Sword and Scale - Episode 320

Episode Date: October 4, 2025

When a homeless woman in Anchorage finds a discarded SD card, she hopes it holds music. Instead, she uncovers something far more disturbing - graphic videos documenting the torture and murder of a woman later identified as 30-year-old Kathleen Henry. The footage is so brutal even seasoned detectives struggle to comprehend it. But it’s not just a one-time horror - it’s the calling card of a serial predator hiding in plain sight.Get instant access to all episodes, including premium unreleased episodes, commercial-free at swordandscale.com

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listener discretion is advised. Oh, for fuck's sake. Are you still alive? Yes. It's been like about 20 minutes, so I think it's time we finish this fucking drop, bitch. All right, Beach. Get your popcorn ready,

because we've got some old school soogs, bullshit coming your way. This one's gonna give you a little nostalgia. Episode 320, here we go. So when I started this podcast, I didn't realize I was actually starting a small business. Yikes. There's nothing small about a small business.

You're working all of the time. Thankfully, though, I have a partner with all the tools that I need. to be successful. You may have heard of them. Their name is Shopify. Shopify's point-of-sale system is a unified command center for your retail business. It brings together in-store and online operations across up to a thousand locations. Imagine being able to guarantee that shopping is always convenient. Endless aisle, ship to customer, buy online, pickup, and store. All these things are made simpler to customers so they can shop how they want. And staff have all the tools to close the sale every time. And let's face it, acquiring new customers is expensive. With Shopify

POS, you can keep shoppers coming back with personalized experiences and first-party data that give marketing teams a competitive edge. In fact, it's proven. Based on a report from EY, businesses on Shopify POS see real results, like 22% better total cost of ownership and benefits equivalent to an 8.9% uplift in sales on average, relative to the market set surveyed. So if you have a retail or online business, then I'll tell you what. Shopify is a fantastic partner to have on your side. Get all the big stuff for your small business right with Shopify.

Sign up for your $1 a month trial and start selling today at Shopify.com slash sword and scale. All one word. Just go to Shopify.com slash sword and scale and sign up. You'll thank me later. You will. Shopify.com slash sword and scale. We sure do love to talk about Florida here. It's kind of my thing.

Probably because that's where all the nutbags go to do their nutbaggery. But there's another state in this great union. That's a haven for psychos, weirdos, and street up to generates that are looking for a place to hide in plain sight. And no, I'm not talking about California. Anchorage is Alaska's largest city. But it isn't the sprawling metropolis, the low. lower 48 might expect.

It's a place of contradictions, a city of modern industry and glass towers, yet still haunted by the lawlessness of the frontier. Here, the wilderness isn't just beyond the city limits. It lurks in the streets, in the shadows, in the hearts of those who hunt. Tourists pass through, snapping photos of moose and suburban neighbor. never seeing the harsher reality beneath the postcard perfect cityscape. Anchorage has a problem, a problem that thrives on Spinard's sidewalks, in the shadows of the Midtown Mall, and in the encampments that spread beneath the Glen Highway overpass.

A problem that makes victims of the vulnerable, where survival isn't just about enduring the cold, but also the violence that comes with being unseen. A problem we've talked about here many times. Homelessness. Alaska Native woman has been disappearing, gone, dead. And then next thing you know, you hear him on the news. The crisis is impossible to ignore. In the winter, the cold cold.

kills. In the summer, the streets swell with the unhoused. People searching for shelter, safety, or simply the next moment of peace. This population is preyed upon by people who want to harm them in some way, take any resources they may have. They're very, very vulnerable population. Among them, Alaskan native people are disproportionately represented. Is that what they say? It's a nice Karen-like way to say it when you aren't close to it. It severs them from the land their ancestors thrived on and leaves them to navigate a city that too often turns its back on them. The reasons are many.

Generational trauma, displacement, addiction is a big one, and poverty. But the result is the same, a population visible and invisible at the same time. ignored until something terrible happens and in September 2019 something terrible did indeed happen it started with an SD card it's some really bad pictures

okay so it's got pictures of a homicide yeah okay how do you know that because I looked at it and where did you find it I found it on the ground I thought there was music on it So I put it in my phone, see if it had some music in it. Okay.

There was no music on it. And it was titled. There's a title on it. It says homicide. And it has all these pictures of this lady. And it shows the Marriott Hotel. The responding officer arrived at the medical clinic on Lake Otis Parkway, where he met Valerie Castler. The call came in as a suspicious circumstances report, prompting a quick response from

law enforcement. But the officer remained objective, neither discounting her claim nor fully believing it. You see, the idea that someone would find a random SD card with photographic evidence of a homicide was far-fetched, say the least. More far-fetched than thinking it was real was the idea that whoever took these photos would be careless enough to lose them. There's videos on it, and one of them, he even told her, he went, this is a hotel alive. You couldn't end up making me murder you.

And I was like, holy shit. The officer had seen plenty of hoaxes before. He braced himself for another. But then, the first image loaded. He scrolled through the pictures on the SD card. Each photo was more gruesome than the last. Very quickly, he started to believe every word, Valerie said. This is very disturbing.

Yeah, it is. The officer didn't let it show, but the videos and images on the SD card were some of the most disturbing he'd ever seen. He knew this warranted an investigation in that detectives would want to speak with Valerie. A short time later, she sat down in a small gray room at the Anchorage Police Department, where Detective Lee sat across from her. The tiny woman, wrapped in layers of worn clothing, hinted at long nights in the cold. And how about who would address if I needed to come talk to you? I'm homeless. I live in the woods by Shiloh.

Okay. Her face was lined with exhaustion. She'd spent years navigating a system designed to forget women like her. But today, she was holding something no one could ignore. On the night of September 28th, 2019, Valerie Castler was walking through Anchorage near the Carr's grocery store on 13th Avenue. She often searched the area for discarded items such as broken cell phones and picked up items she thought had a little bit of value. That night, she found a small SD card on the ground. Yeah, that's how cool I found another SD card.

Maybe there's more music on it because I found. found one a couple months ago and had like 325 songs on it. The SD card was not like the last one. There was no music on that card. It shows some really sick shit on there. And it's been freaking me out. Okay.

Because I can't seem to get the pictures out of my head. The images haunted Valerie. Ever since she saw them, she'd been having nightmares. Still, Detective Lee needed her to describe what she saw. Okay, it showed her in the hotel room on the floor and he's beating her up, he's slapping her and Seth and he's talking to her the whole time.

And then on the videos, you don't see no face. He doesn't have no face, but his accent is like Polish, it's foreign. Okay. What's he saying? Some of them would be like, oh, this is, um, Chapter one, like, chapter one, take one. And then there's one where he says something, no, you must want to get murdered tonight

because you're not leaving this hotel because I'm going to murder you. Okay. He's like slapping her and fondling her and, but she's not really seeing anything. She's not making no noises or anything. Instead of music, Valerie was met with something holy, unexpected. As she scrolled through the contents of the card,

she saw a series of images and videos depicting what can only be described as torture and murder. And then the one that I presume that where he killed her is he had to sing around her neck. It looked like a wire or something. And then next thing, you know, he goes like, he crosses them. And then you hear this, and then it's like she wasn't moving or anymore or anything. She said she had the card for two days, but a couple of reasons kept her from coming to the police.

First, she was distrustful of them because of her troubled past. She didn't want to get into trouble just trying to do the right thing. Second, she wasn't even sure if the contents of the SD card were even real. People have been known to act out some crazy sexual fantasies. Because it looks like the tail gates down, and he's got her body in the back of the truck. How come you didn't call us right away when you saw it? I don't know. I'm not judging you're anything.

I'm not, I'm not just a question. It's going to come up. I didn't know if it was real or if, or if, Somebody was, you know, staging something because I've been listening to the news and watching the news, and I didn't hear anything on the news about a woman missing or, you know, or them buying in a body or anything. So I wasn't sure, but the more I thought about it,

and I couldn't go to sleep at night, I was having nightmares. And then I started thinking, well, it could be real, you know, just because if they haven't found a body, does it mean that it didn't really happen because of the day you were too gruesome. Sure. She watched the news and read the papers every chance she got, waiting to see the headline, Body Found.

She hoped she never would. Then she could believe it was all fake. But the longer she sat with those images in her mind, the more she thought they had to be real. You said you could hear the male's voice. Could you ever see any part of his body and just anything? No, no, no face at all. Just his feet.

He saw his feet? What does feet look like? There's one on there where he's got his foot on her throat. And then there's another one where it just, it looks like he's going in the hotel. And the hotel floor is like hardwood floor. And he's got like a pair of blue shoes or slippers or something on. Okay. But his, that's why you hear his voice.

Okay. And he's talking to her. Okay. Just rambling on, you know. And then there's parts in there where, oh, bitch, you get your ass beat because you drank all my alcohol. Bitch, I got to go find another bitch because you're going to be a non-cooperative. But she never moved. In the videos, a man with an unfamiliar accent has seen beating, berating, and torturing a woman in a hotel room.

The woman is completely naked and seemingly unconscious. Her face is swollen. Her lips are bruised and purple. Her left eye is swollen shut, with blood trickling from under the lid. The man calls her names and stands on her neck, all while filming it, seemingly for an audience. Can you describe the female, like her race, what she looks native. Okay. Call her anything she was.

I don't know, it looks like she has kids Why's that? Because she's got the pooch. Valerie didn't know the woman. Not that she could have recognized her with all the swelling anyway. The only leads were a strange accent, an accidental photo of the man's shoes, and a photo of his truck.

All I want to know is when you do guys find out, can you let me know? Yeah, well, yeah, no, I can let you know kind of, I like to know her name if you find out who she is because, you know, she's probably related to somebody out there that I know, you know. The SD card showed everything, the torture, the suffering, the final moments of a woman's life. But it didn't show her name. She wasn't in any of the missing person's reports.

No one was looking for her. The investigation had hit a dead end. Until, the U.S. Marshal recognized her face, battered, swollen, but familiar. He reached out to a corrections officer at Highland Mountain Correctional Facility for confirmation. She had been processed there before. Her name was Kathleen Henry. She was 30 years old, 5'3 with long black hair. Like Valerie, she was.

He'd spent years trapped in a rotation of homeless shelters, streets, and survival. Her family last saw her in August at a shelter. After that, she was seen in Fairview, a rough part of town where Anchorage's homeless gathered. She was struggling, but she was alive. Then she wasn't. On October 2nd, nearly a month after her murder, railroad workers made a grisly discovery. Kathleen's remains were found near Mile 108 of the Seward Highway. Her body was already decomposed, partially taken by the wilderness.

Animals had scattered her remains. Her fingers and toes were missing. Her left foot was gone. A red bag sat nearby, tangled with strands of her long black hair and scalp. Kathleen Henry's life didn't end the day she was murdered. It ended long before that, when the world stopped seeing her. Her death was the inevitable result of a broken system, one that cycles vulnerable women through jails and shelters,

but never offers them a way out. A system where the unhoused commit crimes of survival, shoplifting for food, sleeping in abandoned buildings, resorting to prostitution. Yeah, not sex work. prostitution. Well, predators hunt them in the shadows. She was one of the many lost, forgotten, and disposable in the eyes of society. And the terrifying truth is there are countless others like her. Look around. How many more Kathleen Henrys are out there right now waiting to be found.

So when I started this podcast, I didn't realize I was actually starting a small business. Yikes. There's nothing small about a small business. You're working all of the time. Thankfully, though, I have a partner with all the tools that I need to be successful. You may have heard of them. Their name is Shopify. Shopify's point-of-sale system is a unified command center for your retail business. It brings together in-store and online operations across up to 1,000 locations. Imagine being able to guarantee that shopping is always convenient. Endless aisle, ship to customer, buy online, pick-up, and store. All these things are made simpler to customers so they can shop how they want.

and staff have all the tools to close the sale every time. And let's face it, acquiring new customers is expensive. With Shopify POS, you can keep shoppers coming back with personalized experiences and first-party data that give marketing teams a competitive edge. In fact, it's proven. Based on a report from EY, businesses on Shopify POS see real results, like 22% better total cost of ownership and, benefits equivalent to an 8.9% uplift in sales on average, relative to the market set surveyed.

So if you have a retail or online business, then I'll tell you what. Shopify is a fantastic partner to have on your side. Get all the big stuff for your small business right with Shopify. Sign up for your $1 a month trial and start selling today at Shopify.com slash sword and scale. All one word. just go to shopify.com slash sword and scale and sign up you'll thank me later

you will Shopify.com slash sword and scale The Anchorage The Anchorage Police found themselves in possession of an SD card with evidence of murder. The videos showed the final moments of Kathleen Henry's life, but they didn't show the man behind the camera.

And without a suspect, all the evidence in the world meant nothing. Police knew Kathleen hadn't just disappeared. She had been erased. There is no missing person's report. No family is searching for her. Only the system recognized her because it had seen too many women like her before. Processed, incarcerated, released, and forgotten. And that wasn't unusual.

Indigenous women in Alaska are murdered at rates ten times higher than the national average. When homelessness is added to the equation, the risks multiply. Kathleen's body confirmed what they already needed. Now, they needed to find the man who put her there, and the SD card was about to give them the first clue. When homicide detective David Cordy was assigned to the case, he didn't immediately know why the case seemed so familiar. But after reviewing the videos, he started to recognize the man's method of violence, the

control, the torture, the strangling. Kathleen Henry's murder wasn't random. It wasn't a heat-of-the-moment crime. It was planned, controlled, performed. The footage suggested that the man behind the camera had done this before. A year earlier, Detective Cordy worked on another case where a woman reported that her boyfriend had dark and disturbing sexual fantasies. At first, she was into it. I like rough sex.

If you put your hand on my neck, I like that. I think you can press down a little bit. That's good. He tried to kill me. I'm going to break your nose. You know what I'm saying? He took a little too far a couple days ago. Alicia Youngblood, an Alaskan native,

met this married man at work and before long started seeing him. It was a sexually charged relationship from the start. They shared taboo fantasies and rough sex scenarios. Alicia thought it was innocent role play until he shared a video clip. He told me he killed her two or three days ago. He didn't show me the video until last night. And then the pictures, the pitchers are her breast.

And he's grabbing them so hard. I mean, like really hard that they're coming up and they're, what is that called, patiquing and bane. And he's got him so hard that the blood is plowing. This wasn't the SD card. This was a year before Valerie Castler would make her discovery. He said he was standing over her like this, and he felt like a hunter standing over his kill,

like a lion over a zebra. And he said he just sat there and puffed his chest out, and he just felt so empowered. I keep seeing him over and over doing that to that girl. And I could hear her bodily fluids as he's jamming, you know, And he's slapping down on her legs, and, you know, and she's just so lifeless. That could have been any of our little girls

that he thought it was okay to fist while she's dead. Him showing you this video, is that kind of his, does he get his rocks off that, or then he wants to have sex with you? Yeah, he was playing with me. Okay. And I had to pretend like I liked it. Did he say why he did it?

To release anger, to vent. to get it out of him. He showed her pictures and videos of a woman who looked dead. He wasn't just into rough sex. He claimed he killed her. And he just looked at me and he's like, you know, I kicked her real hard in her pussy trying to break her bones so I could get that whole fist in there. But that bone is tough.

He's like, you would not believe how tough a pubic bone is. He said, I put my foot way up in there. And I was like, oh, yeah? He's like, yeah. He said that when she died, everything released. She pooped or whatever. And her vagina opened up. He said it.

And he, he's, uh, he made his mouth like this. And he grabbed my finger and he said, I was what it felt like. Okay. So wouldn't y'all believe him if you were on the other side of this? So would that lead you to believe that he's inside of her after she passed then? Is that what you're saying? Is that? Yeah, he was with our hands.

He said he didn't put his penis in her. Okay. But a water bottle, his hands. He said he got butter out of the fridge and put him. That helps much of the fingerprints and helps him get his hand in there because he wants to put a fist in there. So he got butter out of the fridge and the water bottle? The water bottle I didn't see. But I did ask him, like, why are your hands so shining?

You know, he's like, that's butter. I got better. As soon as she saw the images, she tensed up. You have to understand just so you can go. I was in love with this man. Suddenly, all her love for this man was replaced with fear. But she couldn't let him know that. So she kept playing along.

As I have to do things to me that prove my loyalty and trust. Does that make sense sexually? like put myself in a position that, you know, made me vulnerable. And he thinks that because I've done that, that I trust him and now he trusts me. And okay, you're about to see these text messages. I want you to remember that I am playing into this. I am not a sick person. I am not enjoying any of what I told him.

She thought they were indulging in taboo fantasies, but as soon as he showed her how far he was willing to go, So, Alicia got scared. But she was on his good side, bonded through the kinky sex. So she kept playing along for her safety. She faked jealousy. She scolded him for being with another woman even if he did kill her. He now had to make it up to her.

Alicia told him he wasn't allowed to do this again unless she was there too. So you are role playing into the park and you would like to be part of this next event? Yeah, I mean, his ultimate fantasy at this point. Okay. Men, I'm telling you. When it comes to sexual drives, and tell you what? This man has, I've never seen anyone, maybe a 14-year-old boy,

but who cannot quit playing with himself. I mean, his every waking moment is about sex. And, you know, I knew he had fetishes. Is he a sadistic? Does he like pain and torture on people, or does he just... Yes. Alicia believed what he showed her was real, and it scared the shit out of her. She played along, but not just for her safety.

She wanted proof, so she could go straight to the cops. Unfortunately, she didn't have copies of the images or the video. All she had were some filthy text conversations that didn't prove anything. I know what I saw was real. It had been better if I saw his face, you know, but I know what I saw is real. And I know that him telling me about it is real. Apparently, there's other clips. I believe you almost 100%.

I never believe everybody 100%. Never. I haven't met a person on a planet. It's 100% truthful all the time. Yeah. But right now, as far as concrete facts and evidence, we have very little. We have your text messages. Yeah.

We need more. Yeah. So if he is lying to me, and this is awful shit, he's going. good, but I don't think he's lying. What next sound is he? He's South African. Okay. Yeah, but he'll have a British accent, heavy, heavy British accent.

Remember I told you he had a really, yeah? Me and him have a great time together. I mean, other than the fact that he's a serial killer, he's a funny guy. We crack each other up all day. Her story was disturbing, but there was no proof of a crime being committed. The images he showed her could have come from anywhere. The internet is, after all, a big, scary place. To Detective Cordy's surprise, she called him the very next day,

claiming her boyfriend showed her where he dumped the body. The site was far from town, hidden in a small clearing in the woods off the main road. When they arrived, there wasn't a body there. Alicia said her boyfriend thought maybe a bear had taken. it since it had been there for a long time. Detective Cordy found this unlikely but followed Alicia as she tried to find the landmarks from the pictures. They searched for a while but didn't see anything or smell any decomposition. If there was a body, it was gone. Or maybe the guy was just making the whole thing up for some

disturbing story fun time. Alicia hoped the murder was just a fantasy but she fear it was real. Detective Cordy needed more evidence, though. He returned to the site with cadaver dogs and checked her boyfriend's phone data. The cadaver dogs found nothing in the phone record showed her boyfriend was not near the site on that day, the day she said he dumped the body. The conversations between Alicia and her boyfriend seemed to be roleplay fantasies. Dark ones, but still just fantasies. No body, no crime. A year later, Detective Cordy doubted that assumption.

Now he had an SD card with photos and videos matching Alicia's account. Her boyfriend, Brian Steven Smith, a South African immigrant, had a thick accent like Valerie described, and drove a black Ford Ranger, just like the one in one of the videos. Detective Cordy looked up Brian Smith's DMV records. The video showed the partial plate number 8-7, which matched Brian's plate number, F-S-L-878. But one thing was bugging him.

If it's any other way you found it, I don't really care. I just, we need to know the truth because this is a... Obviously, you saw what was on that SD card. I found it on the ground. Honest to God, I found it on the ground. We're not worried about anything other than where that card came. Okay? That guy picked me up that night.

Okay. The guy in the videos? Yeah, he picked me up. Okay, can you tell me about that? He picked me up. I was on my way home. It was raining. And he picked me up and he wanted to do a date.

He went to the Chevron, I mean to the Shell Station, and it was in his car on his dash. and I just picked it up. That's how I got it. Valerie hadn't told the truth at first, not just because of the prostitution and theft, but because women like her, homeless and struggling with addiction,

knew how easily they could be ignored or punished instead of helped. Kathleen had disappeared without notice and Valerie was afraid that this might be her fate as well. But with a murderer on the law, loose. The cops didn't care about her past. They just needed to stop him. He's white. He's got short, short hair, and it's like a grayish white. Okay. Okay. What kind of vehicle was he in? It was a truck. It was a black truck. It was a black truck. And like the camper, like how I described the camper. It was a white camper. Valerie's full truth,

confirmed the detective's suspicions. Brian Smith was their guy. Quickly, the police coordinated with the FBI and Homeland Security to track him down. They found him on vacation in Washington, D.C., of all places, with his wife in tow. His scheduled return to Anchorage was on October 8th. A multi-agency operation was set up, and plans were made to simultaneously serve search warrants on Brian's person, house, truck, and workplace. He was arrested as soon as he stepped up to the baggage claim.

At the same time, detectives were in D.C. confronting his wife. As soon as poor Stephanie Bissland stepped out of a local restaurant, she was greeted by local detectives and detectives from Anchorage. She asked for their credentials, as everyone should, by the way, and then agreed to talk. So the things that we would like to talk to you about involve your husband, perhaps. He did just become a citizen. And I think it was, I don't know, it was, I think the Friday before we came down here.

Okay. It was, so, yeah. So he, his truck was broken. into and took his brace with that had all his South African documents. So that's where he's from. Yes, that's where he's from. Did you guys meet

in South Africa? No, playing a game. He met playing a game? Yes. Stephanie met Brian Smith online. He was 23 years younger than her. They played a game called Realm of Empires together and hit it off. He managed

a small hotel in his home country, and his accent gave him somewhat of a die Antwood mystique. Flash forward to the present, they had been married for five years, and Brian had just gotten his U.S. citizenship. Are we talking about? Is that who you're wanting to talk about? Yes. So did you guys ever, do you guys ever have your moments? I think every relationship, right? Every marriage has your moments, right? How are those? How would you describe that? Um, excuse me. He, he tends to clam up. Um, he'll get time and he might leave. And then he'll come back, you know, when he's calmed down. Has he, um, has he ever threatened you or been or made you feel unsafe in any way?

I have figured, um, a couple of times the reason that he left was he was getting so bad that he might. So he left. And then you're talking about it back then he might get me. She revealed that Brian had a bit of a temper, but was never violent with her. He would leave rather than argue. The only thing is, sometimes, he would leave for several days without a word. Do you know if he happened to go up to or go out of town or do something around the first part of September? Can you tell me more?

so there are some concerns that we have that he may or may not be involved with and so I'm just trying to find out we had a fight I don't remember exactly what it was so he was done for four days she answered their questions

slowly realizing the situation was way more serious than they were letting on the questions became more personal and Stephanie felt to sense of fear, as she wondered what this was all about. Can I ask you something really personal? Yes. How's the sex?

None for a long time. Okay. Like, what's a long time? Maybe two years. Okay. And there wasn't a lot anyway. Okay. Is, and why is that?

I think, um, I think he thinks he was hurting me because he's, he's heavy. I don't think anybody told him how to be with a girl. That's for damn sure. Is somebody saying that he did something, sexual? There are reports that he may have hurt some women. Really?

In Anchorage. Did you ever feel like he may have been cheating on you? No, actually. Okay. So your husband. husband right now is being interviewed in Anchorage by police detectives, and he is being arrested for a homicide. No.

I'm a woman. I'm sorry that I had to be the one to tell you this. Was it in my house when I was out? Was it in a bar? Was it on a work website? Was it on the side of the road? I want to know. Stephanie seemed to be entirely in the dark about Brian's extramarital activities.

She sat there stunned at the news. The man she had fallen in love with, helped immigrate to the U.S., married, and had been on vacation with, had been accused of murdering a woman. She couldn't reconcile what they were saying against the man she knew. She was utterly dumbfounded. while the seriousness of the matter sank in for Stephanie Brian was just then sitting down with detectives Brian was an unassuming man of average height

maybe a little shorter and he had short graying hair He had a large nose and a mouth that seemed to be in a perpetual frown His eyes were trusting except when he furled his brow Then there was a sense of the untamed behind his eyes. So like I said, we have some matters

we need to clear up with you and I just wanted to ask you, do you have any idea, any thought in your head about what we might want to talk to you today about? No, my truck was broken into. The thing we need to talk about

is recently some property was brought to APD and I was given that property as a little SD card. I viewed the images and the videos on that SD card. Yeah. And that's obviously

that's how I got to you. That's how I figured out who you are. Okay. And that's what we need to clear up that matter of what's on that SD card. Okay, what's on the card. The card showed a picture of his truck outside the Midtown Marriott. He admitted that it was his truck on the card. He might have used it for something, but he didn't know what they were getting at.

So, detectives asked how often he stayed at the Marriott. A few weeks ago, probably at my mom. month or two, I had a fight with my wife and I went and stayed at, um, I didn't marry it. Okay. So what, about what date do you think that was? I can't remember. Okay. And how many, how many nights did you rent, do you have to, as an employee, do you have to rent the room or how does that work?

Oh yeah, I just rent the room, yeah. Okay, and how many nights did you rent the room for? Um, probably about two nights, yeah. What was your evening like? Well, after a fact with your wife, you usually drink a hell of a lot, so it did involve quite a bit of alcohol, so. Okay. Did you go anywhere? I probably would have driven around a bit, got some food and stuff. Okay. Did you meet up with anybody, talk to anybody?

I probably would have, yeah. Between us, I have been known to sometimes go out and find a companion, you know. Okay. Did you do that? You think that particular night? I probably did. I told you, I viewed everything on the SD card, and I did see your truck on there. Anything else on that SD card that we need to talk about? No. You could show me the card and see, you can show me what's on there if you want to. Okay.

He slid a photo across the table. It was a picture of Kathleen. I just wanted to show you his pictures to see that would help you kind of refresh the girl from that night. No, it's not a Just short, short, short, short Here, okay Then he slid a photo of his truck In front of the hotel

Across the table I mentioned, I told you on there That how I found you It was like we saw your truck, is that? That's my truck That's your truck, okay, okay I recognize the rooms And my gray canopy

Then he slid a photo Of a man's shoes Across the table This was one of the images on there. Part of it's kind of cut down a little bit, but can you tell me what's in that photo? There's somebody's feet. Okay.

Whose feet are those? I don't know. Okay. I'm looking at you. I mean, it looks like the shoes you're wearing right now. Yeah, it does, yeah. Okay. Is it safe to say those are your feet in that picture?

I don't. Okay. I'm not the only person that's got shoes like us. Detectives had seen all kinds of reactions before. anger, denial, fear. But Brian was different. When they showed him the picture, he only shrugged. The detective didn't dwell on his shoes, even though they were obviously the exact same pair he was wearing.

Next, he slid more photos of Kathleen over, but these were from the SD card. So what can you tell me about these photos? This looks like someone that's really been beaten up a bit. Okay. and these are images these are images but there's also videos of this person and another person in the room as well

and that's why we're here to talk to you about you think I hit this goal well like I said there's video there's videos of it there's video of it there's audio of it there's a voice that's I've been talking to you now for almost 30, 40 minutes and I know it was your voice I could hear in the video

then he played the video Face the fucking camera, bitch. Darn, now. Fucking, my hands are tired, you fucker. Fucking hole. Just... I'm being too nice in. Just fucking...

Okay, let's do this. I'm going to do this. What's happening when that's... What's happening is on this video, on these images, the person that's recording it is holding the recorder and is standing basically above this girl and strangling her. Okay. I don't. I'm not denying. I'm not saying you're lying, but I don't remember anything like this.

So what you're saying is definitely you're talking on the recording, on the audio there, that you don't recall that? That sounds a one voice. voice. It's English mixed with the Dutch. Check mate. Brian was polite and presentable. It was hard to

believe he could do what he did. But they had video evidence. He seemed to have no recollection of doing anything like that to anyone. Then he paused, swallowed hard and acknowledged how serious this was.

Look, this sounds very serious. no matter what I'm going to be in deep shit. So, okay, I'll tell you what I remember. The next day at work, I saw something dropping out the back of my truck. And I was like, what the hell? And I opened up and there was somebody there underneath. There was a blue, like a top of the back of my truck. I was thinking for a long time, what the hell?

long time, what the hell? What must I do? And then the one night, I thought, well, I've got to get rid of this. I can't. And I drove out, and I did. I went and doubted it. Detective Lee thanked him for his honesty and chose not to press the whole, I don't remember her excuse. Instead, he asked about Alicia Youngblood. I want to ask you, kind of shift gears a little bit, Alicia Youngblood. Can we talk about her for a little bit? Okay. So why can you tell me about Alicia? Shit.

Don't tell my wife about it, please. Last year, we had a small little affair. So... I've seen the stuff you've chatted about. The stuff you and Alicia talked about, and that's what I want to talk to you about. Okay, Alicia, and I did do some fantasy stuff. I'm usually quite conservative about sex.

and then she'd ask me to slap her, you know, and we'd make her... We actually made up fantasies almost like this, you know. You know, kill somebody here, you know, and rape and all that stuff. I mean, we... You guys would talk about that on the... Yeah, yeah, we fantasize, you know, that's fantasy stuff that. Why are freaks like this never freaky with their own spouses?

That's what they're for. I mean, why even get married if... you're not going to be open and honest about your kinks with the person you allegedly love. Listen to me, trying to rationalize a psychopath's actions. It's no wonder if some of you think I'm a dumbass. He assured Detective Lee that all the talk with Alicia was pure fantasy, which was hard to say considering the images and videos on the SD card. Detectives couldn't look past the striking similarities between Brian's fantasies

and what he actually did. in those videos. Is it possible that, like, on this evening, some of those fantasies were coming out, because, I mean, that's exactly what you did on those videos. That's what she did to this girl, except that she wasn't enjoying it. No, no, no.

And you were talking to her, I mean, that's my voice, but you were talking to her clearly as we're talking right now and pointing out things and laughing and saying things and in my movies, sadly, everybody dies. Bitch, what are my followers going to think of you? People need to know when they're being serial killed. These are things you're saying to her while you're doing that.

Well, I would say that. That's why we're asking. You don't remember this particular one because you've killed so many. You tell her that she's being serial killed. No. Do you need to be investigating you for killing people here, killing people in South Africa? Do we need to...

I mean... No. This thing was Alicia about kidding people. That's just me and you're trying to outdo each other on... But you tell her the same thing. That's what you tell her. Yeah, in the video, you're telling her that

as you're strangling her. As you're stepping your foot onto her throat. As you're punching her in the vagina as hard as you can. And kicking her in the vagina as hard as you can. Poking her in the eye and laughing about it. talking about killing her and die, bitch, and telling her to die and getting mad when she starts gasping for her. You're interfering with my drinking time.

It sounds like something I would say. You did say it? Yeah. Sounds like something I would say. What the fuck? I shouldn't have spoken to Alicia about stupid things like it, you know? But you didn't just speak to her about it. You showed her videos of you punching women in the vagina,

buttering up your fist and shoving it into the vagina, kicking him in the vagina. I mean, she saw these things, and she was, frankly, and you told her to find her whether it was or wasn't. Oh, oh, oh, oh, no, man. And it's exactly the same thing that we're seen in these videos. No. If I was going to have a fantasy going further on, I could have carried on with Alicia, you know?

This is, except a year later. Except Alicia's, you have a history with Alicia. You know how easy it would be to find out who killed Alicia? You'd have a several months relationship. If Alicia was killed. Oh, Jesus. It wouldn't be difficult to pinpoint you for it. But if you pick up somebody in the dark of the night who's an indigent person, homeless person, down by the homeless shelter,

these are the type of people that are perfect for this. Throughout the conversation with Brian, detectives learned that he often cruised the streets near homeless shelters looking for companions. And by often, I mean, a lot. For Brian Smith, Anchorage's homeless shelters were hunting grounds. The same women society ignored, he targeted. Alaskan natives making up a fraction of the city's population were excessively among the unhoused. Living in shelters, deserted buildings,

or braving the brutal winters outside. And Brian knew that no one would come looking for them. So you really, you said maybe three times in a couple years, and now we've already have three in about a month. So are we sure that you... Well, before this girl from this night, there was probably about three times that I picked up a girl. So maybe six.

Yeah, so, sorry, when you and I said three, it was three before, so, yeah, so three, four, five, yeah. Six. Yeah. Motherfucker can count, but not do basic math, apparently. Anything about these particular type of people? Does you have something against native women? I've asked myself the question, is it a racial thing?

And it's no. It's coincidence. They happen to the injured people. They happen to be easy. And they make up 90% of the 99% of the homeless people. What an asshole. Anybody with a haircut like that you know is an asshole. According to the end.

Anchorage Coalition to End Homelessness, in 2024, there were 9,524 homeless people registered in their programs. Of those, 9,500, 47.3% were Alaskan natives. That's a very high number when you consider that Alaskan natives only make up 15.6% of the state's population. That means 5% of all Alaskan natives are homeless, probably due to the white man's delicious alcoholic beverages. The longer they talked to Brian, the more he revealed. He wasn't panicked. He wasn't even defensive. He admitted it was his truck in the pictures and his voice in the videos.

But he still claimed he couldn't remember anything about that night. So did she want to leave that night and you didn't want her to go? I'm serious, I don't remember this girl. I believe everything you're saying. I honestly don't remember anything up until the morning. I opened the back of my truck and here was this person lying there. No one else could have put it there. I must have.

You've got photograph of me putting there there. But I do not remember it. You think everybody's going to understand that? No one's going to believe it. I don't believe it. I'm going to put that happen because we're going to go we have more than

we have evidence show that happened and the evidence was a lot they had Valerie's statement that she got the SD card from him they had the timestamps on the images and videos that matched his stay at the hotel they had the GPS data

putting him at the dump site they had the image of his truck with part of his license plate showing and of course they had had his voice on video. You've convinced me I've done that. You're putting stories in my head that maybe it's a fantasy gone awful.

It's something I didn't remember. I actually don't think it's any of those things. I think you remember. So knowing that this person is this person and this person's dead and you only want to dump her body out on the highway, do you have remorse? I'm not seeing...

Yeah, I don't like to know that I've done that just. I don't like that. Science, and by science, I mean chat GPT, tells us that amnesia is a real phenomenon. I have my doubts. It's especially doubtful when the amnesia is selective, like remembering Kathleen, but not remembering what you did to her. It's pretty convenient that nobody can actually verify this.

Like, we can't put on a headset like Christopher Walken and brainstorm and stuff, inside someone's mind to see what they actually remember or don't. Sorry for the 80s movie reference millennials. But Brian never admitted to killing Kathleen. He only admitted that it must have been him. To the detectives, it was way too convenient to have no memory of the murder. But they had plenty of evidence even if he didn't actually confess. The video told more than who did what.

It showed a man with experience. Have you been involved in any missing persons or any other murders in the state of Alaska? No, I have not. No, it's just this one. This is the only person you've ever killed. Yes. Are you going to take me off to prison? Yes, that's the step at the end of this night.

Okay. After speaking with Brian for over five hours, they were convinced he had more to tell. But they were satisfied they already had him dead to rights. So they left the room and let him stew for a while. When they returned, they had paperwork for him the sign. But he blurted something out. Are you guys in a rush to go home? Are we in a rush?

Yeah. Do you want to talk some more? Um. Some time ago, I thought of a little week. I picked up a very drunk girl. My wife was gone. She was away for the weekend. I had to go home.

And I shot her. For all his denial, all his I can't remember, Remember, he openly admitted that Kathleen wasn't the first. She wasn't the only one. Ain't that weird? Ain't that something. Boy, guess Mike was right again. Give me a second while I pat myself on the back. Ow!

Forgot how old I am. I shouldn't be stretching like that. I'm going to pull something. Anyway, despite Brian's sudden reemergence of memory and his humble brag, y'all haven't seen anything yet when the truth of what this South African scumbag did played out in court even the most hardened jurors weren't prepared for what they were about to see So when I started this podcast, I didn't realize I was actually starting a small business. Yikes. There's nothing small about a small business.

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After detectives confirmed Brian Smith was the owner of the SD card and confronted him with the pictures and videos on it, he claimed to have no memory of it. He admitted to dumping Kathleen Henry's body after finding her in the back of his truck the next morning. but the conversation with Brian revealed that he often sought the companion of Anchorage's homeless begging the question are there more murdered indigenous women out there waiting to be found when they asked Brian he said no

but moments later he suddenly remembered things and he confessed to a different murder he committed years earlier she actually seemed like a nice person And I picked up and said, hey, you want some warm food in a warm place to sleep night. And she was like, yes, sure, she jumped in. But she was really drunk. She was slurrying. And I took her home and she fell asleep on the couch in front of the TV.

And she was smelling. I knew she was a homeless thing. You know, she was just, she was stinking. And I was getting upset and I said to her go take a shower. you know because now there's smell in the house you know she wouldn't do it she said she kept saying no no and I was worried that she's going to vomit now because then I realized that she really had been drinking a lot no excuse but I had also been drinking her I've clearly remember this and again I'm not lying to you

I don't remember I can't visualize this this girl but I went through to the garage and I got my little pistol there. I said to go to go shower, and she wouldn't, she wouldn't, she wouldn't. And I just did it. And I, I, I, well, she was on the couch. Yeah. I just, I just, did, and I just there, they made something I can tell me, honestly, there was no emotion now. I just, you're not listening to me, go shower, you're not listening. He shot her in his own home because she was smelly, and wouldn't take a shower. This chilling confession came out of Brian almost nonchalantly.

So do you remember she was white, black, native? No, she was a native. All those people, they are natives. Remember her name? No, no. Do you remember reading anything about any remains being found? No. And I actually did look.

Okay, yeah. So actually, I did laugh to you guys. Those pictures are showed Alicia they were the real ones. of what of her I did I did have a photo of me

trying to stick my fingers into her so that was a real photo of you doing that to the person you shot was that before or after you shot her

after the photos and videos he shared with Alicia were real she had been right all long Detective Lee

laid out some photos of missing women and Brian immediately picked out his first victim. Her name was Veronica about Chuck. She was 52, and like Valerie and Kathleen battled addiction and homelessness. She was last seen in July of 2018 by her family at a local shelter. Shortly after that, she stopped communicating with them. But unlike Kathleen, Veronica's family reported her missing in early 2019.

Her remains were discovered in April, but never identified. Brian later led police to the site where he dumped her, the same site where he took Alicia to. Brian Smith was arrested for the murder of Kathleen Henry, charged with multiple counts of first-degree murder, second-degree murder, second-degree sexual assault, tampering with evidence, and misconduct involving a corpse. But after he confessed to the murder of another homeless,

Alaskan native, Veronica Aboutchuk, a grand jury indicted him for her murder as well. They added more counts for first-degree murder, second-degree murder, tampering with evidence and misconduct involving a corpse. It all added up to 14 individual charges against Brian. During his arraignment, he pleaded not guilty to all charges, wasting the court's time and the taxpayers' money. In the trial, the defense would argue that the most substantial evidence came from an unreliable source.

They cited that Valerie stole the card and that she had more than enough time for the images and videos to be doctored. Now, I don't know about you, but I'm not willing to believe that a homeless indigenous person in Alaska is an expert at Photoshop. It was a pretty weak argument, to say the least, when the prosecution played the videos for the jury. Warning, and I would take this one seriously. What you're about to hear is Kathleen Henry taking her last breaths at the hands of Brian Smith. She's already very beaten and seemingly unconscious, but the following audio is rough, to say the least.

And you're alive and you die. And you're alive and you die. And you're live and you die. You die. You live. You die. Sadly, in my movies, everyone dies. I get the Oscar bitch.

Only me. I get the Oscar bitch. So that's what it takes. He toys with her, laughing hysterically. He taunts her with a brief release only to strangle her harder. All the while, he talks to the camera as if someone is watching him. As if this shit is going up on YouTube or something. Take 7, Part 5, Subsection C.

The bitch would not fucking go away. It's called, like, we don't like you anymore, so just fuck off. You're resisting me. So here's the throat Here's the hair Here's the string I've got I've got a string going I'm going to pull the string quickly at all

Yeah it's pulled tight and rise Just put your face Fucking forward You fucking stupid god-sucking bitch Jesus fuck Do people have to be taught out These days after fucking 120,000

fucking years of evolution you haven't learned to die yet huh? Fuck, bitch. Jesus, fuck. I don't have fucking time for your shit. You're fucking up my drinking time. I'm fucking...

I've got like fucking half bottle of whiskey still to go through and it's all really like 11 o'clock a night. Fuck, bitch. Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck. It's important to notice that there is no evidence that Brian

uploaded any pictures or videos to the internet. Yet, he still addresses the camera as the audience. He feels that he is performing, but he is getting tired. We're going on for no fucking lies. She's like, fucking half an hour at least now. We're going on half an hour now. Fuck, bitch.

You're taking so long as you the longest ever. You fucking realize I still have to carry you a fucking sore your ass down to my fucking car and go dump you fucking somebody, huh? You just fucked up my entire fucking evening, bitch. If you survive this, I'm going to fuck you up so badly. You're going to need to change your words and, oh, Jesus, now, you want to fucking... People need to cooperate. People need to know when they're fucking been serial killed.

Fuck the shit. bitch and you're like a godbleed on my fucking hand what the fuck huh you want to give me fucking epitadda's fucking D-E-F-N-G and Tanya

what they fucking just fucking die he was the producer director and star of the film he called her names

knelt on her chest and slapped her He strangled her over and over He showcased her injuries to the camera But when he got tired He stood on her neck until she died And when it was over Four my fans out there

Hit the like button Please I don't like the death penalty I don't like the idea of giving the state The power to kill its own citizens But after watching this Performance It's hard to argue against it.

Really hard. Inside the courtroom, the jury watched the 12 videos without blinking. The families of Kathleen Henry and Veronica about Chuck couldn't see the videos, but they could hear them. They sat there silently watching the jury's horrified reactions. For somebody who couldn't stop narrating a murder, Brian was silent throughout the entire trial. Outside the courthouse, a group of people seemed to reflect the inner turmoil of the jury's ghastly expressions. The protest had gathered. Just before Cassandra, we want answers. We want answers!

A deleted photo was recovered from Brian's phone. It showed a third native woman. She appeared passed out on the grass. Either that or She was already dead. He asked me if I could look at another photograph that was actually in Brian Steven Smith's phone and his deleted files. And I said, sure. So I looked through FaceTime and I could see through FaceTime that, yes, it was Cassandra. It took a double look, but yeah.

And I instantly just started crying. The family of Cassandra Boscovsky was convinced it was her. and the fact that her picture was found on Brian's phone made them fear the worst. Unfortunately, Brian was done confessing and once again there was no body. Even if it was Cassandra on Brian's phone, they couldn't prove a crime had been committed. Cassandra was just another missing, homeless, Alaskan native. Later, her family would have her declared legally dead without ever knowing what happened to her. Back inside the courtroom, the family of Kathleen Henry had to learn that although Brian didn't upload his heinous crime to the internet, he did share what he had done to someone.

This is from Smith's phone. I have something to show you, period, something I can't keep for too long. Need to find a secluded spot to meet. And he responds, I was not up, comma. Sounds like you were having a lot of fun. I did have fun, wanted to share. The man Brian was texting, met him after the murder of Kathleen so he could see the body, too. What a couple of sick fucks. He pleaded the fifth, didn't have to testify, and, get this, was never charged. What horseship? I get canceled for a meme, but this assholes walk around society doing just fine? Okay.

As Henry was slowly beaten to death and strangled to death and tortured to death. Mrs. Bouchick didn't actually suffer as much, but she was treated like a thing to be used and cast aside. Both were treated about as horribly as a person can be treated. Killings like this that are publicized affect all of society, and especially women in our society. It's the stuff of nightmares. They strip women of any feelings of safety in their own neighborhoods. That damage continues long after the crimes are solved. It's no surprise Brian was unanimously found guilty of all 14 charges.

He was sentenced to 99 years for each and two counts of first-degree premeditated murder. All the other charges, including the aggravating factor, that he tortured Kathleen, which eliminated any chance of parole, added up to another 28 years. All in all, Brian Steven Smith was sentenced to 226 years in prison to run consecutively. It left the families of Kathleen and Veronica feeling just a little bit better. They're at peace now. That's the most important.

And for me, her sister, Veronica. Ronica's sister and Kathleen's family. It's been too long. And today is life celebration and spiritual celebration. But Brian's wife, Stephanie, was left completely dumbfounded and questioning her own intelligence. Can you blame her? I've never seen anything that dark in him.

when I think about that I think how could I have missed how can you missed something like that you know to add insult to injury two months after his conviction

a federal grand jury charged him with one count of unlawful procurement of naturalization and one count of unlawful procurement of naturalization by an ineligible person you see one of the questions they ask you when applying for

naturalization is, have you ever been involved in a killing sexual assault or have you ever committed or assisted in committing or attempted to commit the crime he were not arrested for? Brian answered, no. If convicted, which is likely, his citizenship will be revoked and he will be deported. And then some dumb bitch with a septum ring and clown hair will protest about it on the streets of Portland and upload it to TikTok. Because that's the fucked up country of morons we live in. America. Land of the Woke, home of the dumb.

Brian Smith is behind bars, but the crisis is far from over. Justice for his victims doesn't fix the real problem. Kathleen Henry and Veronica about Chuck weren't just murdered. They were failed. Failed by a system that allows indigenous women to discipline. peer without a trace, failed by a society that barely notices when the most vulnerable go missing. And if Valerie Castler had never stolen that SD card, would Brian Smith have ever been caught?

Probably not. Well, I can tell you is that there's something wrong with me. I mean, obviously it's a second time. So there's something wrong with me, and that's why I did it. There's no way to come back from that. There's no way... Well, not personally, even. There's, yeah.

I'm not temporary insane. I'm not anything like that. I am saying I know exactly what I'm doing. But, yeah, I've gone too far. And I don't want to go on it. Are you glad that? I'm not glad. You're glad you're not going to be able to hurt anybody else?

Yeah. Somewhere in Anchorage on the streets, in the shelters, in the shadows, another woman is disappearing right now. And no one is paying attention. Brian Smith knew what kind of women wouldn't be missed. He counted on it. He thrived on it. And the system proved him right to.

again and again. Kathleen Henry and Veronica Aboutcheck weren't the first to be forgotten. And unless things change, they won't be the last. Right now is a great time. television, if you've been curious about it. For just 20 bucks, you can binge through all 20 episodes. That's a steal. You can find it at sorenscale.com. Thank you.