Small Town Murder - Guilty Google Search Murder - Winchester, Indiana

Episode Date: September 25, 2026

This week, in Winchester, Indiana, a man is found brutally attacked, with several bags on his head, and some strange clues scattered around the house & his prize show car stolen. Detectives don't have... must to go on, until an enormous clue drops into their lap, leading to a friend of the dead man, who has a scary history of fires & kidnapping. But he won't be easy to find, because he goes on the run, seemingly disappearing into thin air. This leads to even more crimes, and very scary man on the loose!!   Along the way, we find out that Indiana apparently loves Hawaiian music, that you should never steal a very distictive car, and that arsonists, who kipnap, may just end up escalating to murder!!   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: crimeinsports@gmail.com 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!!

Transcript
Discussion (0)
Starting point is 00:00:01 Hello, everybody, and welcome back to Small Town Murder Express. Yay and Choochoo! Yay indeed, Jimmy. Yay, indeed. My name is James Petrigal. I'm here with my co-host. I'm Jimmy Wiseman. Thank you, folks, so much for joining us today.
Starting point is 00:00:31 Thank you so much. We are super excited to be here, all aboard the murder train, pulling away from the station. I apologize for sounding like this. The Midwest hasn't sickened me, and there's nothing I can do about it. I was walking around in the rain for days and something got in there and it's bad. It's crazy. We're going to work it out, though. That's all right.
Starting point is 00:00:51 I'm hopped up on Sudafed. I'm ready to go. And you need to head over to shut up and give me murder.com. Absolutely. Get your tickets for live shows. We just finished up in Milwaukee and Minneapolis. And, man, let me tell you, awesome. Thank you, Milwaukee.
Starting point is 00:01:03 Thank you, Minneapolis. Minneapolis, that might have been one of the hottest for longest crowds I've ever seen ever. Two hours from start to finish. they never stopped laughing. They were just amazing. Milwaukee, too. Two plus. Yeah, that was crazy.
Starting point is 00:01:17 Yeah, you guys. They made it so long. They made it longer because, yeah, they wouldn't stop laughing. So, hey, that's fine with us. So it was a good time. Man, did we have a blast? So thank you for doing that. Next up, October 3rd, Dallas.
Starting point is 00:01:28 Get your tickets right now. We are doing a special episode of for Dallas that will be from the Dallas suburbs. So get in there. It's local. And then next up, the 16th and 17th of October and San Jose in Sacramento, those will be different shows. So if you go to both, you'll see two different shows. And then Terrytown is almost sold out on November 13th. And then Medford by Boston there, November 14th, tickets available. Shut up and give me murder.com is where you get all of those. Now, Patreon. You want that.
Starting point is 00:01:58 Oh. Patreon.com slash crime in sports, which is the name of the other show that we do that. You should check out. You don't have to like sports. Trust us. So do that. Anybody $5 a month or above, you get everything we put out, everything. As soon as you say, you'll, as you say, subscribe, you're going to get about 400 back bonus episodes you've never heard before immediately. Then you get new ones every other week, one crime in sports, one small town murder this week, which you're going to get for crime and sports. It's a murder story. There's nothing to do with sports.
Starting point is 00:02:26 So the person's family who was murdered happened to be an athlete. That's how it's crime in sports. So there you go. And then small town murder. We're going to do the trick-or-treat murder. It's an old-timey murder from like the 50s, but it is a crazy twisted, weird story of a Halloween night murder. That basically was, they used Halloween to disguise the whole thing.
Starting point is 00:02:46 It's pretty wild. So we'll check all of that out. And more. Patreon.com slash crime in sports is where you get all of that. And you get everything we put out. Your stupid opinions, crime in sports, both small town murders all ad free with that Patreon as well. Can't beat that. And you get a shout out at the end of the regular show.
Starting point is 00:03:04 So, I mean, that's all we can give you. That's all we have. Yeah. I'm looking. I got a box behind. Nothing else in there. It's all empty. A bag's empty.
Starting point is 00:03:11 That's what we got there. So yeah, do that, Patreon. And then I'd say, that's time, everybody. What do you say? Here, let's all clear the lungs. We need to do that. I need to do them a lot here. Arms to the sky.
Starting point is 00:03:25 This is as clear as they're getting today. Arms to the sky. And let's all shout. Shut up and give me murder. Let's do this, everybody. Okay. Let's go on a trip. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:03:41 Let's do it. Well, we're going to Indiana this week. Here we go. Winchester, Indiana, like the rifle there. I guess it's within the township of White River, but it's its own town also. I hate when they do that. It's very confusing. A lot of states do that.
Starting point is 00:03:59 It happens like in the East Coast states a lot, the Northeast. So much. This is actually, it's a hamlet in a township inside of a, it's like enough already with that shit. This is in eastern Indiana, about an hour and a half to Indianapolis. about an hour 15 to date in Ohio and about two hours and 10 minutes to Columbus, Indiana. Our last Indiana episode, Episode 693, Poison Pudding Problems, which I went a little crazy with the alliteration and I don't regret it. That's fine. Poison pudding problems.
Starting point is 00:04:28 This is in Randolph County, Area Code 765. Population here, 5,016. So decent-sized town inside of another town. median household income is almost about 20,000 below the rest of the country in terms of average. It's 51,985, but that's not bad when you look at the median home cost. You go, oh, okay, that fits. Median home cost here, $118,000. Wow.
Starting point is 00:04:57 Which is from another century, those prices. That'd be amazing to get a middle of the road home for $1.20? 118. It's got nicknames that are wild. Oh. The first one I really don't get. The world's fastest half mile. There's no racetrack here.
Starting point is 00:05:16 Yeah. But it's Indiana. I get it, Indiana's into the racing, but it's not here. There's no racetrack that I can find anyway. The other nicknames are even stupider. One is Dub C. And then in parentheses, WC, Winchester. No.
Starting point is 00:05:31 Nope. That's not what I think of for that. You can't do that. Nope. That's the water closet we've established. And then the Yes, exactly. Oh, we're in water closet, Indiana.
Starting point is 00:05:42 Then the other one is even grosser. Sugar cream pie capital. They have the words cream pie capital in their fucking town motto. A sugary one. Sugary cream pie and your sugar. What have you been eating, sir? Gross.
Starting point is 00:05:59 Is that just sugar or cream pie or for you? How about that? A little bit of history of this town. Man, it was laid out in 1818. as the county seat, was the county seat of Randolph County. Five early settlers donated land for the purpose of the town. And they're pretty sure it was named for Winchester, Virginia, because I think one of the people was from there.
Starting point is 00:06:20 So that's what they do. It became actually notable in the mid-1800s because Randolph County was a major spot for the Underground Railroad. Wow. Yes. Now, Indiana is famous for being one of the clan-heavyest cities in our states in the country. They had a huge, I mean, they controlled all their politics and police forces. Oh, in the 20s and early 1900s. But here, it was big in the underground
Starting point is 00:06:48 railroad, big in the abolition movement before the Civil War. So that's pretty cool. Then they had oil and natural gas and other resources they found in about the late 1800s, and Winchester transformed from a farming community into an industrial town after that. Yeah. Factories and, you know, Black's not so bad, is it, Indiana? That's right. When it comes from the ground, it's Texas tea right there. So all of this enabled the glassmaking industry to thrive here. So a lot of glass making here.
Starting point is 00:07:19 That was the big deal here, was the glassmaking. And they had the fuel from the natural gas and oil to be able to burn those furnaces because you've got to get a pretty high temperature to burn metal glass. Tornadoes, they've had a couple of those. And 2024, which very recently, a quarter mile. wide EF3 tornado hit Westchester. Oh, wait. Sounds big.
Starting point is 00:07:42 Hit Winchester? Or Winchester, what I call it? Yeah. Westchester. Westchester. I live near Westchester. I apologize. Severe damage was dealt to the Goodwill, the Goodwill store.
Starting point is 00:07:53 So we're fine still. That dumpster outside spread people's garbage clothes they don't want everywhere. There it is. Severe damage to somebody else's trash. That's it. The lodge at Summers Point. and a strip mall. Just a strip mall wiped out so the subway is gone.
Starting point is 00:08:13 The Freedom Life Church and the Taco Bell were flattened. They flattened the Taco Bell. That's tough. Where are we going to get diarrhea now? This is bad. The good news is it didn't break anything that wasn't already. No, it didn't break one shell. They were already cracked on the bottom.
Starting point is 00:08:29 They were already fucked. 38 were injured and three were critically injured. And one of the three died weeks. later. And then June 24, three months later, the remainder of the strip mall was demolished. And it subsequently, they rebuilt the, I think they rebuilt
Starting point is 00:08:45 something into a Wendy's and then Taco Bell underwent repairs and reopened. So there you go. It's back. Reviews of this town. Here's five stars. I think Winchester is an excellent place to raise a family and a perfect place to settle down and put roots. Yeah. It's a very
Starting point is 00:09:02 cozy small town that feels like home. This place will always be home. I grew up here. I have no interest in the outside world whatsoever. I don't have any gas. Wow. Winchester will always have a special place in my heart. Here's three stars, and this is the perfect review for three stars. It's your average town in the middle of a cornfield. Easy to miss. Everyone knows just about everyone there. Not sure if that's a really nice thing or terrifying. Middle of the road. This is a three star review. People take notes. This how it works. Great place to take an F3
Starting point is 00:09:37 to the chest. Not bad. Well, at least the Taco Bell takes one to the chest. What's nice about this little town I think most can agree on is that you know it like the back of your hand and it has a little diner that's known for miles around. Oh, well, then everything's fine. It's not
Starting point is 00:09:54 much, but it's home. It's not much, but it's ours. That's something. Three stars. Winchester has a cute little hometown feel to it. I grew up in Winchester. That's probably why it feels like a hometown deal, because it's It does. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:10:07 Because it's your hometown. It's your hometown. But recently it has fallen victim to a lot of major drug use, and I would definitely like to see that change as I have lost loved ones to this horrible disease. Right? And then finally, two stars. It's not a good place to raise a family. It traps.
Starting point is 00:10:26 I guess traps you in the town. Yeah. I suppose. You're stuck in that. Yeah. Cyclical Winchester lifestyle. Yeah. Things to do.
Starting point is 00:10:34 Two things. one makes sense and the other one makes none so that'll be nothing no sense first is the westchester see i almost did it again winchester main street festival normal festival it says it's an attempt to
Starting point is 00:10:49 embrace a marty groth theme and to infuse Hoosier life with southern flare oh yeah i forgot their Hoosiers yeah what does that mean no goddamn idea um wearing an eye and a you on your chest that's it
Starting point is 00:11:03 You, you, even when people abuse kids, you love them. As long as they wear a red sweater, you can say whatever you want to these fucking kids. Whatever you want. So they're, they have normal things, parades, shit like that, family night with fireworks, carnival blowout, normal shit. Then is the one that doesn't make sense. The Hawaiian Steel Guitar Festival. Wait. In eastern Indiana.
Starting point is 00:11:28 No idea why they chose this to, I don't know. The manufacturing plant must be some. somewhere nearby because they're nice guitars. I've got one right there. No, they're very nice, but it says it's, I don't know why they would have a Hawaiian guitar festival in eastern Indiana. It's a strange place. It's a brand.
Starting point is 00:11:44 I get it, but they're doing Hawaiian music. That's the, you know what I mean? Oh, they're doing Hawaiian music too? Winchester, Indiana's Hawaiian Steel Guitar Festival brings together musicians from across generations and cultures. I can't stop laughing. I'm not hearing anything about Hawaii yet. Welcoming Native Hawaiian artists alongside performers from across the continental United States.
Starting point is 00:12:06 What do you think I wrote this down? Do you think I didn't fucking know what it was? Performers include the Williams twins, 96-year-old twin sisters who've been singing and playing guitar together at the festival for nearly 50 years. 96? Wow. They can play guitar at 96? That's amazing. I can barely turn wrenches.
Starting point is 00:12:27 I have so much arthritis, and I've never played guitar a day in my life. Well, maybe that's the key. Maybe it keeps you loose glimmer. I got to learn this shit. You're not playing that fucking thing. It's sitting there, but you're not doing anything with it. I tried so hard. I quit already.
Starting point is 00:12:41 Alan Akata, a member of the Hawaiian Music Hall of Fame and one of the foremost masters of the Hawaiian steel guitar, 22-year-old Miley-Lyman, one of the brightest rising stars in Hawaiian music. I mean, it's a Hawaiian festival, not just the guitar. Wow. It's a whole festival, which is crazy. Anyway, that said, let's talk about some murder. That is shocking. I was like, just let me tell you.
Starting point is 00:13:08 I feel bad. I feel bad now, but I'm like, if you let me read one sentence, all of this will be explained. So it's just the music. That's interesting. I can totally see where you're coming from. You're like, but I have one of the guitars. It's a guitar. I have one.
Starting point is 00:13:22 It's right there. All right. Murder in this town. Let's go back 2018, not very far. No, real reason. We're getting eight years, not bad. Those ladies were still in their 90s. They're fucking, yeah, still, well, almost.
Starting point is 00:13:36 Almost, yeah, they're pushing. So, let's talk about a guy here, David L. Brumley, L.E.Y, by the way. He's born February 13, 1957 here, so I'm getting up there an age here. He's 61 years old. He's the son of Robert and Dolores Brumley. He has a brother named Tim. He graduated from Winchester High School. school in 1976. He is
Starting point is 00:14:01 Mr. Winchester. Still lives there, lives on West South Street in Winchester. Been there all the time. He works for Omega Enterprises, whatever the hell that is, but that's what he works for. Now, in the neighborhood, he
Starting point is 00:14:17 knows everybody. He's from this town. It's a small town. If you grew up here in your 61, you pretty much know everybody. It's a long time. Yeah, you have to know everybody. So he knows all sorts of people, has all sorts of friends that are like, described as childhood friends all the time, so he still knows them. Seems like a lot of people are born here and they die here.
Starting point is 00:14:37 You know what I mean? They are happy about it, so good for them, I guess. Or at least content. Yeah, there you go, at least content. He has a friend of his across the street from him, actually. Go right kind of near right across the street. A buddy of his, he's known for his whole life. So that's kind of fun.
Starting point is 00:14:53 And his buddy kind of helps him out with stuff a little bit, as we'll talk about. He's got a car that he's real into that his, buddy helps him out with. This is Monty Joseph Cook. Okay, Monty Cook. He's born September 59, so they went to high school together. You know, they know each other. Grew up there.
Starting point is 00:15:13 They remained friends as adults, always. Now, we'll talk about it, but Monty wasn't around for about 15 years. Where'd he go? He was local, pretty much, but not available. Put it that way. Oh. He wasn't available to hang out at the time. You could see him, but he couldn't really make plans to see you.
Starting point is 00:15:34 From time to time. Yeah. At very certain times on very certain days, you could see him. A couple hours. Very specific hours. So, yeah, they grow up and Monty would help David Brumley with projects around the home sometimes. You know, and not even like for money. Like, you know, they just help each other out.
Starting point is 00:15:56 He liked doing stuff. And he liked turning a wrench or fixing something and doing shit. He also hung out with Brumley in the garage. Brumley's got a little house with a detached garage where he's constantly working on and polishing and making better his prized show car, which is a 2006 Mustang. Oh. Now, there's some debate over whether it's 2004 or 2006, but I'm 99% sure it's 2006, and it's the same body style. from like 0.1 to 08, so it really doesn't matter. It's not really a classic, but it's his prize possession, and that's okay.
Starting point is 00:16:34 Well, yeah, he's got it jacked up, too. He's got, it's a GT. It's like maroon with dark, with the black stripes on the hood, and it's got the big black scoop on the hood and all that shit. Like, he's got it all. Okay. You know, he... Yeah, I think they stopped making the cobra by then.
Starting point is 00:16:50 I believe so, yeah. It also has the chrome pins in the front of the hood. It's like making it look. real race, like what you would do in, what you would do in Grand Theft Auto if you had tons and tons of money and you get a car and go to the shop there and hook it up. Like, that's pretty much what he did do it.
Starting point is 00:17:06 The Mustang's a fine car, whatever. Yeah, it's right. I used to have a word. They're fine. So, yeah, he, a lot of people hate them. despise them. Yeah, it's just the only car that Ford ever built that's really fast, except for the Shelby shit.
Starting point is 00:17:18 Well, that was, that's a whole, and the GT, of course. That's a whole different issue. That's a Mustang, though. No, the Ford GT. The, the hell is that? The 500 GT, the 500 GT. Yeah. That's a totally different thing, but that's like a fucking $400,000 car, or whatever. So if you want that.
Starting point is 00:17:36 It's on a Mustang platform in it. I don't know about the engine, but it's a down low, lower. It doesn't look anything like a Mustang. Oh, are you talking about the, I know you're talking. That's the Shelby Cobra, right? No. There are newer ones. The, is it the 500 GT, is it called?
Starting point is 00:17:54 The hell's it called? I knew a guy who had one. They're insanely expensive. Yeah, they're really like crazy expensive fords. Like, it's wild. Yeah, I thought that that's the Mustang built. It doesn't matter. It's really irrelevant to the story.
Starting point is 00:18:07 Much like the Hawaiian guitars, really irrelevant to the story. So, now, Monty, by the way, as a job, he delivers campers and RVs. That's his job. Yeah. A lot of RV stuff is made around here, as we'll talk about. So the Mustang is this guy's pride. fucking possession. Okay.
Starting point is 00:18:27 And he takes it to car shows. And I mean, this is David Brumley's prized possession here. Yep, he's got license plate RSP 657. And here we go. Now, a little background on Monty, his buddy across the street. They hung out a lot in their younger days. They were real close. But in the late 2000, in the late aughts and 2010s, they weren't hanging out because
Starting point is 00:18:55 as Monty was a little busy, and let's find out why. In July of 2003, at, what is this, July, I believe 5th, at 2.23 a.m., state and federal agents began an investigation of a fire that caused $7.5 million in damages to a factory. Oh, a factory. It's a 35,000 square foot factory burned down. Huge. And everything inside. Everything in it.
Starting point is 00:19:25 gone. Wow. So they said, quote, by seven hours into the call, we had a lot of resources here to use saying, you know, that this was the first, the fire chief said this was the first time since he's been in fire that the federal department of alcohol, tobacco, and firearms and explosives were to be involved in an investigation. He goes, those guys showed up. We were like, what? What are you guys doing here? ATF. ATF is there. The president of the company that It's all this warehouse or factory had one company. It's called Mastercraft. They make,
Starting point is 00:19:59 they make shit for boats and RVs. They make furniture for boats and RVs. That's where it comes from here. So they said the Cliff Reynolds, who's the president of that company, said he's confident the business will return someday to full production when they obviously have a place to put it.
Starting point is 00:20:15 He said, our main focus is to take care of the customers and our employees. So they make upholstered furniture and mattresses for the RV industry, and I guess boats, too, from what I understand. Oh, the boats are insane that they build. I bet. So they say it was destroyed by fire. Now, this was originally a smaller building, and I found in the newspapers where they added
Starting point is 00:20:37 on every couple years, they build another part and build another section. They've grown and grown and grown for like 30, 40 years in this area. Now it's ashes. Yeah, it's a pretty nice story, you know, of a local business growing like that. So employees had not worked in the buildings the last three days because, is they had a three-day weekend for the 4th of July holiday. Oh, yeah? So they went off for a three-day weekend.
Starting point is 00:20:58 Turned out to be a lot longer weekend than that, obviously. Now, what ended up happening there, there's 300 people working at the plant. They don't have a job at the moment here. They ended up suspecting old Monty Cook of doing this. Why would they suspect him? He's got reasons. Cook gives statements to the Indiana police investigator and an agent of the, ATF said he gave a
Starting point is 00:21:25 they said a statement against his own interests but not a confession so we're all about to push him over the edge here yeah I was there what about it well saying he knew who did it or he might have been there at the time but he didn't light the fire why would he say that I may know the guy who did it because I may have been watching him do it
Starting point is 00:21:45 but one me yeah all right what a dumb fucking thing to say do you imagine idiot idiot So the investigators focus on Cook after learning that he had left threatening messages on the Mastercraft telephone answering machine over the course of several weeks. He's been like threatening the RV upholstery factory. What the hell are you doing? It makes more sense when you understand that his wife or estranged wife at this point, Kelly, was an employee at the plant the time that the calls were made. That's why. Okay. So he doesn't like her.
Starting point is 00:22:21 We'll find out. Definitely not. He's a little jealous and possessive, I would say. And he has like a daughter or two and all this stuff. He's like, calm down, bro. Mastercraft reported the incidents to police and had addressed the concern by adding extra security. And the extra security didn't matter much. One of the prosecutors here said it had escalated in volatility.
Starting point is 00:22:44 We believe one of his motives over committing the crime is that he was angry over a relationship. He thought his wife was having it. mastercraft. He thought his wife was fucking one of the other employees, so he said, I will burn this motherfucker to the ground. To the ground. Didn't even have rock solid evidence. No.
Starting point is 00:23:03 Under suspicion, he burnt it down. That's the crazy part. He went in there looking for evidence of it. That's what he was looking for. Oh, my God. That's what's crazy. Seven and a half million dollars in damages. Now, they arrest him.
Starting point is 00:23:18 The plants in ships, ship, shua, shi. Ship Shawana, ship showana, I guess it's called. Or ships, Havana, either one. He remains in
Starting point is 00:23:28 on a $250,000 bond here. They said that's higher than normal because of the extent of it. And also the fact that he didn't get his wife, so they're worried he might go after his wife now, too.
Starting point is 00:23:40 So they said that he broke into the factory. It's about 40 miles east of South Bend to find information on his estranged wife. He's originally not booked on arson charges, but booked on charges of a failure to appear in court the week before for an invasion of privacy case involving, guess who, his wife. And also, there was two arrest warrants already out for him when he did that for invasion of privacy and violating a protective order against who his wife.
Starting point is 00:24:10 Yeah. So this guy's dangerous. Why don't you grab some turtle wax and head on over to your buddy's house and... Yeah, this is what you do. Have a beer, bitch about your wife and then go home and fucking jerk off and go to bed. That's what you do. Shine the car about it. That's what you do, but not this guy.
Starting point is 00:24:26 It's crazy. So he ends up admitting it. He has to admit it eventually here. He broke into the craft or to Mastercraft. He rummaged through drawers and offices. And then he admitted that he lit a match to some fabric and left the building. So he's like, I mean, I didn't make sure it burned down. I threw it and said, let the fit.
Starting point is 00:24:50 States land where they may. Go with God. Jesus take the wheel. That's right. The equivalent of putting a child on a raft and pushing him down the river. Like, I don't know. He could be fine or he could be eaten by wolves. I'm not sure.
Starting point is 00:25:05 Either one could happen. We'll see. Technically, either outcomes possible. He might be raised by the king or eaten by wolves. We're not sure. That's a wild thing to do. It's fucking crazy. He said that he thought his wife.
Starting point is 00:25:20 wife was sleeping with another employee at Mastercraft, and then he found photos of the two of them in one of the desk drawers. That's what pissed him off. And he found it in the desk. So then after that, he said he was looking for pay stubs for some reason. He wanted to know more about this guy, probably his address and things like that. Yeah, but that's also usually where the company discloses the sexual relationships. Absolutely. Yeah, it's right there.
Starting point is 00:25:43 It's under the FICA, I believe, right? The line under that, I think they used for that one. Yeah, cocks taken, and then it shows. Yeah, Cox taken. Yeah. So he said that he set the fire to get back at them. Those two employees. Oh, because it's their fault.
Starting point is 00:26:02 So burn the whole building down. I will bring this motherfucker to the ground. How dare you? They hired and facilitated her being able to take this. They're CFs, cock facilitators, and he's not taking it. So after the fire, he went to a friend's house in Millersburg, so he could watch the fire on television. It's a huge blaze, and he was like, well, there's constant local coverage of this.
Starting point is 00:26:26 Let's watch this. So, he's in jail in March of 2004, because that was July 2003. And then it gets worse somehow. If you could, I don't know how you could go to jail and make it worse, but he did. Here's the headline from the newspaper, kidnapping added to a list of Cook's charges. Who did he take? Well, is that who he took? It's who he wanted to take.
Starting point is 00:26:52 He's already charged with arson finally now. Now he's accused of plotting to kidnap two women in an attempt to get bond money. Two! He's going to kidnap people to get ransom money so he can use it to spring himself on bond. Think about that. Have you ever heard of that one before? That's crazy. You have too much time.
Starting point is 00:27:13 Talk about robbing yourself to pay nobody. Pay nobody. Yeah. Robin Peter. to fucking shit on Paul's chest. It makes no sense. Robin Peter to do Paul's time. It's so weird.
Starting point is 00:27:25 You're not getting out. So he's got to appear in front of a judge on two charges of conspiracy to commit kidnapping. That's not great. He's accused of writing to someone he met in jail. Somebody came into the jail
Starting point is 00:27:37 while he was in there waiting. This person was in there for like 30 days for a minor. They called it in the newspaper, quote, a minor felony. You know, a small, just a tiny felon. Yeah, apparently.
Starting point is 00:27:50 So this guy was getting out in 30 days. So Monty was like, hey, do me a favor. And he's writing to this guy asking him to kidnap the two women, get the ransom and then bail him out with it. Because that's a foolproof plan. That'll work. You already can't vote. So do this for me. How about this part?
Starting point is 00:28:10 Yeah. This guy, by the way, the minor felon, he gets these letters asking them to commit a major felony. and he's like, I have a level of felon that I'm comfortable with. And it's not this high up. It's a much lower level felon than this. Yeah. He took the letters to his probation officer and told on the, on Monty. Wow.
Starting point is 00:28:30 He's like, we're not that good of friends. The fuck are we doing here. So rather than. We're not that close. So rather than just busting him for that right there, the sheriff, the probation officer gave it to a sheriff's detective. Jeff Campos. This Campos had said, no, go ahead and respond to him.
Starting point is 00:28:53 Tell him, no problem. Let's set up a meeting. And we're going to set up a meeting. So they set up a meeting with undercover officers at the jail. This guy said, come back to the jail and bring your kidnapper friend with you and we'll just meet at visiting day. And we'll set this up. Okay.
Starting point is 00:29:12 This is all really brilliant. One officer posed as a bail bondsman. and the other officer posed as the man's cousin. That's how they did. I'm going to commit a felony, so I brought my cousin with me and my bail bondsman. Yeah. So, Monty Cook proposed kidnapping the women. One is the wife of a mastercraft employee, and the other one is the wife of an old friend,
Starting point is 00:29:36 just kidnapping random people for ransoms ranging from 70,000 to hundreds of thousands of dollars, depending on his mood, what he was talking about at the time. the, they said, quote, we were notified by a private individual who'd been receiving some fairly disturbing correspondence from Mr. Cook. This person brought the letters in. We followed up with an undercover officer coming to the jail and meeting to discuss with Mr. Cook the plans he detailed in the letters. So the officer posed as his cousin and said that, yeah, you know, we'll talk about it. And they said that Cook willingly talked to the undercover officer who got the evidence on a record. So,
Starting point is 00:30:17 Unbelievable. Idiot. Cook wanted the would-be kidnappers to abduct these women from their homes, pull them from their beds, and then hold them for money, which is crazy. One of the, they lived in two different cities, too, these women. They were not like they were in the same house. They said, grab that one and then this one. The two women were acquainted with Cook.
Starting point is 00:30:40 And then the prosecutor here said, I think he believed the individuals may have sums of money, enough to accomplish his plan. Cook told the undercover instructions on getting the ransom money and told him not to hurt the victims. This is just for money. Get me out of here.
Starting point is 00:30:55 I'm not looking to hurt anybody. He said, we believe he was trying to acquire enough money to post bond to be released and probably flee the area, you would assume. What an unbelievable plot. What a dumb fucking plot. That's a guy with way too much time
Starting point is 00:31:10 on his hand sitting in jail. And way too few brain cells evidently, because that's not going to work. Way too few IQ points and too much time. Too much time, two little smarts, and you're going to end up with some dumb shit. So he's scheduled to stand trial on the arson and burglary charges, which could result in prison sentences up to 20 years and eight years, respectively. And now these new charges could carry up to 50 more years in prison if convicted.
Starting point is 00:31:39 I was just going to ask you, this is, this is charges. What he's doing is like, yeah, you can. This guy is dangerous. He should not be on the street. He should be doing 78 years. Yeah. This is what he comes up with as a solution to his problem that he got himself in. To do a huge problem that cost $7.5 million.
Starting point is 00:31:59 Because he wanted to stalk his wife more. That's crazy. Right. Because he knew she wasn't even there. He wasn't even there. It's fucking incredible. So, yeah, he wanted evidence. He thought this was the perfect time to break into the plant because no one's there.
Starting point is 00:32:12 Yeah. He's going to the factory. So the prosecutor said, he's incredible. incredibly foolish trying to plan a conspiracy from a jail cell. You're not a mob boss. This is not going to work. You don't have people that are working for you. He said,
Starting point is 00:32:25 You don't have organized criminals. No. He said, obviously we knew he was dangerous because of the arson, but now he suggested doing something even more serious. And then he also said, I know he really thought he was going to get away with it. He really thought this would work. Monty's a moron, I think it's safe to say. He's a fucking moron.
Starting point is 00:32:44 So in court, he's got, I mean, he's on recording, talking to two cops, giving them specific and really detailed kidnapping instructions. Take two women and spring him from the joint. So he's got to plead guilty. I mean, otherwise, he's going to jail forever. He's never getting out. So he pleads guilty to a Class B felony of arson, a Class C felony of burglary. Then in the separate case, pleaded guilty to two counts of Class B felony conspiracy to commit. criminal confinement, which I guess is a little under kidnapping.
Starting point is 00:33:19 It's kidnapping without the stank on it there. Yeah. So during sentencing here, the prosecutor said, I want a 39-year sentence. Don't care if he pled. He said the destruction of property, destruction of lives, and the destruction of an industry in our town. This is like a terrorist act, basically, they're saying. You put 350 people out of work in a small town.
Starting point is 00:33:41 Like, that's crazy. Yeah. He's about to make this place a tour. tourist destination for bikers only. Yeah, absolutely. Now, think about this. This is 2004. He shows photos in court, the prosecutor,
Starting point is 00:33:55 big blown-up side-by-side photos of the burned-out factory and buildings that have been destroyed in Baghdad during the Iraq War. Oh, shit. They look exactly the same to me. Yeah. That's crazy. Surprised he didn't break out the World Trade Center picks. A pile of rubble.
Starting point is 00:34:13 You see a different. He's a terrorist. Someone's paying for 9-11, and I propose, it's Monty Cook. That's what I'm saying right now, if I had to say. Yeah. The towers at least left across. I don't see a cross here. God doesn't love us.
Starting point is 00:34:27 We're all fucked. We're all fucked. Sorry. So the factory owner, Clifton Reynolds, this fucking part owner of Mastercraft, he said he had extensive loss of property and equipment, lost to his employees, lost to his suppliers, vendors, everybody. You know, if you have an order waiting, it's not going to be ready for a while, put it that way. He noted also that his personal loss, he said the building was his father's dream, and he took over for his father.
Starting point is 00:34:55 And he's built it up, and he said he was proud of his employee base and wanted to settle in ships, ship Shawana or ship Shawana, whatever it is. Now, the factory had to move to South Poplar Street in LaGrange. They had to find another place to be because they'd have to rebuild a 3,000, 5,000 square foot factory. So the prosecution says, let's do 39 years without any suspended and order him to repay damages as restitution, $7.5 million in damages. That's good enough. Yeah, for a guy who delivers RVs. That'll work. He said to set the record straight, 39 years in jail is warranted considering all he has done.
Starting point is 00:35:36 His defense attorney said, come on. I mean, the guy could be. Sherry burned a building down, put a whole industry out of business. but it was in a fit of passion. So let it roll. He can't fault him. He loves real hard. He just loves hard.
Starting point is 00:35:50 And the conspiracy charges, he said that's, they were construed. It could be construed as entrapment if you really think about it. So that shouldn't even be on here. You know, he pled guilty to it, but let's be realistic. If we really went to court, we could say that was probably, you know, entrapment. Who knows if that would even stand? And his mental state was compromised. Hmm.
Starting point is 00:36:12 And he also challenged the amount of damages stressed by the prosecution saying that it was less than that. It wasn't $7.5 million. That's an overblown estimate. And then also says that he should give him concurrent sentences, not consecutive sentences, before the kidnapping plots and the arson. They should just all go together rather than laying them out like that. Monty has to talk. He has to say something during sentencing. Show your passion, Monty.
Starting point is 00:36:39 He has to sit there. He said that, quote, if I could change everything I would, I'm extremely sorry. I apologize to my family, especially my daughter, for putting them through this. Unbelievable. And they say, you, sir, may fuck off. Four years at the Indiana Department of Corrections for the burglary. That's just the burglary.
Starting point is 00:37:00 20 years for arson. Those are concurrent, so 20 years. And in the conspiracy to commit criminal confinement, and he was ordered to serve an extra 15 years twice, so 30 years altogether for those. So basically they gave him when it all adds up. It was 30 years, but then they broke it. He said, I'll do it concurrent because he was saying, like, I could lay him out, but I'm going to do it this way.
Starting point is 00:37:27 So basically it's 35 years is what he got, 20 years and then 15 years, basically. So that's what he's got, 35 years. The prosecutor said, I think Judge Brown was very fair. considering the destruction. And that's that. Now, the 2018 here is when he gets out of jail. So he's in for 15 years. He does half the time, basically.
Starting point is 00:37:51 Half of that, yeah. Gets out. And then that's when he's hanging out around here, helping David Brumley fix up his Mustang and, you know, hanging out, doing housework and delivering RV parts. Because what else is he going to do? He just got out of prison for being one of the worst people in the area. Like, everyone in the area,
Starting point is 00:38:09 He's the guy. Everybody's got to be mad at it. Yeah. I went to high school at this one guy who burned down that whole factory. I went to high school at that guy. Remember him? Like, that's what they're all talking about. Jerk.
Starting point is 00:38:18 Almost ruined it. Yeah. October 31st, 2018, David Brumley gets a bank loan. His furnace broke. Yeah. And that's one of those things that... Oh. You need a new furnace.
Starting point is 00:38:31 You need an... It's October in Indiana. Yeah. And it's November's tomorrow. You better get... Cash? Taking out a loan. Ouch.
Starting point is 00:38:38 That's brutal, man. It's brutal. But that's how so many people live. How many years was that? I remember sitting in terror of something like that breaking, like I can't fix it. So he gets this $5,000 loan to fix his furnace from the bank. Then the next day he doesn't show up for work. Strange, he's a pretty dependable guy.
Starting point is 00:38:59 And the next day he doesn't show up for work on November 2nd. This furnace has taken a long time to install. Wild. So that's a Wednesday, Thursday, Friday. He doesn't come to work. So that's odd. Then Saturday, November 3rd, 2018 is when they decide, where is he? Somebody calls to get a welfare check on him.
Starting point is 00:39:18 They don't even know if he's home. So check it out. So it's a Saturday at about 1 p.m. and officers go to his residence. I won't give his exact address, but it's West South Street for a welfare check. When they enter the home, first of all, they see that the Mustang is not in the garage. Oh. So they're like, okay, maybe he took the month.
Starting point is 00:39:38 Mustang somewhere, not like him at all to do this, but three-day ride in a Mustang, that's expensive. Three-day stang ride he's going for. Then they open the door to his house because they have to do a welfare check too to make sure because someone asked for it. And in the entry room of Brumley's home, they find scraps of black electrical tape and clear packaging tape. Little pieces ripped off, the scraps of it everywhere. That's funny. They also find a cardboard box right up there by the front the front door, containing a white disposable dust mask, multiple used zip ties, two belt loops from a pair of blue jeans, just the loops, one of which had a zip tie fastened to it, tightly. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:40:24 These are all very strange things that they're finding. Yeah. Then they go into the bedroom. But it's all the things that somebody with a Mustang has. You've got to have a lot of tape and zip ties. Yeah, got to have zip ties. Yeah, you got to have those. Put it back together.
Starting point is 00:40:36 I don't know why you would zip ties. tie a belt loop. That doesn't make a lot of sense. Unless your seat belt, bro. It's a lot of weird shit. So they go into his bedroom and they find David in there. He's seen better days.
Starting point is 00:40:49 Let's put it that way. He's been here for three days and it's not good. Oh, shit. His body is kind of wedged between the bed and a wall like in a bad motel room, you know?
Starting point is 00:41:00 Yeah. And his head is covered by, they can't even see his face. They don't even know if it's him at first. His head is covered by a pillowcase and a black plastic garbage bag. Oh, no. It's horrifying.
Starting point is 00:41:11 The pillow case was secured over his head by black electrical tape, which was wrapped around his neck. This is a nightmare. Fucking nightmare. The worst. Then the garbage bag was secured over the pillowcase.
Starting point is 00:41:22 He made sure that David couldn't chew through it or something. Right. That was secured over the pillowcase by clear packaging tape which was wrapped around this face. Oh, no. So imagine finding this.
Starting point is 00:41:34 This would be a disturbing fucking thing to find this poor guy. You don't expect that whoever did that gives a fuck whether this person lives or dies. Well, no, they're trying to kill him, obviously. Yeah. Yeah, for sure. You can't breathe through that. No, no.
Starting point is 00:41:48 He also had electrical tape wrapped around tightly around his right wrist, and he was wearing a pair of blue jeans with two missing belt loops. Hey, look at that. We solved a puzzle. Yep. And an autopsy reveals that he died from asphyxia due to lingoes. due to ligature neck compression and suffocation. So they didn't just suffocate him.
Starting point is 00:42:10 Put that on and they strangle them out. This is the best line in the whole story that I read. I don't even know why a reporter would put this. His death was ruled a homicide. No shit. Really? You think? Well, I guess if you saw what happened to like the Kung Fu guy,
Starting point is 00:42:29 you'd probably think they couldn't have done that to himself. Oh, that made him come? Shit. Okay, never mind. I guess he did. I hate when they fucking... Just say he died of strangulation. And we're not investigating.
Starting point is 00:42:43 Just say that. The man's mom reads this. Yeah. Accidental death will work just fine. It's all good. I don't need to know all the details. I really don't. I mean, I want to, but I don't need to, is what I'm saying.
Starting point is 00:42:55 It is funny. I agree. Exactly. It is good for jokes for 30 years. But besides that... But his poor mother... Yeah, his mother's got to be hurt. So his friends and friends and family...
Starting point is 00:43:05 family now. People that know him reacting, know David Brumley here. Brumley's childhood friend Sandra said of his death that it's on everyone's mind. She said, I think it's suspicious, but the cops are keeping hush, hush about it. We don't know what they know. That's when it first came out.
Starting point is 00:43:21 They didn't tell everybody, hey, he was found with all this weird shit on his hat and everything like that. They just said he was found dead in his house and we think it's homicide. She said it was her brother who noticed Brumley was missing several days of work in a row, and he's the one who notified. the police. She said, my brother called his brother, and he sent some of his friends down there to check on him.
Starting point is 00:43:42 They called the police. Then everything got roped off and no one was allowed in. They said, then everything stopped as far as what we know. Now, publicly, they said that they wasn't, publicly, they're really not saying anything about his death or any of the details. All they're saying is he was found and they have ruled it a homicide. Yeah. That's it. She has her own theory of what went on because why not? They're like finding weird people named Kelly's theory. Let's see. Oh, Sandra's her name, Sandra Kelly.
Starting point is 00:44:16 She said, I know they're calling it a death investigation, but I believe he got murdered. But I don't know that for sure. You got it. She also says, if they say death and investigation, they think that too. They're pretty sure of it. They're pretty sure of it. Yeah. If they found him at the hometown buffet or at the Golden Corral holding his chest on the ground,
Starting point is 00:44:41 they go, that's probably a heart attack. We probably could clear this one up pretty quick. We don't, very little investigation. No. So this woman said here that this death has left the whole town terrified. But she thinks if they find the missing car, that'll lead to the answers. God, she is real good. She is a detective there.
Starting point is 00:45:00 Somebody swear this bitch in. She knows everything. Yeah. Now, November 2018, this month right now, he's wanted, Monty Cook is wanted for several things, by the way. There's two arrest warrants issued for him in November by judges in Randolph County.
Starting point is 00:45:19 On November 5th, he was charged with theft, a level six felony carrying a standard one-year jail term. Four days later, he was charged with two counts of arson, more arson. He likes to burn shit this guy, absolutely. Yep. the more serious of the arson charges is a level four felony with a standard six-year sentence. In that case, he's accused of all the way back on July 25th a few months ago, setting fire to a house he was in the middle of buying on a contract.
Starting point is 00:45:50 So I can't imagine why the guy wouldn't give him the price he wanted or something, trying to negotiate. And he decided. That's a hell of a way to back out of an agreement. Either I get it for my price or I burn it to the ground. either I get my wife or I burn it to the ground. That's his answer for everything. He was sentenced to 35. Only did 15.
Starting point is 00:46:09 So he's technically on the hook for those other 20 if he bucks up, right? Yes, that's why they want him. They want to find him and they can't find him now. That's the thing. He's charged with this and warrants are out, but they don't have him in possession. They don't know where the hell he is. So that's pretty crazy. That was in the 600 block of South High Street, by the way, the house he burned down.
Starting point is 00:46:29 He was charged with auto. on November 2nd, resulting in a third or active arrest warrant for him. He's described as 5'9, 200 pounds, brown hair, green eyes, wearing glasses, and, quote, recently seen limping on his right side. Oh. Okay. December 8th, the police finally released, for a whole month, they say nothing publicly about David Brumley's death.
Starting point is 00:46:54 Nothing. Then on December 8th, they finally identify the person of interest they've been talking about for the last month. We have a person of interest, but no suspects. They say this person of interest is Monty Cook, and he's got a shitload of felony warrants out for both theft and arson. So if you see him, don't approach him, but definitely give a little ringy ding to the old police force there. Now, what evidence do they have on him? Do they have any evidence that he did this, or they just think he's a bad guy?
Starting point is 00:47:22 Right away, you'd go, well, he didn't burn the house down. That's a sign that it might not be him. There's a dead person. That's not his thing, usually. Not so far. then they find fingerprints on these scraps of tape that are identified as Monty Cook's. But then again, I mean, that's bad that that's a tape around him, but he's there all the time working. Maybe he held a roll of tape.
Starting point is 00:47:44 But then they found partial DNA profiles on the dust mask that was determined to be consistent with both David Brunley's DNA and a very strong match for Monty Cook's DNA. Uh-oh. That's not good. But again, he's there all the time. Maybe they were sanding something out and they, you know, he put a mask on a mask. You never, exactly. Who knows if they had, how many masks they had. Who knows?
Starting point is 00:48:06 So as part of this, though, police obtained the internet browsing history associated with two Google email addresses that Monti Cook is known to use. And that's where we get the fun stuff. Here we got. What we get. It is awesome. Here's some searches he made in the two weeks before David Brumley's death, okay? Here's, I'll give you a few. jobs outside the U.S., that's fine.
Starting point is 00:48:33 I mean, you're not allowed to leave even the state, I'm sure, but whatever. Maybe you're just curious. Probably have to ask to leave your house. Probably. How to disappear off the grid. Okay, getting worse. But maybe he's just interested in conservation. Maybe that's all it is.
Starting point is 00:48:48 Maybe he just doesn't want to, you know, put any more shit in the world. Who knows? Living off grid doesn't necessarily mean leaving town. No, no, that could just mean I'm going to live in that field and not be hooked up to county, you know, water and water. Exactly. Who knows? Maybe he's just trying to be self-sufficient. Then it gets a little weirder, though. How to
Starting point is 00:49:06 get fake Social Security cards. I don't know. I don't know a law abiding answer to that one. I don't know that there's a Google search that's going to give you that answer. Probably not. I mean, maybe the dark web or something. Yeah. Is there any poison which cannot be
Starting point is 00:49:22 detected? Oh, my God. Judging by how David was killed, I'm going to say that the answer is no to that one probably. Nothing he could get anyway. That's what he, that's what it came up. Yeah, you're right. Then his second thought is, well, I can burn it, obviously, because that's this guy,
Starting point is 00:49:39 whether you can get DNA from a burn body, quote unquote. So he said, if I kill him, then burn the house down. Can they get DNA? Then how fast does it take a body to burn? Well, that depends on fires. We've done a lot of shows. It takes a long time because you're not going to get it that hot. No, you need to have.
Starting point is 00:49:58 have a goddamn incinerator. Yeah. Like at the funeral home. Thousands of degrees. Thousands of degrees. Yeah. Bodies do not burn up easy. Can you dissolve a body in acid?
Starting point is 00:50:09 I happen to know that. For a fact, the answer is yes. Yes. I know a guy, gangster guy. Just takes a long time too. Whose brother was like a kind of a specialty in that. They had buckets and they would dissolve body parts. He's got to get real strong acid.
Starting point is 00:50:22 Yeah. You've got to be patient. That's the other thing. They've got in buckets and shit. Then he looked up 2004 Mustang. but it's a 2006 Mustang. He's just confused. Next up, trunk size in 2004 Mustang.
Starting point is 00:50:35 What? Maybe I'll kidnap him and take him somewhere. Maybe I'll do this. Then cabins in the Tennessee mountains. Okay. What is? That's before the murder. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:50:49 Then after the death, now he's got more searches here. Quote, jobs in the Bahamas. Oh. He's like, I want to hear steal drums while I run from this shit. I need a vacation. Yep. How to disappear. That's pretty straightforward.
Starting point is 00:51:08 Winchester, Indiana, murder investigation. Okay. How can I buy a legit social security number and a fake passport? He still hasn't gotten that one. He's still got that one he's working on. He's got to get out of here. This is my favorite search of all time. I don't know what he expected to lean from this.
Starting point is 00:51:27 What result could possibly Could you get from this? Quote, how to run from the law with no money. He basically said how to buy a house with no money down. But he said it like, how can I get a way. There is no way to run for the law with no money.
Starting point is 00:51:43 That's the answer to that. Hide in a hole in the woods. I don't know what to tell you. I do appreciate and enjoy the spiral that he's on. It is very funny. It's hilarious. Because he's getting to, you know, it's like you can see the,
Starting point is 00:51:57 It's fun because you can literally see the gears spinning. It's hilarious. And that last part is like, oh, I have no money. How do I buy this and I don't even have any money? Never mind. How do I run without money? That'll start there. You end up getting to the very first Google search you should have plugged it.
Starting point is 00:52:16 Yeah. Well, then he's looking for inspiration, obviously, with, quote, fugitives on the run the longest. He's like, what did they do? Maybe I can match that up. Then he looks up Monti Cook, Indiana, to see if there's any, like, articles about anybody looking for him. And then he said, what's the longest people have stayed hid that were wanted for murder? So, never mind fugitives, specific fugitives of murder, maybe. He's got to hone it.
Starting point is 00:52:46 Then he visited websites with news articles with these headlines. Police looking for Mustang taken from Dead Man's Home in Winchester. police looking for a vehicle missing from deceased person's residence and man wanted in connection with death investigation in Winchester. Wow. So he's reading online all about the investigation as much as he can. And by the way, two days before the murder, Cook's girlfriend, yes, this guy has a girlfriend. Stop it. This dude in his 50s who's just gotten out of prison for fucking arson for all this time.
Starting point is 00:53:25 No money. You bip-de-b-b-b-p-p-p-p-p-p-pah-pah. Keep it going. The reasons are numerous why he should be beaten off every day. I do not want to hear anybody say they can't find somebody. Lower your standards and find someone because they're out there. That's it. They're out there.
Starting point is 00:53:43 This is unbelievable. So she reported that he was missing and possibly on the run at that time because of an ongoing arson-related investigation. Yeah. So if that's not enough, that's pretty good proof. And the DNA is decent proof. But if you got a really good lawyer in there, it's possible. Then they also have bank footage from November 1st, 2018.
Starting point is 00:54:09 That's the day after Brumley got the bank loan and was last seen alive. Security cameras at a Winchester Bank recorded Cook depositing Brumley's loan check into his own checking account. he stole money the man didn't even have he stole he just had it like wrote it over to him and deposit it in his fucking shit or he got a cashier check or whatever it was is there a scummy or crime this is complete this dude is a complete piece of shit scumbag isn't he the worst person he sucks so bad so cameras at other winchester locations also recorded cook driving brumley's Mustang using Brumley's debit card to make purchases and withdraw cash. Within three days, he had spent and withdrawn over $2,500 of Brumley's money as well.
Starting point is 00:54:59 This is shocking. This is fucking amazing. So he went in, deposited the check into Brumley's checking account, because otherwise he couldn't get it, and then just used his card to use all the money that he wanted to. Unbelievable. So the police are looking for Monty. They can't find him. Through December, they're looking for him.
Starting point is 00:55:16 They can't find him. The car is found, finally. The car is found, 2006 Ford Mustang G.T. Found in Marion, Arkansas. Oh, it went the other way. About 12 miles northwest of Memphis. So that's where that was found. Then Monty's car, a couple days later, was found.
Starting point is 00:55:34 His pickup truck was found abandoned in Winchester. So he, now he's got, those are the two vehicles he had access to. Right. Where are they? He is gone. They're looking for him for about five months. They can't find this fucking guy. He has no money, no connections.
Starting point is 00:55:50 He's got to be in the mountains of Tennessee, right? Absolutely the complete opposite. What? He is in the fucking desert. That's where he is. Where? Where? Where is where he is?
Starting point is 00:56:00 Of course he is. He said, where will I fit in? Oh, that's the scummiest fucking town in America. How about there? Just down the river from Wofflin. They'll look at me and go, well, at least he's not picking meth sores. What a good guy. I'll get any job I want in Kingman.
Starting point is 00:56:17 Wow. April 19th, 2019 in Kingman, he is arrested. At that point, he's charged in Indiana with a count of murder, two counts of a level six, level six felony theft, and one count of a Class A misdemeanor theft. Apparently, he's also held in Arizona awaiting the extradition on local charges in Arizona, taking an identity of another, possession of marijuana, and credit card theft. That's how they caught him.
Starting point is 00:56:49 That's how they got him. Well, what he did, you know how he got to Arizona? He hitchhiked a ride from Arkansas to Nevada with Alexander Gross, who's a guy that Cook met online. Another guy traveling. It was like, hey, people looking for people to ride with them places so they don't get bored. So we just drove the Mustang down there, parked it, and jumped in his car. Jumped in his car. Once in Nevada, Cook robbed Gross at knife point.
Starting point is 00:57:16 and forced him to drive him to Arizona, then forced Gross to rent him a hotel room before letting him go. Oh, my. That's how they caught him. This guy went to the cops and said, yeah, no, that guy. I know what room he's in. You can just go get it. I had to rent the room.
Starting point is 00:57:32 It's under my name. Yeah. Trust me. Go ask for me. So this guy is a jerk off would be the best, a dangerous jerk off, I think, would be the best way to put it, right? I can't believe how dangerous he is. Think about that.
Starting point is 00:57:47 He, everything. Nothing is above him. Nothing is beneath him. Beneath him. Above or beneath him. Either way. He'll do anything. Nothing's above him or below him.
Starting point is 00:58:00 It doesn't matter. He's a fucking mess. Those searches of just the, what about this thought? How about that? No, that's a bad idea. Okay. The spiral of desperation is very evident. And he is willing to do absolutely anything.
Starting point is 00:58:16 thing to survive and not be caught. Imagine if you're this guy's girlfriend, you're like, who bullet dodged. Holy shit. Thank God. I would have been dead. Oh, yeah, no shit. So this is this guy, all the things he done,
Starting point is 00:58:28 the increasing desperation, I'll kill the guy. This is all for what? Right. He got Monty's Mustang and spent $2,500 of his money. That's all he got out of that. James, that money that, that, uh, He did not even have. It was not his money.
Starting point is 00:58:48 He borrowed that. He had to pay that shit back with interest. Right. And he's just pissing it away on things. That is the scumiest thing I've ever heard of. That's terrible. I mean, just to kill him over that? To kill somebody for borrowed money.
Starting point is 00:59:03 Yeah. It's one thing if it was like, you know, we see all the time, oh, they had an $800,000 insurance policy in 1995. Well, that's a reason to kill somebody, I guess, if you're that desperate for money. But this is just, I'd like to go on a little spending spree for the next couple days, so I'll kill my friend for it.
Starting point is 00:59:21 That's wild. There's a couple of couches I've had my eye on. That's what this is. This is such a tiny amount of money that a man didn't even have, that he was so, this was to keep him from dying this winter. That's what the money was. So you got a couch with cup holders in it. Wow. They have the old baby Billy there.
Starting point is 00:59:40 Yeah. Got you a couch with cup holders in it. You do it. I love that. So that's what he's charged with all this shit. I can't believe that's how he got to fucking Arizona. That is... Who knew that that was a website?
Starting point is 00:59:54 I mean, I guess there's a website for everything. There's a website for everything. No, if there's websites for that people, you know, to stare at people's feet, there's got to be ones for... I need someone to hang out with while I drive. Like, that seems like more reasonable than I just want to stare at some weird, whatever the fuck's like growth. Featmate.com seems like it's been established long before feetmate.com. Yes. Or like, you know, I like goiters.org or whatever the fuck, you know. Some weird jerking off to people's growths or something. I have no idea.
Starting point is 01:00:26 So they go to trial. He does not plead. He says, you don't have evidence I did this. What? He's saying, the stuff you found, the tape, the physical evidence you found, that could have just been for me being over there. You don't know it's not, even though it's on tape that's wrapped around the guy's head, both kinds of tape. But still, I'll give you the benefit of the doubt on the tape. Okay. That's fine. Then the fucking, the internet searches.
Starting point is 01:00:56 Yeah. I mean, maybe he's just curious. Maybe he's a curious little guy. That's all it is. Maybe he's just aware of more things than the cops give him credit for being aware of. Maybe he sees things and he goes, I wonder, and looks it up. He's just, he's a knowledge seeker. That's all it is.
Starting point is 01:01:11 Well, what about the surveillance of him cashing a check? When the guy was dead. That's the problem. How did you get his furnace money in your hand? And then spend it, not on his furnace. You know what I'm saying? So that's kind of where it all falls apart. Even if you wanted to be the most pro defendant, you'd still be like, well, that's kind of hard to explain there.
Starting point is 01:01:36 This is money that he doesn't have. There's no way he would give it to you. And they also say circumstantial evidence is fine. You know, a lot of times you hear defense attorneys say this case is totally circumstantial. And then the prosecution will go up and go, yeah, it is. It's a shitload of circumstantial evidence, which those circumstances don't happen like that, generally. Yeah, those circumstances are crazy to be coincidences. Yeah.
Starting point is 01:02:01 If they found, like, you know, some of Brumley's blood on this guy's shirt, that would be physical evidence. That would be worth a giant pile of circumcences. substantial evidence. They have to make a huge pile of it to equal one piece of physical evidence. But if you have enough of it, it's fine. He'd have to be in the room while Bromley's being strangled and him to like throw him the check and say, spend this for me. Spend the money. To be. Yeah. And here's my debit card too. Just take my wallet. There you go. You're going to need this. You're going to need it. Someone better live it up because I can never, since I can't, I want you to do it for me. Live for me. Live for
Starting point is 01:02:40 me, damn it, live. Talk holidays. Yeah, exactly. Get room service, Wyatt. Thank you for being my friend. Yep. So,
Starting point is 01:02:52 come on, live it up, man. Live it up, that's all he wanted. Take that pale lady and get room service. That's right.
Starting point is 01:03:04 You take that fucking pompous ass lady and get room service. So, verdict comes in, they find him while he's accused of murder, auto theft, and two counts of theft for the different, you know, money things. He's found guilty of auto
Starting point is 01:03:20 theft, guilty of two counts of theft, and guilty of murder as well. So, that's everything. He does not testify at all or make any statement during the sentencing. Is that right? Doesn't seem wise, probably, but
Starting point is 01:03:36 he doesn't say shit. Judge says something, though. They say, you, sir. They fuck off 62 years for murder Yeah Four years Two years for theft And that they're consecutive
Starting point is 01:03:50 So 64 years Is what you got there Okay It's awfully lenient in it It's 64 years And I believe he has to do all of it Oh and he's in his 50s And he's like
Starting point is 01:04:02 Yeah so it's not good Or he has to do like 90% of it Or some 95% It's a lot Yeah way do you hear his release date He's going to be there for the remainder. Let's just put it that way. The prosecutor said, the browsing history of this cold-blooded killer painted a clear picture of someone planning to commit murder to dispose of a human body and to evade the authorities by going off the grid.
Starting point is 01:04:27 Combined with other evidence, this kind of internet activity is very legitimate piece of the puzzle. I'm proud of our team for helping ensure justice in this case and holding a violent criminal accountable under the law. law. The arson and all the other shit that he had when they were looking for, they just dismissed all of that. They're like, he's wiped it all because it doesn't matter. It doesn't matter. He's in for 64 years.
Starting point is 01:04:48 Fuck that house. So, 2023, he appeals on the, under the guys. He what? He appeals, he has got to appeal, direct appeal. I guess, yeah. Insufficient evidence is what he claims. Yeah, all right. Wow, that's, ballsy.
Starting point is 01:05:03 He said the sentence was inappropriate in light of the nature of the offenses and his character. Oh. The nature of these offenses are brutal murder and his character's a piece of shit who would burn a factory down
Starting point is 01:05:16 because he's mad at his wife. He's a scumbat. Terrible guy. A sentient piece of shit is less dangerous. Yeah, absolutely. You can at least
Starting point is 01:05:26 trust it probably. Yeah, I could smell it coming. You know it's coming. They said, when reviewing the sufficiency of the evidence to support a criminal conviction, we neither reweigh evidence
Starting point is 01:05:37 nor judge witness credibility. just we only consider the evidence supporting the judgment and any reasonable inferences that can be drawn from such evidence. We will affirm if there is a substantial evidence of probative value. So they said the state was required to prove that he knowingly or intentionally killed Brumley. Cook acknowledges that Brumley was murdered, but claims the state failed to prove it was him that did it. Oh, my God. He was murdered. Sure. I'll buy that. But me. You know. It's only one other person's fingerprints on this man.
Starting point is 01:06:09 Wasn't me. But we have you on camera. What's me? He went full shaggy. I'm the shaggy murderer. That's who I am. This is unbelievable. It's crazy.
Starting point is 01:06:19 He said there's no direct evidence that he was ever at Brumley's home when the murder occurred. He said, therefore, there's reasonable inference that he simply stole the car, debit card, and loan check after finding Brumley dead. That's his excuse. I went in there to see him. He was dead, so I just stole all his shit and ran away. Which is, that's not great either. We're talking about character. Right.
Starting point is 01:06:47 Do you think that's a thing that he presented to his lawyer? And his lawyer was like, there's not a fucking chance I'm doing that. He's like, well, it's either that or murderer. So, you know what, we're going with, you're just an opportunistic thief. That's what we're going with. How about that? So the law said here that, um, murder conviction may be sustained on circumstantial evidence alone.
Starting point is 01:07:09 The evidence need not negate every reasonable hypothesis of innocence just has to be, they just need to be sure it's you. That's it. Right. That's all it is. So they said the evidence supports a reasonable inference that he's the person that killed him. And Cook's claim to the contrary is merely an invitation to reweigh the evidence,
Starting point is 01:07:27 which is not what we do here. So that's it. Was the sentence appropriate? They said, seem like it. They said, we give substantial deference to the trial court's sentencing decision. The trial court's judgment should prevail unless it's overcome by compelling evidence portraying in a positive light the nature of the offense and the defendant's character. Well, swing and a miss, swing and a miss. A piece of shit did something terrible.
Starting point is 01:07:48 Feels like it was light, to be honest. Exactly. Could have got worse. Could it got life without, or at least life. The trial court said that he had a lack of remorse, but they said, no, the lack of remorse was merely an outward manifestation of his innocence. How could you be remorseful for something you didn't do. Well, I didn't do it. Duh. I took a man's check because I'm a piece of shit. Yeah.
Starting point is 01:08:11 The judge wrote, neither the nature of Cook's offenses nor his character convinces us that his 64-year sentence is inappropriate. She said he carried out a premeditated, unprovoked, and cruel murder of his longtime acquaintance before stealing his car and money and fleeing across the country. His beloved car. He said, what's more, these offenses are just another chapter in Cook's alarming history of criminal conduct. Conduct, bad guy. Because we don't know what he did before the fire back in 2003. Because he was a full-grown adult by then. I bet he had a shitload of charges.
Starting point is 01:08:43 I looked them up. I couldn't find any. But, I mean, that's pre-2000. A lot of shit. Small towns, not computerized. So they said, neither the nature of this nor his character convinces us that's an inappropriate sentence. We think it's just right.
Starting point is 01:08:57 You can fuck off. And he said his internet browsing history really showed that what he was doing. There's no way you burn down masks. Mr. Kraft on your first criminal attempt. Fuck no. No. So he's incarcerated at the Indiana State Prison in Michigan City. He has a projected release date of October 266 when he will be 107 years old. That's his first parole hearing.
Starting point is 01:09:23 I think we're good on that guy. Yeah, I would say. Buck 07. If he does make it to 107, I say let him out and just watch him try. I don't say let him out I say push his ass out You get it out Nope you have to leave now
Starting point is 01:09:37 Get the fuck out But everyone I know is dead That's all right Get the fuck out But I'd have nowhere to go Green Mile Sorry I know what to tell you Light a fire for warmth
Starting point is 01:09:48 What the fuck do you want from us I mean good luck Look in the past We've had like women and children killed obviously that's a terrible Terrible individual Yeah this guy went and killed a man Who was old
Starting point is 01:10:00 Took a check you didn't even money didn't even have. Yeah, no, no. And then went and blew half of it in a second. And then what? He was going to do way worse. This man's dangerous. It's a dangerous guy.
Starting point is 01:10:13 The house, the murder house still stands, by the way. It's occupied. And the estimate is $114,000 on it. So, it's awfully cheap. Two bedroom, one bath, 1,600 square foot. Oh, there it is. Detach garage. Probably was not killing it.
Starting point is 01:10:27 The poor man was, he just had his prized Mustang. That's it. That's what he spent. his money on. It's all he had. So there you go, everybody. That is Winchester, Indiana. And just a twisted tail of a huge gaping asshole of a guy. What a monster. Just a bad fucking guy. And for some reason, Hawaiian music in Indiana, whatever it is. We don't know. We haven't figured it out. So there you go, everybody. Hope you enjoyed that. If you did, get on whatever app you're on and give us five stars. Tell you that right now. Netflix, two thumbs up. If you're watching on Netflix
Starting point is 01:10:57 and you want to listen to the show. It's on anywhere you can listen to podcasts. And this is our 738th episode. So good luck. Catch up, everyone. And we've heard from people at the live shows. That was great. People discovered us from Netflix.
Starting point is 01:11:11 So thank you. There's people that have never listened to the show that came to the live show. Just because they've seen us on Netflix. And I was like, that's incredible. That's my point. If that's you, baby boy, do we have something for you? You fucking rule. So thank you, thank you, thank you. Get on.
Starting point is 01:11:24 Get on the apps. Get on. Find where the rest of these are. That's what I'm. talking about. Shut up and give me murder.com is where you find those. That's right. Next up is Dallas, October 3rd. Get your tickets. One show that weekend. And that's going to be a special one because that will, it's going to be a brand new live show. And it will be a live show that is from the suburbs of Dallas. So get in there and do that. And then the next time we're on the road,
Starting point is 01:11:49 that's October 16th, 17th, San Jose, Sacramento. They will be different shows. You can go to both shows and see two different shows. Then it will be in Terrytown. Those are almost sold out. Few tickets left there on the 13th of November, 14th in Boston or in Medford outside of Boston at the Chevalier. Those tickets are available as well. Get them right now. Shut up and give me murder.com.
Starting point is 01:12:09 Patreon.com slash crime in sports. All the bonus material. Anybody $5 a month or above, you get it all. Everything. First of all, you'll subscribe. You'll get almost 400 back bonus episodes immediately, then new ones every other week. One crime in sports. One small town murder.
Starting point is 01:12:24 You get them all, baby. Everything. This week, crime and sports. It's just a murder story, so it's no sports. The only sports angle to it is it's the guy's family who was killed happens to be a minor league baseball player. Great. Otherwise, it's just a horrible murder story with a crazy murderer who gets caught in a fucking insane way. So that's fun.
Starting point is 01:12:45 Then for Small Town Murder, we're going to do an old-timey, the trick-or-treat murder, it's called. And it's not the one where the guy killed his kid or the neighborhood kid. It's not that. This is a dumbest reason ever for me to look at my fucking swizzle sticks. Yeah. This is a weird diabolical crazy plot that just happened to be centered around the distraction of Halloween. It's crazy stuff. So we'll talk about that because Halloween's coming up.
Starting point is 01:13:06 Patreon.com slash crime in sports. And you get a shout out at the end of the regular show. And you get everything we put out. All of our shows ad free with your Patreon. Thank you so much. Patreon.com slash crime in sports. Do that. Keep coming back and seeing us.
Starting point is 01:13:23 Shut up and Give Me Murder.com is there if you want to find any information about us or crime and sports or your stupid opinions or any other damn thing you want. Tickets to live shows. That's where it's all at, everybody. So get in there and do that. And until next week, everybody, it's been our pleasure. Bye!

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