Sword and Scale - Episode 368

Episode Date: September 14, 2026

When 33-year-old Lashaun Keith’s body is discovered in a remote Michigan hay field, detectives have almost nothing to go on. There are no eyewitnesses and no clear suspects. All they find is a single glove. Sixteen months later, that glove points them to three men, each telling a different story about the same deadly night.Get instant access to all episodes, including premium unreleased episodes, commercial-free at swordandscale.com

Sword and scale contains adult themes and violence and is not intended for all audiences. Listener discretion is advised. I'm too drunk to even really ruin. What do I do? Oh my God. This is actually happening right now. Episode 367, episode 267, episode 267, episode 27. Who gives this shit?

Will you quit correcting me? It doesn't really matter. Just listen to the goddamn show. and enjoy it. Or don't. I don't care. Stop telling me things. I don't want to hear it.

I am not having a good week. As you can tell. But that's not your problem. A duck keeps shitting in my pool, if you must know. I can't get rid of it. Anyway, that's not your problem. Let's get to some murder. Shall we?

Michigan State Police Detective Chris Hayward walks into a cluttered interrogation room in the Van Buren office. It's been 16 months since the body in the field was discovered back in November of 2022. He checks the thermostat setting and then starts preparing for his next interview. It's the one he hopes will finally explain how a dead man ended up in that field. Oh, hey. How are you doing?

I have a chair here, sir. You're Mr. O'Shaun. O'Chall. I'm Chris Heyward. Nice to meet. It's my partner, Kyle, I reckon. You guys are probably already having met. Mr. Ochoa was taken into custody for what he assumes as a traffic violation.

But he won't be surprised by what Detective Hayward wants to discuss. He's hoping Ochoa can provide all the answers. Yes, we're open to talk to you about another case. One of our many cases we've got going. It's a case that ties you into it with some DNA. Detective Hayward has to be able to. has been doing this for quite a long time. He's served the state of Michigan for 25 years in his close to retirement.

This case might very well be his last. But his years of experience taught him a gentler approach to interrogation. And I ask which for if you don't mind me, actually? Yep, it's tied into a body that was found in the field up by Geneva. Gotcha. It was November 3rd, 2022, when he had been called to a field in Banburen County, just east of South Haven. A man had called in and said that he found a body

while scouting for hunting locations. The field wasn't easy to access, not by vehicle anyway. The only way into the field was a muddy path cutting through the woods. Based on some of the background that we've done on you, I kind of have my thoughts on, we do too, on our thoughts on maybe how this thing went down. But we still got to put it together,

so yeah, your DNA was found right there at the scene. So do you know which one I'm talking about? Yes, sir. In this field, next to a large pond, was the body of a man. The first thing Detective Hayward noticed was the man's position. His body lay east to west directly between a set of tire tracks. Everything about the scene suggested that the body was dumped in that field. A theory further supported by the lack of shoes on the body.

No one walks into a field in their stockings, especially in November. The man's t-shirt was pulled up under his arms, as if he'd been dragged. His clothes were disheveled and badly worn. It was the kind of wear that looked older than the night he died. Because I ain't a lie. Some, I just touch you're talking about. A friend of mine did bring something. out to me about something like that.

The body was beaten and bruised, but the most noticeable injury was on the leg. His right leg was contorted in an unnatural position. It appeared his femur was broken. Identifying the body wasn't difficult. And one of his socks was his wallet, which contained his license. His name was LaShawn Keith. He was a 33-year-old, 310-pound, 6-foot-1 man. whose only relatives lived in Georgia.

The only clues as to where he came from and who put him there were the light-colored sand covering his body and a single glove found nearby. You know, he said somebody that he knew needed something. Not like no weapon or nothing was just like gloves and all this. And the guy that he was telling me about, he said he do construction, so I'm thinking it's for a job, job. Hayward hadn't mentioned a glove yet, but Ochoa did.

It was a small thing, easy to miss, except it suggested that Ochoa already knew exactly which piece of evidence had brought him into that room. Frankly, we know more than what we're letting on here. I want you to be a little more at the front of it because, like I said, we do it. I'll lay it right out there. Your gloves, your DNA is right there at the scene on those gloves, which you brought up, so you are. already knew about that because then things got dropped and left behind. So you already understand that that, with no other explanation, that looks bad. At first, the whole scene where they found the body confused Detective Hayward.

It seemed like a spot that you would have to know about to find. While forensic texts took impressions of the tire tracks and sent off samples from the gloves, Hayward tried to eliminate his first person of interest. the man who reported the body. His whole story about scouting hunting locations didn't really make sense. It wasn't even hunting season. Hayward interviewed him as well as the people who lived nearby. He took the caller's vehicles and processed them for evidence.

He spent the first few weeks of the investigation looking into this man, but eventually ruled him out. Now he finally had someone he knew was involved in front of him. Hayward continued his delicate approach. He didn't have to bully Ochoa. He only had to let him talk long enough to tell on everyone else. A friend of mine, he told Zach to contact me, so I was a little confused on it, and I talked to him, and he said him and the buddy he is, and I'll be honest, this is his words, he said him and a buddy of his, he is, they fucked up bad

and I'm like what is you talking about he said we fucked up fucked up he told me that him and a guy got into it he said

I think he was a homeless man or something like that and him and his friend that he was with at the time and they had he said

they beat on them but they hit him with a sluts hammer and broke his bones or legs or something like that don't know if that was true but he said they came back the next day for work because it was over by his job site.

He went back to see if the dude was okay, and he was still there, like still laying there. Initially, the DNA profile from the glove didn't match anything in the combined DNA index system, otherwise known as CODIS. But every once in a while, they would run it again. It took six months before it returned to match to Ochoa.

But by then, no one could find him. He said the man was dead already, and he wanted help move in a body or something like that. Another reason he asked me to help him move that

because he had a cast on his hand. I don't know what happened. He said, uh, yeah, my hand broke, but he never told me how it broke. And then, I'm gonna be honest with you. One night he picked me up. And he took me to her, everything he said it happened, happened that.

He showed me what we was moving. We had to walk down a dirt hill, like where they do road work. It was train tracks at the bottom of it. It was a dirt hill. Like the dirt was soft to where your foot sink into it. It took another nine months before detectives finally had Ochoa in an interrogation room. And Detective Hayward was right. He had a lot of answers.

The more Ochoa talked, the more his story lined up with the evidence Hayward had been staring at for months. Lashon Keith was a homeless man. His body was covered in soft dirt. His leg was broken. A sledgehammer was a new detail, but it lined up with the injuries discovered in the autopsy. In addition to a broken femur, Lashon also had several broken ribs. He did have me help to move something. It was super heavy, but it was wrapped up.

I did not know what it was. It was a carpet rack inside of that plastic that I was telling him about. The plastic that's wide, like, it almost looked like it was for furniture. After a certain while, I wanted to know what I was moving. But yeah, that's what was going up to hill. His side starts to unravel more than I was able to see him. Then, I'm going to be honest with you. I've seen something slip out.

It looked like fingers. I believe I saw fingers. There's nowhere around it. I know what a hand looked like. We all got hands. I don't know what color of body changed after so long of being dead, But the dude's skin looked at dark when I seen a finger. And they didn't look like his skin was that color.

I don't think he was supposed to be that color. He was like a purplish, a purplish white. But let me my body go cold. I'm not used to seeing, you know, dead bodies. And I'm going to be honest. I'll do up. I'll do up. What else can I do?

You don't see shit like that every day. when faced with the accusation of murder, Ochoa came clean. He claimed a friend of a friend accidentally killed a homeless man, and he helped move the body. But he was adamant. He wasn't involved in the murder. We went. We was just driving down this trail, just driving and driving and driving. And then he hit a field.

And then off to the left, if I'm not mistaken, it was water. It was like a lake or something or a pond. In my belief, if I'm trying to believe everything you're saying, which I am, which I am, you can do a polygraph test. I believe you. Just hear me out on this one point. Yeah, I believe you help load the body and go out here, but it seems like you're getting hung up on not getting out of the truck and helping.

No, I got the truck. No, I got the truck to help him load it on to the truck. Yeah. But he didn't ask me for help to unload it to off the truck. Did you personally kill this man? No, sir. Did you beat him the wall? No, sir, I don't have anything like that.

He told me they did it with a sledgehammer. Okay. And it was still like his truck. I seen a sledgehammer in the back of his truck. I couldn't sleep. I couldn't, I couldn't eat. It was hard for me to get that image out of my head. Achoa wasn't the end of the story.

He was the beginning. This friend of a friend was someone he knew from school years ago. His name was Zachary Traynor. Have you ever heard of Zach doing anything like this? before? Is he that type of guy? He didn't even seem like the bad type of person. I mean, yeah, you seen little signs of anger issues that he had in school, but it wasn't nothing

to measure to where he seemed like he was going to actually physically do something to somebody. According to Ochoa, trainer had enacted alone. If y'all could talk to the friend, he's going to say the same thing that I'm telling y'all, because he seemed like he was too scared to help that. So who do you think he was out there drunk with? Who was with him?

was one of his coworkers. He was most likely telling the truth, but the story wasn't complete just yet. Now they needed to find Zachary Traynor and identify this coworker. Achoa was the first piece of the puzzle. Now they knew how LaShawn got into that field. They just needed to know why he was murdered in the first place. After a year and a half of dead ends in the death investigation of Lashon Keith, a DNA match brought Detective Hayward a man with answers.

Ochoa only helped Zachary Traynor with body disposal, not murder. Finally, Detective Hayward had the first part of the story, but he couldn't just take Ochoa's word for it. I mean, would you take the word of someone who just admitted to moving a body? He needed a fact check, so he went to talk to Ochoa's baby mama. She essentially corroborated his story even if a few details were slightly off. The details weren't really big enough to cast too much doubt on him. Besides, Ochoa led detectives right back to that field from a year and a half earlier.

Now, Detective Hayward needed to speak with Zachary Traynor and whoever this coworker was. It wasn't difficult to find, Zach. He lived in the small city of Water Vliet, really small town, 20 miles south of where the body was found. Hey, sorry. I was just trying to get somebody to answer the door. Who are you? I'm Chris Hayward. I'm a detective with the state police.

You're Zach, right? Yeah. Hey, how you doing? I'm good. All right. Listen, I was hoping to talk to you. There's been a complaint made against you. and

what's going on? Are you able to go down to talk with us at the Waterville Police Department? About what? About this allegation made against you? What allegation? I think this is something you're going to want to talk with me about. I'm going to need to hear what you're talking about.

Okay, I'd be happy to tell you then. And I think it's in your best interest. This case has progressed. I've spent a lot of time on it. I've got everything. I've got the what. I guess I'm just looking to find out from you, you know, what kind of guy you are.

on what was going on in your head, but this is about the body up in the field in Geneva. Analyst is hitting you like a ton of bricks. It would do the same for me. Sorry, I don't want to be involved in this, frankly. I wish I can't wait until I retire. As you can see, I'm getting close. I'm hoping to be able to treat this thing a little bit different, because in all the background that I've done on you, I don't see you as that kind of guy that I deal with so often, that we have to deal with so often. I hope you feel like I'm approaching you. What you're talking about, I do.

So it's been weighing on you? No, I know. I know what you're talking about right now. I do. Okay. Yes. Okay. So that's the gist of it is just to get together.

You have to get some shoes on and. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Do I have to write with you guys or drive my car? Yeah. Like I said, dumb, I'm trying to go out there. I'll be doing. Okay. You're okay to drive?

Yeah. You're sure? Yep. Yep. I'll meet you guys there. Okay. I just want you crashing on me because you're stressed or something. Okay.

I will be there. Okay. Hey, Big dog. All right. Thank you. The initially confrontational, Zach, softened, as soon as he understood why Detective Hayward was there. His 5'11 160-pound frame shrunk. He swallowed hard and took a deep breath.

I imagine he'd been looking over his shoulder for the last 16 months, expecting it to happen at any moment. He admitted he knew what detectives were talking about and said it had been weighing on him. He agreed to meet them at the stage. to talk, but he wasn't arrested. Detectives pulled down the street and waited just to see if he would actually come and not try to flee. About 15 minutes later, Zach sat down in an interview room with detectives. He would tell his version of events and identify his coworker.

Afterwards, Detective Hayward accompanied him back to his parents' house to break the news that the district attorney would eventually file charges and that he would be arrested. It was almost 9 p.m. when he arrived. As darkness fell over the city, Zach broke the news to his mother, grandmother, sister, and brother-in-law. His grandmother didn't take the news well at all. He didn't tell her the specifics, but she knew it wasn't good. Did you talk with her, dear chance to talk with Mom yet? Okay.

All of them. Okay. Well, I don't know it should. But I know it must be something bad. It's fun with the family. You guys, like I said, take care and take care of yourselves. Then he pulled Zach's sister aside. Zach said he had confided in her in one drunken night at the casino.

Detective Hayward needed to know how much he confessed and if it matched. He and another guy wound up killing somebody. Did you hear about that in the casino parking lot or whatever he's alluding to? I've alluded to, yes, I've heard. I guess what story did he tell you? I just know his friend that he was hanging out with at the time was a really bad person. Do you know who he is?

Brian, namely. He used to work there in that area. Him and Brian would, you know, get into a lot of bar fights and stuff. They would get into shit. He says that he did something. He had regretted with Brian, that Brian was, like, the main. person and okay

because he knew you'd be there for him right absolutely yeah did he say he did something he regretted he stole a hop cap off a car or he killed somebody did he get into any details? No he didn't like to tell me that okay is it me or are people getting less and less

sensitized to the act of murder maybe I'm just a bit old maybe I'm old fashioned but if law enforcement told me that someone I knew had killed someone, my reaction wouldn't just be, oh, well, you didn't tell me about that, as if it's some sort of minor detail.

I mean, like, what the fuck? Listen, half an hour later, Detective Hayward was back in the interview room. This time, he was getting Brian Wimbly's side of the story. But sometimes, there are three sides to a story. Once Detective Hayward had both Zach and Brian's sides, he now had two versions of the same night. They agreed on almost everything, except for, you know, the one thing that the critics of this show hate I keep talking about. Personal responsibility.

So back in fall of 2022, Zach and Brian became something sort of like friends. They weren't that far apart in age, and both were working for the road crew doing construction on an overpass. That's when they first became acquainted with LaShawn Keith. Yeah, there was a homeless guy that lived under the bridge. I mean, I can't tell you what's the name. Was there anything like that? I really really don't know.

He didn't mess with us, really, for the most part, until there started being more people there. Oh, yeah. When there was more people, then it's like, oh, you guys are just over my home, you know. Well, Sean was living under that overpass. He had a little impromptu campsite next to the train tracks. When more and more of the road crew started showing up week after week,

He was pissed. Why are these people in his home? That sort of thing. Anyway, to LaShawn, this was his home. This piece of public property. And they were disturbing his piece. Try to offer him a bottle of water one day because it was hot. And he was like, fuck you.

I just went off to like the violent stage. But one of the bosses tried to, I remember, he tried to give him a coat and some like pants because it got cold towards the end of the season or whatever. It was starting to get chilly or whatever. And you pretty much told the boss to go fuck himself too. He had problems with the train guy too. We kept coming after the train guy.

That's why the train guy would take one of us would. Even in the face of kindness, Lashon was combative. His antisocial homeless man behavior only escalated. When Brian and his dad and all of them come down there later on in the job site, he had started like tormenting people, messing with them, throwing rocks at people, stuff like that. Apparently he was a rock that Brian one day. Zach said Lashon started to target Brian.

But Brian said it was Zach who had the issue with Lashon, and he didn't take death threats lightly. The homeless dude had issues, I guess, throughout the job. against the guy was throwing rocks and stuff at him and threatening his life, whatever, let me see him after work. Well, I thought it was just bullshit about that part. The after work part, the homeless guy had threatened Zach.

It's like, I'll fucking kill you, and your whole family or some shit like that. I remember him telling him that he was going to kill Zach, and then Zach's like, I'll see about that. I'll see you after work, and we'll see who ends up dead first. I didn't think that he was serious with that statement, Because like I said, I thought he was just a big bullshitter. At the same time, Zach claimed it was Brian, who became obsessed with teaching Lashon a lesson.

Brian needs to talk about how, holy guy, he needs to get it to have. He needs to face. Something needs to happen to him. And I was like, dude, I was like fucking let me go, you know. It's like a week, I think. Like, he really, he's after he thought out, he talks about it. Like, every day, he was like, really just going to beat the guy with him or something. I was like, dude.

I was like, are you still on now? I'm getting over this. This is crazy. Whatever resentment had been building between the road crew and Lashon didn't boil over immediately. Halloween came and went like any other workday.

Earlier that evening, Lashon walked to a nearby Circle K before returning beneath the bridge, he called home. Hours later, after a night of drinking, Zach and Brian decided to go back and confront him. He's like, hey, let's go to the bar one night.

Like, all right. Yeah. I need the D.D. We went out on Halloween night, actually. And we got pretty drunk. I mean, it was about as drunk as week a day. And he brings up, he's like, hey, let's go to the job. He goes, let's see if he's there.

That auspicious Halloween night, they closed down the bar. What a menace alcohol can be. When it came to leave, Zach said it was Brian's idea to go back to the job site, but Brian said he didn't even remember leaving the bar. I don't even really remember leaving that night. We ended up back at the job site, I believe. So I was kind of notting off on the way there, but I know we ended up back there.

Once we got there, heart, we... I assumed he was just using John or something or whatever and I think I remember I'm saying something about I'm going to grab a sledgehammer at that point I'm drunk and like the fuck I'm gonna get a sludge hammer for like we're not working right now it's like we just went to the bar

like there's no way in hell I'm doing anything if the boss asks right now like I'm going to say I'm drunk and I'm not going to be able to do it And then, of course, I follow him down the hill. We walked down the hill, and he had his claw hammer. It was this blue and, like, black grip on it. I mean, it was a claw hammer. And I remember because he lost it out there somewhere. And he was freaking out about it the whole way home.

Each man said the other had a problem with Lashon. Then they said it was the other's idea to go back to the job site that night. They both said it was the other one with the hammer. It's no surprise that each said the other was the first to approach LaShawn. These are basically two murderers who have no loyalty to anything or anyone. If you don't respect human life, even if it's someone that's of no use to society, then you yourself are probably the bigger problem. But Brian walked over there and he was like, hey, I know you're fucking awake.

He said his hammer and he swung at him. And I think he made contact with something. I mean, it sounded pretty loud. But if you got jumped up, I mean, right away. But from Brian's perspective, that was all Zach. Because I kind of like stayed back a little bit once I realized he was walking towards the barrel or the dude was sleeping. he walked over and he like he takes the hammer and he's making up motherfuckers bam I said get the fuck up and uh definitely like he smacked a barrel a couple times

telling him get the fuck up with his hand or a sport with the hammer you got smacked it with the hammer the guy gets out like yo what you know he gets out he's like whoa whoa like what the hell is like remember me how you told me to meet you after work while I'm here well it's good, what's going on. Start yelling at the guy, and the guy gets out and, like, bucked up to him. They got in each other's face, and then next thing you know,

is that kind of, like, pushed him a little bit, and you kind of, you know, your reaction is to push back when you're pushed. So the guy pushed them back, and then they're kind of like pushing whatever is getting heated in my heart, ain't too bad, ain't too bad, and still don't know why he has the hammer,

and then they got closer to the tracks. And I'm like, like I said, I'm probably 20, 30 foot away from them. Just keeping my distance. This is the part where their stories start to diverge the most. Who was the first person to assault this homeless man? He was here, and they were coming towards me, so I went this way and kind of hid by, like, some bushes. And then that's when I heard that first, like, crack.

And I'm like, like, oh. That did not sound like a fist. Like, that was a solid hard hit. I heard the dude, like, asked for air after I heard, like, the sledgehammer, like, smack them. I'm assuming in the chest. Brian said he watched from a safe distance as a shoving match ensued. But Zach said Brian was the one in a rage-filled frenzy. So Brian hit him a couple more times in the back.

And the guy fell in a little bit down in a ditch. And I took him off with him. And I told him, like, dude. I'm like, let this go, let him go. You just taught him a lesson, you know, like, let it go. And that time he threw his hammer at him because he was mad, so he wanted to keep going, and I wasn't letting him. Zach said he stood by as something of a referee,

while Brian taught LaShawn a lesson. Regardless of who the aggressor was, the violence of the confrontation only grew. And no referee stopped it. So the guy, you know, he picked the hammer up, and he tried swinging at us, hitting us because, all right, for your life at that point. You know, you don't know what's going to happen in the world. And I punched him because I was like, I'm not about to get hit by this fucking hammer.

And when I punched him, I connected wrong. I hit something around here and my pinky hit up into his tooth. And I broke my hand. Okay. So I was pretty pissed when I broke my hand. So I took the hammer and I fucking took him. I swung down his ribs. I took it out to the sand.

I heard him to the grips. And I dropped the hammer. I walked away because I was like, freaking out at that point. I'm like, I can't believe. I just fucking did that in the ground. Zach said he was a reluctant participant, only there to watch Brian's back.

But when he got involved, he broke his hand and cracked Lashon's ribs. So there's that. The start of it was him. and then obviously things got a little more intense where they were kind of both tussling a little bit and he yelled from my help because he started to fall and of course I come out of the spot I didn't want to come out of

and the guy came at me once I got over there me being a little bit more guy I definitely started to get scared because well he's coming at me now Zach had gotten my hammer out of the truck as well as his sludge hammer. I did not even know that he had had my hammer out in the first place. The hammers were central to both sides. But they changed hands depending on who was telling the story. Pulled out my hammer and I'm like here and threw it somebody and I'm like, oh.

Oh God. Brian said Zach yelled for help. Lashon was getting the best of him. He said Zach tossed him his own hammer, and that's when Lashon came at him. He must have been so scared. So I freak out and kind of like, I went for his legs,

tried to take his legs, knock him out, so he wasn't coming at me. He's a guy that's a giant compared to me coming in me. Like, I didn't want to. And they just kind of got to. worse from there. I know. I know it was a melee.

A what? Meilay is like a hustle where everybody's elbows and assholes all over the place, you know what I mean? Elbows and assholes. Never heard that one before. It's almost like poetry. In addition to having a small vocabulary,

Brian was a man of small stature. He was only five feet, four inches, tall and 120 pounds. When LaShawn, a 310-pound, 6-foot-1 man came at Brian, he just swung the hammer. Got him in the leg with the hammer. The guy, you know, obviously, when we doing that, he did kind of like buckle as you buckled down, that came over, tacking him down. Bam, bam, bam, bam, started hitting him.

The guy ended up kicking me in my chest a couple times really good. And I kind of went into a fog, kind of like a blackout. Like, I kind of blacked out because, I don't know, I'm assuming it got worse. And I don't even fully know too much after I blacked out. I'm not even really sure. When you got on the train tracks, was when you actually hit it hard enough, then he was able to fall. Okay. And that was the time you get him on his body that caused me to fall.

you remember? It was on his lower in the when he went hit it and just popped

and did you remember him about or something? I mean I moved the guy's leg

and completely watched it just let out a blood curdling scream when

Brian hit him in the leg Zach pantomimimed to detectives what LaShaan's leg looked like

after Brian hit him with the hammer. He wiggles his limp hand in the air. Brian had broken Lashon's femur cleaned through and turned his leg into jelly.

And when the guy was on the ground or whatever, you know, I told him I was like, all right, I was like, I'm getting the fuck up and leave. You know, I was like, this is enough of this shit. This is done. And he did get up and he started, like, running. And he was, like, hobbling trying to run away, you know, on one leg. And I was letting him go and turned around going the other way. And Brian went to pick the hammer out and he chased him.

And he went and he just hit him in the back of the head. You just hate him. And I listen to that. He's just screaming, somebody to help me. And I'm walking the other way. Fucking throw him hands up and down, like, covering my ears. I don't want to hear this man begging for someone to stop beating him. This guy puts his hands over his ears and goes, la, la, la, la, la, la. While a homeless man is being murdered in front of him.

I mean, what a fucking pussy. What a piece of shit. What is this? Clockwork Orange? Was Kubrick right about society? What is wrong with people? How do you put your hands on someone who just hurt your feelings with words, you know? Even if it's a threat, it's just a fucking threat.

It's just letters strung together in a sound that comes out of your mouth. It doesn't hurt you unless you let it. Unless you're a weak, sensitive bitch. You don't put your hands on someone. just because they hurt your feelings. That's not how society works. And I keep seeing more and more examples of this in general. Well, Sean had several broken ribs and a broken leg.

He was lying on the ground, begging for the beating to stop. But Zach and Brian got a few more licks in. So he's down at this point then? Is he begging for help? I please, you guys know that? He was wondering that. was my very good baiting. Please don't touch me anymore.

I don't hurt me anymore. It's like, please just stop. Did you both stop? I did. Brian hit him a few more times because he with a hammer because he kept on. He said, I'm demanding respect with you. He goes, you don't get the point. I want respect.

I don't want anything else. I want respect. And that's what he kept repeating. Brian, though, said Zach was the one to land the final blow. I had realized that Zach was at this point on top of him. Okay. Literally just giving him what to. And the guy gets up, tries to walk away, and Zach just shoves him back down.

So he went down when you hit him in a leg with the hammer. He went down and Zach jumped on top. Yeah. Okay. And then it was over. The melee had come to an end. The pair left LaShaan lying on the ground next to the train tracks. That's when the enormity of what just happened hit Zach.

Apparently, he can't think when he's angry. Seriously, what has happened to men? Why are we such emotionally weak trash these days? Because I thought, I said, look, I said, you killed this stuff. I said, believe it or not, I said, you're going to kill him. I said, look at the fucking life leaving his body right now. He was like, oh, no, he's fine. I said, no. I said, watch the heat leave his body. I said, you just killed him. So we went to the gas station.

I bought the guy, two Gatorade, and some food. He drank one of the Gatorade, ate some of the chips. Oh, you brought him right back to him? Yeah, I brought him right back. Do they teach that in med school? All you need to bring the dead back to life after a hammer to the back of the head is some gas station snacks and the Gatorade. A thirst quencher. Was he awake? Was he awake? Yeah, he was awake and he was talking. He drank the Gatorade in front of me.

He was definitely, he was definitely the pain. What did he tell you hurt? Everything. He said he couldn't feel his lover having his body. Okay. He was just like, you know, I'm gonna try and make it. I'm gonna try and do good. He said, I'm trying to make it.

Okay. I told him, I was like, you're going to, you know. to, you know. Okay, get on some good. You'll just, you know, now I'm lying to the guy, but what are you supposed to do in that situation?

What, you could have called an ambulance? Holy shit, this guy's dumb. Seriously, criminals are dumb as hell. That's why they're criminals. They never think to call an ambulance. I mean, if they had, they'd be in far less trouble, unless he died, of course.

But he could have lived, if only they had sought medical help. Instead, they got him a bag of chips and a gatorade. What a bunch of nincompoops. Since when we left, I don't know. I thought the guy was still walking around last I knew. Like I said, I was drunk too, so he might not have been standing or walking or anything. But as far as I remember, he was still up and moving.

LaShawn was alive, but badly injured. He lay on the ground. unable to feel his lower half while Zach gave him a pep talk. Brian just assumed he'd be fine. But did the two intend to kill him or just give him an ass beating? My intention was not to kill anybody. That was not my intention. I wanted to hurt him and feel like here's due a lesson.

Some people are not to be fucked with in this world, but it was never my intention to kill somebody. Well, you know, from what you described, it kind of sounds like the ass beaten gone wrong, but I don't know how you would characterize it, you know? I mean, it was never, I intend to take anyone's life. Okay. That was never the cold. You know, I was right.

I said, you might want to, you know, beat this guy's best in a funny cross. I don't fuck with people. Yes. So I want to fucking take someone's life ever, you know. But Brian said So you guys are Went there But you went there

To have a confrontation with this guy Right? Mainly Yeah And the vigor Because it was time to send A message to him I guess

Did you set out With the idea in your mind Because this is the important part Is Did you intend to kill him No No That's the critically important part

Absolutely not Not even the slide I couldn't imagine killing it I can't even kill a Awesome. Okay. Or a squirrel or a coon that's in a cage that's to be taken out. Can't even...

To your knowledge, did Zach go there to try to kill him? I mean, I would think so just from the conversation that happened earlier that day. I mean, from you riding around with him, did he say we're going to kill that guy? Or do you say, we're going to get him a beating? And he said, we're going to kick his ass. Okay, that's not... That's what I was under the... Okay.

I don't have to understand you. That's as far as it. It wasn't going to go. Whether they intended to kill Lash, or not... not didn't really matter because he was still dead. Of course, they wouldn't realize this until they returned to work. I remember waking up at home the next day. I knew something when I woke up, I could just tell something wasn't right because we woke up

went back to work next day. I mean the train guy, I would help the train guy help him take the rellers off, off the tracks. and we go back down there and we're walking and we've seen the guy laying there

and me and the train guy both said man he's not moving he's just maybe he's sleeping so I don't know if he's still there really around

I don't know the train guy was going to call the cops if Lashon was still there the next day so when Brian saw he hadn't moved he went to find Zach. Because I walked up to him after walking back, and I'm like, dude, that dude's not moving.

And he goes, yeah, I know I looked. I felt his pause, and you don't have a pause. He's dead. And I'm like, what? He's dead? This seems to be the moment that Brian suddenly realized the seriousness of what they had done. Hindsight is always 2020,

but sometimes if you're this dumb, you're just fucking blind. You're just an automaton acting on just emotion alone with zero impulse control. I don't think you're even human at that point. You're just a walking, large language learning model. And not a good one. I don't even know. Did he try to get you to go back out and help?

He didn't. I don't want no part of that. Like, Mike, I can't even mentally bring in the fact that this is a real situation. right now and my like I'm only seen this on crime shows and I don't even like to watch them because it's like it just turns my gut. Aw, poor little baby. Can't watch true crime shows because they're too scary. He said to the guy I didn't move by the next day.

He was going to call the police and did him out there. Yeah. So that's when I told Brian. I said, look, I said we got to do something. He said he can not stay sitting on his tracks. Brian would not. Help me deal with that situation. Trying to deal with it by myself.

I couldn't because my hand was broken. Brian immediately started to distance himself from the situation and from Zach. He refused to help Zach move the body, he said. And then I had to make a phone call to one of my friends who he called somebody else that, you know, I guess, you know, how to. deal with things like that, didn't it? Zach called his closest friend, a man who had since moved to Florida. Of course.

And this friend hooked him up with Ochoa. Saturday would come back and he was in orders to be found. He was gone. So what happened to the body then?

He said him in one of his buddies. Do you tell you who it was? He wouldn't give me a name at all. So I don't even have the slightest clue. He's like, and then the next day, he showed up at the house, he goes, the guy is gone. And I'm like, what do you mean he's gone? He goes, we dissolved him. You dissolved him.

What do you mean you dissolved him? Like, I don't get your cow stuff. He was like, we covered him in acids and ate his body alive. Brian didn't help move the body and didn't help Zach pay Ochoa either. In the weeks and months to follow, the two. separated. Brian lost Zach's number and Zach eventually gave up on getting

Brian to pay his half of the money for Ochoa. They stopped talking completely. They built separate lives, but neither man ever managed to leave that night beneath the bridge behind. Has this affected you personally, mentally? I mean, it's just the way that I think of.

life in general, you know? Like, so as parents that you've been living through some hell? Yeah, I'm always having in your mind. You can close your eyes tonight and see someone begging for their life. Like, I felt so bad about it. I've been at the church. Okay, good for you. Way more than I, I mean, I'm there every Sunday.

I talked to my pastor as my pastor. He was like, there's something on my mind that's not good. I said, and I need help getting, not getting over it, but I need help with, like, mental like help of getting through this like I

don't know I don't want to I was like it's on spoken I said just know it's it's not good at all you heard that right he was about to say

he tried to get a pastor to help him get over it before he realized just how bad that sounded out loud and corrected himself remember people will always

tell you who they really are if you pay close enough attention. Oh, there's so many times I found that trip with Florida. Just start tearing up and start crying. By the end of the interviews, Detective Hayward heard the same story twice. Both men agreed on almost everything. They both admitted to their roles while trying to shift blame onto the other. But one thing wasn't in dispute.

LaShawn Keith was dead because of what happened under that bridge. There wasn't one reason. and Lashon died, there were weeks of resentment, too much alcohol, the wounded pride of young men, and one terrible decision after another. They had each expressed remorse. For the last 16 months, Zach and Brian had each been carrying the weight of that night. Zach said it changed the way he looked at life. Brian said it still haunted him.

But remorse and responsibility aren't the same thing. After 16 months of an investigation that was going nowhere, a DNA match brought detectives their final real break. After talking to Ochoa, they spoke with the two men who were responsible for LaShawn Keith's death, Zachary Traynor and Brian Wembley. Zachary Traynor and Brian Wembley both told the same story

but distanced themselves from responsibility, placing blame on each other. They minimized their roles, as most suspects do. But who were these two men when they were not trying to save themselves? Detective Hayward had done background research on the two young men. They were both holding down jobs and had supportive families. So which one's story was more credible? I guess what story did he tell you?

I just know his friend that he was hanging out with at the time was a really bad person to be. You know who he is? Brian? Okay. Zach's sister had mentioned that Brian was the bad influence, and when Detective Hayward went to Florida to speak with Zach's friend, the one who connected him to Ochoa, he said something similar.

I've never really liked him because he was a bad influence. That's something I will tell you. He was always a bad influence. He got him into shit I would have never got him into. He's just a bad influence. I was only on the phone room, Brian, about once or twice, and the first time he was cool, but the second time he started fucking Zach,

so I wasn't with all that shit. I'm going to be a hundred of you. He's going to be lying about some shit. Zach is probably a week and more cooperative one. Brian is just trying to cover his own ass. But Brian wasn't afraid of the police. He was afraid of Zach. Pretty much this stuff happening.

I kind of like cut ties with him because I was like, I don't want to be associated with you. You are bad news. I haven't even talked to him. Yeah, I lost his number. I'm at all communications. Like I want nothing to do with him. I still can care.

I can give too, sorry about the language, but I can give two folks left to even see his face again. Oh, I got you. Like he stayed far away for me. He pulled the knife on my dad when me and my dad were arguing one day. Oh, no kidding. And he says, I'll fucking kill you right now. And he's told me before when I was working at the gaspoles.

I was working at the gas plant. He told me that he had killed somebody before. And I was like, ah, he's just bullshit. He seems like a bullshitter. No. But when Brian followed Zach beneath that bridge that night, he began to wonder if those stories had been true after all. Like, he's already killed one person.

He obviously, it looks like, is coming here for, another reason than what he told me he was coming for and now I could be the third body so at that point my brain was just like semi-goal with the flow so if he tells you to do something

just just just obey him just just do what he says but I was like I said I was scared shitless at that point so I heard that first heard of thought and you don't know who hit who then or I was stuming because he the one dude kind of like

grabbed his chest and went back. The homeless man? Like, grabbed his chest and went back. And that's what I was like, dude, what the fuck are you doing? Like, we're not trying to fucking kill the dude. Like, you said you're going to kick his ass. That's not kicking his ass, dude. And his eyes, like, almost divine.

Yeah. Looking dead at him, like, what the fuck are you doing? Like, you need to stop. Then what happened next? He's like, don't fucking worry about me. I think I had at one point tried to walk away, He's like, you better not fucking walk away or you're next. But the voice, his voice didn't even sound the same at that point.

Like, his voice had, like, changed, like, deeper. Okay. Which was scary. That kind of told me, oh, man, maybe he wasn't joking about the other person that he'd get killed. Brian wasn't the only person who described a different side of Zach. Months later, after they were both arrested, another man would tell Detective Hayward about conversations in jail. These conversations offered a very different picture.

I got some information that you might have to sell you at one point that had done a homicide. He's like my son. He's so stupid. He's talking about it right there in court, I mean, in the holding tank waiting to go to court. And what was he? Was he talking to you or was he talking to somebody else? Talking to me. Okay.

What did he, uh, where did he say it both of us? He said to the virtues. He's like, prosecution is stupid. He said the prosecution, everybody's stupid. Him and Wimbly. Oh, he told us the guy's name to? That's the guy that's sending with him. That's what made him started because, uh...

Were they both in the holding cell or no? Wimbley or whatever was in the cell next to us. But he was like, it's cold. That's a good guy that starts on him when I said, dude is his cold. I said, dude is his cold-dependent. He said the dude told on him, this man crazy as fuck. Tell him on this. He did a murder in each other.

Oh, and he said it. He telling people, uh, they'm trying to awkwardly in jail. Okay. You think he was, um, giving you an accurate count, or do you think he was trying to be a tough guy? I think he said to the truth. He was telling him. He was telling him.

He laughed in a whole time. Like, you don't have no remorse. He laughed. That's another thing like, damn. He just, like, he didn't have any more, she was laughing all the time. Like, you know what I mean? He was saying, like, I'm only going to get 12 years. That's this whole thing.

It was getting 10 and 12 years. And he said, well, he's supposed to be getting like 25 or like, something like that. Whether Burton was telling the truth or simply repeating jailhouse bravado, he challenged the image of Zach that had emerged during the interviews. But Detective Hayward, already had what he needed. Ochoa had admitted to moving the body. Zach and Brian had each admitted in taking part in the assault.

Their stories differed on who threw the first punch and who struck the final blow, but they've already figured out all this shit in the law. If you go to a location with the intent of committing a crime, no matter what it is, whether it be assault or robbing a Snickers bar, and in that act, something goes wrong and someone, dies, well guess what? You're responsible for that. That's what the law is. So it doesn't matter who threw the first punch. It doesn't matter who struck the final blow. Stupid people don't realize this because they're stupid. Sixteen months earlier, Detective Hayward had stood in a muddy

field looking at a body with no witnesses and only a single glove to guide him. That glove eventually led him to three young men, with three very different stories, but enough truth between the three of them to hold each one of them accountable. In the end, both Zachary trainer and Brian Wimbley were charged with second-degree homicide. Neither Zach nor Brian asked a jury to decide whose version of events was true. Both accepted plea agreements and pleaded guilty to second-degree murder. Achoa was charged with accessory to a felony after the fact. He was sentenced

to a year and a half in prison. Zach and Brian, though, were sentenced to 15 to 30 years in prison for their roles in the death of 33-year-old Lashon Keith and dumping his body in a hayfield. LaShawn Keith didn't have many material possessions, but he had a life and he had a family

and he was a human being. And that's all that matters. He didn't deserve to be beaten, bloody, and broken, left to bleed internally until he finally passed away alone in the dark, under a bridge. That's absolutely no way for anyone to go. Our latest episode of Swordenscale Television is available right now at Soriniscale.com. It's called Frail.

You should check it out. and if you still don't know why there's some episodes missing from the free feed, why some are marked plus and unavailable to you, well, that's because we're not a non-profit and you're probably not smart enough to be part of our audience. Anyway, you can find them at sornscale.com. Duh.