidence that the

defendant took steps to avoid prosecution shortly after the murder or when it appears that the intoxication did not overwhelm his ability to control his physical behavior. So he's got to be so fucked up. He has no idea. He could have just stumbled out, left the door open, left a trail of blood with like 20s behind it. That would have been he's so fucked up he didn't know. But he took money, locked the trailer door carefully and went back.

to his house, then burned his clothes that he was wearing. And he was, if you're that drunk, you shouldn't even be really that capable of walking. That's the thing, exactly. So he said that he didn't, but he said he stabbed her and wanted to cover up the crime, so he considered burning the trailer. And then he just said, no, that's not a good thing. I won't burn the trailer. I'll steal money from her purse and make it look like a robbery.

Oh. So that's, in the next morning, then he also lied about the trailer. the source of money. So he wasn't just out of his mind. So they said he did not prove his statutory mitigating factor with the intoxication. Also, the doctor said that his past, obviously, severely emotionally, physically and sexually abused as a child, never had an opportunity for normal growth and development, and that the forcible rapes and beatings by Chuck Below with whom he lived during his teenage years caused significant emotional trauma, as it would, obviously, particularly particularly because below was one of the only adults who had ever provided for him.

So he would feed him and make sure he had food and ship, but he'd also beat him and rape him. God, damn. He also explained that Bicharski was given no resources to cope and deal effectively with the severity of abuse and neglect that he suffered throughout his upbringing. And, you know, he's got PTSD, basically. Both his parents were alcoholics, as were his grandparents, his father kidnapped state troopers. Need I go on. So his mitigators that he's trying to get are state of mind, physical, mental, and sexual abuse that happened to him, history of substance abuse and alcoholism, dysfunctional family of origin, including multi-generational violence, criminality, and substance, sexual, emotional, and physical abuse, abandonment, severe neglect, starvation, and foster care placement, the impact of the execution on his family as well. his sister Carol Ann, who had lost contact with him after she died during the poltergeist movie or after it.

Yeah. After the weird lady couldn't bring her back. After she was sucked into the television, said that she lost contact with him and that she testifies that she wants more than anything to develop a relationship with her brother and is corresponding with him. And their letters show that they express love for each other and also love for their father somehow. Yikes. No, no, no, not. I'm sorry. Letters written by his children showed they loved him. Love for their. For what reason, I don't know. And they said the love of a defendant's family is mitigating evidence, the defense says. And also remorse. And he's going to prove he's remorseful by speaking. He says, quote, I would like to say to Frida Brown's family that I'm sorry for the pain that I've caused your family by taking the life of someone you love so dearly. If I could change one night of my life, it would be the night that I took Frida's life. If I could give up my life so Frida could live again, I would gladly do that. She didn't deserve to die, and I truly am sorry for the pain and grief I've caused you and your family.

Also, the mitigation specialist testifies that he does express remorse and has even attempted to write letters to Brown's closest friends to apologize. That's nice. And the judge said, you, sir. I got the gavel to you, sir, may fuck off death penalty. Wow. They found aggravators and not really anything on the mitigators except for a bad childhood, which they said tough shit, basically. You're 39 years old or whatever. Yeah, also a lot of murderers have kids.

Yeah, that's the other thing, too. They have families. So quickly here, 2001, he appeals. And one of the major appeal points is the incident at the jail getting allowed in during the sentencing. Okay. So the court affirms the convictions, but reverses the death sentence that concluded that he had, they reverse it because he had inadequate funding for mitigation investigation. So they didn't give them enough, they didn't give the defense enough funding for that. So it's not fair.

If the state has an unlimited open fucking checkbook to get whoever they want there and you say, well, you got 300 bucks to put together your case. It's not fair. it's not. And that's one of the problems of the court system is it's got to be fair and it's not. And some states have made laws. And I think it went to the Supreme Court because I remember 20 years ago or something, they were talking about it in Texas where the prosecution had like this crazy open checkbook on death penalty cases. And the defense had like a limit of some crazy small amount of money where you couldn't get any experts or really fight the case at all. It was just your fuck. You can't put up a decent defense against all of this. No, and that goes against, obviously, your right to counsel.

If they're counseled, they can't actually fight the case. So, anyway, there's a big New Times article talking about how the Yavapai County in this area. Also, there was court cases about the fact that they don't get the shittiest, like the most, like the poorest people from Yavapai County, they say a lot of them don't show up anyway. So they just stopped, like, asking them to come to jury duty. And these people aren't showing up to jury duty. No, so they're basically saying like, we stopped getting them. So the defendants were like, well, that's, you can't just have people that are upper middle class or middle class. You need to have poor people.

Yeah, exactly. It's not a matter of, but then the state said, well, we're not doing it on racial basis. So there's really isn't a difference. But let's be realistic, class is even bigger than race. You know what I mean? Class is everything. Right. As you get up, there starts to be less minority.

Yeah. No, if you're at a yacht club and you're a member of the yacht club and a black guy pulls up and rolls Rice and gets out and has his fucking sailor hat on his yacht club membership and goes in there, you don't look twice at him, but if some fucking white trash guy pulled in there in an 87 fucking VW. So, you'd say, get this scumbag the fuck out of here, you know, period. So there is that. So they said it's no secret that defense lawyers, including myself on the particular case, would like to have a sufficient number of jurors from the lower economic class since affluent communities like Prescott and Sedona tend to dominate the jury pool.

Sedona people are going to jury duty. They're going. The Supreme Court of the United States also issued a decision that the judge, a jury rather than a judge, must determine if a criminal defendant deserves the death penalty as well. And he was given it by a judge. so obviously that's going up for something. So now he has a new sentencing before a jury now. So this is before a jury. He wanted to re-impanel the original jury, and they said no.

The judge denied that. So he now, before sentencing, Philip urges the court to limit the state's presentation of evidence related to guilt. And the judge ruled with respect to the aggravation part of this that the only testimony exhibits and evidence that are going to be admitted, will be those that are directly relevant to one of three aggravating circumstances that have been alleged. Fields in jail, you know, monetary gain, and especially heinous and cruel. So those are the things. There's also risk assessment reports from jail that he puts forward. Mitigating circumstances, he says that dysfunctional family origin, all that shit.

They say, you, sir, may fuck off death again. Got it again. Got it again. 2008, he appeals, contending that his constitutional rights were violated because he was sentenced before a jury that did not hear all the evidence that was admitted at the guilt proceedings. Now, all of this goes fine. Talk about the death qualified jury, which we've talked about a million times, and that's the dumbest thing I think ever, the death qualified jury.

Because to me, if you did something really, really, really bad, and I'm not a huge death penalty guy, and I even say, fuck that guy, that's a death penalty. You know what I mean? To get a bunch of people who are like, I love the death penalty and then apply it. That's a hammer looking for a nail at that point, isn't it? Seems like it. Yeah.

So, Sukas testifies and all this type of shit. They talk about mutilation. The heinousness and depravity refers to the mental state and attitude of the perpetrator. But they're saying this wasn't mutilation. The court decided this wasn't mutilation. This was all in one act. He didn't go back and like cut pieces off her and do shit like that.

That's mutilation. but they said the The cats did the mutilation. The cats didn't touch her, by the way. Those were all knife wounds. Oh, what? The cop was such an idiot. He couldn't tell a decomposing body

with knife wounds from kitten bites. He thought they were kitten bites. Get the fuck out of here. Yeah, no, there was no kitten bites. The wounds on the face were the kitten bites. Wow. Yeah, that's fucking nuts. So, again, same old mitigation evidence.

There's 22 appeal points. It goes through everything. It doesn't matter. They reduce his sentence of death to natural life without the possibility of parole. And that is where he sits today forever in Arizona prison. So that everybody is Congress, Arizona. And a goddamn insanely weird, gross story.

That was just insane. It's terrible. And not a story that gets any play, really, too. No, because there's nothing goes underground. There's no sex involved. It's an old lady. There's no way to relate to it. Exactly.

So we do it for our show. Why? Because we want to compete, damn it. Because I think it's a good story. That's why. I don't give a fuck if I mean. We like to compete. We always say that.

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