Small Town Murder - The Dumbest Murder Conspiracy - Deerfield, New Hampshire

Episode Date: April 10, 2026

This week, in Deerfield, New Hampshire, when a self made multimillionaire feels that someone has stolen his motorcycles, and his father's ashes, he puts together a team of what seems like complete morons, to carry out his wild & insane plans. This team of idiodic killers makes multiple unsuccessful attempts at their bloody goals, before pulling off the brutal murder It's a bloodbath, and a complete mess, thanks to the total incompetence of the best murder team that a rich man could buy! Will money buy freedom in a small town courtroom?   Along the way, we find out that we really should have learned more about plastic related products, that there are easier routes to take to get back stolen items, than organizing a kill squad, and that when you steal a man's father's ashes, they may be cabable of anything!!   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. Yeah, and Choochoo! Yay, indeed, Jimmy. Yay, indeed. My name is James Petrigallo. I'm here with my co-host. I'm Jimmy Whistman. Thank you, folks, so much for joining us today, all aboard the murder train, pulling away from the station.

Another crazy, a crazy edition of Small Town Murder Express, where we always say it's 10 pounds of murder in a two-pound bag. And it might be 20 pounds of murder in a two-pound bag this week. It's a wild, wild story, and we'll get into it. Just one of those stories of someone that just didn't have to do what they did at all. It's pure stupidity. It seems like that's 100% of these. I love it. I love the pure stupid ones, though.

They're just like, you really forced this for no reason. It's crazy stuff. It happens. We'll get into all of that and more. Before we do, check out, shut up and give me murder.com. Get your tickets for live shows. First of all, also another show note here, quick one on live show. We will not be doing a 420 virtual live show.

No. We're not doing that this year. We're going to work on, we want to have a Halloween one, though. We want to do that again. But the company, it's a long story, but the company that we were doing it through isn't doing it anymore. It's defunct. What do you want? Yeah, it's difficult.

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Then new ones every other week. One crime in sports. one small town murder, and you just get them all. We just take it. Just take everything here. This week, which you're going to get for crime and sports, one of our favorite episodes to do, old-timey articles and ads, which is the craziest descriptions of horrible things that happened back in the day from newspapers.

Poetic even. And ads for things that are pure poison and things like that, they're like, no, you'll feel great. There you go. Then for small town murder, the Corey Richens case we're going to talk about is a Utah mom who killed her husband and wrote a book about it, wrote a book to help her grieving children, which is crazy.

And I watched the entire trial, and I can't tell you how crazy this whole situation is. It is wild. I can't wait to talk about that. I could do it off the top of my head. It's going to be fun. So get in there and do that. Patreon.com slash crime in sports is where you get all that.

And you get everything we put out, all the shows, all ad free as well. Add free. And free. And you get a shout out at the end of the regular show as well, where Jimmy will mispronounce your name while trying his hardest to get it. Credit words, too. Yeah, he's trying.

So there you go. That said, I think it's time to get into this. Here we go. Let's all sit back. Clear the lungs, what do you say here? 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, shall we? Yeah. All right. We're going to New Hampshire this week, which is interestingly also one of the live shows we're doing on the road takes place in New Hampshire as well. This is right by there, actually. This is in southeastern New Hampshire.

It's Deerfield, New Hampshire. Deerfield, one word. And we'll find out exactly why it's called that. It's exactly what you would imagine. Put it that way. It's about an hour 50 to Boston, or about an hour to Boston, so very commutable to Boston. about 50 minutes to Mont Vernon, New Hampshire, our last New Hampshire episode, episode 635, which was the murder and the miracle, which was crazy. That's when there's a woman who's pregnant.

It's a mess. It's a miracle. Yes, that was with the disciples of destruction or whatever they called themselves, a wannabe teenage idiots. Then this is in Rockingham County, area code 603. Population here, 4,808. So little New Hampshire town, not a big place. Median household income, it's very commutable to Boston. So it's high.

112,931. It's 69,000 in the rest of the country. So they're doing pretty well around here. Median home cost, you better be doing well because it's high. 484,200 bucks. Median. This is essentially a Boston suburb is what it is. That's why.

Southeastern New Hampshire is just Massachusetts with a little lower tax. But the homes are, they're beautiful. Oh, they're great. It's really nice. A little bit of history. Deerfield was organized or was originally part of Nottingham. Oh, is that right? Very English.

And in 1756, though, the residence petitioned for organization of a separate parish, but were denied. Yeah. Okay. Now, this is pre-revolutionary war times. This is crazy. Then in 1765, there was a second petition pending to have the rest of. own place when two local hunters presented colonial governor Benning Wentworth with a deer. Oh.

We got this for you. Yeah. Or it's a live one. Here's a pet for you. We don't know. It's a little deer puppy. There you go. So then permission was granted and deer field was incorporated.

They called it deer field because they got a deer out in a field. So that's why it's deer field. That's it. One deer. A deer. There must be tons of them if they got one. And there probably is a lot of deer here. would imagine as well here.

Reviews of this town, since we've never been there, you've been there, but how much time have you really, did you really look around? Yeah. What do you give it? How many stars? Days at a time. I mean, I may have spent a rounds a week around this area in my entire life. Combined.

Aroused, I like that. Arounced, thereby, they're about. Their abut. Announced, there a butt. Aeroonced, there a butt. Yeah. Anyway, this is, here's five stars. Great community.

I've met some really amazing people in this town. It's small, but also seems huge with lots of support for one another. I don't know how that makes the town feel huge. Three stars, Deerfield is a great town to live in, and it's good if you wish to escape busy cities or towns. If wanted, there's a community that you can connect with. That sounds good. If you wanted.

They're not breaking your door down, nothing, but if you feel like... You don't want to be a part of it. fine. No one will bother you. It is New Hampshire. But if that's not your thing, then Deerfield is good for that, too. Perfect. That's good.

However, if you go to Maas Cafe or to the one gas station, you're bound to see the same faces multiple times and have the owners know everyone by name. Yeah, the repetition in a small town. Whether you want to know people or not, you're going to. It's one of those things. And then finally, one star. Oh, boy. The town is filled with the nastiest political infighting. So much underhanded and cruel bullying by the adults.

This is a kid. This is a kid who doesn't like the adults fighting. Mom and dad are fighting again. They don't like it. I have witnessed deplorable behavior by leaders and residents. Snobby snob zoning is being pushed. Snob zoning? Snobby snob zoning.

Well, snobby dash. So this is like a, this is almost like an outline. Snobby, and then here's why. Here's the underlying reasons. Snob zoning is being pushed. I guess zoning things a certain way. Okay. Expect people to warm up to you,

but many are just looking to size up what politics you hold. School is not rated well. Once some new immigrants to U.S. had a flat tire going through the area. Closest I've known to town being diverse. It is... Some immigrants broke down on the way through. They're like, hey, look at that. Oh, we're diverse as far.

Fuck now. It's rural, so family friendly, in that room for playing some sports teams but no real culture. Okay. All right. Things to do in this town. The Deerfield Fair, everybody. You bet. It's on.

We got a horse show, a farm horse competition. Sure. A cattle pull. Cattle pull. Very slowly, this is a race. Pulling with the cattle or pulling the cattle? I think the cattle are doing the pulling, maybe. They stop every once in a while, chew some shit.

It's a very long race. It takes a long time. They got some to chew it. It's all afternoon. Then there's a horse pole, a pig scramble. There's a lot of animal. A pig scramble. An alpaca halter show.

Are they in halter tops? Yeah. Little sexy alpacas? A little alpaca shoulder showing. What's going on? I'm an alpaca. The entertainment schedule, Lindsay and her puppet pals. Oh, boy.

That's not a band. That's a lady. and some puppets. That's not a country band? Nope. The Bryson Lang juggling and comedy show. Oh, God. I would rather fucking, I would rather pull a cow than watch that.

That sounds awful. Jesus Christ. The backtrack band, music from the 50, 60s, 70s, and beyond. Oh, you know, a cover band. Old shit. Michael David, who does, quote, rock and country rhythm and blues with a lot of class. none of this low-class bullshit. None of this classless shit.

The Flying Walendez will be there, which I thought they were all... The Flying Walendas. I thought they were all dead. Yeah. That was like, that's an act from like the 30s or the 40s or some. How many do they have? There was a bunch of whole family, but I guess now it's probably a brand name. They're probably not actual relatives or anything.

It's like the Blue Man Group. They can cycle some... It doesn't matter. Just paint them out. It doesn't matter. How are you on a wire? Pretty good? Well, guess what?

You're a Walenda now. Enjoy. That's it. That's all it is. Then there is the B.J. Hickman magician. Oh, boy. Oh, yeah. The Rockin' Dadios. Wonder what they play. 50s shit. Alec Thomas, who does covers of your favorite folk and country songs. Oh, good. I get to hear James Taylor from someone who's living in James Taylor. Is there an original band with any original thoughts? No. Well, yeah, Bow Junction, a diverse blend of hard driving bluegrass. That's what you get. Well, bow junction. Yeah, it might be bow, bow, whatever. The bottom dollars, a trio of musicians you don't want to miss. An extreme air, a local jump rope team that performs across the country. How much air? Okay.

Keep an eye out, by the way. How high are you jumping? For strolling performers like pirate man Dan and I'm not a clown. Yeah. Okay. There's more, but we can't get into it. We don't have time. because this is a thick thing. This is a thick thing. There's also a sheep and wool festival the week after. Okay. And an oddities and curiosity show, which sounds kind of interesting, actually.

I like that. Let's talk about some murder. Yeah, let's talk about some murder. What do you say here? Here we go. All right, this is a crazy-ass story. Here we go. Jesus Christ.

This is, we'll introduce you to a man first here. A man with a very interesting life trajectory. A man, a self-made guy. This guy's like the American dream, basically. He has an idea and he follows it through and he makes a lot of money. Deerfield. He's born in Manchester, actually. Okay.

Yeah. Here. His name is John Allen Brooks. A lot of people call him Jay, but then a lot of people also call him John. So we're going to call him John Brooks. He's born in 1951 in Manchester, grew up very poor in Manchester. It's not a good place to be growing up poor. No.

Later on, this is a quote about his family, and I'll tell you where it comes from. from later. John Brooks was not born into wealth. He was not born with a silver spoon in his mouth. His dad was born with club feet in a neurological disorder. What? That guy got laid. Yeah, multiple times. His dad is like Eugene Levy and Best in Show over here or something. Two left feet. Yeah. And he said his family scraped to get by. His father was a violent alcoholic, club-footed bastard, apparently. And got laid all the time. And somehow got laid.

Wow. Young Jay worked two jobs to support his family, even spending years making cotton gauze in a Manchester factory as a teenager. Making that shit. Making gauze. I don't know. He works the machine or something. He then took a third job with a band where he earned money, some band that did the

paying gigs. All the while he was trying to protect his mother. and sister from his drunken father who would degrade them, spit at them and throw things at them. Probably didn't chase them very well, I'd imagine, but from a day... It's why you spit because you can't catch them.

And throw things. See what I mean? He's not moving, but he's going to try to lash out at you. In 1975, the father bought a gun with money he stole from John. Oh, my God.

And threatened to kill his whole family and himself one night. Yeah. Yeah, the father ended up in a mental hospital after that. Oh, that's good. Yeah. Give him some help.

So John enlisted in the military and served as a medic in the Navy. And this is during Vietnam. Yeah, during a tough time. This is a tough time. He then went to the University of New Hampshire on the GI Bill. Yeah. I mean, this is like he's going to inch his way up here where he meets his wife, his future wife, Lorraine.

Now, they're going to have a son named Jesse Brooks. He'll come up in this later. That's their only child. So he has one child. Just Jesse. Just a male heir. And that's it. And he's done.

That's all. So they raised him in Londonderry, New Hampshire. Now, Jay builds an empire or John, I will call him. John builds an empire here. He worked at a private orthotics company during the day. What is that? Orthotics are the things you put in shoes. Oh, insoles.

Insoles. Yeah, orthotics. But he would go home and tinker in his own. in his own little garage or whatever, his own little lab. And he designed an innovative sterilization tray for surgical instruments is what he does. Innovative sterilization tray? Yes. It didn't exist yet.

No. So he opened a company called PolyVAC, VAC, Polyvac, Inc, a medical supply company that he and Lorraine ran out of their garage. Okay. This is in 1985. Later on, he'll come up with the sterilization thing. but at first he was manufacturing plastic orthopedic braces. That's what he was making. This is before, you know, 3D printing and shit like that too.

Like this is different. He also had a private orthotics practice, and he was experimenting on the side with polymers that could withstand temperatures high enough for sterilizing. So he was trying to figure it out to have reusable delivery trays holding surgical instruments for operating room procedures. So they could actually be sterilized.

and used again rather than having to use steel things that can be sterileized. Oh, so it's like a plastic thing? Yeah, polymers is what he's trying to put together. In 1989, he sells the orthotics practice, incorporated polyvac, and focused on the tray business. That's what he was trying to do.

Yeah. So they formed the trays, and in 1994, began injection molding them into longer runs, all sorts of making a shitload of this stuff. I could give you the stuff that's in it using polyethytheretone and polysulfone. Yeah. I don't know. It's a plastic, right?

Yeah, some sort of polymer that makes a plastic. By 1994, the company was doing $20 million a year in business in 1994. What? What? $194.20 million. That's a lot of money. He's a very wealthy man. Yep.

And Brooks was nominated to the board of directors. of the Business and Industry Association of New Hampshire. How about it? In 96, PolyVAC constructed a Manchester, New Hampshire plant with 94,000 square feet of manufacturing space and 18,500 square feet of office space. How about that? A giant thing.

Later that year, he sells the entire company, plant and everything, for $46 million. Oh, my. Yeah, 1996, $46 million. He is. You don't work. ever again, right? Rich.

Well, he's going to do a lot of different things. He's going to dabble in things from now on. Really? He doesn't really have to commit himself to anything because he's bloated. I'd dabble in a boat and never see anybody. No, he's got, he like dabbles in like real estate and shit, but what are you trying to do? Yeah, you got $46 million. Come down.

Everybody calm down. You know what I'm saying? A club-footed man used to throw shit at you. Yeah, and spit at you. I don't understand. You got 46 million. I don't get why people can't just chill the fuck out. You got $46 million.

Yeah. You're in your 40s. Calm down. Relax. Do things that you like to do. But maybe some people like business, though. That's what they're interested in. Making money is like a fun thing for them.

You know what I'm saying? That's what they like. I don't understand it. That's not my leisure time. But that's what some people like. Imagine making $46 million in something that nobody's ever going to recognize you for it. That's so amazing. No, that's great.

Rich and Anonymous is the greatest thing in the world. So, 1997, he's named New Hampshire Small Business Person of the Year. No shit. Oh. He made 46 million. That's a pretty well. Who's the bigger one? Yeah.

He would attend White House Small Business Summits as like a delegate from New Hampshire. He's really doing well. He's thought of as this big successful. He's the most successful guy from the area. Yeah, the White House. No, no. The one in Concord, New Hampshire. Yeah.

I don't know. What the fuck they've got up there? They're inviting him to Washington. Yeah, yeah. He's one of the national, I mean, as a small business guy, he's scored pretty good. He scored well. 2003, he wants to relocate with his family to Las Vegas. That's where he wants to go out and live in Vegas now.

He's tired of the winter, apparently. So John and Lorraine who go into real estate, they're buying and selling properties in New Hampshire and Las Vegas. See, it seems like he's just into this shit. He hired people to manage properties. He employed people. He trusted. He's that kind of guy. But he's very, like, controlling and suspicious, and he thinks everyone's stealing from him, and he's like that, too.

Oh, boy. One of the guys he hires as a manager of his properties is Robin Knight. Guy is about his age, about a year younger than John. He's from Northampton, New Hampshire. He's a general contractor and does some real estate stuff himself. So he's a good guy to manage properties. He's, you know, he does well for himself here, I guess. He's fine.

But he does even better once he really hooks up with John, though. Right. They collaborate on real estate ventures in New Hampshire. And after Brooks ends up in Vegas, they're still collaborating on stuff. And they're, you know, he's working on construction projects for him. So his company's growing based on knowing him. It's a good time to be in the real estate market in Vegas. It's timing-wise, this is fantastic.

It's not bad at all. Yeah. Yeah, early 2000s. In about five years, it's not going to be a good time to be there. It's going to suck pretty quickly. Everything you have is going to be worth about a third of what you paid for. Strike while the iron tot and get the fuck out of there. And then it'll be real expensive again.

That's how it works. September 2003. Now, this is when he's moving a bunch of shit from New Hampshire to Las Vegas. He needs to load a big trailer full of shit. And we're talking, you know, Harleys and things like that. He's going to load into a big trailer and take it across the country. country. So they need to hire somebody to help out. Truck and co. No, no, just a local guy to help them load. Oh, they need this shit in.

Yeah, put the shit in. So they hire Jack Francis Reed, Sr., okay? Jack here, he's born in 1948, March 27th, 48. He's from Cambridge, Massachusetts. But he lives in Derry his whole adult life, which isn't too far from here. Fifty-five-year-old man. Fifty-five-year-old manish, and he's He does whatever it needs to be done. He's known as a very helpful guy. He'll help you move. He'll help you do shit. And he's a good, like a handyman.

He fixes what needs to be, it's broken. And, you know, he drives a pickup truck and has tools in it. He's got tools. He's doing whatever he has to do. He's got a bunch of little jobs that put food on the table. Because he's got five kids. Oh, still. Five kids.

I mean, I don't know. They're ages by this point. I don't know how many of them are like under his care. at this point still. Yeah. Yeah. He has a long-time girlfriend that he's been with for years and years and who is the mother of his two youngest children named Virginia Philippone.

His daughter describes him as a hardworking, loving, dependable man. He appeared several times on the television game show Powerball, which I've never heard of. I've never heard of it either. I've heard of the game Powerball, but it's usually a dollar a ticket. I don't know if that's like a local game show in the 80s or something. We wouldn't know about that from New Orleans. England. But September 29, 2003 is the job. He, this is a, it was a, uh, basically a posting that, that, uh, John had put up at a Manchester storage facility saying, I need a hand.

Oh. Somebody to help me load shit. So Jack answers it. A bulletin board posting. That's it. Yeah. Need some help. You know, whatever for the afternoon. Sure. So John and his family are loading the belongings into this rental truck and a trailer at a storage facility in London Derry. Jack helps them load two Harley Davidson motorcycles, a trailer full of personal property, assorted belongings, including the ashes of John's deceased father in an urn. This is a very important trailer. This is a big load. You got motorcycles and urns. And dad.

You're going to be important to this guy. So they load it all up. Jack Reed goes home. He leaves. And the next morning, the trailer's gone. Someone stole it. Stole it. They loaded it up, got it ready.

and the next morning they were coming to pick it up and go, and next morning it was gone. So we took the whole trailer. Whole trailer gone. Total estimated value of the stolen goods was around $200,000. Also, priceless because my family's ashes are in there. Dad's ashes are in there, which probably doesn't have a lot of resale value, but I would like to have them. Pricers. I mean. I'd like to keep them, but.

Literally priceless. So he calls the police, John does. He told them, don't. One person to keep out of this is a suspect is the guy that helped me Jack Reed. He didn't do it. So don't worry about him. Look outside of him. You know, that's what he told the cops.

The cops investigate, nothing. They get nothing out of it. Goes nowhere. That's that. The problem is here, John has his own ideas about who did it. And that is Jack absolutely fucking did it. Yeah. And he told the cops that.

Don't investigate him because I'm going to investigate him. I'm going to find out. And I don't want you. you guys getting in my fucking way. Yeah. Basically there. Now, at this point, his son, Jesse, is living in Beverly Hills. I just picture him like...

California? Living off his dad's money being like a playboy at the pool. You know what I'm saying? You could totally picture what's going on here with Jesse. How old is Jesse at this point? 20-something something? Yeah, he's in his 20s, 25, 27, something like that. So, anyway, September 30th, 2003.

This is the day after the job, after when the trailer's been stolen, Jesse called his childhood friend Andrew Carter and asked him to go to the warehouse to help his father. Okay, so he goes to the warehouse to help him, and he brings along a guy named Michael Benton, who's another close friend

of Jesse's. So we have Andrew Carter and Michael Benton. So they find John Brooks at the warehouse. In the words of Carter, he was, quote, ranting and raving, pacing, red-faced and furious, John Brooks was. Dad. Yeah. Dad. Freaking out. He told

them about the theft and he told them I know who did it. It's that son of a bitch Jack Reed that helped me yesterday. And then he told them just straight out, we're going to kill him. I want him killed. I want Jack Reed dead. And I need you to know this. Because me having $50 million dollars are moving out to, it's not enough. I have to really focus here. And I need a child, well, at least somebody much younger than me. My son's age to know all about my plans. Well, not know about him. They're going to carry it out. Oh, he's going to be a part of it. That's what he's trying to do. He's telling them I'm going to kill them and you're going to help me.

That's what this job is. That's what Jesse told you to come here for to help me out with something. It's killing this guy. Okay. It's a hit. Hey, everybody. Just going to take a quick break from the show to tell you where to find the best stuff that you've been looking for at Poshmark. Poshmark.com.

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So new deals and styles are listed every day. So don't wait. Download the Poshmark app and use the code Small Town Murder when you sign up to get $10 off your first purchase. Or shop now at Poshmark.com slash Smalltown Murder and get $10 off your first purchase. That's P-O-S-H-M-A-R-K dot com slash Small Town Murder. Now back to the show. So rather than these guys going, hey, I thought I was like moving some stuff or helping you, you know, clean up a garage. I'm going to go now. They were like, so what are we doing?

So who's got the, whose car are we driving? So it's John. And John drives Carter and Benton out to an isolated old gravel pit in Hudson, New Hampshire, where Carter, the other guy there, stored his landscaping equipment. Brooks opened up the trunk of his Lincoln and inside he had a 20-gauge shotgun and some shells. He hands that to Carter and he said, shoot Jack with this. You are also going to shoot somebody. Yeah, you're going to shoot him with this gun as a matter of fact, very particular.

He added that the gun was unregistered and untraceable, so this is the right one to use. He said, shoot it, leave it wherever the hell you want. He told them that they would be taken care of financially if they complete the job. Don't worry. You know me. I'm loaded. So over the next several months, this isn't right now.

I'm super pissed. Go kill him tonight. Just some time. At your leisure. This is, we're going to plan this out. Eventually, you're going to use this shotgun, but we're going to plan. How long would you be mad for? Like, murderously, rageful over this.

Yeah. About to weak. After that, you'd be like, yeah, you know what? Who cares? I'm in Vegas. It's hot out of here. Whatever. I'm really into.

Do you. I'm really into. the video poker now. Yeah. You know, whatever the hell it is. So over the next several months, the plan evolves and it becomes crazier and crazier and crazier. This guy, I will have to say right here, does not need to do this.

No. He really doesn't. This 200 grand, as much as that'll piss you off, it's not going to break him. It's not going to ruin him. It's not even going to notice it. No. He might notice dad's ashes aren't on the mantle, but other than that, you can get an other Harley. And it's Harleys aren't in the garage, but you can, you can insurance those and get new

ones. That's, I'm sure they were insured. Um, yeah. Now, they have a new scheme now. You're not going to just pop up and shoot him with a shotgun. You're going to kidnap him. Uh-huh. Then you're going to torture him with a butane torch. Get my shit back. And razor blades. You're going to go full Marcellus Wallace on him here. Yeah. And nothing about get my shit back. No, no, that's to torture him to find out where the shit is. Obviously. Why else? Yeah, that's what he wants. So you're going to, this is, this is questioning. This is interrogation tactics. Ben kill him afterwards because, you know, because he stole. They said, quote, we're pretty certain that we wouldn't ever be able to let him go after that. You know, he'd probably say something to somebody about being tortured with a

butane torch. So they plan, have several planning sessions. John Brooks pays Carter and Benton each an initial $5,000 retainer, like they're lawyers now. Like the lawyers, yeah. They held multiple planning meetings. He's really pushing them to hurry this along. His son, Jesse, during visits from California, also encourages them that this is a good idea. Terrific. Early November 2003, so months have gone by. Oh my God. Jesse Brooks is in New Hampshire. Andrew Carter drove a group to Jack Reed's house on Rockingham Road in Londonderry at one in the morning. Oh. They're going to roll up on his house here. The group includes Jesse Brooks, Michael Benton, John Brooks, and Jesse's ex-girlfriend for some reason.

I don't know why you would take your ex-girlfriend to a murder. Try to do with her back. Unless we're going to get a two-for-one today or something. I don't know why anybody would want to bring an ex to their murder. So Carter drops Jesse and Benton off near the house. Jesse has a big maglight flashlight, and Benton has an aluminum baseball bat. Okay. This is the plan.

Now, the plan is to use these items to hit Jack. Oh, we're not using the flashlight for illumination. We're going to beat him with it. Well, until he gets here, then I'll use it as a club. You can turn it around and beat him. And then the bat, too, and we'll beat him. And then basically we'll kidnap him from there, maybe tie him up, throw him in the trunk, take him somewhere, torture. Bouture and razor blades.

Find out where the bikes are. Yeah. And then it's fucking Miller's – It's Miller time after that. Yeah. Miller time, yeah. So, you know how it goes. So Benton stayed behind a truck.

truck for cover and Jesse Brooks crept to one side of Reed's house and kicked it loudly. Just started kicking the outside of the house. That'll draw attention. Jack Reed comes out. He sees figures moving in the darkness. They're moving toward him from a good distance. What they don't realize is he came out with a goddamn gun and he starts firing at the people moving in his yard. He just starts fucking shots Jack Reed into the yard. Just boom, boom, boom. They obviously run for cover. Yeah.

These guys get in the car. They take off. They're like, holy shit. That didn't work out. We brought bats. This is not good. Then he called the police, Jack did too.

Uh-huh. He calls the cops. Now the intruders have fled and the police deploy a dog. They track a scent through the woods, but they don't get any success. I lose it. Got it. So nobody is hurt. Jack Reed is cleared of any wrongdoing.

It's self-defense. There's prowlers at one o'clock in the morning. So that's how it goes. So the group. the hit squad decides we should probably back off for a while. That guy's got guns. Well, not only that, he involved the police. So anything that happens around right now is probably going to, we're going to look bad for it.

Too risky. So Jesse goes back to California. John goes to Vegas. The Carter guy destroys the shotgun just in case. So everything goes over. Everything kind of dies down. Start over. Ground zero.

A year and a half later. Okay. A year and a half later, dude. 18 months. It's over. It's been almost two years. What are we doing? They haven't found any of the shit either. No, they haven't found anything. Shocking. So over the next year and a half, John Brooks and Andrew Carter have conversations every now and then about killing Reed. How do we do this? How are we going to do it? August of 2004, John Brooks, Lorraine, the wife, and Jesse Brooks all go to the FBI's Portsmouth office to report their suspicions about Jack Reed, providing a written chronology of events and all this. Basically, that he's a thief and, you know, he's probably a fence for stolen items and look for

cars and whatever the fuck. He probably has a whole operation, a whole chop shop. They're ratting them out to the FBI. Yeah, that's the first thing they do. That's August 2004. Then June of 2005, Jesse Brooks calls Michael Benton and asked whether his father could get in touch with him or not. Yeah. So he said, John was going back to New Hampshire and Jesse said he's coming back to take care of his problem

with Reed. So he's going to get a hold of you. Two years after the fact now. Yeah, two years later. And Michael Benton said, I'm in. Let's do it. Two years. Fucking yeah. Around the same time, John Brooks met a guy named Joseph V-R-O-O-M-A-N,

who was from Whitwell, Tennessee, and ended up in Las Vegas. Huh. Okay, this guy, apparently, he had known Robin Wright, apparently. Yeah. They met, they were both in the Navy, I think, because I know Vroomin was in the Navy, and they were both looking, he was, Vroomin was looking for work in Vegas, and he met Knight briefly a number of years before through a mutual friend

and heard that Knight was working as a general contractor and flipping houses. So Vroomin called Knight to ask about getting him. getting some work, and he met Knight and Brooks at a casino where they watched a Patriots game. Because, you know, they're all from New Hampshire, I guess. Oh, yeah, they're watching a lot of that. Following this, Knight tells Vroomin that, yes, I do have work for you, but it's not in construction or flipping houses. How'd you like to be involved in a murder squad? How's that sound?

So Vroomin said, all right, I'm in. Why not? I'm in. Sure. The guile of the Patriots going for it on fourth down. giving me courage. So this, they were meeting up at the Oases bar, O dash aces. Oasis, yeah, okay, in Las Vegas.

And they were discussing this. Brooks offered him $10,000 to help with a problem. This is, why do people, this is all, this is what I mean, unforced error. All of this is unforced error. This is, whenever I say, don't force shit, this is forcing it. You're forcing it. If you're hiring a guy to murder for $10,000, you're going to get $10,000 quality on a murder.

That's it. If you feel friction in the universe against what you're doing, it's probably because you're forcing it. And you should probably just let shit happen the way it happens. Stop pushing so hard, man. All of my biggest fuck-ups in life have been from forcing it. Yeah. Just forcing it. And then things that just happen like these podcasts are the things that work.

You know what I mean? Everything else is forcing it. It's like, oh, okay. Yeah, forcing it, forcing it. So, yeah. Comedy is the only thing. that hasn't been forcing it, and it's the only thing that's worked.

So there you go. Well, there you go. So, John and Jesse and Vroomin meet at Brooks's Las Vegas house. They make plans. Jesse is suggesting ways to subdue Jack Reed. He warned Vruan that Reed carried a gun. So he said,

make sure my dad doesn't get hurt. Not don't get yourself killed. Keep an eye on my dad for me, if you would. Protect the old man. Also, listen. Don't steal from him. Yeah. Yeah, what are the ideas for subduing him?

If it's anything short of unsuspecting Tiger Net, what else are we going to do? Poof, it falls on it. Maybe some sticks over a big hole in the ground. What are we going to do? Because this man's carrying. He's packing. How are we subduing a man that's got a gun? We're not sure if he's packing all the time, though, or if he's only packing.

He just snatched it up at one in the morning because there's, you know, people outside. Yeah. But he's got a gun and he's not a front of him. to use it, obviously. So Jesse told the group that he'd be taking his mother out to dinner on the day. They're planning the murder. So he's going to use his credit card to establish an alibi. He told Vroomin, make sure the old man doesn't do anything stupid, meaning my dad.

My dad. So Vroomin used $200 from John Brooks to buy a stun gun, handcuffs, and pepper spray, which is a pretty good call for $200 for that. Brooks then mailed the items to Michael Connors. who is the owner of a Deerfield Farm and a friend of Brooks and chief financial officer at Polyvac. A stun gun and all of that shit for under $200. A stun gun is like $300. Not bad.

I mean, this is in Vegas, too, where he probably got a pawn shop or something out there. One of those shitty ones, too. Yeah. June 18, 2005, John Brooks flies to New Hampshire, and so does Ruman. They go together. Over the next several days, they meet with Michael Benton, who's back in the mix now, and with Robin Knight, who was already in New Hampshire, and they need Robin for something very particular.

Oh? What's Robin got to do? Robin is really good at making phone calls and bullshitting people. He's good at that. He could sound very... Put some voices. It just sounds very believable over the phone for some reason. So, Robin Knight,

purchases a disposable prepaid cell phone, burner phone. The phone was used. It's only going to be used to contact Jack Reed. Okay. Now, Robin Knight called Reed multiple times, posing as a man going through a divorce who needed cheap moving and hauling help. I don't have a lot of money, but I need help. Yeah. His alias that he uses is Charlie was, W-A-S.

What? Why would you use Charlie was as a name? I have no fucking idea. He could have been anybody on earth. Any name he wanted. Charlie Cunningham Charlie you know

Smith he could literally pick the name Charlie was okay we don't know well was he so he told Reed I can't afford much so please don't bring anybody with you

because I won't be able to afford to pay them so come alone and help me move basically I can only afford one guy Hi I'm I'm suspicious Come alone What's your name again

Charlie was Charlie, oh, that's a normal name. So he described the location as a horse farm in Deerfield, and they arrange a time and a date. Now, Reed does these type of jobs all the time. These strangers hire him for a day's labor, and he does it all the time. So he thought nothing of it. Sure. He agreed to come alone.

He said, I'll be there in the morning. Now, in the days leading up to this, Knight, John Brooks, and Vroomin are all driving around Deerfield looking for places to dump a body. They're scouting. Okay. They purchase zip ties, a tarp, gloves, trash bags, and duct tape. All at separate locations, probably. I'm sure. All at the same one with a credit card, I'm sure, these morons.

So Robin Knight suggested using saran wrap to smother the victim, a method that would cause death without bloodshed and it'd be easier to clean up. We'll just wrap his head and saran wrap and he'll die and then we can just throw him out. If you're capable of watching that happen, you're a sick fuck. That's a sick, yeah. How do you not go? Okay, rip the fucking. saran wrap. This is crazy. That's what I mean. So this farmhouse is a property that Brooks has access to through his friend Michael Conner,

so he mailed all the shit to. It's isolated. It's in the middle of nowhere. Connors also picked up Vroomin and Brooks from the airport as well. So June 27, 2005, the murder squad, Awakens in Portsmouth, had breakfast at a condominium. And then they loaded the van and went to pick up Robin Knight. They all get to the Deerfield horse farm, getting ready for Jack Reed to arrive. Yeah. As they're walking around,

finalizing their murder plan, they're literally walking around Barnes going, okay, then we'll put him here and then we'll do this. Okay, yeah, it's a walkthrough. It's like they're doing blocking for fucking a dress rehearsal or something. We're going to do this and all that.

So it was almost, they're like, they had it all ready and they're like, all right, it's going to work. And then a woman who kept her horse at the property showed up unexpectedly. And they're like, fuck, what do we do here? Oh, a variable. So Benton said we were panicking, but John Brooks told her to leave because they were going to do something and they couldn't have anybody here.

And the lady said, okay, and left. We got something to do here. No questions. All right. She just left and then they were like, we'll go through with it. Even though we just have a person that we oddly shoot away who might remember this, we'll go through with it. It's fine. We got this.

Who can identify it? Yeah. Yeah. She's eyes and shit. So Jack Reed shows up, knocks on the door of the farmhouse. Robin Knight stands at the door of the farmhouse, shakes his hand. Hey, nice to meet you. Offers him a glass of water.

He takes a sip. Starts walking Jack down a long hallway toward the barn. Come on this way. All right. Now, Michael Benton is hiding in a closet. And Vroomin is stationed inside one of these rooms. going down the hallway. At the end of the hall, Vroomin jumps out and shoves Jack Reed into the closet where Michael Benton is hiding.

Okay. Okay. Now, Reed tries to run. Vroomin tackles him. At this point, Benton, going against all plans of, you know, holding him, finding out information. Finding out where our shit is. Just takes a three-pound sledgehammer and begins bashing Jack Reed in the head with it. where's my shit?

Stop doing that. None of that. This guy just goes crazy. I mean, multiple blows. Reed goes down. He's not moving. Three pounds sledge? Yeah, that's heavy in the head.

That's crazy. So they notice he's still alive, though. So they, Knight and Vroom and say he's still alive. So they tell Benton to come back in. Benton returns and they're like, well, hit him again if you're going to kill him. You know, he's still alive.

So he bashes him with the sledgehammer in the head again. Uh-huh. They then drag him into the second. center of the barn. Robin Knight then hands saran wrap to Vroomin, like that's going to do anything at this point in time. We're past that point of the saran wrap, dude. Vruman attempts to wrap it around Reed's head to contain the bleeding, but there's so much blood and it's all in the saran wrap. The saran wrap doesn't stick. It's getting like clumped up and it's not working. None of it's working and it's like coming up and you can't get saran wrap over a goddamn tupperware of leftover

chicken for Christ's sake. You're not going to get it around this guy's bleeding head. And if it gets wet, it's fucked. It's completely screwed. Yeah, it's a mess after that. It's not sticking anything. So anyway, that's what's going on. They're doing that. That fails. So Knight gets the plastic tarp out. That still doesn't contain the blood. There's still blood going everywhere. Yeah. So Brooks picks up a sledgehammer at this point. John Brooks does. And everybody says he then strikes Reed in the chest multiple times, once really, really, really, really hard with the sledgehammer. And he said to everybody, stop the heart, stop the bleeding.

Oh, so. Well, true is a pretty weird thing to say. Is it still going? Was he still alive at that point? That's why he was bleeding so much. Usually once the heart stops, he'll bleed a lot less. So at that point, Jack dies on the floor. God.

Dead. So then, is it worth it? If you're standing over this guy, you've got nothing back. You still don't know where your father's ashes are. Yeah. What did you accomplish here? You didn't do anything except exact revenge. Yeah.

But your exacted revenge on somebody that doesn't even know what they're getting revenge for because they didn't even know. No. Right. They have no idea. You didn't even accuse them. You didn't even like go like accuse him formally of doing anything. So he doesn't know what the fuck you're upset about. It's crazy, right?

He doesn't know Vroomin or this other guy. Doesn't even know half these people. All these people except for John because Jesse's not there. So all four men then wrap Jack's body in plastic sheeting and duct tape. They place the body in the bed of Reed's own pickup truck, and they cover it with rocks and brush. Okay. Okay. Now that afternoon slash evening, Knight and Vroomin drive the truck with his body in the back toward Massachusetts.

Brooks and Benton follow in John Brooks's minivan. Hey, if you're driving a minivan, you're not up for a murder plot, first of all. You're not in. Not in. I got a Ford Windstar, and I'm ready to. party is not something you do. In 2003, it's a good chance that's what it was.

That's probably what it was. Or an astrovan. That's exactly right. So now, Knight deliberately routes through the back roads to avoid tolls and electronic records, which is smart. They get to a Target parking lot in

Saugus, Massachusetts. Yeah. There, Knight and Vroomen parked the truck at the end of a row in the Target parking lot. It's about 40 miles away from Derry. one of the two men is observed on surveillance camera going to the back of the truck to check that the tarp is secure. Then both men exit the truck and get into the minivan.

The minivan drives away. Yeah. Security cameras at Target captured everything. The arrival of Reed's truck followed by the minivan, two figures exiting the truck, checking the tarp, getting in the van. It's all on fucking video, first of all. Oh, boy. Then they have to clean up. So Brooks drives to his Newcastle condominium with Vroomin.

And the two threw the handcuffs, the hammer, and other items into the water from the bridge behind the nearby Wentworth by the Sea Hotel. Okay. Then they made several trips, John Brooks, Robin Knight, and Vroomin all back to that Deerfield farmhouse. They ripped out the bloodstained walls and flooring from the closet and barn area. They transport the debris to the property of a man named Bert Siever so it can be burned. then they feel like we should probably move the body. That's a bad place we left it. The Target parking lot?

The target parking lot. But they can't, you know why they can't? Because the cops already found it. No, they lost the keys to the truck. They can't find it. They don't know where they are. They lost the truck keys. What?

They can't move the truck. It's stuck there now. This is what I mean. This is a one of these people made $50 million in their life. And this is the biggest group of morons. This is like Fargo. This is fucking. I thought you had them.

You don't have the key. Ah, for fuck's sake. This makes Fargo people look brilliant from that movie. It really does. What did you throw in the sea coast? Well, maybe the keys. I don't know. I thought it was handcuffs.

It was jingling and jangling. I can't tell you. It was just hard things, and I did that. And also, when they thought about it, it was daylight, and they worried about the cameras. So they decided, we'll just leave it there. Oh, my God, they're idiots. So John Brooks, Vroomin, and Knight all fly back to Las Vegas, thinking it's all good. Upon return, Brooks gives Vroomin $2,500 and acknowledges us, I owe you more.

Don't worry. I got you covered. June 29th, a few days earlier, Reed's family is searching for him. Yeah. Yeah, he has children and people who love him. He's not just some, he's not some fucking transient who they picked up off the railroad tracks or something. This guy's got a family. He's got work and family.

He was last heard from on June 26th at 9 p.m. when he talked with his daughter, Megan. And it was the last time he had a conversation with a family member. She's the one who reported her father missing. She hangs up flyers with pictures of him and his truck and everything like that. July 5th, a woman from Massachusetts calls and leads police to the truck. How long now? A week? A week.

So, yeah, a week. Eight days. Yeah, eight days. Jack Reed's been missing. His family was frantic. and all he's a reliable guy he answers his phone he's always got it on him for jobs he comes home at the end of the night it's just not like him um so they noticed that the pickup truck investigators look in the bed they know it's a missing man's pickup truck and they find a body wrapped in plastic sheeting

which has been sitting outside in june for a week so think about people are smelling that yeah the bugs the smells i mean man so they it's described later on in the medical exam as the victim sustained blunt force to the front of his forehead. There was a hole on the side of his head the size of a soft ball. Yeah. Or, you know, a sledgehammer. Or a three-pound sledge, yeah. His chest had actually been caved in as well.

Jesus, he hit him hard. Eviscerated, this poor bastard with a sledgehammer. The facial damage was so severe that visual identification was impossible. They needed dental records to confirm it's him. I mean, they were pretty sure it was him. It was his truck. Yeah. He's a height, weight, age, and all that shit, but still.

Now, also in the truck, in the cab of his truck is his logbook, which is his record of clients and contact information and job hours. There's DNA on the stick shift that doesn't belong to him but matched no criminal database, no criminal in the database at the time. Surveillance footage from the lot showing the truck arriving and people getting out in the minivan because now they know to look at that. Yeah, because that's where we found the truck. So now the cops know at least three people were involved because they see someone's got to be. driving the truck and two people got out and got in it. So there has to be at least... Somebody's got to drive the minivan.

Yeah, the minivan. Yeah, the minivan. They got out, got it in the minivan. So they also pulled his phone records, and one of the last calls he received came from a prepaid burner phone. Uh-huh. Okay. So they look into all this. They're looking into the surveillance footage phone records, DNA, and the prepaid phone

trail pointed toward Brooks's circle. That's how they kind of got into that whole thing. So they found, they started looking through. Brooks's connections. They found Joseph Vroomin and Vegas already connected to Brooks. They found Michael Benton, who's a childhood friend of Jesse Brooks, who'd known father and son for years, and they find Robin Knight, who is Brooks's associate. Sure. Phone records, they show call logs showing contacts between Brooks, Jesse, Benton, Vroomin, and Knight in the days and weeks leading up to and after the murder. That's when the most activities

going on between all these people. Yeah, and they're all talking. They subpoena bank records and get money transfers where Jesse Brooks had wired $400 to Benton in late July, 2005, then $800 in August. And they said Benton was traveling to Las Vegas where he told Jesse Brooks directly that he killed Reed for your family. So I need my money. And Jesse told him that he knew. Also, a guy named Michael Small, who was a carpenter who worked for Robert Knight, testified later on that months before the murder, December 2004, Jesse and John Brooks told him that they own two motorcycles that were stolen and that the person responsible would, quote, get their day. Okay.

So night, the cops end up talking to Knight first for some reason. He must look like the weak link. Well, he's getting payments, so you go to that guy first. And he is the weak link because right away he's very willing to make a deal. The problem is he sits for three separate proffer sessions with the problem. prosecution. Now, a proffer session is where you give a bunch of information that they can't use against you if the deal goes through, basically. Now, there's different types of proffer sessions. There's one, there's one they have, like they call it queen for a day, basically, where you can say

anything and no matter what the fuck happens, they can't use it against you. Okay. If a deal doesn't work, they can't use it against you. But that all has to be worked out in writing prior to this. some reason, this isn't all worked out in writing that it can't be used against him. So he gives several proffer sessions, but then the deal falls through. And they have all of his statements and they use them against him. Is that legal? If it's whatever the agreements were. If they don't have an agreement, if his lawyer didn't say, I want in writing that it's queen for a day and you don't fucking get to use any of this, then it's all fair game at that point. So I'm, I'm I'm going with like so much of a queen for the day.

I'm picking a drag queen name. Everything. Yeah. I'm getting a dress. It's going to be. I'm coming in. I'm coming in a corset. That's how fucking queen I'm going to be for the day.

My tits are going to be popping. So the police and fish and game divers recover the handcuffs, but not the other items that were thrown away over the bridge because he told him where it was. Yeah. And those rivers run at a good clip. Oh, yeah. So you throw something in there. That shit may as well be in the ocean. There's a lot of rocks.

It could be under rocks. It's hard to deal with. Now, Robin Knight is held in Rockingham County, House of Correction, awaiting everything. He's placed in the same housing unit as Henry Belmar, who's a man with a huge criminal history. Oh. Knight believed that he could trust Belmar and had numerous conversations with him in which he made multiple incriminating statements about the Reed murder. So he's told his cellmate and the prosecutor. all about it so far.

And Belmar has so many convictions and charges against him. He's got all the reason in the world to want to talk. Yep. So he talks. He goes and meets with detectives and says he's willing to cooperate. And he'll end up testifying that Knight had described the murder details that aren't publicly known and were consistent with other accounts. Because Benton and Vroomin are going to go, Robin Knight told you that. Well, let me tell you what really happened because I really want to deal.

Ah, they're all so dumb. Everybody turns on on John Brooks, though. Yeah. He's fun. Oh, really? So November 2006, everybody's arrested that day for the actual murder. John Brooks and Las Vegas, Robin Knight in New Hampshire, Benton, Vroomin and Jesse Brooks also arrested. Andrew Carter, who was there as, remember him?

He's the guy who brought Benton in to begin with. He doesn't get charged, but he gets immunity in exchange for his testimony about the beginnings of the conspiracy because he was in it in the beginning. He wasn't even there. Yeah. He wasn't there at the end. So, yeah, they have Knights detailed statements. They also, like we said, they charge Jesse Brooks with conspiracy to commit murder, even though we know he wasn't there. Yeah.

April 27, 2007, the Attorney General upgrades the charges against John Brooks to capital murder, which is punishable by the death penalty. Oh. Upgraded. He's the guy going down for everything. October 2008 is John Brooks's trial. Death penalty. firmly on the table. It's right in the middle like a Thanksgiving turkey

sitting there. It's the first... Five years later. It's crazy. It's the first capital murder trial in New Hampshire in over 50 years. Wow. They don't use it very much.

So this would have... If he was convicted and executed, it would be the first execution in the state since 1939. They haven't executed. Wow. And we talked about someone in New Hampshire that ate a kid.

I mean, it's, you know... Yeah. That might have been Rhode Island. I might have been Rhode Island. I think it was Rhode Island. Yeah, yeah, yeah. The kid of the... Yeah, you know, in the box.

You know what I'm talking about. It's an early episode. So his defense attorney suggested during opening statements that Benton is the real murderer, that's what it is. And that Benton found a sledgehammer inside the barn where Brooks had arranged

a meeting with Reed. Then he had Benton spontaneously just lost it and started and killed Reed as retaliation for the time when Reed fired a gun at them when they came over to kill him. Oh, right. We all had a plan, but this guy went nuts. He went rogue. They also say that Vroomin told a cellmate in prison that he stomped on Reed's chest like a trampoline and that Vroom and not Brooks is solely responsible for the chest injuries.

Okay. So what are they trying to say? Our objective was kidnapping and this guy murdered him? Yeah. We were just going to talk to him and try to, you know, sweat him about where it is. And these guys, one of them just started whacking him with a sledgehammer and the other one started jumping on his chest. And John Brooks was standing there like, oh, my, very, you know. I just want my Harley's back. Oh, no. Yeah. No, no, no.

Oh, God, please, guys, I can't stand the sight of blood. So the witnesses are Brooks, Vroomin and Michael Benton also, who've all been paid and everything like that. Benton, now the defense attorneys say that Benton is really the one responsible for this. And while he's up there, they paint him as a crack. cocaine addict who was desperate for his next fix the day Reed was bludgeoned with a sledgehammer. Now, Benton said, sure, I am a crackhead. That part you got right. That's true.

But crackheads aren't murderers. He said, I wasn't under the influence that day, though. You know, I stay clearheaded for a murder scheme. You know what I'm saying? So that's basically what they did. He said, Benton also said immediately when he fell in, that's when I hit him with the hammer, meaning he fell in the closet and I started bashing him. They said Benton showed no emotion as he described how he hit Reed two or three times on the head,

then stepped over Reed's body and walked away. He said, when I thought him to be completely incapacitated, that's when he walked away. He said, then Robin Knight told him he's not dead yet, come back and finish him. And so he returned and hit Reed two or three more times in the forehead before he walked out behind the barn to smoke a cigarette. A little smoke break. He said that, you know, on another trip back to the barn, that's when they helped him pull the body out of the closet and on the tarp. And he said, I don't believe him to be dead at that point.

He was still breathing. I could hear him. So he said he was outside and he heard thumping sounds from inside. And he said, I didn't get to see what happened. So I don't want to speculate on how it happened. But he said they all talked about stop the heart, stop the bleeding. When Vroomin testified, he said John Brooks said that. There are some holes that they poke in these stories here.

they say that you guys entered plea deals. You're going to receive lighter sentences, and you're the guys physically doing this. And he's a crackhead, and your memory's terrible. And, you know, that's the... Yeah, he's a crackhead. You can't believe him. So everyone out there, if you want to hire people for your murder,

make sure they're a crackhead, and then they can't tell on you. I guess... Their credibility's ruined. That's it. That's legally what Brooks is trying to say here. Anything a crackhead says can't be true. So ask Corey Richens about that. that. That is, she's not good.

She's in prison because of that. Don't believe it. Because it was true. Don't believe a crackhead sometimes. Especially when they have all sorts of electronic evidence that matches up with exactly what the crackhead said. So the verdict comes in. Brooks is found guilty of capital murder, murder for hire, capital murder, murder during a kidnapping. Uh-oh. First degree murder being an accomplice and conspiracy to commit murder. They're going to kill him. This is not good for this ad.

50 million dollars, Jimmy. $50 million or maybe the death penalty. Go relax in the desert, you fucking idiot. What's wrong with you? Buy a new Harley and be resigned to not having your club-footed alcoholic father's ashes. Who gives a shit? Work up a gambling habit. Have some fun.

You can afford it. It's fine. So the judge in this case ruled that the jurors will be able to hear because in sentencing, they're trying to figure out what they're going to hear. they will be able to hear about a jailhouse beating ordered by Brooks as they weigh whether or not he should get life or death. They say they want to call inmates as witnesses in the penalty phase to show Brooks is dangerous. They say he used his wealth while in jail to pay inmates for protection and to beat up a guy named Michael Small. Remember him?

Right. We mentioned him an inmate he had a grudge with. Now, the judge said he will allow the jurors to hear from beating victim Michael Small. as well as Julio Perez, the man who testified he beat small in order to gain favor with Brooks. They'll also get testimony from Michael Keller and Jeffrey Miller, two men who reluctantly told the judge that Brooks offered them money in the early 90s to beat up some other guy, a teenager who was a friend of Jesse's. He was trying to hire men to beat up children.

Children. And he's got a track record. He has a history of this. That's because he thought this kid stole from him. Oh, for heaven's sake. Wow. This is crazy. They're also told prosecutors they could call a woman named Sonia LaBelle as a witness.

She's expected to testify that Brooks punched her twice in the face after she drove over his lawn while leaving a party at his home. My starz. Bitch, I says, keep off the grass. Can you read that fucking tiny sign? I just receded it. You punched a woman. Dude, I would have to kill my fucking Amazon people because they drive over my grass constantly. I would have blood up to my fucking elbows if that was my policy.

I don't have a blade of grass on my fucking property. No, you go. You can drive over Jimmy's rocks any time you want. Drive over it all you want. All it does is kill whatever's trying to grow. Let's kill the weeds here. So that's what's going on here. This Michael Small testifies saying that, quote,

I knew nobody in that place, but Jay Brooks. That's John Brooks. And shortly before Small was attacked, Brooks greeted him to the unit by telling him. him inmates liked fighting in the jail. Oh. And they also ruled that they could hear that Brooks allegedly punched the young woman in the head, like we said. And they said it shows Brooks's likelihood to react to the kind of everyday indignities he'd encounter in prison with violence.

That's why they're arguing for the death penalty, saying even in prison he's going to be a problem. He's a bad guy. He is a bad fucking guy. Victim impact statements. Jack's daughter, Megan, said, to the coward that murdered my daddy, I hate you. that's fun his daughter Jay told him

he admired you and look what you did to him you're disgusting I like that one too his daughter's name is Jay Jay J-A-Y-E uh

maybe Jai J I'm not sure and uh Virginia Philippone the mother of her his kids and his longtime girlfriend said when you said nobody would miss him

you were wrong there's no excuse for what you did to Jack none whatsoever may Jack rest in peace and may you rot in jail yeah they got their shot

Five kids, man. There's five. They're going to have, yeah, they got, they're made a writing session. That's fun. I like it. The prosecution said, one of the things that you will have to consider is whether the defendant's extremely short fuse and disproportionate reactions to insignificant situations establishes that he will be a danger in the future if he's sentenced to prison.

We will ask you to keep in mind that the defendant is both Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Both guys, yeah. The defense said, he's never been arrested before. It's his first offense. It's a horrible planned two-year-in-the-making torture murder. But, you know, it's that. More on Dr. Jekyll than Mr. Hyde. He also said when he owned Polyvac, he employed dozens of people.

That's it. That's what it is. That's why he's a good guy. Ten years ago, people got paychecks. So, you know, the judge said after a year, after probably a year of being involved in this case, it's clear to me that this was literally a monstrous crime in its level of evilness and premeditation and in its senselessness. But the jury decides everything.

You, sir, may fuck off. Two life terms consecutively, no parole. Oh, boy. Life without twice in a right. For sure, not getting out. Not getting out. In jail, by the way, right away, he gets in trouble. He was awaiting this.

He was running a commissary influence operation. here. What is that? He's selling shit. He's got these like hoarding Snickers bars so he can sell him at whatever price he wants and shit like that. It's crazy. Robin Knight had his trial as well.

Pretty much the same thing, except he had his cellmate telling on him too, which isn't good. The prosecution said this man, Robin Knight, was the voice and face of the murder. He was the one who called Jack Reed and told him to go to the barn that morning. He's the guy who shook his hand and invited him in. he's the most full of shit. Yeah. The defense said that Knight's own statements during the failed proffer sessions with investigators, that's what the, they're trying to get those thrown out and they didn't get thrown out.

Right. They also introduced the prosecution $167,000 in, quote, pay and bonuses that he received from Brooks after the murder. He paid him well. Yeah. So, and he said it was legitimate real estate proceeds. not murder money. Verdict, the jury deliberates for less than five hours. He is found guilty of accomplice to first degree murder, accomplice to second degree murder,

conspiracy to commit murder. Right. At sentencing, Jay is back again, Jack's daughter, and she said, how dare you come into this courtroom and perpetrate this fraud that you had no idea what was going to take place in that barn? You took the word of John Brooks, hook line and sinker all because of greed. You make me sick. Yes. Good for you.

The judge adds to that by saying, you, sir, may fuck off life without parole, asshole. You make me sick, too. I'm also a little nauseous. We're all sick. Michael Benton pleads guilty to second degree murder and conspiracy to commit capital murder, receives a reduced sentence in exchange for testimony in all the trials. He's sentenced to you, sir, may fuck off, 33 years in prison for his. deal. Joseph Vroomin

pleads guilty to conspiracy to commit capital murder and hindering apprehension. He is sentenced to 17 and a half to 35 years. That's a man that was in the closet? He's the guy who tackled him into the closet. Tackled him. Yeah. What the fuck. He's part of the physical

murder plot here. Yeah. He's served over 13 years. By 2020, he started trying to seek early release. The prosecutor and the families were against it. Vruman said, I committed a horrific crime against Mr. Reed. I think about what I did every day.

I can't and will not ever be that person again. Even if he's not, he ends up, he was eligible for parole in 2024, but I didn't, Kim, find him getting out. Jesse Brooks is convicted of conspiracy to commit murder, sentenced to 15 to 30 years in prison. He's held in a prison in Arizona, so he's got nobody's around him. Yeah, he's stuck there. His old family's there. he's going. He's trying to get out, too, saying that he was out having dinner with his mother.

This is crazy. He was in California. No, no, no, he was there, but he was establishing an alibi. Remember he said he was going to dinner to establish a right, right. Or going to breakfast or whatever, out to eat and established a credit card receipt here. All of his appeals have been denied. There's a big thing of like free Jesse Brooks and this, there's a whole, is he in Florence? People, I don't know which one it doesn't say. People, a whole, there's a website where it has all this, This person lied, and then these investigators did this. It's one of these, how he's been screwed over. He was very well a part of it.

Yeah, two of the people were his friends for fucks sake. It's his dad that did it. His dad using his friends. What are you talking about here? Super a part of it. His mother, Lorraine, has publicly advocated for his innocence, but he's gotten nothing. Robin Knight appealed. That goes nowhere.

The Reed family sues also, Jack, which, why not? Oh, for awful dad? Yeah. Yep. That's how that goes. John Brooks to this day remains in prison. And, yeah, the family filed a civil wrongful death suit against John for $50 million. All of it.

We'll take about every penny you have, Chief. How's that? So that everybody. Wait. No, it's not. Where the fuck are the motorcycles? We don't know. Who the fuck knows?

They're motorcycles. All of this. You know, motorcycles, man. He didn't even do it probably. No, that's the thing. Nobody thinks Jack Reed is considered the most honest guy in town. No evidence that he took it. No evidence that he took it.

This guy stood for two years and got his kids' friends together and murdered a man that, and he never got that shit back anyway. Nope. I would say probably if I had to guess, I'd probably put it on one of Jesse's crackhead friends. I'd put it on anybody with a trailer, James. If you see a trailer, you just hook up to it. I guess, we think that this, because it's so specific in the time frame, and someone probably knew what was in it, but probably not Jack. It just doesn't. Probably not.

It's not what he does. So anyway, there you go. There is a Deerfield, New Hampshire. Now very quickly here at the end, we've got to go through this. Definitely head over to shut up and give me murder.com. Tickets for live shows. Next one with tickets, May 2nd in Denver, May 30th and Royal Oak, Michigan. Only a few left for that one.

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