Sword and Scale - Episode 266

Episode Date: June 16, 2024

In early September of 2016, two young men from Gillette, Wyoming went missing. About a month later, the local police were alerted to a strange, black pickup truck that was parked on the side of a road. This truck reportedly smelled like rotting flesh. When police arrived to investigate, they found the missing men, but they didn’t find all of them. They only found a few chopped-up pieces.

Sword and Scale contains adult themes and violence and is not intended for all audiences. Listener discretion is advised. What do you remember seeing? No, no, no, don't, don't, don't, don't. Please don't, don't. We understand why you're upset. Because of what you saw, we found some of that yesterday. We've seen it too, and it's horrible. Oh Boy it's time for some more murder stories you sick fuck. This is sword and scale episode 266 season 11

Here we go So I'm sure you've heard by now about Sword and Scale Television and now we have something new coming up this month. It's season two of Sword and Scale Nightmares. If you have not had a chance to listen to Sword and Scale Nightmares yet, listen to it. You might enjoy it. It's true crime for bedtime. Basically what we do here, the stories that you all have come to know and love you weirdos, but without the clips, without the 911 jarring call that will wake you out of your slumber. So you can actually put this on with a pair of earbuds and what do they call the earbuds? Whatever. And go to bed. A lot of AirBuds, whatever. And go to bed. A lot of people listen to true crime before going to sleep. Yeah, like I said, sick fucks. About 100 miles north of Casper, Wyoming is a moderate-sized city known for being, quote, the energy capital of the nation.

The city's actual name is much less interesting. It's Gillette. Gillette, Wyoming, produces and distributes more coal than any other city in the United States, and is also a significant contributor of crude oil and methane gas. As a developer of these things, Gillette is an attractive place for people looking to make a lucrative and honest living. If you're willing and able to work a strenuous blue-collar job, there's good money to be made in Gillette. For many years, thousands of men and women have taken advantage of the employment opportunities that Gillette offers. And as is often the case, when a city attracts a lot of people,

it also attracts a lot of crime. To combat that crime, this city depends on the Gillette Police Department and the Campbell County Sheriff's Office. Back in mid-October of 2016, two deputy investigators at the Campbell County Sheriff's Office were hard at work, questioning a young woman named Kylie Collins. What don't you get? Well, you told me, well you said that someone reported that at my house or whatever. So I feel like you guys know stuff and you're withholding stuff from me. Well, I mean that's true.

We do, we do know things that we're not going to tell you. We're concerned about these guys who are missing and trying to locate them and find out exactly what happened there. The reason that Kylie was being questioned was because about five weeks before this interview took place, two young men who were last seen in Gillette had been reported missing by their respective family members. One of those two men was 33-year-old Philip Brewer. Philip was a Wyoming native who lived and worked in Gillette. He was a father of two young sons who made a hard-earned living by working on an oil field. Philip liked to fish and ride snowmobiles. He was an avid outdoorsman who was considered by his family to be a kind and caring guy. Sadly, in September of 2016, Philip seemingly dropped off the face of the earth and nobody could reach him. Eventually, Philip was reported missing and this led police to question his girlfriend,

Shelby Warren. When did you guys start dating? Right around Christmas. Last year? Yeah. When me and Philip started dating, we went up and stayed with Jodie in Helena, Montana in February. Philip had lots of friends, but he was closest to his

childhood friend, Jody Fortuna, who happened to be the other young man that police were searching for. Like Philip, 38-year-old Jody loved to fish. He was a rare rock collector, and he enjoyed the outdoors.

Jody was a self-employed general contractor, and his work along with the advice of his family led him to settle down in Helena, Montana. This move from Wyoming to Montana put about 500 miles between him and Philip. But that didn't stop two friends from seeing each other. They'd often make week-long trips to hang out and visit each other. Philip and Jodie were close. They were like brothers. Philip considered Jodie to be his best friend, but so did someone else.

Jodie also remained close friends with his other childhood friend, Mike Montano. I mean, I know that Mike loved Jodie. I can't, I don't know. Alright, how do you know that? Um, cause they've been best friends forever. Jodie was Mike's best friend and Jodie was Phillip's best friend, so. I realize I probably just threw a bunch of names at you and your brain is buzzing. So it might be a little bit difficult to follow. So let's just recap for one moment.

Two guys go missing. Their names are Philip Brewer and Jodie Fortuna. Philip was dating a woman named Shelby Warren, the woman you just heard being interviewed. And Jodie had a friend named Mike Montano. Got it? Probably not, but let's keep going. About a day or so before Philip and Jodie went missing, Philip and his girlfriend Shelby were driving around Gillette when they ran into Mike Montano. According to Shelby, Mike told them

Jodie was coming to visit all of them. We went for a drive and he said, hey, Jodie's on his way down here. He'll be here in an hour. I got a job and he called Jodie to help him with it, like a three-day job. He said it was. When the police questioned Mike Montana, he confirmed much of what Shelby had told them. Mike explained that Jodie was his closest friend and that Jodie had come to Gillette within days of his disappearance. Mike also explained that he wasn't a big mom. Me and Jody had gone.

We were being close, though. And I didn't like Philip after I got there a few times off the route, because he just, bad person. Again, the friendship dynamics that Mike explained to police were consistent with what Shelby had already told him. Jody was Mike's best friend, and Jody was Philip's best friend. Everybody liked Jody. Jody had lots of best friends, but Mike and Philip, they didn't like each other at all. No, no, no. They were like friend of these.

The first time Jody brought Mike around, they, um, he, him and Philip agreed that they were going to fight, but that they were going to, you know, one of these days they were going to throw down. And they were good with that. Okay. They just mutually knew that when they were around each other, they really liked each other. Yeah.

Putting things mildly, the relationship between Mike, Philip and Jody was unusual. There was a lot of built-in tension between Mike, Philip, and Jody was unusual. There was a lot of built-in tension between Mike and Philip. But that wasn't the only thing that made things volatile. You see, these three guys had a habit of sleeping with each other. He slept with my girlfriend once. One of her kids had broke my heart and we slept in for a little while. I went and fucking slept with his. And as soon as we were born, we'd go up and down like that. For lack of a better phrase, Jodie, Mike, and Phillip swapped women. And none of them actually ever really checked in with each other to make sure this was okay.

Even Shelby admitted that in addition to dating Phillip, she'd also hooked up with Mike. Did you ever date Jodie? No. Ever date Mike? No. Sure? Yeah. Pause there a minute.

Huh? You paused there a minute. Cause we hooked up one time. Oh, I don't know. Okay. Despite this weird behind the back woman swapping thing, whatever you want to call it, Jodie and Mike maintain their friendship. They grew up together and considered themselves brothers.

It's that weird thing young men do. Boys, really, as they're trying to figure out who they are. They form these relationships where it's not real, but they have a sort of camaraderie of sorts. A bond that can't be broken, or so they thought. In 2015, Mike met and began dating a young woman named Kylie Collins. And before long, Mike introduced Kylie to Jodie. In December of that year, Mike and Kylie took a trip to Montana and spent a few days at Jodie's house.

He checked me in to coming up there. Out where? Up to Montana. Jodie did? Yeah. How long were you up there? Only a week. Okay.

But Jodie was still fucking, he was being fake. He was just getting me up there? Only a week. Okay. But Jodie was still fucking, he was being fake. He was just getting me up there to get back at me, because he thought I fucked his girlfriend. Oh. Jodie had this plan, and he told me to because he thought I fucked his girlfriend. He was going to go through and he fucked Mike. I know. According to Mike, when Jodie invited him and Kylie to come visit, Jodie fully intended to sleep

with Kylie. And he eventually did just that. He made me a drink and that's the last thing I remember. He made me, cause we all drink Crown and Coke, but then we changed to Crown and 7up. He gave me a drink and I drank it and for like fucking a whole day, I was out. When I woke up from that, I fucking, Kylie was like, I don't know, she was super high and just fucking acting weird as fuck. Well, anyway, he fucked my girlfriend.

And I was in love with Kylie. And I was like, fucking dude, you figure you got me, then that's fine. We're good, we're done. Mike claimed that Jody spiked his drink and while Mike was passed out, Jody and Kylie slept together. When Mike came to, he suspected that they had sex and he was pretty pissed off about it but he didn't say anything or make any accusations. Why rock the boat? I guess. From there, Jodie only made things worse by taunting Mike. Jodie supposedly wore a t-shirt that read

relax it's just sex. Needless to say, Mike wasn't having the best time at Jody's. So he and Kylie packed up their belongings and headed back to Wyoming. Kylie, I fucking think, either she realized that she'd been suckered or whatever, or she's part of it and she fucking felt bad or something. But it was just an awkward thing thing so we went back home. Despite what happened in Montana,

the relationship between Jodie and Mike seemed to weather the storm. After a short period of no contact, Jodie and Mike reconnected and their bond seemingly remained intact. I suppose this is the first ignored red flag, or at least one of them.

If a friend sleeps with your girlfriend and you say nothing about it and just pretend like nothing happened, yeah, I'm sure everything's gonna be fine. Just fine. But for Mike, he just couldn't discount the friendship they'd built as children. I mean, you make a lot of poor decisions as children, but I guess he just didn't want to come to terms with that. Again, Mike claimed that they were like brothers. We fought and argued like brothers and said things like brothers, but never physical or never nothing like that. And Mom even knows that. and said things like brothers, but never physical or never nothing like that. And mom even knows that.

And Jody's mom and Jody's family pretty much took care of me when my family was fucked up. Right. In September of the following year, it was Jody's turn to do the traveling. And Mike invited Jody to Wyoming. Mike told Jody that in addition to visiting Mike also had a three-day contracting job for Jody that would pay well. So Jody packed up his

work year and made the seven-hour drive from Helena, Montana to Gillette, Wyoming. When Jody arrived he and Mike quickly linked up with Philip and Shelby. Jody showed up, we started drinking. So all of us went out, we started drinking there, and then we went out to the bar. So you say all of us was you? Me, Philip, Jodie, Mike. That night, Philip, Jodie, Mike, and Shelby went to their local casino,

the Sundance Lounge, where they continued to drink and party. We went down to the Sundance, we shot a continued to drink and party. After a few games of pool and a lot more drinks, this foursome went to Shelby's house where they continued to drink even more. Things got pretty rowdy among the guys as the testosterone started to flare along with the drama. weird like Jody knew I thought he'd fucking be ordinated in Montana okay." According to Mike, the interactions between him and Jody became awkward as the topic of Mike's girlfriend came up. Meanwhile, Shelby and Phillip started arguing about all the money they just spent at the casino. So he picked a fight with me like he has before and um still been drinking and we're still fighting.

He left and Jodie followed him and then went straight up to Mike's. I'm guessing. What makes you think that? Well because I was spying on him thereafter and um like that's what the Tahoe and Jody's car was. Okay, so you drove by there? Uh-huh. Mike, Philip, and Jody left Shelby's house and headed towards Mike's mobile home. At least that's what Shelby assumed and tried to confirm when she drove to Mike's trailer park

later that night. Shelby claimed that she saw Jodie's car park near Mike's mobile home. So she knew that Philip and Jodie must be there and decided to just go home. For detectives, that seemed kind of weird. I mean, why go there just to turn around and go home? The cops couldn't just take Shelby's word for it because this was the last night that anyone saw Jodie and Philip. In fact, both men had been missing for over a month, and in all likelihood this was probably the last night that Jodie and Philip were alive. Despite the efforts by police and the interviews they conducted, the

question of what happened to Philip and Jody remained unanswered for quite a while. But in mid-October of 2016, something happened that revealed their fate. The Gillette Police Department received a report of a strange black pickup truck that was parked on the road on the northern edge of their city. When an officer arrived on scene to investigate, he noticed an overwhelming smell coming from the truck. The smell was unmistakable. It was rotting flesh. It was rotting flesh. The officer hoped that this truck belonged to a hunter and he was only going to find a rotting deer carcass in the bed of the pickup. But the officer wasn't so lucky.

Instead he found Philip Brewer and Jodie Fortuna. But he didn't find all of them. He only found... a few chopped up pieces. In early September 2016, 38-year-old Jody Fortuna and his childhood friend, 33-year-old Philip Brewer, were reported missing by their respective family members. According to Philip's girlfriend, Shelby Warren, she last saw Philip and Jodie at her home in Gillette, Wyoming. When questioned by police, Shelby explained that she'd been drinking pretty heavily with Philip, Jodie, and their mutual friend, Mike Montano.

That night, the collective intoxication led to Philip and Shelby getting into an argument, and Philip ended up leaving Shelby's house, as did Jodie and Mike. Shelby assumed that they all went to Mike's mobile home, and her assumption was pretty much confirmed when she decided to drive to Mike's trailer park later that night. As she did this, she saw Jody's car parked nearby and went home. Or so she claimed. When police questioned Mike about this, he confirmed that Philip and Jody had gone back to his home that night, but from there he couldn't recall much of what had happened. Everyone was

really drunk and Mike claimed that when he got home he just passed out. So what happens at your house? You guys getting into a big fight? No, no we didn't fight at all. Straight up black the fuck out. Mike also claimed that when he woke up the next morning, Philip and Jodie were both gone, and he didn't know where they went. As for Shelby, she told police that the last time she spoke to Philip was at her house. But this wasn't the last known contact that Philip had with someone. In the early morning hours of the next day, Philip apparently called a friend and explained

to them that he and Shelby were fighting. The main reason for the call was that Philip was looking for a place to stay. My girlfriend, Crystal, has told me since then that Philip called her at 530 and asked her if she was in Casper if she could come stay with her. Told me that me and her were fighting and that was the last she heard of him. As far as everyone knew, this was the last time that anyone heard from Philip. But it may not have been the last sighting of him or Jodie. A few days later, Shelby drove to Mike's

trailer park with a friend and they supposedly saw two men on or near Mike's porch. Though neither Shelby nor his friend could be sure that these men were Philip and Jodie. When we drive by there, we can see from the road and we seen two I guess they're guys running out of Mike's house like I remember one jumping in off the stairs you know what I mean not taking this jumping off and I want to say they didn't have shirts on either okay and we thought it was Phillip and Jogie. Why do you think that? I just assumed that. Like I can't see that far anyway and And Benny said, oh, there they are. So they look really good?

No, Benny doesn't know for sure either. And I'm like, well, I don't want to talk a fight with Phillips or not going there. So we just kept driving. Up to this point, Shelby's story was mostly consistent with Mike's. But after Philip and Jodie disappeared, their respective versions of events started to conflict. Mike told police that after he woke up from their night of drinking, Philip and Jodie were just gone and he had no idea where they went. But according to Shelby, Mike knew a lot more than he was telling.

I don't know how many days it had been until Mike came to talk to me again and I believe he came to the house, my house to talk to me because I wanted to know what was going on. Where's Philip? He can't get hold of him. I think so, yeah. Something like that. When he tells me that Philip and Jodie took some guns of his to go sell them.

So he gave them some guns, they went to go sell them, and he hasn't heard from them since. Shelby accepted the explanation that Mike gave her, but after a few more days went by, Mike flipped the script on Shelby and started accusing her of knowing where Philip and Jodie were. Mike keeps coming around thinking that making me, he accuses me of knowing, talking to him, knowing where they are. You know, I'm like, Mike, I seriously haven't talked to him. I don't know what's going on.

He thinks that he's making me think that they burned him and are off doing something. Right. What do you see? Like Mike, nothing abnormal. After Jodie and Philip went missing, they were all like, oh, my God, they're going to be okay. and are off doing something. Alright. How do you see? Like Mike, nothing abnormal. Okay. After Jodie and Philip went missing, like, I started getting scared.

Because Shelby and this video, they just started fucking saying like, I felt like they knew what happened and shit like that, you know what I mean? Like video? Yeah. On September 17th, 2016, Philip and Jodie had been missing for just over a week. And it was around this time that Shelby started to become very concerned. Mainly because the 17th was her birthday. And she knew that despite any arguments she and Philip were having, Philip would never

let this day pass without at least giving her a call. So my birthday was September 17th. So that day came and I know Philip again and then I kind of knew that's when it kind of starts to really hit me too that there's something else wrong. There's something and then Jodie's mom gets a hold of me. She's worried about it. She contacts me and I don't have no information for her. And it gets quiet again. You know, I don't really hear from Mike for a while.

More days passed and no sign or contact with Phillip or Jodie. Their respective family members started to worry and eventually missing persons reports were filed for both men. Though Jodie's mom wasn't satisfied with leaving the investigation solely in the hands of police, so she decided to drive from Montana to Gillette. Her plan was to question both Shelby and Mike. Jody's mom comes down here, and because I told her too that I think Mike knows more than what he's telling us, and that she needed to look at Mike. She spends a day here,

goes out to Mike, he won't answer the door for her. So I meet up with her and take her to Old Chicago, and we corner Kylie. Then all of a sudden Mike answers the phone, and he says he'll meet with Jodie's mom. In an attempt to reach Mike, Shelby and Jodie's mom found and briefly questioned Mike's girlfriend, Kylie Collins. As they were doing this, Mike suddenly became available to meet with Jodi's mom. Though, when Jodi's mom finally met with him, Mike convinced her that he knew nothing about her son's whereabouts and that she should be directing her questions and

accusations at Shelby. She calls me to tell me that she's leaving. She's talked to Mike. He doesn't know anything. She's like, you were the last one to see them, you know, kind of made me feel like I was suspect, but I knew that Mike has that kind of effect on people, especially he was like a son to her. What do you think of it? I think that Philip was already drinking and on one when they got out to Mike's because they were fighting.

I think that I know Mike's always had a gun. What kind of gun? A handgun. I think that Philip was probably drunk and on one and they either got into an altercation that way. If there was an altercation between Philip and Mike, I think Jodie was probably drunk and on one and they either got into an altercation that way. If there was an altercation between Philip and Mike, I think Jodie would have tried to break it up and got caught in the middle. By October 5th, Jodie and Philip had been missing for over a month, and Shelby had supposedly assumed the worst. She suspected that Mike had killed both of them and that he may have been plotting this double murder for some time.

I think Mike lured Jodie down here and told him he had a job for him and when he got here there was no job. Shelby claimed to have suspicions about Mike and in turn, Mike had plenty of suspicions about Shelby. Bear with me here because this is where the story starts to get a little outlandish. Yes, I said starts. Mike believed that Shelby was a drug dealer and that Philip and Jodie were working with her. He suspected that all three of them were involved in some sort of elaborate smuggling operation. And whatever business they were doing together, they weren't letting Mike in on it And the way they were being, it was like they were leading up to something. And I can't say that Chavie's a drug dealer, because she will not talk about that.

But anytime I ever fucking needed something or wanted something, she had it. She's such a fucking dominating weird bitch. Like she has to know everything going on. It's creepy, but Laura told me that fucking... Chavie's a sociopath and that this is what this bitch is like. By October 9th, 2016, Jodie and Phillip had been missing for almost 40 days, but it was on this day that they were finally found. At least, some pieces of them were. The local police in Gillette received a report of a pickup truck that was parked on the northern edge of the city. The

truck reportedly smelled like rotting flesh and when officers arrived on the scene, they confirmed that the information they received was accurate. There was indeed a very stinky pickup truck parked on the side of the road. When officers opened the bed of the pickup truck, they found two plastic totes. And inside those totes? Well what do you think? Yeah, several dismembered body parts. This was the moment that the fate of Philip Brewer and Jodie Fortuna was revealed.

Both men were dead and had been chopped into pieces. Tragically, this information did not stay within the walls of the Gillette Police Department for long. The news of the gruesome discovery quickly leaked to the families of Philip and Jodie, and they learned about their loved ones' death and the state of their bodies through social media and various news outlets. What followed was years of hardship for the families as they struggled with the reality that their loved ones' bodies had been mutilated. Many of you have read and heard about a double homicide in Gillette, Wyoming, which was first reported in early October 2016.

My younger brother, Phillip Brewer, and his childhood friend, Jody Fortuna, were brutally murdered. The victims' bodies were not recovered until October 8th and 9th. These bodies of these two men were mutilated and stored in plastic totes and the back of a pickup truck for over four weeks. While the families of these men were frantically searching for any information on their disappearances. Once I got through the initial shock of my brother's murder, everything started to set in. The fact that my brother's body was mutilated so badly I never got to see him one last time took a huge toll on me and the rest of my family. The nature of these crimes stripped our families of any of those choices and given my baby

brother the proper burial we felt he deserved. After the body parts were discovered, they were quickly transported to a medical examiner. Once there, the cause of death was determined. Unsurprisingly, this missing persons case became a double homicide investigation. Obviously, they're both dead and they're still being tended to kill. The person's case became a double homicide investigation. Both men had been shot to death before their bodies were dismembered. Strangely, when the medical examiners attempted to piece together the bodies, they realized they were missing several pieces.

This of course begged the question, where was the rest of them? At the same time, the homicide investigators were also trying to piece together the story of how this all happened. And in order to do that, they interviewed several people. One of those people was Mike Montano's girlfriend, 22-year-old Kylie Collins. You grew up in July, right? How long have you and Mike been together? Almost a year. Our year is October 13th. So you guys have lived, when did you guys move in together? Probably November, but we've jumped around places we've lived at, lived with friends.

When did you meet Jodie? Probably sometime last year. I've only met Jodie like a handful of times because he doesn't live here. Do you remember the last time you saw him? Um, I don't. I really don't. It's been a while. Did he ever like stay at your house with you guys? He, I think he only came like once and that's since we've only had this trailer for this ago, we've been going on a third month like whenever Jodie would like come or hang out I wasn't around you know.

It's usually they're having a bro time you know. Right, that time. No, no time for me you know. Mike and Kylie lived together in a small trailer in Gillette and according to Kylie she didn't know Jodie very well or see much of him. Because when Jodie was around, it meant that Kylie shouldn't be. As for Philip, Kylie claimed that she knew even less about him. And you said you met Philip a couple times? I've only met him once. Where was that?

Um, I don't remember. I think it was at Mike's old place. So I don't know that much about Philip. I really don't. Philip, I don't remember. I think it was at Mike's old place. So I don't know that much about Philip. I really don't. Philip I don't know anything about.

If you're getting the vibe that Kylie was trying to distance herself from Jodie and Philip as much as possible, you're not alone. The detectives clearly felt the same way and they quickly transitioned into another line of questioning about a very particular pickup truck. Was it weird that you saw Mike's truck over there? Kind of, but... How come?

Because I don't know, this is weird. Because I haven't been able to talk to him. Did you notice anything unusual about the truck? No. Did you ever see him putting stuff in the pickup? Or wonder what was in the back of that pickup? I never wondered. I mean, I'm not going to go and question everything he does, you know?

I think that'd be weird. Alright. Did you ever walk by the pickup and think this pickup stinks? No, I remember it because when he parked the pickup, he parked it back. The reason that the cops were questioning Kylie and Mike's truck was because the truck that contained Philip and Jodie's body parts belonged to Mike Montano. Given that fact, the obvious assumption was that Mike murdered both men and dismembered their corpses. And given the other fact that Mike and Kylie lived together, the detectives

clearly believed that Kylie knew a lot more than she was telling. I have not seen Mike since what Thursday at two. I have not seen him. I mean, was there something more going on that he mentioned to you? No, we just get in big fights. Well, sometimes we get in big fights and we just kind of, you know what I mean, go our separate ways for a few days or maybe a day or two and then we can't stand not talking to each other and we talk. Not only had Kylie tried to distance herself from the murder victims, but she also tried to distance herself from her live-in boyfriend.

She claimed that even though they were dating and lived together, Kylie would frequently go days without seeing or hearing from Mike at all. Despite these, well, blatant lies. I mean, let's just call it what it is, the detectives were able to get Kylie to admit that Mike did have a mean streak and that he was a jealous man. Especially when it came to other men and Kylie. You ever seen him get really pissed at somebody?

Besides you. Yeah. Who? I've seen him get mad at Tim before, but not like horrid, mad. Were you there the other day? When you punched Tim and choked him? No, I didn't hear about that.

Did you hear about that? Yeah, I heard about it. Did she say what happened or why or anything? Because we heard that too. Because I used his phone to call Mike. You used Tim's phone? So you got jealous or something? I guess. He said, who's your real...

Who said who are you on? Whose friend are you or something? Oh, to Tim. Naturally, the police didn't only question Kylie. After the body parts were found and police determined who the pickup truck belonged to, Naturally, the police didn't only question Kylie. After the body parts were found and police determined who the pickup truck belonged to, Mike Montano was promptly arrested and brought into the interrogation room. We both know why we're here today, right? Okay.

In the bed of your truck is a man's torso. Looks like two bullet wounds right here. I don't have nobody in my name, so I want to help you guys get some shit cleared up with these other fuckers before you know. is a male's torso. It looks like two bullet wounds. Right here. I don't have nobody in my name's. I wanna help you guys get some shit cleared up with these other fuckers before, you know? Okay. Things are getting bigger and bad,

or if I can help, I will. Well, let's do that today. Okay. Mike was primed and ready to start pointing fingers, but there was one major issue. The body parts were found in his truck. It's kind of hard to blame someone else for a double murder when you're driving around with dismembered pieces of the victims. As to be expected and as to often the situation,

when Mike was questioned his first concern wasn't Phillips or Jody's families or the heartache and trauma they were enduring at the time. Mike's first concern was his own future. Five years for double homicide? What is this guy smoking? I need some of that. Given what the police found and where they found it, it was pretty clear that Mike had murdered Jodie and Philip. But when Mike was questioned about this, he told quite a story. And that story implicated not one, but two people. And Kylie Collins. In mid-October of 2016, 37-year-old Mike Montano was arrested after several dismembered

body parts were found in the bed of his pickup truck. The body parts belonged to 38-year-old Jody Fortuna and 33-year-old Philip Brewer, both of whom had been reported missing just over a month before this gruesome discovery was made. For police, there was little doubt that Mike had killed both men, but they still had plenty of questions. Like, how did they die and why did Mike do this? Also, when medical examiners tried to put Philip and Jodie back together, they found that several body parts were missing. So, where was Mike hiding the rest of them? In an attempt to get answers to these questions, Mike Montana was taken to an interview room and interrogated.

I know this isn't easy. I mean there's a body found in your truck and I think you want to get it off your chest. What went down? And where it went down? And how it went down? I don't know. I'm not blue-shaded. I don't think I fucking did it. You don't think. I'm not those shit in here, dude. I know this guy, I don't think I fucking did it. Okay? You don't think you killed him?

No, I really, really don't. But... And we'll figure that out, okay? In listening to Mike's interrogation, it's obvious that he was a very desperate man looking for any way to deny responsibility for the body parts that the police had found in his truck. One way he tried to do this was to point the police toward a potential suspect. Throughout Mike's interrogation, he continuously talked about Philip's girlfriend Shelby Warren and claimed that Shelby was an evil, manipulative sociopath who could have orchestrated the

killings of Philip and Jodie. We're around what? Around me. Oh, okay. So they started tracking me basically. Like, fucking literally tracking me. Philip would tell me about, a hint about like, which you can follow people that normally hadn't. Who would? Philip. Philip? Yeah.

I experienced what them three, while we were still gonna hang out. Them three, Shelby, Jodie, and Philip? Yeah. Like what? Um, the things they knew and the things they were capable of, things that I thought were just bullshit, like tracking me. Like what? Um, the things they knew and the things they were capable of. Things that I thought were just bullshit like tracking me. According to Mike, he suspected that Shelby had been spying on him and tracking his movements for months. Why she would do such a thing, Mike wasn't sure. But he believed that Philip and Jodie knew all about what Shelby was up to.

Despite his suspicions, Mike maintained his relationships with them because he didn't want to feel lonely. Oh, what a sad guy. I saw signs, you know, but I never fucking put it together. Yeah, because I'm tired of being by myself, you know. It's hard to go through life without another... Eventually, I just start to fucking lower his standards, and you're gonna be shooting him back.

Mike claimed that his friends were about to enact some sort of unknown plot against him. Never mind, I don't want whatever these people are smoking. It makes you too paranoid, apparently. Mike was obviously very paranoid. He didn't know what the hell the plot was, but he knew there was one and he suspected that his girlfriend Kylie may have been in on it as well. Basically, Mike's story was that in order for him to end up where he was, namely having the body parts of two dead men in his truck, did I mention that? Yeah. He had been manipulated into that position because he would never have done this on his own of course. Okay, okay, solid argument. Got it, got it. Other people clearly have been pulling the strings, and the only other people capable of pulling those strings were the people closest to him.

This included his girlfriend, Kylie. Speaking of Kylie, after Mike was arrested, Kylie was quickly put on notice that it was time to come clean about what she knew. So you know Mike's in some serious trouble, right? That's what I'm, it's all a seemingly room, but I don't get what serious trouble. I don't get it. Oh, he's charged with first-degree murder Yes That's why we're here today. What's first degree? I don't know the differences between you killed somebody on purpose And there's two guys missing right? Yeah, you know, it's Philip and Jodie So do you know anything about that?

I don't. Do you know anything about Philip? I don't. I don't. Today's the day if you know something to tell us. Okay. Okay, because we've been talking to you and we're going to talk to a lot of people. Okay.

So if you know anything, however small you think it may be, you need to tell us." Kylie maintained that she knew nothing. If Mike had killed Philip and Jodie, she was completely unaware of it. Mike, however, had already told these same detectives that Kylie knew everything. According to Mike, after a night of drinking with Jodie and Philip, Mike blacked out. The next morning he awoke to Kylie asking him what he had done. The reason why I woke up that morning was because Kylie came over to check on me. I didn't know her, okay?

She woke me up. Out of the trailer? Yep. Okay. What'd she say? She just asked me what happened and I was like, what do you mean what happened? She went to the bathroom. Before she woke me up, she went straight to the bathroom.

And they were in there in the bathtub. Who's that? The whole injury. Whole bodies? Both of them in the tub? How are they in the tub? Pissed the pot pot on top of each other. Serious swear to God, no problem.

No lies, no nothing. There was no blood anywhere in my fucking trailer. Nothing, dude. Okay. What happened though? Like I told you, I got fucked. I got fucked. I got fucked. I got fucked. I got fucked. I got fucked. Supposedly, Kylie was the first person to discover the dead bodies, piled in hers and Mike's bathtub.

When Kylie was confronted with this accusation, she didn't handle it very well. And what did you see? This is the time. This is your chance. You understand why we have to know. I said why we need to know. You understand why we have to know. If you already know what I have to say. I said why we need to know. You understand why we need to know. I know, I know. I don't get this. I'm getting it. But no, I don't get what you guys are doing. I don't get it. We're asking you what you saw.

I don't. I don't. Because Mike's already telling people and we don't. I don't. What do you mean he's already telling me? What do you mean? What did he tell? What are you talking about? I don't know. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I don't feel like you're feeling better. please don't, don't. You know what? Talking to us is a difference between seeing something and being involved in something.

Do you get what I'm saying? The detectives spelled it out for Kylie. She could either be a cooperating witness or an accessory to a double homicide. What would you pick? So you want to tell us about her or you don't want to talk to us anymore? I don't want to talk to her.

I have a lawyer or something. Okay, a lawyer or something? I don't know. I don't think I need one. or something. Okay. A lawyer or something? I don't know. I don't think I need one. I just... So are you saying that... I feel like I'm being trapped. I feel like you guys aren't going to be honest with me and you guys are going to say whatever

and twist whatever you want to make me say something. Well, we're telling you what we know so far. But how do I know that you know that? Because I know that. I'm not trying to sound stupid. Because you know that we know it because you know it happened. You know we know it because it's true. Because of what you saw, we found some of that yesterday. We've seen it too and it's horrible. I mean, we understand why you're

upset by having seen that, but it's bad. For the most part, the detectives approached Kylie with kid gloves. But that didn't sway her. Kylie opted to deny involvement, at least for now. Meanwhile, Mike continued to try and cast doubt on the likelihood that he killed Jodie and Philip. I was fucking thinking of what to do, debating on what to do, right thing to do, wrong thing to do, and then Kylie was getting freaked out, you know, and she was telling me, hurry up and do something or whatever. Mike claimed that he didn't know how Jodie and Phillip's dead bodies ended up in his bathtub. But after he became aware that they were there, Kylie pressured him into doing something about it. Fucking women, am I right?

They're always just yapping away, just nagging about everything. Just, they always want a clean bathroom, no dead bodies, bad, bad, bad, bad. Beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep. And then what'd you do? You want me to go into detail, dude? I do.

I think I cut one of them in half. With what? This stupid little tiny fucking saw. are electric saw handsaw all right so you got one and a half then what you put in the intel said i had that hard down right there two of the toes were jody's i think and then what'd you do with the other one did the same thing i cut the other one up too did you saw their heads off? Yeah.

And their arms? Yep. Okay. And you left their legs intact? Or did you saw their legs off too? No, I think I cut one in half and it wouldn't fit or something like that. So that's why I had to cut the arms off the other one and then I just went the same way.

And the head? Yeah. And then Kylie came later and cleaned it again and stuff like that. So only to appease his girlfriend, and ladies, you know how much we do for you, Mike used a small handsaw to dismember Philip and Mike's so-called best friend and brother, Jody.

According to the medical examiner, this had to be a very brutal and messy affair, not to mention outright disgusting. Based on the state of the body parts, there was obvious aggression behind what Mike had done, especially when it came to Philip. Everybody does. And I'm fucking telling you the truth. Well, he's just, the reason I ask is because

he was cut up quite different than Jodie. Mike admitted to chopping up the bodies. That element of the crime was clear. But there was still a big question that needed to be answered. The police only found some of Jody and Philip in the back of Mike's truck, so where were the other body parts? They should all be in the truck. There's two bodies in those two totes? There should be. Okay. All their parts are in there?

Yeah. That's why I'm asking, because I don't think two... I don't know, maybe they're in there, but I don't know if two bodies can fit in those two totes. You tell me. My storage unit. After some pushback and a few lies, Mike admitted that some of Jodie and Philip were inside a storage unit that he and Kylie shared. In fact, this storage unit is where Mike had been keeping the body parts before moving

some of them into his truck. So I cut them up, put them in the totes, put them in the car, the totes, and everyone went to the car. Yeah, I put the totes in my car and went and put them in the storage and locked it up. And from that, from there, we just leave them there. And then like, we drive and we fucking check on it like every day. Yeah.

For nearly 40 days, the body parts of Jodie Fortuna and Philip Brewer rotted in a storage unit. During this time, Mike and Kylie made frequent trips to check on them and make sure that they weren't discovered. Unsurprisingly after only a day or so things started to get pretty stinky. I would smell that smell everywhere I would go. I still smell that smell. I still smell that smell. I never smell anything like that before. It does not ever go away. I can smell it when I'm eating something. I don't want to eat. I just want this to be over.

To cover up the smell, Mike poured baking soda on the body parts and Kylie gave him a few bug bombs to keep the flies away. Still, they both knew that these were only temporary solutions and that they were both going to have to dispose of the evidence somehow. Kylie went and stole the bug bomb for me and got me that stuff too. And um, it progressed from there and then it kept getting, I mean, she said that we needed to get rid of the bodies, right? Mike and Kylie agreed that they wanted to dump the body parts out of state.

So they packed up Mike's truck with some of the body parts and drove to South Dakota. Why they didn't take all of the body parts remains unclear. After arriving in South Dakota, Mike struggled to find a suitable and well-hidden place, so he gave up, turned around, and went home. After returning from South Dakota, Mike parked his truck on the side of the road near his mobile home and just left it there for days. Eventually someone noticed the smell and alerted police. She was with me driving around in your truck. Yeah.

You guys both loaded in that day or whatever. Okay. I know, I came back and I parked my truck. And I just kept my truck parked. Everything Mike had done was blatantly cruel and horrific, yet he maintained that his actions weren't his fault. If Mike had done anything wrong, it was because the people around him manipulated him into doing it. personal responsibility in this day and age. I'm not a fucking evil, wicked person.

I'm really, really not. For like two days, dude. Two days. I didn't fucking do nothing to them. They just sat in there. Oh, well, that makes it better. As long as you wait two days, it's fine to chop up some murder victims in your bathtub. Anywho, again, Mike admitted to dismembering

Philip and Jodie, but he maintained that he wasn't capable of killing them. When asked who might have done it, Mike was quick to offer up a theory. According to Mike, Shelby Warren had a known and provable history of spiking Mike's drink with drugs and causing him to black out. People sure do like to do that to this guy, don't they? Mike suggested that Shelby planned and arranged the murders with the help of an unknown friend. According to Mike, Shelby must have drugged Mike's drink, waited for him to pass out, and then murdered Philip and Jodie. Then she cleaned up the crime scene and put the dead bodies in Mike's bathtub.

Totally makes sense. And how or why would they put him in your bathtub? To make me a little guilty. What was your thoughts of why you ended up going to Cut-Em-Up instead of saying, you know, if you don't think you did this, why didn't you call for help or do something else besides Cut-Em-Up? Because I'm a felon and to me it just looks like, you know, there's no way. I've never gotten away with anything. Mike's theory about how Philip and Jodie ended up dead in his bathtub was obviously ridiculous.

And cops knew that. They're not all dumb. But that didn't necessarily mean that Shelby was off the hook. If you remember from her earlier police interview, Shelby claimed that she drove by Mike's trailer after seeing Philip for the last time. She claimed that when she saw Jodie's car parked outside, she just left and went home, but the cops weren't entirely sure

she was being honest about that. In fact, when Shelby was questioned and before the details of the murder were released to the public, Shelby seemed to have a pretty solid theory about how everything happened. It's possible that during her police interview, she accidentally let something slip. He was going to shoot him as well. What do you mean as well? I just say as well because he shot Phil from Zoni. How do you know that? I guess I don't know for sure. I'm only assuming.

Okay. How come you're assuming that? Because they're dead and Mike, that's just my... I think he did it. So you're here today, you're telling me the truth because we're talking to a lot of people. So if you know more or you somehow know more things they were into, then today's the day to know that. Yeah, I don't know if they were into more things. That's how I remember it. Detectives didn't suspect that Shelby committed the murders, but they did wonder if she witnessed

it happen. At a minimum, they clearly believed that Shelby knew a lot more than she was telling, but if that was the case, they could never prove it. In fact, when it came to the details of the murders, police weren't able to prove much at all because, frankly, they didn't have much to work with. All they had was Kylie's refusal to cooperate Shelby's denials and Mike's insane accusations. So the police were never able to say with certainty when the murders happened or where. The prominent theory among investigators is that Mike shot and killed Philip first, and

that he made Jodie watch him commit that murder. Then he turned the gun on Jodie. They also believe that Kylie didn't witness this happen, but that she did discover the bodies and helped Mike clean up the mess. Kylie knew, dude. And Kylie... Right. Kylie didn't witness this happen, but that she did discover the bodies and helped Mike clean up the mess. Kylie knew, dude, okay?

And Kylie led the whole mission to chop it up and get away with it. The way she handled this was just, it gets me goose bumps just thinking about how she got through. She had nothing, whatsoever. Like, fucking it was nothing to her. Like, she's nothing to her. Like she's seen it before. You know what I mean?

And I'm not trying to- That's why I asked Kylie, Kylie, if she had no reaction. And she had none whatsoever. And she heard you, she pretty much told me what to do, dude. Cut him up. The way I think about Kylie right now,

I don't fucking, I don't think I have her new Kylie. I didn't want to do this. I didn't want to do this. I didn't want to do this. I did this because fucking I've Kylie told me I could or should and fucking that we'd be together happy forever after and that's what I needed to do and that's what I did. I would never have done it if Kylie wouldn't have fucking said you know I mean I would never have chopped him up is what I've done it if Kylie wouldn't have said let's be together and let's work through this together. Yeah. As for the dismemberment Mike admitted to doing that but I would never have chopped him up when I had done it. If Hailey Winnes said it's been good, then it was worth doing this to her.

Yeah. As for the dismemberment, Mike admitted to doing that, but he directed the blame at Kylie. He claimed that he never would have chopped up the bodies had it not been for her encouragement. And we all know that ladies love to encourage men to do things, and men are happy to do them. Most of the time. Obviously, even if that were the case, it wasn't going to mitigate Mike's responsibility. But it did mean that Kylie was culpable, and she didn't do herself any favors by continuously

lying to the police. So do you guys have a storage unit together or anything like that where you keep extra stuff? Mm-mm. Do you know if Mike has a storage unit anywhere? I don't know, doctor. I don't know. Maybe. I don't know. He wouldn't tell you if he did? I don't know. You guys have been together a year?

I know. We have been together a year, yeah. Kylie lied about just about everything, and cops could prove it. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. done as it often is. She'd already broken the law by lying and hindering the investigation of a double homicide. I want to give you a minute to think about it, okay? No, I don't get it. What don't you get? What part is confusing you? I don't think you're confused. You're not dumb. You're a smart girl. You know

exactly what's going on. So you saw what Mike was doing, right? In that bathtub? And you know who those people were, right? And what you saw happening was found on that truck yesterday when we searched it, okay? And we know you know what happened. So you can be a witness and or a suspect. Because I know, assuming you're not the mastermind, it wasn't your plan to kill people or to chop them up and put cover up the murders, and she agreed to testify against Mike if his case ever went to trial. In exchange, Kylie did not face any accessory charges, but she did face charges for misleading

police. Ultimately, Kylie never had to testify because Mike didn't take his case to trial. Montano's earlier pled no contest to killing 33- old Philip Brewer and 37 year old Jody Fontuna dismembering their bodies in an attempt to dispose of them before he was sentenced. Montano apologized to Fortuna's mother. District Judge Michael Deegan sentenced Michael Montano on Wednesday to 60 years to life in prison. Montano's former girlfriend, 24 year old Kaylee Collins, was also sentenced Tuesday to two years in jail for interfering with the police investigation after the men were reported missing.

After Mike and Kaylee were sent off to prison, the Brewer and Fortuna families had no choice but to pick up the pieces of their lives and move on. In an effort to do something good in her brother's name, Phillip's sister set out to have some of Wyoming's laws changed. for the first effecting. When we looked up these penalties for corpse mutilation, we were shocked that Wyoming only carries after three years. Three years technically means that a person charged with this crime could ultimately receive probation. I knew deep down that I had to do something. I walked into the house one day and told my husband that I was going to change the Wyoming state statute on corpse mutilation.

For the sake of her brother, Phillip's sister lobbied to change the penalties for corpse mutilation in Wyoming. And after several years of fighting for that change, she was successful. Because of her efforts, anyone who dissects or mutilates a dead human body in Wyoming now faces a possible five-year prison sentence. A much more fitting sentence, I may say, for such a horrendous crime. I finally was able to give back, to do repeatedly referred to Jody as his brother. He claimed that their bond meant so much to him that they were practically siblings. When you compare those claims to the way that Phillip's sister speaks out about her brother

and the things that she did to honor his life, Mike's claims about brotherhood sure do come across pretty hollow. Mike shot and killed his so-called brother. Then he mutilated and dismembered the body. A clear motive was never established in this case, but more than likely Mike was driven by some very dark and deep-seated resentment and jealousy. I mean, the fucking lying about Kylie being a prostitute and shit with them, just fucked up shit like taking advantage of me and putting me down and fucking making me a joke to everybody and just fucking stealing from me everything. They took everything from me. Mike was fed up with being the joke among his friends.

He was angry about Jodie's sleeping with Kylie and he hated that Jodie's friendship with Philip carried more mutual respect than his own friendship with Jodie. So in what was probably a drunken and drug-fueled rage, he lashed out and shot both men to death. Then he chopped up their bodies in a lousy attempt to cover up the crime. On top of being a pathetic psychopath who blames everyone else for his own actions, Mike Montano is also pretty dim-witted. Most dim-witted people think that way. They think things belong to them that don't. They think the whole world revolves around them. Something that was clearly lost on this idiot was a pretty basic and common sense understanding

about family. It's one thing to call someone a brother and claim to have some sort of family-like bond with them because you grew up together. It's another thing entirely to actually live up to that claim. When Philip and Jodie went missing, Jodie's mom drove 500 miles from Montana to Wyoming to find her son. That's what family is. She went out there to seek out whoever it was that had last spoken to Jodie and asked them a couple of questions. After the body parts were discovered, Phillip's sister worked her ass off to get the laws in Wyoming changed as a way to honor her brother's life and legacy. Those are the kind of things that family members do for each other. They don't just sit around and talk about it while drinking beer. Those are the kind of

things that people do when they actually give a shit, when they care. What they don't do is allow petty resentment to drive them to commit murder, and they certainly don't mutilate and dismember the people they love. That goes without saying, I hope. Maybe after 60 years in a prison cell, Mike Montano will come to better understand that. But I wouldn't hold my breath. So if you've been listening for a while, why don't you head on over to our store and get something nice for summer? Oh So So Hey Mike, this is Pam Whitaker from Knoxville, Tennessee. I recently had problems with my PLUS membership. It was a glitch on my end, not on your off. But anyway, I contacted customer support, i.e. Gertie, and within 10 minutes, she had me up and running on my Plus membership again.

Like you say, she is the best. Thank you again, Gertie. Ooh, yeah Yeah Ooh, yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah Now Now

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