Sword and Scale - Episode 311

Episode Date: August 10, 2025

When 16-year-old Britney Ujlaky vanished from Spring Creek, Nevada, those closest to her were desperate for answers. She was last seen getting into a green truck with a cowboy nobody could seem to find. As the search intensified, one detail changed everything—her digital footprint hadn’t disappeared like she thought it would. The truth was there all along, buried in the one place no one expected.

Sword and Scale contains adult themes and violence and is not intended for all audiences. Listener discretion is advised. You've been sitting on this knowledge without saying anything from anybody? Because I've had the entire town of Spring Creek asking me if I've killed Brittany. And you might as well have if you didn't see, Abby. Well, it's another one. You knew it was coming, right? This is Sword and Scale, episode 311,

a show that reveals that the worst monsters are real. Why did I say that so fast? I still have a little time. You wanna hang out or something? This episode was written and produced by Elena Thomas, one of our senior producers here at Tornscale. I keep meaning to give credit, but I keep getting bogged down and forget, because I have to mention how awesome our plus service is. If you haven't checked out the app lately, we've made all sorts of improvements. Check it out.

So, I'm going to Teenagers live in a world of contradictions. They crave independence, but they lack experience. That's why they say so many really stupid things on Instagram and Snapchat. Oh, and that Chinese spying app, TikTok. They trust too easily. Their instincts are still underdeveloped.

It's a stage of life defined by growth, curiosity, and vulnerability. A time when friendships feel unshakable. But they are shakeable. They'll probably end, and most people you talk to you right now as a kid won't be around in a couple years. It's a time when the world feels safe, but somehow danger lurks around every corner. These days, technology is the sun we all seem to orbit around, myself included, and teenagers are uniquely susceptible to both the wonders and the perils technology brings.

Apps like Snapchat promise the allure of privacy, letting users share photos and messages that disappear. It's no secret this technology seems maliciously marketed towards underage users. users? Why would a kid need access to an app with vanishing messages and photos? Think about it. It's a disaster waiting to happen. Your kid buys drugs from someone over Snapchat and overdoses? Well, too bad. Those messages are gone. Your kid agrees to meet up with someone in the middle of the night? Well, you may never find out where they went. Kids tend to view Snapchat as infallible. Unless someone takes a screenshot of what you've sent them, and Snapchat does

notify both users when that happens, teens can sleep easily knowing the photos they've sent are gone forever. But this is how Snapchat used to work. Its new features have opened doors for law enforcement. This hasn't changed how kids interact with the app, though. I mean, we've said it here a million times. Kids are dumb. They don't know any better. It's interesting when something designed to make things disappear ends up the only witness to a heinous crime. Spring Creek, Nevada is a small town in Elko County, near the base of the Ruby Mountains.

It's located in the northeastern quadrant of the state. With the population of just over 15,000, it's a place like so many others we've talked about in past episodes. Everyone knows each other. everyone looks out for each other, blah, blah, blah, all that. To the people of Spring Creek, danger is something that exists in other towns, not theirs. For a 16-year-old high schooler Brittany Yuliki and her family, Spring Creek was home.

Brittany was a bright social teenager who loved working on the ranch, almost as much as she loved hanging out with her friends. Her mom, Alicia, worked as a nurse, often pulling long shifts while her dad, Jim, a local musician, played shows with his band. Though Alicia and Jim were divorced, they stayed connected through their kids, sharing a sense of pride in Brittany's growing independence. But on Sunday, March 8, 2020, the routine predictability of Spring Creek life shattered. The day started like many others. Brittany spent the morning in nearby Elko at her dad's band practice.

a regular event. She was supposed to be spending the night at his place. Brittany was good about checking in with her parents regularly. Jim said, no matter what, Brittany called me every hour. It was a little after 3.30 p.m. when Brittany left band practice. She told her dad that she had caught a ride, and they laughed about how Brittany would end up beating him home. Later on, when Jim got in his truck to head back and called his daughter to let her know he was on his way, Brittany's phone went straight to voicemail. At first, Jim tried to stay calm. Maybe

Brittany's phone battery died, or maybe she was home, napping, or watching TV. But when he arrived and found the house empty, he called her again, and again, and again. By the third time, the unease was hard to ignore. Meanwhile, Alicia was experiencing her own growing panic. By the next morning, Alicia assumed Jim had called the police and made a report himself, but she discovered that he hadn't. He's just very friendly. You want to come and sit down? Sure.

Okay, so is it son or daughter? Daughter? Yeah. Okay. What is daughter's name? Brittany, you want to pick? We get a picture. My name is Brittany.

Okay. She was supposed to be going home yesterday. She was in town with her dad. Okay. And she told her him, I'm going to get her right home with a friend. I'll beat you home. And he says, you better beat me because I'll be there in an hour. And she goes, we're going right home.

Talking about coming here? Do you know? Her dad lives in Southport. We're split up. Okay. And her friend that had her, I talked to him. He dropped her off at the high school down here. At 4 o'clock with some guy.

And I go, what guy? And he goes, I don't know. She just said, my new friend. Tall, white, cowboy-looking guy with a green truck. And now no way can find her. None of her friends. Her phone's not on. Okay.

I don't know where it's. I don't know what you did you. So I have to ask the glaring question. When did you guys become extremely, worried that she was missing, I mean, because we're talking about now quite a long period of time between when she got dropped off with this mail and... I was on it last night. Her dad was supposedly calling, and then I asked this morning, did the cops, did you make the report? And he goes, no. So I've been up all night.

Okay. So you assumed that dad was doing what you're doing now? Okay. There are a million different possibilities in a situation like this. Law enforcement has to get a good picture of what kind of teen they're dealing with, so they can decide whether this is a runaway or whether they're in Amber Alert territory. By the way, they were desperate to find Brittany. Does she go here to Spring Creek High School? She's actually doing homeschool. Okay.

She's got a lot of enemies, and I'm scared. She has a lot of enemies? Why would you say that? She just does. It's basically not in school. Everybody wants the last time she went to a rodeo or sketch up by four. girls. And I just, I'm just worried. You guys weren't in a fight or anything like that recently. There'd be no reason for her to rebel or stay out.

No. I mean, I got lots of problems with her anyway, because she's 17, you know, almost 17. Right. But yesterday, in the last few days, we've been in a really good lull. I talked to her FaceTime for an hour at like 1.30. Everything was just fine. She was just happy, go lucky.

Everything was good. Alicia's mother and grandmother wondered out loud whether there were any security cameras in the parking lot when Brittany was dropped off and got into that green pickup truck. The 18-year-old boy, a close family friend, said that he had left Brittany in the Spring Creek High School lot at her request. And all we know is that it was a green truck. We know nothing else about the individual? No, the boy said it was an ugly green F-150 from the early 2000s.

And they had dropped her off. Rice Dickie is the kid that dropped her off. Rice-Dickie. So that's the last person that we know of that's seen her. I'm going to take this, I'm going to get her entered, and then I'm going to go speak with my supervisor and see what the next course of action is going to be, okay? Okay. The next day, police worked to track down all of Brittany's friends, including the one who had dropped her off at the high school parking lot, 18-year-old Bryce Dickie. Bryce was out of town with his mom for some doctor's appointments, so detectives first spoke with him over the phone.

and later met up with him at the same parking lot that he left Brittany at the day before. Hey, Bryce. How's good? Good. I appreciate meeting here. Yeah, no problem. So can I tell me to run me through it

so I can understand what's going on. So I'm going to stand in the shade over here for you a long. All right, so Sunday, around 11, I started texting, got a few texts from Brittany and just asked me if I wanted to hang out. I said, sure, got ready and stuff. told me she could meet me at Angel Park because she said her dad was doing

band practice and then went to town called her when I got into town on 5th and then picked her up at Angel Park kept driving around

and then we were over in the horse palace section and my dad called me asking if I did come back home and so I told her I needed to go asked her if she wanted me to just drop her back off in Angel Park. park and she said that she wanted to me to drop her off at high school to meet her new

friend and said her dad was going to pick her up later so then came over here pulled in right over there gave her a hug and stuff and then she got out I pulled out and then started hitting that way and the F-150 was over there but I didn't know that was where she was going at that time They were both standing outside the truck, and then I got to the turnout right over there by the middle school, and then the F-150 was in motion. So you said what was the F-150? Yeah, it was the tritons, the ones that are really ugly-looking, have the sidestep on. Like that winter green, dark forest green?

Like a dark forest green. Rice's account matched what Brittany's family had recounted from their conversation with him. He talked about a green truck, an ugly one from the early 2000s, a toolbox, and stickers on the rear window. It looked decently dirty, but just like about as much as that the truck is right there. A typical truck that's... Yeah, typical Spring Creek in the truck. At this time of year, okay. Yeah.

And then had a silver toolbox in the bed. It had stickers on the back window, but I didn't see what any of them were. With such a clear and descriptive lead, this case was about to move very quickly. But no one was less prepared for how everything would pan out than Brittany's mother, Alicia. Brittany was always a very fiery, full of energy, funky little girl. And she was always so full of passion right from the get-go. She knew what I mean? She was just this little ball of fire, light, and just fun, you know?

She was a very good girl. She was born in Colorado Springs, and we lived there for a while. And then we made the move over here to Elko because her dad got hired at the gold mines over here. She would have been eight. So we made the move over here, which was exciting for me at first, because I grew up over here. I went to high school over here. We went to the same, I went to Spring Creek High School. So it was kind of exciting, and I thought, oh, this will be fun.

This is such a safe place, and the opportunities are going to be great over here for us. And we came over here with a lot of high hopes. The activities Elko County had to offer spoke to Brittany. She loved being surrounded by the mountains and the desert. She instantaneously grabbed on to the buckaroo cowboy lifestyle of this place, you know, and that was her lifestyle, that was her friend group, you know, just all a bunch of the kids that like to ride horses and participate in rodeo. And, you know, Brittany was a real deal of cowgirl out on the ranch,

and there was no trophies, there was no judges. but there was, you know what I mean? She was a little bit more, she wasn't an arena cowgirl. It was just put it that way. Brittany had a big personality, but deep down, she was steady and determined. She had plans for her future

and worked hard to make them happen, surprising people with how driven she could be. But public school wasn't easy for her because she had severe dyslexia and some issues with bullying. Brittany's parents decided to pull her out just before her junior year and homeschool her. And she was thriving. She was on track to graduate early. The Navy recruiters had definitely got to her, which I was not winning that argument with her

because she was full steam ready to go. But I'm telling you, she was so strong, you know what I mean? and, like, she would come and do more pull-ups than the recruiter, and he was just like, holy cow, kid, you know. So she was on track. She was going to graduate a year early. She was going to join the Navy, and, you know, she was doing it. Despite the hurdles, Brittany wasn't one to give up.

Staying on track to graduate early while dealing with severe dyslexia is no small feat. I feel like we were handling it really well. We were adapting to the situation. Things were going good, and then that day happened, you know, and just blew everything up. We were a very normal, whatever you want to call normal. We were a very average family, you know what I mean? And then to have something like this come and happen is just unbelievable. Everyone depended on Bryce to recall every detail of that day.

From Alicia's perspective, if Brittany had been abducted and was taken out of state, his description of the man and vehicle could be their only shot at finding her. So I got a little bit of the story as to what your involvement was, but I'm not clear on a lot of things, and I'm just trying to do the best job that I can do, so hopefully you can help us out. Perfect, man, thank you very much. Now, what was kind of the nature of that conversation? What's your relationship with her?

Um, Brittany has been one of my closest friends since probably my 7th or 8th grade year. Oh, because you've known each other for a while. Yeah. Okay. Okay. No, and that was one of the issues we had with the talk previously is, like, we were going over because her name of my phone is little sis, because she's called me a big brother since, like, freshman year. And then he kept asking me, well, if she's your little sis, why didn't you know her better?

because there was questions of that I didn't know the answer to. We won't make you sit through the whole story again, but Bryce recalls picking up Brittany at Angel Park. They drove around for a while, and he details her routes and stops for detectives. He says his dad called, telling him to come home. Brittany was on the phone in the passenger seat before asking Bryce to drop her off at the high school to meet a friend.

She gave him a hug, walked towards the green truck, and Bryce drove away. And right before I got out and looked back over and I just saw her over at the F-150 but with someone, that was it. Could you see any type of clothing or anything on them? Nothing specific that I could.

And was it a white hat, black hat? It didn't look light, so I don't think it was a straw hat, but I mean they do make black straw hats. Sure. by this point Bryce and some of Brittany's other friends had been out searching for one of the officers actually crossed paths with a vehicle of kids as they drove around scouring the town and surrounding desert Bryce was the only one who knew what this guy looked like though the line of sight he had from the gas station across the street gave him a vague picture

of who was now known as the mysterious cowboy in the green truck Was there any conversation when you picked, I'm sure there was conversation, but was there any conversation that kind of sticks out in your mind when you picked her up? Um, I had a ton of conversations.

There was a few because the coach had previously asked me if she said anything about going anywhere besides, she said that she was planning and going to Texas after this summer with her friend. You keep in contact with her pretty regularly

even though she wasn't at school? Or is it just kind of kind of Talk to her a couple times a week. Okay. Now, then the reason I'm asking, man, is did she say anything about anyone that she was having problems with or any people that she was interested in or anything like that? We all knew she was talking to some guy that we think was in New York, but, I mean, she'd be talking to him for a while. Okay. Besides that, and then, like I told everyone else, a lot of people had had problems.

with Brittany, but nothing that we would see with this outcome. Sure. Well, hopefully, yeah, okay. It sounded like Brittany might have been talking to a stranger online, one that she may have actually met up with. Luckily, Spring Creek High School was right in town, and though there were no security cameras on the building itself, there were numerous businesses with a view of the parking lot.

Surely one of them had some helpful footage. Brittany's friends and family tried not to lose hope, but the signs weren't looking good. To make matters worse, her phone had been inactive this entire time. And it's interesting that that's when me and Jim both our alarm bells started going off. And we were starting to, you know, and for Brittany, her phone was never off. She was a little social media junkie, if you will, you know what I mean, it was all about Snapchat selfie. So it just got really, really, really, really.

really scary that her phone, you know, kept going off. And then added into the fact that Dickie had told my son, well, I dropped her off with somebody. You know what I mean? So my brain is going, holy shit, so I grabbed my daughter. You know what I mean? And they are, they trafficked her. They're what something. You know what I mean?

That's the thought that went through my head. And because I was like, I don't, I don't care if she. didn't run away. If putting her as a runaway puts her in the system, fine, she ran away. Just get her in the system. Something is wrong. You know, something is wrong. A parent's intuition is very real. It was just after 5 p.m. on March 8th, the day Brittany disappeared when her phone pinged off a cell phone tower for the last time. Investigators chose to keep this crucial information to themselves, withholding it not just from the public, but even from Brittany's parents. This final ping gave detectives a defined area to search.

Then, on March 11th, two days after Brittany was officially reported missing, they found something. When 16-year-old Brittany Yuleki went missing, Spring Creek, Nevada was suddenly a town full of questions. her parents Alicia and Jim were desperate for answers and as words spread the search for Brittany pulled in nearly everyone in the town she was tough outspoken and more at home on horseback than anywhere else but on March 8th 2020 she wasn't on the ranch she was in town spending the afternoon with a friend Bryce Dickie according to Bryce he dropped her off at Spring Creek High School so she could meet someone, a cowboy in a green Ford F-150.

Pretty generic description, if you ask me. Then again, I live in Texas, so there's that. That was the last time anyone saw her. Three days later, at 150 in the afternoon, two men called 911. They had found what they thought might be a body near Burner Basin, a remote stretch of land between Elko and Spring Creek. human head to me yeah it looks like a chest cavity at the dark that's the i'm pretty sure that's their drag marks there all right well i stopped right here he parked right there where he's at i stopped

and i backed up right there so i don't know if guys do the tire print and all that or if that's all yeah we'll we'll get a statement from you guys here in a second so But first glance doesn't look good. Drag mark right there. Uh-oh. See that? Yeah. That's not it.

Oh, that's a 1092. That's a body. Let's get out. Yep. I can see enough right now. Looks like a girl's hand. Let's back out. Nobody needed autopsy results to know who this was. Brittany's partially clothed body was found lying in the desert sand and brush.

Someone had tried to cover her up with a tarp, but they didn't do a very good job. There was blood evidence and even drag marks leading from the roadway to her final resting place. Police collected a condom wrapper, a used condom, a pair of AirPods, and a lanyard of keys with a name Brittany on it. Just like the information about the phone ping, detectives decided to keep these discoveries to themselves aside from Brittany's family. After all, their interview process was far from over.

But I got a call that on Wednesday, that, you know, I needed to go down for my interview. You know, they were going to dump my phone. you know, it's a full-on forensic interview at this point. Partly too because that's when I got that scam phone call about we've

got your daughter, we've kidnapped her, she's not doing well from the drugs that we used and she's going to die and if you don't send me $2,500 I'm going to feed her to my dogs. What kind of sick person messes with the

mind of a grieving parent like that? I mean, Jesus Christ is the internet toxic. Some of you people need to just be put down. I think it's because I had put the missing poster out on some of these social media groups that I had

that I knew would be more far reaching than the posters I just had here and I'll go because like I said I figured somebody had grabbed her was on the road with her. And somebody got a whole other poster and got my number. Yep. And it was awful because

as these messages are coming in, part of you is telling yourself this is completely illogical you know what I mean this isn't but the other part of you is just panicking going you know so I remember the detective stake and god I want to say FBI agents at my house that night trying to tap into this number or whatever and the next morning when I was in there waiting for my interview to start they started texting again saying I told you you know that whatever I'm and we're going to kill her now and I'm just panicking in the waiting room and so they said well we're going to take your phone anyway you know they were going to do what they do with the phones

anyway then I went into the interview room and yeah that's when he was just asking tons of questions and then he got up to leave and he'd been gone for way too long and I was I remember sitting there thinking to myself God I do not have time for this police interviewed tactic shit where you're trying to leave me in here to make me nervous dude I need to get out there and find my kid could you hurry this along I remember thinking that and then that's when he came back in and had told me hey you got to talk to you you know what I mean and he told me that they found a body he didn't even say my daughter's body he just said we found a body and that's the last thing I remember to be honest I didn't remember anything

about that until I watched the footage that they had of that because I just I do remember going to the ground and then the next thing I remember I was sitting in the parking lot outside of the sheriff's station on the ground and I just remember just sirens and cop cars just flying past me on both sides and then fire department running up to me and putting me in an ambulance and I was telling them no no no no no i got to go i got to go i got to go find my son and they tapped the blood pressure thing and they says no no honey you're trying to have a stroke on me and they hit something in my arm and i woke up seven hours later when the tarp was removed it was clear that what brittany had gone through was horrendous she was face down in the dirt with her hair splayed around her head in all directions

Her pants and underwear had been pulled to her ankles, and her sweatshirt was pushed above her chest. An autopsy revealed ligature marks around her neck and a fatal stab wound in the center of her neck just above her collarbone. By this point, footage of the high school parking lot was in and had been scrubbed for evidence. And one clip showed a dark-colored truck with a silver toolbox in it. detectives printed out photos of all the vehicles that even loosely fit Bryce's description and line them up in front of them. Then, sitting in the same interview chair that Alicia was interviewed in, Bryce took them back through the whole story once again.

So we're here with Brittany on the 8th. Just talk me through that from the beginning to the end. Okay. Probably around 11 or so, start texting. and she said she was in town for her dad's band practice and then asked upon to hang out. So, got ready, um, running a town around, around 2012, I think. And then when I got on the, right over the Fifth Street Bridge, which turned on the silver and called her, because she wanted to pick her up at Angel Park.

So, and she said she was going to walk down. So I called her, got to Angel Park, picked her up, and then drove around town because we had no idea what we were wanted to do. And then my dad, said some of asking if I'd come home. So I asked her if she wanted me to drop her back off at Angel Park or take her back to her dad at band practice. And then she got on her phone for a minute or so. And then just asked if I could drop her off at the high school. and then pulled into the high school and that's when I actually drove right past that

iPhone 50 to realize that's where I was dropping her off with. Bryce had not mentioned this part before. So pulled in front of high school, I gave her a hug, dropped her off, and then I was already pulling back off, and then she was welcome back over to the Fon 50. And then right about here is when we look back in her. the room mirror and you saw Brittany standing over here and he said he was outside too?

Yeah. Okay. And this is about where the truck was. Yeah. Exactly. And what time did you say this was about that you dropped out? Um, I think it was, like 4.30, I think. I literally just looked in my room mirror when I got up there and I just saw him.

and breaking outside the truck. Okay. So when you saw both of them stand next to the truck, did you see the truck too, or? Yeah, I could, I could see the truck, but also my mirrors on my Chevy are pretty worn, so it's not the best of views. Okay.

If I recall, you said something about your dad had called or something? He texted me. Okay, so he texted you it, and that was, to go back home or something? Yeah. Okay. So what happened after that? I just went straight back home and then that's why the timeline after that for me, like,

because when I went in to help OPD, because they called me in there to, I questioned me. After I left the high school, I think I got my phone probably once in the next first. I was just at my dad's for about. Dad's for about an hour and a half, I think, and then went over to my mom's house. So my parents just split. Even though everyone else had been through the same rigorous interview process, being asked to retell his story so many times made Bryce feel like he was in the hot seat. In a Snapchat message thread with a mutual friend of his and Brittany's,

he shared his fears. Remember, at this point, nobody but her family knew that Britney's body had been found. I just got interrogated. For what? The Britney shit. What they ask you? Literally everything. Like every goddamn inch of that day.

Damn, you're not in trouble, though, are you? Not right now. But he was really digging like I did something to her. It was a legit interrogation. Had me freaked out. Dude, you and her are like dumb and dumber. There's no way you would ever hurt her. Yeah, he saw her.

that her name in my phone was little sis, and he kept questioning me about it. And it seemed like he was making it sound like I wasn't close to her, and that it was suspicious. Did you have an alibi for after you got home? Sort of, but I don't even remember what time I got home. I wasn't on my phone at all. Do you think she would run away? Honestly, no, but I don't know. I'm at a loss right now. We all kind of are. Nothing seems to make sense at all. My mom's friend is as a sheriff and she's asked him if he thinks that when she gets found if she'll be found alive and he said yes i believe very much so well that's relieving yeah i don't think she's dead somewhere either someone's holding her somewhere or she really just up and left i'm sure she'll turn up

it'll just take time i sure hope so he probably came into the picture where i can really remember it probably about eighth ninth grade he had been in my house multiple times And I remember my first impression, which I don't think now, but as I used to just think, oh, look at what a shy little kid he is, because he'd just kind of look at his feet. He'd never really look up, you know. That's not so different with some of these little cowboy kids, those, you know, a little shy cowboy guy kicking his boots looking down, you know, and that's kind of what I thought it was. He always had her home when she was supposed to be home. like there was a weird pattern of trust I guess because so many times he would be he would make sure that she was home exactly when they said they were going to be home and you know what I mean so there was a there was a trust there was not a boy crazy girl in any way shape or form she just didn't have time for that yet I'm not saying that wouldn't have come but again there was nothing special about Dickie she was just a sweet soul and she would do things for people that Like, he couldn't even be in the main building at school.

He had to be in the trailers because, you know what I mean? He couldn't get to school. He was having all these troubles. So he was all on his own, isolated out in these trailers to go to school. And Brittany would feel bad about it. And she'd be like, oh, man, mom, can you get me a blue Gatorade and a pizza so I could take it to him so that he can have a good day? You know what I mean?

But that was just Britney. Behind the scenes, while keeping Brittany's death, the findings of the surveillance footage, and other key pieces of evidence secret, police were also using Snapchat, of all things, to paint a picture of Brittany's final moments. Geolocation data showed both Brittany and Bryce at the Burner Basin spot,

a location off of Boyd-Kennedy Road at around 4.30 p.m. Bryce had not mentioned this trip during any of his interviews. Soon enough, the discovery of Britney's body was publicized, and her friends and family sat with the reality that she was gone forever. I can't believe this. I don't know what to think or say or do. I'm so sorry, Bryce. I just found out. I love you. If you need anything, text me. I'm so sorry this happened. I have a lot of regrets that I can't take back and that's on me. But I hope you guys don't blame me. If so, then you have the right to. But thank you.

Thank you for being here for me. It means the world. Bryce, we definitely do not blame you one bit. None of this is your fault, none of it. The only one who is at fault is who ever did this to her. We love you too, bud. Keep your head up. We're here for you no matter what.

If you need anything, you know how to get a hold of us. Stay strong, they'll find who did this. Yeah, I'm not letting my girl go anywhere alone. I'm having her friend at work, walk her to her truck at night because I trust him. On Facebook, where the cattle run free, Bryce posted this. Yesterday, we all received news that made us hit the floor. At around 8 in the morning, we all started meeting up at my house to grieve and mourn Brittany's life, which was taken far too soon.

That day, I had tears of pain and joy. I wish she could have seen the amount of us that came together to honor you, sis. we love you so much just know you won't ever be forgotten me and Jim had actually we took the dress and the boots down to the funeral home

that she was going to be cremated in and we had just dropped him off and we were driving home and Nick called me and he said Alicia there will be an arrest within the next three hours he goes

whatever time it was right and he goes can you meet me at the station in, you know, such and such time. And still didn't tell me anything. Still did not tell me anything. I had no idea he had been arrested until I got down there to the station that day. I had no idea that he had arrested him. No one did. Not yet, anyway.

She was mourning, trying to hold on to what little she had left of her daughter. But as they drove toward the point. police station, drawing closer to that cramped interview room, Bryce Dickey was losing his grip. Every lie he told was turning against him, suffocating him. He tried to hold the story together, but much like the rest of his life, it was already starting to fall apart. 18-year-old. Mickey had spent days weaving a story, a good one, too. He lied effortlessly, which is amazing on those interviews,

convincing Brittany's friends and family that he was just as desperate to find her as they were. But behind closed doors, detectives weren't buying it, and they had this feeling since the very beginning. Snapchat Geolocation Data had placed him near Burner Basin, the place where Brittany's body was found at the time he claimed he had already dropped her off with a cowboy in a green truck. Surveillance footage contradicted his timeline and one by one, his lies collapsed. After hours in the interrogation room, his explanations were no longer cutting it. He wasn't dealing with the Elko PD anymore either. He had entered into the big leagues and

Now, Bryce Dickey had nowhere to run. If you could say something that did me, what would you say? Easy. I love you. Maybe the first thing I was saying. Or about the second. No, I'm sorry. Because I kind of blame myself for this. You know?

What would you blame myself? I mean, I know that I didn't know what was going to happen. I hate me on the last one that I didn't. I'm sorry before you. She's dead. No, just out of curiosity and be honest when I'll tell your girlfriend. Had you ever been... I got that question in the last two times.

Brittany and I have never been intimate in any way. I mean, like, a lot of people get the wrong intentions because, I mean, with all my friends, but calling females, my female friends love and stuff like that, but that's just kind of The way I was raised, in a sense, the grammar-wise, but Brittany and I have never had a relationship or have been intimate in any way. That's why my girlfriend was comfortable with her is because she never flirted with me or anything like that.

Did you know that want to beep? No, not. Never? No, I never had that warrant or urge or anything. I literally saw Brittany as my little sister. Then they confronted Bryce with the discrepancies between his statements and what surveillance footage revealed. An image is worth a thousand words and possibly a conviction or two.

He had repeatedly told investigators that he picked Brittany up at Angel Park at 1.30 p.m., but the cameras told a different story, showing her getting into his truck two hours later at around 3.30 p.m. Not only that, but surveillance footage showed that Bryce's truck, with Brittany still inside, never stopped at the high school parking lot where he claimed she got out and got into that green F-150. Instead, the truck drove right past the school and continued down Boyd-Kennedy Road.

What was at the end of that road, you might wonder? Well, Burner Basin. What if I told you we had surveillance footage that appeared the truck kept going out before the Kennedy Road. I don't know. Are you going to Boyd Kennedy Road? You do. Okay. Well, and here's the thing, you've been sitting here talking, I just want to clear this up, okay?

And I just want to kind of clear everything up and get your explanation for this, okay? Because you seem like a decent guy. We've been sitting here chatting and stuff like that, okay? And I just want to kind of help you through this so that way we can kind of explain this stuff. Okay. So with these, you can kind of see, from my perspective, when I'm looking at this, what that looks like, right? Yeah. Yeah, I can see.

Okay. Okay. I can't know, I got startled off to the third cop I talked to the one that called me down to the high school, because I called me a letter about three times and kept asking me if I talked to the one that called me down to the high school, because I called me a letter about three times and kept asking me. Kept asking me if I killed Brittany. So they asked you if you killed Brittany? I definitely did. And it honestly stuttled the shit out of me. I don't want to, I know I'm, I mean, I only been 18 for a little bit now, but I know I'm 18 now, so even changing a little bit on a story isn't a big thing.

Well, it is where it is, okay? That's why I'm trying to sort through it. So when he talked to me, and I went down Boyd a little bit, but not far, and then I took the first left off of the Boyd Kennedy, which goes straight back to the right to the bottom of the trailer section, and then went back to the high school, but it had been a big. that kind of knew at the same time which i'm missing it it worried me because i didn't want i i lied because i was scared of people thinking you're just going to which a lot of that's understand what's the last person to see their lie yeah which honestly scares me but i see that there's issues with me i'm telling you to be 100% honest they need to let everything out. Bryce looks uncomfortable at this point. He's picking at his fingernails and looking down at his feet. If we couldn't see that he's sitting inside of an interrogation room, you'd almost think he's

one of those shy cowboy types. I kind of have like a said little thing loops that I do when I get more driver in Spring Creek. So, and that's one of the ones that I do a lot. And about being so close to being unemployed and being since people were saying that's where she went missing I kind of not scared um I have one other concern okay okay and like you said I'm just trying to figure out what's going on and I just want to ask okay you located some items or an item okay do you have any idea what that item might be? No.

Okay. What if I told you that it had both yours and Brittany's DNA on it? What would that be? No. Now is the time to be the truthful. I'm being 100% certain. I don't know what you're referring to. And you tell me before that you and Brittany had never been intimate in a sexual way.

No. Okay. What if I said I had evidence? It shows that that might not be accurate either. either. I'm not lying. I've never kissed. I've never had sex with Brittany.

Besides hugging and that, I've never had sex or any intimate relationship with Britney. Okay. Have you ever watched TV and seen DNA comparisons? No, no. I mean, I've watched your porn shows, but I haven't really paid attention to it. So you gave a DNA sample, right? Yes. Okay.

We found a condom, and we found Britney. And we have Britney's DNA, we have your DNA, and we have a condom. That can't be. It is. I've never had sex with Britney, I swear. I've never had sex with Britney. Okay. So then explain to me how-

I don't know. I'm freaking out right now because I've never had sex with Britney. Okay. So explain to me how a con- how a condom has your DNA on the inside or DNA on the outside. There could be no other explanation for something like that. I'm going to say the evil that he is. I think he thought about it for a while.

I think that's why they got him on premeditated too, because I think that I absolutely think he thought about it. I had heard some weird stories about his journals. I never continued to ask or push for them. But, um, now I think he's a sick, sick son of a bitch, and I think he sat and probably thought about it and fantasized about it a lot. You want to hear one of these sick puppies' poems? Of course you do, because you're also a sick puppy, and that's probably why you're here.

This lovely passage is called the sick truth. Okay? So, you ready? Here we go. I'm laying in the dark of night. My mind is fighting, turning my thoughts into a game, like Russian roulette, slowly pulling its triggers, waiting for the moment. The fight will end. I hate the way I feel tonight.

I open my eyes, yet nothing changes. I hear him, screaming in my dreams, that dream in my head. But, wait, I'm awake. It's me. I am screaming. The gun didn't kill me. It only stirred the pot. Now the demons have awoken.

They will no longer lurk in the dark. They crawl out of my dream and into day. A predator hunting my actions. I turn my cheek to pretend it's not there. He's waiting for me to slip. My weakness feeds the beast. For each step I take is filled with fear. Help me.

Please, I'm begging. I know, you can't hear me screaming. I can't startle the demons. But I'm leaving you a trail of breadcrumbs. You won't see it, though, will you? I'll have to fight this day, by my own persistence. My silence is not a phase. It's me hiding.

Thank you for teaching me what it's like to feel. To have nights, screaming like I'm dying, learning how to put a mask over my drained body. Without you, I wouldn't know pain. But while everyone's moving on, I still hold my sights, on the back of your skull, slowly squeezing the trigger, waiting for the moment the pain will unfold. They will not understand why I pulled it. I was not an action of easy consequence. In the end, your breath was far too much to take.

I hope it was worth it. Because now we shall both be on our sentence to hell. And some of you call me, edgy. The closest thing that we could compare him to is Dahmer. He's that sick. He's that twisted. He's necophiliac. He's a control freak.

You know, okay, so maybe he liked girls. But the level of disgusted twistedness is Jeffrey Dahmore level with that kid. I know, you know, I know as her mother. I think backwards in time and when she would see things on TV, she would tell me, I just want you to know that if anybody tries to rape me, they will kill me because they'll never rate me. And he absolutely desecrated her dead body, which blows the defense's theory out of the water. And I think that, I think actually that's what happened because the defense was running with this theory of, well, there was no tearing or there was no, you know, the normal signs of rape and are phenomenal DA, because he is amazing. I think he stood up and he asked one question

And he goes My question is if the person is deceased Would those kind of things happen? She's like, nope, absolutely not So absolutely I will peg him to the world As a necrophiliac Can I ask a question? Do you guys trying to get a confession

I'm trying to figure out How your DNA got on a condom On the inside that has her DNA on the inside I need to figure out what happened our job is to work as hard to prove innocence as it is good. If you didn't do this, what works in the end of the earth to prove that you didn't do this? But that requires 100% honesty on your end,

because the stuff we have indicates that hasn't been there. Bryce ends up telling detectives that Brittany performed oral sex while they were in the truck. And when she was done, she threw the condom out the window. This was another lie, of course When I was at the scene with Brittany I found a condom or one of our people found a condom

that was near what Brittany was at and there was also a condom after that was on the roadway as well and that condom that I told you about was much closer to where Brittany was found and this is not where Brittany was found okay I just told you you, I just want the truth.

I'm telling the truth. That is where I, that's where it happened. What happened? What happened? Or Brittany and I had, I don't know, does that count as sex? It's a sexual acts. So that is where Brittany and my head sex. And then straight after I went straight to the trailer section, and that was, that was it.

Okay. And did you ever have any sort of intercourse? sort of intercourse or otherwise anywhere else with Brittany? Just the blowjob that was, besides, like two, maybe three kisses and that was about it, honestly. Okay. There wasn't much. She, it was almost didn't seem real in the sense because she literally just asked if I wanted a blowjob.

It did not quite seem real, almost. almost. That's because it wasn't real. Duh. Her texting her friend actually did happen, and she asked me to drop her off of somebody who I don't know who it was. And he actually met us on void.

And I didn't actually meet the guy or anything. How could you be so stupid? How could you be so stupid? How could you be so stupid? How could you be so stupid? I won't get through this together. So just take this up in the end to make the truth. Okay.

Everything that I've come up, these are mess-ups on the timeline is true. That was the exact same truck that I saw. I honestly couldn't tell you how they got him was that close to Brittany's body. I don't know how that happened, because Brittany was still alive, but that time I dropped her off on the road with whatever the guy was. I just wasn't thinking at all. And I dropped her off and I would just roll off. Nice.

Okay, I want you to look at it from my perspective. Okay. You've told us several different versions. Okay? Is there? Do you really expect me to believe that you met a guy after you guys had had sex? And you just dropped Britney off with him and you don't know who that was. You're a smart guy, I'm a smart guy.

I have met him but I honestly don't know who he is. I need you to be honest with me. okay you just think about it from my perspective when we started out today i just i just want to go truth from you okay and then the story changed the story's changed again the story's changed again even after being called out for changing his story so many times bryce was about to do it again what a fucking idiot he points his guilty finger directly at an innocent kid named Chas Randall. Poor Chas.

Didn't even know we gave it was back in town. It was the Chaz Randall kid is the one I picked her out. I swear it was Chaz Randall because that kid's kind of distinguishable. So you're telling me Chaz Randall met you on the road? I told you. What? And you've known the Chaz Randall, though, Brittany, all this time and you're just waiting? say something? Do you let yourself be the last person to see we're alive? You expect us to

believe that young, I'm like, I was the last person to see you alive. I put myself in that position, and I'm going to sit here for a week and a half letting out look at the thing. I was the last one to see you alive when I know the last person to see alive. You think we're going to believe that? You're smarter than that. I don't know what. I would. I listen, okay. You guys are just just looking for a confession. Yes. No. I'm looking for the fast. What facts don't match up right now? Okay, I think you know. I don't, I'm lost.

Do you think we've been doing nothing for the last week? No, I think you guys are working your asses off. We talk to a ton of people. Your name is kind of a lot. And the conversations they've had with you, that your stories to us don't match. And I don't know how that is. So you're still expecting us to believe that you drop her off and her body and right her sleep up here.

where the kind of encounter were by some strange frequencies. I did not kill Brittany, but I... Imagine being in my position trying to explain this, of all things. And we're trying to figure out how she ended up dead. But I realized she disappeared on the 8th. You've been sitting on this knowledge without saying anything to anybody? Because I've had the entire town of Spring Creek. entire town of Spring Creek asking me if I've killed Brittany.

And you might as well have if you didn't see, I think. Okay. Sorry. I'm sorry. It's right. Yeah. So this is the story that you're going to stick with? Yes, sir. Okay. Go ahead stand up and face that way.

Separate your feet. That was your hands on your back. It was March 19th, 20th. March 19th, 2020, 11 days after Brittany's disappearance and her killer was finally in handcuffs. The people closest to Brittany had trusted Bryce. They'd trusted this kid. He'd been part of their lives, part of their search, and part of their grief. But looking back, perhaps some had felt it that something just wasn't right. Jim tells me that he was, instantly suspicious of him.

I don't know why I wasn't. I just, I guess I just lived in this fantasy world, which is maybe partly why I want to do her story so much is people need to understand that you need to have a little bit a healthy dose of reality and fear, you know what I mean, and maybe questioned people more than I did

because I had, I didn't think he had it in him. Most people were blindsided by the arrest, especially Bryce and Brittany's mutual friends. Bryce couldn't read his Snapchat messages behind bars, but his phone was digging away with an onslaught of verbal attacks. If words are violence, which they're not, by the way,

then this was an outright execution. You are a serious piece of shit. We were all there for you, cried with you, and all you did was play us all like a fucking puppet. it master. All I can say is don't ever dare to show your face in this town again. I think I didn't, I think I didn't know what to say. I think I probably sat quiet for that whole night because I just couldn't, I just couldn't fathom what I had just been told. You know what I mean? Because first off, you should have seen that little girl throw a hay bell. And I don't

know if you've picked up a haybell, but them things suck heavy. and she could throw him you know what i mean like he probably truly had to think about how he was going to come at her so that he could get the upper hand because this little girl was no weak little girl and dicky was a geek that he'd get his ass kicked by anybody i still don't understand his body type is unathletic and doughy and weak i still don't understand the only thing I could think of is it was she was taken by such surprise and I guarantee he came from behind. You know, because she had his DNA under all 10 of her fingernails. As you know that? All 10 of her fingernails had his DNA under them. So she fought. But he managed to keep out like,

sometimes I wish that we could go back and make him take his shirt off in those first couple interviews with, you know what I mean? Because I would love to have seen where she got him because she got him. You know what I mean? and she got him. Bryce Dickey was booked and charged with first-degree murder and sexual assault with a deadly weapon. There was no bail set. Bryce, who was almost certainly cooking up another story to explain away Britney's death, pleaded not guilty.

No surprise there. Why would you take accountability, you fucking psychopath? At trial, Bryce's mother, Cynthia, was served with a subpoena to testify against her. son. She shared that Bryce had been seeing a counselor for bipolar disorder and depressive tendencies, but he wasn't on medication. It's hard to feel sympathy for the killer's parents, but, I mean, what else could you do? You're seeking treatment for your son, you're doing all the right things, and sometimes that's just not enough. Bryce's ex-girlfriend also testified that he choked her during sex without consent on multiple occasions.

So there were clues, but they were scattered and probably kept private. Though it was probably uncomfortable for Bryce to sit through his former loved ones making a case against his character, no one was more unhappy about having to endure a trial than Britney's parents. Jim and Alicia sat in the courtroom every day, forced to watch Bryce's parents fan the flames of romance as prosecutors showed photos of their daughter's bloodied corpse. The murder of my daughter brought those two back together. It was quite disgusting to watch.

They had been divorced. And then when we were going through the trial, those two disgusting humans sat there loving on each other and cuddling like it was a movie date. I wanted to rip their hair out. I'm not going to lie. Sitting in that courtroom for that trial was probably one of the hardest things I've ever done in my life.

it had been pounded into my head so much don't do anything that could you know what i mean so i didn't but i tell you what i had a friend though that let her have it when the verdict got read you know the bail-up even came after my friend and was like you need to be quiet you know but because yeah you can't you can't say anything you can't have any emotion which is really hard in a trial. Everything had happened and then I have my own questions, you know. I still have my own questions about his mother. I'm not sure that anybody will ever convince me that she didn't help him clean up. I don't think that she knew about it. I don't think anything like that, but you'll never convince me that she didn't help him clean up and get rid of things.

You'll never convince me about it. The jury's verdict was a resounding guilty. Initially, he received 20 years to life in prison with the possibility of parole, but that was before the court tacked on an additional 50 years for the use of deadly weapons. Bryce Dickie had a life sentence that he very much deserves. But what many people forget is the life sentence suffered by the families of the murdered victims. When all the hoopla goes away, you're left with the reality. that your loved one is never coming back. That's been actually a huge journey for me because he did sentence me to a lifetime of rage at anger,

and it is intense. And I remember a couple years ago, I just was looking in the mirror, and I'm like, okay, self, you know? This rage and this anger that you're feeling, we've got to find a more healthy way to do this because your heart is pounding out of your chest. Your adrenaline is busting so much that all you do is shake.

And thank goodness he is not where I can get my hands on him. I'm not like him. And I don't think I guarantee you I wouldn't take his life, but oh, I would beat him silly with a shoe. Okay? No. The rage is really hard to deal with, actually. It's something that I fight daily and it affects,

every aspect of my life. Brittany's key phrase is flowers makes everything better. Go ahead and take the extra five minutes out of your day to be extra nice to somebody because that's what Britney was about. about taking the extra couple minutes that it might take to make people smile and make people feel loved and make people feel safe in a very unsafe world.

So if you're gonna ever be like Britney, take five minutes and be humble, be kind, and make somebody smile because that was Brittany's life. And you would have never found a better advocate for somebody to love people as Brittany and just everybody, just be nice. Emulate Brittany, make people feel safe. And always remember, a healthy dose of distrust is a very good thing. And what does a healthy dose of distrust look like in a situation

where there are no red flags? I've thought about that. And the only thing I can come up with, the only thing that I could come up with is be insistent on more than two. If there's would have been one more person there okay three or more that's the only thing because believe me for the last what almost five years i've gone over that almost daily in my head and the only thing i could think of is really push that issue that groups are where it's at not two people if one more person would have been in the truck that day i'd promise you that wouldn't happen you know so i'd say that's the only thing i've been able to come up with is is never be too Unfortunately, the world sucks, especially for kids.

Nowadays it's sad, but never be so comfortable with somebody that you think you can just take off down a dirt road, which is you and one other person. Always make sure there's three or more. You grow up being told to watch out for strangers to be wary of the dark alley, the unknown number, the unfamiliar car pulling up to the curb. But the truth is, danger doesn't always look like danger. you know that right and trust well trust is a dangerous thing brittney trusted bryce her family trusted bryce and in the end that trust was misplaced she also turned to snapchat she like so many others believed what the app promised that messages locations and memories could vanish with the tap of a button that no one could ever trace where you had been or who you had been with.

But Snapchat doesn't make things disappear, not really. Because when Brittany went missing, the app she relied on to erase her footsteps became the very thing that exposed them. The digital trail, she thought, was gone, was still there, waiting to be found. Kids are dumb. If you don't realize that in 2025, you have no privacy whatsoever. I don't know what to tell you, other than you're dumb too. Sorry, it is what it is.

Nothing really disappears, not in life, not in death, and certainly not in truth. You can obfuscate it all you want. But truth finds a way of revealing itself. Technology changes, laws change, but human nature? The stuff we talk about here? that pretty much stays the same. We trust because we want to believe the good in people. We want to believe that people around us are inherently good.

Makes life easier. In fact, we trust because it's easier than considering the alternative. Nobody wants to live in paranoia. Believe me, it's exhausting. But trust is also a choice. And as Alicia said, a healthy dose of distrust just might be the thing that keeps you safe. You ever finish an episode and feel emotionally exhausted?

No, of course, you know, you don't have a podcast. It's lonely here. Anyway, we say this every week, but I mean it, stay safe. And please, please, please take that extra effort to keep your kids safe. They may seem real independent and real mature and real adult-like, but do not be fooled. It's a very, very scary world out there, and kids just don't know any better. They're dumb. It's not their fault.

They haven't figured it out yet. It's up to you, the parent, to do it for them. All right. See you next week. You know, I'm going to be able to be. You know, I'm going to

I'm