Snapped: Women Who Murder - BONUS: Buried in the Sand: A Cowboy's Final Ride (Buried in the Backyard)

Episode Date: May 16, 2024

We are bringing you a special bonus episode featuring a case from Oxygen's hit series, “Buried in the Backyard.”  A cowboy more at ease with horses than people vanishes into the desert after running into a group of California ranchers who believe he's done them wrong.Originally aired: January 6, 2022 Watch full episodes of Killer Couples live or OnDemand for FREE on the Oxygen app: https://oxygentv.app.link/See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

At these family dinners, dysfunction is served. I can't have you all messing things up. My entire adult life. Oh, I'm sorry. Do we embarrass you? Dinner next Friday, everyone? Wouldn't miss for the world. Dinner with the Parents, Season 1, stream free only on Freevy. Fifty high school senior girls descend on Mobile, Alabama every summer to compete for a massive

cash prize. It's one of America's most lucrative scholarship competitions for teen girls from Pineapple Street Studios and Wondry. This is the competition. Follow the competition on the Wondry app or wherever you get your podcasts. Hi, Snap listeners. We are bringing you a special bonus episode today from Oxygen's hit series, Buried in the Backyard. You can watch full episodes on demand on the free Oxygen app or on Peacock by clicking the link in our description. Enjoy.

A rugged rodeo cowboy lives his old west dream life. He wanted to ride bulls, he loved riding bucking horses. He was like Clint Eastwood since the day I met him. But when he disappears from a dusty desert town without a word. He should have already been at my house. Should have already texted me. A strange call to 911 deepens the mystery. I beat the good crap out of him.

He took off running. And he's not healing now. The police discover he has more enemies than friends. People were saying that he had stolen money or he didn't do what he said he was supposed to do with the horses. She said he was sleeping with your girlfriend. I have seen people killed for a lot less. I tell them you're upsetting the wrong people. I tell them you're for a lot less. And I tell him, you're upsetting the wrong people.

Investigators search for answers stretches across the desert and across the West. We're basically chasing a ghost. But the truth could lie buried beneath the hot sands of the Mojave. People disappear in the desert real easy. The Mojave Desert in Southern California is a barren yet beautiful landscape.

It's vast. it's rural, it's dirt roads. It's big sky, beautiful sunsets. Looks like the moon sometimes. It's hot, and it's windy. And it makes you old quick. One of my favorite things to do ever since I've lived in the desert is get on my dirt bike, point it in

direction and just go. You get to explore and it was just absolutely beautiful. On a crisp early December afternoon, Trevor is biking through a familiar trail in the high desert when he notices something strange. What caught my eye was no trespassing sign just off the road out in the middle of the desert.

And I thought, wow, that's weird. That's never been there before. What doesn't somebody want me to see? Right across the way there, from where the no trespassing sign was, was a couch. Looking at it a little bit closer, I saw ripped blue jean Levi's buried in the sand. It appeared that there was blood on the Levi's, and then I noticed a human leg bone.

I was a little creeped out. It was surreal. There was no doubt this is a human body buried in the sand. I didn't touch anything that was in that area. And I went back to my dirt bike, and I called 911. Investigators arrive at the scene just as the sun sets over the desert. The male victim was placed face down into the grave.

He was hog-tied. His arms tied behind his back with a rope that went from his hands up around his throat area and tied his wrists together. He also had a big piece of duct tape around his entire head and over his nose and his mouth. It was extremely upsetting.

There was no identification in the grave. No wallet or cell phone or anything that would indicate who this person was. He was wearing blue jeans. We also found a belt buckle. It appeared to be a rodeo-style belt buckle. There was also a ring and a necklace in the shape of a cross. The first question that investigators have is, who is this person that's buried in the sand. Phelan, California is a small horse community ranching town. Located in the heart of California's high desert,

the town of Phelan seems like a place from another time. It's a rugged community luring a special breed of folks with the call of the Old West. Phelan definitely has more than its fair share of horse people, cowboys, ropers, bull riders. Rodeo Cowboy's life is about horses that brought Allen Godfrey Jr. to Phelan. Allen was a cowboy. He loved being in the rodeo. He wanted to ride bulls. He loved being in the rodeo. He wanted to ride bulls. He loved riding bucking horses. That was his thrill.

That's where his heart was. Even though he was born back east, Alan idolized the open west and the cowboy life. He grew up in New York, a small town on the outside of Poughkeepsie. When his parents divorced, Alan found solace in tales of the Old West. At one point he was staying with his uncle in Kentucky, and they had a horse farm.

So I believe the Wild West thing started when he was there. By his mid-30s, Alan's years as a bronc rider on the pro-rodeo circuit have taken a physical toll. He retires and finds work as a horse trainer, roaming from Montana to New Mexico, from Texas to Wyoming, and starts using his middle name, Rick. Rick was very talented as a cowboy. Keely Capco saw that firsthand when she hired Rick to help with her horses.

There was a little wild Mustang that I had that I was having trouble with. He went out there and worked at that Mustang. And I'm not kidding, within 30 minutes of him showing up, and he was riding him, he just had genuine talent with the horses. The handsome horseman also earned himself another kind of reputation.

He made a lot of friends in the rodeo, mostly females. He must have had quite the charm. It seemed to attract a lot of women. But Rick's life isn't always charmed, and not all his ranch bosses are impressed with him. Whenever there's conflict, Rick's response is to move on down the road and start again. That's what he's hoping to do in Phelan

when he lands a job on a ranch just outside town. Debbie Harris and Dale Bruce were his landlords. He rented this small mobile trailer, and he was shooing horses, doing ranch work. And Debbie had party horses. She took the birthday parties and stuff. And he helped out with her horses. Dale and Debbie's ranch is the perfect place

to settle down with his loyal dog, Zip. Zip. Rick is also in a new relationship with a woman who lives on the coast a couple hours away. Rick and I met on a dating website around the beginning of February. He was a total cowboy, like Clint Eastwood, since the day I met him. On a Thursday night in April 2015, Rick makes the drive to Lisa's place

to help her move to a new apartment over the weekend. And then the next morning, he was really upset because he had received a text message from his landlord, Dale, that he had to return the truck that he borrowed to move me. And they got in a little bit of an argument, and Dale said, you have to come home right now, which is about a two-hour drive.

And I said, just go home and come back. And so he left. And I got off work around 5, 5.30 p.m. and nothing, radio silence. Like he should have already been at my house, should have already texted me. I was concerned. I knew him enough that if he said he was going to show up, he'd show up. By the time Saturday rolls around, Lisa decides she's waited long enough and calls Rick's father,

Alan Senior, who lives in a nearby town. Tried calling my son's phone. It just kept going voicemail. And it kept calling, and it kept calling, and it kept calling. Alan Godfrey Senior called in a missing persons report on April 18, 2015. Investigators head to the ranch in Phelan. When they get there, Rick's landlord, Dale, makes a surprising confession.

Dale Brewster told the sheriff deputy that he had gotten into a physical fight with Alan Godfrey Jr., who went by Rick. Brewster said that he beat Rick up, and that Rick took off, jumped Brewster's fence, and said he hadn't seen him since. Dale doesn't go into details about why they fought, but he tells the officers that he actually called 911 himself to report the brawl.

He says he wanted to make sure police knew about it in case there was any fallout. Sheriff's dispatch. I need an officer to come out. I had a situation that happened last night. wanted to make sure police knew about it in case there was any fallout. Police know Phelan is a rough and tumble community I'm here right now. I just don't want to do any work. Police know Phelan is a rough and tumble community of ranch folk who tend to settle their own disputes. But they hear something concerning in Dale's story. Mr. Brewster also indicated that when Rick jumped the fence to leave the property, he also saw Rick hit his head on the ground as he jumped over the fence.

We have somebody who's missing and possibly maybe left the area hurt and maybe laid down and possibly died from injuries in the desert. We need to find Alan Godfrey Jr. We need to find Alan Godfrey Jr. Something wasn't adding up. There was a lot of people out there who may want to settle the score with Alan Godfrey Jr. She responded with a vengeance that I've never seen come out of a person. Concerns are growing for horse trainer Alan Rick Godfrey Jr.

The rancher he works for says Rick ran off into California's Mojave Desert after they got into a big fight. That was two days ago The fact that nobody ever heard from Alan Godfrey jr. Again that was unusual Investigators press Rick's landlord Dale Brewster for an explanation of exactly what happened He tells them the day Rick disappeared started with an unexpected visit from another rancher who came by looking for Rick. Dale explains that a lady named Laura Vasquez showed up

and that she was very upset with Alan Godfrey Jr. She told Dale Brewster that Rick Godfrey owed her a lot of money and that she was trying to locate him. Laura was explaining to Dale, hey, you don't know who's living on your property. She tells Dale, he stole a bunch of money from me, thousands and thousands of dollars. She also shows Dale Brewster a photograph of a bracelet that Alan Godfrey had stolen from her property. Dale tells the police he found Laura's accusations so disturbing that he texted Rick, demanding he leave

his girlfriend and return with Dale's truck to the ranch immediately. When Alan Godfrey Jr. returns to the residence, Dale Brewster notices that Godfrey is wearing the very bracelet that Laura Vasquez said was stolen from her. Brewster told detectives that he confronted Rick about whether or not he had stolen from Laura Vasquez.

He said that Rick Godfrey threw a bracelet at him and that the fight was on. Dale was very egotistical. We understood his personality to be, I'm the man, and if you don't do what I say, you're going to get the worst end of what I have to give you. Dale indicated that he clearly won the fight and left Rick bloody as Rick ran away from the property.

The detectives also spoke to Debbie Harris, who was Dale Brewster's girlfriend. She said she was not home at the time of the altercation between Brewster and Rick. She didn't know where Rick was. She hadn't talked to him. She hadn't seen him. It's a strange story, but in cowboy towns like Phelan,

investigators have heard taller tales. Dale allows the police to search his property, and they find nothing unusual. Although there were some red flags about what Brewster was saying, there certainly wasn't enough to conclude that a crime had necessarily occurred. It wasn't unusual for my son to just pick up and leave. But something wasn't adding up. Why isn't he answering his cell phone?

If something wasn't adding up, why isn't he answering his cell phone? My son, if he was in trouble, would have made contact with me right away. So he's gotta be hurt. At that time, the deputies took the initial missing persons report. They spoke with Alan Godfrey, Sr. And he's saying, hey, my son would have never left his dog here. My son has all of his belongings at the ranch. Something was not right.

He always had that dog with him. He didn't have his dog. It was like not having your six-month-old child. Dale Brewster didn't indicate that anything out of the ordinary occurred after the fight, that he saw Rick ever again, or that there was anything else that he could add to detectives' search for Rick Godfrey and what happened to him.

To confirm Dale's story, investigators subpoena the cell phone records for both Rick and Dale, but they won't get them from the phone company for several weeks. In the meantime, all investigators know for sure is that Rick's phone is turned off. Law enforcement puts a search party together with search and Rescue. And they do a search in the area out there to locate Rick Godfrey and find him alive or dead. Nothing. When you have a missing persons and you're

thinking that potentially it could lead to a larger investigation, you want to start to look into anybody who could have a motive to hurt that person. You have Laura Vasquez admitting that Rick Godfrey owed her a lot of money. And certainly, I have seen people killed for a lot less. So the next logical thing to do was

to go speak with Laura Vasquez. The next logical thing to do was to go speak with Laura Vasquez. Laura Vasquez tells detectives that Rick was a business partner that lived with her for a time. Ms. Vasquez said that she had lent Rick up to $25,000 that Rick still owed her. And then at some point, Ms. Vasquez called the Sheriff's Department to get Rick Godfrey removed

from her property. I guess they had an agreement. They were going to get this ranch going, all of this other stuff. I don't know if there was romance involved, but there could have been. And when things went really bad, Laura responded with a vengeance that I've never

seen come out of a person. She put out so much just frightening threats to him that I think she really, I don't know, she wanted something to happen to him. Police are searching for Alan Rick Godfrey, who may be on the run after getting into a fistfight with his landlord. But they've also learned that he's in the middle of a heated dispute with another ranch owner named Laura Vasquez.

She claims he stole $25,000 from her in a partnership gone bad. Police wonder whether she could be looking for revenge. Detectives asked Laura Vasquez about where she was in the late afternoon, evening hours of April 17th when Rick Godfrey had gone missing. Miss Vasquez told them that she was at home, which is about 40 minutes away from the Dale Brewster residence. We checked everything.

We did request cell phone search warrant information from Laura Vasquez, and then we have to wait for them. Meanwhile, Rick's phone records are now available, and investigators spot a possible lead. After he returned home to the Brewster residence, Rick had made a phone call to a cab company. If the cab company did come and pick him up, he really could have floated to any area of the high desert

or even possibly got himself out of state. We contacted the cab company to see if they did give Alan a ride. Alan had refused to give his address, but said he insisted that they come out and pick him up on the corner of Wilson Ranch Road. The cab company didn't feel comfortable going out to an unknown location and just a corner of this street and this street, so they denied him. They told us that they did not pick up Alan and that nobody ever saw him or drove him anywhere.

At this point in time, we realize that he is nowhere to be found and that we're basically chasing a ghost. There was just a strong sense. My son is gone. Is he going to be the one that, you know, everybody says to me, I wonder what happened to him. Where is, you know what I mean?

So I wanted that answer. After several days with no sign of Rick, there's news that gives his family new hope. Debbie Harris, the girlfriend of ranch owner Dale Brewster, tells the police that Rick's beloved dog, Zip, is suddenly gone from their ranch. It was always the understanding that if Alan Godfrey had left the property, he would be coming back fairly quickly

for his dog because that dog was his whole entire world. And after Alan Godfrey Jr. went missing, the dog also went missing from the property. And there was a possibility that Alan Godfrey Jr. came back for it. While detectives puzzle over the disappearance of Rick's dog, Zip, the phone records of their potential suspect, Laura Vasquez, finally come in and they begin pouring through them. Records show that Ms. Vasquez's phone, at least, was near her home and not near the Brewster residence during those hours on April 17. It seems to support Laura's alibi.

Laura immediately points them in a different direction, social media. As we started really looking into some of the social media outlets, we understood that there was a lot of people out there who may want to settle the score with Alan Godfrey Jr. Feeling Facebook groups, people up there in the desert, people that are in with the horses,

it's all very interwoven. We all know each other. Like the instant he went missing, messages were coming up all over Facebook on his pages or other people's pages, like, I hope he's dead. You know, it just, there was no remorse of this one section of the community

that just was like, you know, hope he's gone, hope he's dead, hope someone murdered him, don't care. I started to read the posts being put on our local horse groups about how he had whipped people off, how he had burned them for money. He was always accused of it all.

I don't know about any of that. Honestly, since I met him, he had a community of people who disliked him and were saying bad things, saying that he had stolen money or he didn't do what he was supposed to do with the horses. He was always stealing and sleeping with women. I don't know. Anything Rick was being accused of, he turned around and accused them of it.

And they were pissed. People were after him. Then comments started getting posted. Give me his address. Where is he at? The deeper investigators dig into the online mob, the more hate messages and death threats they find. Their suspect pool has just exploded. There are over 45 people that had put it on Facebook

that they would kill him. I told him I'm concerned because I believe you're upsetting some of the wrong people. They live in the desert. People disappear in the desert real easy. The person who did this to this victim thought of them like trash. We know who committed this crime

and every time they just disappear on us. I feel like I was blindsided. Because it's the competition show. From the producers of Jury Duty and The Bachelor. We have scoured the earth for the 14 greatest reality contestants that were available during our production window. Comes a reality competition show about reality competition shows. Nobody has dared to find out who is the actual best at just being on a reality show.

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Tasha, I have to defend myself. Celebrating 25 years of reality TV with your favorites. I have diarrhea. You cannot do this to me. What in gay hell have I got myself into? The Goat, stream free on Amazon Freeview or Prime Video. In the climate ravaged year of 2072, the city of Pura stands as a miraculous green

haven, a geo-engineered paradise that protects fortunate residents from the global catastrophes of heat domes, fires, floods and droughts. Demetria Lopez heads up Pura's public relations, tirelessly promoting the city's idyllic image. But when she stumbles upon a dark secret that if exposed would be the downfall of Pyrrha's existence, she must decide who and what she is willing to protect. From Wondery, the makers of Academy and Dr. Death, The Last City stars actors Rhea Seahorn, Jeannie Tirado and Maury Stirling. Follow The Last City on the Wondery app or wherever

you get your podcasts. You can binge all episodes of The Last City early and ad free right now by joining Wondery Plus. Police in California's high desert have been searching for Alan Rick Godfrey for more than two months. Their investigation has unearthed a nest of online vipers, fellow ranchers and cowboys who have taken to social media to claim Rick has done them wrong,

and are vocal about their desire for revenge. This is hateful. I hope he's dead. If he's not dead, he should be. It just was the grossest stuff ever. But are the threats big talking Old West bravado or a sign of something more sinister? Investigators followed every social media

lead we possibly could. And as we spoke with each person, what we realized was none of these people had anything to do with his disappearance. We were easily able to rule all of them out, mostly because they were all several states away. Although phone records seem to clear Laura Vasquez, investigators meet with her again

to see if there's anything else she can tell them. And she reveals a new detail about her talk with Dale on the day Rick vanished. She indicates that she told Dale Brewster that any woman Rick is living with, he's sleeping with. She told Dale Brewster that that means she's also sleeping with your girlfriend, Debbie Harris. Dale failed to mention Laura's accusations when he talked to police. The detectives know that jealousy can be a powerful motive. Whether or not it's true, Laura's allegation

could have enraged Dale. But with no evidence of a crime, all they have is suspicion. Another six months pass with no new leads. And then the sprawling high desert finally gives up its secret. gives up its secret. On December 8, 2015, Trevor Thompson is riding his off-road motorcycle and comes across the remains of a body in a shallow grave.

San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department immediately recognized that that sounds like our missing person from eight months prior. Authorities obtained DNA swabs from Rick's dad and send them to the lab for comparison. The DNA samples from his father proved that it was Alan Godfrey Jr. that was buried in the sand. Waiting is a hard thing to do.

For months, some part of me was hoping he'd come to me in a dream and tell me where he was, you know? Tell me something. When I got the phone call, they found my son's body in the desert. My heart just sank. Because of decomposition, it's unclear exactly how Rick died. So the investigators call in a forensic anthropologist. She carefully combs through the skeletal remains and discovers a tiny detail.

The decedent's body had a break in the hyoid bone located in the neck, which indicated that Alan Godfrey Jr. was strangled. And since we ruled out all others, our main suspect was Dale Brewster. And as they take a deeper look at him, the detectives learn Dale is no stranger to violence. Dale Brewster had a prior conviction

for a serious felony, an assault with a deadly weapon, in 1991. In speaking with his ex-wife, we understood also that he was physically assaultive to her as well. When he spoke to the police, he indicates that he's like Mike Tyson. And then if you put your finger in his mouth, he'll bite it off. That gave me a very, very good glimpse into who Dale Brewster was.

But we needed to get enough evidence that he had committed this murder. That's proving to be difficult. Eight months exposed to the harsh, dry desert environment has degraded all the evidence found with Rick's body. I had the duct tape sent to CSI to see if we had a fingerprint on it. I was hoping that a fingerprint would come back

to anybody else who was wrapping that tape around the victim's head. That came back with nothing. I also had the rope sent to see if there was any DNA from the person who tied the knots. That came back with nothing. But their interviews with people connected to Dale helped convince them that they have the right suspect and that his girlfriend Debbie may also be involved.

Debbie Harris made several statements in her interviews to investigators that Zip was gone, and it led investigators to believe that Alan Godfrey Jr. came back for his dog. However, later in speaking to Debbie's daughter, it was found out that it was actually Debbie who had driven the dog off and let it go just in the middle of the desert to get rid of it. And if there was a possibility that Alan Godfrey Jr. was alive, there would be no reason for her to dispose of this dog in this manner. So Dale Brewster and Debbie Harris knew that Godfrey was gone and he was not coming back for any of his belongings.

With Dale and Debbie in their sights, investigators head to his ranch, hoping to catch them off guard. But it's the investigators who are caught by surprise. One of the neighbors told me that Dale Brewster collected all of his belongings fairly quickly. And when I arrived, Dale had already left town. MUSIC MUSIC

MUSIC With all other suspects in the murder of Alan Rick Godfrey cleared, investigators zero in on ranch owner Dale Brewster and his girlfriend, Debbie Harris. But Dale and Debbie have fled. And as they search for them, detectives are coming up empty on hard evidence.

I went looking for physical evidence, and I just kept coming up with nothing. I went looking for physical evidence, and I just kept coming up with nothing. Another sergeant investigator said, hey, try this Google search warrant. The technology is so new at the time that few people even know it exists. It's only been done one other time in our division,

so it's a big deal. When you have a Gmail account like Dale, basically it means that Google is running on your phone. The GPS coordinates that come off of Google is much more extensive than what you would get off a cell phone tower. You basically can get hits every three meters, depending on if you're in a rural or an urban area. Investigators obtain a warrant for Dale's phone,

hoping they can use the newly available state-of-the-art tech to precisely reveal his every movement around the time of Rick's disappearance. Dale told investigators he was at home the whole day of the 17th and really didn't leave his house much the 18th or the 19th. But when we looked at the Google records for Dale Brewster's phone on April 17th, the records clearly showed him moving from his home in Phelan out to the highway towards where Rick's body was found.

We could track his car traveling a path that went straight out to the gravesite. We were able to determine that he goes out there for enough time to possibly dig this gravesite, put Alan Godfrey Jr. in it, and then return home. And that was on April 17, 2015, the date that Wick went missing. We didn't have a whole lot of forensic evidence with DNA. What we did have was a very conclusive timeline stamped by cell phone workups and GPS coordinates.

And that's what put Dale and Alan Godfrey Jr. together the day he went missing and Dale Brewster out of the grave site where he was disposed of. Now able to definitively link Dale to Rick's burial site, the investigators piece together their theory of what happened the day Rick Godfrey vanished in the desert. Laura Vasquez went to Dale Brewster's property to find Alan Godfrey Jr. But she found Dale Brewster.

She painted a really clear picture of Alan Godfrey based on who she believed him to be. A thief, fraud, a womanizer. And there's a good chance that he's also probably sleeping with your girlfriend. That caused Dale to become enraged. And when he came in contact with Alan Godfrey, that things very quickly spun out of control. Once Dale Brewster was able to get Rick down on the ground...

He then took the rope, hog-tied him with his hands behind his back, and the rope around Rick's throat. He was scared. He was alone. And I don't think Alan Godfrey knew this was going to be his last moments. The It tells you that the person who did this to this victim thought of them like trash and something that they could throw out and nobody would care or nobody would find them. For those who loved Rick, knowing just how much he likely suffered

is hard to bear. This is a human being who I cared about and was in my life, and he didn't just pass away. Like, people went after him, and that's just horrifying. I don't care who you are, it's just a horrifying thought. My son was in a lot of pain. He was probably panicking because he knew he was about to die. That just filled me with rage because my heart says,

this is my son. I love him for whatever, I love him, you know? He didn't deserve to die. The decision was made by the district attorney's office at that point, that there was enough to file murder charges, and a warrant was issued for Dale Brewster's arrest. We had enough probable cause to obtain an arrest warrant for Debbie Harris as well.

Once the arrest warrant is signed, then the detectives turn their attention to locating and placing Dale Brewster under arrest. We learned that Debbie and Dale moved to Kingman, Arizona. We decided to travel up to Arizona, and with the help of the local authorities, make the arrest on Dale and Debbie. But that might not be as easy as it sounds.

We didn't know how Debbie and Del knew that we were honing in on them. But it seemed like every time we were getting really close to arresting them, they were gone. We know who committed this crime. We want to bring them to justice. And every time, they just disappear on us. Homicide suspects Dale Brewster and Debbie Harris have fled from California

and managed to stay a step ahead of the police. Eight months after the murder of Alan Rick Godfrey Jr., authorities believe they've traced the pair to Kingman, Arizona. They were turning off their phones. Once your phone goes off, you can't track anybody because the signal is gone. After three days of playing cat and mouse, we make the decision to go back to California. As we're packing up to leave, all of a sudden we start getting information that their phones are back on and we can see where they're at. According to the phone data, Dale and Debbie are holed up in a motel in nearby Seligman, Arizona.

California detectives meet up with their Arizona counterparts and rush to the location. Dale and Debbie were pretty surprised to see that law enforcement was there at their door to arrest them. And they thought that maybe they eluded police once again. was there at their door to arrest them. And they thought that maybe they eluded police once again. [♪ dramatic music playing over radio transmission in background, radio chatters, and music playing in background.]

Detective Kirby told me we found them. They were in a motel. We're bringing them back to California. And honestly, yes, we got the SOB. [♪ dramatic music playing over radio transmission in background, radio chatters, and music playing in background.] But prosecutors eventually determine there is not enough evidence to try Debbie as an accomplice.

We really couldn't place her in disposing of the body or the actual murder of Alan Godfrey, Jr. The murder trial of Dale Brewster is set to begin almost three years to the day after Rick Godfrey vanished. To strangle someone to death, to then bury them and throw them away like trash in the sand, I need to show that there is some motive for that type of anger and hatred. And you see that coming from the statements that Laura Vasquez made to Dale Brewster, insinuating that Dale's girlfriend was having

an affair with Rick, this was willful, deliberate, and premeditated. But when the defense calls Dale himself to the stand, he offers a very different story about the night Rick died. Brewster testified that after the fight with Rick, he was feeling stressed out. He said that there were some tires on his property that he'd been meaning to throw away.

Dale doesn't deny that he drove into the desert that night, as shown by the Google data, but he claims it was only to toss out the tires. The jury was out for several days. That's a nerve wracking moment as investigators and myself and the victim's family think about what they're going to do with the case. With tensions high, the jury finally

returns with a verdict. The verdict was read, and Dale Brewster was convicted of the first degree murder of Rick Godfrey. It was definitely a moment of elation. It was a weight lifted off of me. It was like a blessing, you know? Rick Godfrey lived his childhood dream to become a cowboy, a bronc rider, part of the rough and tumble world of the American West. But a vicious rumor in a desert town

and an evil attempt at frontier justice brought a senseless end to the cowboy life he loved. I look at his pictures and I try to remember him in good light. It never seems to be long enough because I always see the after, you know. I'm missing out on one thing I want in my life, and that's all my kids together, one place with me, just enjoying life, you know? That'll never happen.

They'll always be the one that's missing. Hey, listeners, it's Will Arnett. Our podcast, Smartless, has crossed a milestone that seemed unfathomable when we started nearly four years ago as we've just released our 200th episode. Join us as we welcome the dynamic duo of hilarity Steve Martin and Martin Short. You've seen them on screen together in The Three Amigos, Father of the Bride 1 and 2, and most recently, and Only Murders in the Building. Both are comedic geniuses in their own right, but together they are always electric.

And this episode of SmartList is no exception. I don't know if I've laughed more in a single episode than this one. We discussed their career arcs both separately and as a comedy team, how they met, who is more difficult to work with, and what motivates them today. Is Steve a better banjo player than Marty is a singer?

Find out on this bicentcentennial episode of Smartless. Follow Smartless in the Wondery app or wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen to Smartless ad free by joining Wondery Plus in the Wondery app or on Apple Podcasts. Plus you get to hear Sean cry. What a loser.